this was me when i had to do it but thankfully i had an elixir of cloud giant on me, then i basically just became a super intelligent squid barbarian

Traded gains for brains...

Fortunately, Raphael's archives have a set of gauntlets and amulet which give you even more gains!

@@Nyrufa Yeah, those were a given for Barbarian, but still, mindflayers look lanky as fuck compared to the Fabio haired Hellboy that my Barbarian Tiefling was before.

Just equip the 23 Str gloves, GAINS AND THEN SOME

Am I the only one, who wishes for post-game content? Not necessarily expansion, but maybe NG+? Playing the game as mind flayer, or being accompanied by Karlach as illithid gives a whole another life to Disguise Self spell, as well as it gives a grip on huge power. I mean, I hate when you are given the best toys in the end of the game, when you cant have a good taste of them (ha-ha, 'Anathema', very funny, Larian) Although, I do realize, that NG+ would be probably stupid, since it would either be lvl 12 heroes beating up lvl 1 Intellect devourers, or the entirety of the game being lvl 12 characters and creatures, with rookie goblins being exactly as powerful as toughest enemies of act 3. On another hand, DLCs, if I get it correctly, are against company policy, so it's also probably not gonna happen. A pity.

@@anobstinatecephalopod4605 I am assuming they are more against releasing a game that has basically no content and wish to have a fully playable and full experience at launch. I wouldn't put it past them doing DLC for this game dragon age origins style (like awakening). But stuff like races?, they are more likely to add into the game as a base game update if at all (just my guess).

@@anobstinatecephalopod4605 It's a problem with games designed with very specific progression and endings, where there is no "game" when you beat the game, other than starting over. This isn't Skyrim where you can keep playing after beating the main storyline. Skyrim just keeps going if you want it to, letting you get more out of your highly developed player character. Locations respawn NPCs. in BG games, it's persistent, so you clear out some place and it stays cleared. It makes sense story wise as you make your way through a game, but not for replayability for your same character. All these different BG3 build videos? They're not that good until you get to endgame. By the time you get your characters where you want them to be, the game's over and you can't enjoy them as much as you want. I guess you could use some mod somewhere to cheat and get you what you want early on eventually, but the game I don't think is balanced around that. Anyways, it's a similar problem even BG1 & 2 had many years ago. You get your party to these fancy levels of power and the game is over already. I still remember way back in BG1's days, people making mods to add more levels to the game. But it didn't matter because the game was over anyways by the time you got to your max.

wait what necromancer ability gives you free casts of high level spells?

@@BlazingDarkness its called staff of cherished necromancy which has. Life essence harvest. It gives you one free spell use, no matter the level, per nemey you killed

I wish we could enjoy being a mind flayer longer instead of just using our new powers for ending....

​@@keklord6074kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mLmpo8qls5aqoac.htmlsi=RnOBF25phBJxjcFI for your next game

@@keklord6074 the most powerful powers, mindblast and blackhole, you can use the whole 3rd act

*Lae'zel Disapproves*

@@keklord6074 IIRC there's a glitch to keep playing as a mind flayer after you get the early transformation ending, but it prevents you from leveling up so you should make sure to hit lvl 12 before doing it

Act 3 doesn't have the same care given to it so it lines up. Maybe we'll get a definitive edition with all our valid criticisms addressed

@@nicholasmiranda6013 Agreed, but I can appreciate the option. I'd personally like to become a swole flayer.

​@@pmj0128 Well mind flayers are all about using psychic powers, there's a reason you don't see any of them wield weapons. They make up for physical force with mental force

@@nicholasmiranda6013 oh is it like "railroaded"?

​@@Stoss_ Not exactly. It's the final act, so you can expect a bit of "you've got one goal left" type vibes. It does feel a bit empty towards the latter half of act 3

Fr dude we look hella weak 😂

I'm assuming it's due to the fact that you're a freshly turned Mind Flayer

@@ghiaccioreviews3369not true. You will see through your encounters humans turning into mindflayers and they are just as big and cool looking as the emperor. For some odd reason our character looks weak and small it doesn’t make sense.

@@Chaseneiz I assume it is because we are ''new generation'' mind flayer. We absorbed Orpheus's power and even before that, our relationship with parasite was unique thanks to the prism. In time we will probably look like Emperor.

illithid dont grow and change as they get older, they are what they are from the point of transformation. you could argue its a new type born from the special tadpoles, but it doesnt make much sense following illithid lore. they dont like change or unexpected outcomes. conformity is the name of the game. when a new illithid is born that isnt like the others it is often killed or banished (like gnome illithids) @@keklord6074

Literally me :D I feel so wrong

hey hey hey no way my guy whos been avoiding eating those worms gonna have to kill himself must be a way free man no wayyy

Yep sacrificial mc's are a staple.

@@theepicduck6922 actually not as much lately, they always get good ending where they survive. Glad this one gave a choice to end it entirely.

I decided to risk it out there. Tab is very powerful and the transformation can be reversed with a wish spell. And I got 4 great friend who can help keep me on a leash to find it

@@dylanschenkelberg7399 Acording to the lore, turning into a mind flayer destroy your soul, so its not your character anymore, it is just the tadpole with your character memories.

Lol

Steel guys? All you have to do is eat the tadpoles you get including the "juiced" up ones.

Or just leave it to your sort-of-friendly neighborhood Mind Flayer Emperor.

Probably because the incubation process on those ships advance the progression.

Good luck on your playthrough 👍🏽

just dont play on the hardest difficulty

There is a lot to learn but this game is very forgiving since you can just respec your character with a low cost.

My advice you to make your play through a hell of a lot easier set one character up as the throwing God, I love using Karlac, for that And another doing dual hand crossbows the game will become Easy Mode for you after that. And always keep at least 2 summons out if able it will really make the more overwhelming fights easier. And just like Friday the more turns your side gets the better your chances of winning

BRO IT'S SO HARD AAAH. I had to reload my attempts to kill Dror Ragzlin like 7 times and kept failing. I just ditched the attempt, did some exploring and came back as a level 4 and finally nailed it. I'm constantly reloading junk on a balanced playthrough and it's tough!

Mind flayer bard: I roll to seduce the kraken

That's a great idea for my next playthrough 😂

Yes I can

I don't recall having to roll to resist but then I didint use any of the tadpole powers and im told thats probably why.

@@Exarch_Of_Justice Could be, I used like 2 tadpoles until that moment

​@@__-tp4tmI had every available tadpole swimming in my noggin around that time and didn't have to roll to resist it

@@maddoxio Don't know, maybe they changed it? For me, the Emperor was very persisting, not accepting my prior No, then I had to roll. But hey, it played out okay anyways.

it was so sad seeing my tav who had worked so hard and had saved everyone get forgotten and never remembered for all of his accomplishments and had to go into hiding so as not to be a threat. salt in the wound was Shadowheart having to leave, and then also having to pass a constitution check to not eat Gale

Np man

I'm pretty sure the context is different due to the events of the story. Like, i dont think the Durge loses its connection to Bhaal.

It depends. If a God has a strangle on your soul, a puny tadpole is not going to destroy it. For example, even if you are a Mind Flayer, Bhall still has control over you, meaning your soul is still existing. Probably the same with Mystra.

nope, you're still you, your soul just became non-apostolic.

​@@kaantax8666 Ie, a soulless husk. Like all Mind Flayers.

@@Mare_Man nope, you still have a soul

I think we, as players, are the embodiment of the tadpole. Just because mini-squidward doesn't get his happy ending of ceremorphosis all the time, doesn't mean our echo and drive don't linger. Like a splinter in Tav's minds eye. Slowly driving them insane.

Hope not becoming a flayer is a terrible idea

😂 Terrible idea.

20 level wizard mindflayers do exist. And they sometimes turn into lich, called Alhoon.

@@onesometoomuch Inaccurate. Under 5E, Alhoons are considered a CR 10 and can cast up to level 6. However, as powerful as that is, that's still the baseline for an Alhoon. That's an Alhoon that never put in any effort to become stronger and instead just coasts by on its natural abilities. I feel like that is something that most people don't really get when it comes to how monster stats work in D&D. See, the stats for monsters given are literally for slacker monsters that never make any effort to get stronger, just getting by on the natural abilities they possess. An ogre's baseline strength is 19, meaning that without ever putting in any effort, the most out of shape ogre is still a minimum of 19 strength. Any sapient monster can gain class levels, but there's always a experience adjustment attached to that, making it harder to level up because the natural talents that monsters possess hinder their ability to grow stronger through effort and experience. Like the ogre example above, that 19 strength means that most enemies go down effortlessly, so it would have to find and fight strong foes to gain the experience needed to get stronger. However, most evil creatures are cowardly by nature, and will not risk their lives fighting strong opponents even if it meant getting stronger, preferring instead to use their superior abilities to bully the weak. Be grateful for that: A level 20 Ogre barbarian would be unimaginably strong, and a level 20 alhoon wizard would be practically a god. Heaven help anyone forced to fight an ancient green dragon that is also a level 20 cleric of Tiamat, because at that point I'm not sure who would be worshipping who.

Man, that description makes me sad we couldn’t play as one earlier in the game. The entire game I wanted to play as a mind flayer, and it sucks that not only is it a permanent and non-wild-shape-like ability, it only counts for the epilogue. And yeah, I know mind flayer a shouldn’t be able to go from human, to mind flayer, and vice versa at will, but that was my dream.

Man, that description makes me sad we couldn’t play as one earlier in the game. The entire game I wanted to play as a mind flayer, and it sucks that not only is it a permanent and non-wild-shape-like ability, it only counts for the epilogue. And yeah, I know mind flayer a shouldn’t be able to go from human, to mind flayer, and vice versa at will, but that was my dream.

Man, that description makes me sad we couldn’t play as one earlier in the game. The entire game I wanted to play as a mind flayer, and it sucks that not only is it a permanent and non-wild-shape-like ability, it only counts for the epilogue. And yeah, I know mind flayer a shouldn’t be able to go from human, to mind flayer, and vice versa at will, but that was my dream.

Being a race of psychic mind readers, lying isn’t something they really do, they’ll still be sneaky and tricky but not liars

He doesn't force you tav just doesn't want to do it. If you used any tadpoles it counts as embracing so denying partial ceremorphosis becomes a skill check. The more you use the higher the skill check gets.

@@calvintyler9281 He kinda did. I didn't ant to change, I used the tadpoles before but the partial ceremorphosis was still something I said no in the dialogues. And I won the skill checks too. So I do count that as "No, I don't want that" and him saying "yeah, you'll get use to it."

They should of let us customize him when he turned full mind flayer

The ood😂

Not a lot

@@LilMeep_x thanks

Half mind flayer is just for gameplay purposes and really has no bearing on the outcome of the game.

Literally the ending about 1hr worth of play as a mind flayer

@@LilMeep_x What are the powers associated with it? Out of curiosity.

Nice!!!@@LilMeep_x

@@authorindisguise5173 It gives you the ilithid powers but enhanced. You get another action for example.

You have to pick yourself or someone in your group to be it and it’s one of the endings

​@@LilMeep_xcan you play as a mindflayer in the main game??

@@owenbruh9811 its near the end of the game so you can but not for long (update pc players can use a mod from nexus mods, Ring of Ceremorphosis - become a Mind Flayer mod)

Lae'zel breaks up with you (not a surprise there, you became the thing she hates the most), Karlach goes to hell anyway, Shadowheart has a cutscene where she tells you that even if you became an illithid you two are gonna make it work. So to put it simply, of all the companions, only shadowheart says she's good with that! As for Astarion, Wyll, Gayle and Halsin, I truly don't know.

@@colinlege9998 Wow I didn't expect Shadowheart to come through like that! Halsin basically ditches you in the 'good' ending so I assume it wouldn't be much different if you were a mindflayer

@@colinlege9998 They're right to abandon you. Mind Flayers have no souls, and can't truly feel emotions. Your personality remains because you're still young and adjusting to your new existence. But over time, you would become gradually more sociopathic, until you turn on your former lovers because they were becoming a liability.

​@@Nyrufaor somehow make it work. It's how a character is made that defines the meaning of it. Probably or you go to some goblin hoard and consider it a Vegas buffet. No goblins attacking the countryside

@@articusramos808 Without emotions, you have no empathy, and thus would inevitably become a sociopath. As a mind flayer, you would only tolerate your 'partner' for as long as it continued to benefit you. But once they became a hinderance or a liability, you would abandon them immediately. The only info I could find on a mind flayer's feeding schedule states they have to eat at least 1 brain from an intelligent creature every month to remain healthy, but they can go up to 3 months without brains before starving to death. With an average age of 120 years, that's 1,440 victims they need to devour to sustain themselves, per mind flayer.

No you can’t

​@@LilMeep_xI'm curious about the armor you get in the Emperor's old hideout, they are clearly made for an Illithid when you look at their appearance (and the Emperor made them when he was already an Illithid so it should be logial for our pc to be able to wear them)...perhaps you can put them on? Have you tried it? Does it change anything?

@@colinlege9998You are only a mindflayer for like 20 minutes and the game ends

Bro was dripped out fr fr

@@LilMeep_x fr

Half transformation is only at the start of act 3 and makes no difference for the story. It's just for gameplay purposes (trust me, those powers are SUPER important for some of the boss fights, especially Black Hole and Mind Sanctuary). Full illithid is near the end and is an optional thing which affects the ending you get (there are several endings)

SPOILER you can become mind flayer somewhere early in Act 3. The sequence from the cinematic is like last few minutes of the game.

@@Kheti I didn't completely become a flayer, just a hybrid and I don't understand why >< yet I absorbed a lot of larvae and used the powers

​@@mishra266The game is really bugged right now, the number of larva you consume doesn't affect anything in game sadly. The larva the emperor gives you turns you into an Half-Illithid, no matter how many tadpoles you have.

@@mishra266 you can only become a full-blooded illithid near the end of the game. No matter what you do, there's no option to transform earlier.

yup.........hate it. it got talked up SOOOOOOOOO much but nothing you can do will make you into one until the VERY end

No one who makes all-encompassing statements about "western" games deserves to have their opinion taken seriously.

@@Mare_Man 🤡🤡🤡

@user-xe4yk8gk3z Thanks for the self-portrait, dunno why you put it here though.

@@Mare_Man 🤡🤡🤡

From what I played more attack turns before your turn is over

Give him the stones if you trust him

I’ve never had a problem running the game

It’s the armor you get when you do her trials and I painted it red with white

Do you mean romance options? It depends on the character ,some will refuse and some will accept

Only like 30 minutes then you beat the game

Lost the feeling that many mortals have, explains cold calculated conscience that Mindflayers have in the first place.

You get more times to attack on a enemy

every illithid power you have is buffed (mind blast is once per turn instead of once per long rest for example, literally broken you can stunlock enemies with that), you get tentacle slash attack and a brain eating attack, but other than that i didnt actually check

lol

I think you get his powers that’s why we eat his brain

Orpheus' psionic magic is the only thing protecting you and the emperor from the influence of the absolute. Since he's a Githyanki Prince he has innate psionic powers (not too dissimilar from a mindflayer, mind you). By eating his brain you gain his psionic resistance to the absolute and as a mindflayer you can use the netherstones.

@@LilMeep_x it is weird that balduran doesn't just do that himself though right?

@@dasuberpandayou can choose for him to eat orphs brain.

Same

Near the ending of the game keep siding with the emperor

You become one and can play for about a hour or so this is in the ending

@@LilMeep_x awww what a shame, still pretty cool though. Thanks

The full game already released on pc on the 3rd of August

That's the whole reason you didn't play it? Missing out so much that I'm sorry for you

Wow you sound like a jackass.

I mean, there’s so much magic and psyonics and such, there’s definitely ways around that.

I mean hell, in this case, you already have a tadpole on your head that’s being screwed with, and are now shoving a new tadpole that is even more screwed with. This isn’t exactly a normal ceremorph.

Mindflayers can be resurrected, moreover how can anybody look at the two mindflayers free from elder brain control and say they have no soul. If they have no soul then a soul is pointless.

Some spoilers, but if you dig. The Emperor isn't strong a contender for having a soul@@tahjsimon9058

@@tahjsimon9058 free from the hivemind does not equal soul, a bag of flesh with nothing within/behind it is still soulless, and if you claim a soul is pointless then i fear you have not understood what a soul is. anything without a soul as no afterlife and thus cannot be truely brought back. sure you can revive a organ, aka a mindflayer, but theres no greater will behind it, a husk driven my hormones and chemicals, nothing more. there in lies the horror of a mindflayer, it is a true monster, a organ, a brain, nothing more. they where designed to be one of DnD's ultimate monsters and as far as i know that still stands, i can be wrong ofc but i doubt larian was allowed to retcon that bit of DnD History. Just because it moves and talks does not mean it has a soul, a psychopath moves and mimmics, it can talk, but it lacks something fundamental, i dont think you would consider that ''just another person'' Right? in the end its a philosofical question and its rooted in the concept of spirit and afterlife, rebirth ect. Hope that helps.

But they do have a soul and or higher will that’s literally the whole plot with the emperor 😂😂 have u played that game at all??

@@tahjsimon9058 At the very end of the game our skeletal friend will be mocking Dead Three and will mention that when their followers turn into illithids they wont have soul or gods wont have their soul or something like that I dont excactly remember... Was something about souls and gods... But I have feeling that "soul" in that case is not what prevents person from beeing a "bag of flesh" or have anything to do with will. Both Emperor and Omeluum definitely have more free will then many other npcs

They shouldn’t be looking stuff up 🤷🏽‍♂️

This is at the ending bro

@@LilMeep_x ahhh okay I see I just finish started act 3 rn!!

@@SynixWiredenjoy the rest of the game 👍🏽