Baldur's Gate 3: The Pros and Cons of Becoming an Illithid Explained (2024)

WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for the plot of Baldur's Gate 3. Proceed at your own risk.

Baldur's Gate 3 is 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 is whether to use the power of the Illithid tadpole swimming in their brains. Either path has its pros and cons, but for some the cost may be too high.

Baldur's Gate 3 opens 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.

RELATED: Baldur's Gate 3: Every Character That Can Join Your Camp

The Case for Harvesting Illithids in Baldur's Gate 3

Illithid pros:

• Unlocks a powerful skill tree.
• Makes Illithid Wisdom more powerful.

Illithid cons:

• Some companions will disapprove of the choice.
• Raises the possibility of becoming a mind flayer.

These plans get a wrench thrown in them when the party has a long rest and the Dream Guardian appears to 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 makes Baldur's Gate 3 combat far 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 many Baldur'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 to become a mind flayer in BG3, which doesn't necessarily need to happen if the Illithid powers are chosen.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently available on PC and is slated for a September 6, 2023 release for PlayStation 5.

MORE: Baldur's Gate 3: All Subclasses, Explained