GameBanshee Forums

First off. I'd like to say that I have been following this forum with great interest and I found that alot of the tips I found here to be helpful and insightful. So thanks for that. This is my first post here and as an old pen and paper D&Der I though I would toss out some of my observations after having finished NWN-OC and just starting the SOU expansion module.

1) I played through with a Fighter/Rogue and I was extremely pleased with the Rogue Class in particular. If properly developed I would venture to argue that the Rogue can be the most versatile and effective class in the game. Even more so if it is combined with the Fighter Class. I found the "Use Magical Devices" skill to be arguably the Rogue's greatest trait. I pumped that skill up as much as possible and found that my Rogue was capable of using almost every magical item I came across. Being able to use magical staves, wands and particularly spell scrolls, my Rogue essentially had the capabilities of a spell caster and this came in quite handy when I was beefing myself up for big battles or when I needed a nasty spell to blow away some tough groups of enemies. With this skill your Rogue can cast some pretty powerful spells from scrolls that greatly enhances his/her peformance. It's almost abusive and made me wonder sometimes why one would opt for a spell caster Class which limits his/her melee performance when the chips are down. I had my Rogue pumped up with Ambidexterity and both 2-Weapons feats and by the end of the game he was dishing out 4-5 attacks and causing some pretty serious damage. The Sneak Attack can be devastating if used effectively. Finally, with a good pick locks and disable traps your Rogue can snag all the loot they'll ever need. Its a good class and its versatility makes choosing your Henchman alot easier. I stuck with Red Tiger throughout the entire game and it was a great combo. Other than running into battle without warning on occasion, Red Tiger can dish out some nasty damage and take the brunt of the melee while your rogue peppers enemies with scrolls, wands and the occasional nasty sneak attack before moving in for some mop-up operations. Properly beefed up with spells and potions my rogue/fighter and Red Tiger proved to be an enjoyable combo.

2)Now for some of the weaknesses I found in the NWN-OC. Too many magical items! Far too many! Maybe this is my old pen and paper gamer coming out but by the end of the game I was so overloaded with loot that it was actually tough to decide what armor to wear and what weapons and items to use. Any old gamer would know that when playing the pen and paper game magical items were few and far between and hard to come by. Sure they're neat but I think the game needs to limit the number of items and how often they are found as that would make it a tougher challenge for your PC in the game. By the end of the game I had so much money I could pretty much purchase anything I needed with tons left to spare. I think the game would be far tougher if magical items were rarer. The upside is that most items were limited in their power and I didn't really come across anything that was too abusive.

3)I'm playing SOU with a Paladin now and I'm a little bit dissapointed. I see one of the game's biggest weaknesses being that it doesn't allow much room for playing one's alignment. What I mean by that is that I have found that my Paladin's alignment has extremely limited his ability to gain some much-needed XP from particular battles and wealth from looting. In the Elven Crypt I missed out on some battles with skeletons and getting some loot because everytime I tried to raid the tombs my alignment would shift. Sure, I know part of being a paladin is that you're all righteous and holy and stuff so I think that needs to be taken into consideration in that there should be certain aspects of the game where being a lawful good paladin will allow one to gain some bonus XP and/or items. All classes should be taken into consideration and I hope the makers of the game have realized this in the later modules. That is why I'm even liking the rogue option alot more. With a chaotic good rogue you can still do all the looting and roguish stuff you want while still playing the "good" hero who gets all the rewards for saving the day. It's a flexible alignment and while some of the things you do may shift you a little bit in the end you'll still wind up being CG. The Paladin has some neat special abilities, but they really are not that great when you consider that your PC can get so much loot during the game that by the end of it you don't need lay on hands or anything like that because you have a million potions of heal anyway! And tons of other potions and what not. Finally, I found the melee classes (Paladin, Fighter etc.) a little boring and slow to progress. Its tedious sitting there wating for your paladin to spit off his one attack.

Sorry for the long thread but I have to say "Rogues all the way" and I might try Bard next time as that looks like a pretty similar style class as well. I guess it is all about what one enjoys and about style but if built properly, the Rogue can be deadly.

[quote="Fitzroy"]
1) I played through with a Fighter/Rogue and I was extremely pleased with the Rogue Class in particular. If properly developed I would venture to argue that the Rogue can be the most versatile and effective class in the game. Even more so if it is combined with the Fighter Class. I found the "Use Magical Devices" skill to be arguably the Rogue's greatest trait. I pumped that skill up as much as possible and found that my Rogue was capable of using almost every magical item I came across. Being able to use magical staves, wands and particularly spell scrolls, my Rogue essentially had the capabilities of a spell caster and this came in quite handy when I was beefing myself up for big battles or when I needed a nasty spell to blow away some tough groups of enemies. With this skill your Rogue can cast some pretty powerful spells from scrolls that greatly enhances his/her peformance. It's almost abusive and made me wonder sometimes why one would opt for a spell caster Class which limits his/her melee performance when the chips are down.

2)Now for some of the weaknesses I found in the NWN-OC. Too many magical items! Far too many! Maybe this is my old pen and paper gamer coming out but by the end of the game I was so overloaded with loot that it was actually tough to decide what armor to wear and what weapons and items to use. Any old gamer would know that when playing the pen and paper game magical items were few and far between and hard to come by. Sure they're neat but I think the game needs to limit the number of items and how often they are found as that would make it a tougher challenge for your PC in the game. By the end of the game I had so much money I could pretty much purchase anything I needed with tons left to spare. I think the game would be far tougher if magical items were rarer. The upside is that most items were limited in their power and I didn't really come across anything that was too abusive.

3)I'm playing SOU with a Paladin now and I'm a little bit dissapointed. I see one of the game's biggest weaknesses being that it doesn't allow much room for playing one's alignment. What I mean by that is that I have found that my Paladin's alignment has extremely limited his ability to gain some much-needed XP from particular battles and wealth from looting. In the Elven Crypt I missed out on some battles with skeletons and getting some loot because everytime I tried to raid the tombs my alignment would shift. Sure, I know part of being a paladin is that you're all righteous and holy and stuff so I think that needs to be taken into consideration in that there should be certain aspects of the game where being a lawful good paladin will allow one to gain some bonus XP and/or items. All classes should be taken into consideration and I hope the makers of the game have realized this in the later modules. That is why I'm even liking the rogue option alot more. With a chaotic good rogue you can still do all the looting and roguish stuff you want while still playing the "good" hero who gets all the rewards for saving the day. It's a flexible alignment and while some of the things you do may shift you a little bit in the end you'll still wind up being CG. The Paladin has some neat special abilities, but they really are not that great when you consider that your PC can get so much loot during the game that by the end of it you don't need lay on hands or anything like that because you have a million potions of heal anyway! And tons of other potions and what not. Finally, I found the melee classes (Paladin, Fighter etc.) a little boring and slow to progress. Its tedious sitting there wating for your paladin to spit off his one attack.

QUOTE]

1) Use MAgic Item is indeed sick. I found it to be the bards best skill. It allows you to be extremely versatile. That being said...Caster classes have a much higher spell DC and scrolls are limited at what level they cast from whereas spellcasters continue to heep on d6's. The rogue and teh bard are excellent though it must be admitted. A rogue casting fireball gets 5d6 dmg and the save is almost assured so 2.5d6. A wizard gets 10d6 with a save unlikely for 10d6. Thats four times more dmg. That being said, some spells have no save and are hence amazing in teh hands of a bard or rogue. Also like you said buffs and even curative spells function the same essentially.

2) I like the fact that magic items are so common. It means you do not have to look through every nook and cranny and kill every enemy. They only get overbearing when you do that. One element about NWN I like is that you don't have to go everywhere and do everything. You don't have to meticulously look through everychest and crate. This is one of the reasons people complain about the commonness of money is that pick up and sell everything. Also, you don't have to kill everythuing or do every quest. You will end up maybe 1/2 a lvl behind someone who does if you just blow through the game. If that bothers you, just export your character and go to a different module. I love these elements, it takes allot of tediousness out of the game, when you are not focuses on killing every goblin. Also the exp loss for henchman and familiars is not really a big issue either as you can always just export. I think maybe you would end up 1/2 a lvl lower using a henchman than soloing the whole game.

3) I agree about allignment not playing much of a role. Notably, the only way you get evil points is by malicious killing. However, I would mind much about the exp loss for playing your allignment. It really won't matter much. The EXP engine is fantastic.

Edit: If you try the bard, try out the RDD class to lvl 10. The game is such that a high level bard can enevr reach his maximum bard song, (although bard song enhanced curse song.) RDD gives him +8 STR allowing him skimp on STR early on, while he uses bow and spells. The bard can be a bit too easy though if you use a henchman. I just ended up watching Daelen cut through entire chapters by himself aided by bard song and haste. Get to a big boss...Daze. Always take Enchantement focus. Many people miss that the bard's best spells are enchatements because they do not directly kill people. Confusion clears whole rooms. Sleep drops whole groups of ewnemies making it a coup de grace fest for daelen. Mindfog...um yeah. Dominate monster...sure I'll take ocntrol of teh boss and watch him kill all his body guards. Hold Person...Hack HAck HAck. Also you get silence which is an illusion but MVP of game rivalled only by feeblemind. Just make sure you have Daelen stand ground until you get your enchantment cast or he will fall for it to. An alternative would be to use the monk as he has inate spell resistance but I dislike him.