Reply With QuoteDon't know. I have a half-orc barbarian. I just beat the crap out of things.
And load areas. Geez, the game has to load a lot. It's like the reverse of Dungeon Siege.
Anyone have any idea how to play a Ranger? I have a 4th level, nearly 5th, that I'm having a hard time playing in a way that is distinctive from a fighter. It isn't that I don't think there are options, I have some cool skills like animal empathy and hide and listen, but I haven't figured how to do some and utilize others. Anyone playing a non fighter, non mage type class that utilizes these other skills in a meaningful way want to share their secrets?
NWN seems to be the opposite of DS in that it gives a layer of things to do, rather than click and move forward. Of course, you can play NWN that way, and I have, but I think it will be more rewarding if I can figure out all this other stuff and how to use it.
Don't know. I have a half-orc barbarian. I just beat the crap out of things.
And load areas. Geez, the game has to load a lot. It's like the reverse of Dungeon Siege.
Well, I've been toying around with a high dexterity ranger/bard specializing in ranged weapons and countermagic. He's a variation on my usual paranoid ex-Flaming Fist archer whose entire unit was nearly wiped out by a couple of rogue wizards, etc.
The 3E ranger rules allow for a slightly different set of class specialties than the fighter.
- Alan
Do you have a henchman, Rob? I saw a tip on one of the screens that tells you the difficulty levels are based on you having a henchman. I played a Rogue up to Level 4 before I needed to get a henchman. I was using up too many traps and potions to get through battles.
I have a lvl. 5 Half-Elf True Neutral Ranger. I made it to lvl 3 or 4 before I picked up a rogue henchman. He sure helps out with those damned locked safes. No more bashing away or "Weapon Ineffective".
BTW, does anyone know how to order a rogue to disarm a trap. I do not think I could from the radial menu. We will find a dreaded red spot and then he will be distracted by something else (locked chest, enemy, et.al.) and then not go back to it.
I think I am actually level 6 and can summon a Brown Bear once a day in addition to my level 1 spells. I usually start off with a couple of bow shots when in open areas and then switch to dual weapons. With two magic items to increase dex. and AC by one each, it works pretty well.
Another thing, I have not been involuntarily changed from True Neutral ...yet. I have had some good points awarded for various things, such as returning items I cannot use to the brothers of dead guys. How does that make me a sweetheart when I just happen back upon them?
I am trying to stay in alignment, but it seems that if I do I wil not get XP from good or evil sidequests. I will, however be selling off or simply dropping a lot of useless loot so as not to do any good deeds. I lost a couple of good points by being rude to a couple of folks. I imagine tonight I will simply be on the moody side of Neutral and tell a couple of little kids in the Blacklake district to," Fuck off!!" :wink:
I'm a half-orc ranger and I teamed up with the half orc barbarian. We presently kick serious ass against most of the boss guys I've found. I love the henchmen's double bladed axe. I think a ranger will shine when he is with a party in the outdoors, with the longbow/crossbow, hide/sneak, animal empathy style thing going on. At least I hope so.
Well, I'm not so sure you can play a ranger and have an experience that's all together different from a fighter, at least in NWN. I believe it's considered a fighter subset, isn't it? But, like you said, playing the ranger gives you some different options from a pure fighter - like the thief skills, creature companion and some simple spells.
I figured since the ranger gets duel-wield feats for free, I'd make use of them, even though duel wielding seems sort of crappy when you first start, because of the armor limitation. The trick is to follow all the little rules that reduce the dual wield penalties. So, wear light armor, and use a small weapon in the oft-hand. There's quite a few nice, unique small weapons throughout the game that impart some nasty effects, so that's no biggie. As far as being limited to light armor when duel-wielding, I've managed to find some decent armor, nothing spectacular. However considering the wealth of other AC enhancing equipment, you'll be more than alright in that regard(positive AC still seems weird to me, and I have no idea what a "good" AC is in 3rd ed). I actually wish I hadn't taken the Heavy Armor feat when I started, as that's something I could have spent elsewhere.
By the time my ranger got the improved dual-wield feat, he was kicking ass really well. When I added cleave to his feats, he was mowing down orcs and goblins nearly as quickly as possible - I'd get annoyed when an orc took more than 2 hits to drop. At level 16, I really only need Tomi around for traps and lockpicking. I don't really need him to help in combat anymore, though he does serve to give opponents another target.
-Matthew
Think of your AC as the number on a d20 that your opponent is rolling against. A normal person with no armor and no dexterity bonus has an AC of 10.positive AC still seems weird to me, and I have no idea what a "good" AC is in 3rd ed
-Tom
Agreed -- your ranger will probably seem way cooler once you get out of the city of Neverwinter.
Personally, I love my rogue. Have Daelan Red Tiger as my henchman, he can take out a lot of the bad guys, and usually serves as their primary target, letting me get in sneak attacks with my crossbow or short sword. Gotta love those sneak attacks.
Is Daelan that good of a tank? I switched between him and Grimgnaw (evil dwarven monk), and Grimgnaw clearly was the superior tank, for me at least. Fury Of Blows and Stunning Fist had him chewing through anything that came upon us.
To help clarify Tom's answer somewhat, AC starts at 10 just like in 2nd edition, but AC goes up instead of down. So AC 0 in 2nd 3d translates to AC20 in 3rd ed. Other than that it's basically the same.Originally Posted by Matthew Beaver
Personally, I haven't tried Grimgnaw yet, but I'm very impressed with Daelan. He takes a lot of the guys out in one smack, and can take lots of damage.
Some of the bosses give us trouble, but other than that, he's great.
Plus, I wouldn't want an evil henchman. I may be a rogue, but I'm basically good.
I've only ever tried Daelan so far. I really like watching two half orcs save Neverwinter. And they call us scum...
I'm playing a Elven Monk. He's about Lvl 7 right now and I'm about to hand over the 4th reagent over to Aribeth, which I imagine will end the chapter. For now I'm just looking around for quests I may have missed (gotta get every last drop of XP, y'know?).
I have a tendancy to often play Monks, I did in Morrowind, and BG2 as well. There's something about being able to kick serious ass with my bare hands and feet. Plus, since I sell practically every piece of magic armor and weapons, I'm loaded. I'm carrying around 15,000gp. That'll buy some nice robes, I can tell you.
I've been cycling through the various Henchmen (henchpersons?), depending on what I need in any given situation. But I'm partial to Sharwyn (the Bard), she has the most interesting backstory, I think.
What a game! It's difficult trying to decide what to do sometimes, play NWN, play AOW2 or post here... You know what? I gotta go.
"You are as smart as Boo sometimes"
-Minsc
I'm playing a Paladin, which is what I usually do the first time through. Greatsword focus, Cleave, and lots of Persuade have done me well. I can handle all of the healing necessary, too. I have Tomi as my henchman, so as not to soil my hands on those thief-like tasks. 'Course, that doesn't stop me from looting like a Mongol, turning Evil's riches to the use of Good. I also had my sword worked on by the smith, so it adds fire damage now. I'm digging 3rd Edition combat rules, and especially like how Cleave combines with Attack of Opportunity to let you have some movie-like runs through bad guys. I think my record is six in six blows as they ran at me.
When I got to that point you are at, I had a number of objects that I figured were quest objects of some sort. So, I went through all of the henchmen, hiring them, talking to them several times to get their quest story, giving them their quest object from my pack, getting the reward, then re-hiring Tomi. Cheesy, but thorough. :twisted:
"I'm playing a Paladin, which is what I usually do the first time through. Greatsword focus, Cleave, and lots of Persuade have done me well. I can handle all of the healing necessary, too. I have Tomi as my henchman,"
Thats the same as I have been using. I was trying that gnome sorcerer but he just gets jumped by mobs too much and was dying fast.
I have a question on how to use adamentium(or however you spell it). Is that how you add fire damage, or is it just for creating a new magic weapon?
Yes, take a magic greatsword and a lump of adamantium to the smith, and he will offer to make a particular sword. You might have to have the sword in your inventory, not equipped, but I'm not sure. It costs 500 gold to make something, but the scimitar I had him make was worth a couple thousand, so it is worth it even for sale purposes. I forget the smith's name, but it is something like Bollocks, so I call him that. It's OK, he's my friend.
There's like, one smith in Chapters 1-3 each(I couldn't find any in Chapter 4, but I was in kind of a hurry at the time).
I never found adamantite the first time I played, but it's a component in a buncha stuff. I ended up using the Astral Longblade (diamond plus magical longsword) and Foundation Flail (uh, shit, holy water and a flail? I forget) when I finished.
re: Rangers - Rangers get more interesting at higher levels, when they get multiple "favored enemies" and a little spell casting ability. The free two-weapon fighting is pretty good to start with, though. Listen happens automatically every round to help you find hidden people, and kicks in more when you're in "search mode." Hide kicks in when you enter stealth mode. I don't think either is all that useful in the base NWN campaign, but could be very useful in a competitive online game.
NPCs - I'm not sure if the monk or fighter is a better tank, but level probably enters into it. Remember to talk to your NPCs from time to time! Sometimes you have to tell them to level up (they get better equipment in their higher-level versions, of course), and they all have quests for you starting in the first chapter. If you don't do the chapter 1 quest for an NPC, you're not his buddy enough to continue it in the subsequent chapters.
I finished the official campaign tonight, with a level 10/8 human fighter/rogue. He's pretty cool. It was quite a satisfying RPG, and mainly due to the pacing I found it much more compelling to finish it than either of the BG games.
I am almost positive all that you need from the characters to continue their quests is to have their "token" in your backpack, as that is the only way to pass information on between modules.
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