NWN Neverwinter Nights (NWN & NWN2) Modules Thread

[ERYFKRAD]

How is the PoR remake for 2

Apparently alright.

 

[cainus-lupus]

Could I get some NWN1 and 2 multiplayer module recommendations? How is the PoR remake for 2? I tried the EotB1 remake for NWN1 co-operatively and it was a slog.

Well, I wouldn't call it a remake but it's very fun module as far as I've gotten before getting distracted. I don't know how it behave in co-op, but should be fine, probably.

 

[Lacrymas]

So, I just came up with this (conceptually) cool build - Bard/Assassin (or Rogue)/Pale Master. It seems like a good fit, the Pale Master's summon providing flanking opportunities and much needed defenses, the Assassin having access to improved invisibility and darkness. Anyone care to chime in? I'm probably missing something. And this is in the context of the only module where builds actually matter to gameplay - Swordflight.

 

[Sabotin]

Some notes:

You'll have trouble hitting stuff reliably with your mid/mid/low BAB. Taunt is a great help but it clashes with hiding/invisibility.
Buff/pets can be relegated to UMD/scrolls if you're going for such a character. There's also lots of consumable items to use. Resting is fairly restricted so 1/day stuff isn't as good unless it's really strong.
You're often fighting sizeable groups of enemies so roguish characters have it pretty rough. Although I do remember some HiPS granting armor and good poisons for them (or is it only for assassins even?).
Reliance on multiple stats isn't as bad either as you'll be running buff potions/items 24/7 (1h consists of 6 minutes instead of 2).
Improved Invisibility doesn't make you sneak attack with impunity. When you cast it you have invisibility+concealment and when you attack only concealment remains (still one of the best defensive buffs in the game).
Darkness spell DOES make you sneak attack with impunity everything in the AoE... provided enemies aren't immune or have ultravision/truesight.
For additional sneak attacks you'll want to aim for 4 or even 7 attacks/round total (game groups all attacks you have every round into 3 swings - "flurries", the entire first flurry is composed of sneak attacks when applicable).
Knockdown feat is great for generating sneak attacks and relies only on your attack/discipline/size, not stats.
You can't learn new spells on PM levels, so it pairs better with wizards that can learn them from scrolls. Iirc you can make do for bard/sorc by taking a level of those between/after PM or using metamagic (although maybe this was from some mod/patch?). You don't want to end up with empty slots if you can help it.

If you're playing EE:
Death attack rolls for paralysis only once instead of whole first flurry. Uncanny Dodge II somewhat protects you from sneak attacks as per pnp. There's one door/transition in the first module that may break and require jumping past with console.

Actually you should try to make your build in practice and see how it goes. Level distribution/feats/leveling order are all just as important.

 

[Lacrymas]

Interesting points, I didn't know Wizards could still learn spells from scrolls higher than their "natural" spell level progression, i.e. I didn't know it took PM levels into account. Yeah, Wizard would be better in this case, but getting enough hide/sneak is much harder than with a Bard, or I can just go Rogue/Wizard/PM. Taking scrolls into account with UMD, you'll probably be able to buff yourself enough to reliably hit most of the time (how would "normal" Rogues with no high-BAB class mixed in work in general?). There's also the possibility of going Bard/Blackguard/Pale Master for the sneak attack flavor, or Bard/CoT/Pale Master for a more straightforward melee build, but Cleric/Bard/PM would be better than both of these perhaps and I already have such a character.

I'm not playing EE.

 

[rogueknight333]

So, I just came up with this (conceptually) cool build - Bard/Assassin (or Rogue)/Pale Master. It seems like a good fit, the Pale Master's summon providing flanking opportunities and much needed defenses, the Assassin having access to improved invisibility and darkness. Anyone care to chime in? I'm probably missing something. And this is in the context of the only module where builds actually matter to gameplay - Swordflight.

The biggest problem with this build concept, as noted by the other citizen, is the low BAB. Many foes in Swordflight have decent AC and it can be quite difficult to deal with them unless you have either good AB or are a dedicated caster with a solid repertoire of offensive spells. There are however some ways to mitigate this issue. At low levels using things like traps and spells cast from wands can be very effective. These will become less helpful at higher levels (it is theoretically possible to take out even some of the toughest high-level enemies with traps but you would have to set a ridiculous number of them) but at high levels if you have enough UMD you can use things like the "Advanced Meditations for Monk" book to cast Divine Power (directly addressing BAB), among other buffs.

A second problem is that you would not be getting anything like the full capabilities of all three classes until you are rather high level. If the Bard/Wizard levels are purely nominal and only there to open up Palemaster, this is less of an issue. Also in that case Wizard would probably be better, since you could keep learning new spells even as a Palemaster. However, if you plan to take enough caster levels that you can actually get meaningful benefits from Bard Song, Bard might be better, as those buffs would further mitigate your low AB (on top of Bard straight up having better BAB than a wizard). Throughout much of Swordflight, of course, Zarala would render your own Bard Song redundant, but you could complement that well by using Curse Song instead (noting that using Curse Song to lower a target's AC is for practical purposes a bonus to your AB). It is a good thematic fit with a Palemaster build as well.

As a general rule, Rogue is just a better class than Assassin. Compared to Assassin, you are getting +4 Skill points/level (which is a lot), Evasion, and bonus feats at higher levels. All Assassin gets in return for giving up all that is the chance of occasionally paralyzing some targets (generally not that useful since typically trashmobs will die so quickly that the paralysis is redundant and tough bosses will be immune) and a handful of 1/day spells for which most Rogues will be able to find an alternative means to cast anyway (either through multi-classing or UMD). Depending on race, it might also sometimes allow you to avoid an XP penalty in multi-classes due to using an unfavored class (in the case of your build, that would not be an issue if you are human, half-elf, or halfling). However, in Swordflight, Assassin is arguably a bit better than it is generally, as there even trashmob-type foes can often be rather tough and usefully paralyzed, and there are a number of very good Assassin-specific items to be found, so you could give it a try.

Palemaster undead summons will generally be too wimpy to be that useful, in many cases being less powerful than standard Summon Creatures spells (which you could regularly cast from scrolls). Palemasters do eventually get some fairly powerful summons but only at very high levels, and those are unlikely to be of much help to a heavily multi-classed Palemaster. The actual benefit of the class is making you much tankier through AC bonuses and Immunity to Crits.

 

[Lacrymas]

I was thinking that PM in this build is just for the defensive capabilities (especially crit immunity and AC), while the summon is a bonus as a flanking opportunity. I was thinking of Bard (??)/Pale Master (10)/Assassin (??), with enough Bard levels for the songs to help with the low BAB, as opposed to going caster (i.e. Wizard) which you could potentially do anyway with UMD. I don't know what a PM-heavy build which employs the very high level undead summons would look like tbh. Wiz 9/Monk 1/PM 30 maybe, but it would take forever to get a good summon going.

 

[rogueknight333]

Generally the best points to stop Bard, if it is not your main class, while still getting some decent Song benefits are at either Lvl 8/Perform 15+ (Perform can include CHA & Item bonuses naturally), where Song gives +1 AB, +2 Damage, +1 Saves, +8 HP and +1 Skills, or Lvl 11/Perform 18+ (or 12 for a few more spells and perhaps better BAB), where Song gives +2 AB, +2 Damage, +1 Saves, +8 HP, +2 AC, +2 Skills (for Curse Song switch all + to - on enemies). Levels between 8 & 11 do not really offer anything and after Lvl 11, and even more after Lvl 14 (the next point you get additional song benefits) you will tend to hit a point of diminishing returns on Song unless you are really focused on Bard. You would need a bare minimum of 3 Bard (or Wizard) levels to qualify for Palemaster. I was initially thinking you would need a least 5 levels to also get Hide/Move Sliently up to 8 to qualify as Assassin, but remembered that Palemaster actually has these as class skills also - which could be helpful with the Wizard variant as well.

Another issue with this build (if you do go with Assassin and not Rogue) is that you will be somewhat short on skill points and may need to make some really tough choices as to what to focus on. I would definitely recommend Human as the best race here, for the extra skill point/level.

 

[Trash Player]

Blackguard is a servicable martial class if you are going for the CHA caster: full BAB, CHA to saves/AC/damage, sneak attack and summons.

 

[Lacrymas]

Here's the initial level spread I thought up, without any feats or stat distribution, Bard 11/PM 10/Assassin 19 -

Human
STR 8
DEX 18
CON 10
WIS 8
INT 10
CHA 16

1 Ba
2 Ba
3 Ba
4 Ba
5 Ba (5)
6 As
7 As
8 As (3)
9 PM
10 Ba
11 Ba
12 Ba (8)
13 As
14 As (5)
15 Ba
16 Ba
17 Ba (11)
18 As
19 As (7)
20 PM (2)

21 As
22 As (9)
23 PM
24 PM
25 PM
26 PM (6)
27 As
28 As (11)
29 PM
30 PM
31 PM (9)
32 As
33 As (13)
34 PM (10)
35 As
36 As
37 As
38 As
39 As
40 As (19)

I've spread out the Assassin levels like this to continuously get better sneak attacks and not to fall behind compared to mob health. I got the first PM level early to get access to Animate Dead for a bit of meat shield and flanking opportunity, especially combined with Summon Creature. I freely admit there are better sneak attack builds out there, but this is more of a thematic build than a powerhouse. I'd start with a ranged weapon for the Bard portion and switch to melee when I get Assassin maybe. This can also work with a Halfling/Human that changes the Assassin levels for Rogue or Gnome/Elf/Human for Wizard/Rogue/PM.

This build might also work with a Halfling instead of Human if it turns out it's not very skill starved, you get size modifiers to attack and AC, bonus to DEX and the stealth skills.

 

[laclongquan]

How is the PoR remake for 2

Apparently alright.

Sounds, background, music, are very much the peak. I didnt check if it's reused asset from original game or make anew. though~

 

[Sabotin]

Undead summon is at PM lv2 so you're getting it at 20. In that case might as well push PM to 20+ to save that point of BAB. Or if you want it ASAP you can go Bard3/PM2 at the start. Remember the PM requirement is 3 lvls of arcane caster class, not 3rd level arcane spells (possibly bug?). I also remembered why I always prefer rogue besides the other advantages: epic dodge is really good when your defenses are high.

Btw, for easier building plans you can use the CBC excell sheet. Just remember to pick the 3 classes you want to use first in the column after "feats". Also hyperlinks might not work but they just point you to different tabs.

Also for reference there's databases of builds people made since ancient times:
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/epic-character-builders
https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/tool/ecb-guild-build-archive-v2
Some might be (too) old, but it's nice to get an idea of what works and why.

And there's even a building community that still exists (probably PW players): https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/nwnecbguild/

 

[Lacrymas]

I am using that excel sheet. Yeah, you are right, I mistakenly thought PMs get the undead summon at 1. I didn't know they archived the builds, that's pretty cool, will definitely use it as a resource. Since I do get quite a lot of Bard spells in this build, including Improved Invisiblity (+ Displacement), Rogue might actually be quite a bit better than Assassin, depending on how powerful the Assassin-specific gear in Swordflight is.

 

[rogueknight333]

Here's the initial level spread I thought up, without any feats or stat distribution, Bard 11/PM 10/Assassin 19 ... I've spread out the Assassin levels like this to continuously get better sneak attacks and not to fall behind compared to mob health. I got the first PM level early to get access to Animate Dead for a bit of meat shield and flanking opportunity, especially combined with Summon Creature. I freely admit there are better sneak attack builds out there, but this is more of a thematic build than a powerhouse. I'd start with a ranged weapon for the Bard portion and switch to melee when I get Assassin maybe. This can also work with a Halfling/Human that changes the Assassin levels for Rogue or Gnome/Elf/Human for Wizard/Rogue/PM.

This build might also work with a Halfling instead of Human if it turns out it's not very skill starved, you get size modifiers to attack and AC, bonus to DEX and the stealth skills.

The build will definitely be skill starved, certainly compared to a similar Rogue build, so Human is the most optimal race with Assassin. I would also increase INT to 14 at least, probably by reducing CHA (you are not taking enough Bard levels to be casting spells higher than 4th level, so you are not really getting enough from CHA above 14 to be worth the ability points, especially since you can also increase it with items). Tumble, Perform, Hide, Move Silently, UMD, Set Trap, Disable Trap, Open Lock, Pick Pocket, Spellcraft and one of the three conversational skills would all be worth investing in to various degrees. You are going to have to sacrifice some of them, but it would be good to keep it to a minimum. PM will not be that useful pre-Epic without taking either more levels or earlier levels, so you might also want to consider going with something like Bard 12/Asn 8 pre-epic for better BAB. Also without more levels PM's summon is not doing anything for you beyond saving you a little gold on Summon Creature scrolls.

The main Assassin-specific gear to be found in Swordflight is armor that offers Hide in Plain Sight as a bonus feat (allowing you to gain access to this OP talent without taking Shadowdancer levels). The same armor also provides Improved Evasion as a bonus feat and a bunch of skill bonuses, mitigating some of Assassin's disadvantages compared to Rogue. There are some Assassin-specific weapons around as well (though a Rogue or Bard with enough UMD could also use some of these). Later in the series you will gain access to "Vials of Potent Poison" (better than the "Vials of Poion" found earlier) that can be used to make your weapons to do bonus acid damgage (on top of any other elemental bonuses they already have). These vials can only be used by Assassins and Blackguards, regardless of UMD.

 

[Nerevar]

Anyone else playing this Tyrants of the Moonsea? Pretty good so far, starting out at lvl 15 really gets the ball rolling.

 

[rogueknight333]

Anyone else playing this Tyrants of the Moonsea? Pretty good so far, starting out at lvl 15 really gets the ball rolling.

I played the original a long time ago but have not yet gotten around to checking out the new version. However, a few people gave their impressions of it in the Enhanced Edition thread.

 

[Nerevar]

I played the original a long time ago but have not yet gotten around to checking out the new version. However, a few people gave their impressions of it in the Enhanced Edition thread.

Just found out that there are 2 previous modules too. Finished Siege of Shadowdale yesterday and am getting stuck into Crimson Tides of Tethyr. It reminds me a bit of SF Ch2 but on a smaller scale and much more liberal with the ease of getting geared, I got a ring of regeneration after 30 minutes of play that is a campaign winning item right there.

 

[deuxhero]

Is there a way to show ONLY NWN2 modules on the NWV?

 

[rogueknight333]

Is there a way to show ONLY NWN2 modules on the NWV?

Yes, along the options at the top right of the Neverwinter Vault, select "Projects." Within projects you will note you can select specifically for the different games. You can also further refine things to, e.g., look only for modules, excluding hakpaks and other Vault content. Or use this link: NWN2 Modules.

 

[Nerevar]

Well I've managed to get a character through to Tyrants of the Moonsea. It is going to be hard for them to top the finale from CToT, the showdown with the samurai while western music played was my favourite of the end bosses. They did the irreverent humour properly too telling people you are Drizzt all the time was pretty funny and not Da2 tier cringe.

 

[Kliwer]

Hello Everyone,

I will be glad to hear Your comments about my build which I plan to use in my Swordflight playthrough. I’m usually playing very simple builds, because I do not like powergaming and munchkinizm. My usual characters in NWN are: fighter/dwarven defender or fighter4/cleric – simple but effective.

This time I am going to roleplay a greedy dwarven mercenary (someone like Kagain from BG1). A cunning and merciless warrior with some dirty tricks, but also a very honorable and proud person.

Between Swordflight modules I’m going to play some other small modules to gain 1-2 extra levels to compensate my unwillingness to construct a perfect build.

My questions are:

-Is this build good enough for Swordflight modules? Could I improve it in some ways without changing its core?

-Are Swordflight modules able to deliver a proper RP options for this type of character? Note: I do not want to become a “servant of darkness”; my intention is to create a dark, badass hero, not someone who wish to cower World with eternal darkness. I’m asking because my experience with Swodwlight modules showed me that Author has very strange approach to D&D alignments (stealing as an evil act? WTF). Last time I played I tried to create a chaotic-good thief (Robin Hood type) and it was totally impossible so I abandoned this game (my rogue ended as a chaotic-evil villain just for stealing some minor items…).


I’m mentioning skills only from time to time. My question in this meter is: are that values are good enough to pass skill checks in SF modules? I’m developing this skills: Discipline (to prevent enemy special attacks), Heal (to heal during combat without attacks of opportunity and to handle poison and disease), Lore (to identify items and for RP checks), Persuade (for RP), Tumble (just for AC bonus), Taunt (RP reasons + decreasing overpowered AC in this modules).


Fundin Darkhill, greedy mercenary

Dwarf, lawful evil (deity: Dumathoin)

Fighter 8/Rogue 7/Blackguard 20 [35]

Str:16 (18), Dex:10, Con:16, Wis:8, Int:14, Cha:12 (20)


1: Ro1, Luck of Heroes
Heal: 4(3), Hide: 4(4), Lore: 4(8), Persuade: 4(5), Tumble: 4(4)

2: Ro1/F1, Weapon Focus (Longsword)
Discipline: 5(8), Heal: 5(4), Lore: 5(9), Persuade: 4(5), Tumble: 4(4)

3: Ro1/F2, Power Attack, Cleave

4: Ro2/F2, Cha+1(13)

5: Ro2/F3

6: Ro2/F4, Knockdown, Weapon Specialization (Longsword)

7: Ro3/F4

8: Ro3/F4/BG1, Cha+1(14)
Discipline: 11(14), Heal: 11(10), Hide: 5(5), Lore: 11(15), Persuade: 11(13), Taunt: 11(13), Tumble: 10(10)

9: Ro3/F4/BG2, Improved Knockdown

10: Ro3/F4/BG3

11: Ro3/F4/BG4

12: Ro3/F4/BG5, Divine Might, Cha+1(15)

13: Ro3/F4/BG6

14: Ro3/F4/BG7

15: Ro3/F4/BG8, Improve Critical (Longsword)
Discipline: 18(21), Heal: 18(17), Hide: 5(5), Lore: 18(22), Persuade: 18(20), Taunt: 18(20), Tumble: 10(10)

16: Ro3/F4/BG9, Cha+1(16)

17: Ro3/F4/BG10

18: Ro4/F4/BG10, Toughness

19: Ro4/F5/BG10

20: Ro4/F6/BG10, Blind Fight, Cha+1(17)
Discipline: 23(26), Heal: 22(21), Hide: 5(5), Lore:22(26), Persuade: 21(24), Taunt: 20(23), Tumble: 20(20)

========

21: Ro4/F7/BG10, Epic Weapon Focus (Longsword)

22: Ro4/F8/BG10, Epic Weapons Specialization (Longsword)

23: Ro4/F8/BG11

24: Ro4/F8/BG12, Armor Skin, Cha+1(18)

25: Ro4/F8/BG13, Epic Prowess

26: Ro4/F8/BG14

27: Ro4/F8/BG15, Great Strength(17)

28: Ro4/F8/BG16, Epic Fiendish Servant, Str+1(18)

29: Ro5/F8/BG16

30: Ro6/F8/BG16, Epic Toughness

31: Ro7/F8/BG16
Discipline: 27(31), Heal: 34(33), Hide: 5(5), Lore: 34(38), Persuade: 34(38), Taunt: 31(35), Tumble: 30(30)

32: Ro7/F8/BG17, Cha+1(19)

33: Ro7/F8/BG18, Great Charisma(20)

34: Ro7/F8/BG19, Epic Toughness

35: Ro7/F8/BG20
Discipline: 27(31), Heal: 37(36), Hide: 5(5), Lore: 37(41), Persuade: 38(43), Taunt: 38(43), Tumble: 30(30)

 

[Nerevar]

Rogue/Fighter/Blackguard

Yes it is okay. I'm not sure what you're doing with putting all these points into Cha? You might hit a few walls with this.

Change the CHA boosts to STR. The game is very RP heavy in terms of skill checks for things. I played SF1,2,3 with a Pal/RDD/Sorc and it still had some difficult parts. You do not need to worry about pumping CHA as there is some powerful CHA boosting armour. A special armour for Blackguards too I remember. Also you need better skills I think if you are a rogue try to have some traps and locks and UMD (I thought UMD was the reason people pick Rogue). Also I'm not an expert but I think the big breakpoint for Rogues is hitting level 10 for that sweet sweet crippling strike. Crippling strike is so good as soon as you get 1 stack on someone you're guaranteed to win the fight.

 

[Lacrymas]

I'd go scimitar and not longsword. Lvl 20 is too late for Blind Fight. Other than that, maybe I'd think more about the level distribution, but thug rogues like this usualky work out well, so it's not that important.

As for the evilness of stealing - you are an adventurer of some means even from the start, stealing from people isn't anything other than greed that causes misery in this case.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I'd take Rogue levels at 1, 7, 17, 27 and raise UMD, Tumble + rogue skills when you do so (this will make it hard to meet skill checks at certain times so you should have items to increase rogue skills if required)
Then I'd focus on STR instead of CHA to go overwhelming/devastating critical. Not sure why you would want to max skills like Lore or Heal, it probably would be helpful to be able to lay down traps, you don't need exessively many points for that, leading a group of enemies through a nicely prepared corridor helped me more than once.

 

[Sabotin]

There's lots of items with class restrictions to provide various gameplay options for each class, so I'd definitely recommend some UMD if you've got rogue/bard levels.

As for skill checks they're usually somewhat dynamic in their DC, depending on your character's level and the difficulty of the task. So a Lv 10 Char could have DC around 12/21/30 and a lv 20 character 15/28/42 for an easy/medium/hard check for example. Ballpark numbers, I don't know how rounding works in the scripts, but you get the idea.

There's also various skill boosting items, I believe it's worth getting at least a rank or a couple in some of those "special" skills that not everyone has.

Note though, that some checks are "hard-coded" to succeed/fail based on other things than how high your skill is.

As for RP, it's probably not a good idea to be too enthusiastic about it? Or too hung up on alignment numbers. I find it entertaining and often a bit lighthearted or satirical, but not in a clown-y kinda way? Reminds me of BG.