First time (sort of)

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I've previously played around a bit with both the OC and HotU, but that was on a friend's PC with his characters. I have finally decided to install the game myself (I took the game from him on a "long term loan") and play through all 3 campaigns, and probably some of the modules.

If I understand things correctly, the OC is meant to be played with one character, and the two expansions are meant to be both played with a second character. One the assumption that this is the case, I would like to try a specific class for each character: a Sorcerer in the OC, and a Monk in the expansions. I'd like to hear from people who've tried either (or both) of these builds. Was it easy/hard, fun, which henchmen you took along, and so on.

 

Original campaign - start at level 1, plus you can have one henchman (from a selection of about 6)

Shadows of Undrentide - start at level 1, plus you can have one henchman (from a selection of 2 or 3)

Hordes of the Underdark - start at about level 15 (this can be a new or an imported character), plus you can have one or two henchmen (from a selection of about 6, depending on the stage of the game)

What type of character to use:
1) The OC is tailor made for warrior types, in my opinion, due to the number of routine battles
2) But, the spellcasting henchmen sometimes make poor spellcasting decisions, so if you want a spellcaster, you'd better make it your PC.

 

And by warrior types, Finessed types are not really to be understood. Damage reduction on all those creatures was painful even for a paladin with spells designed to circumvent it. Of course, Holy Sword (spell level 4) pwns everything, but still.

 

I eventually settled for a Sorcerer, because I like spellcasters. I'm right at the beginning of chapter 1, and already thinking of starting over with another class. I guess HB was right, it is quite tedious with a low-level spellcaster. On top of that the only henchman I've found is Tomi, and he's not a warrior. As soon as I enter a combat with more than 4 enemies (which is almost every other combat) my PC drops dead within seconds. Even using the Panther familiar isn't helping much.

 

Ziad, you need to find those other henchmen and see if they suit you better. It takes a while to get used to this game compared to BG etc, as it seems to require quite different tactics (for example, there aren't so many of those cheating instant invulnerability enemies that there are in BGII)

 

I agree with Harbourboy. NWN has a totally different style compared to BG2. Especially if played solitaire.

I tried the OC when the game was released in 2002. Compared to BG2 I found it quite boring. It was a struggle to play it until the end.
Though I purchased SoU and HotU afterwards I never tried to play the modules until this year.
Then I played them both one after the other and I liked them quite a lot, especially HotU. The feeling is much more like BG2 with 2 Henchmen. Especially if you use the Improved Henchman mod you can find here on SP.
After that I was trying to replay the OC again. I played through chapter one. But now I can't find any motivation in me to continue. I will rather start a new BG2 game.

If you play a sorcerer you should use Daelan, a Barbarian, as your Henchman. Or maybe Linu, a cleric. If you are of evil alignment you could use Grimgnaw, a monk.
If you don't know where to find them I'd recommend the 'NWN Reference Guide' by Duncan Clay. It's not a real walkthrough but a compilation of all necessery data of the game. It helped me a lot to keep track of the possibilities without spoiling the experience. You can find it here at SP as well.

 

Thanks guys. I hadn't realised I could pick up the other henchmen this early in the game, this might make things more manageable. I've settled to using my Sorcerer in melee combat, which isn't a very pleasant solution but it seems to be working alright. HB's right about it being different, not just from BG but from all the party-based CRPGs I'm used to, and it does take some getting used to. I'm hoping that once I start getting offensive area effect spells like Fireball I'll be able to use him as a spellcaster rather than a warrior. The reference guide will be quite helpful too I think.

 

A couple of quick questions.

I've made it to the undead warrens under the graveyard, in Beggar's Nest. I was under the impression that all of the undead should drop dead once I destroy Gulnan's altar. However when I did this only a few did, leaving me stuck in the middle of the room and surrounded with undead (including that really nasty animated armor). What's going on here?

About trap kits: I can't do much with them, being a Sorcerer, and merchants keep saying they won't take them because they're stolen goods. Is there anything I can do with them or anywhere I can sell them, or should I just drop them?

 

You can sell trap kits to certain merchants who dont mind fencing for you. Try the dwarf in the Moonstone Mask.

 

Is there any save game editor available for this game? I couldn't find one on SP.

 

An update, in case anyone cares.

I got to the end of chapter 2 (or the Neverending Chapter). I'm still going out of principle, although I have to admit that the game got much, much easier as soon as I got Stoneskin, which combined with Energy Buffer makes me and my minions practically invincible. Melee combat is still a pain, as watching creatures swinging weapons at each other for up to a minute gets boring very quickly.

My current "party" has Tomi and the Panther. Both are absolutely fantastic in terms of damage because I tend to rush to the front with my Sorcerer (now protected with Greater Stoneskin), so both end up doing Sneak Attacks for 30+ damage (Bull's Strength does wonders here). Most of my spellcasting is going into buffing myself and my minions actually, because I've found few offensive spells to be consistently useful, and targeting them so they damage my enemies and not my friends is quite frustarting. My weapon of choice is a magic Morningstar, because I like the two types of damage it does (which means I don't have to micromanage and switch weapons). I've yet to find a decent robe, which is annoying since my Sorcerer's AC is probably his weakest point (Mage Armor and Shield do help a lot).

I cheated a bit so as to get a permanent movement increase, simply because I couldn't stand the slow movement (even with the increase I still find it slow, but it's much better to be sure).

I'm in the Host Tower now, and hopefully on my way to finishing chapter 2. I won't comment too much on the story, as until now it's been very, very standard, and the twists are telegraphed. Overall I'm quite disappointed with the game, even though I had tried to set my expectations to moderate levels. Hopefully the expansions will be more fun. In any case I will probably try some of the top-ranked modules afterwards, since I keep reading very good things about them.

 

This is one of the main problems with the Original Campaign (amongst other things) and the primary reason why I could never play it without at least one dedicated fighter type.

 

I made some extensive changes to my playing strategy shortly after my last post. I decided at one point that I simply had had enough of melee combat, sent away my familiar and Tomi, and decided to play the game purely using magic. So I now have some spells that are active all the time, namely Greater Stoneskin, Eagle's Splendor (to increase save DC of my spells), Cat's Grace, Improved Invisibility (for the 50% concealment), and the occasional casting of Energy Buffer. Between Cone of Cold, Chain Lightning and Delayed Blast Fireball, my solo Sorcerer can destroy anything in his path. To make him even deadlier I decided to add in a single level of Paladin, which now enables me to use any martial weapon against the occasional spell-immune monsters (he's wielding a wicked two-handed axe), and sent my saving throws to ridiculously high values thanks to the Charisma bonus. I'm forced to rest far more often than I would like, but I'm finally having fun with the game, not to mention I can slaughter dragons without too much difficulty (run, cast spell, run some more...). I'm in chapter 3, looking for the 3rd Word of Power in Moonwood now.

 

Ziad,

I few comments on what you can do in next campaigns:

Most important - don't postpone playing SoU in case you are finding OC boring. I myself made the same mistake only to realize that SoU and HotU are much more fun to play with.

OC is more suited for melee PC but I found SoU much easier with my Wizard. (I played as a monk earlier). So I would say, stick to a sorcerer PC and take a thief as hench(wo)man. Although, some suggest taking deekin is much more fun. I couldn't take him because I wanted somebody to disarm traps.

And finally, I commend you at your patience of taking a spellcaster to the end of third chapter in OC. Chapter 4 is short. So by now you must have completed it. If not, best of luck for your finale with Morag.

 

Thanks for the comments Shivi. I did finish the OC, as well as SoU and HotU, with the same Sorcerer character. I was level 16 when I finished the OC, and got to level 20 towards the end of SoU. I found SoU to be much more fun than the OC, mainly because it was shorter and because my Sorcerer was overpowered for the campaign. By comparison HotU was a breeze to go through. I had a bit of difficulty in some bits of the Underdark, but Cania was so easy I played through it in one sitting (took me about 3-4 hours). I didn't take any henchmen in either expansion, and just destroyed trapped/locked chests. Most floor traps aren't that deadly, and when they did start getting nasty I'd just send a summon over them. I had an insane amount of money towards the end of the game, which allowed me to upgrade the Holy Avenger into a killing machine. At one point I found a pair of bracers that grant Ambidextrity and 2-weapon fighting, and decided to dual-wield Holy Avenger +10 and Enserric +10. It made short work of magic-immune monsters!

All in all I can't say I really liked the game. Both expansions were somewhat better, but still lacked something. I tend to replay CRPGs I like, but I don't think I'll be replaying this one.

 

You started SoU with a level 16 character No wonder you decided not to play it again. Try starting at level 1. Similarly, HotU starting level should be no more than 15.

 

I *might* play through the expansions again, but I don't think I have the patience to go through the game again. I'm quite happy the expansions were so easy with a high level character actually, because otherwise I may not have played through to the end.