Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Bug: Companion Tadpoles Missing from Mind Map, Show Up in Inventory

UPD.

I have conducted another round of testing and confirmed that this bug is consistently reproducible, at least in Honour Mode (I have not tested it in other modes).

To summarize briefly:

If the main character consumes their first tadpole immediately after the first dream sequence with the Guardian, without hesitation or refusal, then at least one extra tadpole appears in the top-right counter. This "illegitimate tadpole" is effectively removed from a companion’s mind map (in my tests, it was Gale, though it can also happen to others), and becomes available for free use by any party member — including the original owner.

However, if the player first refuses to consume the tadpole, choosing the “Close your mind” option, and then later manually consumes it from the inventory, the tadpole counter is accurate and the bug does not trigger.

As you can imagine, this bug has a critical impact on both story consistency and game balance, and I strongly recommend it be addressed as soon as possible.

It’s unclear how many players have encountered this issue — though I suspect the bug could be quite common, since many people are likely to consume the first tadpole without hesitation. Perhaps players simply don’t notice it, especially since the bug grants a gameplay advantage. Still, it’s strange that no one has reported it yet — maybe the specific conditions of my playthrough contributed to it. This warrants further investigation.

Below, I’m also attaching a more systematic write-up of the bug.


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Critical Bug Report: Companion Tadpoles Removed After First Consumption – Root Cause Identified
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Platform: PC
Mode: Honour Mode (unconfirmed in other modes)
Patch: Latest live version (not Patch 8 stress test)
Mods: None
Language: Russian, playing from Europe

Summary
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A serious and reproducible bug causes tadpoles to be removed from companions and reassigned to the player character, leading to both narrative inconsistency and mechanical distortion of progression.

Trigger (Fully Reproducible)
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After the first dream sequence with the Guardian, the player is prompted to consume a tadpole.

- If the player accepts and consumes a tadpole immediately, without first refusing or delaying, then:
- One or more companion tadpoles may be silently removed;
- The tadpoles are reassigned to the player character (either in UI or logically in memory);
- The affected companions appear without tadpoles in the mind map;
- The tadpole counter in the top-right UI becomes inflated, even if only one tadpole was consumed.

In contrast:
- If the player first refuses the tadpole ("Close your mind"), and then later manually consumes it from inventory:
- The bug does not occur;
- All companion tadpoles remain intact;
- The system behaves as expected.

Consequences
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- This bug breaks core story logic: all companions are supposed to be infected.
- In Honour Mode, it can distort intended progression and create resource inconsistencies.

Ironically, the game about tadpoles has fallen victim to tadpoles.