Got Neverwinter Nights 2 last night. Could someone recommend a character? I want to go through the game without becoming a DnD rules master.
Just take a high strength fighter. Then you can just smash everything.
I’d recommend a cleric. Fifteen hours in, and the only other NPC I’ve encountered with healing abilities is another lameass, whiny druid. (Why are all druids in the Bioware universe such whiny bitches?) My rogue was disappointed to find not only one, but TWO NPCs that can perform his functions.
Fighters (inc. paladins & barbarians) and clerics are the easiest builds to play, IMHO: just make a classic tank and you’re good to go. Warriors are better at the smashy-smashy, while clerics obviously have spells. Use the default / recommended level-up options and you’re generally fine. Consider picking up the Able Learner feat if you want to learn some cross-class skills cheap, like the social skills.
Really, you only need to become a rules-whore if (A) you have a specific sort of character build in mind, (B) you’re aiming for a prestige class (since they all have specific pre-requisites), and/or © you’re obsessed with min-maxing your character.
Yeah, I’m going to restart when I get home because of this. Too much backstabby goodness, not enough lame healing.
My first run through most AD&D games is as a Cleric. You’re very self sufficient with heals and buffs, you get crowd control spells, and by level 8 or 9 you’ll be able to summon a dire spider or grizzly to tank for you.
Skipper’s easy-peesy guide to NWN2:
Warrior all the way. Do your own level up selections. Be sure and take a weapon expertise, better criticals for that weapon type, cleave and great cleave. Skills: whatever you want really. Taunt/Parry are okay, the rest are situational. Don’t blow points on item making skills, use your party members for that. If you want to blow points, take “Able Learner” as a feat and pump points into Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate and Appraise. Buy potions as needed (healing, speed, barkskin, bull, cat, etc.) Use healing potions when necessary, rest otherwise. Use the other potions when you see an upcoming “tough” fight.
Bonus: If you want to roleplay a bit, be sure and laugh maniacly whenever your cleave procs and you kill 2-3 guys at a time.
Yeah, I went with a cleric because they are simple easy and destroy things.
And you can add fighter levels.
If you decide to go this way, make STR, WIS and CON your biggest attributes… it’s all gravy after that.
Great Cleave is awesome.
Fighter or Cleric or Barb are the most newb friendly, game crushing classes. Rage is badass. Cleric domains are overpowered (getting two of them anyway, pow!) if this was an MMO they would have been nerfed a long time ago.
It is a little strange you dont get a healer NPC right off but healing is pretty damn easy regardless. You can rest nearly anywhere and healing kits are powerful when you can take 20. Healing pots are fairly plentiful as well.
I thought about that, but I don’t think I could bear to play through that incredibly boring intro again.
I’m beginning to think Matt Perkins’ 5 out of 10 score was accurate. Not because it’s a D&D game; I’d have to say NWN2 handles the 3.5 rules better than any other game. But because in addition to the weird camera and AI problems, it’s essentially Diablo 2 and a boring version of it at that.
The dwarf fighter you get early is pretty good. I would not want two fighters, so I would not make a fighter as your main.
The rogue you get next is worthless in combat and gets beat down all the time, however, removing traps and picking locks is indispensable. Maybe once you get a mage with knock, you can just suck up the damage from traps and use the spell to unlock doors and chests.
Rogues might be good if you were to control them yourself, as your main. You can give nekasha the boot once you get someone to replace her.
The Druid NPC is worthless. Maybe if you played a druid as your main it might be different. I think a cleric would be a better choice though.
Monks are weak in the beginning, but incredibly powerful at high levels. They are the one class you most likely do not want to multi-class out of. I think at level 20 the get ‘god mode’ as a passive ability. You might want to take this class if you do not want to every have to deal with the complications of multi-classing. Just do not get upset with being a wuss for the first 5 levels and only mediocre for 5 after that. Just keep in mind that one day your fists will turn into cannons.
Warlocks are complicated, don’t take them as your first character.
Sorcerers are the best caster class, but you need to know what spells to choose. If you know how the spells work, then they are a great power-gamer choice.
Wizards are the casters for newbies to choose. You can get every arcane spell in the game, and see how they all work. Once you do, re-roll a sorcerer.
I think that leaves Paladins. They are slightly more complex then warriors and more self-sufficient. However, you are in a group and do not need to be self-sufficient. Take one if you want a not-to-difficult class to play, but want to RP a goody-goody.
Rob_Merritt, I didn’t want to become a DnD rule master either, and I haven’t had any problems with the game so far. I just stayed away from multi-classing and the stuff that I don’t really understand.
I picked a bard, with good talking skills (Diplomacy, Bluff, Appraise) and high Lore so I never have to identify anything using spells. The “Recommend” button during character creation and during Level-ups really does recommend some good stuff, and gives a good indication of where you should put your points and which Feats are good. Of course, from what I’ve seen so far, all Feats seem to kick ass.
I’m also enjoying the Bard’s limited ability to cast spells, and be a decent fighter. Since I give most of the good equipment we find to my main character, he can sometimes be a great fighter.
What I am curious about is the recommendations here about being a Cleric. I’ve never played a Cleric in a D&D game. What makes them so cool? It was my understanding that they were basically just healers and have some buff spells. Are they also decent fighters, even without multi-classing, like a bard is? Or are they really useful in fights because they have good offensive spells?
Two fighters is fine, multiple great cleaves will mow down enemies like no tomorrow. :)
Although an Eldritch Knight might be more useful in the long run.
Clerics get D8 hit-dice, which is higher than the Bard, powerful healing and damage spells (flame strike,etc), turn undead, medium armor, can use non-slashing martial weapons, and slings.
They also get strong summoned pets, full plate armour (with no chance of spell failure because their spells are not arcane), a shield, and if you don’t mind being a Fancy Pants Elf, you can use longswords right from the start.
Clerics are AD&D on easy mode, so I always play them if I just want to run through the game to see all the sights.
I haven’t got NWN2, but in NWN I found a monk to be great once I hit a certain
level (neat abilities started rolling in at 5-8). Multiclassing is something I’ve
never liked.
What exactly are warlocks?
And if you are human or half-elf you can take a single level of fighter and get access to all the martial weapons and plate armor as well. So you end up with a wizard in plate that can use swords.
Monks gain Empty Body at level 19 (50% concealment) and Perfect Self at level 20 (DR 10 & immune to mind-affecting spells). Since the level cap in NWN 2 is 20, this does make monks one of those classes it’s best to focus solely on.
Correction: clerics can use all armor and shields (except tower shields) and simple weapons (which include some slashing weapons and crossbows).
Link.
You don’t have to replay the intro, you can skip it and I believe it just gives you 3 levels.
Your Diablo 2 comparison I find nonsensical.
I don’t really understand this concept. I thought that everyone rolled a d20 to determine whether you hit or not. And then, if you hit, you roll the die that’s appropriate to your weapon? Like if your weapon does 1d10 damage, then you roll a 10-sided die.
So where does the “D8 hit-dice” come into all this?
EDIT: Thanks Saxman_72, now it makes sense. So clerics also get a decent amount of hit points on top of everything else.