Derp, so it says only epic characters can enchant the dagger that gives the TWF feat >_< Guess I'll just have to actually pick up the feat when I next get the chance.
It's because the maximum number of enchantments is capped at 3, but it increases to 4 if the enchanter is over level 20. You can't overwrite (for example) +2 with +3. You could give an item both, but it would use up two slots and only the best would apply.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok! I'm assuming there are some weapons that bypass that limit or some such? because
+2 Feyduster +2 Enchantment 50% chance to sleep targets
I upgraded to +2 (Inactive) +4 +1d6 fire damage 50% chance to sleep targets
Does the 50% sleep chance not factor in for how many enchants can be on the weapon?
Disregard his words. Enchantments of the same type override each other and do not occupy extra slots, however you still need a free slot to upgrade the existing enchantment. As it stands, you can no longer upgrade your Feyduster (unless you take it to MotB), however you could have upgraded to +5 later on if you hadn't added the fire damage bonus.
Ohhhh ok.
So I can have a maximum of +5 enchants not including special effects? So like
I could make a +3 Feyduster with 1d6 fire and 1d6 ice or a flat +5 with no other enchantments?
You aren't getting it. A weapon can have up to 3 enchantments of various kinds and until you have used up these enchantment slots, you can freely improve your existing enchantments with others of the same kind. The Feyduster has 2 enchantments by default (+2 and on hit sleep), so you can improve it from +2 to +3/4/5 as many times as you want as long as you don't add a third one that is different (fire damage in your case). If you were to add fire damage before enchanting it to +4 you wouldn't have been able to enchant it further and make it a +3/4/5.
That's a very odd way of doing enchanting but ah well, I'll just have to learn the mechanics and such.
Also, I originally planned to do a Bard 20/Blackguard 10 build (or at least pretty close to that) but couldn't bring myself to make Piro evil, only slightly less good. XD
I know adding 4 levels of a full BAB class can help a Bard achieve another attack. Maybe I'll do a run eventually with Val as a Drow Bard x/Blackguard 4. The only issue is I find it very hard to play evil chars in games @_@
As for powergaming I optimize builds but usually my builds are very RP-themed and terrible. Like I'd find a way to take all 10 levels of Pale Master and not have it suck. *Cough* Kaedrin will be my savior *cough*.
You won't achieve an extra attack with 4 high BAB levels in a level 30 build. This isn't NWN where BAB progression shifts to a constant 1 per 2 levels in the epics. Anyway, Bards can get full BAB thanks to Legionnaire's March, provided you have a full BAB member in your party (which in MotB you generally do).
@Vallmyr , It's so delightful to see you enjoying NWN2 so much. You're getting me to really, really want to play it again myself. I may take a break from my MM games and start playing NWN2 for a while over the Thanksgiving weekend.
My right wrist is acting up with arthritis again and hurting. MM takes two hands to play, while I can switch my Trackball mouse to left hand and play NWN2 with left hand only. That, and your excitement is contagious.
Right now my only issues with NWN2 is it can have buggy controls sometimes (characters teleporting) as well as the music being very hit or miss. I just got to the point where Shandra Jerro dies to her grandfather and it's like super sad and normally I'd cry super hard at the point where he realizes he murdered his only living relative but the music was just. . . normal. It just felt like another normal cutscene and not like something terrible had just happened. Granted this is pushing Piro even more to be a nervous wreck but I wish I as a player felt more emotionally attached.
This game is definitely a contender so far for my "favorite game of all time."
I hadn't really considered the music as a factor. That particular twist I saw coming in Act 1, so it's didn't have any emotional effect other than a smug "I knew that was going to happen" and an irritation at being "on rails".
I hadn't really considered the music as a factor. That particular twist I saw coming in Act 1, so it's didn't have any emotional effect other than a smug "I knew that was going to happen" and an irritation at being "on rails".
I knew she was going to die but I'm more interested in how it happened. Ammon Jerro is super cool. I mean he screams angst and brooding but he's a warlock so it's not his fault. XD
Also, I now see it's Ammon Jerro with the Gith Sword fighting the Shadowking in the trailer. Which means this is the bastard that is somewhat responsible for the death of Piro's mother (Technically The King of Shadows broke the sword), is responsible the death of her village, and the death of Shandra. If Piro could she'd kill this guy right then and there. She's super impulsive.
(Un)Fortunately the cleric stopped Piro from doing so because he has the final piece of the purification ritual. I plan to play the game tons tomorrow since I'm out of class for Thanksgiving (Though I still have work).
So Bevil is alive and well and has joined me at Crossroad Keep! n_n Good to see he's alive. Piro's father and Tarmas also seem to be alive but unsure where they are. I guess I already know Tarmas survives because he's in Storms of Zehir >_>
Edit: Casavir trying to explain his crush on Piro is the cutest thing. I like him more now! XD
Edit the second: Also, the spider friend I saved back in Ember is knitting me a cloak! Awwwwww!
@Vallmyr, Inspired by this thread, I've started a new NWN2 run of my own.
I'm playing a druid stormlord, and it's the first time I've ever tried a stormlord build. It looks very underwhelming on paper. The cost of the stormlord levels is that my animal companion won't advance, and I lose two of my favorite skills, Spellcraft and Heal, as class skills, for all 10 of the stormlord levels. At least I can still advance them at character level by spending two skill points for each advance, and so, I'm not limited to half my level as a cap. That's something I didn't know about prestige classing from druid to stormlord. The stormlord gets a measly 2 skill points base per level instead of the druid's 4, but I've compensated by having 14 intelligence for +2 to skill points per level. I love skills and skill points, so I never go less than 14 intelligence no matter what build I'm playing.
I just reached level 2 as a stormlord (I'm druid 6/stormlord 2), and I'm starting to love this character, because I just found out by trying it that the imbued weapon feat for my spear can be cast unlimited times per day. I had thought from reading the descriptions that that was a once per day for 20 rounds ability, which had turned me off to the prestige class in the past. But no, as it turns out, I can cast my electrical imbued weapon ability at the start of every combat. And, it stacks with the Flame Weapon spell. So, I can use any spear with +1d8 electric, +1d8 fire, and +1 to hit, and the to hit bonus will rise with more stormlord levels. That's kind of awesome.
I'm thinking druid X/stormlord10/fighter X for the long term build.
I've just cleared out the Neverwinter warehouse for Captain Brelaina, and I'm about to attack the merchant's house where Moira has taken over the house as her lair, and taken the merchant owner as a hostage. I was honestly kind of bored up to this point, but now I'm starting to get excited about my run.
I've got a *long* way to go in Act 1 though, and then the other acts. This game is very big. I hope I can keep my interest up long enough to take this character into MotB. We'll see. Posting here may help.
I'll keep doing what you're doing, and giving short updates summarizing where I am in the game.
Oh yes, and GoG Galaxy gives a game timer now. It says I've spent 13 hours and 23 minutes to progress to this point in Act I. (Keeping in mind, this is not a speed run, and I love to shop, talk to the NPCs, and to spend time studying the character screens. The timer only says how long I've had the game running, not how long I've spent actually accomplishing anything. )
I finished the dwarven scouts map and got the Ironfist gloves for Khelgar, then finished the Bonegnasher map. I let Khelgar go temporarily while Casavir forces me to take him for a (mercifully short) time.
I'm keeping Grobnar, mostly because I've never used him for any length of time before. I'm finding his commentary on game events to be very funny and entertaining, and I'm finding that he is surprisingly useful in combat. His AI summons dire wolves and uses curse songs without my having to tell him to, and that's pretty much what I would do as a bard, or order him to do if I had to micromanage him. I can activate his defensive inspiration that I want, and I can have him buff himself with Ghostly Image and Mirror Images while I am casting my own extensive buff sequence on myself. I'm planning to use him as my craftsman, and hoping I can find scrolls for the spells he will need. I may build Sand as a backup craftsman as well, in case I *can't* find the scrolls for Grobnar to craft what I want.
I'm keeping Neeshka for her trap disarm and open locks. That's especially important since NWN2 causes you to break magic items in chests if you bash them. I have her set to stay in stealth at all times, and I've built her to dual wield. She's getting pretty good at dps using her dual wielding and sneak attacks, although she will always be very squishy if she draws too much aggro.
I think it's going to be me, Neeshka, Khelgar, and Grobnar/Sand for this run, where I have a choice. It will be very hard to choose between Grobnar and Sand. I may prefer to keep Grobnar just to see his dialogues that I've never seen, and switch him out for Sand during the phase when I'm required to have Sand, and whenever I need to fight dragons.
Know that I will probably switch out Grobnar/Sand for Zhjaeve during the times I am forced to have her. Know that I really, really hate forced party members in this game. Know that I have to pick a slot to switch out for forced party members during their forced phases of the game, so I have to prioritize. Know that I really can't imagine running without Khelgar and Neeshka for most of the game. Know that I am having a hard time switching out a slot of a party member I want to use for one that I don't. But know that you have to just grin and bear it if you want to play this game.
One thing I noticed is I can now have 5 members total in my party which is super cool! I'm assuming it's because I no longer have Shandra
The ironfists need me to get a belt and now I've told both the dragon and the giants I'm going to kill the other one. Plan?
Kill them all.
The dragon has a nice voice and it's a shame she must die but that treasure is enticing. The giants are just douchers.
My current party is Piro, Kelghar, Neeshka, Casavir, and Zhjaeve. I plan to trade Casavir and Zhjaeve out for Bishop and Elanee when I go to the Druid's circle. Also my father is alive and at my keep! He's kind of. . . distant but I feel bad for him. He's obviously sacrificed a lot and keeps all his emotions bottled up
Edit: Also, glad to see you playing it as well! The game certainly has its problems but it captures the D&D setting and feel really well while having an adequate translation of the 3.5 rules.
I played a Stormlord cleric of Talos is SoZ, but found I was to busy casting spells to do much spear-stabbing. There is a feat that gives you back three animal companion levels, but I can't remember what it is called.
Today's play session timer on GoG Galaxy: 22hrs 15 minutes
We completed the Eyegouger Clan map. This was a really, really long endeavor, since I stopped at one point and ran all the way back to Old Owl Well just to unencumber ourselves by selling our loot. I am not willing to let all that potential gold evaporate just for convenience's sake, since I know I will want as much gold as possible to build up my stronghold when the time comes. Thank the gods for the Bull Strength spell.
We returned to Neverwinter to report to Captain Brelaina. I have left Casavir permanently in Uncle Duncan's inn, and welcomed back Khelgar into the party with great relief. We used part of the fortune's worth of loot found in the Eyegouger caves to buy Khelgar a Lesser Rift Hammer, as well as to use his passive level gained to give him Warhammer Focus as a bonus feat. Khelgar said that the Ironfist Gloves were meant to go with a legendary hammer. I expect to find that hammer.
Meanwhile, Khelgar seemed quite disgusted with the monks in the Neverwinter Temple of Tyr. They gave him a lot of what he considers to be nonsense, trying to teach him how to be a robed fighter using wisdom instead of strength with armor and arms. I want him to stay the strong Ironfist dwarven fighter/defender he is now, as I think it will be better for our party in the long term, as well as his own relationship with his Ironfist clan, who strongly disapprove of his monk obsession.
So, I am carefully avoiding the subject of monks and monkdom with him. I could just bluntly tell him that I think he's stronger as a fighter and should give up his obsession with monks, but I'm pretty sure that would piss him off big time. I think I'll just passively let him keep his current disgusted attitude with the monks of Tyr. If he ever brings the whole monk thing up again, I'll reconsider, as I think he is passing the monks' tests of his worthiness without realizing it, as he allows me to teach him and mentor his growth.
After returning from the Eyegouger map, we followed Captain Brelaina's orders to go to a house in the district to confront rumored enemies there, discovered and destroyed the strange humanoids based there, and fought a golem, who retreated through a portal. Those humanoids looked just like the alien hunters who've been after me all along, calling me "Kalach-Cha". I had a dream-vision of the same aliens talking to someone named "Zeeaire" about the silver shards. There must be a connection here.
I've also had dream-visions of people named "Black Garius" and "Torio". I saw Lorne from back in West Harbor in these visions as well, apparently now serving "Black Garius" and the shadow priests.
On Captain Brelaina's orders, we stopped a Luskan ship at the docks captained by a mage with intention to infiltrate and harm Neverwinter. Before we killed him, he gave us a title for his boss - "Master of the Fifth Tower". If I can trust my dream-visions, along with the information I am getting from our many enemies before we kill them, then there is a vast puzzle going on surrounding these silver shards, and my foster father, and maybe me myself, with many many pieces. I can't even begin to make all the connections at this point.
Captain Brelaina now wants us to finally go to Blacklake on her authority and investigate a second murder there. We will need to be careful not to aggravate the tension between the Neverwinter Watch (civilian police) and the Neverwinter Nine (the military). What Captain Brelaina doesn't know, or at least refuses to listen to me try to tell her, is that I have a personal need to get into Blacklake, on the advice of the "hedge wizard" Sand, grudgingly accepted by Uncle Duncan, that I need to speak to a wizard there by the name of Aldanon, in order to find out more about the silver shards I carry, which apparently have something to do with the death of my mother, and which my foster father Daeghun refuses to tell me about.
Also, I have moved my difficulty slider from "Core Rules" to "Very Difficult", just because. Core Rules is plenty hard on lower levels of the game, but on higher levels, it gets ridiculously easy. "Very Difficult" will at least give enemies more physical damage if they ever manage to actually hit in melee, which is increasingly rarely. This game is mostly story-based, and combat-easy even with maxed difficulty slider, unless you add the Tony K mod, and even then, a good build is going to steamroll the combat. It's just difficult enough to be stimulating, but NWN2 (or NWN1 for that matter), is never going to be a challenging combat game for an experienced RPGer.
Stormlord <…> It looks very underwhelming on paper.
That's a weird thing to say. +3 uncapped AB, free damage boosters, knockdown immunity and full spellcasting progression are everything but underwhelming on paper. It's not that good with a druid, but even so it's easily one of the strongest prestige classes in the game.
Just an aside, does anyone know if sneak attack applies to arcane archer "hail of arrows"?
It doesn't. They aren't even regular attacks per se.
I guess the thing with Stormlord is it is a full spellcasting class but it's special abilities a more useful for a fighter type. As I said, too busy casting spells to use a spear. I guess you could go with monkey grip and a stormlord ranger who duel wields spears; or pick up some monk and focus on shiruken.
Like Arcane Archer and Monk, it is devalued by the profusion of magical weapons in all official campaigns.
Then, if you are me, you feel dirty unless you rolepay "of Talos".
The reason Stormlord looked underwhelming to me at first is that I thought the imbued weapon ability was once a day, when it's actually unlimited casts, and I wasn't sure if the AB enhancement would stack with magical weapon enhancement, which it does. So, yeah, now I know it's a great prestige class that I'm really enjoying.
I took a Monkey Grip feat so I can use a shield with my spear. (I like to be well-defended). I prefer to fight with my lightning imbued spear most of the time, but if I get mobbed, I can cast lightning storm. It's a lot of fun to play, and it really is a "Stormlord" class with the druid's great party-friendly lightning spell selection.
Also, even with a sub-optimal build, the OC is very easy in combat, so I think min-maxing a character is overkill any way. I'm always more about roleplaying and having fun with my character.
It's great to have a game that lets you use spear and shield, which is a logical and historically realistic combination. I wish the other D&D games had that feat.
>Stormlord is a full spellcasting class but it's special abilities a more useful for a fighter type Which is pretty much why it's so strong. Clerics, being melee machines of death and destruction in the first place, can reach ridiculous AB thanks to SL without having to sacrifice their CL and spellbook too much. An optimised Cleric/Fighter/SL reaches 60 AB without even breaking a sweat, and easily goes beyond 70 with epic gear, whereas most fighters can never ever dream of reaching that. In fact, an optimised Cleric/Fighter/SL will be just about 4 -ish AB short of a pure AB focused fighter without even using buffs. Then you add in persistent buffs (+5 AB) and Divine Power and suddenly you can IPA at the same AB that a fighter uses to deliver regular attacks.
It sounds like you are thinking from a PvP or solo (which isn't actually possible in the OC) point of view. Being able to reach a ridiculous AB is fairly pointless on a character whose role in the party isn't to hit things, and wasted when an AB of 30 is enough to automatically hit any enemy you will face.
Not really (although naturally it does apply to PvP as well), it's just a numeric way of showing why it is so strong. As for the role, a cleric can hit things better than any other class in the game, so it's only natural to assign that particular role to a cleric, at least if the environment allows it. OC's resting system is quite liberal, so it's not out of the question, although it's still tedious, I admit. Even so, as soon as you get your hands on persistent spells, you basically only need one short-term buff (Divine Power) to outclass a fighter in every way.
So Kelghar has the hammer of the iron fists! It's super strong but his fists are stronger XD. The active is nice, though.
Elanee and I had to kill the Druids of the mere My influence was high enough where she saw to reason and sided with me. The circle is no more but at least I have Elanee's support.
We also killed the Luskan that tried to murder me. I convinced her bodyguard to join me in the battle but he died during it.
My keep has some of the best soldiers in the realms but my numbers are low. Any advice on managing the keep? I sent soldiers to recruit more soldiers but my farmers left because things were dangerous >_<
In tonight's fairly short play session, I went to Blacklake, talked to Aldanon, cleared the Archives, rescued the reluctant Shandra, helped everybody fight off an attack on Duncan's Inn by the dreaded Githyanki, and got Bishop forced into my party. (I think he's sexy, and I'd love him, except for that chaotic evil thing. He's such a jerk, he gradually moves himself from a 10 to a 1 in my eyes every time he opens his mouth.)
So anyway, while trying to visit merchants in Neverwinter to get Bishop better equipped from the lousy junk he comes with, I got this delightful dialogue between Grobnar and Deekin that I've never seen before. @Anduin and @Vallmyr , I think you might enjoy this if you've not seen it.
I hope it's not too small to read. It might be necessary to save the image and zoom in on it in a viewer, or ctrl>+ in the browser window might work. I wish this encounter had been voiced. Deekin and Grobnar are two of the most delightful NPC bards in roleplaying games, ever.
EDIT: I can read it in the post on my bigscreen TV. "You know you've been playing too many RPGs if you can read this dialogue in Deekin's and Grobnar's voices." And kudos to you if you can, kindred RPGer.
That was magnificent! When I do my Val'myr run I'll bring Grobnar since I'll definitely want a Bard in the party since I won't have Piro. Deekin's writing is 10/10 and while I didn't like Grobnar at first I do definitely like him now!
An all time favorite moment of mine from the BG series is when you meet Larry and Daryl and Daryl. It's the little touches that really make games like this so very memorable.
So, in tonight's play session, I found githyanki killing people in Ember, convinced Bishop to give his dagger to an unusual boy there who said he needed it to save his life as there was more inevitable destruction and killing coming, and defeated Zeeaire. The githyanki are no longer of any concern to us - turns out we both had the same goal of defeating the Shadow King, but the githyanki don't play well with others, and oh, btw, "Kalach-Cha" means "Shard-Bearer who must be killed and the shard recovered at all costs".
Upon returning to Neverwinter, I found out that the boy's predicted disaster of mass murder occurred almost as soon as we left Ember, and I am now accused of doing it by the Luskan emissaries. Great. It just wouldn't be a Bioware game without Charname being falsely accused of murder - happens in this game, KOTOR, and BG.
I have to squire myself out to one Lord Grayson in order to save myself by gaining access to "high justice". So be it. Before I jump through his hoops, though, I go to Blacklake and save some very stupid teenage girls from some very stupid teenage boys who have gone all Goth and summoned the minions of the Shadow King because they thought it would be cool. Yeah, except for one girl who was pretty insistent on getting herself killed if I hadn't kept healing her on the way out, they're all dead now. And I only saved that stupid girl because her nice, innocent sister outside had asked me to. I should probably be ashamed to admit it, but it feels quite cathartic, as a teacher who has taught unruly teenagers, to see unruly, rebellious teenagers in the D&D world get exactly what they deserve.
So, anyway, I jumped through Sir Grayson's hoops and got myself the squire title, after killing yet more assassins with Shandra's help.
Now we have to go to Port Llast and try to find proof of my innocence, and that's where I've left off.
I am having Grobnar and Elanee help me craft a special spear that I am calling "Chauntea's Thorn". Grobnar has it up to +4 enchantment. As soon as I can find the needed gems, Elanee will help me give it ice damage, and Grobnar will help me give it acid damage via scroll. After that, it will be a +4 spear which, with my Flame Weapon and Shock Weapon abilities, will do all of fire, electric, ice, and acid damage.
I also started on a shortsword for Grobnar that I am calling "Stinger". At the moment, he only has it as a plain +2 shortsword, but with Elanee's help, he will soon have it a +4 shortsword with at least two elemental damage types.
Time played to this point according to GoG Galaxy: 31 hours, 21 minutes
TPKs or reloads: 0
I used a character rebuild mod to relevel Grobnar and Sand with more useful feats and spells instead of the bafflingly horrible feats and spells they come with in vanilla.
Thank you! Also small update, just got the "Wenderkazoo" during Grobnar's sidequest. It requires Race: Gnome and Class: Bard.
Now I understand this item is probably supposed to be Grobnar specific but hey, Piro believes in the Wendersnaven too! I mean, she actually does. I as a player don't, however XD
Edit: Whenever I end up doing a Val'myr run I can totally see him being an evil doucher by now. He's waaayyy more of a snarky cynic than Piro. In fact he and Bishop would get along fine. He's nice and helps people but is snarky to an extreme XD
I can't help thinking "what where they thinking!!!" With the default NPC builds. It's like they where put together at random by someone who had never played the game. The suggested PC builds aren't so bad.
It's something that you see in pretty much every Obsidian game though. They had to add the option to level up the POE NPCs from level 1 because the Obsidian builds where so awful.
Glad to see I'm not the only one to appreciate this game. It suffered badly from an early release simply not performing well (fps) and some dodgy camera angles, but they kept hacking away with patches and it quickly became a delight. I am actually quite fond of the original campaign, although as noted, the old owl well segment does feel quite tedious - it is the only part of the game that I feel is really just 'more of the same that you have already seen, without advancing the plot', and the fight are not sufficiently interesting to distract.
The stand-out for me, is that this is the only game I have played with a D&D-ish leveling system (each level is significant) that played well, all the way from 1-20, in a single game. BG, as we all know, does this too, and more, but over the length of the whole trilogy. Mages were not supposed to get lvl 9 spells before ToB!
Down sides are the combat is a little too easy, especially with the "everyone gets better after the fight" mechanic, so fatalities are not a real concern. Also, it appears to expect you to enter almost every battle fully rested and buffed, and then makes it too easy to do so, no real management of your limited resources, they are essentially unlimited. Last criticism is the crafting system. It works well, and is fun to build the weapon of choice for your PC, but it takes something away from the game when the most awesome thing you will wield is some recent construction from Sand, rather than a mythic artifact imbued with a history and story of its own. I miss finding interesting treasure as the result of a major quest or side-quest.
And although I don't play mods, I can't resist the cheat codes to unlock NPC races - nothing says "silly stats" like a half-celestial dragon disciple (not that stats mean a whole lot by then, but just look at those numbers!!! )
Comments
Also, I originally planned to do a Bard 20/Blackguard 10 build (or at least pretty close to that) but couldn't bring myself to make Piro evil, only slightly less good. XD
I know adding 4 levels of a full BAB class can help a Bard achieve another attack. Maybe I'll do a run eventually with Val as a Drow Bard x/Blackguard 4. The only issue is I find it very hard to play evil chars in games @_@
As for powergaming I optimize builds but usually my builds are very RP-themed and terrible. Like I'd find a way to take all 10 levels of Pale Master and not have it suck. *Cough* Kaedrin will be my savior *cough*.
This game is definitely a contender so far for my "favorite game of all time."
Also, I now see it's Ammon Jerro with the Gith Sword fighting the Shadowking in the trailer. Which means this is the bastard that is somewhat responsible for the death of Piro's mother (Technically The King of Shadows broke the sword), is responsible the death of her village, and the death of Shandra. If Piro could she'd kill this guy right then and there. She's super impulsive.
(Un)Fortunately the cleric stopped Piro from doing so because he has the final piece of the purification ritual. I plan to play the game tons tomorrow since I'm out of class for Thanksgiving (Though I still have work).
Good to see he's alive. Piro's father and Tarmas also seem to be alive but unsure where they are. I guess I already know Tarmas survives because he's in Storms of Zehir >_>
Edit: Casavir trying to explain his crush on Piro is the cutest thing. I like him more now! XD
Edit the second: Also, the spider friend I saved back in Ember is knitting me a cloak! Awwwwww!
I'm playing a druid stormlord, and it's the first time I've ever tried a stormlord build. It looks very underwhelming on paper. The cost of the stormlord levels is that my animal companion won't advance, and I lose two of my favorite skills, Spellcraft and Heal, as class skills, for all 10 of the stormlord levels. At least I can still advance them at character level by spending two skill points for each advance, and so, I'm not limited to half my level as a cap. That's something I didn't know about prestige classing from druid to stormlord. The stormlord gets a measly 2 skill points base per level instead of the druid's 4, but I've compensated by having 14 intelligence for +2 to skill points per level. I love skills and skill points, so I never go less than 14 intelligence no matter what build I'm playing.
I just reached level 2 as a stormlord (I'm druid 6/stormlord 2), and I'm starting to love this character, because I just found out by trying it that the imbued weapon feat for my spear can be cast unlimited times per day. I had thought from reading the descriptions that that was a once per day for 20 rounds ability, which had turned me off to the prestige class in the past. But no, as it turns out, I can cast my electrical imbued weapon ability at the start of every combat. And, it stacks with the Flame Weapon spell. So, I can use any spear with +1d8 electric, +1d8 fire, and +1 to hit, and the to hit bonus will rise with more stormlord levels. That's kind of awesome.
I'm thinking druid X/stormlord10/fighter X for the long term build.
I've just cleared out the Neverwinter warehouse for Captain Brelaina, and I'm about to attack the merchant's house where Moira has taken over the house as her lair, and taken the merchant owner as a hostage. I was honestly kind of bored up to this point, but now I'm starting to get excited about my run.
I've got a *long* way to go in Act 1 though, and then the other acts. This game is very big. I hope I can keep my interest up long enough to take this character into MotB. We'll see. Posting here may help.
I'll keep doing what you're doing, and giving short updates summarizing where I am in the game.
Oh yes, and GoG Galaxy gives a game timer now. It says I've spent 13 hours and 23 minutes to progress to this point in Act I. (Keeping in mind, this is not a speed run, and I love to shop, talk to the NPCs, and to spend time studying the character screens. The timer only says how long I've had the game running, not how long I've spent actually accomplishing anything. )
I'm keeping Grobnar, mostly because I've never used him for any length of time before. I'm finding his commentary on game events to be very funny and entertaining, and I'm finding that he is surprisingly useful in combat. His AI summons dire wolves and uses curse songs without my having to tell him to, and that's pretty much what I would do as a bard, or order him to do if I had to micromanage him. I can activate his defensive inspiration that I want, and I can have him buff himself with Ghostly Image and Mirror Images while I am casting my own extensive buff sequence on myself. I'm planning to use him as my craftsman, and hoping I can find scrolls for the spells he will need. I may build Sand as a backup craftsman as well, in case I *can't* find the scrolls for Grobnar to craft what I want.
I'm keeping Neeshka for her trap disarm and open locks. That's especially important since NWN2 causes you to break magic items in chests if you bash them. I have her set to stay in stealth at all times, and I've built her to dual wield. She's getting pretty good at dps using her dual wielding and sneak attacks, although she will always be very squishy if she draws too much aggro.
I think it's going to be me, Neeshka, Khelgar, and Grobnar/Sand for this run, where I have a choice. It will be very hard to choose between Grobnar and Sand. I may prefer to keep Grobnar just to see his dialogues that I've never seen, and switch him out for Sand during the phase when I'm required to have Sand, and whenever I need to fight dragons.
Know that I will probably switch out Grobnar/Sand for Zhjaeve during the times I am forced to have her. Know that I really, really hate forced party members in this game. Know that I have to pick a slot to switch out for forced party members during their forced phases of the game, so I have to prioritize. Know that I really can't imagine running without Khelgar and Neeshka for most of the game. Know that I am having a hard time switching out a slot of a party member I want to use for one that I don't. But know that you have to just grin and bear it if you want to play this game.
Eyegouger clan map is next.
The ironfists need me to get a belt and now I've told both the dragon and the giants I'm going to kill the other one. Plan?
Kill them all.
The dragon has a nice voice and it's a shame she must die but that treasure is enticing. The giants are just douchers.
My current party is Piro, Kelghar, Neeshka, Casavir, and Zhjaeve. I plan to trade Casavir and Zhjaeve out for Bishop and Elanee when I go to the Druid's circle. Also my father is alive and at my keep! He's kind of. . . distant but I feel bad for him. He's obviously sacrificed a lot and keeps all his emotions bottled up
Edit: Also, glad to see you playing it as well! The game certainly has its problems but it captures the D&D setting and feel really well while having an adequate translation of the 3.5 rules.
Edit: Natural Bond.
We completed the Eyegouger Clan map. This was a really, really long endeavor, since I stopped at one point and ran all the way back to Old Owl Well just to unencumber ourselves by selling our loot. I am not willing to let all that potential gold evaporate just for convenience's sake, since I know I will want as much gold as possible to build up my stronghold when the time comes. Thank the gods for the Bull Strength spell.
We returned to Neverwinter to report to Captain Brelaina. I have left Casavir permanently in Uncle Duncan's inn, and welcomed back Khelgar into the party with great relief. We used part of the fortune's worth of loot found in the Eyegouger caves to buy Khelgar a Lesser Rift Hammer, as well as to use his passive level gained to give him Warhammer Focus as a bonus feat. Khelgar said that the Ironfist Gloves were meant to go with a legendary hammer. I expect to find that hammer.
Meanwhile, Khelgar seemed quite disgusted with the monks in the Neverwinter Temple of Tyr. They gave him a lot of what he considers to be nonsense, trying to teach him how to be a robed fighter using wisdom instead of strength with armor and arms. I want him to stay the strong Ironfist dwarven fighter/defender he is now, as I think it will be better for our party in the long term, as well as his own relationship with his Ironfist clan, who strongly disapprove of his monk obsession.
So, I am carefully avoiding the subject of monks and monkdom with him. I could just bluntly tell him that I think he's stronger as a fighter and should give up his obsession with monks, but I'm pretty sure that would piss him off big time. I think I'll just passively let him keep his current disgusted attitude with the monks of Tyr. If he ever brings the whole monk thing up again, I'll reconsider, as I think he is passing the monks' tests of his worthiness without realizing it, as he allows me to teach him and mentor his growth.
After returning from the Eyegouger map, we followed Captain Brelaina's orders to go to a house in the district to confront rumored enemies there, discovered and destroyed the strange humanoids based there, and fought a golem, who retreated through a portal. Those humanoids looked just like the alien hunters who've been after me all along, calling me "Kalach-Cha". I had a dream-vision of the same aliens talking to someone named "Zeeaire" about the silver shards. There must be a connection here.
I've also had dream-visions of people named "Black Garius" and "Torio". I saw Lorne from back in West Harbor in these visions as well, apparently now serving "Black Garius" and the shadow priests.
On Captain Brelaina's orders, we stopped a Luskan ship at the docks captained by a mage with intention to infiltrate and harm Neverwinter. Before we killed him, he gave us a title for his boss - "Master of the Fifth Tower". If I can trust my dream-visions, along with the information I am getting from our many enemies before we kill them, then there is a vast puzzle going on surrounding these silver shards, and my foster father, and maybe me myself, with many many pieces. I can't even begin to make all the connections at this point.
Captain Brelaina now wants us to finally go to Blacklake on her authority and investigate a second murder there. We will need to be careful not to aggravate the tension between the Neverwinter Watch (civilian police) and the Neverwinter Nine (the military). What Captain Brelaina doesn't know, or at least refuses to listen to me try to tell her, is that I have a personal need to get into Blacklake, on the advice of the "hedge wizard" Sand, grudgingly accepted by Uncle Duncan, that I need to speak to a wizard there by the name of Aldanon, in order to find out more about the silver shards I carry, which apparently have something to do with the death of my mother, and which my foster father Daeghun refuses to tell me about.
Also, I have moved my difficulty slider from "Core Rules" to "Very Difficult", just because. Core Rules is plenty hard on lower levels of the game, but on higher levels, it gets ridiculously easy. "Very Difficult" will at least give enemies more physical damage if they ever manage to actually hit in melee, which is increasingly rarely. This game is mostly story-based, and combat-easy even with maxed difficulty slider, unless you add the Tony K mod, and even then, a good build is going to steamroll the combat. It's just difficult enough to be stimulating, but NWN2 (or NWN1 for that matter), is never going to be a challenging combat game for an experienced RPGer.
Next up: To Blacklake
Current Party: Khelgar, Neeshka, Grobnar
TPKs: 0
Like Arcane Archer and Monk, it is devalued by the profusion of magical weapons in all official campaigns.
Then, if you are me, you feel dirty unless you rolepay "of Talos".
I took a Monkey Grip feat so I can use a shield with my spear. (I like to be well-defended). I prefer to fight with my lightning imbued spear most of the time, but if I get mobbed, I can cast lightning storm. It's a lot of fun to play, and it really is a "Stormlord" class with the druid's great party-friendly lightning spell selection.
Also, even with a sub-optimal build, the OC is very easy in combat, so I think min-maxing a character is overkill any way. I'm always more about roleplaying and having fun with my character.
It's great to have a game that lets you use spear and shield, which is a logical and historically realistic combination. I wish the other D&D games had that feat.
Which is pretty much why it's so strong. Clerics, being melee machines of death and destruction in the first place, can reach ridiculous AB thanks to SL without having to sacrifice their CL and spellbook too much. An optimised Cleric/Fighter/SL reaches 60 AB without even breaking a sweat, and easily goes beyond 70 with epic gear, whereas most fighters can never ever dream of reaching that. In fact, an optimised Cleric/Fighter/SL will be just about 4 -ish AB short of a pure AB focused fighter without even using buffs. Then you add in persistent buffs (+5 AB) and Divine Power and suddenly you can IPA at the same AB that a fighter uses to deliver regular attacks.
>Dual wield spears
OH GOD PLEASE NO.
The active is nice, though.
Elanee and I had to kill the Druids of the mere
My influence was high enough where she saw to reason and sided with me. The circle is no more but at least I have Elanee's support.
We also killed the Luskan that tried to murder me. I convinced her bodyguard to join me in the battle but he died during it.
My keep has some of the best soldiers in the realms but my numbers are low. Any advice on managing the keep? I sent soldiers to recruit more soldiers but my farmers left because things were dangerous >_<
So anyway, while trying to visit merchants in Neverwinter to get Bishop better equipped from the lousy junk he comes with, I got this delightful dialogue between Grobnar and Deekin that I've never seen before. @Anduin and @Vallmyr , I think you might enjoy this if you've not seen it.
I hope it's not too small to read. It might be necessary to save the image and zoom in on it in a viewer, or ctrl>+ in the browser window might work. I wish this encounter had been voiced. Deekin and Grobnar are two of the most delightful NPC bards in roleplaying games, ever.
EDIT: I can read it in the post on my bigscreen TV.
"You know you've been playing too many RPGs if you can read this dialogue in Deekin's and Grobnar's voices." And kudos to you if you can, kindred RPGer.
Upon returning to Neverwinter, I found out that the boy's predicted disaster of mass murder occurred almost as soon as we left Ember, and I am now accused of doing it by the Luskan emissaries. Great. It just wouldn't be a Bioware game without Charname being falsely accused of murder - happens in this game, KOTOR, and BG.
I have to squire myself out to one Lord Grayson in order to save myself by gaining access to "high justice". So be it. Before I jump through his hoops, though, I go to Blacklake and save some very stupid teenage girls from some very stupid teenage boys who have gone all Goth and summoned the minions of the Shadow King because they thought it would be cool. Yeah, except for one girl who was pretty insistent on getting herself killed if I hadn't kept healing her on the way out, they're all dead now. And I only saved that stupid girl because her nice, innocent sister outside had asked me to. I should probably be ashamed to admit it, but it feels quite cathartic, as a teacher who has taught unruly teenagers, to see unruly, rebellious teenagers in the D&D world get exactly what they deserve.
So, anyway, I jumped through Sir Grayson's hoops and got myself the squire title, after killing yet more assassins with Shandra's help.
Now we have to go to Port Llast and try to find proof of my innocence, and that's where I've left off.
I am having Grobnar and Elanee help me craft a special spear that I am calling "Chauntea's Thorn". Grobnar has it up to +4 enchantment. As soon as I can find the needed gems, Elanee will help me give it ice damage, and Grobnar will help me give it acid damage via scroll. After that, it will be a +4 spear which, with my Flame Weapon and Shock Weapon abilities, will do all of fire, electric, ice, and acid damage.
I also started on a shortsword for Grobnar that I am calling "Stinger". At the moment, he only has it as a plain +2 shortsword, but with Elanee's help, he will soon have it a +4 shortsword with at least two elemental damage types.
Time played to this point according to GoG Galaxy: 31 hours, 21 minutes
TPKs or reloads: 0
I used a character rebuild mod to relevel Grobnar and Sand with more useful feats and spells instead of the bafflingly horrible feats and spells they come with in vanilla.
Such potential lost.
Also, what mod do you speak of? I still plan to do this first run un-modded but in future runs that could be useful.
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/hakpak/original-hakpak/clangeddins-rebuild
You can't use it to undo first level, but you can rebuild every level from second level up at will, for either your main or an NPC.
Also small update, just got the "Wenderkazoo" during Grobnar's sidequest. It requires Race: Gnome and Class: Bard.
Now I understand this item is probably supposed to be Grobnar specific but hey, Piro believes in the Wendersnaven too! I mean, she actually does. I as a player don't, however XD
Edit: Whenever I end up doing a Val'myr run I can totally see him being an evil doucher by now. He's waaayyy more of a snarky cynic than Piro. In fact he and Bishop would get along fine. He's nice and helps people but is snarky to an extreme XD
It's something that you see in pretty much every Obsidian game though. They had to add the option to level up the POE NPCs from level 1 because the Obsidian builds where so awful.
The stand-out for me, is that this is the only game I have played with a D&D-ish leveling system (each level is significant) that played well, all the way from 1-20, in a single game. BG, as we all know, does this too, and more, but over the length of the whole trilogy. Mages were not supposed to get lvl 9 spells before ToB!
Down sides are the combat is a little too easy, especially with the "everyone gets better after the fight" mechanic, so fatalities are not a real concern. Also, it appears to expect you to enter almost every battle fully rested and buffed, and then makes it too easy to do so, no real management of your limited resources, they are essentially unlimited. Last criticism is the crafting system. It works well, and is fun to build the weapon of choice for your PC, but it takes something away from the game when the most awesome thing you will wield is some recent construction from Sand, rather than a mythic artifact imbued with a history and story of its own. I miss finding interesting treasure as the result of a major quest or side-quest.
And although I don't play mods, I can't resist the cheat codes to unlock NPC races - nothing says "silly stats" like a half-celestial dragon disciple (not that stats mean a whole lot by then, but just look at those numbers!!!