Preview Underdark glimpse at UGO

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: BioWare; Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark

There's a <A href="http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/features/nwn_hordesoftheunderdark/">short preview</a> of <A href="http://nwn.bioware.com/underdark">Hordes of the Underdark</a> over at <A href="http://www.ugo.com">UGO</a> talking a bit about the second expansion pack to <A href="http://nwn.bioware.com">Neverwinter Nights</a>. Here's a bit on the prestige classes:
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<blockquote>Feature-wise, the game introduces several new prestige classes to the mix. First, the Red Dragon Disciple, a warrior whose main quest is to harness the power of dragons (and sports some nifty wings coming out of his back, to boot). There's also the Weaponmaster, a class whose benefits in hand-to-hand and ranged combat make them a force to be reckoned with. And, for all those Gimli fans out there, you can work up to becoming a Dwarven Defender, who makes up for his lack of stature with some pretty severe axe play. But for those who?re worried that they'll be all by their lonesome adventuring in the Underdark, no worries, as this expansion introduces the opportunity to hire not one, but two mercenaries to fight with you (some of which will definitely be familiar to fans of the previous games).</blockquote>
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Shouldn't the number of hirelings be based on <i>Charisma</i>? Oh, that's right. That's a <i>non-combat rule</i>. Won't be seeing that implimented in a <a href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> game!
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Spotted this at <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>.

 

[Voss]

When did the Drow get an Empire?
Two minutes before the PC is prophesized to tear it down?

And what if we don't want to mindlessly chase Drow back into the Underdark, where they'll have every advantage? What if we want to prepare first?

underlings...beholders, demons, blah... to harmless beasts of burden, the cows of the Underdark, as they're often termed.

Yeah, well, they might be termed that- but it is helpful if the writer actually named them at some point. I presume this is a reference to rothe. But I've never heard of cows as underlings before.

 

[Jed]

There's also the Weaponmaster, a class whose benefits in hand-to-hand and ranged combat make them a force to be reckoned with

Dare I ask: Why does the Weaponmaster get a benefit to hand-to-hand?

 

[Volourn]

That preview sucks.

 

[Voss]

There's also the Weaponmaster, a class whose benefits in hand-to-hand and ranged combat make them a force to be reckoned with

Dare I ask: Why does the Weaponmaster get a benefit to hand-to-hand?

I think he's just generalizing- HtH: not ranged combat.

Vol: Agreed. Lots of preview sites seem to be losing track of things like accuracy and professionalism. "Duh, I like dis game cuz de sent me da shiny preview discy thing" doesn't help anyone.

 

[Sammael]

Shouldn't the number of hirelings be based on <i>Charisma</i>? Oh, that's right. That's a <i>non-combat rule</i>. Won't be seeing that implimented in a <a href="http://www.bioware.com">BioWare</a> game!

Actually, the number of hirelings should be limited only by the amount of money you are prepared to dish out. The number of cohorts, on the other hand, should be limited by your Leadership score (character level + Cha + special modifiers), which incidentally requires you to take the curiously named Leadership feat.

Not that I expect Bioware to implement any non-combat rule, either.

 

[Spazmo]

That preview sucks.

Among other things.

Voss, the Drow do have an empire. They're mostly city-state affairs, but they still have infrastructure and stuff.

 

[Voss]

Individual city states are entirely different from a unified Empire ruled by a single individual.

The various Drow cities could be allied, indifferent or at war with each other at any given time- thats not an Empire by any stretch of the definition. More particularly each city state has its own infrastructure that has to be maintained by that city alone- which is even more suggestive of individual autonomy.