The expansion provides examples of:
- Already Undone for You: In the Durlag's Tower area. Even though adventurers (a few still living, but mostly dead) have gone in before you and have gotten to a certain point themselves, all of the tests, traps, and enemies are intact when your party travels through it. Even Durlag's ghost states that you are the first to have ever gotten that far, even though two other adventurers (Clair and Dalton) can be found in the last two dungeon areas. The ghost is standing close to the only staircase leading up or down from this area, so how did he miss seeing them? One of them handwaves it by saying they took another route which has now collapsed, although you see no sign of any other passages, collapsed or otherwise, anywhere.
- And the Adventure Continues: After you complete all three plotlines, a bit of text appears in the text channel noting that your work in Ulgoth's Beard is done, leaving you free to find other things to do.
- Beef Gate: The two Battle Horrors at the entrance to Durlag's Tower. As it's a high level dungeon just barely off the beaten path in the starting area of the world map a player could end up wasting a lot of time and resources trying a challenge that is currently beyond them. These two combat monsters let players know; if you can't beat them, you're not ready for Durlag's Tower.
- Bilingual Bonus: Some tougher werewolves are named "Loup Garou" which is French for "Werewolf".
- Bonus Dungeon: The entire expansion pack is this to the main game.
- Evil Versus Evil: On the Isle of Balduran. The evil wolfweres and slightly less evil werewolves hate one another.
- Fantastic Racism: Tailas acts like a massive jerk towards you. He's obsessed with werewolf purity and is outraged when Kaishas infects you with lycanthropy, calling you unworthy.
- Flaming Sword: Durlag's Tower yields "The Burning Earth", a flaming longsword that has useful bonuses against various creatures, including shapeshifters and undead.
- Foreshadowing:
- Mendas says he's from Waterdeep, but a neighbor will inform you that his accent isn't Waterdhavian. This is a hint that he's lying to you and there's more than meet the eye. His name being a contraction of Mendacity is another hint.
- If Durlag's Tower is completed before the player has reached the Return to Candlekeep quest in the main storyline Durlag's history of being driven to madness by doppelgangers infiltrating his friends and family foreshadows what Sarevok's doppelgangers try do to the PC in Candlekeep.
- Friendly Ghost: Durlag, at the bottom level of Durlag's tower. There are false Durlags that will attack you, but the real Durlag's ghost is willing to talk and answer your questions.
- Get on the Boat: How the party gets to the Isle of Balduran.
- Haunted Castle: Durlag's Tower is full of crazy ghosts, deadly traps and nasty monsters.
- Hub Level: The small village of Urgoth's Beard serves as this. All three plot threads begin there, and depending on the order you do them in, the final boss battle can happen there as well.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: To the original Baldur's Gate. It features a collection of new areas and dungeons to explore, but has no impact on the main story of the original game.
- Optional Boss: Aec'Letec and Selaad Gan, the final bosses of their respective Side Quests.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Werewolves and wolfweres.
- Random Events Plot: The entire thing is more of an episodic collection of plot tangents. The subplot about retrieving Shandalar's cloak from the Ice Island dungeon has no relation to the subplot about the Isle of Balduran, and neither has any relation to Durlag's Tower or the cult lurking in the shadows.
- Robinsonade: The inhabitants of the Balduran Isle.
- Romance Sidequest: Features a brief romance sidequest, although not to the extent that Baldur's Gate II later would.
- Room Full of Crazy: Durlag's Tower is an entire Tower full of Crazy.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Aec'Letec's worshipper Tracea Carol knows how it's done.Charname: By all that is right and holy, you will not succeed!
Tracea Carol: By all that is loud and windy, will you please shut up?! - Superboss: Aec'Letec could give Sarevok a run for his money. He's a Demon so has total immunity to poison, fire and electricity attacks, and half immunity to cold. His base 50 Magic Resistance makes him very hard to target with spells. He has a movement speed of 9 and cannot be affected by hold spells. He gets four attacks per round at 20 Strength, has a natural armour class of -5 and Dexterity of 18 which makes him hard to hit, and his Constitution of 20 means he regenerates slowly throughout the fight. His Signature Move is a gaze attack that kills your characters instantly after a few seconds, cannot be dispelled or cured, prevents resurrection and turns them into enemy Ghasts. Worse still, if you don't kill the six cultists around him in the basement, he instantly revives himself from them once you strike the killing blow. Good luck!
- Town with a Dark Secret: The small community in the Balduran Isle has a big secret: all its inhabitants are bloodthirsty werewolves. If done right, only two of them will refuse to attack you.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- At Dradeel's request, you find his missing spellbook and once you retrieve it for him, he teleports away without saying "thank you". He does show up later to warn you about the villagers being werewolves, which by now you already figured it out. He bids you farewell and leaves you again, never to be seeing.
- Despite getting rid of the wolfweres for good, Tailas doesn't thank you and wants to kill you for not being like him.
- The little girl, Farthing, ask you to find her lost dolly. Even thought you brought it back and she called you a hero, she will always attack you in the end.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Aec'Letec can be stunned with Hold Monster or if you summon a pack of ghouls who should eventually stun him with Ghoul Touch, leaving him open for your fighters.
