NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[KainenMorden]

How do you think the 3 e "fighter/mage" type builds stack up vs pure wizards or sorcerers of equivalent level in nwn in general?

I thought it fairly obvious from what I already wrote that an attempt at a true fighter/mage (i.e. one making a very significant investment in both warrior and caster levels) in NWN would compare poorly to a pure mage, as such a build by trying to be strong at both combat and spellcasting would end up rather weak at both. Better to specialize and be outstanding at one of the two. That is not to say that completely pure mages are the most optimal casters, as a few levels in other classes (e.g., giving a wizard several rogue levels for skill dumps, giving a sorcerer a couple paladin levels for a big boost to saves and Persuade skill dumps to provide another use for CHA, etc.) can be quite useful. Taking too many non-caster levels though can seriously cripple one's spellcasting power.

Also note that in 3E one can specialize in terms of actual capabilities while still being multi-classed. A fighter with, e.g., ten Red Dragon Disciple levels, or a Fighter/Weapon Master/Tumble skill dump class will typically be more powerful than a pure fighter. That is because there are multiple classes that enhance melee combat power, though, so that tends not to work so well for casters, due to NWN having no prestige classes that complement casters (if we are talking about the standard base game, anyway - additional prestige classes can of course be modded in).

Some expert NWN players do like to play so called "Melee Mage" builds, particularly in rest-restricted environments, which are mage builds designed to also be somewhat competent at melee combat. The theory is that such a build can use straight-forward combat to clear out typical trashmobs, thereby conserving one's spells for boss fights or other especially difficult encounters. However such builds consist mostly, and sometimes entirely, of caster levels, just with ability scores, feats, and buffing spells tweaked to make them more melee-capable, with sometimes a small number of levels from a warrior class thrown in.

Really appreciate you taking the time to explain it all to me.

At high level do you think caster builds are more powerful than melee focused builds?

Edit: do you have an opinion on what other class to add to a fighter/bard/rdd build?

 

[rogueknight333]

At high level do you think caster builds are more powerful than melee focused builds?

Yes, typically they are very much so at high levels, though this can be mitigated somewhat depending on conditions in the specific module, with things like rest restrictions or good gear for the warriors playing a significant role. In a module with no rest restrictions or other special nerfs, high level casters will be overwhelming more powerful than melee builds.

Edit: do you have an opinion on what other class to add to a fighter/bard/rdd build?

You are limited to taking no more than three classes in NWN, so if you have already taken levels of bard, fighter and RDD, you cannot take any other class. The main question there would be whether to take relatively more bard levels or more fighter levels (there is unlikely to be any good reason to take more than 10 RDD levels). There are advantages both ways, so not really any one right answer to that: more Bard levels will give you better Bard Song bonuses and more buffing spells (and as a medium BAB class does not hurt your combat capabilities nearly as much as wizard/sorcerer levels would), more Fighter levels gives you more feats, more HP and better BAB (pre-epic at least).

 

[KainenMorden]

Ok thanks and my second question was about nwn2 but I really appreciate your insight.

Either way I plan on playing through swordflight sometime in the near future, is there a caster build in particular that you think works well throughout the module?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer

 

[rogueknight333]

Ok thanks and my second question was about nwn2 but I really appreciate your insight.

Either way I plan on playing through swordflight sometime in the near future, is there a caster build in particular that you think works well throughout the module?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer

Swordflight is meant to be playable and have special content for a wide variety of character types so there really is not any specific build in particular I would recommend for it. Also note, in reference to my above comments, that Swordflight does have rest restrictions so casters are not quite as OP as usual in NWN. They do still tend to be stronger at higher levels but mages in particular can struggle at low levels.

Clerics are perhaps the most OP class in NWN and in Swordflight the easiest class you could play. There are lots of build possibilities for them. Throwing in either a few rogue levels (perhaps in conjunction with the trickery domain) for more skills or a few warrior levels for some extra combat power both make sense (though as usual for casters the vast majority of your levels should be in your primary casting class).

A wizard with a few rogue levels for skill dumps is very versatile and effective if you can get through the earliest stages of the series, as well as, in Swordflight, able to qualify for a particularly large percentage of the extra content available for particular classes or characters with particular skills. Throw in a ranger level or two for Animal Empathy and you could qualify for even more.

A Sorcerer with a couple levels of Paladin (for the big boost to saves with a CHA-focused class, fear immunity, and more weapon options and a slight boost to combat power for situations where you cannot rely on spells) and another couple levels of Monk (for Evasion, Tumble Skill Dumps and WIS AC bonus - note you can use spells, potions, items etc. to boost WIS even if you minmax and your base WIS provides no bonus) is a very strong build. You could consider going with 3-4 levels of one or both classes to get things like Turn Undead (which has some special uses in Swordflight and might also give you access to the Divine Shield feat) or more frequent skill dumps, but be careful not to neglect your caster levels.

Gnome (primarily for the CON bonus to help out your low hit die) or Elf (for DEX and more weapon options) tend to be the best choices for rogue/wizard builds. Both have wizard as favored class so you can multiclass a bit and still avoid an XP penalty (just make sure that if you take two other classes they are never more than one level apart). Human is pretty much essential for Sorc/Pal/Mnk (technically Half-elf also avoids an XP penalty, but loses the bonus feat and bonus skills and offers basically nothing as compensation). Human also makes sense as the default for Cleric, but really any race can work there, depending on what other classes (if any) you take.

 

[Faarbaute]

You are a gentleman and a scholar, rogueknight333. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.

 

[KainenMorden]

Ok thanks and my second question was about nwn2 but I really appreciate your insight.

Either way I plan on playing through swordflight sometime in the near future, is there a caster build in particular that you think works well throughout the module?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer

Swordflight is meant to be playable and have special content for a wide variety of character types so there really is not any specific build in particular I would recommend for it. Also note, in reference to my above comments, that Swordflight does have rest restrictions so casters are not quite as OP as usual in NWN. They do still tend to be stronger at higher levels but mages in particular can struggle at low levels.

Clerics are perhaps the most OP class in NWN and in Swordflight the easiest class you could play. There are lots of build possibilities for them. Throwing in either a few rogue levels (perhaps in conjunction with the trickery domain) for more skills or a few warrior levels for some extra combat power both make sense (though as usual for casters the vast majority of your levels should be in your primary casting class).

A wizard with a few rogue levels for skill dumps is very versatile and effective if you can get through the earliest stages of the series, as well as, in Swordflight, able to qualify for a particularly large percentage of the extra content available for particular classes or characters with particular skills. Throw in a ranger level or two for Animal Empathy and you could qualify for even more.

A Sorcerer with a couple levels of Paladin (for the big boost to saves with a CHA-focused class, fear immunity, and more weapon options and a slight boost to combat power for situations where you cannot rely on spells) and another couple levels of Monk (for Evasion, Tumble Skill Dumps and WIS AC bonus - note you can use spells, potions, items etc. to boost WIS even if you minmax and your base WIS provides no bonus) is a very strong build. You could consider going with 3-4 levels of one or both classes to get things like Turn Undead (which has some special uses in Swordflight and might also give you access to the Divine Shield feat) or more frequent skill dumps, but be careful not to neglect your caster levels.

Gnome (primarily for the CON bonus to help out your low hit die) or Elf (for DEX and more weapon options) tend to be the best choices for rogue/wizard builds. Both have wizard as favored class so you can multiclass a bit and still avoid an XP penalty (just make sure that if you take two other classes they are never more than one level apart). Human is pretty much essential for Sorc/Pal/Mnk (technically Half-elf also avoids an XP penalty, but loses the bonus feat and bonus skills and offers basically nothing as compensation). Human also makes sense as the default for Cleric, but really any race can work there, depending on what other classes (if any) you take.

Great insights especially reminding players to be cognizant of xp penalty when multi classing! Can't thank you enough!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ok thanks and my second question was about nwn2 but I really appreciate your insight.

Either way I plan on playing through swordflight sometime in the near future, is there a caster build in particular that you think works well throughout the module?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer

Swordflight is meant to be playable and have special content for a wide variety of character types so there really is not any specific build in particular I would recommend for it. Also note, in reference to my above comments, that Swordflight does have rest restrictions so casters are not quite as OP as usual in NWN. They do still tend to be stronger at higher levels but mages in particular can struggle at low levels.

Clerics are perhaps the most OP class in NWN and in Swordflight the easiest class you could play. There are lots of build possibilities for them. Throwing in either a few rogue levels (perhaps in conjunction with the trickery domain) for more skills or a few warrior levels for some extra combat power both make sense (though as usual for casters the vast majority of your levels should be in your primary casting class).

A wizard with a few rogue levels for skill dumps is very versatile and effective if you can get through the earliest stages of the series, as well as, in Swordflight, able to qualify for a particularly large percentage of the extra content available for particular classes or characters with particular skills. Throw in a ranger level or two for Animal Empathy and you could qualify for even more.

A Sorcerer with a couple levels of Paladin (for the big boost to saves with a CHA-focused class, fear immunity, and more weapon options and a slight boost to combat power for situations where you cannot rely on spells) and another couple levels of Monk (for Evasion, Tumble Skill Dumps and WIS AC bonus - note you can use spells, potions, items etc. to boost WIS even if you minmax and your base WIS provides no bonus) is a very strong build. You could consider going with 3-4 levels of one or both classes to get things like Turn Undead (which has some special uses in Swordflight and might also give you access to the Divine Shield feat) or more frequent skill dumps, but be careful not to neglect your caster levels.

Gnome (primarily for the CON bonus to help out your low hit die) or Elf (for DEX and more weapon options) tend to be the best choices for rogue/wizard builds. Both have wizard as favored class so you can multiclass a bit and still avoid an XP penalty (just make sure that if you take two other classes they are never more than one level apart). Human is pretty much essential for Sorc/Pal/Mnk (technically Half-elf also avoids an XP penalty, but loses the bonus feat and bonus skills and offers basically nothing as compensation). Human also makes sense as the default for Cleric, but really any race can work there, depending on what other classes (if any) you take.

Also don't forget:

Some might be inclined to dismiss this suggestion as being inspired by an ulterior agenda, but if one does want to play a straight forward warrior Barbarian has more advantages in Swordflight than in most modules. Extra skill points are very useful in the series (especially if combined with a few Rogue levels), and there are also more significant advantages to some Barbarian class skills like Intimidate than is typical. They will gain access to special content (along with Druids and Rangers) through the tracking ability they are presumed to have.

 

[KainenMorden]

Ok thanks and my second question was about nwn2 but I really appreciate your insight.

Either way I plan on playing through swordflight sometime in the near future, is there a caster build in particular that you think works well throughout the module?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer

Swordflight is meant to be playable and have special content for a wide variety of character types so there really is not any specific build in particular I would recommend for it. Also note, in reference to my above comments, that Swordflight does have rest restrictions so casters are not quite as OP as usual in NWN. They do still tend to be stronger at higher levels but mages in particular can struggle at low levels.

Clerics are perhaps the most OP class in NWN and in Swordflight the easiest class you could play. There are lots of build possibilities for them. Throwing in either a few rogue levels (perhaps in conjunction with the trickery domain) for more skills or a few warrior levels for some extra combat power both make sense (though as usual for casters the vast majority of your levels should be in your primary casting class).

A wizard with a few rogue levels for skill dumps is very versatile and effective if you can get through the earliest stages of the series, as well as, in Swordflight, able to qualify for a particularly large percentage of the extra content available for particular classes or characters with particular skills. Throw in a ranger level or two for Animal Empathy and you could qualify for even more.

A Sorcerer with a couple levels of Paladin (for the big boost to saves with a CHA-focused class, fear immunity, and more weapon options and a slight boost to combat power for situations where you cannot rely on spells) and another couple levels of Monk (for Evasion, Tumble Skill Dumps and WIS AC bonus - note you can use spells, potions, items etc. to boost WIS even if you minmax and your base WIS provides no bonus) is a very strong build. You could consider going with 3-4 levels of one or both classes to get things like Turn Undead (which has some special uses in Swordflight and might also give you access to the Divine Shield feat) or more frequent skill dumps, but be careful not to neglect your caster levels.

Gnome (primarily for the CON bonus to help out your low hit die) or Elf (for DEX and more weapon options) tend to be the best choices for rogue/wizard builds. Both have wizard as favored class so you can multiclass a bit and still avoid an XP penalty (just make sure that if you take two other classes they are never more than one level apart). Human is pretty much essential for Sorc/Pal/Mnk (technically Half-elf also avoids an XP penalty, but loses the bonus feat and bonus skills and offers basically nothing as compensation). Human also makes sense as the default for Cleric, but really any race can work there, depending on what other classes (if any) you take.

Just finished chapter 1, I went Human LG- 1 level of Cleric to start, war-magic, 1 level of sorcerer took sleep, true sight and then 3 paladin levels. I took power attack, divine might, divine shield as feats. I started with 18 cha and 16 St so those feats were worth it. Dumped int so no knockdown feats or expertise but I don't think that's a big deal. Also wis is base 11 so I won't be able to use Paladin spells after level 1 but I don't think that's a huge drawback either.

Just planning on leveling Paladin atleast to 16. Not sure if I should get into epic Paladin levels later or if it would be viable to switch back to sorc. Any of your thoughts on that would be greatly appreciated.

Your work is amazing. I understand its not for everyone but I'm definitely a member of your target audience in that I really enjoyed soloing the IE games, FO 1+2, Arcanum, etc. and I appreciate the tactical combat and resource management as well as character building in SF. The story, writing, companions, etc of an rpg are not that important to me if the gameplay mechanics are solid. I didn't have high expectations for the writing in SF but was pleasantly surprised. I'm no literary critic but I grew up reading Tolkein, C.S Lewis, etc and I felt the writing in chapter 1 was excellent and I was interested in the story.

I actually like tough battles that require me to think and come up with a strategy to overcome the obstacles set in front of me. I also enjoy when I lose a fight and get frustrated and reload right away to try again(I plan on avoiding ever using the respawn feature in game btw)

When I get frustrated because of a battle that's when I know the game is really good. I'm so engrossed into the game, I'm actually emotionally invested in the game at that point. Can't wait to start Chapter 2.

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

Any thoughts?

 

[notpl]

I don't understand what you're going for with paladin/cleric/sorc. People take a single level of paladin as a sorcerer to get huge charisma bonuses to all their saves, doing the inverse of this doesn't make any sense. If you were planning on doing paladin/red dragon disciple, you need to realize that NWN caps characters to 3 classes total of any type, so a cleric/sorc/paladin cannot take RDD.

 

[Gargaune]

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

For what it's worth, I just popped my old DE save into the EE and that cutscene ran normally. I even tried making a new EE save from it, cold loading that one and it still ran fine. I took the liberty to snoop around the cutscene script and I don't see anything save-related being read, you should approach the sarcophagus, Zarala should turn to face it, and you should begin dialogue. I'm running EE v86.8193.34.1 (these build numbers are nuts).


On a tangent, that does remind me - rogueknight333, if we want to migrate Swordflight progress to a new installation, what files do we need to carry across? Just the save/character and the /database/SWORDFLIGHTDB files? I'd like to bite the bullet and swap over to the EE for Chapter 5 when you release it.

 

[KainenMorden]

I don't understand what you're going for with paladin/cleric/sorc. People take a single level of paladin as a sorcerer to get huge charisma bonuses to all their saves, doing the inverse of this doesn't make any sense. If you were planning on doing paladin/red dragon disciple, you need to realize that NWN caps characters to 3 classes total of any type, so a cleric/sorc/paladin cannot take RDD.

Just being a paladin who can wear heavy armor while using divine and arcane scrolls and wands. I thought about lvling sorcerer after paladin 16. Cleric was also critical to have turn undead right away and get divine might and shield as soon as possible.

The build was fun to play through chapter 1.

 

[KainenMorden]

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

For what it's worth, I just popped my old DE save into the EE and that cutscene ran normally. I even tried making a new EE save from it, cold loading that one and it still ran fine. I took the liberty to snoop around the cutscene script and I don't see anything save-related being read, you should approach the sarcophagus, Zarala should turn to face it, and you should begin dialogue. I'm running EE v86.8193.34.1 (these build numbers are nuts).


On a tangent, that does remind me - rogueknight333, if we want to migrate Swordflight progress to a new installation, what files do we need to carry across? Just the save/character and the /database/SWORDFLIGHTDB files? I'd like to bite the bullet and swap over to the EE for Chapter 5 when you release it.

Ok thanks for the info. I will load a few saves later on and try again and report back.

 

[notpl]

You might consider retooling for chapter 2. Bard/paladin/RDD will give you lots of skills, the ability to use scrolls/wands with impunity, turn undead, and of course, it will be MUCH stronger in combat.

 

[KainenMorden]

You might consider retooling for chapter 2. Bard/paladin/RDD will give you lots of skills, the ability to use scrolls/wands with impunity, turn undead, and of course, it will be MUCH stronger in combat.

Thanks I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Gargaune]

Ok thanks for the info. I will load a few saves later on and try again and report back.

Might be worth making a note of when exactly it kills you along this step-by-step and whether it's always the same moment:
1) You enter the room and say "We need to be on guard";
2) You and Zarala walk further into the room as the camera turns to show the stairs and the sarcophagus;
3) You both pause at the bottom of the stairs, then climb to the sarcophagus while the camera angle moves again;
4) Zarala faces the sarcophagus;
5) Dialogue begins.

You can also try enabling god mode to see if the cutscene still kills you. Open the console via ~ and enter the following one at a time:
DebugMode 1
dm_god
DebugMode 0

And check whether you're running the same EE build, it's in the corner of your Options menu.

 

[KainenMorden]

Ok thanks for the info. I will load a few saves later on and try again and report back.

Might be worth making a note of when exactly it kills you along this step-by-step and whether it's always the same moment:
1) You enter the room and say "We need to be on guard";
2) You and Zarala walk further into the room as the camera turns to show the stairs and the sarcophagus;
3) You both pause at the bottom of the stairs, then climb to the sarcophagus while the camera angle moves again;
4) Zarala faces the sarcophagus;
5) Dialogue begins.

You can also try enabling god mode to see if the cutscene still kills you. Open the console via ~ and enter the following one at a time:
DebugMode 1
dm_god
DebugMode 0

And check whether you're running the same EE build, it's in the corner of your Options menu.

I will for sure. This is the first time I've had any type of issue with nwnee but it's also the first time I've ever played a module. Never had to open the console.

Thanks for the breakdown

 

[Gargaune]

I will for sure. This is the first time I've had any type of issue with nwnee but it's also the first time I've ever played a module. Never had to open the console.

Thanks for the breakdown

No worries. One more suggestion - if you have any summons/pets/familiars, try dismissing them before you go through the door and trigger the cutscene, see if it makes a difference.

 

[KainenMorden]

You might consider retooling for chapter 2. Bard/paladin/RDD will give you lots of skills, the ability to use scrolls/wands with impunity, turn undead, and of course, it will be MUCH stronger in combat.

Just thinking about this, at what point would you lvl bard so you can put points in umd?

You'd also have to plan an alignment shift there. No doubt it would be a very powerful character at higher levels.

 

[rogueknight333]

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

Any thoughts?

I had a player report a similar problem on the NWVault. It was eventually determined that the issue was that Zarala was overburdened (i.e., had too much stuff in her inventory and it exceeded her weight limit), and thus walking too slowly in the custscene. As a result, upon reaching the sarcophagus and triggering the dialogue start, she is not close enough to participate in the conversation and that breaks the sequence. This further causes a death screen to pop up since in the first chapter that is how I handled players breaking out of plot-critical cutscenes or conversations (basically forcing them to reload and do it right). That was not a very good method, but I was none too expert with NWScript when making Ch. 1 so that was what I came up with.

If unburdening Zarala does not work (and check your own character - possible you being overburdened might cause issues as well), you could look at the debugging advice I gave to a user using the name "yeahitschris" on the NWVault, who also had some issues with the final cutscene. Look at page 5 of the comments on the Swordflight Ch. 1 Vault page. I can repost some of that here and elaborate further if necessary.

On a tangent, that does remind me - rogueknight333, if we want to migrate Swordflight progress to a new installation, what files do we need to carry across? Just the save/character and the /database/SWORDFLIGHTDB files? I'd like to bite the bullet and swap over to the EE for Chapter 5 when you release it.

You would need to copy the following files from the NWN/database folder to the database folder of your new installation:

SwordflightDB.CDX
SwordflightDB.DBF
SwordflightDB.FPT

Basically everything in the database folder with "Swordflight" in the name should be copied over. If by some chance your installation does not create a database folder (some folders are not created until the game needs them - don't recall if the database folder is one such) you can just create a folder with that name yourself.

Naturally any character files exported at the end of the latest module you played should also be copied to the new NWN/local vault folder. That should be all you need to do to be ready to play the next chapter when it comes out. In EE of course the relevant NWN folders are sub-folder in your "Documents" folder (I am sure you know that but perhaps other people looking up this advice would not).

Just being a paladin who can wear heavy armor while using divine and arcane scrolls and wands. I thought about lvling sorcerer after paladin 16. Cleric was also critical to have turn undead right away and get divine might and shield as soon as possible.

The build was fun to play through chapter 1.

As a general rule caster levels do not add that much to a build unless you have a lot of them, so that is somewhat questionable. You would get a stronger build in the long run by mostly not taking more paladin levels and focusing on boosting Sorcerer levels. What you are doing is certainly playable though (even a pure paladin would be) so feel free to continue with that build if you are having fun with it.

 

[KainenMorden]

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

Any thoughts?

I had a player report a similar problem on the NWVault. It was eventually determined that the issue was that Zarala was overburdened (i.e., had too much stuff in her inventory and it exceeded her weight limit), and thus walking too slowly in the custscene. As a result, upon reaching the sarcophagus and triggering the dialogue start, she is not close enough to participate in the conversation and that breaks the sequence. This further causes a death screen to pop up since in the first chapter that is how I handled players breaking out of plot-critical cutscenes or conversations (basically forcing them to reload and do it right). That was not a very good method, but I was none too expert with NWScript when making Ch. 1 so that was what I came up with.

If unburdening Zarala does not work (and check your own character - possible you being overburdened might cause issues as well), you could look at the debugging advice I gave to a user using the name "yeahitschris" on the NWVault, who also had some issues with the final cutscene. Look at page 5 of the comments on the Swordflight Ch. 1 Vault page. I can repost some of that here and elaborate further if necessary.

On a tangent, that does remind me - rogueknight333, if we want to migrate Swordflight progress to a new installation, what files do we need to carry across? Just the save/character and the /database/SWORDFLIGHTDB files? I'd like to bite the bullet and swap over to the EE for Chapter 5 when you release it.

You would need to copy the following files from the NWN/database folder to the database folder of your new installation:

SwordflightDB.CDX
SwordflightDB.DBF
SwordflightDB.FPT

Basically everything in the database folder with "Swordflight" in the name should be copied over. If by some chance your installation does not create a database folder (some folders are not created until the game needs them - don't recall if the database folder is one such) you can just create a folder with that name yourself.

Naturally any character files exported at the end of the latest module you played should also be copied to the new NWN/local vault folder. That should be all you need to do to be ready to play the next chapter when it comes out. In EE of course the relevant NWN folders are sub-folder in your "Documents" folder (I am sure you know that but perhaps other people looking up this advice would not).

Just being a paladin who can wear heavy armor while using divine and arcane scrolls and wands. I thought about lvling sorcerer after paladin 16. Cleric was also critical to have turn undead right away and get divine might and shield as soon as possible.

The build was fun to play through chapter 1.

As a general rule caster levels do not add that much to a build unless you have a lot of them, so that is somewhat questionable. You would get a stronger build in the long run by mostly not taking more paladin levels and focusing on boosting Sorcerer levels. What you are doing is certainly playable though (even a pure paladin would be) so feel free to continue with that build if you are having fun with it.

Thanks for the help. as for the build, like I said I think id be stronger in the long run by taking sorcerer levels after paladin 16 but just wasn't sure if that would work or exactly how many paladin levels I should take.

also quick question, if a weapon is +1 and has a damage bonus against undead, does bless weapon do anything? I know flame weapon would add damage on hit.

 

[KainenMorden]

However, there is a problem. For some reason after I kill Ramurg, I end up in the chamber and when the cut scene reaches my PC approaching a sarcophagus I just die and the game tells me to reload an earlier save. I guess my first mistake is, I'm playing on EE so I pretty much brought this onto myself. I always keep multiple saves going and I reloaded a few and the same thing happened every time.

Any thoughts?

I had a player report a similar problem on the NWVault. It was eventually determined that the issue was that Zarala was overburdened (i.e., had too much stuff in her inventory and it exceeded her weight limit), and thus walking too slowly in the custscene. As a result, upon reaching the sarcophagus and triggering the dialogue start, she is not close enough to participate in the conversation and that breaks the sequence. This further causes a death screen to pop up since in the first chapter that is how I handled players breaking out of plot-critical cutscenes or conversations (basically forcing them to reload and do it right). That was not a very good method, but I was none too expert with NWScript when making Ch. 1 so that was what I came up with.

If unburdening Zarala does not work (and check your own character - possible you being overburdened might cause issues as well), you could look at the debugging advice I gave to a user using the name "yeahitschris" on the NWVault, who also had some issues with the final cutscene. Look at page 5 of the comments on the Swordflight Ch. 1 Vault page. I can repost some of that here and elaborate further if necessary.

On a tangent, that does remind me - rogueknight333, if we want to migrate Swordflight progress to a new installation, what files do we need to carry across? Just the save/character and the /database/SWORDFLIGHTDB files? I'd like to bite the bullet and swap over to the EE for Chapter 5 when you release it.

You would need to copy the following files from the NWN/database folder to the database folder of your new installation:

SwordflightDB.CDX
SwordflightDB.DBF
SwordflightDB.FPT

Basically everything in the database folder with "Swordflight" in the name should be copied over. If by some chance your installation does not create a database folder (some folders are not created until the game needs them - don't recall if the database folder is one such) you can just create a folder with that name yourself.

Naturally any character files exported at the end of the latest module you played should also be copied to the new NWN/local vault folder. That should be all you need to do to be ready to play the next chapter when it comes out. In EE of course the relevant NWN folders are sub-folder in your "Documents" folder (I am sure you know that but perhaps other people looking up this advice would not).

Just being a paladin who can wear heavy armor while using divine and arcane scrolls and wands. I thought about lvling sorcerer after paladin 16. Cleric was also critical to have turn undead right away and get divine might and shield as soon as possible.

The build was fun to play through chapter 1.

As a general rule caster levels do not add that much to a build unless you have a lot of them, so that is somewhat questionable. You would get a stronger build in the long run by mostly not taking more paladin levels and focusing on boosting Sorcerer levels. What you are doing is certainly playable though (even a pure paladin would be) so feel free to continue with that build if you are having fun with it.

It was an issue with her being encumbered. Thanks

 

[rogueknight333]

Thanks for the help. as for the build, like I said I think id be stronger in the long run by taking sorcerer levels after paladin 16 but just wasn't sure if that would work or exactly how many paladin levels I should take.

also quick question, if a weapon is +1 and has a damage bonus against undead, does bless weapon do anything? I know flame weapon would add damage on hit.

I would suggest taking far fewer than 16 Paladin levels, and focusing on being primarily a sorcerer. Just take a few paladin levels early to help you out in the earlier stages of the game where warriors tend to outperform casters, and perhaps an occasional additional level to get Persuade or Taunt skill dumps (if you are advancing either of these skills). Alternatively go all in on paladin and take few or no additional sorc levels, just using the class to give access to wands and scrolls (perhaps a tiny handful of additional levels for Spellcraft skill dumps or a few extra minor buffing or utility spells). You need a lot of sorcerer levels for the class to do much for you.

In NWN, enhancement bonuses are not cumulative, only the highest gets used, so Bless Weapon's enhancement bonus adds nothing to a weapon that already has an enhancement of +1 or better.

Damage bonuses however are cumulative provided that each source of damage is of a different type. If two sources of damage are both of the same type, then again only the highest would be used. To take Bless Weapon as a specific example of this, if a weapon has a 1d6 Fire bonus (general), a 1d6 positive energy bonus against undead, and a 1d6 divine damage bonus against evil, then casting Bless Weapon (2d6 divine vs. undead) would cause the weapon to do 4d6 bonus damage if striking an evil undead target. The fire bonus, positive bonus and 2d6 divine bonus from the spell all do different types of damage, so would all apply. However the 1d6 divine damage vs. evil, being of the same type but lower than the bonus from Bless Weapon, would be replaced by that and not apply. In Swordflight IIRC no weapon has an innate divine bonus as high as 2d6, so Bless Weapon should certainly be useful if fighting undead. It will always increase the damage done at least slightly and often very significantly (e.g., in the case of the hypothetical weapon described above, it would do only 3d6 bonus damage to an evil undead without bless weapon - 1d6 fire, 1d6 positive vs undead, and 1d6 divine vs. evil).

A special case is bonus damage from special on-hit properties. These hit separately from the actual weapon strike, and so can do extra damage even if the weapon in question has an elemental bonus of the same type.

 

[KainenMorden]

Thanks for the help. as for the build, like I said I think id be stronger in the long run by taking sorcerer levels after paladin 16 but just wasn't sure if that would work or exactly how many paladin levels I should take.

also quick question, if a weapon is +1 and has a damage bonus against undead, does bless weapon do anything? I know flame weapon would add damage on hit.

I would suggest taking far fewer than 16 Paladin levels, and focusing on being primarily a sorcerer. Just take a few paladin levels early to help you out in the earlier stages of the game where warriors tend to outperform casters, and perhaps an occasional additional level to get Persuade or Taunt skill dumps (if you are advancing either of these skills). Alternatively go all in on paladin and take few or no additional sorc levels, just using the class to give access to wands and scrolls (perhaps a tiny handful of additional levels for Spellcraft skill dumps or a few extra minor buffing or utility spells). You need a lot of sorcerer levels for the class to do much for you.

In NWN, enhancement bonuses are not cumulative, only the highest gets used, so Bless Weapon's enhancement bonus adds nothing to a weapon that already has an enhancement of +1 or better.

Damage bonuses however are cumulative provided that each source of damage is of a different type. If two sources of damage are both of the same type, then again only the highest would be used. To take Bless Weapon as a specific example of this, if a weapon has a 1d6 Fire bonus (general), a 1d6 positive energy bonus against undead, and a 1d6 divine damage bonus against evil, then casting Bless Weapon (2d6 divine vs. undead) would cause the weapon to do 4d6 bonus damage if striking an evil undead target. The fire bonus, positive bonus and 2d6 divine bonus from the spell all do different types of damage, so would all apply. However the 1d6 divine damage vs. evil, being of the same type but lower than the bonus from Bless Weapon, would be replaced by that and not apply. In Swordflight IIRC no weapon has an innate divine bonus as high as 2d6, so Bless Weapon should certainly be useful if fighting undead. It will always increase the damage done at least slightly and often very significantly (e.g., in the case of the hypothetical weapon described above, it would do only 3d6 bonus damage to an evil undead without bless weapon - 1d6 fire, 1d6 positive vs undead, and 1d6 divine vs. evil).

A special case is bonus damage from special on-hit properties. These hit separately from the actual weapon strike, and so can do extra damage even if the weapon in question has an elemental bonus of the same type.

Ok thanks for giving me some direction. I know a more powerful character would be built by transitioning to sorc soon, maybe after pal 6 when I get another attack. It just seems like melee would be my primary method of dealing damage for quite awhile and I'd want a good base of paladin levels but I've never run a char like this so not sure how it will go.

Again, I'm very appreciative of you taking the time to answer my questions so thoroughly and explaining the game systems/rules to me.

 

[KainenMorden]

Thanks for the help. as for the build, like I said I think id be stronger in the long run by taking sorcerer levels after paladin 16 but just wasn't sure if that would work or exactly how many paladin levels I should take.

also quick question, if a weapon is +1 and has a damage bonus against undead, does bless weapon do anything? I know flame weapon would add damage on hit.

I would suggest taking far fewer than 16 Paladin levels, and focusing on being primarily a sorcerer. Just take a few paladin levels early to help you out in the earlier stages of the game where warriors tend to outperform casters, and perhaps an occasional additional level to get Persuade or Taunt skill dumps (if you are advancing either of these skills). Alternatively go all in on paladin and take few or no additional sorc levels, just using the class to give access to wands and scrolls (perhaps a tiny handful of additional levels for Spellcraft skill dumps or a few extra minor buffing or utility spells). You need a lot of sorcerer levels for the class to do much for you.

In NWN, enhancement bonuses are not cumulative, only the highest gets used, so Bless Weapon's enhancement bonus adds nothing to a weapon that already has an enhancement of +1 or better.

Damage bonuses however are cumulative provided that each source of damage is of a different type. If two sources of damage are both of the same type, then again only the highest would be used. To take Bless Weapon as a specific example of this, if a weapon has a 1d6 Fire bonus (general), a 1d6 positive energy bonus against undead, and a 1d6 divine damage bonus against evil, then casting Bless Weapon (2d6 divine vs. undead) would cause the weapon to do 4d6 bonus damage if striking an evil undead target. The fire bonus, positive bonus and 2d6 divine bonus from the spell all do different types of damage, so would all apply. However the 1d6 divine damage vs. evil, being of the same type but lower than the bonus from Bless Weapon, would be replaced by that and not apply. In Swordflight IIRC no weapon has an innate divine bonus as high as 2d6, so Bless Weapon should certainly be useful if fighting undead. It will always increase the damage done at least slightly and often very significantly (e.g., in the case of the hypothetical weapon described above, it would do only 3d6 bonus damage to an evil undead without bless weapon - 1d6 fire, 1d6 positive vs undead, and 1d6 divine vs. evil).

A special case is bonus damage from special on-hit properties. These hit separately from the actual weapon strike, and so can do extra damage even if the weapon in question has an elemental bonus of the same type.

Ok another problem, I tried to start up chapter 2 and it said the module was corrupted

 

[Gargaune]

You would need to copy the following files from the NWN/database folder to the database folder of your new installation:

SwordflightDB.CDX
SwordflightDB.DBF
SwordflightDB.FPT

Basically everything in the database folder with "Swordflight" in the name should be copied over. If by some chance your installation does not create a database folder (some folders are not created until the game needs them - don't recall if the database folder is one such) you can just create a folder with that name yourself.

Naturally any character files exported at the end of the latest module you played should also be copied to the new NWN/local vault folder. That should be all you need to do to be ready to play the next chapter when it comes out. In EE of course the relevant NWN folders are sub-folder in your "Documents" folder (I am sure you know that but perhaps other people looking up this advice would not).

Thanks, man, wanted to be sure!

Ok another problem, I tried to start up chapter 2 and it said the module was corrupted

Did you install all the resources correctly? You need the Ch2 module and its associated hakpak on the same page, plus the CTP Babylon and the Community Tileset Project's CTP Common and CTP Loadscreens hakpaks.