Lots of stupid questions from a new player

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I just recently got NWN, and am still in chapter 1. Since I'm unexperienced with this game, I have some questions that will probably seem stupid to you, but here goes:

1. I chose to be an elf because I like elves... ...probably a stupid reason, but still....

It seemed to me that it would be safest to play as a fighter the first time through - but will my elven fighter be worse off than a human or half-orc one? Is an elf not suited for being a fighter? (I've so far had to have the barbar Daelan as his henchman because he doesn't fight very well yet.)

2. Would it be wisest to keep him a pure fighter, or to dual class him or something? (He is currently at level 6, and his keen elven senses are quite nifty regrading traps and things, and Daelan opens most locks for him, so I don't think I would need a rogue, or would I?) What would be best choice, if I should give him a second class?

3. He's not lawful, so he can't be a paladin, but if I dual classed him into a spellcaster (druid or sorcerer), would he then stop leveling up as a fighter? Would he be unable to use his fighter armour and weapons?

4. I won a tavern in the Gauntlet. What do I do with it? An income of 50 coins a week isn't worth the bother - but will there be some quests or things related to it, like with the strongholds in BGII? Do different classes get different places, or is the tavern the only one?

5. My stash - do I carry it around, or put it in a container somewhere? Will it dissappear after a while if placed on the ground? My tavern doesn't seem to have containers, neither does the hall of justice (where it would be practical to keep it, since I will teleport in there from time to time)

6. Why does he seem to hit more often or do more damage with a great axe than with a great sword, when he has the same feats in both of them? And why is his attack so slow without potions of Speed? He just jumps around, dodging, and almost never attacks...

7. I never understood the exact way to calculate damage for a weapon, but what is the difference between a 1d12 weapon and a 2d6 weapon? What does 1d and 2d stand for? Would both these weapons do the same damage? (It's the great axe and the great sword, and they are both two-handed.)

8. Henchman - can I ever have more than one? Are there times when I MUST have a spellcaster with me to beat someone? If I dismiss my present henchman, can I have him back later, and will he have leveled up to match my new levels? Will I meet henchmen outside the city?

9. There are certain chests (small flat ones) that neither my elf nor Daelan have been able to open with weapons or thieves tools (and I've given him open lock skill)... I get messages of success not possible and weapon ineffective no matter what I try. Are these chests not meant to be opened... or do they contain something extra valuable that only a thief can get to?

10. Misc:
Will shopkeepers restock on bags of holding?
Will I be unable to return to Neverwinter city in later chapters, or is it always my base?
Can I buy any of the ingredients needed to make special weapons, or do I have to wait till I accidentally happen to find diamonds or adamantite or whatever?
Will I find quivers of holding for all my arrows and bolts (filling up a lot of space), or special bags that can stack my potions?
Can I use a scroll to cast a spell when I'm not a spellcaster?

I think I must cease my asking for now... but I may return later with more stupid questions...

[ August 12, 2002, 13:24: Message edited by: Blue ]

 

1. Yes elves are weaker fighters than Humans or half-orcs because they suffer a constitution penalty, but with their Dexterity bonus they are harder to hit.

2. If it is your first time through stay as a fighter.

3. If you did duel-class to spellcaster you could still wear armour but with a spell-casting penalty depending on strength of armour.

4. Not really much point of it exept for the little bit of money.

5. Store things in the temple or use a bag of holding, and sell items whenever possible.

6. You might have more abilities with a great axe.

7. I am not clear on the D&D rules, not worth bothering with.

8. You can only ever have oe henchmen at a time. And yes you can get them back later.

9. The flat chests require a key.

10. shopkeepers don't restock.
No you can't ever go back to Neverwinter (i don't think, i'm only on chp3.)
Wait till you find them, you can't buy them, maybe a few can be bought.
You don't really need any arrow holding items as they are in groups of 99.
You can use a scroll if you're not a spellcaster but only if you're a rogue.

[ August 12, 2002, 13:51: Message edited by: Z-Layrex ]

 

1. This is your preference. Elves get a bonus to dex and no penalty to strength(Good thing). Of course, there are feats to work around the strength and use the dexterity bonus. One could take Weapon Finesse and play with a rapier, but I see you plan to use a Great Sword/Axe. Playing an elven fighter has more strategy to work with, while playing a human fighter is more straightfoward.

2 & 3. It depends. If you're doing fine with your fighter, and decide that it would be more effective for you to let Daelan do the melee while you cast spells, then multiclass. Note: Multiclassing will give you experience penalties, unless you multiclass to your favored class(Elf is wizard). IIRC, Unless you multi to a wizard, you will recieve a 10% XP penalty. If you choose to multi to a wizard, you will not lose your weapon privileges. This is not AD&D. Armor gives you arcane spell failure, so it does not disable your ability to cast spells (ie: Leather Armor gives a 10% chance of failing to cast a spell. It increases when you wear heavier armor).

4. I didn't do that thing, so I can't help you there.

5. You can carry around your stash, there are no stashes to keep your items in. Behind the Recall Portel, there will be a Divine Pool. If you drop anything important, you can go to the Divine Pool and it will be selling the items for 1gp each so you won't have to go all over the place to find the item you dropped. Items do not disappear.

6. When the game rolls the dice(d), it is completely random. It is just coincidence that you notice that you hit more often with a great axe than with a greatsword. There is no greater chance.

7. "d" means dice. The number before it is how many times you roll the dice. The number after indicates the sided dice. 1d12 will let you do 1-12 damage(Roll a 12-sided dice once). 2d6 will deal 2-12 damage(Roll a 6-sided dice two times). Again, the damage is completely random, so don't kick your computer when you deal 4 damage and not 18. Your strength bonus is added to the damage, as well as melee attacks rolls.

8. You cannot have more than one(Although there is a hack in the NWN section of SP). If you drop him, pay for another, then realize that the original fit your needs better, you must drop the other. I'm not totally sure if you have to pay him again. Henchman will always be one level behind you and will stop leveling up at level 14(He will be 14 when you are 15, but when you level to 16, he will remain 14). You must talk to them and tell them to level up. And no, you will not find any new henchman outside the city. The ones that are open to you at the moment are the ones you will have for the rest of the game.

9. If you can't open a chest, tough. Treasure is totally random. My henchman(Tomi) couldn't disable the trap, so I had to die a couple of times before I succeeded in taking only half damage for it. I opened the chest and got a staff. Deciding which henchman is better should not be argued among other people's opinion.

10. If the item is already there when you first look at his wares, there will be unlimited amount of that item.
Neverwinter is your base in Chapter 1 only. It changes in the other 3 chapters(Nobody correct me. I'm trying to not spoil)
You must find the ingredients and other misc items.
There are not holding bags specifically for quivers, for bolts, for any type of item in the game. There are magic bags and boxes, that deduct a percentage of weight. You can stack up to 10 of the same potions in two slots.
Thieves can use scrolls from their skill "Use Magic Device". Rangers can cast spells from SOME scrolls, like Restoration and Cure Disease etc.

I hope I helped you for most of your questions.

 

Tsk. Just HAD to outdo me didn't you goddess?...

 

Goodluck, hope you won't find any problems lile we did.
1. An elf is better with a bown thanks to his DEX bonus, so you might want to use him as backup, and the barbarian as your front fighter, but that depends on your's stats.
2. When you get unindentified itmes, or expensives one, you might want to go back to the academy and sell them there, the difference can be three times more, you can than open a multiplayer session, with you new character, (save it after the sell
3. Most items for magical weapons can be found in the beggar district, you can try to hire Tomy, or but you can only use one henchman at a time, which mean that in chp 1 you can change them, and than go keep the other one, he will wait for you... It's usally an axcellent idea to have a fighter with some class in another class, but check the stats requirement to see if you have enough to use it, there is no reason to change to sorcere if your CHA is bellow 11 for instance...

 

1. Play whatever race you want to. With proper stats (and that elven dex bonus), you should do fine at any class.

2. Everyone else here recommended you to stay single-class, and I'm going to do the same. However, should you want to dual-class, go with rogue.

3. Everytime you level up, you get the choice of which class levels up, so no, he would not stop levelling in any class until you want him to (or hit the cap).

4. Tavern is the only place, there are no strongholds. It is pretty much pointless, just a fun little quest.

5. (spoiler) Anything that you think you want to use throughout the game, do not stash in a container anywhere, keep it in inventory. You should find plenty of magical bags.

6&7. 1d12 means that the game rolls 1 12-sided dice to determine damage. 2d6 means that the game rolls 2 6-sided (standard) die. This could explain why you hit harder with the one weapon than the other. The 1d12 is more likely to come up a higher number than the 2d6.

8. I put a post up telling how to have more than one henchman. Click here to get the files you need, courtesy of Pausanias and Mister Mister. There is no legal way to do it though. Yes and yes to both of your following questions.

9. It depends on the situation. Plot items will always be accessible though. As to treasure, usually it ends up being something really crappy.

10. You can never return to the city once you leave it. You can buy some of the components, yes, but as a general rule, no. No, no, and thieves can use scrolls, clerics can use scrolls of cleric spells, as can paladins and rangers. Bards can use scrolls, but other than that, you have to be a spellcaster.

 

Rastor,

2d6 = 2-12 dmg
1d12 = 1-12 dmg

Which is better?

 

I haven't yet decided whether I'll go for the great axe or the greatsword for melee, but I'll not use both I think. I also use a longsword when a shield is needed, and I have a flail in my backpack for fighting skeletons.

So far, the strategy I've used has been to let Daelan fight as my tank, preferably blocking a door if possible, while I'm in the back shooting bolts or arrows, and then switch to melee weapon when they reach me. After all, the elf is (in my eyes) mainly an archer, that's what he was born to be.... The crossbow seems to do more damage, but he looks so much better with the bow, (more elven,) so I use both....

Is it a bad choice to spread out so much in weapons?

About dualling him to rogue - well, he is already partly a rogue. With his innate elven skills he can already detect most traps, and I've given him Open Lock skill to use with thieves tools, and Disarm Trap skill for when there's no way around a trap. Otherwise, I just let him stand at safe distance and shoot at trapped doors and chests until they break. Will he get even better in this, if I assign a level of Rogue to him?

Which skills are most useful for a fighter, and what feats? I seem to have gotten many points in Concentration, what does that do? Is it necessary to have many points in that? And what about Discipline? I seem to have many points in that too, but the description says Discipline is only for casting spells? Why would I need it then? And what exactly does class skills really mean? (I don't understand it the way it's explained.)

If I'm only in Neverwinter during the first chapter, and the henchmen are located there, I must obviously decide on one, and stick with him for the rest of the game? Then it's even more important for me to know whether I must bring a spellcaster or not. Do I need spells to be able to take down certain enemies later?

What I mean is, that for instance in BG2, there were powerful foes like lichs, demi-lichs and mages that were protected by magic against normal and magical weapons, so you had to cast Dispel Magic spells at them before you were able to hurt them at all, and you also needed Deflect Magic spells on yourself to survive their attacks. Will there be foes such as these in NWN that can only be taken with the help of magic? Will I be unable to finish certain quests without being able to cast necessary spells?

By the way, Z-Layrex, what keys do flat chests require, and where to get them??

[ August 12, 2002, 21:30: Message edited by: Blue ]

 

You do not need keys for flat chests. It is just a chest, nothing more than a chest. One of the many sets of chests you come across.

It isn't a really bad choice to spread out weapons. Elves are proficient with bows and not crossbows, so you should stick with bows, since you won't have any penalties to hit. You do not need a shield(You can use Parry), and you do not need flails to hit undead. Reminder: THIS IS NOT like BG2 or AD&D.

Well, if you've already gotten skills in Open Lock and Disarm Trap, do not bother taking a level in rogue, unless you really want a sneak attack and scrolls.

Class skills mean it takes 1 skill point to raise a skill rank, while skills that are not class skills need 2 skill points to raise a skill rank.

Skills: Discipline is to resist the effects of comabt feats( ie: Disarm, Knockdown etc.). Parry allows you to fight defensively.

Feats: There are a lot. Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting let you fight with two weapons. Armor Proficiencies let you wear armor. Called Shot lets you disarm an enemy's leg(movement rate slowed by 20%) or arm(-2 penalty on attack rolls). Cleave is when you kill an enemy in melee combat you will get a fee attack against any other enemy who is within melee range(It's automatic). Deflect Arrows let you deflet any missile attack per round, unless you are caught flat-footed. Disarm means you can disarm an enemy in melee combat. Dodge gives you a +1 bonus to Attack of Oppertunities. Improved Critical doubles the threat range on a certain kind of weapon you are using. Knockdown lets you knock an enemy to the ground. Mobility has a +4 dodge bonus to AC against Attacks of Opportunity. Point Blank Shot negates the -4 penalty when using missile weapons in melee, or it gives +1 to attack/damage when you are attacking further than 15 feet away from your enemy. Power Attack makes -5 to attack roll, adding +5 to damage. Rapid Shot allows an extra attack in a round with ranged weapons, though all other attacks are at a -2 penalty. Sap dazes your enemy for 12 seconds on a successful hit(attack made at a -4 penalty). Weapon Finesse, when using light weapons, allows you to use if Dex is higher). Weapon Focus gives you a +1 attack bonus to a certain type of weapon. Weapon proficiencies let you use exotic or martial weapons without penalties.

You do not need a spellcaster in your party. I don't have one, and I do just fine.

[ August 13, 2002, 00:03: Message edited by: S Goddess ]

 

Skeletons are?! Heh, then there's something wrong with my game if I do 20 damage with my sword all the time...

Parry is good regardless of there is only an occasional counterattack. Shield, yes, is a good way to raise AC, although I, IMHO, wouldn't advise on using a wide range of weapons. But, if using a lot of weapons suit you, then do it.

BTA, when you have 25 in Parry, it's hard to say it's useless.

 

Because there are no weapon proficiencies as there were in AD&D (there's simple, martial, and exotic), I see no reason why you can't use several weapons. The only downside is having to take weapon focus for all of them if you want all to be most effective, but fighters get so many feats that you could probably do that if you wanted to.