Fresh new game
 

So here's the deal : I will very soon finish The Witcher. I know, shame on me for not playing this gem when it came out a few years ago but the combat kept me away from it so long… After having a lot of patience with the game I really enjoy it so now that my spirit is up I want to keep playing some RPG's that I didn;t like at first. Nwn 2 falls in this category. I first gave it a try when it came out and… it was a mess. I hardly managed to get my char to arcane archer before the endless bugs, graphical glitches and many more pissed me off. Now, I have home Nwn 2 + expansions (including Mysteries of Westgate) and after I patch it up I want to give this baby another try.

So… any tips and tricks regarding characters, gameplay etc ? My preferences vary a lot but I found the warlock and warpriest to be particular interesting. Some advice regarding these classes would be great.

Also, how different it is from Nwn 1 in terms of gameplay, characters, interaction, story, roleplay etc.

Thx for your support and hope to hear from you sexy people ^_^

Sorry for the late reply, didn't see the thread until today.

Anyway, if you are unsure about how to plan a character, you could use:
http://nwn2db.com/

It's a char builder which allows you to plan a character all the way up to level 30. If you need specific advice, feel free to ask (there is a lot of stuff to consider in D&D).

As for the two you asked about:
- Warlock: Pretty straight forward really, just make sure you become a Hellfire Warlock later on.
http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Hellfire_Warlock
- Warpriest: Works well with pretty much any divine caster class, but I generally recommend focusing on melee + healing/buffing instead of offensive divine caster. The main reason is the high BAB (Base Attack Bonus; used to determine melee rolls). People prefer various classes as base class for the Warpriest for different reasons. I personally like the Favored Soul due to their spell selection and how they prepare spells (similar to a Sorcerer instead of a Wizard). Also, they get weapon specialization, which is very nice to have.

As for NWN1 vs 2: It's all very different. NWN2 is party based, and generally has a more open structure. The controls are a bit clumsy compared to NWN1 (in my opinion), but the tactical combat and roleplaying options makes up for that.

I recommend a few UI mods, bug fixes, etc, in no particular order (this is for OC+MoTB+SoZ)

- Fire and Ice's Big Fonts UI
- Big Inventory
- Tony K's Companion AI
- Kaedron's PrC Pack
- SoZ Nimbre fix
- Official Campaign Tools and Fixes
- Traps Fix

Also, make sure you edit down the mouse sensitivity in your .ini file, otherwise you WILL go crazy.

Generally, I stay away from PrC packs for both NWN games, but that's just a personal preference. I've simply seen too many bugs and balancing issues.

I've seen a few bugs in Kaedrins PrC, but these are minor compared to the VERY serious bugs and deficiencies it fixes:

#1 - Spell resistance is almost completely broken without the PrC.
#2 - Lots of spell effects are wrong without the PrC - dispel effects, in particular.
#3 - Arcane Trickster is a broken class without the PrC. The class's main advantage, sneak attacks with touch spells, doesn't work without the PrC.

And those are just the ones that came to mind. I would never play the game without the PrC.

Haven't even tried the new classes; I use the PrC mainly for the fixes.

No problem, I started playing only two days ago… In the end I decided to make a cleric and will probably stick with him until level 20 in the OC. She's a mix between a diplomat and healer. I like how you can talk your way out of things with diplomacy although I don't know how my evil oriented party will manage to the end since most of the characters seem to lean over to the good side (except Neeshka).

Are there any advantages to going pure cleric until lvl 30 too? O.o

Generally no, prestige classes are often fairly powerful with very few drawbacks. The only advantage I can think of related to the Cleric would be that you don't lose a single caster level, and don't have to spend any feats balacing out your caster level. However, this is mainly an advantage if you intend to be an offensive caster.

Only a few classes get any real benefits after by staying pure after a certain point. Monk and Ranger comes to mind.

Edit: Don't get me wrong though, Cleric is a very powerful class regardless of whether or not you add other classes.

Also, the rogue sneak attacks continue to add up to level 20, making your rogue a killing machine. Add in a level of Shadowdancer for the fantastic Hide In Plain sight ability increases the safety for luring enemies towards ambushes by the rest of your party. HiPS allows your rogue to lure without getting overwhelmed. :)

True, though undead are immune to sneak attacks. Quite a few enemies in NWN2 are undead.

Edit: HiPS is really powerful in SoZ, as the amount of undead is relatively low there.

True about the OC and the large number of undead. The Undead to Death spell is the Arcane Trickster's backup for undead. ;) The Epic Precision feat helps, too, but that's very late in the game.

How do you calculate time in game? If you have a buff that lasts 1 minute/level, does this mean that if you have a level 10 char the buff will last 10 minutes in game? How much is that in real time?

Fairly long. Usually long enough for the area you are in, especially once you reach level 15 or so. The ones you have to conserve are 1-5 seconds/level.

1 min = 1 turn which is 10 rounds, or 60 seconds. In other words, 1 round = 6 seconds.

Values are actual time, not some sort of cryptic in-game time.

Hmm, just to be clear, those are game world times, not real world times.

Real world time passes much faster than game world time.

So, 1 minute in the realworld may be like a 1 hour in the gameworld. The sun can be seen to move across the sky, although the characters must move in slow motion to make up for it. ;)

Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of the above statement, but I'll clarify anyway:

Buff/spell durations are listed in real time. If a spell lasts 1 turn, it will last 60 seconds in real life. A spell cast by a 20th level caster that lasts 1 round per level will last 20 rounds = 2 turns = 120 seconds in real life.

120 seconds of in-game time would be over before you could snap your fingers.

In-game time is never actually used for anything beyond deciding day/night cycle as far as I know (day/night cycle is used in certain buffs/spells/racial traits/etc).

At least that's how I recall it. :)

I don't think those times listed on spells are real world times. If you check the DnD rules, those are game world times. That mapping to real world times are per my post above.

Well, we know for sure that 1 turn = 60 seconds = 1 minute. Spells lasting a turn or more are actually quite long, which means it can't be 60 in-game seconds - that'd be over before you could snap your fingers.

1 round = 6 real life seconds
1 turn = 10 rounds = 60 real life seconds

I believe an hour in-game is the same as 2 turns (in the official campaign), so a spell lasting "one hour per level" actually lasts "2 turns = 120 real life seconds per level". In other words: It's 2 minutes per hour.

In Baldur's Gate, however, it was 1 turn (60 seconds) = 1 in-game hour or some such thing. Uh, at least that's what I recall.

Bottom line: Spells listed with rounds or turns can be calculated directly into real life time. Spells lasting hours are a bit harder to calculate, so just keep in mind they last about 2 min in real life per hour in-game.

Edit: Take a look at Stoneskin:
http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Stoneskin

Duration is listed as an hour per level, but also as 20 rounds (which is 2 turns) per level. 1 hour of in-game time = 2 turns = 20 rounds = 120 seconds of real time.

That's all the math anyone needs when calculating durations in NWN2.

Those calculations seem about right. Clearly hourly length spells are specified in game world times, since they don't last close to hours in real world time.

It's odd that short duration spells don't seem to be compressed in time as much. I think that is a good observation that there is a different conversion factor between in game world rounds and realtime seconds, and game world hours and real world time. Bizarre.

I am betting it is to make reasonable and doable the realtime animations, so that characters aren't moving at light speed.

Of course, pen paper doesn't have to worry about that.