What did NWN2's content miss the mark on?

[Vichtor]

I think the weapon fail and acouple of others is suppose to give you the ability to freely use 'Trip' with no penilties (from players book) or, in the nwn2 equivalent, 'Knock Down' but obsidian overlook it.

I was kind of hoping they implement Trip better and give it to the weapons.

My kingdom for a spiked chain!

(it's a small kingdom...so it's kind of an even trade value-wise...)

[Garidas]

Totaly agree, especially with the 'more creatures'.... wheres the Hook Horrors for starters.. the oozes, puddings, and cubes.. bullettes, ankhegs, purple worms, rust monsters, chimera, intellect devourer, mimic, leucrotta.. etc etc etc.. oh yeah, and terrasque.
Id like to see more non-humanoid monsters in Sundren too

Aux, you got all this right, there are most of the creatures we need.

[gwope]

hello

hello
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[rustediron]

um... hello?

[Silverwolfcub]

Random stat generation. I'd like it too return too the roll 4d6 and take away the lowest d6 too make your score kinda thing. The point based system is ok i suppose but it means that your going too be great in 1 thing good in another and ok or crap in your other skills.

So an option of randomly rolling stats would be teh awsomness

[Kangleton]

It is a good idea in theory, but the problem is that it would be too easy to abuse. You could make a randomly rolled character, and if it sucked, you could continuously scrap it until you got an extremely increddible character who rolled 6's on every die.

Maybe not many people would abuse it in such a way, but to be honest... I sure as hell wouldn't let myself get the short end of the stick.

[Aries1918]

Yeah, honestly, if I ever use a system with randomly rolled stats, I abuse the hell out of it.

[PatriotBob]

Was I the only one who played Baldur's Gate? It used the 4d6 method and trust me it was not a good idea. Every character you make you spend an extra half hour rolling 4d6 until you get good stats... point buy makes it balanced. You can have one awesome stat and five average ones, or an few good and a few average. It makes you have to choose, you can't rock at everything. But it would be nice if you could choose the amount of points. PnP list from 24 to like 42 point buys, all depends on how strong you want you campaign. So it would be cool to see developers be able to pick how many points they want available for their campaign. Just my thoughts....

[Kangleton]

I'm pretty sure that you could put 14 into every statistic if you wanted to, without racial modifiers. So you don't have to suck at everything.

[Gairun]

Common humans in DnD have all eight to tens in their scores. . . EIGHT TO TEN is common. . . with a thirty-two point buy system you are practically a superhuman walking among mere mortals.

I can understand the fact some people want to play there super-mega-heroic-badass-anti-hero-X character. . .but come on. . . those types of characters are more geared towards a single player game, as they should be. In a multiplayer medium such as NWN2 where you have others playing you have to have a set standard for everyone. Random creation of characters would totally destroy any semblance of what little balance there is.

[Medoe]

A thot or 2...

Hi Sundren,

Since you asked, here's a brief, point-form take of a few thots I've had on NWN & NWN2 over the years.
In the general catagory of things that are missing which I would love to see IG...

- Naturalism...working, complete Ecosystems...all critters in the food chain in their correct environments at the correct times, hopefully all trying to eat eachother, and us, when hungry.
IE: night creatures that come out at night...and day creatures that come out in the day.
Aka: haunted graveyards should commonly be 4 times more dangerous after Midnight...the Withcing Hour...wooooooo...
PCs should begin every moment of any adventuring with a common sence Lore check... "what risks am I taking by doing X?"
Complete tables of 'Monsters by Climate' are listed in the back of the Monster Manual 2, have been for 30 years...
If that may be asking too much of some players...simply install "Local Sages" here and there..."Village Elder"...where PCs may seek out the common and natural Lore/History/Geography of a given area.

- Why all the Bashing? PnP D&D counts only about 40% of potential opponents as being the "run right up and bash you" type. The remainder are all ambushers, tricksters, avoiders...or simply indifferent.
So why are 95% of all NWN opponents and encounters the "run up and start bashing" variety?
Monster types have varying inclinations and motivations...IE: some overwhelming adversaries are quite content to allow a party to go free - if they hand over all their magical items...or metallic objects...gems...or availible virgins.
Some encounters, like sphyxes and dragons, will happily agree to peaceful co-existance, in return for an exchange of valuable knowledge or wisdom...and if the PCs expect to maintain their lives and/or their Good alignments...they must abide by that agreement.
This falls under the heading of "a PCs best offence/defence is the forethought they put into their decisions"
I realize constructing and coding an extreme example of a complex and cunning opponent; such as a complete Illythid enclave, with existing means, would be a monumental task, perhaps even impossible.
Still, there should be some trepidation associated with going adventuring off the beaten track...random horror stories which adventurers pick up on and realize: "mabe relying on swinging a sword can get me into serious trouble"
One's mind, soul, brain, freedom, alignment can easily depend on sound choices made when faced with creatures smarter than themselves.
IE: becomming enslaved to Illythids could potentially see you betraying your own friends, family, city, countryside to the monster's larder.
Illythids LIKE Adventurers...they learn a great deal from eating their brains...apparently the Illythid idea of 'tasty'.
How many innocents may potentially loose everything, and then some...if an unwary Adventurer errs in the Underdark?
Would a person of Good conscience even consider going there, realizeing the risks to every other person they know?
There are foes which no amount of personal bashing can deal with...

- Where are the unusual Random Encounters? The thing that comes to mind for me, as a Ranger player, is: where are the plant-based monsters? How does one trek thru hundreds of miles of wild forest without encountering a single Snappersaw, Mantrap or Hangman's Tree?
These would be remarkable ambushes, difficult to detect at best...making it a real challenge to hike to the neighbouring community...or even cross the field behind your house. The solution to them may not lie in straighforward bashing...ya gotta think.

While NWN2 does not contain any particularly useful plant or other such monsters, mabe they could be represented by text-based encounters.
"The bushes ahead or you reek of spilled blood...what do you do?" <Snappersaw>
"You feel something wiggle as it slides down your throat in a glup of water...what do you do?" <slug or insect>
"You awaken this morning with lumps on your left forearm...what do you do?" <Rot Grubs>
"Gee...our luck has been really sour since...since...that house cat began following us around..." <Luck Eater>
"Hey...my psionics just vanished..." <Cereberal Parasite>
"Your Heavy Plate and other equipment have you face down in a dungpile" <Null Magic Zone>

Anyway...not easy to do with a program that focuses almost entirely on bashing with Fighters and Mages...but food for thought...

[The Almight Red]

Thread necromancers!