Archived from groups: alt.games.neverwinter-nights (
More info?)
John Salerno <johnjsalNOSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<40948026$0$3025$61fed72c@news.rcn.com>...
> i'm sure this is something that is often talked about, but i'm wondering
> what a lot of people think of it...the draw of a sorcerer is obvious,
> with not having to memorize spells and having more to cast...is it a big
> deal that they can only learn a few spells at a time? how are spells
> learned, on level up only?
>
Sorcerers and bards have a short list of spells that they improve only
on leveling up, while wizards get to improve their list via found or
purchased spell scrolls. Clerics, druids, rangers and paladins get
access to their entire spell list for their level at all times. Thus,
sorcerers and bards are in a way the -least- flexible casters.
On the other hand, they are also the -most- flexible, in that they can
pick any spells on their lists, and cast one spell 4 times in a row or
4 different spells or any other combination, up to their limit of
spells cast per rest period. Wizards and the various divine casters
have to pick exactly which combination of spells they will have
available for the rest period, and are stuck with that.
Clerics have a special exception, in that they can ditch any
memorized spell and substitute that spell level's healing spell...
which is good because in many situations 90% of what you'll cast are
heals, this way you can memorize flexibility while being prepared for
the healer grind .
At any rate, thats just background that you already more or less knew.
Answer to your question is... it depends. NWN solo play is an odd
offshoot of regular D&D; while the "rest" mechanism means one thing in
a tabletop or even a group computer game, it can mean quite another in
solo play. If you can "rest" at any time, then your spell list is a
concern only over the run of one battle. And if you save and reload
when things turn out poorly, you can change your loadout to fit the
battle you are about to fight... sometimes I think of failed battles
when I'm playing this way as premonitions, or as resulting from the
divination spells that have been left out of NWN.
This means a wizard or divine caster isn't really less flexible than a
sorcerer; since you can memorize those 4 magic missiles for fight A,
and 4 sleeps for fight B, and so on. It also means you don't have to
memorize "non emergency" spells while wandering around; if you need
Identify at some point, you wait till you can rest next, memorize it
then, cast it, then rest again and memorize something useful in that
slot.
BUT many modules use more restrictive rest rules, which limit this
sort of behavior; the module I'm currently playing, Birthright,
requires 3 "game hours" to pass between rests (about 15 minutes of
real time, more or less), and in many areas has a high chance of
wandering monsters interrupting any attempt to rest. This
dramatically reduces the ability to flexibly memorize a tuned list of
spells for a situation... in fact I'm finding it so difficult in some
places that running a pure caster of any sort would seem impossible,
as I'd be out of spells and wandering around as a very weak fighter
for hours at a time. My current character is a monk/druid, and just
did Orchold where I think I was able to rest twice in over 3 hours of
real time play.
> i'm still trying to figure out if *any* type of magic user is a good
> idea while playing NWN alone...
There are several definitions of "alone" here; I assume you mean
"without other player characters", but you -might- mean with no
henchman and no familiar, summoned monsters, animal companions, animal
empathy helpers, or dominated monsters.
The "Without Other Player Characters" mode is the only way I've played
the game thus far, due to my wacky unpredictable play times and
durations, hooking up with other people just hasn't been practical.
I've happily played just about every class, and quite a few multiclass
combinations; casters are certainly different than melee types, but I
wouldn't say they are harder, except where rest is very hard to come
by. Melee types benefit from rest too, but can compensate by
purchasing large stores of healing potions and kits... to do the same
a wizard would have to invest in lots of scrolls or magic wands, and
thats a great deal more expensive.
The other meaning of "alone" would be another story; most casters rely
on having someone or something to engage the bad guys in combat while
they do their work at a distance; the game is filled with
possibilities; summon something, use your familiar, hire a henchman,
charm something (admittedly this last can be very temporary and if
charm breaks early, result in even more things beating on you at one
time...) Casters, and particularly sorcerers and wizards, tend to make
very poor melee characters, with low BAB and poor armor choices (its
-possible- to wear full plate if you take the right Feat, but you
won't be casting much while wearing it)
If you rely heavily on familiars and summoned creatures, you'll
discover the principle weakness of the caster classes; the level of
these creatures is based on the number of levels you have in that
class, not your combined level. This means multiclassing weakens your
"cover" abilities; if you are in a module where reliable and powerful
henchmen are available this isn't such a concern, but a 4 cleric/4
sorcerer will have summoned creature II and a level 4 familiar trying
to face off against opponents where an 8 sorcerer will have summoned
creature IV and a level 8 familiar... the split class guy has helpers
that serve as little better than a speed bumps on the monster's way to
him, while the straight sorcerer has ones that can handle most battles
without any help at all, allowing him to practice his Quarrelling or
play Mah Jong while waiting for some bodies to loot.
Oh, and something else most casters find useful, particularly at low
levels; a ranged weapon; usually a crossbow, but perhaps a sling or
(for elves) longbow... here's something that will let you do damage
without exposing yourself to your enemy's swords, and without using up
those few spells per rest you have, for the cost of 1 gold for 99
shots. At higher levels you may find you have so much casting to do,
and that the arrows are doing so little, that you discard this tool,
but at very low levels where you may only have 5 or 6 spells to your
name, it can be a huge advantage.
Lance
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram