Just Starting Out
Georg...@tds.net
WIthout looking for any spoilers, what class is best for the first
time through?
Cool, cool
George IV
Niels Weber
> I am looking to begin my first game of NWN.
> WIthout looking for any spoilers, what class is best for the first
> time through?
Depends. NWN1 or NWN2?
How much experience do you have with RPG and D&D?
Nath
alordo...@yahoo.com
> I am looking to begin my first game of NWN.
> WIthout looking for any spoilers, what class is best for the first time through?
For a complete novice to role-playing or fantasy simulation games
(e.g., dungeons and dragons), probably the straight melee-class are
"easiest" - fewer choices. You fight things (anything that moves) and
bash things (doors and chests). If you see a trap (probably won't in
many cases) you go around or through. Fighter, barbarian, paladin,
ranger, monk - you may want to read the manual and the in-game
descriptions.
A lot of people prefer playing spellcasters (wizard, sorceror) or
"semi-melee" casters (druid, cleric)
My personal favorite (based on how/what I play) is rogue/fighter/
shadowdancer. Heavy on fighter, about 1/3 of levels are in rogue, and
just a level or two of shadowdancer. Lots of versatility in finding/
using traps, using magic items restricted to other classes/alignments,
hide in plain sight, good melee ability. You need at least one of the
expansion (shadows of undrentide) for the shadowdancer class (iirc)
Georg...@tds.net
>> WIthout looking for any spoilers, what class is best for the first
>> time through?
> Depends. NWN1 or NWN2?
NWN1 Diamond Edition
> How much experience do you have with RPG and D&D?
I pretty much wrote the FAQ for alt.games.daggerfall and have been
playing CRPGs since Pool of Radiance came out (80's?).
Thanks for the reply, Nath. It's been quite a while since I posted
anything on a NG and should have been more specific.
Cool, cool
George IV
Georg...@tds.net
>> WIthout looking for any spoilers, what class is best for the first time through?
> For a complete novice to role-playing games...
> probably the straight melee-class are "easiest"
> you may want to read the manual
You couldn't really call what they include with the diamond edition a
manual. :-(
I suppose there's a manual on the disk, but I like having a 'hard
copy'. Maybe I'll print the thing out, as I sometimes like to refer to
the manual while playing.
> A lot of people prefer playing spellcasters (wizard, sorceror) or
> "semi-melee" casters (druid, cleric)
I've always favored multi-classed characters, especially for low level
modules. Fighter-magic user is a pretty cool class.
> My personal favorite... is rogue/fighter/
> shadowdancer. Heavy on fighter, about 1/3 of levels are in rogue, and
> just a level or two of shadowdancer. Lots of versatility in finding/
> using traps, using magic items restricted to other classes/alignments,
> hide in plain sight, good melee ability. You need at least one of the
> expansion (shadows of undrentide) for the shadowdancer class (iirc)
Sounds like a neat combination.
From what you say, I gather that this game uses a system (second
edition rules?) that allows you to advance a character in any class
upon levelling, although as I recall certain XP penalties apply if the
classes don't fit the abilities of the character's race.
Thanks for the courtesy of your reply.
Cool, cool
George IV
Sheldon England
My first time through NwN's Original Campaign I played a paladin and
found it quite enjoyable. Melee-type is easiest, as others have said,
but pretty much any class can be played if you have a favourite style.
FWIW, there is a pretty cool NwN Daggerfall fan-made module that is
definitely worth downloading and playing.
- Sheldon
Xocyll
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
You happen to remember the name of that module, or a link to it?
Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
Mark P. Nelson
news:u9aqs45j8v5u4d08b...@4ax.com:
> Sheldon England <sheldon...@netscape.net> looked up from reading the
> entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
> say:
>
>>Georg...@tds.net wrote:
>>FWIW, there is a pretty cool NwN Daggerfall fan-made module that is
>>definitely worth downloading and playing.
>
> You happen to remember the name of that module, or a link to it?
>
> Xocyll
He may mean Darkness over Daggerford?
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=5122
Mark.
--
Verbing weirds language--Calvin
Dawnseeker
If I'm not mistaken, Diamond has both expansions included, so you won't
be limited to class. I wouldn't concern myself much with multi-classing
early in the game. Multi-classing *early* IMO makes for a weak starting
character. You'll probably get inspired later with a class that you'd
like to multi into. There are several henchmen (hired npcs) of various
classes around that will help to balance your own abilities should you
find your main PC is getting trounced. I've always like a cleric
myself, even though the weapon selection can be limited, they can wear
heavy armor and cast some good (although primarily defensive) spells.
Alignment is something that almost never gets mentioned which can be
problematic if you're playing an alignment sensitive class like paladin
or druid. It's hard in NWN *not* to take anything that isn't the "good"
path, but it can be done.
HTH! Best of luck!
--
Don't worry about avoiding temptation.
As you grow older, they will avoid you.
--- Winston Churchill
gary...@hotmail.com
> Georget...@tds.net brought next idea :
Any class can be played successfully - I'd just go with what feels
natural to you and which you feel will be fun.
As stated before, you can choose a henchman to complement your
character.
Magnate
>You couldn't really call what they include with the diamond edition a
>manual. :-(
>I suppose there's a manual on the disk, but I like having a 'hard
>copy'. Maybe I'll print the thing out, as I sometimes like to refer to
>the manual while playing.
I would very much recommend that. The NWN1 manuals (including the two
expansion manuals) were all excellent IMO, with very few errors.
>From what you say, I gather that this game uses a system (second
>edition rules?) that allows you to advance a character in any class
>upon levelling, although as I recall certain XP penalties apply if the
>classes don't fit the abilities of the character's race.
It uses 3rd edition rules - so you can choose to advance one level in any
class when you level up, subject to certain restrictions: you have to meet
all the requirements of the class you want to level up (many have pre-reqs
and/or alignment restrictions), and you can have only three classes in
total. You incur XP penalties if the levels of your different classes are
too far apart (but look up "Favoured Class" for exceptions to this).
I just have one word of warning about NWN1: IMO the OC is the worst I've
ever played in a CRPG. It's endless Fedex missions back and forth, and you
spend about 80% of your time jogging around the city. By all means give it a
try, but I'd like to lower your expectations (Sheldon said he enjoyed it,
which is interesting because I often share his views but not in this case).
I found the SoU campaign far better (though still not up to the quality of
BG1/2 or NWN2). I never tried to HotU campaign (but you wouldn't start with
that anyway).
CC
maxon
news:95i6a6-...@news.terminalarrogance.com...
> I just have one word of warning about NWN1: IMO the OC is the worst I've
> ever played in a CRPG. It's endless Fedex missions back and forth, and you
> spend about 80% of your time jogging around the city. By all means give it
> a try, but I'd like to lower your expectations (Sheldon said he enjoyed
> it, which is interesting because I often share his views but not in this
> case). I found the SoU campaign far better (though still not up to the
> quality of BG1/2 or NWN2). I never tried to HotU campaign (but you
> wouldn't start with that anyway).
Shame - HOTU was, by far, the best of the three and you can play it in
combination with SoU as the story follows on. I had a lot of fun building a
character through both expansions. It also has Deekin, possibly the best
NPC ever.
Best wishes
maxon
alordo...@yahoo.com
> I've always favored multi-classed characters, especially for low level
> modules. Fighter-magic user is a pretty cool class.
If you play the NWN original campaign, doing the prelude will get you
to 3rd level before the actula camaign. With DnD 3.0 rules, there is
a % chance of spell failure that increases as the armor gets heavier
(from 5% for leather, iirc, 10% for studded, etc). With the spell
casting classes, it's generally better from a power standpoint to stay
single class - for spellcasting progression, ability to break through
spell resistance, saves, etc. - with maybe a prestige class later.
There are henchmen (or "meat-shields" as the spellcasters call them)
available in the game to protect the spellcasters as they blast away
> From what you say, I gather that this game uses a system (second
> edition rules?) that allows you to advance a character in any class
> upon levelling, although as I recall certain XP penalties apply if the
> classes don't fit the abilities of the character's race.
NWN 1 uses a modified version of 3rd edition (3.0, not 3.5) rules.
There's no XP penalty for multiclass, but the multi-class characters
tend be weaker at certain things in exchange for the versatility. As
an excercise, in one of the newsgroups, it was determined that you
could be something like 4th to 8th level or somewhere around there,
depending on what books were used, before your BAB (base attack bonus)
reached 1 (first level fighter, ranger, barbarians get +1 at first
level)
NWN only allows a max of three classes total. You can take any class
- sort of. There are alignment restrictions (eg, must be lawful good
for Paladin, iirc Barbarians must be chaotic, so no Pal/Bar
characters) and pre-requisites (example: Shadowdancer -iirc -
requires: both the Dodge and Mobility feats, 10 + ranks in Hide in
Shadows, 8+ Move Silently, BAB 6+)
I'd go ahead and play the prelude in the Original Campaign (OC) with a
spellcaster (eg, sorceror) and a fighter, just to get a feel for it.
It's pretty short, has some decent tutorials. Once you decide what
you like, move on to Shadows of Undrentide. Like Maxon says, it's
actually pretty decent. You may need to download one of the "bridge"
modules in preparation for Hordes of the Underdark to get you to the
right level.
After you are familiar with the game, you may want to download some of
the free user modules at the NWN vault. This is the biggest plus, IMO
- there were over 3,000 modules last I checked. There are probably 100
or more that are equal/better than the included campaigns. The Hall of
Fame is a good place to start (some are "broken' due to NWN updates,
but there is usually a work-around if you get stuck). I'm working my
way through the overlooked modules list now :-)
Xocyll
the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>I just have one word of warning about NWN1: IMO the OC is the worst I've
>ever played in a CRPG. It's endless Fedex missions back and forth, and you
>spend about 80% of your time jogging around the city. By all means give it a
>try, but I'd like to lower your expectations (Sheldon said he enjoyed it,
>which is interesting because I often share his views but not in this case).
>I found the SoU campaign far better (though still not up to the quality of
>BG1/2 or NWN2). I never tried to HotU campaign (but you wouldn't start with
>that anyway).
I'll agree that the OC was not much of a game, more of an engine demo.
I'll recommend both SoU and HotU though - replayed them both multiple
times. Little hint for squishy classes in SoU - play the tutorial part
of the OC, then save the character and import to SoU at level 3 - bit
help for mages and such.
Still not the worst though, I'd put Pool of Radiance 2 on that pedestal.
A game whose only redeeming feature was that it was the first (and thus
only game at the time) to use 3rd edition rules, and it no longer had
that once NWN came out.
NWN OC has _nothing_ on POR2 for endless walking back and forth.
I've never even _considered_ playing PoR2 again.
I've heard of other bad ones as well, like Descent to Undermountain, but
haven't tried playing those.
Magnate
> "Magnate" <n...@receiving.here> looked up
Hmmm. I always thought that "Descent To Undermountain" *was* PoR2. Now I
have two games to avoid ....
CC