Baldur’s Gate 3 has proved to be among those top-notch high-end games that not only offer immersive graphics but an engaging and diverse gameplay. During the final act of BG3, players will come to a point where they can interact with a tadpole without much effort, this interaction can make you evolve into a Partial-Illithid, but before the players go any further with this interaction, they should know whether it is worth evolving or not?
Keeping that in mind, we have prepared this guide for such players who are not sure whether they should evolve or not in BG3. Once the consequences are clear, you can easily make up your mind on this interaction with the Astral-Touched Tadpole.
You might have made various choices in the previous acts that led you to gain some unique abilities, but this interaction with the tadpole is quite similar. Because, once you are evolved, you will gain a variety of powers and abilities. So, without any further let’s jump into our guide and see what you are going to get after the evolution.
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Evolve or Not in Baldur’s Gate 3: Explained!
Being a Baldur’s Gate 3 fan, you should already know that the whole story of the game rotates around the choices in each quest. However, these choices can lead you to different consequences as each choice holds a different scenario. Things could turn in your favor or they could also go against you sometimes.
Moreover, players do get choices which leads them to gain some unexceptional abilities that prove to be most useful for the rest of the game. One such choice appears during the early phase of Act III.
During Act III, you will meet the Guardian, his actual side will be revealed this time. Upon meeting the players come to know that the Guardian is an escaped Mind Flayer. During the meeting you can choose to trust him, in return, he will give you the Astral-Touched Tadpole. Consuming the tadpole makes you a Partial-Illithid.
This means you will have access to the tiers of Illithid and its powers. Not only that, your appearance will become changed, you will notice a dark appearance of your character’s skin color and there will be dark veins all over the body. Moreover, the eye color will be altered.
Apart from all of this, the party members will strongly disagree with you once you choose to become a Partial-Illithid. But, you should not worry as there is an option of convincing your team later on, although it’s kinda difficult.
Illithid Powers
Moving on to the Ilithid powers you get as a reward for becoming Partial-Illithid. Players get access to Tier 1 abilities and the ones from the last tier as well. But there is a little twist, the powers from Tier 1 are all accessible without any cost, whereas the third tier is accessible but the powers can be purchased with the points.
These are not just ordinary ones, rather they are considered to be the most powerful abilities. This transformation of your character grants you powers such as the one that can make you fly and there is another one that can make you a Displacer Beast.
Here are the top-rated abilities:
- Displacer Beast Shape (Action )
- Mind Blast (Action)
- Black Hole (Action)
- Absorb Intellect (Action)
- Fracture Psyche (Action)
- Freecast (Passive Feature)
- Illithid Expertise (Passive Feature)
- Psionic Dominance (Reaction)
With these unexceptional abilities and powers, you can make the rest of your journey a lot easier and more interesting. With the help of new abilities, it will be much simpler for you to get through certain areas of the map.
Now, becoming a Partial-Illithid doesn’t keep you from finishing up your last act in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it makes the journey much better. However, it’s still a choice that you can either accept or reject. But, do keep in mind that becoming a Partial-Illithid makes your party members strongly disapprove of your act. However, you can convince them later in the game.
Illithid Tadpoles
Illithid Tadpoles in Baldur’s Gate 3 are the stuff you need to unlock the locked Illithid Powers. Each of these tadpoles can unlock various powers for you. You know that there is an Illithid Power Menu that has the Illithid Skill Tree. This tree is based upon different skills.
Now, when it comes to obtaining tadpoles, they are available at different spots in each Act. In Act I, we have dozens of spots where you can find these tadpoles. Some are easy to obtain while others require some extra effort such as clearing the area from enemies, completing side-quests, and solving various puzzles.
Here are some spots from Act I where you can find the tadpoles.
- On a Dead True Soul in the Forest.
- Defeating Flind in Quest Find the Missing Shipment.
- In Durid Grove.
- By defeating True Soul Gut.
- By Defeating Minthara.
- By Defeating True Soul Nere.
- By Defeating Dror Ragzlin.
Moving on to Act II, in this part of your adventurous journey, you will come across several NPCs and a few spots that can give you tadpoles. Here are the exact scenarios.
- In the Moonrise Towers.
- In Mind Flayer Colony.
- By helping Dream Visitor before reaching Baldur’s Gate.
- In Oubliette on the body of Zealot Krizt.
- At Moonrise Tower Docks.
- By defeating Fist Marcus.
Now, at last, let’s see where you can find the tadpoles in Act III. Here are the spots.
- On a beach on the Northwest side of Rivington.
- In the Abandoned Windmill in Rivington.
- On the roof of Wyrm’s Rock Fortress.
- In the basement of Blushing Mermaid.
- In the Bloomridge Park.
- One tadpole in the Steel Watch Foundry.
- Near the Omeluum.
- On a ship in front of Steel Watch Foundry.
- In the Lodge.
- In the Sorcerous Sundries.
- One tadpole in the high-security vault of Counting House.
- Two tadpoles were found on Enver Gortash’s parents.
These are most of the tadpoles that you can find in the entire game. But, these are not all of them. You can search out many other tadpoles at different spots, you just have to look deeply in each spot.
How Does Illithid Powers Work?
Well, the process is quite simple and easy to understand. The way Illithid powers work is very similar to the spells in Baldur’s Gate 3. The first step is obtaining an Illithid Tadpole. The tadpoles are the main components you need to activate the Illithid Powers.
The next step involves using the tadpole in the Illithid Power Menu to unlock the power you wanna use. Now, when it comes to using the menu, it’s super easy to work with. In the power menu, you can notice 3 rings that are made up of Illithid Powers. The outer ring becomes available when you have unlocked all the abilities in the inner ring.
Now, the Active Powers and Passive Powers are two subcategories of Illithid Powers. The red-colored abilities in the menu are all active skills, and the grey colored are all passive skills.
Some of these abilities can heal your character and all of your party members, while others can prove to be battle-wining skills. The ones that work like attacking moves can cause a ton of damage and also prevent your target from making any movement. This simply means that your target receives heavy damage and it also doesn’t get a chance to perform any action.
We have already seen a few of these Illithid Powers above, the rest of them are listed here:
Stage Fright: This is an attacking ability that can do a maximum damage of 12 points. By using this ability your opponent will receive psychic damage whenever they miss an attack roll.
Psionic Overload: This is another attacking ability, whenever you attack your opponent, they will get an additional psychic damage of a maximum of 4 points. But, you will also receive psychic damage in each turn.
Ability Drain: This Illithid Power is based on the passive skill, instead of damaging your opponent, it helps you passively in a battle. The Ability Drain drains your target’s corresponding ability when you do an attack roll. This only happens for a single time in each turn.
Perilous Stakes: This one is another passive ability but is more useful when you are having a hard time in a fight. Perilous Stakes is a healing ability that you can use on any of your party members. Whenever that character attacks, the healing process will occur and it will do a healing of a maximum of 16 points in a single turn.
Transfuse Health: This is an attacking ability but instead of damaging it heals the target. So, what it actually does is it uses half of your remaining hit points to heal the target with the same amount.
Shield of Thralls: Shield of Thrall is a passive ability that spawns a shield around your character and gives 10 temporary hit points. In case, these temporary hit points are lost because of the incoming damage. The shield will blow and due to it, you get a chance to leave the opponents stunned.
Black Hole: This is one of the best passive Illithid Powers. Upon using a Black Hole, a spot will be created that causes a strong amount of gravity resulting in slowing down down nearby enemies. After using it the first time in a battle, you can cast five more Black Holes. However, you will have to take a short rest before you can cast it again.
Repulsor: Repulsor is an attacking Illithid Power that on use pushes away the opponent by 6 meters. Also, causes damage to the opponent which is a maximum of 12 points.
Fly: Fly is an active Illithid Power that doesn’t cause any damage and it also doesn’t help you out passively, instead the usage of this ability lets you fly to any spot easily.
Cull the Weak: This is one of the best passive Illithid Powers. Whenever you damage your opponent and its hit points become lesser than your number of evolved Illithid Powers then the opponent will die and it will also cause all the targets in close to receive a maximum of 4 psychic damage points.
What Happens If I Evolve BG3?
The most important question in BG3 is should you evolve or not? Well, the answer to this question is typically based on your interest, if you are willing to change your character’s appearance from a decently looking character to a more devilish-looking looking then you should go on.
Apart from that appearance, you are gonna get the unlocking of more powerful Illithid abilities which are in my opinion one of the best abilities in the entire game. Your appearance will completely change once you are evolved in BG3. You can easily see the dark veins on your body, and the eye color changes as well.
Becoming Partial-Illithid doesn’t mean that you become a negative character, but it’s just your looks that alter. The rest of the stuff remains quite the same as it was earlier. Apart from the Illithid Powers that get unlocked.
Should You Let the Emperor Evolve You in BG3?
Letting the emperor evolve you in BG3 is something that I would recommend to you guys as it is a part of the game and gives you more advanced abilities. Additionally, you can experience something different in your character, more importantly, something more powerful and unique.
The main reason for letting the emperor evolve you are hidden behind the Illithid Powers that you will be getting. Every die-hard BG3 fan would love to get their hands on those powers. So, you should go on and become a Partial-Illithid.
That’s everything from my side regarding the guide for BG3 Evolve or Not. So, now you know why you should choose to evolve in Partial-Illithid. You may not like the devilish appearance of your character but it’s worth it as you are getting more of a high-end abilities for the rest of the game.
The Illithid Powers that get unlocked after evolving are activated once you use the tadpoles. You just need to place those tadpoles in the Illithid Power Menu on your desired ability and you will get access to those new powers.
Hopefully, this guide has answered all of your queries regarding the evolving process in BG3. Stay connected with us for more exciting and fun-filled guides. See you in the next one. Until then keep on gaming!!
