Illithid powers

Illithid powers are special abilities tied to the mind flayer tadpole that the player character, origin, and some non-origin companions are infected with. After the player uses illithid powers for the first time in dialogue, the Dream Guardian will visit at the next long rest and explain how to unlock this skill tree. (This does not work like this)

After this event, finding and consuming Mind Flayer Parasite Specimens, such as from the corpses of other infected, will allow you to unlock new powers. Karlach, Wyll, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart will initially refuse to use illithid powers, but can be convinced to use them through Persuasion checks. The opportunity to convince these party members to partake in illithid powers will be provided again in early Act Three, if they remain reluctant early on.

List of illithid powers

Power	Type	Description	Requires
Illithid Persuasion	Passive Feature	You can use your connection to the parasite in your brain to force cultists of the Absolute to obey you.	Unlocked automatically
Psionic Overload	Class Action	Your attacks deal an additional 1d4Psychic damage, but you take 1d4Psychic damage every turn.	None
Favourable Beginnings	Passive Feature	The first Attack roll or Ability check you make against any target gains a bonus equal to your Proficiency Bonus.	None
Force Tunnel	Class Action	Charge forward, pushing all objects and creatures in your path 4 m / 13 ft away from you.	None
Concentrated Blast	Class Action	Deal 3d6Psychic damage. 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. The spell you were concentrating on will end.	None
Transfuse Health	Class Action	Sacrifice half your remaining hit points to heal a target for the same amount.	None
Stage Fright	Class Action	Your targets have Disadvantage on Attack rolls and take 2d6Psychic damage each time they miss. Targets overcome their Stage Fright early when they succeed on an Attack Roll.	Psionic Overload
Ability Drain	Passive Feature	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.	Psionic Overload
Luck of the Far Realms	Passive Feature	When you make a successful Attack roll against a foe, you can change that attack into a Critical Hit. Recharge: Long rest.	Favourable Beginnings
Charm	Reaction	Channel the dark allure of the tadpole to Charm an enemy that attacks you, preventing them from attacking you until their next turn. Note: Enemies have Advantage on the Saving throw against being charmed.	Favourable Beginnings
Displace	Passive Feature	Creatures suffering Falling damage because of your actions take an additional 1d8Psychic damage.	Force Tunnel
Repulsor	Class Action	Push anything and anyone back 6 m / 20 ft. Deals 2d6Force damage, targets take half damage if successful on save.	Force Tunnel
Psionic Backlash	Reaction	When an enemy within 9 m / 30 ft casts a spell, you can use your Reaction to inflict 1d4Psychic damage to the caster per the spell‘s level.	Concentrated Blast
Cull the Weak	Toggleable Passive Feature	When you bring a creature down to fewer hit points than your number of evolved illithid powers, it dies and all nearby creatures take 1~4Psychic damage.	Concentrated Blast
Shield of Thralls	Class Action	Conjure a volatile shield around yourself or an ally, granting the target 10 temporary hit points.	Transfuse Health
Perilous Stakes	Class Action	Invest a creature with power that heals it when it attacks, but also makes it vulnerable to all damage.	Transfuse Health

Elite powers

When you first gain access to illithid powers, the outer ring of abilities will be locked. At the very end of Act Two, on the road to Baldur's Gate, you will be given the opportunity to unlock these powers by agreeing to absorb the Astral-Touched Tadpole and become a partial-illithid. Doing this will automatically unlock Fly (Illithid Power) and the 5 powers of the innermost ring, i.e. Concentrated Blast, Favourable Beginnings, Force Tunnel, Psionic Overload, and Transfuse Health. Any regular tadpoles the character might have already spent to unlock these abilities will be refunded. Absorbing the Astral-Touched Tadpole will also permanently mark your character's face with dark veins and darken their eyes.

Power	Type	Description	Requires
Fracture Psyche	Class Action	Invade a target's mind and disrupt its defences. The target's Armour Class is reduced by 1. If the target dies while its psyche is fractured, you can cast Shatter Psyche on another target.	Unlock one of: Ability Drain Illithid Expertise
Illithid Expertise	Passive Feature	You have deepened your sense of self, gaining Expertise in Persuasion, Deception, or Intimidation checks. Also grants Proficiency in those skills if not already possessed.	Unlock one of: Luck of the Far Realms Fracture Psyche
Psionic Dominance	Reaction	Use your Reaction to cancel a spell targeted at you if its spell level is less than or equal to your proficiency bonus.	Unlock one of: Charm Black Hole
Black Hole	Class Action	Summon a black hole that pulls in nearby enemies and potentially Slows them. Up to five more black holes can be summoned after first casting. Recharge: Short rest.	Unlock one of: Displace Psionic Dominance
Fly	Class Action	Fly to a target position. Consumes Movement speed but not an Action or Bonus action.	Unlocked automatically
Mind Blast	Class Action	Spew forth a conical wave of psychic energy and possibly Stun targets within. Deals 4d8+Spellcasting Ability ModifierPsychic damage.	None
Mind Sanctuary	Class Action	Sculpt a magical nexus that allows those within to take Actions and Bonus actions interchangeably. Recharge: Long rest.	Unlock one of: Psionic Backlash Freecast
Freecast	Toggleable Passive Feature	You have discovered a marvellous adaptability within yourself. Spell slots, charges, and similar resource costs for your next action or spell are removed. Recharge: Long rest.	Unlock one of: Shield of Thralls Mind Sanctuary
Absorb Intellect	Class Action	Gobble up a foe's intellect, lowering their Intelligence by 1 per turn and healing your wounds for 5 turns (1d8hit points each turn).	Unlock one of: Perilous Stakes Displacer Beast Shape
Displacer Beast Shape	Class 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. When your displacer beast form drops to 0 hit points, you revert to your original form.	Unlock one of: Stage Fright Absorb Intellect

Full ceremorphosis

During the final quest, Confront the Elder Brain, Karlach or the player character will have the option to undergo full ceremorphosis and become a full-illithid. At this point, they will automatically unlock most illithid powers and gain access to more powerful versions of a select few.

These abilities are not available through the "Illithid Power" screen, but are instead granted automatically after transformation.

Power	Type	Description
Strengthened Force Tunnel	Class Action	Charge forward, pushing all objects and creatures in your path 12 m / 40 ft away from you. Deals 3d10+4Force and may cause Prone
Fierce Perilous Stakes	Class Action	Grant an ally an additional 15Psychic damage, automatic Critical Hit when they roll a 15 or higher, and healing on hit. However, they will also be vulnerable to all damage.
Nebulous Black Hole	Class Action	Create a point of intense gravity dealing 3d10+4Force damage and possibly slowing enemies.
Synaptic Consumption	Class Action	Lower all of an enemies ability scores by 5, then 1 per turn, and regain 2~20hit points per turn for five turns. The foe is left Prone.
Augmented Shield of Thralls	Class Action	Target two creatures, granting them 25 temporary hit points. Once these hit points are diminished, the shield bursts and leaves nearby enemies Stunned.
Potent Concentrated Blast	Class Action	Deals 9d6Psychic damage to an enemy. If they were Concentrating on a spell, heal an equal amount of hit points.
Extract Brain	Class Action	Lobotomise a nearby creature that is Stunned, Prone, Sleeping or Unconscious, dealing 5d10+50Piercing damage and regaining 6d6hit points.
Tentacle Whip	Class Action	Deal 3d10+5Psychic melee damage, and possibly Stun the target.
Levitate	Class Action	Float to a destination using Movement speed.

Other powers

These illithid powers are not part of the illithid power tree and are instead unlocked through story events.

Power	Type	Description	Requires
Survival Instinct	Class Action	If the character reaches 0 hit points, it regains 3d4hit points instead of falling Unconscious.	Reward from: Help Omeluum Investigate the Parasite
Awakened	Passive feature	You can use all of your Illithid Powers as a Bonus action. Your resistance to the zaith'isk in the githyanki infirmary awakened this power.	Succeed on all three saving throws when interacting with the Zaith'isk in Crèche Y'llek. Or, if Lae'zel is in the Zaith'isk, succeed on the finalability check.

Mind flayer parasite locations

Act One

True Souls

Dropped by defeating the following characters:

Loot

One is found in the Enclave Library of the Druid Grove on a table X: -445 Y: 17.
Three are found in the Infirmary of Crèche Y'llek, next to the Zaith'isk. Two are around one table X: 1285 Y: -818 and one is on another table X: 1285 Y: -802.

Quest rewards

Siding with Absolute cultists may net two Gifts from the Absolute, which are functionally the same as Tadpole Specimens. In Act 1, there are two which can be obtained in the following ways:

Received from Minthara for completing quest Raid the Emerald Grove.
Received from Nere for siding with him after the quest Free True Soul Nere.

Act Two

True Souls

Dropped by defeating the following characters:

Loot

Two are found by taking the Zhentarim Shipping Crate X: -71 Y: -187 at the docks of Moonrise Towers.
One can be found in Zealot Krizt, who will be guarding the broken bridge to Moonrise Towers when first approaching it. If she is not attacked, her corpse X: 625 Y: -87 can be later found in the Oubliette under Moonrise Towers.
Found in a Brine Pool X: 678 Y: 45, after passing a DC16 Perception check, in the Mind Flayer Colony under Moonrise Towers.
If Isobel was abducted from Last Light Inn, she will have a parasite on her body when you fight her alongside Ketheric.

Quest rewards

Two Gifts from the Absolute will be rewarded for:

Completing Capture Isobel the Selûnite Cleric.
Completing Find Ketheric Thorm's Relic by allowing Balthazar to transport the Nightsong to Moonrise Towers.

Act Three

True Souls

Dropped by defeating the following characters:

Avery Sonshal in Felogyr's Fireworks
Sally and Dravo Flymm in Flymm's Cobblers
Manip Edenosa around Bloomridge Park
Churg Elvek around the Grey Harbour Docks

Loot

Rivington and Wyrm's Crossing:

Found on a barrel X: -225 Y: 108 at the docks in Rivington.
Two are found in Storage X: -212 Y: 129 on the ship at the Western Beach in Rivington.
Found in a locked Gilded Chest X: -32 Y: 219 on the top floor of Wyrm's Rock Fortress.

The Lower City:

Found on a table X: -9 Y: -92 at Sorcerous Sundries.
Found next to the Gnarly Cauldron X: -2336 Y: -120 in The Blushing Mermaid - Basement.
Found on a table X: -45 Y: 18 inside a flooded room in the Iron Throne.
Found on a desk X: -208 Y: -86 on the second floor of The Lodge.
Found on a table X: -1856 Y: -428 in the Sanguine Laboratory in the cellar of Crimson Draughts, accessed through a wooden hatchX: -91 Y: -90.
Found in High Security Vault n.6 X: -713 Y: 881 in The Counting House.
Six are found in Cargo Shipment X: -202 Y: -125, disguised as Wooden Trunks, on a ship just east of the Steel Watch Foundry.
Found on a table X: -1937 Y: 447 in the Steel Watch Foundry - Lab Level.
Found on the corpses of Dravo Flymm and Sally Flymm at Flymm's Cobblers if you kill them.

Quest rewards

A special variant, Astral-Touched Tadpole, is given by The Emperor during a story sequence.
A special variant, Mind Flayer Brain, can be found on a mind flayer hiding in the Windmill Basement of the Abandoned Windmill X: 44 Y: -38 in Rivington.

Spellcasting ability modifier

Illithid powers follow the same rule as scrolls when it comes to which ability is used for the saving throws of spells that requests one (e.g. Stage Fright).

If the player has invested their levels in one class only, their spellcasting ability modifier will be the one from that class. Classes abilities are listed in the spells page.

It gets more complicated in the case of Multiclassing, as the spellcasting ability modifier will be the one from the last class that has been added to the character, with a quirk: fighters and rogues will provide their ability modifier only if they are level 3 and in their spell subclass (Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster).

Example: Wizard 5, Monk 1, Rogue 2 will use the Wisdom stat for the saving throw difficulty of their illithid powers, as rogue is not taken into account here, and monk is the last class added before rogue.

Pre-release powers

In Early Access, illithid powers were much simpler. Instead of consuming other tadpoles to gain points to spend on powers, your tadpole grew more powerful as you used Illithid Persuasion options in dialogue. Once you'd used Illithid Persuasion three times, a special cutscene was triggered during your next long rest and each character gained a single illithid power unique to their class. Some of these abilities were reworked into the current illithid powers. A full list of Early Access powers can be seen below:

Early Access Illithid Powers
Power	Class	Description	How to Obtain
Endless Rage	Barbarian	While Raging, deal an additional 1d4 damage with weapon attacks, but receive 1d4Psychic damage each turn. Prevents Rage from ending early.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Stage Fright	Bard	Drown your enemies in an overwhelming fear of failure. They receive Disadvantage on Attack rolls and take 2d6Psychic damage each time they miss an Attack Roll. Ends when they hit with an Attack Roll.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Survival Instinct	Cleric	Infuse a creature with psionic force. If it reaches 0 HP, it regains 3d4 HP instead of falling Unconscious.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Aberrant Shape	Druid	Magically assume the shape of an Intellect Devourer that can deal Psychic damage.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Psionic Pull	Fighter	Pull a creature or object toward you.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Fracture Psyche	Paladin	Invade a target's mind and disrupt its defenses (Reduces target's Armour Class by 1).	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Force Tunnel	Ranger	Charge forward and push all objects and creatures in your path away from you.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Inkblot	Rogue	Create a cloud of magical darkness and immediately attempt to hide. Creatures within the cloud are Heavily Obscured and Blinded. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of the darkness.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Horrific Visage	Sorcerer	Release the eldritch magic within you and terrify a creature with your twisted powers. Regain 2 Sorcery Points and potentially deal 1d4Psychic damage per turn for 3 turns.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Supernatural Attraction	Warlock	You are part of a greater whole. Concentrate on your connection to teleport to another tadpole-infected creature.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Reflective Shell	Wizard	A protective shell envelops you. It reflects any projectiles targeted at you to their point of origin. Does not affect creatures that don't rely on sight or that can see through illusions.	Succeed on 3 Illithid Wisdom Skill Checks, then rest until you receive a dream cutscene.
Repulsor	All Classes	Channel the power of the Absolute, knocking back all creatures and objects and dealing 2d6Force damage.	Help Omeluum investigate the parasite

Achievements

Expand Your Mind
Consume a parasite and unlock a new power - is it meant to wriggle the whole way down?

Gallery

Example of a character readying an Illithid power
A handy reference

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