All Illithid Abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3

Understanding the different abilities and magic options available in Baldur’s Gate 3 is hugely important. After all, there’s no single way to play the game, and as such, speccing your character to meet your playstyle is crucial. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to go about this, and understanding illicit abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3 is just one such option. Hence, today, we’re looking at everything you need to know to help you understand what Illithid abilities in Baldur’s Gate are and which options are available.

What are Illithid Abilities in Baldur’s Gate 3?

Before we look at all of the available Baldur’s Gate 3 illithid abilities, we first ought to briefly define what these are. Simply put, illithid activities are skills unlocked by consuming a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen for the first time. This opens the Illithid Powers tree for the first time, allowing players to take on a range of brand new abilities. This can be incredibly handy if you find that your original game wasn’t set up quite right - after all, we always look back and think about how we could have done things differently with games, be it starting on a private server or speccing a character in a different way.

Baldur’s Gate 3: Illithid Powers Consequences

Unfortunately, while Baldur’s Gate 3 illithid powers can be useful, they do also come with a range of consequences. The most obvious consequence is that some of your party members are likely to not approve of using these abilities. However, there may be other consequences, such as leading to a bad ending of the game or losing certain opportunities with party members. That being said, occasional use in Baldur’s Gate 3 of illithid powers likely won’t lead to major consequences.

All Baldur’s Gate 3 Illithid Powers

With countless different illithid powers across the Baldur’s Gate 3 illithid powers tree, there’s something for everyone when it comes to these dark spells. But what options are available? Well, these powers fall into several categories: base powers, Elite powers, and Full Ceremophosis. In addition to the main illithid powers mentioned prior, there are also a few other story-based powers. These include Survival Instinct and Awakened.

Base Powers

• Ability Drain (attacks reduce a target’s ability by 1 in the appropriate )
• Charm (prevents an enemy from attacking until the next turn)
• Concentrated Blast (Deals 3d6 of psychic damage)
• Cull the Weak (causes instant death when creatures’ HP fall below your number of evolved illithid powers)
• Displace (deal an additional 1d8 psychic damage to creatures incurring fall damage caused by the player)
• Favourable Beginnings (gain a bonus to your first attack roll or ability check)
• Force Tunnel (pushes all features with a large charge within a 4m direction)
• Illithid Persuasion (forces Cultists of the Absolute to obey)
• Luck of the Far Realms (successful attack rolls can be changed into a critical hit)
• Perilous Stakes (causes creatures to become more vulnerable to damage, but deal greater damage on attacking)
• Psionic Overload (deal and take 1d4 additional psychic damage per turn)
• Psionic Backlash (inflict 1d4 psychic damage using a reaction against spell-casting enemies within 9m)
• Repulsor (Push anything/anyone by 6m and deal 2d6 of force damage)
• Stage Fright (causes targets’ attack rolls to have a Disadvantage and deals 2d6 psychic damage after misses)
• Shield of Thralls (grant 10 temporary HP to the target)
• Transfuse Health (sacrifices half the character’s health to heal another for equal amounts)

Elite Powers

• Absorb Intellect (Lowers an enemy’s intelligence by 1 and heals you for 1d8 HP for five turns)
• Black Hole (slows enemies and places them in a black hole)
• Displacer Beast Shape (transform into a Displacer Beast)
• Fly (allows the player to fly to their destination, saving action and bonus action points)
• Fracture Psyche (lowers target’s armour class by 1)
• Freecast (remove costs for spell slots, charges, and resource costs)
• Illithid Expertise (gain expertise in persuasion, intimidation, and deception checks)
• Mind Blast (stuns targets and deals 4d8 of psychic damage)
• Mind Sanctuary (Take actions and bonus actions interchangeably within the magical nexus)
• Psionic Dominance (cancel spells aimed at the player with a reaction)

Full Ceremophosis Powers

• Augmented Shield of Thralls (Grants two targets with 25 temporary hit points; causes nearby foes to become stunned once the hit points are used)
• Extract Brain (Deals 5d10+50 piercing damage and regains the player 6d6 HP)
• Fierce Perilous Stakes (Grants 15 psychic damage to an ally and an automatic critical for rolls of 15+. Allies also heal when hit but become more vulnerable)
• Levitate (Allows you to float to a destination)
• Nebulous Black Hole (Deal 3d10+4 force damage and slow enemies)
• Potent Concentrated Blast (Deal 9d6 of Psychic damage and receive some healing if the enemy was concentrating)
• Strengthened Force Tunnel (Pushes creatures and objects 12m away and deals 3d10+4 Force damage. Has the chance of causing the foe to become prone)
• Synaptic Consumption (Lowers enemy ability scores by 5 followed by a drop of 1 per turn, while you regain 2~20 HP for five turns. Causes the enemy to become prone)
• Tentacle Whip (Deal 3d10+5 psychic damage and have a chance to stun)

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

Baldur’s Gate 3 illithid powers come with both benefits and consequences. As such, using these powers can potentially be helpful for building your character or boosting your companions. But remember, each character will have different perceptions of using illithid powers in BG3; as such, you should take this into account when creating your player.