NWN Forum Update

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(Originally posted by Z-Layrex)

David Gaider, Designer

Will there be black Dragons?: No. Regardless, pitch black doesn't look good on any model if you want to see anything of its surface features (that's why the 2nd edition picture of the fire giant has its skin light grey... or were you all just pretending that that was really black?)... as I'm sure people who instantly re-color the fire giant model will discover. At any rate, I'm sure you'll be pleased when you finally see the dragon models. The thing I love the most about them, personally, is the attention to detail paid to the difference in each dragon's head.

Leveling up: Running around on a PW or a MMORPG generally calls for a different kind of design... levels going up to 50 or 100 so there can be constant 'levelling up' and little rewards that go along with each time you do (although, strangely, never really becoming much of a power in the grand scheme of things). Neither D&D nor NWN are designed with this scheme in mind, nor will they ever be. Even if Epic Level rules are eventually implemented (God help us), it still won't accomodate that type of game. We're talking episodic campaigns, here. Sure, your character can be built-up over the course of a few adventures (depending on the amount of fighting and XP being thrown about, you can do it in 5 min, can't you?), but it's supposed to be about the adventure and role-playing you do while playing that character. The only reason to bring out that level 20 veteran is for a specific story. This is NOT a game where you run around in a world and kill things on a constant basis and expect that the rules should accomodate you keeping that same character forever while making him more powerful all the time. And I'm not saying that there aren't people out there who are going to attempt a role-playing-oriented PW, either. But a player in one of those who's only goal is to level up will do so quickly enough, as well... and be in the same boat.

NPCs summoning NPCs?: When casting a summoning spell, NPC's have the same restrictions that PC's do (they only get one).
Alternatively, you could script a summoning and not use the actual spell. I could, let's say, go into the Succubus script and say that when she's half-damaged she adds into her action queue an action that makes her 'cast a spell'... which has a 10% chance of spawning in a Balor.
If I script creatures to be spawned in, however, they aren't considered 'summoned' and there is no limit. I could have an NPC spawn in 10 Balors, if I wished... but I would specifically have to instruct it to do so.
As for whether the Succubus has a spell that does the 10% Balor summon or not, I'm not actually sure.

Domain Spells?: Since a lot of the wizard and cleric spells haven't been implemented, that means that many of the domain spells in the various lists are not available.
We've balanced the lists (so they all have the same number of spells in their list), but gotten rid of the extra domain spell (which was only useable for a spell from the domain list... there's no point having an extra slot at 'some' levels, which changes for each domain)... your domain spells are available for memorization along with your regular spells.

Is a PC's Faction membership on a server saved?: The faction information is stored in the module, referencing that PC. It stays in place even after a save/restore and even if the PC goes through a portal to another server and comes back.