Part 4: Wherein an informative interlude is taken

A request was lodged for the stats of Our Heroes. Though some information is exluded from the following series of images, hopefully it will nevertheless tide you over until I can finish the next update (which is to be somewhat larger if we are to have any hope of getting through this game in this lifetime).

For the uninitiated, Neverwinter Nights 2 is part of the grand old tradition of Dungeons and Dragons Computer RPGs, and makes use of most of its material from the 3.5th edition. We've already mentioned races and classes, and naturally characters have levels (our party members each began at level four), although they also have six statistics called Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.



As you can see our sorcerous protagonist is almost as cunning as he is willful. Charisma alludes to some hidden charm, although it must be at this time quite well-hidden. Reasonably fit as well, the only blow to his ego is a weak wisdom, the product of too much power and not enough boundaries perhaps.



It takes a lot for a halfling to be barbarian material physically, and Agda pays the price in her wits and charms. On the other hand, by the standards of your average barbarian she's practically a savant. Mostly complete sentences *and* the written word? My, aren't we posh? She doesn't have the intelligence to net enough skill points to really take advantage of her level in rogue, although the extra sneak-attack helps.



Pick is, no doubt about it, the all-rounder and skill-monkey. He uses weapon finess to keep his low strength from being a drawback in close combat, although the first decent shooting weapon the party finds will probably go to him. Covers all our bases and picks up the slack where others are lacking.



Cornelius is damnsome clever, although the small number of wizard class skills prevent him from being as useful skill-wise as Pick. A generalist, he's pretty much your straight vanilla wizard caster type. I don't even expect him to hit anything with that quarterstaff, but what self-respecting wizard doesn't carry a staff around?



As simple as he looks, Beef is the party's... well, meatshield. What few skillpoints he gets mostly go into taunt to keep the enemy focused on him, and with some better gear he'll be a real defensive powerhouse.



Paladins are weird. With a whole lot of abilities they need to pump, it appears Pasquale's chronic unwellness won out on the stat sheet. That's okay though, we've got two barbarians to take up the tanking slack. Oddly enough as the only one with divine magic, Pasquale's the party's only magical healer.

: If only you could cure your own ongoing illnesses. Physician, heal thyself!
: Protection against malicious remarks, another gift my god has seen fit not to grant me...



I might as well take this opportunity to show off a new game mechanic we'll be introduced to shortly. Storm of Zehir ditches the mostly map-based travel mechanic of the previous NWN2 modules (really just picking the next level from a list) and replaces it with a great big map of the world for you to walk around on. It's part of their effort to make the game feel more old-school adventure-y and I think it's one of their more interesting efforts, even if it can get tedious at times.



One of the things it does do, however, is give skills a chance to shine. Depending on which party-member you have selected as party leader, their skills will be used to check for finding points of interest that might yield bonuses. This site, for example, gives us some ore to be used in the merchant game mechanic (also to be revealed in a little while in the plot). Most of these sites are just small, beneficial stuff but it does encourage you to explore the map using diverse parties.



Sometimes you'll come across other characters and parties on the map. Here, for example, we can see some (relatively) friendly Samarach patrols. There's not much we can do with them, although if they're attacked we can swing in and help them.



These guys do the attacking. Random encounters with bands of monsters are back in, and your skills once again play a part. You can use spot and listen to determine at what range enemy parties become visible. You use survival to determine how fast you move over difficult terrain, say, when trying to outrun monsters. You can use move silently and hide to escape monsters unnoticed. Just don't switch party-leaders half-way through sneaking past a whole bunch of monsters!



Should you engage with another party you'll go to this menu that's effectively like the normal conversation menus. Different party members with different skills will get different options depending on what you're facing. There's not much to be done with skeletons, although you might be able to bribe off goblins ("Batari!"), or intimidate them into fighting worse, or persuading them to leave you alone for free. By the wal, the EL 4 at the top means this group of skeletons is a suitable combat encounter for a party of fourth level adventurers.

Right, that's a little bit of information! Hope it helps process the coming updates. Back to our regularly scheduled programming!