My NWN noob thread

EnterHaerDalis

I'm going to use this thread to ask questions about NWN as I complete my first playthrough as a noob

So far it reminds me of the first time you get to Baldur's Gate - getting heaps and heaps of quests before you complete any of them. Kind of swamped here but trying to plow through it and familiarize myself with everything


My first question is about diseases - How do you get rid of the ability score drains from diseases? Apparently you can get rid of the disease but I read it's separate from the ability score drains. I read that you can use a healers kit but it didn't work when I tried it, it just healed hit points. I'm sick of running around with -2's in everything. I don't have much gold to spend on a mercenary cleric (250gold) so I'm curious how to cure this crap ...

FinneousPJ

So are you still diseased? The disease will pass if you make two saves against it in a row, IIRC. Other than that, you can use healing kits, remove disease spell or restoration.

TwoWayFinesse

if you go back to the temple and talk to Aribeth she will heal you. Stone of recall takes you straight there (the misers save some gold by walking back to their last location rather than pay a fee)
I think you need some points in heal, to add to the healing kit value to cure disease. Or a good enough healing kit.
You want to hire all the mercenaries and talk to them to get their stories..... it can be a lot of reading.

EnterHaerDalis

TwoWayFinesse said:

if you go back to the temple and talk to Aribeth she will heal you. Stone of recall takes you straight there (the misers save some gold by walking back to their last location rather than pay a fee)
I think you need some points in heal, to add to the healing kit value to cure disease. Or a good enough healing kit.
You want to hire all the mercenaries and talk to them to get their stories..... it can be a lot of reading.

Hmm. I can't figure out how Aribeth can 'heal me' in terms of hit points and/or diseases. Also what do you mean by 'the misers save some gold by walking back' - what are misers? All I know is that I can't afford to pay 50 gold each time I want to recall back through it lol

BelgarathMTH

Talk to Aribeth, and one of the dialogue options you can give is "I need healing." She will cure your hit points and all conditions at no charge. This can be done by the head priest at any temple throughout the game.

Healing poison or disease with a healing kit requires a roll on a d20 plus your heal skill bonus against the difficulty class (DC) of the disease or poison. The number of hit points restored is also the same roll on a d20 plus your heal skill bonus. For healing kits to work reliably and do good healing, you need to max the skill.

Healing kits are better than potions (except Potions of Heal) if you are using core rules, because they do not provoke attacks of opportunity like potions do. (They probably should, but they don't.) The kits also have the advantage of being able to be targeted on party members during combat without making them lose their attack(s) that round.

If you heal poison with a healing kit, you still need to use a scroll or potion of Lesser Restoration to take care of the initial ability score damage. (A failed save vs. Poison lets it do its initial damage regardless, and then it does more serious secondary damage if it is not neutralized in time.) A Potion of Antidote neutralizes the poison, *and* takes care of the initial damage, which is why Potions of Antidote are so expensive.

It's good to keep a supply of potions of Lesser Restoration in your bag, to avoid constant trips back to the temple. Poison and disease are pretty regular occurrences in this game.

Also, I advise turning on all the feedback in the actions window, and read the scroll during or after every combat. That's one of the best ways to learn the mechanics of the game. Also, make sure you have "floaty text" turned on, because that gives you even more very useful information about what is going on during combat.

EnterHaerDalis

BelgarathMTH said:

Talk to Aribeth, and one of the dialogue options you can give is "I need healing." She will cure your hit points and all conditions at no charge. This can be done by the head priest at any temple throughout the game.

Healing poison or disease with a healing kit requires a roll on a d20 plus your heal skill bonus against the difficulty class (DC) of the disease or poison. The number of hit points restored is also the same roll on a d20 plus your heal skill bonus. For healing kits to work reliably and do good healing, you need to max the skill.

Healing kits are better than potions (except Potions of Heal) if you are using core rules, because they do not provoke attacks of opportunity like potions do. (They probably should, but they don't.) The kits also have the advantage of being able to be targeted on party members during combat without making them lose their attack(s) that round.

If you heal poison with a healing kit, you still need to use a scroll or potion of Lesser Restoration to take care of the initial ability score damage. (A failed save vs. Poison lets it do its initial damage regardless, and then it does more serious secondary damage if it is not neutralized in time.) A Potion of Antidote neutralizes the poison, *and* takes care of the initial damage, which is why Potions of Antidote are so expensive.

It's good to keep a supply of potions of Lesser Restoration in your bag, to avoid constant trips back to the temple. Poison and disease are pretty regular occurrences in this game.

Also, I advise turning on all the feedback in the actions window, and read the scroll during or after every combat. That's one of the best ways to learn the mechanics of the game. Also, make sure you have "floaty text" turned on, because that gives you even more very useful information about what is going on during combat.

thank you very much I love you

another question I have for anyone is where are the best places to buy weapons from? I've been trying to find a greataxe because I took a feat in greataxe weapon focus

cheers

Archaos

@EnterHaerDalis
...Isn't there a shop that sells equipment? Not sure of it's name but I'm pretty sure that there is one.
Also I think Aribeth herself sells stuff.

EnterHaerDalis

Archaos said:

@EnterHaerDalis
...Isn't there a shop that sells equipment? Not sure of it's name but I'm pretty sure that there is one.
Also I think Aribeth herself sells stuff.

...yes

there are shops that sell equipment. But I can't find one that sells a greataxe

maybe I'll just play more and see if I can get hold of one

TwoWayFinesse

Doesn't the smithy sell a greataxe? I think it's in the East of the 'core', halfway between the slums and the prison district. If you ask the owner about special items (you might need a persuasion check if not a fighter) you will be given access to the dwarf downstairs who can make special stuff (I think gives a +1 greataxe some fire damage)

BelgarathMTH

Yes, there are quite a few places in Neverwinter to shop for what you want. Aribeth sells priest-themed weapons and armor. The vendor on the first floor of the smithy is a half-orc, and his shop has a guard dog out front that will usually bark at you as you enter. He's the most likely to have your greataxe. There is another merchant at what looks like a fruit and vegetable stand just a short distance from him and around the corner, who might also have it.

The shop in the Docks district sells the highest grade weapons in Neverwinter. If they don't have it, and in a +1 variety, you can't get it in Neverwinter shops.

The tavern in the Blacklake district sells some good merchandise, and there's also a small shop tucked away in the Peninsula district in a corner near the guard headquarters which offers some good items.

I usually avoid taking the weapon focus and specialization line of feats in any weapon, unless I already have a good example of it in possession. You never know what is going to drop or be available through shopping or raiding in these games, so taking weapon focus and specialization is very risky until and unless you have enough metagame knowledge to know exactly what items you have a chance to obtain in that weapon type.

The same problem exists quite notoriously in Baldur's Gate. The nice thing about Neverwinter Nights, though, is that you can do very well under the third edition rules without trying to specialize in any weapons. I prefer to select feats that are guaranteed to give me some good benefit no matter what my equipment.

Such feats include Luck of Heroes, Iron Will, Blind Fight, Cleave (which requires Power Attack), and Toughness. Casters always benefit from several lines of "metamagic" feats, like "Extend Spell". Melee toons do well with Knockdown and Improved Knockdown, and high dexterity characters do well with Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack. Actually, it's a good idea to give any melee toon enough dexterity to open up the dexterity-based line of feats.

There are a staggering number of good lines of feats that don't involve limiting the toon to one weapon choice.

But, now that you're really wanting to find greataxes, they're in the game. It'll just take some effort to find them.

Archaos

@BelgarathMTH
I agree. Don't specialize with any weapon unless you're planning to go into Weapon Master and deal insane criticals.

That +1 to attack from Weapon Focus is a pretty minor bonus.
Instead get Weapon Proficiency (Exotic). Now you can use Bastard Swords, Katanas and a bunch of fun weapons like the Double ones.

Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Disarm, Improved Disarm etc are all more fun.

I admit I missed most of the weapon choices in NwN1 because I played it with a Monk and got Grimgnaw.
We didn't need weapons, we were too busy punching dragons.

By the way, if you think that you wasted a feat or preferred another choice, use the console to relevel yourself.
If only I knew about the console back then and not being forced to restart the game a billion times.

Press the ~ button.
DebugMode 1
GiveXP -(minus the amount you want, like -5000)
GiveXP (the same xp you removed, so 5000)
DebugMode 0

TwoWayFinesse

The best reason to take a weapon focus is that there are some chests which give a magic weapon you have focus in (higher the level, better the enchantment). If you don't have a focus I think you get a club (a magic club, but nevertheless still a club)

If you go exotic and choose a double weapon you want 15 dex for the 2 weap / ambidex / then better 2 weap feats.

BelgarathMTH

@TwoWayFinesse, one of those chests is in the bottom floor of the prison, and that one gives you a +1 weapon based on your class, even if you don't have a weapon focus. Druids get a club, clerics get a mace, and fighters/paladins get a longsword.