NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[Fargus]

https://www.facebook.com/BaldursGateReloaded

I'm happy to announce to that Shadows of Amn: Reloaded is now entirely playable from start to finish! This is a major milestone for the project, and we're incredibly excited to polish, bugfix, and balance the game over the next several months.
For those of you wondering about BETA testing, we'll be kicking that off once we've finished the polish, bugfix, and balance pass--likely sometime during late summer (which is obviously about a year delayed from our original plan!).

it was more than a year ago though

 

[Crispy]

Hey, I'm looking for opinions of my character's continuing advancement. Posting in this thread because he's the one I'm running through the Swordflight saga.

Currently Fighter 10 / Weapon Master 7. Quite deadly with a long sword; with Thorik's Masterword long sword (improved), I can crit from 13 - 20, so I'm happy with the progression in WM. However, at level 7, I don't believe there are any significant gains to expect from continuing with that class.

Should I start to go more levels in Fighter? I'd love to pile on more feats, particularly ones that are defense-oriented. I was only half-joking about adding Bard levels, but I am open to suggestions of something that might seem unconventional. I don't want to go too afar of what I think fits logically with him as a character, so no sorcerer levels, for example. Rogue? Cleric? I've still got the majority of Chapter Three to take him through then of course there's 4 and 5 as well, so I have headroom to start planning for epic levels (are they supported in Swordflight?) and/or another Prestige Class.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[luj1]

Currently Fighter 10 / Weapon Master 7. Quite deadly with a long sword; with Thorik's Masterword long sword (improved), I can crit from 13 - 20, so I'm happy with the progression in WM. However, at level 7, I don't believe there are any significant gains to expect from continuing with that class.

Should I start to go more levels in Fighter? I'd love to pile on more feats, particularly ones that are defense-oriented.

At this point you are a killing machine so better work on your weaknesses (saves/immunites) or add some versatility (skills/spells) to experience more of the module. You can take CoT to boost saves while maintaining the same bonus feat progression as a Fighter. Bard is cool too. You didn't give us your stats or Race, Alignment, so I cannot tell you more.

 

[Crispy]

CoT

It makes no sense for me to instantly become the champion of some god so this one's out.

LN Human, 17 13 14 14 10 12, highest skill is Discipline at 26 unbuffed, Intimidate is 20.

Fighter's probably the best choice, but is it even possible to take on a 2nd Prestige Class?

 

[almondblight]

If you were expecting todays modding quality standarts from a 2000s ESL translated nwn module with edgy stuff, you got only yourself to blame. There are worse modules to be honest and back then BoK was entertaining for what it was. Too bad it ended terribly.

Majority of highly rated modules i recall playing were really flawed or straight up trash. Aelund for example bores me to death, tried it twice and quit both times. ADWR gives the player some of the best roleplay opportunities, but the writing is so stupid at times and it's just smut module of some euro girl with rape fetish, i'd still play it for laughs though. Shadowlords\Dreamcatcher starts as the blandest "my first nwn module" adventure ever and only in later chapters progresses into something worth playing.

That's the problem with NWN modules, though. Modules like Bastard of Kosigan and Aelund Saga are held up by NWN fanboys as being some of the best modules out there, and according to them are better than most CRPGs. It's hard to tell if all of the modules are trash or if NWN fanboys just have a complete inability to judge quality and give garbage the same rating as the good stuff.

 

[rogueknight333]

Hey, I'm looking for opinions of my character's continuing advancement...

The biggest apparent weakness of your character is that you do not have a class that includes Tumble as a class skill. You get +1 AC for every 5 points in Tumble (base skill, bonuses from DEX or items do not count for this), so it is highly desirable for any melee character to max this. Unfortunately the actual warrior classes do not have it as a class skill despite it being THE skill a warrior would want to take above all others. Note that in NWN you can always decline to spend skill points on level up and save them indefinitely, potentially building up a big reserve to take lots of skills when you take a class that has desired class skills.

Rogue or Bard would be the obvious choices to get this skill in, and would also allow you to put some points in some other useful skills, most notably Use Magic Device. Bards of course could make use of most spells scrolls, wands, etc. by default even without that skill, while a few Rogue levels could also give you Evasion and Uncanny Dodge, which are always nice to have. Assassin, Shadowdancer or Harper Scout can also be good classes for Tumble Skill dumps, but meeting the pre-requisites for these could be tricky if you did not plan for them from the beginning.

As a general rule, caster classes are not that useful unless you are prepared to take a lot of levels in them, and a third warrior class would not be the best complement since you have two already. So Rogue or Bard is probably the best option for a third class, unless you can easily meet the pre-requisites for one of the prestige classes. Being Human, you can take either without worrying about an XP penalty.

... I'm happy with the progression in WM. However, at level 7, I don't believe there are any significant gains to expect from continuing with that class...

Epic WMs get +1 to AB for every 3 levels past 10, and Fighters have a tendency to at some point run out of feats that are actually all that useful, so more levels in that class are certainly worth considering, but yes, past 7 the class definitely hits a point of diminishing returns.

... epic levels (are they supported in Swordflight?) ...

Very much supported. By the end of Ch. 5 your level should be in the high 30s, and if Ch. 6 is ever completed it will take players of the series to level 40 (the maximum).

It makes no sense for me to instantly become the champion of some god so this one's out...

Many NWN builders treat COT as a generic divine champion class, rather than a champion of Torm specifically, as far as their headcanon is concerned. Though as indicated above it is probably not the best complement to your current build in any case.

...is it even possible to take on a 2nd Prestige Class?

Entirely possible, assuming you can meet the pre-reqs for both.

 

[rogueknight333]

... held up by NWN fanboys as being some of the best modules out there, and according to them are better than most CRPGs...

Is being better than most CRPGs really that high a bar, though, especially these days?

 

[Crispy]

Harper Scout

This one might make the most sense for me since I can "role-play" that my character was approached by the organization in Ch. 2 and thus was asked to consider joining. It will indeed be a little tricky for me to meet its requirements since I'll need two feats I don't already have plus I'll need some ranks in Lore, but I can also rp that by reasoning Zarala has slowly been tutoring me along the way. It also dovetails in nicely with her being a bard, albeit an unconventional one, since many Harpers are as well. Plus, since my character is LN, he'll fit right in, while being LN excludes me from something else like Assassin anyway.

Some of the unique feats that HS provides are attractive, as is your suggestion about improving AC substantially through Tumble, which since I already have Mobility and Spring Attack had never considered before.

The d6 HP / level is going to hurt, though.

 

[rogueknight333]

... It will indeed be a little tricky for me to meet its requirements since I'll need two feats I don't already have plus I'll need some ranks in Lore

It is unfortunately quite tricky at this point. You will also need some ranks in Persuade and Search (skills you do not mention having). You cannot take either Alertness or Iron Will as a Fighter bonus feat, so at your level you would also need to waste an epic feat to get both, which is not ideal. Harper Scout is rarely a practical class to take unless you planned for it from the start. It is an option though if you prefer it for role-playing reasons.

Technically, Monk is also an option as that class also has Tumble as a class skill, though I doubt it fits well with your build from either a power-building or role-playing perspective (presumably you are wearing armor and shield, which would disable most of a Monk's special abilities), though you do have a compatible alignment.

but I can also rp that by reasoning Zarala has slowly been tutoring me along the way...

You could probably employ similar logic to justify Rogue or Bard levels, which will be a lot simpler to take (no pre-reqs, though for Bard you would have to shift your alignment to non-lawful) and on balance offer more advantages.

Another set of pre-requisites you should be thinking about are those for the Devastating Critical feat, as any strength-based warrior wants to eventually take that. For that you need the Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Critical and Overwhelming Critical feats, as well as a base strength of at least 25. Taking Great Strength feats as often as you can once in Epic levels to get up to 25 as quickly as possible would be advisable.

 

[Gargaune]

You get +1 AC for every 5 points in Tumble

oh shit...

Plus, since my character is LN, he'll fit right in

You talking gameplay or RP? Mechanically, NWN's Assassin is any Evil and Harper Scout is any non-Evil, but per lore, Harpers are only LG/NG/CG (and the LG seems a bit of a stretch, anyway).

 

[Sabotin]

Rogue/Bard seem to be the easiest options. Maybe shadowdancer could be good if you got enough skill points saved? Evasion, extra AC, bit of DR/concealment. Epic dodge, but I guess you've nowhere near 25 Dex.

 

[luj1]

but is it even possible to take on a 2nd Prestige Class?

Why the fuck not?

 

[Pikoman]

Dipping into a Rogue would be a good idea and probably the safest option. Considering your Int score, taking a Rogue level and putting all your skillpoints into Tumble would net you an ez free +2 AC from a single level-up, though you may want to have some points go into UMD for the versatility it gets you.

CoT would be good if you want more firepower and the bonus feats it gets you rather than versatility and AC. The bonus feats in particular could be very handy for getting the prereqs for Devastating critical, which should definitely be a focus as others mentioned. Speaking of that, you'd be at 18 Str come level 20, assuming you'll take a point in Strength. That means that you'll have to invest most of your early epic feats into Epic Strength so you'd be able to meet the 25 Str prerequisite. Following that, you can expect to hit the requirements for it at lvl 32 if I am correct in my calculations. This translates to the latter parts of Ch. 4 iirc.

 

[Pikoman]

...if Ch. 6 is ever completed...

Hey, don't be planting the seeds of doubt like that, man...

Jokes aside, I don't think that anyone is expecting a release in the near future, since it's been only 2 years and a couple of months after the Ch. 5 release and I doubt you have an intention of rushing things. Though considering that it's presumably going to be based in Calimport you could reuse some of the maps from Ch. 2, updating them with whatever changed lowering your workload in that department at least I guess? How goes the progress with Ch. 6 generally, if you are willing to disclose it?

 

[rogueknight333]

You talking gameplay or RP? Mechanically, NWN's Assassin is any Evil and Harper Scout is any non-Evil, but per lore, Harpers are only LG/NG/CG (and the LG seems a bit of a stretch, anyway).

This seems to be some kind of retcon. Per 3E sourcebooks, the only alignment requirement for Harper Scout is being non-evil (just as in NWN), and there have been canonical members of the organization with neutral alignments. Though you are right about Lawful being a stretch for Harpers since their most famous Lawful Neutral member, Khelben Blackstaff, at a certain point split with them to form his own schismatic pseudo-Harpers, precisely because he found the usual Harper modus operandi too chaotic. Though funnily enough in NWN the best power-building use of the class is typically for Paladin builds, since it gives them access to Tumble without risking an XP penalty, and also, if taken in epic levels, allows them to substitute Great Charisma feats for the Favored Enemy feats.

... Jokes aside, I don't think that anyone is expecting a release in the near future, since it's been only 2 years and a couple of months after the Ch. 5 release and I doubt you have an intention of rushing things. Though considering that it's presumably going to be based in Calimport you could reuse some of the maps from Ch. 2, updating them with whatever changed lowering your workload in that department at least I guess? How goes the progress with Ch. 6 generally, if you are willing to disclose it?

Progress is not too bad. I recently got a lot of work done on it, completing one big quest chain/mega-dungeon. It seems it usually takes me approximately four years to complete a chapter and Ch. 6 seems to be on track to roughly match that timeframe. I keep hoping that I will be able to make the chapters more quickly, and theoretically I could if enough things go right, but in practice that keeps not happening.

 

[DehBepis]

bastard of kosigan is the best module i ever played

the babylonian captivity was ended by the archangel Gabriel, and the only reason he didn't help earlier was because he was too busy overthrowing the Chang dynasty

 

[Gargaune]

This seems to be some kind of retcon. Per 3E sourcebooks, the only alignment requirement for Harper Scout is being non-evil (just as in NWN), and there have been canonical members of the organization with neutral alignments. Though you are right about Lawful being a stretch for Harpers since their most famous Lawful Neutral member, Khelben Blackstaff, at a certain point split with them to form his own schismatic pseudo-Harpers, precisely because he found the usual Harper modus operandi too chaotic. Though funnily enough in NWN the best power-building use of the class is typically for Paladin builds, since it gives them access to Tumble without risking an XP penalty, and also, if taken in epic levels, allows them to substitute Great Charisma feats for the Favored Enemy feats.

Ah, it looks like it's just an inconsistency between the Harpers as an organisation in the lore, who are listed as LG/NG/CG, and the Harper Scout (or Harper Agent) class, which indeed just says any non-Evil. Obviously, NWN follows the class sheet.

 

[Pikoman]

Wew, after being burned out on it for a while, I've powered through and finished Texts of Thaan: Journey to Immol(Chapter II).

As I've already complained multiple times - certain mobs, encounters and the overall combat design is quite difficult most of the time, at times veering to sadistic. Examples include banshees spamming a spell-like ability forcing you to roll a Death save, hard hitting zombies from which you randomly take a good amount of acid damage from hitting them in close quarters, a throng of snakes(I think?) spamming Drown, treants and golems spamming Knockout like crazy and a fair amount of things level draining or poisoning you constantly. You might think that the monsters with Death Magic I've mentioned are easily negated by chugging a potion of Death Ward and you'd be entirely correct, problem is that said potions are fairly scarce especially at the earlier parts of the module and you'd best be conservative about them and other resources and just take the rolls like a champ. Same goes for situations where you're level-drained, poisoned or have your abilities lowered - you have to be wise and conserve your resources, which is an aspect of this module's difficulty which I actually like and appreciate quite a bit as is the case with the resting restrictions and the fairly interesting itemization present. Problem is that those good design choices pertaining to the combat experience are sandwiched within the unabashedly frustrating parts of it which I've mentioned - worst of all is the author's insistence on having almost every single thing spawn from an ambush or stealth around you before attacking, hell even gigantic elementals, golems and shambling zombies which you'd never expect to be proficient in the arts of cloak and dagger, like to act like a rogue/assassin type of mob in here. The boss encounters were fun though and offered a more balanced and satisfying challenge to myself, compared to the trash fights though this may be due to the fact I had myself buffed to high oblivion compared to the normal fights in which I am very stingy on consumables. Most of the bosses are spellcasters with a fairly competent AI which is a rarity among modules, the banshee boss in particular was a big bitch for waiting to dispel you before unleashing her Death Magic.

Disregarding combat, the atmosphere, the visuals and area design are top notch with the experience consistent in that regard, with the story intriguing though a bit wordy at times and certain dialogues suffering from neologisms or out of place vocabulary, but nothing to dampen severely the solid general level of the writing. The author really did manage to craft a very distinct and recognizable personality and style for his series which I deem in touch with the Ravenloft setting the game's based on. En route to the all-important village of Immol, you solve a lot of interesting and varied conundrums you come across which act as obstacles you need to overcome to proceed with your travels. I found each vignette to be well written and very immersive to the gothic horror vibe, as well as presenting some fairly unique in the general modding community cool RP or mechanical challenges and/or features. For example, at a certain point you'll be essentially placed in a very hostile environment in which you'll have to stay for a while since the plot quest revolves running around the same zone. You have the option of disguising yourself with the appropriate uniforms or costumes you find as well as with a sufficient Persuade/Bluff skill, alternatively you sneak around the hostile guards or just go nuclear on them and try to best them all in combat which is difficult as well as draining of your limited resources. Apart from this whole undercover mini-plot, I quite liked the last arc of the game - to summarize it is about an invisible and invincible being which spawns and track you down at night. You aren't able to damage it up until the final part of the campaign and your only options are running away or temporarily disabling it with a Light/Searing Light/Continual Flame spell or wand, which I found to be a very cool additional challenge. Acting as a great addition as well as a RP dilemma for good or neutral aligned characters are the Texts you collect and use which act as the main mcguffins in the story.

There is a good amount of reactivity in regards to your race, alignment and past actions(be it in the same module or in chapter I), which are not all that obvious and I've discovered post factum while persuing the walkthrough, such as different attitudes towards your character in regards to their race or class(mostly if they are a spellcaster or not). Came across a couple of special Paladin conversation options which were all mostly flavour, but still well appreciated. Albeit a very linear experience at its core, a lot of the quests, interactions and problems you come across are able to be solved in a few differing ways depending on alignment, skillchecks or meeting other prerequisites. The best example would be with the last major quest you undertake which offers a wildly different ending depending on whether or not you were succesful to shift your companion Wynn's alignment to Neutral or Good in the entirety of Chapter I and Chapter II up to this particular point. There are some very horrible and villainous ways you are able to choose to solve certain quests or even minute interactions with NPCs, which I found to be a treat. Being of good alignment, apart from being an achievement considering the times you are forced to use items that shift you to evil by 5 points, brings some consequences in the lands of Barovia as it should.

Going to be a 7/10 again for me, 90% of the negatives directed towards my frustrations with the combat side of things. Still, your mileage may vary, and to be quite honest I really fucked myself up for not reading the readme file in regards to some changes the author made to certain classes and skills, as well as being very autistic and persistent on wanting to have my Paladin not use the respawning functionalities, the rod of raising and the Texts unless forced to do so. He did eventually fell though, leaving me with a bit of a clapped Pal 6/Rogue 3 build which I definitely did not plan in advance. I'm certain that with a more serious and meta build and one not tied to a necessary good alignment as well as with a different mindset than mine in regards to using consumables more often instead of hoarding them like I did, people may find the game to be much more manageable in contrast to my rants. Admittedly, once I hit the latter parts of the game and I started being more liberal with buffs, the frustrations did turn into a very fair challenge, though I am still quite adamant that a lot of things in regards to encounters and some other things, such as the god forsaken 20 DC Tumble check dungeon which makes you want to punch a hole in your wall, can be handled in a far better way. Still, I am invested enough in the plot and the gruelling journey I've had so far so I will continue to track this series' progress and certainly play the final party whenever it releases, even if I still whine like a bitch and be stuck in cycles of constant dying and reloading.

 

[DehBepis]

Going to be a 7/10 again for me, 90% of the negatives directed towards my frustrations with the combat side of things. Still, your mileage may vary, and to be quite honest I really fucked myself up for not reading the readme file in regards to some changes the author made to certain classes and skills, as well as being very autistic and persistent on wanting to have my Paladin not use the respawning functionalities, the rod of raising and the Texts unless forced to do so. He did eventually fell though, leaving me with a bit of a clapped Pal 6/Rogue 3 build which I definitely did not plan in advance. I'm certain that with a more serious and meta build and one not tied to a necessary good alignment as well as with a different mindset than mine in regards to using consumables more often instead of hoarding them like I did, people may find the game to be much more manageable in contrast to my rants. Admittedly, once I hit the latter parts of the game and I started being more liberal with buffs, the frustrations did turn into a very fair challenge, though I am still quite adamant that a lot of things in regards to encounters and some other things, such as the god forsaken 20 DC Tumble check dungeon which makes you want to punch a hole in your wall, can be handled in a far better way. Still, I am invested enough in the plot and the gruelling journey I've had so far so I will continue to track this series' progress and certainly play the final party whenever it releases, even if I still whine like a bitch and be stuck in cycles of constant dying and reloading.

Are the changes mostly updating the game's rules to 3.5e? Or is there homebrew?

Anyways, I've hit a wall in the final module of Bastard of Kosigan. After gutting chapter 2 I managed to get it into a vaguely playable state, was pretty fun. I imagine it would be a blast to playthrough if it was actually playable and I wasn't burned out getting it into an approximately pre-alpha tier state. But I see why people would really like it even though the save bug makes it unplayable if you're a save scumming whore like me, so it was probably worth it for me to "fix" the module to the point where that bug is gone. I'm probably not gonna upload it anywhere since it's not really playable, but I will say that I exported all the area files and put them in a new module and it fixed the save bug. And the fact the Hostess gives you placeholder tokens in Chapter 3 means just dumping the areas into a new module is enough to make the game technically playable if you don't mind editing factions of NPCs on the fly (since theyre not carried over) and the jank that comes with that. Chapters 3-5 were also pretty good. But module 6 was pure cock and ball torture, almost every single fight was either 50 copypasted french knights (meh, i have autism, those fights were actually pretty fun since NWN combat is like the one game that actually makes RTWP fun) or you get gangraped by a level 26 cleric with a +12 dire flail that pierces your damage resistance. I don't even know why the fuck every boss is so ridiculously tough, other than the fact that NWN high level modules are already hard enough to balance without making every fight you getting raped for 8 hours straight or an absoulute cakewalk, and I know I sound like a scrub but I am kinda done so I'd have preferred a cakewalk lulz.

Anyways, I also think it's totally bugged out. How do I actually get to the Valley of Saint Blaise? At this point I have nothing else to do because Guy de Valen is touching his PU$$Y in Okturk or whatever so I dunno where the elves are, so I can't get the treants the gamer girl pee they need to consume to stop being NEETs. So then I went to Minsc or whatever it was called, and when I went down for the obvious trap, where the obvious traitor attacked you, for some reason she was marked as immortal, so I changed that, killed her and she disappeared instead. Dunno what happened there. Anyways I had no clue how to escape so I just debug mode teleported and now nobody acknowledges the assassination attempt performed on me, and I still don't have an option to go to the final battle despite me having literally nothing else to do atp.

Wat do? I guess in theory there's nothing wrong with calling it quits here since this is basically the end of the module since it's unfinished but still kinda sucks to just have it end on a wet fart of the module softlocking itself.

 

[DehBepis]

Also does anyone know of any modules that start at Epic level? My half-orc is at level 20 and I might as well give him some form of conclusion even if I cant be arsed playing Kosigan anymore, and HoTU is kinda meh.

I'll just say he fell into a portal into a Magical Realm (hopefully not the Piss Forest)

 

[DehBepis]

i got to give a mature cougar backshots so i guess it was all worth it in the end

 

[Sabotin]

An enemy marked as immortal would imply something like a conversation or running away at low hp and such. Probably some script didn't fire?

 

[rogueknight333]

Also does anyone know of any modules that start at Epic level? My half-orc is at level 20 and I might as well give him some form of conclusion even if I cant be arsed playing Kosigan anymore, and HoTU is kinda meh.

I'll just say he fell into a portal into a Magical Realm (hopefully not the Piss Forest)

There are not that many choices for epic level modules. Sands of Fate is one of the main options, but your level is still a little below what is recommended for that. Aside from that these suggestions I recently made to another poster with similar requirements might work for you as well:

Tomb of Horrors is a good module for your level range, but unfortunately you might not have a suitable character for it, as ideally you want to have some specific capabilities (e.g. thief skills) if playing it single-player (it was really meant as a multi-player co-op module but can be played with a single character if you have one with the right talents).

Dark Water's Edge is intended for characters in approximately your level range. It is short and of mediocre quality (at best), but might let you level up a bit to get closer to the range for something like Sands of Fate.

Black Thorn is another short module for characters in the low epics. Good but somewhat unusual, as it is about solving a murder mystery rather than conventional RPG quests and fights.

Possibly H4 - Throne of Bloodstone as it is a sandbox module (once you get through the introductory stuff to the Abyss) open to a wide range of levels. Not really that good but unfortunately there are not that many single-player modules intended for epic levels, and even fewer for such levels that are any good.

 

[Pikoman]

Are the changes mostly updating the game's rules to 3.5e? Or is there homebrew?

The changes are mostly stuff making the game closer to the 3.5e, yeah, with some of the PrCs homebrewed in regards to their minimum requirements, overall making it more easy to qualify for them. For example CoT has no alignment restriction, you can be a PM if you're able to cast only 1lvl arcane spells etc. Lots of stuff being modified in regards to spells as well from what I can recall reading from the document, be it changes making them closer to PnP or custom stuff the author decided to adapt to be more in line with Ravenloft in his view.

As for Bastard of Kosigan, it really does sound like a major fucking headache to run which is quite the shame. Previously considered finally trying it out, but from what I read here and on the vault it really feels like a chore.

 

[DehBepis]

An enemy marked as immortal would imply something like a conversation or running away at low hp and such. Probably some script didn't fire?

She followed me around, so I lure her around a corner and a dialogue triggered. I attacked her in the dialogue (cause im not retarded) and we were both immortal. She never ran away ever.