Baldur’s Gate 3: Are there any consequences to using Illithid Powers?

From the very beginning of Baldur’s Gate 3, you are tempted with consuming mind flayer parasites. Anytime you consume one of these little tadpoles, you gain an ability point for your Illithid Powers. This ability tree is separate from your normal skills and features completely separate abilities and powers.

While these powers might be tempting, many players have wondered if there are any long-term consequences to consuming the Illithid parasites.

There are dozens of different powers available in the Illithid menu. From casting a powerful Concentrated Blast to several passives that can have an effect on your entire party, these powers can completely change how you go about combat encounters. Of course, whenever you use an Illithid on one of these abilities, your brain starts to turn a gray color and sports some black veins.

Naturally, this might give you some trepidation on whether or not to keep acquiring Illithid Powers in BG3.

Are there any consequences to using Illithid Powers?

In short, there are no real consequences to using Illithid Powers in BG3. If you’re wondering if using too many of them will completely change your character or give you a bad ending, then you can put your mind at ease.

However, there are some short-term consequences to consuming the tadpoles. For one, the more you use, the more some characters will disapprove of your actions. Shadowheart and Lae’zel specifically will hate this choice while Gale and Astarion will actually approve of you taking advantage of the tadpole’s powers. Moreover, your character will start to get some black veins on their body the more Illithids you consume. This is only cosmetic, though, so it’s not related to gameplay.

The only consequence that comes from consuming Illithids comes during the start of Act 3 in BG3. You will have the option to unlock the outer ring of the Illithid Powers menu by transforming into a half mind flayer, but this is unrelated to simply unlocking and using the earlier Illithid Powers. If you decide to become a half mind flayer, then that will have more consequences for your ending and overall story.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: Can you save Karlach from dying in BG3?

In terms of just unlocking and using the powers, though, there is no real harm in it. In fact, you’re missing out on some terrific abilities if you don’t use any Illithid Powers. For the most part, choosing to use or not use them is a role-playing choice on your part, so do whatever you think your character would do.