Strange behaviour with the bard NPC?

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I was finally able to buy NWN and both expansions after going to a few stores... I wanted Platinum but I got Gold and HotU.

Anyway.

I installed everything and patched it up to 1.66.

I started a new game from the start and decided to use the bard henchman (Shawgrym?).

I noticed a few strange things:

- From time to time, all her stats appears to be 8 and there is nothing in her skill tab when I examine her. If I change regions or if I save/reload they are back to normal.

- Since I'm playing a fighter, she get to open the locks. But from time to time, instead of unlocking a locked chest, she start to attack it. And I'm talking about normal chests here.

Happened to anyone else?

 

Hmm, that sounds a bit odd. I didn't realise that Sharwyn even had any lock picking skills. She has never opened any locks for me.

But I never kept her very long because I was never able to get much good use out of her because she used to keep charging into battle and getting killed too often.

I've never heard of her stats going to 8, though. That doesn't sound right.

 

Yeah, Sharwyn's AI is bizarre, to say the least. She's easily the most annoying of the henchmen for getting herself killed - although that's probably got more to do with her atrocious AC and habit for lingering just a fraction too close to the front line. All henchmen AI is frustrating, expecially in the OC where you basically have no control over their actions, even down to getting them to switch from using a bow in melee combat! With a bard it's especially painful, as they generally require a degree of micromanagement to be successful, and there's just no way to do it in the OC.

The skills/stats thing is something I've observed, too, and not just with Sharwyn. I've also noticed Dorna display the same problem in SoU. And bashing chests is just the AI getting confused; generally, if a henchman can't pick a lock they're instructed to open they'll try and batter their way in. Sometimes, when asked to pick a non-existent lock they'll try to bash, too. Doesn't always happen, but it's yet another reason to keep all the commands hotkeyed, just in case they start doing something stupid.

For these reasons and more, I like to solo the OC whenever I've got a character that can hack it.

 

The business with stats for henchmen appearing to be 8 happened to me, too (and not only in the OC). Must be some bug.

As a bard, Sharwyn should have some lockpicking skills. However, if the DC of the lock is too great (so there is no chance of success) she will try to bash the chest instead. Needless to say, you probably have a better chance of doing the job than her

You can also talk to her and tell her not to help with opening locks. But then you'll have to bash open all of them.

 

The all 8's thing is a bug that's been around forever. I guess 1.66 didn't fix it.

I'd recommend you download one of the improved henchmen AI scripts from nwvault.com. There are several. One is called Tony K's Improved AI or something like that. It vastly improves the crappy AI that henchmen have and lets you work with their inventory. Sharwyn will actually sing more than once a day thanks to the player community! Horay!