So I have a question about tadpoles.

[Hex]

Haven't played in ages and haven't kept up with the updates and was wondering, have they added any reason yet to not eat the worms? From an RP perspective, it's utterly stupid to feed something that's literally eating your brain and last I played there was 0 negatives for eating them.

Have they fixed this stupid mechanic in any way?

[Orion Invictus]

The same consequences for consuming tadpoles are still there. So, from your point of view, no, they didn't change anything.

[wtiger27]

I don't eat it. I only use a few tadpoles to get the passive bonus buff and the reaction.

I store the tadpoles in the camp and use them the same as my char for my companions. It's really not been a issue or concern. I always decide to destroy the Brain and become clean of any tadpoles at the end.

That ending seems to be the most logical for my play runs.

[RemingtonRyder]

When the Emperor offers you the astral-touched tadpole, you can always say no if you haven't consumed any tadpoles. But if you have consumed tadpoles, then there's a DC 21 Wisdom check for you to refuse.

[Nomicoe]

Nope, I think it boils down to one easy save (DC 21 wis), and cosmetics.. Still pretty pointless sadly.

[Levianne]

I saw one YT short, about someone consuming too many tadpoles and it forced them to undergo a full ceremorphosis at the end. It was one of the domination endings, where the party dominates the Netherbrain and rules the world. The player dominated the brain as themselves, but a moment later changed into an Illithid and the commentary said it was because they gobbled too many tadpoles. So I don't know. Is it part of just that evil ending, or is it the case always when you pass a hidden number of tadpoles?

I could try to find that short, but not sure if I even saved it to favorites, or not.

[Hex]

Oki thanks.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by RemingtonRyder:

When the Emperor offers you the astral-touched tadpole, you can always say no if you haven't consumed any tadpoles. But if you have consumed tadpoles, then there's a DC 21 Wisdom check for you to refuse.

I have never failed that check. I make sure I don't. It's a BS check anyway. I generally have consumed all the tadpoles I will consume in a run. 2 -3 before I get to that point.

[jk2l]

if you play good ending. there is no downside as you commanded the elder brain destroy the tadpod

if you play evil ending and want to try to control elder brain, you will need to do a high DC con save or you will turn into mind flayer. i am not sure do the DC increase depends number of tadpod you have. for me it's a DC 25

[Hex]

The tadpole powers are complete trash anyways unless you go all in apart from like 1 ability you can live without.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by Hex:

The tadpole powers are complete trash anyways unless you go all in apart from like 1 ability you can live without.

It's true you can beat the game without using any tadpoles. But some of them are not trash IMO. They can be beneficial. Esp when playing on a higher difficulty than Balance.

But it's a option for those who want to use them. Personally I hate the look of using too many of them. So I avoid that.

[seeker1]

Spoilers?

You can mod out the half illithid appearance, or even get the Tier 2 powers without using the Astral Tadpole with mods. (There's even ways to get Tier 3 /full powers early.)

Yeah, other than the appearance change, there are no ultimate consequences, they will all be gone by the end, something you know after one playthrough.

I agree from a RP perspective, it's strange you are trying to avoid becoming a mind flayer and remove your tadpole; while the Emperor is trying to encourage you to become more like one and use more. Although you won't fully transition until and if ...

Funny thing. You can hear Guardian/Emp in your mind chide you when you miss or fail with an ordinary ability, and mentally cry out "good" when you use a tadpole ability. I think once you understand Emp fully by the end of the game, you know why he is pushing you this way. He wants you to be a mind flayer just like him, but autonomous like him.

"Complete trash": ehh some of the passives are quite nice. Psionic Dominance and Backlash. Luck of the Far Realms and Favorable Beginnings. Illithid Persuasion is must have for your active talker, usually Tav. The active abilities -- well, personally I think Mind Blast is best in Tier 2. Veddy nice. And well the Tier 3 - yes I know only you as a mindflayer should have them in the endgame, or your accompanying mindflayer, but mods CAN let you test those out early. And Improved Concentrated Blast, Nebulous Black Hole, and Strengthened Force Tunnel are quite nice.

Because you can use ICB without concentrating on another spell, your black hole damages enemies before sucking them into its core, and your force tunnel damages enemies while pushing them out of your way. A great rush attack for warrior types.

[Hex]

Originally posted by seeker1:

Spoilers?

You can mod out the half illithid appearance, or even get the Tier 2 powers without using the Astral Tadpole with mods. (There's even ways to get Tier 3 /full powers early.)

Yeah, other than the appearance change, there are no ultimate consequences, they will all be gone by the end, something you know after one playthrough.

I agree from a RP perspective, it's strange you are trying to avoid becoming a mind flayer and remove your tadpole; while the Emperor is trying to encourage you to become more like one and use more. Although you won't fully transition until and if ...

Funny thing. You can hear Guardian/Emp in your mind chide you when you miss or fail with an ordinary ability, and mentally cry out "good" when you use a tadpole ability. I think once you understand Emp fully by the end of the game, you know why he is pushing you this way. He wants you to be a mind flayer just like him, but autonomous like him.

"Complete trash": ehh some of the passives are quite nice. Psionic Dominance and Backlash. Luck of the Far Realms and Favorable Beginnings. Illithid Persuasion is must have for your active talker, usually Tav. The active abilities -- well, personally I think Mind Blast is best in Tier 2. Veddy nice. And well the Tier 3 - yes I know only you as a mindflayer should have them in the endgame, or your accompanying mindflayer, but mods CAN let you test those out early. And Improved Concentrated Blast, Nebulous Black Hole, and Strengthened Force Tunnel are quite nice.

Because you can use ICB without concentrating on another spell, your black hole damages enemies before sucking them into its core, and your force tunnel damages enemies while pushing them out of your way. A great rush attack for warrior types.

I should reiterate, "trash" was hyperbole. I meant they aren't that great. Luck of the far realms, the auto-crit, is the best one to quickly delete stuff but beyond that, they are super-meh.

[seeker1]

Again I disagree, facing lots of spellcasters (like in Shar's Temple), having party members with Counterspell and Psionic Dominance is really useful. Illithid Persuasion matters not in combat, but for the many ways to talk your way out of it.

The active powers are as good as some spells in the game; Mind Blast can stun a whole bunch of enemies in a cone, N Black Hole will gather them all in one spot (nice for various kinds of followup spells or attacks), and S Force Tunnel can have you push through legions of mobs, in a rush attack, scattering & damaging them. All not that bad.

In fact, the only way to get a wizard spell as good as Black Hole is through Mystra's spells, but Gravitational Singularity does the same thing.

[FunkyMonkey]

I've never eaten any. Only brain bug I have is the one they forced on me. I can't get to the RP of it and the whole system feels tacked on.

[Sazie]

I never used any tadpoles, just stored them away in camp thinking I might need them but I never did. Multiclass is good enough for me.