So, I finally got NWN to work. Brilliant game. I'm at the 3rd chapter with a dwarven fighter, four other characters still in Chapter 1. I started playing a... half-elf(I don't exactly remember) wizard character, and I've been noticing some... weird things, I suppose? First off, enemies tend to run straight past my summon/companion and go straight for me. This is getting annoying as I only have about 24 HP, these dual-wielding / mage characters are really killing me, literally. It even breaks logic. If there's someone attacking you RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, you won't just run past them. I've only died once so far, which is pretty bad since the peninsula district isn't exactly... that hard. Secondly, the combat for a magic-user seems VERY derpy and slow compared to how the enemies do it. The enemies tend to cast constantly. My character just stands there for about ten seconds between each spell not doing anything, while being attacked by an enemy. If I run away, I get a failed tumble and immedietally get hit. This is fine and dandy, so long as it does hinder how well I will do in the game. That's just the slow part. The derpy part is that sometimes I'll somehow target my companion, do no damage, or even attack a dead body. Spellcasting is very fun so far, but it just seems... kind of weak. My biggest problem is the illogically-running-past-big-hulking-guy.

So... my question I should be asking is : What the heck is wrong? Bad copy? Not updated? Is this how the game is?

EDIT: Neverwinter Nights : Diamond Edition

Yup, go for the squishy wizard. It's a common and effective tactic.

Of course, the NWN series also tends to be very generous with rest cycles. In many situations you can pretty much just rest after every fight, which makes spellcasters exceedingly powerful. If there is a wizard conjuring up arcane doom behind the huge guy with the sword, then it makes a lot of sense to try and rush past. Are you using the haste spell? It essentially doubles the speed at which you can caste spells (doesn't work in NWN2, though). This may be what you're experiencing, but it is blatantly broken.

There is a 6-second delay between spellcasting normally. Avoid damage spells until you've got some more levels and can reliably knock down the enemies before they can close distance. Try using spells like grease or cloud of bewilderment. These have a very significant chance of rendering enemies completely helpless.

At the lowest levels offensive wizard spells are very unimpressive, so focus on the disabling spells instead.


Rest assured, at high levels mages do mature into truly terrifying titans.

Alright. Thanks for the help.

Magic users aren't the easiest classes to play, seeing as how ALL enemies tend to go for the mage. Kill the mage, and their "pet" vanishes. Its the easiest way to take down a magical enemy.

Another piece of advice, very with your spells. Evocation, the attack school, is great and all, but its not worth anything if you can't survive the first spell you pop off. I tend to point people towards the Create-a-dungeon thing to make some super gear when they are first starting as a Wizard. I used a staff of Elemental Storm, that summons a different elemental of greater level each time the last one dies, in a cycle of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

Next up, DON'T SPECIALIZE. You are going to want every type of spell, and unleash different magic.


And don't rely on meatshields. Learn to use a Sword, and hit them as they try to hit you.

Wizards are very, very squishy at lower levels. You'll definitely want to grab a fighter companion to help you out until you get some good defensive spells. As for enemies targeting you, the way aggro works in NWN is enemies will typically make a beeline for the first combatant they see; this means if they spot you first they'll go right for you, even if you have an entire entourage that tries to engage them in melee. Improved Invisibility, once you can cast it, is very useful in keeping a lot of enemies away from you (at least if you have companions or summons for them to focus on instead). Defensive spells (such as Stone Skin, Minor Globe of Invulnerability, etc) are also essential- simply trying to stay out of harm's way won't always work, so you'll need some kind of spell up to negate the damage that gets done to you.

Also, while damaging spells are often the most tempting, don't neglect spells that hinder or disable enemies. At lower levels Grease and Web can be great to keep mobs of enemies off of you. At higher levels spells like Bigsby's Crushing Hand can completely disable strong opponents and spells like Evanald's Black Tentacles and Stinking Cloud can take entire mobs out of commission. You'll need to evaluate each situation you're walking into, and decide whether you can settle it quickly with just a few offensive spells, or if you need to lay down some defenses, disable your enemies, and only then unleash some destruction.

So, on my Dwarven Fighter... I just multiclassed, but I'm not sure if that's what I wanted. If I pick another class, will it replace the second class I chose?

No, that class level you took is permanent. However, unlike in the Baldur's Gate series you can always return to your old classes, so there's nothing stopping you from resuming progression as a fighter the next time you level up. In NWN1 you can have up to three different classes of your choice, so if you take a third class you'll be a triple-classed character.

Whether multi-classing was good or bad depends on a lot of factors. What class did you multi-class into? What level are you? What kinds of feats do you have?

Well, I went from a Dwarven Fighter into a Champion of Tyr. Currently I'm level 14 now, 12 fighter/2 CoT. I realized this is a bad idea, because the feats require wisdom, don't they?

Another question that came to mind is the fact that you can save your character. Does this mean you could kind of... use him everywhere? e.g. I heard there's these things called 'modules', which I can only assume are player-made campaigns, or just in general - campaigns. What I mean is... could you level him up universally?

Champion of Torm? A very powerful choice for a second class, doesn't require wisdom but benefits from charisma.
There's a limit to how many classes you can take (I think 3) and there's an experience penalty if the classes (other than prestige classes and favored class) are at very different level.

And yeah, you can take your character along into a new module. Modules are meant for spesific level range, so you probably wont get much fun out of a module meant for 1st level characters if you go with your 20th level demi-god.

There are modules meant specifically to take your character to, after you finish with the official campaign.

Best place to find modules is NWN Vault
Some good module suggestions here.

Ah, alright. I was going to get Dwarven Defender, but I'm Chaotic Neutral and I can't find any ways to put up my karma.

Charisma, actually. However, not all of the Champion of Torm's abilities require charisma so it's still a decent one even if you're a typical stoic dwarf.

There's really not much left for the fighter class to give you anyways, so multi-classing at this point was probably a very sensible move. Yes; any time you start a new campaign or module you can import an existing character. Some modules will remove your gear or reduce your level, however.

As far as the original campaigns go, you're supposed to import your character from Shadows of Undrendtide into Hordes of the Underdark (one campaign picks up where the other left off). This is correct, although since Fighter is the favored class of the dwarf race and he has a prestige class, it's not possible for this particular character to suffer XP penalties regardless of his future choices. No, the original campaign does not have any law/chaos alignment shifts so this is impossible for you. Given your level, you're also too late for weaponmaster. One option for consideration might be Barbarian.

Alright, one last question.

So, I'm in Chapter 3 as most could assume. I have to fight the red dragon at the Spine of the World... and I have no idea if they're hard or not. I'm planning on using Daelan, because he pretty much did that whole demon fight in the Vault for me and he's pretty good with damage. Sadly, he's not so good with the AC / he takes a ton of damage. My character is kind of underequipped right now because I can't find any equipment that could significantly put me in favour of this battle, other than that dragon-slayer shield which is kind of expensive. I might even end up using the Sorceror gnome companion just for the spells, as I might tackle the snowglobe dragon first.

What specifics should I be aware of?

That ancient red dragon can be one of the tougher opponents in the game. However, if you take the right actions you can severely injure it before the battle even starts (you need to kill a young blue dragon then trick the red dragon into absorbing its essence). The red dragon can do some serious damage in melee, and has a pretty high AC (so you'll want to boost up your AR any way you can if you're melee). Naturally fire resistance is also recommended, and immunity to either fear or mind affecting spells is a must (all dragons have an aura of fear, and without some kind of immunity to it your character will go scurrying away half the time the dragon gets close). The cleric companion can also be useful in the fight if the AI happens to favor you- if she fires off a Harm spell and it hits then the dragon will be one hit away from being dead.

DarrkPhoenix already sort of hinted at this, but anyway. Daelan is a barbarian with crappy will saves. I remember thinking around the same lines, and then found out he spent all the fight running away in dragonfear. Or maybe it was some other fight.

Sort of decided he's no longer very useful at that point.
The monk dwarf btw should start to be pretty awesome by now, goes in fast, hits quick and hard and has pretty good AC and saves.

There was some kind of potion that gives immunity to mind affecting stuff, including fear. Not sure if amulets or other items were available.

I personally find Klauth a bit underwhelming, but it totally depends on your character. Key is dealing a lot of damage and immunity to mind-affecting spells (or at minimum, fear). Considering there's a way to weaken him or bargain with him, however, I wouldn't worry too much if your character is a little weaker. Klauth is comparable to the Balor. Definitely stronger, but if you've leveled up since the Balor fight you should be able to take Klauth. I find this is just a reality of the NWN1 OC. It's fairly low-gear compared to other campaigns. In my most recent playthrough I never found anything better than a plain +3 greatsword. To get your damage up high, focus on items to boost your strength. By this point in the game you should have at least 22 strength, which gives you +6 damage per hit (+9 if you're using a two-handed weapon). More is better, if you can manage it.

Do make sure you have items for immunity to death magic and mind-affecting magic. They don't come up every day, but they're real game-enders when they do. Dragons have an annoying fear aura, which is mind affecting. Either never get close or make sure you're immune.


The final consideration is whether you have specialized in a weapon. Generally this is a very good idea for fighters, who have more than enough feats to nab all the benefits for their chosen weapon. For high-level characters like your dwarf, the improved critical feat is the most important one. If you haven't yet specialized in a weapon, pick one with a high probability of landing a critical hit (greatsword, scimitar, and kukri are respectively the best two-handed, one-handed, and light weapons for this). Critical hits become increasingly important for high-level characters. I won't bore you with the math, but because of the way the rules for extra attacks work you tend to see a higher rate of critical hits at higher levels. So, focus on weapons that give good critical chance (the scythe is an interesting gambler's weapon since it deals x4 damage on a critical hit, but I really feel you need a keen scythe to make it work well and AFAIK it's not possible to get one legitimately in NWN1 OC)