In EA I was convinced that using Tadpoles and developing Superpowers was a slippery slope towards becoming an Illithid and a GAME OVER screen
Because in EA that was the case.
Nere could mind control you when you overused the tadpole, Daisy got more aggressive when you did, the horrific messages when using the illithid dialogue options meant something and Omeluums ring actually had an effect on the tadpole.
All that got changed last minute, likely because less EA players used the original tadpole powers than they wanted, so Karian made them consequence free superpower to encourage their use.