WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3. Proceed at your own risk.
Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3is all about decisions that determine the fate of your character and the fates of the characters they’re tied to. Though the companions that accompany the player character are all vastly different from each other in terms of alignment, values, and backgrounds, they’re forced to work together to work on the problem they all share, whether they like it or not. One of the biggest points of contention for the characters and the player iswhether to use the power of the Illithidtadpole swimming in their brains. Either path has its pros and cons, but for some the cost may be too high.
Baldur’s Gate 3opens with the player character, whether custom or one of the Origins, captured aboard a mind flayer ship. The player character is infected with an Illithid, colloquially called a tadpole, a worm-like creature that mind flayers use to turn other species into mind flayers. The process usually only takes a few days, and lets the victim experience a sort of mind-meld with the mind flayers and other thralls in the interim. Upon escaping the mind flayer ship, getting rid of the Illithid becomes the first priority before the transformation into a mind flayer happens.
Illithid pros:
Illithid cons:
These plans get a wrench thrown in them whenthe party has a long rest and the Dream Guardian appearsto them in their sleep. Left to the player to design during character creation, the Dream Guardian is a mysterious figure whose voice is heard throughout the game while the party is both asleep and conscious. The Guardian claims to be keeping the mind flayer transformation at bay, but also encourages the player and their companions to use their Illithids and the power they offer, even supplementing them with more as they find them in other infected people, known as True Souls.
The party is split on this opinion, with some agreeing that tapping into the power of the Illithid is the best way to fight the Absolute and the source of the hand behind everything, while the rest argue it’s a trap and that the only way to move forward is to get rid of the Illithids completely. Absorbing more Illithids comes with a host of powerful abilities that can be used in battle, which makesBaldur’s Gate 3combatfar easier.
Using the Power of the Tadpoles is a Practical Choice
Embracing Illithid power goes hand-in-hand with Illithid-Wisdom during conversations, which becomes more powerful the more it’s used. Success along this path means getting access to information and places not normally available, and it means avoiding difficult fights. It does, however, impact the story in several fundamental ways that don’t align with a heroic player, and so players who have rolled a good aligned character might want to be careful with this route. It also means possibly turning into a mind flayer, something that is incredibly unpleasant and which alienates the player from manyBaldur’s Gate 3’s party members.
However, turning into a mind flayer is largely a player choice and can be avoided by disobeying orders from mind flayers and True Souls. While party members may disapprove of the choice to embrace the tadpole, most of them can be persuaded to at least accept someone else, namely the player character, experimenting with them. The biggest cons of using the Illithid powers come if the player chooses tobecome a mind flayer inBG3, which doesn’t necessarily need to happen if the Illithid powers are chosen.
Baldur’s Gate 3is currently available on PC and is slated for a June 25, 2025 release for PlayStation 5.
