NWN2 Mod - Party Size Poll

[oldmanpaco]

What is the ideal party size for a NWN2 mod? Personally I like 5-6 but that can be hard to balance.

Also should party members be mandatory or optional? If optional should the encounters then scale?

Personally I think that scaling based on party size is a terrible idea. If you want the challenge of soloing a game then it needs to be a challenge.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

4 is classic.

 

[mondblut]

6 is classic. 4 is newfag "classic".

 

[hanssolo]

8 FAGGOT (abstaining)

 

[Murk]

Party controls in NWN 2 are pure shit, I went with 3 as its enough to have a party that can "handle it". As lame as the infinity engine may have been, it at least was easy to use in regards to multi-character controls.

 

[Darth Roxor]

6, motherfucker.

 

[JarlFrank]

6, anything else is for newfag dumbed down nextgen pussies.

 

[Roguey]

Real-time-with pause is a clusterfuck, NWN2 particularly, so I went with 5. Party members should not be forced on you (immortal companions are bad), encounters should not scale.

 

[MetalCraze]

4

In case of NWN2's shitty real-time combat having more is a chore.

 

[SoupNazi]

6 for more clusterfuck.

 

[Sceptic]

6, anything less is for newfag dumbed down nextgen pussies.

Improved.

6 is classic, 8 is golden age, 4 is newfag, anything less isn't a party anymore.

 

[oldmanpaco]

The poll only went up to 6 because anything more and you’re in DS territory. So far the consensus appears to be 6.

Also this game will have permanent death like SoZ except without the crapy resurrection stone or whatever it was called.

The other option is to have a few fully controllable npc companions and then henchmen you can hire/fire/easily replace if they get dismembered too fill out your ranks.

 

[Konjad]

6, motherfucker.

 

[JarlFrank]

The other option is to have a few fully controllable npc companions and then henchmen you can hire/fire/easily replace if they get dismembered too fill out your ranks.

Alts?

 

[visions]

Why not tying party size with the pc's charisma?

 

[oldmanpaco]

Why not tying party size with the pc's charisma?

That's a good idea but what would the range of companions be? I think that if I did this then I would be forced to scale encounters to prevent them from being too difficult or too easy. And you know how the codex feels about encounter scaling.

For simple ease of design I would like a hard companion cap.

 

[J1M]

Anything less than 5 and it's not really possible to choose different party makeups. You have to get the frontline guy, the magic user, the thief, and then another of whichever of the melee or mage is more useful.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Why not tying party size with the pc's charisma?

That's a good idea but what would the range of companions be? I think that if I did this then I would be forced to scale encounters to prevent them from being too difficult or too easy. And you know how the codex feels about encounter scaling.

For simple ease of design I would like a hard companion cap.

5+ CHA modifier sounds about right. If you have random encounters then a simpler way to balance things would be to increase their frequency if you have a large party (especially if resource management is an issue). Things being that much easier for a high CHA character isn't actually a bad thing, anymore than high STR characters being more efficent in combat is. Obviously you don't want to turn it into a god stat, but w/e, I'll trust you.

If you don't like that, why don't we see what Gary Gygax circa 1980 (6th printing) thinks, hmm?

CHARISMA TABLE

Ability										Maximum	  Loyalty  Reaction 
 Score - General Information 			-   Henchmen - Base - Adjustment

3												1		-30%	-25%
4												1		-25%	-20%
5	Here or lower the character 	  2		-20%	-15%
		can only be an assassin			
6												2		-15%	-10%
7												3		-10%	-5%
8	Minimum charisma for 				3		-5%		.
		an elf character
9												 4		 .		 .
10												4		.		.
11												4		.		.
12	Maximum charisma for 				5		.		.
		a half-orc character*
13												5		.		+5%
14												6		+5%		+10%
15	Minimum charisma for 				7		+15%	+15%
		a druid character
16	Maximum charisma for 				8		+20%	+25%
		a dwarf character**
17	Minimum charisma for 				10		+30%	+30%
		a paladin character	
18												15		+40%	+35%

* Character maximum applies only with respect to non-orcs and non-half-orcs (see CHARACTER RACES, Half-Orcs)
** Character maximum applies only with respect to non-dwarves (see CHARACTER RACES, Dwarves)

 

[commie]

4. More's a chore (c)Skyway.

 

[denizsi]

6 people voted for a party of 21.

 

[oldmanpaco]

5+ CHA modifier sounds about right. If you have random encounters then a simpler way to balance things would be to increase their frequency if you have a large party (especially if resource management is an issue). Things being that much easier for a high CHA character isn't actually a bad thing, anymore than high STR characters being more efficent in combat is. Obviously you don't want to turn it into a god stat, but w/e, I'll trust you.

If you don't like that, why don't we see what Gary Gygax circa 1980 (6th printing) thinks, hmm?

More than 6 people and it turns into a clusterfuck. Especially if there are summons or pets or temporary henchmen around. There would also be a performance issue on lower end machines I would imagine.

Maybe 2 guarantied then the ability to get up to 3 more based on your CHA bonus. I could also throw in that SoZ feat that allows an extra party member if someone would rather burn a feet instead of stats.

Either way the max party size would be 6.

Edit - Party size could also be negatively effected by the CHA bonus I suppose. Would keep people from making CHA the dump stat.

 

[SoupNazi]

There should be a chance that the party members attack you mid-combat if you have low CHA

 

[Cassidy]

6 is classic. 4 is storyfag "classic".

Fixed

*Edit

scale encounters

Don't do that.

 

[visions]

Edit - Party size could also be negatively effected by the CHA bonus I suppose. Would keep people from making CHA the dump stat.

I like this idea.

 

[sportforredneck]

6, Wizardry has it right.

 

[oldmanpaco]

6 appears the way to go. The question is how to get to 6. Is it just a hard total like BG, CHA based like FO, or feat based like SoZ?