Baldur's Gate 3 Illithid Powers

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As part of the main story of Baldur’s Gate 3, you (along with all of the Origin Characters) are infected with a Mind Flayer tadpole. Eventually, this tadpole grants you the opportunity to gain powerful — and dangerous — Illithid Powers. These powers are listed below.

Name	Category	Description
Ability Drain	Passive	Once per turn, when you make an Attack Roll, the attack reduces that target's corresponding Ability by 1. The Ability that is reduced is the same as the one used to make the Attack Roll.
Absorb Intellect	Action	Gobble up a foe's intellect, lowering their Intelligence by 1 per turn and healing your wounds for 5 turns.
Black Hole	Action	Create a point of intense gravity that pulls in all nearby enemies and possibly Slows them. Five more black holes can be summoned after this spell's initial casting. Afterwards, you must Short Rest before casting it again.
Charm	Passive	Channel the dark allure of the tadpole to Charm an enemy that attacks you, preventing them from attacking you until their next turn.
Concentrated Blast	Action	You must be concentrating on another spell to cast this. If the target was concentrating, you heal as much as the damage that was dealt to it.
Cull the Weak	Toggleable Passive	When you bring a creature down to fewer hit points than your number of evolved illithid powers, it dies and all nearby creatures take 1d4 Psychic Damage.
Displace	Passive	Creatures suffering Falling damage because of your actions take an additional 1d8 Psychic Damage.
Displacer Beast Shape	Action	Transform into a displacer beast that can Displace itself and enemies, and has 85 hit points. You take on the attributes of a displacer beast, but maintain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores.
Favourable Beginnings	Passive	The first Attack Roll or Ability Check you make against any target gains a bonus equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Force Tunnel	Action	Charge forward, pushing all objects and creatures in your path 4m away from you.
Fracture Psyche	Action	Invade a target's mind and disrupt its defences. The target's Armour Class is reduced by 1.
Freecast	Toggleable Passive	You have discovered a marvellous adaptability within yourself. Spell slots, charges, and similar resource costs for your next action or spell are removed. Refreshes after a Long Rest.
Illithid Expertise	Passive	You have deepened your sense of self, gaining Expertise in Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation Checks.
Illithid Persuasion	Passive	You can use your connection to the parasite in your brain to force cultists of the Absolute to obey you.
Luck of the Far Realms	Passive	When you make a successful Attack Roll against a foe, you can change that hit into a Critical Hit.
Mind Blast	Action	Spew forth a conical wave of psychic energy and possibly Stun targets within for 1 turn.
Mind Sanctuary	Class Action	Sculpt a magical nexus that allows those within to take actions and bonus actions interchangeably.
Perilous Stakes	Class Action	Invest a creature with power that heals it when it attacks, but also makes it Vulnerable to all damage.
Psionic Backlash	Passive	When an enemy within 9 meters casts a spell, you can use your reaction to inflict 1d4 Psychic damage to the caster per the spell's level.
Psionic Dominance	Passive	When an enemy within 18 meters targets you with a spell of a Level that is lower than or equal to your Proficiency Bonus, you can use your reaction to nullify the spell.
Psionic Overload	Action	Your attacks deal an additional 1-4 Psychic damage, but you take 1-4 Psychic damage every turn.
Repulsor	Action	Push anything and anyone back 6m.
Shatter Psyche	Action	Invade a target's mind and disrupt its defences. The target's Armour Class is reduced by 2.
Shield of Thralls	Action	Conjure a volatile shield around yourself or an ally, granting the target 10 temporary hit points.
Stage Fright	Action	Your targets have Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and take 2d6 Psychic Damage each time they miss.
Survival Instinct	Action	Infuse a creature with psionic force. If it reaches 0 hit points, it heals instead of falling Unconscious.
Transfuse Health	Action	Sacrifice half your remaining hit points to heal a target for the same amount.

How to Get Illithid Powers

Once you’ve progressed through enough of the games first act, you’ll be visited by your Guardian during a Long Rest. They’ll suggest that you embrace the powers the tadpole offers. You won’t be able to act on this advice until you find another Illithid Parasite. After this conversation and collecting a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen, you’ll be able to access the Illithid Powers menu. On keyboard and mouse, go into your Inventory [I] and you’ll see an Illithid Powers tab at the top of the Inventory Screen. On gamepad, the right trigger menu will now contain an Illithid Powers option.

illithid powers option on menu kbm baldurs gate 3 1

illithid powers option on menu gamepad baldurs gate 3 1

On the Illithid Powers screen, you can spend any Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens you’ve collected to unlock Illithid Powers. Read each one carefully, as many have drawbacks to go along with their benefits!

illithid powers screen selection baldurs gate 3

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Kethoth

1 year ago

Some of the best Illithid Powers in the game are:

Favourable Beginnings: This is a tier one Illithid Power upgrade that grants your first attack roll or ability check per long rest a bonus equal to your proficiency bonus. This is useful in combat and social encounters.
Luck of the Far Realms: This is a tier one Illithid Power upgrade that grants you a 20% chance to avoid an attack, spell, or ability that targets you.
Mind Blast: This is a tier two Illithid Power that deals 6-36 Psychic damage to all creatures within a 15-foot radius of you.
Freecast: This is a tier two Illithid Power upgrade that allows you to cast spells without using spell slots for one turn.
Perilous Stakes: This is a tier two Illithid Power upgrade that grants you an additional action per turn for three turns.