The party composition in Baldur’s Gate 3 was almost even more chaotic before Larian Studios opted to keep a major Act 2 evildoer away from any kind of redemption. Throughout players’ adventures through the Forgotten Realms, Tav can recruit an assortment of colorful companions to their side, each one bringing their own unique backstory and baggage that must be carefully handled. While the recruitable allies are all beloved in their own right, one villainous member may have been just a stretch too far.
Per IGN, Larian Studios CEO and Baldur’s Gate 3 director Swen Vincke revealed that Act 2 baddie Ketheric Thorm was initially planned to eventually join the players’ party if they handled his encounter in the right manner. Vincke explains:
Vincke elaborates further that successfully recruiting Ketheric would have seen the Paladin sitting around camp, offering information and tips on how to best handle Gortash and Orin. The developer ultimately decided to trim back the roster of recruitable companions in order to provide each member with more screen time, fleshing them out in more meaningful ways rather than just adding to the ranks.
It may take some time for players to encounter Ketheric Thorm in Act 2, but Baldur’s Gate 3 does a fantastic job of hyping him up as one of the game’s big antagonists. An undead Paladin, he is responsible for cursing the Shadowlands and must be defeated if the party is to learn more about the Mind Flayer tadpoles living inside their heads. Upon defeating him, even more conspiracies are exposed as players discover that Thorm isn’t even Baldur’s Gate 3‘s Big Bad, placing them on a crash course with an even worse threat.
While Ketheric is hyped up as being a powerful adversary the fight against him isn’t especially difficult if the party is sufficiently prepared. He may be a Level 11 Undead Paladin but with some decent rolls and the right equipment, he can both disarmed and knocked prone, rendering him relatively helpless. Having said that, starting this battle under-leveled will make the encounter significantly harder than necessary.
Having been in development for six years, Baldur’s Gate 3 finally launched in 1.0 in 2023 and took the world by storm. While plenty of content was cut in order to fit within a reasonable scope, the game’s gigantic size impressed critics and players with many reporting that simply completing the game’s first act requires around 40 hours of playtime. No DLC or expansions are planned but for a game of this size, it’s not really needed.
Source: IGN