The Hooded Skeleton is a mysterious entity you’ll encounter early on in Baldur’s Gate 3. His motivations are unclear, at first, but you’ll have dealings with him later on. Here’s our mini-guide to help you out.
Note: Getting Withers, or the Hooded Skeleton, to join your camp is good, but having Scratch the dog and the owlbear cub in your camp is even better.
Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3): Who is Withers?
You’ll encounter the Hooded Skeleton during Act I of Baldur’s Gate 3 once you reach the Dank Crypt. To get there, you’ll need to find the chapel at the eastern edge of the map. There are a couple of treasure hunters here so handle them as you see fit.
Next, jump down the hole and be ready for a fight. Make sure you group up your party members again since the game will think they’ve been separated.
After the first encounter, activate the switch in one of the side rooms. This will open the locked door that leads further inside the ruins.
In the next area, you’ll spot a sarcophagus with some loot. Before you grab that, check the other sarcophagi for items.
Once you pick up the loot inside the main sarcophagi (The Watcher’s Guide 2H weapon and an engraved key) the room will be filled with grease. Your characters could slip, and fire arrows will blow up the entire room too.
Exit that room as quickly as possible (or reload if everyone dies), and open the other door with the key. This leads to an area that looks like a shrine. I ignored all of this by having a Rogue in my party picklock the door which allowed us into the room where you’ll find Withers, of the Hooded Skeleton.
If you go to the left-hand corner, a Perception check reveals a button. Pressing it spawns several skeleton warriors.
After you take them out, check the small room for The Amulet of Lost Voices (very rare; gives the “Speak with Dead” spell).
Meanwhile, if you open the large sarcophagus, the Hooded Skeleton will rise. It’ll then ask, āWhat is the worth of a single mortal life?”
I answered, “No one’s life is worth more than any other.” But, you can respond with whatever you want. There are no wrong answers here.
The Hooded Skeleton replied and said it was satisfied. It vowed to meet with my character again. Spooky.
The next time I encountered the Hooded Skeleton in Baldur’s Gate 3 was when I checked my party’s camp. Withers will stay with you for the rest of the game and will always be available at camp.
I’ve done playthroughs where Withers just joins your camp after a while, so if you missed the Dank Crypt, don’t worry. Regardless of how you continue, you’ll get Withers in your camp.
Anyway, he mentions that he can resurrect any of your dead characters for 200 gold. Withers is also the only way you can respec and change your class inĀ Baldur’s Gate 3 which is really useful and easy since it only costs 100 gold.
