I found that just wandering the countryside has tons of combat. I just needed to get out of the starting woods. I'm now exploring Trinsic and have run into groups of spiders, trolls and orcs guarding a bridge, etc. The game is really growing on me. I still find the towns chit-chat to be beyond dull, but if I take it in small bites, it doesn't become too irritating. The biggest downer is waiting around for townsfolk. This was a terrible idea. It wouldn't be bad if you could wake people to talk, or at least interrupt their walking to and fro, but as is you waste a ton of time in town waiting around. If the game had a decent journal I'd give it an 8, but it's still a 6+ and a nice trip down memory lane. It'll do till NWN2 arrives.
Question: The avatar can take anything without losing Karma as long as it's not owned, correct? I took a bunch of bows from Gwenneth's house and it seems like that was okay. I mean Iolo made them, so I should be able to take those....