Randomly decided to check in after years and see talk of Doordie and Amel. Lots of fun memories! Arguably my first long time character, Narwyn, ended up closely aligned with Amel as his protege.
Doordie was one of the best RP's I ever played with. His stories, with his character Amel, were amazing. Rich, deep, complex. I hope Doordie is doing well! You have a really great Uncle!
Registered Member #697
Joined: 10:08:26 am GMT 02/24/06
Posts: 134
Hi,
Having not played NWN for a few years I'd forgotten a lot of the simple but effective pearls of wisdom that make playing a PW easier / more fun etc etc.
E.g. I only just remembered yesterday that clicking on a persons portrait in the chat window is a quick way of a sending a tell, rather than using the player list. Doh!.
So much in that vein enter forth and place your best pearls below. Be they to do with playing, emoting (especially for not so quick typists), NWN add-ons, technical tips, whatever makes your NWN like better / easier.
Registered Member #198
Joined: 6:30:40 pm GMT 08/02/04
Posts: 2228
If you put the examine command in a hotkey slot, say F1 (for F2-F4 if your fingers are long enough) you can quickly identify things by hitting that and esc as you mouse over.
It also allows you to easily look at your own characters description and modifiers.
[edit]Do not bind the ctrl-f1 to examine if you are using it for lore checks. If you are still holding ctrl when you hit escape, your start menu will pop open on Windows, which can kill the short effect of the lore potions.[/edit]
arrivederci, megido Registered Member #1403
Joined: 3:11:09 am GMT 02/26/09
Posts: 1864
Examine command in hotkey is a good one.
Along on the tells - When you're dead the only way you can send tells is through chat commands (just hit enter to type). /t "character name" your message here /tp "login name" your message here
When you levelup, you don't have to take the level - you can continue to earn XP and even level up more, and keep levels saved. It's kind of weird and the only reason you would do this is if your next level was PM 6 or RDD 9 and you wanted to hold off for a while before getting the appearance change.
Also, don't forgot that you don't have to invest your skill points every level - of you leave skill points on a level they WILL save over to every next level. So if you're multi-classing and a skill you want is only in your second or third class, you can save them and dump them later instead of wasting the points cross-class. The only reason you should EVER waste skills cross-class is if you really want something for RP or if you need it for a requirement (i.e. taking assassin/SD on a non-rogue/monk class means you have to cross-class the hide/ms requirement.)
In battle, use healing kits, not potions. I don't remember the why/mechanics of it but kits work immediately whereas potions are regarded as a "turn" and you have to wait for it, could easily get killed before you drink it. Also, on thain, you can buy cloth bolts and gets packs of ten from different fountains. (Kits are even better if you go for a high heal.)
Skills like craft and heal can get you a lot from the crafting merchant nowadays and there's a lot of different ways you can RP that.
Also on skills, if your character is good at detecting lies (even if they're not a good liar themselves) bluff would be a good skill to get, because people will often counter bluff rolls with a bluff roll. The problem with countering skills with saves or abilities is that they don't scale at the same rate, even though a will check would make sense against persuade, anyone who invested their points in persuade could easily beat a will save.
In party, you can also click on the portrait of the person in your party to send them a tell. Similarly, hovering over someone's portrait in your party will show their location and exact HP.
If you aren't - use your hot keys. I usually put weapons and main feats (different for every build; i.e. knockdown, stealth, ki strike, rage, etc.) in the first few slots, with useful items and healing at the other end for easy use (poison, kits, heal spells). If you hold "control" you'll get a whole 2nd bar of hotkeys, and if you hit "shift" you get a 3rd bar. Great for spells on casters.
On Thain, I believe there are certain merchants that you can go to with particular stones (thunderstones, and one other I believe?) to get arrows/bolts enchanted, so pick up loot that may seem useless, if you can, because most things have a use. Even quartz. (Your friend trappers will be happy to take that off you!) Don't pick up skeleton knuckles, though. :/
There are 2 or 3 (I believe?) systems of "transportation" on Thain. One of them involves quests! The other involves shadows. Explore with the correct type of character and you might find them - they're cool and useful.
There are a huge amount of chat commands on Thain. Type /help to recieve the book. The most useful are: /ability (i.e /str, /dex) /skill /damage ## (does a certain number of damage, whatever you put in) /kill (or /explode) /props (Can make any size prop for RP items) /placeables (must be bought) /shapes (changes to "alternate" set of shapes on shifter and druid, use command again to set back) /#d# (i.e. /d6, /2d100, dice rolls)
/walk gives walk widget, though I usually use detect mode on everything but elves because it's easier to turn on/off. You can also hold down "shift" and click around to walk. You can also go into the NWN game menu and change key commands - I believe you can set walk to the "default" and have shift+click be run. You can also change any hotkeys, unbinding r = rest is a REALLY good idea.
I can't think of any more right now but I'm sure I will so I'll come back if I do. Glad to have you back, man!
Moo Registered Member #1327
Joined: 2:14:55 am GMT 07/27/08
Posts: 1718
When you summon your familiar, the ability on the radial menu gets replaced with Possess Familiar. You can then hotkey that ability separately and use it to quickly and easily take control of your little minion.
Registered Member #1428
Joined: 12:46:47 pm GMT 05/02/09
Posts: 344
in combat I would still suggest drinking potions over healing kits : not only you won't take twenty with kits but you can drink three potions per round.
'Lupi made me do it Registered Member #175
Joined: 5:49:41 pm GMT 07/23/04
Posts: 4286
I have rebound the rest key R to be the drive character forwards (walk) key. So I walk forwards with R and run forwards with W. Better than anything else I've tried.
I have rebound my rest key to be the * key on my numpad. It's so far from that I normally push that I never accidentally rest.
You can tell if someone rests deliberately but claims it was an accident if they continue sitting down and say ((oops)) and finish their rest. If it was an accident because you meant to type you would almost definitely push a drive key and make the character stand and cancel their rest.... Unless your a really slow typer (edit.not rupee!) then I'd probably have to let you off.. Maybe
Binding examine is useful but I've recently removed it because I have too any other things I want hotkeyed which is a shame.
If you have an item in a quickslot you can push the corresponding F key while your character is in a continuous emote, like sitting on a chair, to equip or unequip the item visually without breaking the emote. You don't have to stand and re sit to sheath that sword you were polishing!
Using a healing kit in combat won't let you take 20 like it does outside combat as far as I remember this reducing the effectiveness of a healing kit. I'll be corrected if wrong I'm sure. Edit should have read above!!
arrivederci, megido Registered Member #1403
Joined: 3:11:09 am GMT 02/26/09
Posts: 1864
FlowerGolem wrote ...
in combat I would still suggest drinking potions over healing kits : not only you won't take twenty with kits but you can drink three potions per round.
No, you should definitely use healing kits. They do a lot more healing if you have points in heal, and you can use them much quicker, in succession, in battle. Drinking potions (especially 3 of them in a turn!) will just get you attack of opportunity.
Registered Member #633
Joined: 3:59:33 pm GMT 10/24/05
Posts: 1173
* Magic bags are your friends! I typically have all of my characters reserve one magic bag specifically for healing kits just as soon as I can afford to. I load it up completely with healing kits and then hotkey them for quick use. This can be a literal lifesaver.
Another advantage to magic bags: you can store items you'd like to hold onto, but don't necessarily want to equip all the time. It's nice to have that ring that gives a bonus to your appraise score, for example, but wearing it means you have to take another ring off. Better to have it handy until you need it than to sell it off. If you're keeping it but not using it, it'll just sit in your inventory and add weight. The magic bag makes that less of a nuisance.
* Save gems of greater value (diamonds, emeralds, etc). When you die, you will lose gold (on Thain you drop a purse which you can retrieve later, but if your death was at the hands of a monster you cannot defeat, you probably aren't going back for it), but you will NEVER lose gems. They also don't weigh anything, and there's few merchants who won't cash them in (even if you do lose a bit of gold in the transaction without a high appraise score). Consider it an imperfect "hedge" fund.
* On the rod of frost: it is an invaluable tool for wizards who do not wish to do any of the following:
1. Carry a missile weapon and ammo (because of the weight) 2. Have to take the miserably weak pixie as your familiar 3. Dump skill points into open locks/disable traps
* If you do play a spellcaster, feats like Craft Wand and Brew Potion are good to have, with one caveat; since I've been away from Thain for a while, I'm not certain whether these feats are still allowing item creation at CHARACTER LEVEL as opposed to the default level. Anyone know if this is still true? If it is, then Craft Wand and Brew Potion are even better.
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