Neverwinter Nights Reloaded

[Qilue]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Here mister, I'll mind your bag of holding while you're in that dungeon.

I'm currently blasting my way through Neverwinter Wood. I don't like the idea of having to

Spoiler:

kill yourself

to get further, but I suppose I'll have to when I get to that point. There's still some caves to explore. Is it just me, or am I getting a strong reminder of the fourth (?) chapter of Baldur's Gate here? I only hope that there aren't some mines I have to flood later on.

Had an interview this morning and I pwned it. Unfortunately, that only means that I have to do another later this week, but hopefully it will be on Thursday when I've got the whole day off work anyway. And I was planning to play NWN quite a bit that day. But then I do have to start revising for December's exams too.

Since the other thread has reached max size, I've quoted the last post.

That part isn't really that bad Duke and there are no mines to be flooded.

[DrSpike]

Wow, NWN threads have real longevity.

[Jamski]

Hehe, this is about what, the 5th NWN thread that's gone over 500 or something... nearly as bad as all those BG threads we had.

Erm, back to dwarves not selling to elves - I think I'll keep it this way for a while. Sure it might not be "fair", but the D&D rules and NWN are not "fair", are they?

Some races, classes, weapons and feats ~are~ better in a pure powergame point of view.

From a flavour PoV, I don't fancy elves running about with hammers, axes and platearmour. Likewise I don't want to see every dwarf with rapiers and longbows. Its "flavour". One of the aims of Folderol is to do things a bit different, right?

Yeah, if your elf really ~must~ buy axes from Dwar Proper, he/she'll need to get someone else to do it for them. Don't you ~always~ get the one with the highest Appraise skill to do that for you anyway?

-Jam

[duke o' york]

Apparently I didn't pwn the interview, but they gave the most lame excuse I've ever heard for not getting me back for another interview.

I knew that I should have put an extra point into Persuade when I levelled up back in September.

Right, back to pointless witterings about the OC then.
I've got absolutely shedloads of cash - about 30k - and am dying to spend some of it on good stuff. Given that I'm in the NW Wood at the moment, how much longer am I looking to have to wait for another magic forge? The one Jamski told me to wait for? I like the fact that money doesn't count to your weight limit because otherwise I'd be a bit buggered. I also put my Divine Shield to good use and managed to survive deliberately opening one of those "special" trapped chests. I am now the proud owner of a magical scabbard, but have no idea how to use it. Can someone help me with this please, and also mention any of the other "special" chests I might want to nose in. I left one in the wizard's basement in Port Llast, and just found myself unable to open another in the Creator Ruins. Even Dispel Magic on the chest doesn't help me.

[Harovan]

1) if you think, 30k is "absolutely shedloads", you'll be surprised what you'll have in chapter 3. In fact, 30k is barely enough for one piece of decent equipment.

2) No magic forge in chapter 2 indeed, you have to wait for chapter 3

3) Best store is in the Green Griffon Inn, you could buy some good equipment there, but you don't really need that, considering the lots of stuff you find for free

4) I played a rogue through and opened every single chest in the whole game. Some contain decent loot, but others (even some locked and DC-40 trapped ones) contain the usual 20 gold and a torch. Chests are the nightmare of the OC, they greatly screwed this one. It gets somewhat better in SoU and HoTU, though.

5) You generally should pay attention to "boss chests" (these rectagular/trapezoid shaped), especially if locked and/or trapped. But see 4)...

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph

4) I played a rogue through and opened every single chest in the whole game. Some contain decent loot, but others (even some locked and DC-40 trapped ones) contain the usual 20 gold and a torch. Chests are the nightmare of the OC, they greatly screwed this one. It gets somewhat better in SoU and HoTU, though.

Agreed, this is the worst part of the game by far.

[Jamski]

I am now the proud owner of a magical scabbard, but have no idea how to use it.

Right-click on it in your inventory, and select the function you want. Viola! Or drag it to a quickslot, then r-click on it there and select the function you want quickslotted

And 30k is indeed peanuts. I finished the first Chapter with about 40k, and that was after spending 20k on a Greater Swordsman's Belt. :cheese:

Some chests you may need to use +10 lockpicks on. Or learn to read scrolls of Knock

-Jam

[duke o' york]

I can read the scrolls! I just can't buy them anywhere.

Cello!

Given that I'm not brieing the game for all it is worth, then I'm quite happy with 30k for the time being and as long as the promise of expensive toys is available then then I'll keep an eye on my purse strings. I gave up buying potions in Chapter One, simply because I find so many in chests and even in that most magical of little blue lights - "remains". It's amazing how many Cure Critical Wounds potions that even rubbishy monsters like trolls cart around with them, yet they never think to use them when I'm slicing them to shreds.

I may well get a little more gaming in tomorrow morning, but I've also got yet another interview after work today so I'll have to find that helmet I've got that gives me +1 charisma when I wear it. I used to wear it all the time, but expect to find a better one soon, and now I only wear it for boss fights so that I can take full advantage of Divine Might. The rest of the time I wear a circlet or something that gives me Int of 10 - makes the game a lot less annoying.
I know exactly the trapezoidal chests you mean, and these are the only ones that ever cause me any trouble. I know that there should be something good in there because Tomi announces that the trap is too advanced for him to disarm. At that point, the game is saved and I start the lunatic process of trying to find out what's inside. This usually involves just opening the chest to see what kind of damage the trap will cause, and how much. (btw, will the protection from elements spell that I've carted around for ages protect me from cold or electric traps, that seem to make up the majority of those on these chests) Then if the damage is not ridiculously over my HP, I'll experiment by using Divine Shield and opening the chest, barkskin, stoneskin, whatever spells I might have. Eventually I'll just give up, remember where it is for future reference, and then come back. I was hoping that since I'd found a magic scabbard then each chest might contain pieces of armour that you can collect, much like Balduran's armour in BG, but from the sounds of things it doesn't.
I hope that Folderol has something like this - not necessarily gold pantaloons (maybe golf pantaloons, or at least a pair of natty slacks), but something like this.
If it doesn't already, then I can have a good think about what items could be spread around (got to have at least one weird item in the noob gardens, and others in weird places) and then combined to make something really bloody good!

[Harovan]

Originally posted by duke o' york
I used to wear it all the time, but expect to find a better one soon, and now I only wear it for boss fights so that I can take full advantage of Divine Might. The rest of the time I wear a circlet or something that gives me Int of 10 - makes the game a lot less annoying.

You need a Thayvian Circlet to boost your INT to 10? What the heck are you playing? A Half-Orc paladin?

I know exactly the trapezoidal chests you mean, and these are the only ones that ever cause me any trouble. I know that there should be something good in there because Tomi announces that the trap is too advanced for him to disarm. At that point, the game is saved and I start the lunatic process of trying to find out what's inside. This usually involves just opening the chest to see what kind of damage the trap will cause, and how much.

Do you have a bow or crossbow? If so, shoot at the chests with arrows/bolts with elemental damage. You should find plenty of them all around in chapter 2 and later. The arrow itself seldom does damage, since the chests have a damage reduction on. However the fire/cold/acid/electrical damage does the trick. You'll need about 4-5 arrows to open the chest, but you'll find so many, that it won't be a problem to replace them.

By the way, enjoy chapter 2, and explore every part of it (even though you don't need to). It's the best chapter of the OC hands down. Charwood especially rocks!

[duke o' york]

I'm currently poking around in the woods, and it is fun. A bit scary.
I don't have arrows of any kind, and have flogged all that I've found, because I can't give them to my henchman either (). And I'm using the build that Jamski made on page 2 of the last thread, involving some Paladin, some RDD and a single level of sorceror, that is really useful for reading spell scrolls.
Yeah, being dumb starts off funny, but then sucks pretty quickly. I think that circlet is the only piece of armour I've actually bought since the training levels.

[Harovan]

Get a cheap shortbow then for this only purpose (anything will do), and your chest problems are pretty much history.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph

By the way, enjoy chapter 2, and explore every part of it (even though you don't need to). It's the best chapter of the OC hands down. Charwood especially rocks!

I thought chapter 2 dragged a bit. Chapter 3 and the endgame were more fun.

[Jamski]

As you have that 1 Sorc level, you should be able to use wands of fireball etc to blast chests. I always seem to end up with a heap of wands.

-Jam

[Harovan]

A wand of fireball works of course, but it is a bit too valuable for a single chest, especially since a well rounded fighting character (as opposed to a pure spell caster) should have a ranged weapon anyway and elemental arrows come plenty for free and don't sell for much. A fireball will be efficient for a cluster of chests, though, because it blows more than one at a time. But if you have Tomi with you, you'll need it against the boss chests only. Most of the other chests he can disarm/unlock. He'll get in trouble in the endgame, because he will be always 1 level below you, with level 14 tops, and his skill points aren't very well spent, and the endgame has many traps and locks of DC-40 and above.

Chapter 3 isn't quite as rich as chapter 2, but perhaps a bit more concentrated, as you get to the good stuff quicker (with less maps to solve) than in chapter 2. Chapter 2 is more for the role-player (as yours truly is). Chapter 4 (endgame) is a joke and not worth to be called a chapter. It should be called Chapter 3 Finale, similar to Helms Hold and Luskan are to 1 and 2.

[DaShi]

There's an unlimited wand of frost in the first chapter.