ALL Illithid Powers & Consequence Guide for Baldur's Gate 3

[@detlefzockt4964]

SPOILERS!!!!: Important to note that if you go to the gith creche, you are able to upgrade your tadpole and can use illithid powers as a bonus action. This is truly where the magic happens

[@tangahkoncek6841]

On this note, The best class for half illithid on the game is openhandmonk/thief because they have 3 bonus action (4 with equipment later on).

[@PsyCoil]

@@cccbbbaaa110 You can get 3 with the Helmet of Grit in Act 3. Not sure how you can get four. In order for the Illthid powers to be bonus actions you need to succeed all saving throws in the Gith infirmary. Which can be pretty tough.

[@tangahkoncek6841]

@cccbbbaaa110 openmonk6 soul give you 1, thief, helm total of four

[@Obama8mycatHQ.]

How do you do it?

[@stevy2]

@@Obama8mycatHQ. I believe it only works for the player, in my experience your NPC party members will get a large intelligence debuff. Get in it and succeed all the saving throws.

[@Olimar92]

"I'm not sure I want to..." You can shapeshift into a Displacer Beast. "Okay you convinced me."

[@ChristopherGlymph]

Multi-attack with the tentacles is worth it by itself for a non-melee character who is about to be surrounded. 85 bonus hp and using your new stats, so your low strength/dex doesn’t even matter. Add that to its special abilities and it’s a great weapon to have in your arsenal.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Fuck you, Murder Dad. My slug pusher gave me a _better_ warform. With addiction. And multi-attack.

[@alaign31]

That form is S+

[@grigoregruesome3606]

I finished the last fight in the game with a certain Character transformed into a displacer beast. Then when the final cutscene played he was still transformed and his anatomy was all twisted at weird angles while he was talking to me and acting like I was the person that became a mind flayer. Then it made Lazel pissed because she acted like I was too. Needless to say it cause absolute chaos 😂

[@thefriendlysenpai]

​@@ChristopherGlymphThe multi attack literally saved my HM run. 3 party members down, Astarion on 4 HP, and Orpheus as a Displacer Beast got the brain down to exactly the HP needed for Astarion to kill it. My heart was RACING.

[@dopeydoz966]

the fact that he avoided giving any spoilers and yet be so informative was great, thanks for the info and letting me know that using them has no major consequences to the story, that was honestly my largest concern

[@brandyscrow]

i was going to say this too

[@jasonthomas1539]

Well other than the spoiler about becoming a hybrid. He gave that away.

[@johnysimps1191]

Straight up answered my biggest questions at the beginning. Because you respect my time, i will respect yours and watch the whole thing. You have a sub in me.

[@italianspartacus]

Thanks so much brother!!

[@NicoUnken]

Yeah I agree, that kind of up-front, well explained info earns a like and comment in my eyes.

[@gidelix]

same here

[@DemraSynfata]

same

[@GuiltyKit]

Yeah I can't tell you how many times it feels like content creators try to "hide" the biggest reasons someone would watch the video at some ambiguous place. Totally worth a sub for someone who's just up front with telling you information in what would be the most useful order.

[@aydensullivan9846]

I mean when the game says “you feel it take something you’ll never get back” it really makes you think you’re gonna lose your sanity or something

[@Dodgemod]

I was playing the dark urge playthrough. When I saw that. I thought I lost something important. 💀

[@j800r_aswell]

It does actually have an impact. Obvious spoilers incoming, but if you make liberal use of Illithid Powers then once The Emperor offers you the chance to evolve you can only "resist" it if you pass a Wisdom check. Otherwise your desires will win out and you'll evolve anyway. Obviously, the cosmetic change can be consequence enough for a lot of people in this case.

[@Quandry1]

@@j800r_aswell it's not usage of the powers. it's how many of them that you take. The cosmetic change and a few lines of dialogue purely with your party to my knowledge are the only consequences...

[@JoshSweetvale]

Your soul. You lose your soul. No reincarnation, no afterlife. Just cessation. Your mind will run on your brain entirely. Tbis is why most of the gods are against the Dead Three's insane scheme.

[@simonhowell4486]

​@@Quandry1 Again, the cosmetic change is enough

[@musclegeek1991]

Psionic backlash is actually super good, because it goes off BEFORE the spell. Which means if you’re dealing with a spellcaster that is almost dead, it kills them before the spell goes off, acting like a counter spell (on top of the damage). I’ve actually been saved from quite a few nasty spells by a clutch psionic backlash.

[@zeuel]

Same! Especially if you have that one power that lets you auto-kill them when you reduce them to a certain amount of hp. It makes me less upset about leaving a caster alive on a small amount of health. :P

[@joe6700]

Psionic backlash + cull the weak + having full Illithid powers sploots enemy spell casters.

[@TRPLD]

@@joe6700 Yeah, all four of my characters have backlash, my main cull the weak and if anyone cast a spell near my main, he suffers between 25 and 65 damage for casting any spell (relatively endgame). If you buff up your psychic damage, this can really go nuts.

[@sanguineaurora8765]

It would be extremely broken if it went AFTER the spell.. Good god it's before. Otherwise, that'd be an auto forced concentration check on enemy spell casters.

[@liathedoll]

I always have that on Tav and Astarion , and have killed multiple enemies with it.

[@WarlockioJones]

Psionic Backlash actually also works with Cull the Weak. Really useful for taking down low caster for just breathing a spell's incantation

[@matdeke]

Yeah and the damage comes before the cast, so you finish off caster before he can cast, its really good and my go-to after cull the weak

[@Someguyonline7732]

I thought it was funny he didn’t like psionic backlash because it was the first one that got my attention, but it also got the most use in two illithid playthroughs so far because I never have other reactions on my PCs

[@anthonyeire5165]

I had two characters with Psionic Backlash, and Both could backlash when triggered, devastating the caster. I’ve wondered what would happen if all 4 had it.

[@davon1650]

I’ve found psionic backlash to be very useful when most of your team has it - you can cause multiple whiplash on enemy casters that greatly wounds them or breaks their concentration.

[@xandroy1273]

This! Also, one member can counterspell the spell while the rest deals damage

[@mogyui2902]

Or just flat out kill em

[@ryanstewart2289]

I've deleted a lot of spellcasters this way.

[@Quandry1]

it also let's you use something that quite often can go unused in your reaction. So on any character that isn't necessarily using it a lot you can put this on and decently often then have something to use it on in the fight. Or you can choose not to use it if you are in situations where you can use your reactions in other ways. I suspect that it using a reaction and it's initial damage when you likely first get it is why Spart doesn't care for it much, without having fully explored it's usage potential.

[@dashingwanderer9054]

As some may not know, perilous stakes can be used out of combat. It allows you to hit *anything* (vase, box etc.) and heals your character. Just remember to turn on turn-base mode before destroying stuffs.

[@pink1200]

Ive also found it very useful for bear wildheart barbarian to heal back up mid-combat since the vulnerability and resistance cancelling each other out and they're already attacking each turn.

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

i didn't know this, kinda cheesy but pretty cool.

[@kevwox]

@@pink1200this is good to note, I’m running Karlach as a bear wildheart currently and have been trying to figure out how I can improve that build

[@valiantparagonvideos2383]

The diffference between an enemy with 1 HP and with 0 HP is huge. Even at what I would call "minimum" tadpoles of 4 (two for Luck of the Far realms and two to Cull the weak), very much worth it.

[@Dagothdaleet]

it's me. i'm that enemy

[@TheSam002]

That charm reaction has saved my wizard so many times, prevents fighters from wailing on him with multiple attacks since they can only attack him once then have to move to another target.

[@Joneewars2]

Psionic backlash is good because you can instantly break concentration on a enemy casting a spell. edit: If you combine with cull the weak, you can finish off an weak opponent with just a reaction.

[@extraterrestrial5235]

Yeah that's the best power in the game, you get all 4 people in your party with that. Every turn you can pretty much kill someone

[@knuckles543]

@@extraterrestrial5235 and if they have fracture psyche on them you can just get that ticking up every turn until you wanna lump it on the boss

[@revleckbendon2745]

can vouch im running 3 members fully tadpoled out in act three, someone casts a spell and they get zapped for an ez 30 damage.

[@couldntthinkofacoolname9608]

I don't think you can, the psionic backlash damage is done before the effects of the spell

[@micmic2575]

@@couldntthinkofacoolname9608 This is true, but it you combine it with cull the weak and trigger that feature, you can disrupt concentration by outright killing the target. Get more value out of psionic backlash when more people have it on standby.

[@StairFacts]

If for whatever reason you don't want your main party to use the tadpole powers or become half-illithid for role-playing reasons, you can always invest those tadpoles into your hirelings instead. They don't really matter in the grand scheme of things, so you can get creative with building them at your leisure.

[@wootwootwoot2062]

Sorry to ask but can I still get the good ending even if I use these powers? I don’t want to watch the full video cause I don’t really want spoiler.

[@JamesAndrewson101]

​@wootwootwoot2062 Yes use as many as you like and you can still get the ending you want. Minor spoiler at some point using a specific one may cause some minimal physical changes to your characters face tho.

[@wootwootwoot2062]

@@JamesAndrewson101 ty so much!

[@Chadmlad]

Minimal changes lmao@@JamesAndrewson101

[@anthonyfaiell3263]

Or just don't use them at all. That's also an option.

[@TuberTugger]

There are some cantrips with concentration you probably pass on for being bad. Like truestrike and resistance. They work as fuel for Concentrated Blast. Also guidance works and you can give it to a non-spell caster with an early game necklace. Suddenly you got a party that all light up a spell before entering combat and unleash a flurry of Blasts at no spellslot cost.

[@theancientsam]

I never found the guidance amulet where was it?

[@t0masibrudoctor534]

Great old one warlock fits perfectly with it IMO

[@Capriboar]

Honestly, you front loading the point of the video is why I like and sit through the entire video.

[@Felwal115]

One thing about Concentrated Blast it DOES break concentration on any spell you are currently concentrating on so it's not as good as you'd think but its pretty good still since if you get the ability to use ilithid powers as a bonus action you could use it to end your concentration if you have no more use for the spell, for example you can cancel your spike growth when the enemies inside are all dead or you can cheese it if you have any concentration cantrips to just get some guaranteed psychic damage

[@cryofpaine]

I use it with Cloud of Daggers. Because you can't move it after you cast it, it's only good for a round or two. Unless you can find a good chokepoint, enemies end up moving out of it or avoiding it. So cast it where it can hit a ton, and then as soon as everyone has moved out, use Concentrated Blast.

[@henrikt.183]

You guys know you can just drop concentration whenever you want? Bottom left of your hud under your class icon.

[@KcGanjaBoy]

@@henrikt.183 you do know it isn't worth to drop concentration in battle cause it costs an action?

[@henrikt.183]

@@KcGanjaBoy no it doesn't. Neither in dnd nor in bg3

[@ajpetrina86]

Fun fact! If you get a ritual concentration spell, like detect thoughts, you can have it cast before the fight and then use it as the fuel for this. My bard has been loving doing this

[@freshkj1707]

You can use Perilous Stakes on bosses. They take 2x damage from all sources (bye bye resistances) and its not a debuff so they dont roll a save every turn :)

[@WhoopsISuck]

Does that work on Grym? 🤔

[@Quandry1]

it is still a debuff. Not all Debuff's have saves every turn. and we don't run into them in BG3 but technically some are permanent until removed magically or otherwise.

[@freshkj1707]

@@Quandry1 at the time i wrote the comment (5 months ago) it wasnt but that was changed.

[@Quandry1]

@@freshkj1707 yes, it still was. Debuff's are not only debuff's when you get rolls to save against them. Debuff's are negative conditions that inhibit or debilitate a persons capabilities. Thus making something vulnurable to all sources of damage is and always was a debuff.

[@theancientsam]

I hate how all the info on this Game is basically old news that doesn't work anymore. Why can't they just finish the game before they sell it to us

[@CriticalKunic]

Psionic Backlash is a lot better than you think because it scales with the level of the casters you fight later on. Remember, 1d4 per level of spell. So that's 6d4 if it's a late-game level 6 spell. And if you unlock it on all 4 party members, that'd become 24d4 for 24-96 points of damage. Trust me when I say, it was nuking late-game spell casters.

[@zealiskander]

There’s ONE difference I think. If you don’t take any power, there is a wisdom save that you do not need to make down the line concerning the 3rd ring.

[@Willdror]

Yeah, I hate how people completely ignore this and say there's no consequence for using tadpoles.

[@Quandry1]

@@Willdror This is only a consequence if you have some outlying reason such as cosmetics of your character for not going from the first stage to the second stage of using the powers. If you have things like role play reasons for not using the powers at all then this is not a problem and thus is not a consequence, and if you are using the powers you probably want that outer third ring and aren't going to try to stop it and not switch to half-illithid. so effectively this is not a consequence because it's a rather niche situation overall, though Ironically somehow Astarion fits in this niche even though he will take and use a tadpole regardless of your wishes under some conditions.

[@kpkazan]

Yeah I learnt this the hard way getting a 20 difficulty check with a -1 wis modifier lol

[@Quandry1]

@kpkazan how many powers did you have? My understanding is it gets harder the more powers you have.

[@Willdror]

@@Quandry1 If you consume even just 1 tadpole you have to roll a difficult wisdom check to resist.

[@thegoggle823]

The trade off for Psionic Overload tips more in the player's favor the more attacks you can use in a single turn. It's great on a monk who may be using things like wholeness of body and flurry of blows to get 4 - 8 attacks off in a single round. The 1d4 extra damage in exchange for 1d4 self damage become 4-8d4 extra damage in exchange for just 1d4 self damage, which is significantly less harmful the more HP you have.

[@spookieboogi6161]

I hate fighting monks your screwed if they get close as they attack so much and hit way to hard for a dude punching a person in plate armor they can take a warhammer over the head and walk it off

[@SaiDeLaRai]

​@@spookieboogi6161Monk has Bonk resistance

[@spookieboogi6161]

@@SaiDeLaRai but can he take a kick to the nards?

[@Chokoboh]

Well, my Vengeance Paladin is like: "I'll use whatever i can to achieve the greater good, even sacrifice my own purity to get rid of the bigger evil." So i'd say SOME Tadpole Powers are absolutely fine to use. Especially the Luck of the far Realms one, which pairs perfectly with Great Weapon Master... ^^

[@dalol90]

My same logic. At first, I rejected the tadpole at every oportunite, trying to ignore its influence. Then, something happend to Laezel and to fix it, I had to seek help from these little criters. In order to right the wrong done to her, I had to dip a little bit into this. Only my MC and her have two extra tadpoles.

[@Duran762]

Sounds a lot like Oathbreaker Paladin

[@ArDeeMee]

I resisted the tadpole, trying to be cautious… until I met Minthara. I took the tadpole she rewarded me with, then felt conflicted about it. After the Emperor made me half-Illithid, me and Minthy are leaning into it. I‘m more chaotic evil. =)

[@VladamireD]

Transfuse Health jives pretty good with the Wizard's necromancy specialization too (Grim Harvest (Level 2): Once per turn, if you kill a creature with a spell, you regain hit points equal to twice the spell slot level used - thrice if it’s a Necromancy spell.)

[@jamesblackwood117]

Your videos are the gold standard for guides. No one does it better.

[@italianspartacus]

Fucking thank yiu so much dude!

[@197mmCannon]

Psionic overload is pretty dope on a eldritch blast nuke build. +1d4 damage on every blast. It’s pretty easy to get to 4 eldritch blasts per turn, and some people are min-maxing even more. It’s a huge return for just taking a measly 1d4 damage on your turn.

[@joshholmes1372]

Illithid powers are op str8 up. Great rp options too. Force crit, fly, gravity well slow, cull the weak, mind blast stun, devour intellect heal over time. Perilous strikes allows you to give vulnerability to an enemy. Plus you get a feee counterspell and a free 6th lvl spell. Busted

[@rondowar]

Yeah, I don't get why he says in the TL;DR that they aren't really useful O.o they're super OP, especially fly, makes prepositioning trivial, especially important for melee characters

[@StMargorach]

Psionic overload is quite good on a monk. Mine does about 6 attacks ter turn. So I get 6d4 extra in return for 1d4 damage. If you damage if other types/ sources it also adds a D4 there, so it gets even better :)

[@robert72497]

I'm Liking and Commenting because I really like the format of your videos and how you put the "TLDR" right up front for ppl on a time crunch, but still give a detailed explanation after. Very thoughtful and courteous.

[@brandyscrow]

thank you I've played 1500 hours and you still helped me understand this better, thank you

[@italianspartacus]

my pleasure brother :)

[@AssignedCryptid]

I have Charm on my Warlock and it's fantastic, I don't think I've ever lost a roll on it.

[@alejandrareyes8098]

I was going to comment the same, so far I've never seen an enemy roll a successful save on Charm and it's been super useful to have as a reaction, but I'm only just finishing Act 1

[@banann_ducc]

I have only successfully landed it once

[@ChristopherGlymph]

My monk is about 70% successful with charm all the way through Act 3. I don’t let it go off every time, especially if there’s something about to run away from him. It’s interesting to see the AI change its tactics when you have an opportunity attack at the ready. But with hard hitting fighters, yeah. I often send him in alone, so when he charms, they just freeze.

[@saltisspicy]

solid content. let's you know all the information you want upfront with no banter or dragging things out. you're a gem.

[@malonjoy]

This was very useful. I really appreciate how much information you were able to give us without any spoilers (I just started the second act). Super excited to get as far into this as I can :)

[@piratepigc]

Perilous stakes also works outside of combat. Just turn on turn based moves, and make attacks

[@adamruehmer8376]

Thank you for structuring things the way you did here, I got precisely the info I needed without any spoilers. 10/10 mate.

[@Zexion24]

Using a black hole before unloading cone of cold and other aoe ice spells is amazing

[@joshholmes1372]

Or mind blast

[@micmic2575]

You can also do this before combat with minor illusion. Nasty way to surprise the enemy.

[@davidcarter5504]

I always appreciate you giving the TL:DR in the beginning of the video. Honestly, I rarely ever watch peoples full videos, but due to the way that you have things laid out, I find that I do watch most of yours all the way through. Great job as usual.

[@dt5690]

yeah, it's amazing how such a small wholesome thing can actually make you say "screw it, even if I understood what the video is about, I will watch it in its entirety, just because this guy deserves some help with the algorithm."

[@BrandonMarshall547]

Man I was avoiding this video because I was unsure of the consequences without wanting to see spoilers. And the 1st 2 minutes cleared that up perfectly. Thank you again for the amazing content.

[@jacopobelbo1399]

I have found that if you get your 4 main party members loaded up with just favorable blessings and luck of the far realms; plus concentrated blast and then both psionic backlash/cull the weak it is a pretty good setup. anybody who casts against your party is often getting all 4 people doing a psionic backlash and with each person with 5 powers anybody down to 5 hp is insta-killed.

[@CaitlinRebecca-f4w]

This video is perfect! The info most people are coming for is given straight away, really good spoiler warnings, and a detailed rundown of each of the powers and what they do. Thank you!

[@TheEpicNub]

End of act 2 spoilers; After you free the Night Song at the end of act 2 you can try to leave the shadow fell and return to the mountain pass, after 4 attempts you will get a cutscene and a game over screen. However, if you save, then load the save, your party will be alive and transformed into mind flayers, now you can teleport out and enjoy the game with the full illithid skill tree without any of the investment, but you stay a mind flayer cosmetically.

[@MrShinoTheBugman]

I respect giving the simple summary toward the start.

[@jamesstrasser637]

Illithid powers are amazing flavor and damage with great old one Warlock and as a druid you can unlock Displacer Beast as a wildshape which is nuts

[@johnathonhowerton8465]

Cull the weak and backlash are fantastic together, ive had on backlash drop a creature down to Cull the Weak level kill half a group with the extea 1-4 psychic damage, plus its always fun to see enemies just randomly explode

[@Yoshie121]

Psionic Backlash has been so much fun for my wizard. Since it procs before a spell goes off and when paired with the one that slaughters enemies when they reach an HP threshold, I've gotten some fun kills and negated a few spells along the way. Really good.

[@cixelsyd40]

It gets even better the more people who have it.

[@raspberryjam3724]

In every video on this channel I've watched, the guy has had a TLDR at the very beginning of the video and for that reason alone, I'm subscribing

[@xSintex]

I went through the entire game not using them or illithid wisdom a single time (except for the forced time during prologue), and had quite a few comments throughout the game, as well as some interesting interactions with *you know who*. Definitely worth doing a playthrough without using them, if you enjoy conversations.

[@sanokillzone]

Really like how you respect the viewers time. Respect and subbed.

[@DCdabest]

Thanks for putting the TLDR at the start man. Dropping a comment to boost the channel because I appreciate that you made the guide to be frank and informative and not drag it out for easy trending views.

[@Showu99able]

As a paladin, investing in only favorable beginnings and luck of the far realms is often times enough. Being able to control when you crit smite can be huge against something nasty

[@destinygalearies7382]

You can also combo it with that one surgeon's necklace from the Sharran nurses in act 2. Grants Paralyzing Critical which (at will) allows you to stun your target for a turn upon a critical hit once per long rest. I haven't personally had any need of it since I play on Balanced, but I imagine stunning a dangerous enemy for a full turn can buy you the time you need to kill other enemies or just make sure you're taking less damage/not receiving any debuffs

[@PaulRGauthier]

Thank you for talking about the skill trees / prerequisites and not just the circles!

[@Ithadir]

Hey man, appreciated that you were upfront with the most of the information (and dive into the details after) ! You got a new subscriber for sure ! :D

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you so much brother!!

[@lkid44]

I stopped watching after two minutes because you perfectly answered my questions without spoilers, and I very much appreciate that. Even though the all mighty algorithm will think otherwise, your video was successful.

[@cryofpaine]

Psychic Backlash is beautiful! It's just a free hit on a caster, which is usually squishy. Cull the Weak is also great if you put worms in everything. I just entered Act 2, and I already have 11 Illithid points, so if I take them down to 11, they just die.

[@janbutala9519]

I hope you have shared some between companions ;)

[@cryofpaine]

@@janbutala9519 Nope. Astarion's the only one who's expressed any interest, and I figure he's already a vampire, he doesn't need any more power.

[@alextheonewarrior]

Psychic backlash with cull of the weak is amazing. Great way to takeout a low enemy caster without being punished. If they die, the spell doesnt go through. Lots of the ilithid powers are amazing. One of my characters brains was maxed and he was probably the strongest companion aside from karlach taking 5 40 damage swings a turn

[@kolbyyoung8525]

How do you find 11 before act 2?

[@cryofpaine]

@@kolbyyoung8525 Halsin's desk Brother Ed by the enclave the 3 Goblin leaders The head Gnoll when rescuing the 2 in the cave by Karlach 2 in the healer's office in the Gith Creche Nere (the one trapped in the cave in in the Underdark) Those are the only ones I can remember, so my count might have been off by a couple.

[@rebeccadittman6350]

I appreciate you answering my question right at the beginning instead of trying to hook me into the whole video. And so I am here, giving you a comment and a like.

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you! Very much appreciated!

[@springonions01]

In my first playthrough I embraced the power of the tadpole. I think using it for roleplaying is its strongest point.

[@bjorn-falkoandreas9472]

I am even refraining as much as possible from using the Ilithid options in conversation. Still on my first playthrough and main motivation of my ranger is to get rid of the worm and slice up whoever did that to us. Chaotic good. Already planning my next playthrough which will follow the personal power gains. In which case I don't think being part of a collective will really work out, either. Chaotic evil.

[@DragonEagle99]

Psionic overload is actually really nice on characters with lots of attacks like a monk with the thief rogue multiclass that can spam like 5 hits a turn :) small edit: stil wouldnt recommend it before level 5 or higher since after that point taking 1-4 damage is not that bad

[@pushaltf4114]

About Psionic Overload, If you have an easy means of getting temporary hit points you could conceivably never take any damage from it. I use it all the time +1-4 from Psionic Overload, +1-6 Poison amulet +1-4 Necrotic gloves, +1-4 Psychic ring and +2 Acid ring. +6-20 extra damage every hit. My pommel strike sometimes does more damage than a normal attack.

[@TheCthultist]

Black Hole and Displacer Beast Transformation are some of my favorite abilities in the entire game… but I totally get not wanting to go down that path.

[@WhyDoBabiesStareAtMe]

Black Hole crossed with Hunger of Hadar is such a broken combo.

[@KidVolcano]

Thanks for the warnings, I'll come back after I finish my playthrough

[@Johnny_Isometric]

That it, I’m gonna have to play a Great Old One Warlock and feed my brain to several worms for power.

[@Mhmmz]

Let your cult grow and take control of the absolute as your own

[@76597-d]

I didn’t even watch the video pass the intro but the fact that you gave a good warning about spoilers earned they subscribe for me today! I watched a bunch of your other videos and I am a fan! Thanks

[@zionmarcelo]

for the half-illithid converse/ choice, you need to beat a roll of 21 with only wisdom bonus if you want to avoid it, so if your char has low wisdom you are screwed (unless you keep re-loading)

[@terrini4629]

lol... my wife so lucked out on this. we were playing together. I wanted the power, but she REALLY didn't... I didn't know that this is when and how that choice came so I didn't caution her against speaking to the Emperor and she stepped forward and did so and have to make that roll. She needed a 21 and passed because she rolled a 20... critical success.

[@MaiseNow]

Thank you for being respectful of spoilers in such an easy topic to spoil! So, so many creators just assume if you've found their content you've finished the game already, know everything, and don't give any notice for when a spoiler happens. I've had Dark Urge spoiled for me a bit thanks to that. I've used a decent number of powers in my first run as bard, but the illithid powers that you can get after the big spoiler at act 3 really changed the game for me. Looking forward to using even more powers in my Dark Urge ranger after I finish up with my bard!

[@andreaso8886]

I like how you emphasize the roleplay aspect of your character 'If I stay true to his nature, I shouldn't do this'. I really like this as most people are 'What gives me the most power? Who cares about the backstory in my head'. You are truly a roleplayer who'd I welcome to our table.

[@m3chanist]

Exactly

[@Heavenly_Heal]

Also massive props for taking SUCH METICULOUS EFFORT to let us know that spoilers are coming and when.

[@ConfusedEli]

Be careful with “Concentrated blast” as when you use it while concentrating it will stop your concentration and end the spell.

[@DCdabest]

A note on Psionoc Overload. You can get resistance to psychic damage elixers and gear that help you to resuce the 1d4 to a max of 2 damage. This can then be negated completely by wearing gear with the Magical Plate tag. So you get a free 1d4 on every hit that you do on an enemy. Stacks very nicely with magic missle.

[@blackblade99009]

honestly a warlocks power is entirely borrowed and chaotic so worm powers kind of fits.

[@twtuch1217]

Can confirm about the Illithid Charm! I ran it on my Wizard, and it actually saved me so many times.

[@jbinfa7k]

As a paladin I do not consume any "worm" for power at all, but I do summon undead. LOL

[@JohnAnliker]

Loading one character up as a psychic warrior with all the tadpole abilities and making them Awakened (making all Illithid powers cost only a bonus action) via the Zaith'isk at the Gith Creche is insanely fun. Add in the Resonance stone and it becomes absolutely bonkers!

[@jackbpace]

I enjoyed having unlimited fly on all my characters. But the Z is sporadic. Sometimes is uses fly, sometimes is still wants to jump. Charm seemed useless to me on Paladin as they always resisted. But I found repulsor w/ cull the weak quite nice when surrounded in some of later battles. I had some nice chain effects go off.

[@cannibalpacker]

The Z option was so annoying I put fly on the custom bar in the 1 position for every character.

[@1SaG]

!!!Minor spoilers!!!: From a story-/role-playing POV, I think I'll *always* stomp on that special tadpole, no matter what. I mean... the whole sequence of events leading up to it was a pretty disturbing reveal and twist and I absolutely love the game for subverting my expectations WRT the Dream Visitor and everything related to that. But ... this is probably the only point in the story (that I encountered so far) where the game *really* tries to push you into a certain direction. Even if you choose the "I will never be an Illithid"-response (or something to that effect), the Narrator will then tell you that your character didn't really mean it when he said that. You still don't need to accept the unlock, sure... but I felt a bit bullied at this point and for that reason alone I rejected the offer. Maybe if I ever do a Dark Urge play-through, I'll probably accept the Emperor's offer - but it just doesn't fit with my usual play-style when it comes to alignment. It's one thing to make the most out of the fact that you have been tadpoled. You start out the game with a tadpole in your head, nothing you can do about that... so you might as well use that thing in its "normal" state. But accepting the enhanced parasite, to me, would be trying to push things to another level and to actively embrace your infection.

[@baydiac]

Don’t forget the way the tadpoles work! Way in the beginning when you see a dying mindflayer, the game outright tells you you’re in love with it. No choice, you just are. The little bugger is in your brain controlling your thoughts. Even if your character says no, the _tadpole_ is going to be hard at work trying to gaslight you that you didn’t mean it. At least, that’s how I interpreted things…

[@TheRockhound119]

I didn't think about using Perilous Stakes on an enemy. Might actually have use then. Also the charm, I almost never saw saves. However, the charm doesn't stop the npc from attacking other characters, just the one.

[@christophercrafte]

Charm can waste an enemy's turn, if they have multi attack and are melee, then they need to move away to attack anyone else.

[@jgriff.]

Subscribed for the simple fact that all tho most people would click off the moment you said there’s no penalty for using the powers you still put it at the front of the video 💯

[@drteeth362]

I didn’t consume a single parasite my first playthrough and really didn’t have much trouble not having any powers.

[@Kenobi_Cowboy]

Finally a Ranger has a guide and "ship,"! Learned a bit and insta-subbed out of solidarity. Thanks for the spoiler pause, even if I'm on my third Ranger build and totally wanted to see the late game spoilers for ideas. This game is glorious. I tend towards Reaction options.

[@ToadimusPrime]

I love the powers but I hate the black veins. Used them on Tactician because power, but usually I don't evolve them past tier 1

[@Martin-di9pp]

I slept on Black Hole since September really. Finally tried it out on my latest run with a warlock Tav and it's just incredibly useful to gather enemies in one spot and drop spells like Hunger of Hadar or Cloudkill on them. It's a game changer on encounters where enemies are spread all over the place.

[@Bayonet1809]

I got to Act 3 without using any of these powers because Larian had hinted that using them would have consequences, but I have been having no issue with Tactician difficulty despite that. Although now I know that I could use them without consequences, because these powers look so strong, using them now feels like it would just be cheating. Also, I don't like the black vein visual effect on my characters, so I will be skipping them.

[@Duran762]

That’s stupid how would it be cheating 😂

[@TheOptimistDelusion]

@@Duran762 He said "LIKE it would be cheating" which is fair; Game's easy enough without squiddy power cheese

[@cocytusdedi6676]

I love how much effort you put in for the viewers enjoyment rather then for more watch time; making a summary at the start, warning of spoilers and saying people should stop watching is all very respectable.

[@AzureRaven2]

Spoiler warning late act 1: . . . . . . If you succeed in 3 checks against the Zaith'isk in the githyanki creche, the actions from this tree turn into bonus actions, which really mixes up how useful a lot of these are.

[@FatalHog]

Yeah, send lae'zel to camp for this, and do it urself, the checks are relatively easy

[@booskie4316]

@@FatalHog If you tell her you're going first and she's only made it because of you, she actually gives you +1 approval.

[@bitcaps8197]

Lae'zel lasted a really long time, with lots of encouragement from me, but eventually the Zaith'isk blew up, kinda permanently damaging her mind. It's so amazing to have decisions like this available.

[@babyshowerhazard]

I’m at the end of act 2 and I’ve collected 8 tadpoles by now. I’ve just been hoarding them because I’m in a “good” run and I didn’t know if using them would affect the story. You answered my question pretty immediately. Thank you!

[@deepbreeze9058]

I skipped the spoiler bit. All I want to know is is there any difference story-wise between dipping a toe with an ability or two and going full on? Or is it binary, do or don't?

[@italianspartacus]

Nope! You'll be totally fine. The spoiler point is the only big difference

[@Fahad2k1]

You're informative and straight to the point. You just earned a new subscriber.

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you brother!

[@Kyle496]

Engagement for the algorithm

[@JaneDoe2007]

I don't play the game, I like watching the content and I'm loving yours. I really like the format of your videos with the TL:DW at the beginning, but I'm still finding most videos engaging enough to watch in full. Thank you for your efforts. Keep up the good work.

[@aoikuroyuri6536]

You technically forgot one ... The one you can get from a friend in the underdark if you enjoy his juice

[@Bayonet1809]

Could you give more explanation please?

[@DreNizzo]

Bumping this.

[@Mikeofzedead]

There is a friendly Mindflayer near Sovereign. Mushroom enthousiast... You know, that one.

[@Bayonet1809]

@@Mikeofzedead Oh right, the special Survival Instinct action, which is similar to Death Ward, but with healing. I forgot about that.

[@Wael911iii]

Huge respect when u start with straight to the point Respect for that i will watch the whole video

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you brother!!

[@TheDutchOrange]

SPOILER: you cant avoid the wisdom check for turning half illithid at the end of act 2 if you used tadpoles so make sure to have min +2 Wis or avoid the tadpoles if you dont want black goo all over ur face!

[@jamesmoriarty2001]

BTW, couldn't avoid your spoiler because is scrolls across while watching the video. Thanks for ruining the story.

[@TheDutchOrange]

@@jamesmoriarty2001 it says spoiler in caps and also you are on a guide video that’s literally about a core mechanic of the game, not much else could have been done to avoid a spoiler except you not reading anything after “SPOILER:” also it’s not inherently giving you any specified info on why and how this happens in the story, plus at this point you’re not even in act 3 yet so more than enough to not “ruin” the amazing stories that BG3 has :) (This also is pretty useful knowledge for anyone who doesn’t know want their first character to turn half illithid agains their will, it’s a RPG after all)

[@charlesboots6508]

Psionic Backlash stacks per character, so if all 4 of you have it unlocked, especially if your reaction usually goes unused, it's fantastic.

[@danielcaparros]

One important thing to say is that first row of tadpoles are refunded if u use before turing half mind flayer

[@certanmike]

Good to know I feel like you don't get all the worms you need

[@ColJamLam]

loved how straight forward the information was! Great advice!

[@BennettProductions99]

good info but would have been nice to show these in action

[@italianspartacus]

Awesome point! I just tried to cut down on time

[@dylansheil2992]

I love how you front load the info. Instant sub.

[@italianspartacus]

Thanks brother!!

[@ToriToeBeans]

finally! thanks for giving the info i actually needed, especially at the start of the video!! you're the best :D

[@italianspartacus]

Glad you liked it!

[@EmptyCrevice]

I've been playing a great old one warlock, and that ability to just cause a crit to happen is so so good to save until theres a crowd of enemies because you can just instantly mass fear the general grunt enemies and really focus the tough ones

[@BlakeCerisano]

Note: Perilous Stakes is AMAZING on a wizard using an upcasted magic missle because each missle counts as an attack. I's use it on Gale and everytime he was about to die, I'd put this on him and have him cast the highest magic missle upcast he could and he'd just full heal instantly.

[@Syrin23]

Didn't watch because of worry for spoilers, BUT the psionic interruptions and ability to fly are worth it.