NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[Inf0mercial]

Playing Swf chapter 4 I wonder if there's a good way to deal with 2 things: mass IGMS from glabrezus and mass psionic blasts from flayers? What I ended up doing was just brute force it with healing/regen spam and lure some away, with spell mantles or premonition scrolls to supplement and that feels really lame. Having summons/henchmen to absorb some wasn't really effective, same with silence and I haven't found anything with spell resistance or magic dmg resist.

Oh and also knockdown, those new water elementals are like russian roulette with no resist/save touch attack kd...

Protect from Evil.

90% of enemies are evil and 90% of the real painful abilities are mind affecting protect from evil is probably the single most useful spell that exists.

 

[rogueknight333]

Playing Swf chapter 4 I wonder if there's a good way to deal with 2 things: mass IGMS from glabrezus and mass psionic blasts from flayers? What I ended up doing was just brute force it with healing/regen spam and lure some away, with spell mantles or premonition scrolls to supplement and that feels really lame. Having summons/henchmen to absorb some wasn't really effective, same with silence and I haven't found anything with spell resistance or magic dmg resist.

Very hard to face either of these without taking a lot of damage, though what you describe doing should get you through it. Both henchmen have fairly high spell resistance so if you can send them in first they have a decent chance to shrug off the IGMS. Sending in expendable Summons first might help in either case, though they might well die too quickly to do much (using the Bugle to micromanage associate behavior here could help). Giving mobs time to wander and spread out a bit can be helpful too since the biggest problem is having too many of them hit you all at once.

The Mind Flayers' psionic conussion blast is very nasty, but it might be worth noting that if you have Mind-Affecting protection active there is very little else most Flayer types can do to you that constitutes much of a threat.

Oh and also knockdown, those new water elementals are like russian roulette with no resist/save touch attack kd...

Are you perhaps using the Community Patch? This seems to cause water elementals to spam Knockdown continuously rather than just using the ability occasionally, as intended.

 

[Sabotin]

Yeah I just wasn't sure if I'm missing something obvious, like using shapechange to deal with rust monsters. And like every sensible adventurer I make sure I have mental immunity up 120% of the time when visiting an illithid lair .

Water elies probably work ok (virgin diamond install), I can deal with occasional respawn/reload. Except in that very first encounter where I must have died like six or seven times and then just cast darkness, hehe.



I have to admit though that generaly I was a bit disappointed with chapter 4, almost exclusively due to:

-Often it had that generic feel. Big area with random mix spawning in rooms/middle, which just get huge as you level up. Randomly sprinkled skill checks and mass of hidden doors leading to small rooms with 1-2 chests with same-y loot. That one type with 5 gems, 1 necklace and 50gp.

-Also piles and piles of trash to sell that's just clogging the invetory most of the module. I really had to cringe when after gathering 5 maps from all over, dealing with a very populated dungeon with multiple areas and puzzles and a difficult and climactic boss fight you end up with some gold, gems a +1 armor and +2 halberd. At level 33 or so with 1kk+ in pocket. I really missed some interesting new items, even if they're just gimmicky like the frost greatsword.

-I missed some more story and conversations in general. Every now and then you just get those paperwork/bookshelf placeables with a small loredump. I'd have liked to know more about the lich's story or the shadow fort for example. Both those bosses and the catfish and the brain just start out red with not even a one-liner. I guess it can be considered refreshing to not have to listen to the big evil monologue every time, but still.


There were also some aspects that I really liked:

-Creature by creature design, where they each have a few big and small threats that end up practicaly iconic for them. Lantern archons shooting lightning, cornugons teleporting, displacer beasts with HiPS, monkfish, mariliths with 272 attacks/round and 99 ac (possibly slight exaggeration). Even spellcasters have their own lean repertoires that differs them from oneanother.

-Stuff makes sense. The beholder lair was a great example. It makes sense that physicaly weak beholders have sturdy golems for defense. And that those golems are round and floaty - adapted to the lair. And that the floaty beholders are really good at playing "the floor is lava". The caves have a 3D feel as it should be. Things like that, that may be seen as minor but I think add a lot. That one wooden door in the mindflayer base really made me smile . The caves look like caves instead of halls, with lower ones having some lava. Once I turned up the gamma so I could see anything I noticed there's also lots of

-Stuff is dangerous. We're at epic 30+ levels and still have to take care of poison/disease/ability drain/death attacks/mind-affecting/slows/blindness etc., etc. It's really nice to see that it never comes down to just hp/dmg with being immune to everything else (not counting temporary stuff at least). I haven't really paid extra attention but I believe the enemy saves don't inflate as fast as other stats either, to keep offensive spells relevant.


And some things I'd like to see in the future:

-Make Zarala a bit more special with some ability or feat or something. 8 dex limit on armor also got a bit too low when she has Dex in the mid 30s.
-More things with -attributes or other penalties, to keep the growth in check and offer some options. At the end I had +12 on three stats already. Although admittedly it cost 2-3 AC or something if I didn't use pots.
-The curse you get on the celestial planes seems like it could be a good mechanic to expand upon. Plain rejecting you or something, the more the stronger you are. Could serve to tone down the level/number of enemies you have to face to still pose a challenge.

 

[Maculo]

I am attempting Swordflight with a melee Wizard and it is surprisingly okay (so far). I finished the worst part of the ruins (imo) in Chapter 1, and all I have left is the final floor with the mummies and final boss. I have just enough strength and constitution to be semi-effective in melee combat in Chapter 1, although I heavily rely on choke points and my familiar. I reserve Ghostly Visage, Flame Weapon, and Wands for tough encounters. Ghostly Visage and Protection Against Evil are lifesavers.

One area I am not knowledgeable on is weapons. I consistently read players choosing scimitars and scythes for crits, but would I be crazy for wanting to use a greatsword? Is the gulf between scimitars/scythes and other weapons that large?

Edit: Never mind, found an old post that calculated damage across weapons (although from an older patch), and greatswords seemed alright.

 

[Sabotin]

Is it a full wizard or some mix? Just curious cause in my experience not having (near) full BAB made it noticeably harder to hit things, but then again I probably suck at mages since I rarely play casters.

Regarding weapons I prefer 1-handed, simply because of the added benefits of shields (+6/7 AC) and that there's lots of things that add flat damage (enchants, bard song, spells, specializations,...). My last munchkin build is doing at the end up to 1d6+14+4+3+1d4 magical+1d8 acid+2d8 fire+1d12 electrical+2d6 sonic+12 divine+etc, with 12-20/x2 crit with scimtar, so 41-91. With grsw it would be 49-104 with 15-20/x2 and -7AC. Obviously you're not gonna burn through consumables all the time, and it's actually quite weak ch1/early ch2 (low bonuses and lots of crit-immunes), but I still prefer survivability cause of all the enemy mobs you go through, where it's more about how fast your hp goes down than how good your rolls are. Scythes I hate, probably due to that minotaur that always one-shots me with it .

Anyway it's not like you're locked on using a certain weapon, so use whatever depending on situation.

 

[Maculo]

I plan to go full retard Wizard.

My character is not optimal, but I enjoy having to ration spells for once. In terms of resources or spell management, I just need to scrape by until I absolutely have to use stronger spells and wands. Occasionally, I just have to restart a dungeon segment and rethink what spells to bring, and when/where to use them. Once I have more levels, spell slots, and metamagic: extend, I hope to make Ghostly Visage and Flame Weapon into my bread and butter spells.

So far, survivability is not terrible. I find that potion buffs, Mage Armor, Protection Against Evil, and Ghostly Visage are generally sufficient to keep me alive. Ghostly Visage is amazing.

Edit: Because I cannot get Swordflight off of my mind, the rest restrictions made me appreciate Wizard as a class. It is refreshing to have to consider what spells to bring or when to use them. All that goes straight out the window once rest spam is allowed.

 

[rogueknight333]

...One area I am not knowledgeable on is weapons. I consistently read players choosing scimitars and scythes for crits, but would I be crazy for wanting to use a greatsword? Is the gulf between scimitars/scythes and other weapons that large?

Unless you are planning to go full munchkin, the difference in power among the various weapon types will generally not be so great that you need to worry about it too much. If you do want to use the most optimal weapon, though, an important consideration is that increasing in levels and adding more and more bonuses of various sorts to one's weapon will eventually make its base damage an ever more unimportant percentage of the total DPS. This means that at least for higher level toons the crit bonuses become the only weapon stat that matters much. As Scimitar/Rapier/Kukri/Scythe get the best crit bonuses, those are generally the preferred weapons for munchkins (though large numbers of mobs who are crit immune and/or resistant to non-bludgeoning damage can complicate the question).

This same consideration also means that two-handed weapons tend to be less optimal since you are making a very big sacrifice in AC (due to not using a shield) for only a modest increase in damage output, though as you are playing an arcane caster it is possible you were planning to avoid using a shield in any case.

Arcane casters can sometimes use True Strike to mitigate BAB issues.

 

[Sacibengala]

The GOG downloader links for the diamond edition is offline, did you you guys knew that?

 

[Lacrymas]

The GOG downloader links for the diamond edition is offline, did you you guys knew that?

They aren't, I just tried.

 

[Maculo]

...One area I am not knowledgeable on is weapons. I consistently read players choosing scimitars and scythes for crits, but would I be crazy for wanting to use a greatsword? Is the gulf between scimitars/scythes and other weapons that large?

Unless you are planning to go full munchkin, the difference in power among the various weapon types will generally not be so great that you need to worry about it too much. If you do want to use the most optimal weapon, though, an important consideration is that increasing in levels and adding more and more bonuses of various sorts to one's weapon will eventually make its base damage an ever more unimportant percentage of the total DPS. This means that at least for higher level toons the crit bonuses become the only weapon stat that matters much. As Scimitar/Rapier/Kukri/Scythe get the best crit bonuses, those are generally the preferred weapons for munchkins (though large numbers of mobs who are crit immune and/or resistant to non-bludgeoning damage can complicate the question).

This same consideration also means that two-handed weapons tend to be less optimal since you are making a very big sacrifice in AC (due to not using a shield) for only a modest increase in damage output, though as you are playing an arcane caster it is possible you were planning to avoid using a shield in any case.

Arcane casters can sometimes use True Strike to mitigate BAB issues.

First, I believe you are the author of Swordflight. If so, thank you for creating such an awesome module. I am hooked.

Second, I am not focused on creating a munchkin per se, but I am worried there will be a dungeon or encounter just around the corner where it would make a difference. I plan to avoid shields, and so a two-handed weapon seems like an attractive option. Although I will sacrifice AC, I already rely on Ghostly Visage and other illusion spells to keep me alive. It has worked great so far . . .(famous last words?)

My plan is to use Metamagic: Extend on Ghostly Visage and Flame Weapon, as well as other long-term buffs, to clear more basic fights. On harder encounters or bosses, my thinking is that I can splurge with Greater Magic Weapon, Keen, Elemental Shield, Mestil's Acid Sheath, and possibly transformations. I am trying to find a balance between "boss battle only" spells and dungeon-clearing spells. Also, thank you for the tip about True Strike. I will have to keep that in mind.

 

[Sacibengala]

The GOG downloader links for the diamond edition is offline, did you you guys knew that?

They aren't, I just tried.

For me they are. Maybe it is a region thing, I am from Brazil. My friend is in the same condition.

 

[Lilura]

Lilura Does Blogger have any other options for comments? I would've posted a few on your recent Swordflight re-play. Great module and I enjoy all the little tid bits that make it special, e.g., the crafting related quests that make certain materials feel truly rare. The exclusive weapons shop was a fun concept too; needing to get multiple references to even step through the door made complete sense in-setting and was a nice, loving touch.

I've reopened Anonymous commenting but I tend to switch it on and off, depending on my mood/tolerance levels for spam, trolls, shitposters, people with bad taste and wrong opinions etc.

 

[Shadowfang]

Looking for a cool hack&slash module of NWN 1 to play co-op with my brother.
Any recommendations?

 

[rogueknight333]

First, I believe you are the author of Swordflight. If so, thank you for creating such an awesome module...

I am, and you are welcome.

Second, I am not focused on creating a munchkin per se, but I am worried there will be a dungeon or encounter just around the corner where it would make a difference. I plan to avoid shields, and so a two-handed weapon seems like an attractive option. Although I will sacrifice AC, I already rely on Ghostly Visage and other illusion spells to keep me alive. It has worked great so far . . .(famous last words?)

My plan is to use Metamagic: Extend on Ghostly Visage and Flame Weapon, as well as other long-term buffs, to clear more basic fights. On harder encounters or bosses, my thinking is that I can splurge with Greater Magic Weapon, Keen, Elemental Shield, Mestil's Acid Sheath, and possibly transformations. I am trying to find a balance between "boss battle only" spells and dungeon-clearing spells. Also, thank you for the tip about True Strike. I will have to keep that in mind.

What you are doing should be viable. You can certainly expect to run into some very difficult fights, but that would be the case for most anything you could play. Ghostly Visage gets much less useful at higher levels, but of course you will gain other defensive spells like Stoneskin and Improved Invisibility. Damage Shields can be very effective in many situations. There are some foes against which it might not be best to rely exclusively on melee buffs (just one or two Greater Missile Storms, for example, can be decisive in certain boss battles), so it helps to be flexible.

Looking for a cool hack&slash module of NWN 1 to play co-op with my brother.
Any recommendations?

The Aielund saga is one of the more highly recommended module series, and it is multi-player compatible, so it could be a good choice, unless you are looking for something shorter.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Looking for a cool hack&slash module of NWN 1 to play co-op with my brother.
Any recommendations?

Strife in Grimbone by JohnMcA is also multiplayer compatible. Just make certain you have a character with good spot skills.

 

[luj1]

Anything like a sequel/follow-up to SoU? Any Netherese-themed modules? Thanks.

 

[deuxhero]

Are there any complete module series that span (or spanned if they've been rereleased as a single thing) four+ modules? I'm more curious than wanting to play any.

 

[Sabotin]

Yes, there are.

Here are some helpful module lists (a bit outdated though and posted already): https://neverwintervault.org/forums/neverwinter-nights-1/nwn1-modules/nwn1-module-lists

 

[laclongquan]

Playing Swf chapter 4 I wonder if there's a good way to deal with 2 things: mass IGMS from glabrezus and mass psionic blasts from flayers? What I ended up doing was just brute force it with healing/regen spam and lure some away, with spell mantles or premonition scrolls to supplement and that feels really lame. Having summons/henchmen to absorb some wasn't really effective, same with silence and I haven't found anything with spell resistance or magic dmg resist.

Oh and also knockdown, those new water elementals are like russian roulette with no resist/save touch attack kd...

Isnt SHield spell render immunity to Magic Missile, Melf Minute Meteor, and IGMS?
Spell Resistance can raise your mag rez up to defend against psionic blast.
And what's wrong with summon fire elemental to surround them then blast continuously with fireballs. That both damage mindflayer AND heal fire elemental.
Or cheaper, sending in waves of skeletons (animate undead) which is immune to psionic, and blast them with cloudkill, the which skeleton is immune.

 

[Lacrymas]

Anything like a sequel/follow-up to SoU?

Yes.

Shadohaunt is the winner of the contest. But there's also the Nether Scrolls and the Shadow Queen.

HotU is also considered to be a follow-up to SoU.

 

[luj1]

Yea but I meant not as a bridge module between SoU and HotU, but something longer which is desert/Netherese themed

 

[Lacrymas]

Swordflight is set in Calimshan. The Prophet series has a desert section.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Yea but I meant not as a bridge module between SoU and HotU, but something longer which is desert/Netherese themed

Sands of fate

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The desert section in Aielund saga was kind of awesome in terms of exploration since you had to find the entrance to a tomb or something (which was this huge stone head ruin, I think) through intense sandstorms.

 

[Maculo]

My humble Illusionist Melee Wizard in Swordflight has been promoted to Grease Wizard. While other players content themselves with understanding core mechanics or the art of the blade, I chose to master the art of the slip and slide.