NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[Apostle Hand]

thanks. can I start a new game and jump straight to chapter 3 with new class and race because I got bored several years ago and uninstalled it, together with savegames?

Yes, you can start any chapter without having played the previous ones. However, in this case you may not benefit from certain actions you took in previous chapters that get recorded in the database, such as altering Zarala's alignment or gaining certain companions.

also, does it still work good on diamond edition or I must instal EE?

It is still possible to play on Diamond, and I actually recommend doing so, as novel bugs keep cropping up in EE.

Last question : which weapons you can coat poison with? I assume all slashing and piercing.

The default Bioware Use Poison feat only works on slashing and piercing weapons. However, the custom "Vial of Potent Poison" item I include in the series can apply its bonuses to any type of melee weapon. That item is probably the only worthwhile way to take advantage of the Use Poison as the default Bioware poison do not do much and last only for a very brief period.

well I started third chapter but it didn't give the option of leveling up. maybe when I did something wrong.

 

[rogueknight333]

I meant that you can start in later chapters without breaking anything, not that you would be auto-leveled up or anything. Sorry, did not understand that was what you were asking. You would either first need to level up your character in a utility module, or just use cheat codes to give yourself XP and gold. If you have sufficient gold, there is a store right at the beginning of Ch. 3 where you can buy lots of series-appropriate gear.

 

[Lhynn]

Are the best dips for wizard monk, rogue/shadow dancer? Maybe cleric for animal domain to get stronger summons?

Thought about playing an evil wizard in SF and not trying to go the melee route but trying to play an almost "pure" wizard.

I dont think any dip is a good dip if you are a wizard, delaying your casting progression is kind of eh.

 

[rogueknight333]

I dont think any dip is a good dip if you are a wizard, delaying your casting progression is kind of eh.

Multi-classing can certainly hurt one's spell progression seriously if done too early, but once you have reached level 20+ additional caster levels begin to reach something of a point of diminishing returns in terms of what benefits they offer. At that point there is little reason not to take a level or two of Rogue, Monk or Shadowdancer for skill dumps, evasion, and miscellaneous other benefits. Taking a few Rogue levels early can also make the character far more versatile, and though of course a trade-off, is still perfectly playable. Among other considerations, at low levels one can cast most spells from wands/scrolls (if available) with little or no loss to how powerful they will be.

 

[Gargaune]

Crimson Tides of Tethyr Enhanced Edition is out on the Vault!

​

"Old friend, I fear that Tethyr's future is once again in the balance. The Sythillisian Empire has turned its gaze towards us for reasons I cannot fathom. How can this recently healed nation hope to defend itself from the untold thousands of goblins, orcs, ogres and giants that lurk on its northern border?"

Excerpt from a letter by Royal Court Sage Gamalon Idogyr to Elminster of Shadowdale, 1372 DR.

Author and game designer Luke Scull is delighted to present a remake of the classic Hall of Fame module Crimson Tides of Tethyr for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition! A 20-hour adventure with a colorful cast of characters, epic war storyline, and tactically challenging encounters inspired by Baldur's Gate, this enhanced edition features rewritten dialogue, visual improvements, bug fixes, new systems and quality-of-life improvements, a new hour of gameplay content, and 100 new lines of voiced dialogue.

A huge thank you to all the folk whose generous contributions helped make this module possible! Please visit https://www.patreon.com/lukescull to keep up to date with development of The Blades of Netheril: an epic, seven-part campaign that serves as a mega-sequel to all the game's official content including the original campaign and expansions. If you would prefer to make a one-off donation rather than subscribe, you can do so here: PayPal

I had a feeling about it, knew it was due soon and specifically checked the Vault just now, and boom, there it was! Looking forward to playing it, CToT was already one of my top recommended modules for NWN, the EE treatment should make it a blast.

 

[Gargaune]

NWN Codex, any broad strokes advice on a Str-based Fighter/Bard multiclass? General rather than for any specific module, haven't decided yet. Been mulling over a sort of Arcane Paladin for a while now, I know the PRC has a Hexblade class, but I'm not using the mod. I've just recently dipped a Bard in Fighter, Dex-based, and it's been reasonably fun, but I didn't really plan it out and I'd like the better weapon versatility on Str.

On the Bard side, Extra Song, Lingering Song and Curse Song are a must, and I'm thinking Still Spell is as well. On the martial side, Blind Fight, Power Attack for Cleave and Great Cleave (Dodge would be nice, but I don't think I can justify Dex 13). I typically get Luck of Heroes at 1st level, though I'm not sure I can afford it here. Spells-wise, I'm only interested in 4 levels, so I guess in the long run I'd take Bard up to 13th to be able to Still Spell 4th-level spells into those 5th-level slots, though I'd have to prioritise Bard 10 quite early to do the same for the first three spellcasting levels.

Stat-wise, I'd look to Cha and Str as primaries, starting 16 each, prioritise Str thereafter. Dex 10 to avoid AC penalties, Int 12 for a nice extra skill point, Wis 8 because if the PC were wise, they wouldn't be a bard. That would leave 12 for Con, I've done that on martial classes just fine before. I'm not too worried about Concentration checks, partly because I expect I'd be pre-buffing a fair bit and also becacuse the martial AC should give passable odds for casting in combat when necessary.

So what do you think? Keep in mind I'm not asking for a power build here, I'm well aware it'd be suboptimal, I'd just like to keep it out of "completely sucks" territory.


P.S. Shields are covered by Still Spell too, right?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

NWN Codex, any broad strokes advice on a Str-based Fighter/Bard multiclass?

Roll a barbarian, name him Fafhrd.

 

[Sabotin]

How averse are you to RDD? There's Pal/Brd/RDD, Ftr/Brd/RDD, Brd/BG/RDD, or slightly different Pal/Sor/AA, Ftr/Brd/PM,... There's actually a bajilion different martial bard builds, with various levels of each class. Munchkins all of them, I laughed when you said you just wanted it not to suck xD .

In general the thing you have to optimize is that you get desired BAB/saves before epic and that you take the correct class on certain levels for feats. Oh and plan out how powerful of a song you want. You gotta keep up with both bard levels and perform skill. As you can see there's breakpoints so ideally you'd take a bard level and dump points on perform to match. It impossible at very high levels, where even epic skill focus isn't really enough and you need items. But even a weak song is still pretty good. Tradeoffs and stuff, that's mostly it. Many builds focus on martial earlier and build up bard later when fighters and such fall off in growth.

There are actually some very few spells that can be cast in armor and many buffs can be pre-cast out of combat naked, so still spell isn't really a must-have, but it's still greatly useful later when you can afford the slots.

As you can already see you'll very likely be feat starved and have imbalanced class levels, so human race is the go-to.

 

[Gargaune]

How averse are you to RDD? There's Pal/Brd/RDD, Ftr/Brd/RDD, Brd/BG/RDD, or slightly different Pal/Sor/AA, Ftr/Brd/PM,... There's actually a bajilion different martial bard builds, with various levels of each class. Munchkins all of them, I laughed when you said you just wanted it not to suck xD .

Eh... I'm not a powergamer, like I said, so munchkin builds are kinda lost on me. I could grab one off the NWN2 Builder, but it kinda feels like I'd be putting an aspect of the game on autopilot, I prefer to wing it even if I end up leaving some dice on the table. I definitely wouldn't be taking this thing through Swordflight, so I'm not that hard pressed to min-max. Also, I kinda feel like if I combine martial with too much spellcasting, I start getting overwhelmed and lose track of all my toys.

In general the thing you have to optimize is that you get desired BAB/saves before epic and that you take the correct class on certain levels for feats. Oh and plan out how powerful of a song you want. You gotta keep up with both bard levels and perform skill. As you can see there's breakpoints so ideally you'd take a bard level and dump points on perform to match. It impossible at very high levels, where even epic skill focus isn't really enough and you need items. But even a weak song is still pretty good. Tradeoffs and stuff, that's mostly it. Many builds focus on martial earlier and build up bard later when fighters and such fall off in growth.

There are actually some very few spells that can be cast in armor and many buffs can be pre-cast out of combat naked, so still spell isn't really a must-have, but it's still greatly useful later when you can afford the slots.

As you can already see you'll very likely be feat starved and have imbalanced class levels, so human race is the go-to.

Thanks, much appreciated! I actually did lose track of the song level, stupidly enough, so I'll have to pay attention to that. In the long run, I was planning on stopping Bard at 13 to just get those 5th level slots for 4th level Still Spells, but I guess it'd make more sense to go to level 14 and score that song upgrade. Class spread-wise, I suppose I should make sure every third level-up is in Bard so I can grab those specific feats, and pull my Fighter feats from the bonus list at every two levels in that class itself, that's definitely something I messed up with my earlier attempt.

I guess I'll have to settle on what module to play before I go to deep down the rabbit hole, I'm thinking that second go through Darkness over Daggerford might be good, starts at level 8. I'd actually intended to do this on a full run through Siege of Shadowdale, Crimson Tides of Tethyr and Tyrants of the Moonsea, but having just finished the second module, my build isn't shaping up quite how I'd hoped - plays fine, but it's a flavour thing. So I could start over with levels 8-14 in DoD and then hop into TotM from there:

1: bard (extra music, curse song)
2: bard
3: bard (still spell)
4: fighter
5: fighter (power attack)
6: bard (lingering song)
7: bard
8: bard

Or do you reckon I should take Artist at 1st level for that +2 Perform? If that's the case, I could just postpone the last music feat until 9th level as Bard, early in DoD. Either way, I'd probably take the next one as Bard 7, so I can get my level 3 spell slots, and then pump Fighter a bit. If I've got the Bard feats in the bag, I can pull the martial ones from the general list anyway. And then I guess I'll... (I apologise) play it by ear!

 

[rogueknight333]

Extra Music and Lingering Song might or might not make sense. They can be useful for low level bards but with enough levels you can get enough bard songs that Extra Music is not really necessary, and if you take Lasting Inspiration in epic levels it makes Lingering Song largely redundant. Other useful (not necessarily must have) feats for such a build would include: Blindfight, Toughness, Weapon Focus/Specialization/Improved Critical in your preferred weapon, Curse Song, Still Spell, Extend Spell, possibly Craft Wand in some environments. Great Cleave is not very useful in its own right, so only take that as a prerequisite for Overwhelming and Devastating Critical (which you might well go for if you are STR-based). Artist would not be a useful feat here, if you are not maxing out bard levels you can get all the Perform you need other ways.

Key things to keep in mind would be to get enough pre-epic BAB to get 4 attacks/round, and to regularly skill dump Tumble on Bard levels to max your AC.

In addition to RDD, taking Palemaster as a 3rd class for the AC bonuses and Crit Immunity at Lvl 10 can also be a very good complement to a class like this.

Still spell just cancels the arcane spell penalty from whatever source, so it should not matter whether the penalty comes from a shield or armor.

Roll a barbarian...

What about a Skald (Bard/Barbarian) build?

 

[Gargaune]

Extra Music and Lingering Song might or might not make sense. They can be useful for low level bards but with enough levels you can get enough bard songs that Extra Music is not really necessary, and if you take Lasting Inspiration in epic levels it makes Lingering Song largely redundant. Other useful (not necessarily must have) feats for such a build would include: Blindfight, Toughness, Weapon Focus/Specialization/Improved Critical in your preferred weapon, Curse Song, Still Spell, Extend Spell, possibly Craft Wand in some environments. Great Cleave is not very useful in its own right, so only take that as a prerequisite for Overwhelming and Devastating Critical (which you might well go for if you are STR-based). Artist would not be a useful feat here, if you are not maxing out bard levels you can get all the Perform you need other ways.

Key things to keep in mind would be to get enough pre-epic BAB to get 4 attacks/round, and to regularly skill dump Tumble on Bard levels to max your AC.

In addition to RDD, taking Palemaster as a 3rd class for the AC bonuses and Crit Immunity at Lvl 10 can also be a very good complement to a class like this.

Still spell just cancels the arcane spell penalty from whatever source, so it should not matter whether the penalty comes from a shield or armor.

Thanks for the advice, man, good stuff! Regarding Lasting Inspiration, I don't think I can plan for it if I'm doing a DoD + TotM run, since the highest level I reached last time in the latter was 22, so it would come down to the last stretch of the campaign. And I did seem to make good use of the extra, lingering songs through CToT. Had a look on the NWN2 Builder and if I do a Bard 13 / Fighter 7 by the point I hit 20, that should give me a BAB of 16, so 4 APR, albeit again just for the last part. At that point, if I reach 21, I could take another level of Bard for the song upgrade and stick that single epic feat into something else.

Concerning Artist, I was just wondering whether I'd run into trouble with the Bard Song thresholds since I can only up Perform when I take Bard levels, though I guess it should be fine if I just keep it topped up on every Bard level till I make 21 in the skill.

What about a Skald (Bard/Barbarian) build?

I think we both know what he'll say to that.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

What about a Skald (Bard/Barbarian) build?

Sure, just skip the Bard levels

 

[VHS9000]

rogueknight333 Have you had a chance to play a module called Citadel? What I hear is that it's long, goes into epic levels and has hard/creative/challenging combat encounters - that is it's a little like your series. Do you recommend?

I played that module and was script-killed for not being a fag at the very beginning. I'm not joking. There is a gatekeeper NPC asking are you OK with hardcore queer shit and killing you if you picked "no".

 

[Robber Baron]

There is a gatekeeper NPC asking are you OK with hardcore queer shit and killing you if you picked "no".

 

[Poseidon00]

NWN Codex, any broad strokes advice on a Str-based Fighter/Bard multiclass? General rather than for any specific module, haven't decided yet. Been mulling over a sort of Arcane Paladin for a while now, I know the PRC has a Hexblade class, but I'm not using the mod. I've just recently dipped a Bard in Fighter, Dex-based, and it's been reasonably fun, but I didn't really plan it out and I'd like the better weapon versatility on Str.

On the Bard side, Extra Song, Lingering Song and Curse Song are a must, and I'm thinking Still Spell is as well. On the martial side, Blind Fight, Power Attack for Cleave and Great Cleave (Dodge would be nice, but I don't think I can justify Dex 13). I typically get Luck of Heroes at 1st level, though I'm not sure I can afford it here. Spells-wise, I'm only interested in 4 levels, so I guess in the long run I'd take Bard up to 13th to be able to Still Spell 4th-level spells into those 5th-level slots, though I'd have to prioritise Bard 10 quite early to do the same for the first three spellcasting levels.

Stat-wise, I'd look to Cha and Str as primaries, starting 16 each, prioritise Str thereafter. Dex 10 to avoid AC penalties, Int 12 for a nice extra skill point, Wis 8 because if the PC were wise, they wouldn't be a bard. That would leave 12 for Con, I've done that on martial classes just fine before. I'm not too worried about Concentration checks, partly because I expect I'd be pre-buffing a fair bit and also becacuse the martial AC should give passable odds for casting in combat when necessary.

So what do you think? Keep in mind I'm not asking for a power build here, I'm well aware it'd be suboptimal, I'd just like to keep it out of "completely sucks" territory.


P.S. Shields are covered by Still Spell too, right?

I wouldn't take more than 4 fighter levels, max. Bards do just fine in the AB department and those extra feats + specialization possibility is about as much utility as you will get out of the fighter class as is.

Instead of power attack its possible to roll with 13 in intelligence and go for expertise and improved knockdown. Both useful in a few high pressure situations.

Still spell is useful but not strictly neccesary as you can pump Dex enough for lighter armors to be useful if you have the right stat distrubition or equipment/spells. But full plate + shield + monk AC boots + AC from bard song and more is always nice.

 

[Poseidon00]

Fun little build you can use in high level (15+) NWN2 modules. Works before then just fine but it really takes off around then. It was my attempt to make the best halfling fighter I could. Swashbuckler/Duelist/Sorc1/Dragon Discilple. Fairly easy to see where i'm going with this if you know what the classes do. Start with decent Intelligence, Strength, and Dexterity, in that order, get 3-5 Swash levels in so you can add your Intelligence to damage, grab that sorc level to unlock RDD, max it for +8 to Str and +2 to Int, take duelist levels for extra damage to your light weapons and to add your Intelligence bonus to your AC.

You will be able to fairly easily hit +20 and above bonus damage on hit, and because your intelligence increases your AC and weapon damage, and your Dex should already be solid, you will be better off going with an enchanted robe and can throw on Expertise when needed. And because you have a level of Sorc you will have access to many more magical items than you would otherwise be able to use.

 

[Gargaune]

I wouldn't take more than 4 fighter levels, max. Bards do just fine in the AB department and those extra feats + specialization possibility is about as much utility as you will get out of the fighter class as is.

Instead of power attack its possible to roll with 13 in intelligence and go for expertise and improved knockdown. Both useful in a few high pressure situations.

Still spell is useful but not strictly neccesary as you can pump Dex enough for lighter armors to be useful if you have the right stat distrubition or equipment/spells. But full plate + shield + monk AC boots + AC from bard song and more is always nice.

Thanks, though I fear that ship's sailed by now. It's working out well so far, though, having fun with it. Although I'll need to massage my Cha for bonus spell slots, not rolling in epic gear yet.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Crimson Tides of Tethyr Enhanced Edition is out on the Vault!

​

"Old friend, I fear that Tethyr's future is once again in the balance. The Sythillisian Empire has turned its gaze towards us for reasons I cannot fathom. How can this recently healed nation hope to defend itself from the untold thousands of goblins, orcs, ogres and giants that lurk on its northern border?"

Excerpt from a letter by Royal Court Sage Gamalon Idogyr to Elminster of Shadowdale, 1372 DR.

Author and game designer Luke Scull is delighted to present a remake of the classic Hall of Fame module Crimson Tides of Tethyr for Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition! A 20-hour adventure with a colorful cast of characters, epic war storyline, and tactically challenging encounters inspired by Baldur's Gate, this enhanced edition features rewritten dialogue, visual improvements, bug fixes, new systems and quality-of-life improvements, a new hour of gameplay content, and 100 new lines of voiced dialogue.

A huge thank you to all the folk whose generous contributions helped make this module possible! Please visit https://www.patreon.com/lukescull to keep up to date with development of The Blades of Netheril: an epic, seven-part campaign that serves as a mega-sequel to all the game's official content including the original campaign and expansions. If you would prefer to make a one-off donation rather than subscribe, you can do so here: PayPal

I had a feeling about it, knew it was due soon and specifically checked the Vault just now, and boom, there it was! Looking forward to playing it, CToT was already one of my top recommended modules for NWN, the EE treatment should make it a blast.

I was waiting for this EE version to come out before I played the trilogy for the first time. Now that I've temporarily taken a break from NWN, probably won't play it for a while though.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

rogueknight333 Have you had a chance to play a module called Citadel? What I hear is that it's long, goes into epic levels and has hard/creative/challenging combat encounters - that is it's a little like your series. Do you recommend?

I played that module and was script-killed for not being a fag at the very beginning. I'm not joking. There is a gatekeeper NPC asking are you OK with hardcore queer shit and killing you if you picked "no".

Now that is some seriously hardcore gatekeeping.

 

[Roguey]

I played that module and was script-killed for not being a fag at the very beginning. I'm not joking. There is a gatekeeper NPC asking are you OK with hardcore queer shit and killing you if you picked "no".

Now that is some seriously hardcore gatekeeping.

Yeah I'd say it's pretty good that he lets you know in advance what you're getting into.

 

[Gargaune]

Wrapped up Darkness over Daggerford EE, build handled okay levels 8 to 14. DoD's a bit on the easy side anyway, put the difficulty back on core. The module itself was as good as I remembered, it's got that BG1 vibe to it and the remaster gives it that last bit of polish it deserves. The one thing I'm disappointed about is that they didn't implement the missing alignment shifts in dialogue - the writing's clearly structured for it, but the scripting was never put it, I think I've only had two quests touch alignment in the whole thing.

Moved right on to Tyrants of the Moonsea, playthrough #3!

I was waiting for this EE version to come out before I played the trilogy for the first time. Now that I've temporarily taken a break from NWN, probably won't play it for a while though.

You're allowed to break for dinner. Just don't take too long, those orcs won't kill themselves, you know.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

those orcs won't kill themselves

They will if he takes a long enough break.

 

[Eisen]

I currently playing the Eye of the Beholder mod, it is pretty heavy in Hack & Slash, pretty easy to mid in terms of difficulty.
To be honest, it's my first campaign, i tried to play the OC first and SoD, but didn't like both, but maybe i will try SoD again.
EDIT: And i will try HotU later

 

[MerchantKing]

those orcs won't kill themselves

They will if he takes a long enough break.

Can I play as a Barbarian/Illusionist/Rogue multiclass gnome?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

those orcs won't kill themselves

They will if he takes a long enough break.

Can I play as a Barbarian/Illusionist/Rogue multiclass gnome?

Because you asked, no.