Betrayal at Baldur's Gate: Clarification on Meenlock Omen

Question

In Betrayal at Baldur's Gate the Meenlock Omen card says:

When you take physical damage, you must apply it as mental damage instead

But, I find it interesting that it raises your Speed rather than a mental trait, where you will now be taking all of your damage. At our table we have discussed this card a lot. It seems like it makes the game unbalanced for the player that finds it, and will make them die a quick death. Do they have to take all physical damage as mental up to death? Or only until it would kill them to right above the skull?

Answer 1

Do they have to take all physical damage as mental up to death?

Yes. The card would have mentioned any exceptions otherwise.

It seems like it makes the game unbalanced for the player that finds it, and will make them die a quick death.

Betrayal at Baldur's Gate isn't really designed as a finely-tuned, perfectly-balanced game. There is a lot of emphasis on storytelling, setting, and flavor.

Even so, this omen doesn't seem unbalanced to me. Speed is a stat that helps avoid physical damage (for example running from pursuers and dodging explosions), so it's not like you're going to take that much more mental damage than normal. Also, preserving your high Speed when you would have taken physical damage could be argued to be an upside since you will roll with great physical stats right until you die. You'd be more effective with physical stats, even if you die slightly quicker.