Questions about D&D.

[Naron]

You mean NWN 2 .

No, I meant NWN 1. There was a place where some ice giants ran towards me, I ran towards them, they ran across me and I kept running forward, then I appeared suddenly a bit back and they appeared before me. It always happened in that one location (Frozen Wastes of Cania or something like that).

Ah, I now see what you mean. Happened to me, too. But it's something minor to me. The fluidity of the animations is what interests me and NWN2 sucks about it. But I managed to fix the camera speed by manually setting the values in the nwn2player.ini file.
But even so, the camera does not rotate as fluid as in NWN1.

full control of the party, more classes available and nicer graphics.

Yeah, this one is nice, but the insane loading is quite bad. Unless you have a machine built several years after the game was released and you have it installed on an SSD.

I have an old system: Pentium D 805, 2 GB DDR2, Nvidia GeForce 210 512 MB and I don't have SSD. Are you saying that this configuration is too weak for a game from 2006? You must have a Core i7, 16GB and the latest Nvidia card to run NWN2 smoothly?

If ever NWN1's source code will be made available, then the game will be effectively immortal.

Yes, it would be bloody cool if they released it. They have almost zero profit from the game anyway and it's not easy to compile such thing.
There is another way around. Another old and legendary game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, is having an open source remake. It's almost done, they've used a much more modern graphic system, remade all the scripting and game behaviour from scratch and now it's almost fully operational, with better graphics by default and possibility to make mods that improve the graphics far more than usual. Maybe NWN1 shall get something like that too.

Maybe this will be achieved. But releasing the source code would be even better. With the source code, the community could make NWN1 an even better game, and I'd be happy. And not only I, but other fans of NWN.

Besides Baldur's Gate, which I don't like too much.

How do you even run it? It kept crashing on my Windows 7, no matter what compatibility I set. I guess I could get something of it on Linux, it can handle old Windows games better than new Windows, but who knows.

Simple: I use Windows XP. My opinion is that to run old games, you need to have an OS as old as them. In this way, the games runs natively without compatibility issues. Also, I use Windows strictly for games. For other activities, I use Linux.

I have a question about a class that I'd like to play: monk. I like the monk that is self-sufficient, he does not need armor, shields, or even weapons.
I understand that the main attributes are Str, Dex, Con and Wis. That's a lot, but I guess it's necessary.
What advice do you have about this class, if you played it?

[Dugi]

I have an old system: Pentium D 805, 2 GB DDR2, Nvidia GeForce 210 512 MB and I don't have SSD. Are you saying that this configuration is too weak for a game from 2006?

Yes. I had an earlier Intel i5 processor, ATI Radeon 5470 512 MB video card, no SSD. It was running slowly in larger areas, although the machine was like twice as fast as yours. Skyrim, 5 years newer, was running better. I haven't tried it on my current machine (I have lost the installer files), but I guess that it should be running smoothly.

With the source code, the community could make NWN1 an even better game, and I'd be happy.

It would be nice, but things like this happen very rarely.

I use Windows XP. My opinion is that to run old games, you need to have an OS as old as them.

It was running quite well on my brother's Windows XP, but I wasn't going to downgrade my Windows 7. I am usually using Linux and having two copies of Windows alongside it would be quite useless.

What advice do you have about this class, if you played it?

Only a little bit. But I did some theorycrafting around it. He can use a pretty useful ability called Flurry of Blows, significantly more attacks for little cost. He's self-sufficient, yes, and you can focus on items that give enhancement bonuses instead of having to focus on good base item. They can get improved evasion and that one synergises well with monk's good reflex saves, making him highly resistant to elemental damage. Monks move and run really fast. But there are drawbacks.

Weapons have useful modifers, like elemental damage, vampiric regeneration or enhancement bonus. They can get some of these from gloves, but those are rare, have little variety and wearing them means that you can't use other gloves, that might give nice armour enhancement bonuses or dexterity bonuses that would be quite useful to you. You can use the Kama-type weapons to counter this, but they are rare and they have little variety.

Another problem is the high need for attributes. You need constitution (monks have low hitpoints from levels), dexterity (if you have no armour, you need some dexterity to get dodge defence to counter it), strength (damage, carrying capacity) and wisdom (armour, monk abilities). You have to gimp charisma (however, charisma is useful when you have to do the talking) or intelligence (that can be useful for skills, but faith does not need that one anyway). So your core attributes will be quite low and not in their full potential.

[Naron]

But what about the ki strike attacks? Ki strike +2, +3, etc. Are these enhancement bonuses?

[Dugi]

As far as I know, ki strike allows penetrating damage resistance as if it was a weapon with enhancement bonus. For example if your target has premonition which gives 30/5 damage resistance, you need at least 5 ki strike to penetrate through that premonition. If you can't get that much, so you'll have to bash into him harmlessly until the premonition wears off (and if it's a sorcerer, he'll cast it again and again, but as long as he relies on spells that need you to fail a saving throw, you should be okay).

If you play NWN2, you can try my build:
Class: Cleric 1/ Sorcerer 4/ Favoured Soul 5/ Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep 10
Race: Yuan-Ti Pureblood (spell resist, attributes)
Attributes: Put as much as you can into charisma, get some constitution and strength, keep intelligence and dexterity at 10, dump wisdom
Skills: Focus on social skills, use magic item and spellcraft might be handy too
Feats: get Divine Shield (you must therefore get the Cleric class when advancing to level 3, get some handy domains), get the prerequisites for Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep, later get Automatic Still Spell
Process: start as Favoured Soul (otherwise the game will refuse to advance you for some bizarre reasons), get Cleric on level 3 (to get the Divine Shield feat), then advance as Sorcerer four times until you get the ability to become Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep, get a few levels in it (getting new sorcerer spells), get a class in Favoured Soul from time to time (because advancing as Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep, Eldtritch Knight or Pale Master with Sorcerer will improve your spellcasting at Favoured Soul and Spirit Shaman too for some reasons, you just need to wait until you advance in the other class to get the spells)
Result: Absurdly high AC (over 60 with Divine Shield), about 8 spells on every level of spellcasting with both Arcane and Divine spellcasting, so many buffs that I could face any boss alone even with a melee weapon, so many offensive spells that I almost never ran out of them, later I also got Spiritual Evisceration to destroy anything
Levelling: You're quite tanky to counter the weaker spellcasting power, so the build is not too weak at any level

[Naron]

No, I do not play NWN2. As you said, my system is too weak for this game and that's why I've deleted it.
But your build looks great. Maybe I will try it, if I will have a better system for NWN2.
Now I am playing a monk in NWN1. You know why I want now a self-sufficient character? Because of an incident with a monster. In short, I played a module and I met a monster called rust monster, which at first did not seem too dangerous. But after I killed this monster, I noticed that my character had no armor, shield and weapon. I thought it was a bug, but after I read on the Internet, I realized the truth: this monster has ruined my very expensive gear. Completely and irrevocably.
And I was not at all happy.
I know there are classes that do not require (metallic) gear such as wizards, sorcerers, but spells require frequent rest and I do not like it.
So the monk seems to be what I seek: it needs no gear and no spells. And I do not have to be worried about a rust monster.

[Dugi]

In short, I played a module and I met a monster called rust monster, which at first did not seem too dangerous. But after I killed this monster, I noticed that my character had no armor, shield and weapon.

If I saw something like that, I would just delete the module. It's crazy to place a monster somewhere that destroys your expensive gear that you might have spent days obtaining. Getting a Divine Avenger from Shadows of the Undertide (or the mighty Hammer of the Glacier that is so hard to find), crafting it with Rivvin to add some nice properties, spending a million gold to achieve it and then losing it because some sadistic antisocial made a monster that destroys my precious gear! It's also pretty crappy for balance, suppose you have a warrior, you get some decent gear, spend a lot of gold for it, you are preparing to face some boss, go leveling up a bit, meet the rust monster and screw you, you can't kill the boss, you can't progress to find new items (only boss is before you), you can't buy anything new (you spent gold buying the previous gear). Monks and casters would have much an easier life after encountering that thing. It just asks for reloading, swapping for some cheap and expendable gear, killing the monster and getting back the main gear. Maybe the author even wanted that.

I know there are classes that do not require (metallic) gear such as wizards, sorcerers, but spells require frequent rest and I do not like it.

Healing between fights requires frequent rest too. Unless you get some regeneration from some items, but in that case you still need to wait for long.
Sorcerers can go for quite long too, when you're running out of spells, you an use some cheap buffs like Ghostly Visage, cast Tenser's Transformation and kill many enemies while transformed to a melee monster (and repeat it a few times if you expect that you'll need it).

So the monk seems to be what I seek: it needs no gear and no spells.

Not really, monks have a plenty of once-per-day abilities. Like Quivering Palm, haste or the one that heals you.

And I do not have to be worried about a rust monster.

Decent monk robes can be quite valuable too.

[Naron]

So the monk seems to be what I seek: it needs no gear and no spells.

Not really, monks have a plenty of once-per-day abilities. Like Quivering Palm, haste or the one that heals you.

Yes, but you can continue without these abilities. All you need is to have proper potions.

And I do not have to be worried about a rust monster.

Decent monk robes can be quite valuable too.

Monks robes are not metallic. The rust monster attacks and devour only metallic objects, from what I've read. So the monk will be fine.
Now, if I understand well, a rust monster will be a bane for metallic golems, such as adamantine golem, iron golem.. right?

[Dugi]

Yes, but you can continue without these abilities. All you need is to have proper potions.

Yes, the game sometimes awkwardly assumes that you have many potions and never run out of spells. I hate that, it has pretty lame effects on balance. In the end of the NWN 2 campaign, you had to kill the last death reaver, and some of your companions, then the King of Shadows appeared, so you had to defeat him, then those hundred small doppelgangers appeared and when you defeated all of them, the King of Shadows appeared again and you had to destroy the pillars and finally finish the boss. All without any rest. All my characters ran out of spells, so good that Amon Jerro was conveniently there and saved the day because he could not run out of spells. NWN1 was better at this, but the final Morag fight wasn't nice neither, you could not rest after defeating that pack with the resurrection guy, just because screw you.

Monks robes are not metallic. The rust monster attacks and devour only metallic objects, from what I've read. So the monk will be fine.

Now that's even more nasty against fighters. I think that it's designer didn't think about the need to make things balanced for every class that is not built badly. Or did he write into the intro something like for non-fighter characters only?

Now, if I understand well, a rust monster will be a bane for metallic golems, such as adamantine golem, iron golem.. right?

Can you even make golems? I never made any, I made something in NWN2 but it was just for the purpose of golem dueling. I think that the rust monster is the most unbalanced thing ever. The no magic areas were unpleasant for mages and very easy for fighters, but this is a whole new level.

[Naron]

The rust monster is an "official" D&D monster, meaning that it was present even from the beginning (D&D 1e or so), from what I've read.
It was created by Gary Gygax, so you should complain to him about balance
The history of this monster is very interesting and funny.

[Dugi]

Gary clearly had pretty sick humour, but the game creators were knew well that something like that could not have been added into the game. The author of that module added it just to watch the world burn. Some add-on creators here also get some insane ideas from time to time.

[Naron]

The module that I play now is called Eye of the Beholder and is very good.
Regarding the rust monster, I believe that the discussion could be interesting. I noticed that my character is defined rather by the gear he wears than his native attributes. In other words "you're your gear". To win, you must have the right gear at the right time. And personally, I find it artificial. My character's capabilities should depend rather of his native abilities, not of his gear.
Perhaps the rust monster's role is to counterbalance this. I found the monster stats:

Rust Monster
Size/Type: Medium Aberration
Hit Dice: 5d8+5 (27 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+3 Dex, +5 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 15
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+3
Attack: Antennae touch +3 melee (rust)
Full Attack: Antennae touch +3 melee (rust) and bite -2 melee (1d3)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Rust
Special Qualities: Darkvision, scent
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +5
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 8
Skills: Listen +7, Spot +7
Feats: Alertness, Track
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 6-8 HD (Medium); 9-15 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: —

The hide of these creatures varies in color from a yellowish tan underside to a rust-red upper back. A rust monster’s prehensile antennae can rust metals on contact.

The typical rust monster measures 5 feet long and 3 feet high, weighing 200 pounds.
Combat

A rust monster can scent a metal object from up to 90 feet away. When it detects one, it dashes toward the source and attempts to strike it with its antennae. The creature is relentless, chasing characters over long distances if they still possess intact metal objects but usually ceasing its attacks to devour a freshly rusted meal.

The creature targets the largest metal object available, striking first at armor, then at shields and smaller items. It prefers ferrous metals (steel or iron) over precious metals (such as gold or silver) but will devour the latter if given the opportunity.
Rust (Ex)

A rust monster that makes a successful touch attack with its antennae causes the target metal to corrode, falling to pieces and becoming useless immediately. The touch can destroy up to a 10-foot cube of metal instantly. Magic armor and weapons, and other magic items made of metal, must succeed on a DC 17 Reflex save or be dissolved. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +4 racial bonus.

A metal weapon that deals damage to a rust monster corrodes immediately. Wooden, stone, and other nonmetallic weapons are unaffected.

And a funny picture:




The warrior is very scared of the rust monster.

[Dugi]

Somebody makes an easter egg monster and somebody even crazier adds it and you want to focus your build to face it... Dammit, have fun with whatever build you enjoy playing and get through the parts that don't suit you with some saveloading. You can never be prepared for anything. You can make a fighter to face the problems with disallowed sleep, but you'll get wasted by mind-affecting monsters and large numbers of weaker monsters (low will save, no AoE). You can make a caster to kill groups of enemies quickly, but you'll get smashed when you can't rest enough (spells need recharging if you aren't a warlock in NWN2). You can make a rogue to avoid annoying traps, but you will be crushed by undead and necromancers (immune to sneak attacks, rogues have low fortitude). You can make a monk to handle the rust monster, but you'll get pwnd by anybody using Isaac's Missile Storm (no protective magic, no saves against this, no huge life pool).

The warrior is very scared of the rust monster.

Haha