Summary
After spending most of Act One ofBaldur’s Gate 3trying to remove the tadpole in your brain, you might want to apply the old saying: if you’re able to’t beat them, join them. As your dream visitor tells you, if you consume more tadpoles scattered around the game, you’ll gain powers similar to those of an Illithid.
But what are the real benefits of doing this? After all, you’re making the infection spread all throughout your brain. Who knows what consequences that could bring, even if the dream visitor assures you that there are no dangers? While the consequences are left for you to find out, it’s a good idea to be aware of the benefits, especially if you’re struggling with combat encounters in the game.
Updated on June 04, 2025, by Alfredo Robelo:As players dive into more and more playthroughs of Baldur’s Gate 3, they become more willing to experiment with the worms inside their heads. We’ve updated this article to add even more Illithid powers you can find, even including some that don’t require more tadpoles.
12Concentrated Blast
A Great Finishing Blow
Concentrated Blast is a bit niche in its use since, for the most part, only spellcasters can use it. You need to be concentrating on a spell, which then allows you to blast someone with this powerful psychic move; keep in mind that you’ll stop concentrating on the original spell if you cast it.
Since you lose concentration on the first spell, Concentrated Blast is best used as a finishing move, and it does the damage needed to do so. What’s more, it comes with an added benefit of healing you if your target was concentrating on something already, and if those conditions are met, you heal for the full damage dealt.
11Ability Drain
Perfect For Drawn-Out Fights
At the core of all systems in Baldur’s Gate 3 are ability scores. Strength, dexterity, charisma; all these and more define what characters can and can’t do. In combat encounters, the scores of all combatants are constantly facing off against each other, with the difficulty of most battles being decided by how large your opponent’s numbers are.
Ability Drain allows you to modify these core numbers during the heat of battle, something that very few spells and abilities can do. What you drain depends on what you use to attack, but you can strategize greatly around that. For example, you can shoot an enemy with arrows that will lower its dexterity, making it a prime target for your Wizard’s fireball.
10Psionic Backlash
Keep The Damage Going
Spell casters are very dangerous foes, so whatever advantage you may have against them is a real boon. Yet for many classes, especially melee-focused ones, even catching them can be a problem: they can vanish into thin air, or blast you to smithereens in the time it takes you to catch up.
While Psionic Backlash is far from the best option you could have against spell casters, it’s a great addition to your arsenal, since it triggers on your enemy’s turn. It’s a little bit of damage that keeps adding up; a Sorcerer with one hit point can still cast spells, but that very action can lead to its demise.
9Favorable Beginnings
A First Move That Counts
As you learn how tounlock the Illithid powers, you might notice there’s not a lot to choose from at first. Among those first options, Favorable Beginnings has to be the best one. This power is one of the few that isn’t limited to combat encounters only, and in reality it shines the most in social situations.
During combat encounters, you’ll be rolling multiple times against many foes, so having an advantage on only the first hit might not seem like a lot. However, in social situations, you don’t need more than one ability check to convince someone to do your bidding. This power is granted for free later on, but any tadpoles spent getting it will be refunded, so there’s no reason not to take this power as one of your firsts.
8Psionic Dominance
Don’t Let Them Act
Counter Spell is an incredibly powerful spell, ruining entire strategies that revolve around areas of darkness or fireballs. Psionic Dominance is very similar to Counter Spell, only more limited in its use. It only works on spells that target you specifically (or rather, the character with the ability unlocked), and only if that spell is equal or lower (in level) to your proficiency bonus.
Although not listed in the tooltip, Psionic Dominance can only be used once per long rest.
Yet all those limitations are understandable, since Psionic Dominance is not tied to a class or school of magic; it can actually be unlocked by any character. Multiple party members with this ability can make tricky encounters incredibly simple, since you counter most if not all of your opponent’s moves while being free to throw all you have at them.
7Illithid Expertise
Talk Your Way Out Of Everything
To be an Illithid is to be a master of manipulation, with or without the tentacles. Illithid expertise is a great way to show that, since it can make the least charismatic Barbarian be the most eloquent person in the room. And when used on high-charisma characters, you can basically convince everyone of anything.
When preparing an Illithid-focused playthrough, you might want to consider rushing to this power. You’d want your party members to have access to these powers as well, but they’ll need convincing. With Illithid Expertise, that’s a simple matter, even if you have a negative charisma score. For the rest of your party, however, this power is best avoided since you only need one character to do the talking.
6Freecast
No Spellslots? No Problem!
Spell casters like Wizards and Warlocks have a very limited pool of spell slots they can use, especially when it’s time to create walls of fire or summon elementals. Freecast essentially becomes an added slot for these abilities, and it can even be recharged by a simple short rest.
In case you’re confused about how to use it, Freecast is a togglable passive, meaning you can find it under passive abilities in your skill bar. Once you click it, the next spell or ability you use that requires expending something, will be cast for free. This is great for preparing for a combat encounter, summoning greater elementals for free, or during combat where you’d be casting lighting strikes more times than expected.
5Fly
Defy Gravity
The biggest reward that theAstral-Touched tadpolegives you is Fly. Being able to reposition yourself anywhere on the map, and without expending any actions, is invaluable. Without any need of a recharge, you can just fly out of reach of your enemies, as you stay safe from their blades and claws.
By the time you do get to have this ability, you could encounter the occasional enemy that also flies, but since you can share the Astral tadpole, you could have your whole party take to the skies, opening up all sorts of advantages and combos. Your companions will require convincing to become half Illithid, but it is well worth it.
4Displacer Beast Form
It Can Attack Up To Three Times Per Turn
Druids likeHalsinhave the powerful ability to take the form of a beast, using that creature’s abilities and hit points. Once their new flesh is destroyed, they go back to their humanoid form with their previous hit points intact; a more valuable protection is hard to come by. Gaining this benefit alone already makes the Displacer Beast Form the best Illithid Power, since spell casters can stay in combat for longer and tanks have more hit points to spare.
Most of the Displacer Beast’s attacks are bludgeoning, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on the encounter.
Yet that is all the benefits without talking about the Displacer Beast itself; not only does it move fast and do decent damage, but it can also generate clones constantly. It can even isolate enemies by teleporting them away from their allies, leaving even more clones behind.
3Survival Instinct
No One Dies On My Watch
Survival Instinct is a power related to the Tadpole, but that doesn’t require any new worms being inserted. Instead, you need to complete Omeluum’s quest in the Underdark, and his probing inside your mind will make your Tadpole more resilient, gaining this new ability.
The ability lets you target an ally and, if they fall to zero hitpoints, they are instantly healed by a small amount instead. This opens you up to a lot of dangerous strategies without the need of an elaborate setup; you can become the target of an incredibly dangerous attack, knowing that, if it becomes a lethal blow, you’ll still shrug it off.
