« Neverwinter Nights Tips and Hints »

Creation and Prelude

[ I'll break this page up soon! ]

Nice freebie
In the prelude when you are first introduced to the game and training wizards, bards etc can get a magic wand with unlimited frost rays. It might only do a tiny amount of damage, but it is great for destroying doors and locked/trapped chests. Given the deadly potency of some traps and the fact only thieves have any chance of disarming anything over DC-35…


Appraisal skill
Here's your first and most important tip:

You don't get a second chance to make a first impression

Actually, you do, if your 'appraisal' skill and/or, I believe, your level goes up, but that's not quite the point… Annoyingly, you can find the change to go against you, which I personally disagree with, but there you go.

Naturally the higher you push this proficiency the more likely you are to get a better deal, though there are limits. I have made copious notes, but the general idea is the level/character you are in makes a difference as does the nature of the merchant.

Here's a very good example or two, all based on a 'silver necklace' :

In Shadows of Undrentide the best price was 325 gp.
In Chapter two of Hordes of the Undrentide… Volkarion, the djinn merchant, will pay up to 275 gp
Drow merchants will offer up to 325gp
The Duergar however offer a massive 475 gp for the very same item!

I'm on Chapter three now and…
The local merchants, like the Pit Boss, cap the price at 250 gp
Volkarion is still at 275 gp, but has a much better selection (again)
However (the spirit of the Drow) Rizolvir now offers you up to 400 gp

As in real life, it pays to shop around, eh!
High intelligence can improve your negotiating skill (up to +12) and the 'Greater gloves of Appraisal can add another +6, will a good bard song can put it up a few more points further. There's +20 or better on whatever you assign. I get the impression 20 or over can get you the best prices, 30 to 40 or more will, almost every time.

Observation
Without any cheating whatsoever it's incredibly easy to finish the game with millions, so why the annoying selling cap for Hordes of the Underdark ?
*Mutter*


On money cheats
On the off-chance Bioware read this page before I properly report the bug, there is a (logic) flaw that allows you unlimited funds. There is a second, but I'm undecided if it is there for a reason or it's sloppy programming. I'm inclined towards a (lack of) a validation call, myself.


Maximimum abilities and bonuses…
The maximums will vary according to race and classes and may icrease with your level too. Below are those for Kell, a Half-Elf Rogue/Bard/Red Dragon Disciple. As a comparison, I got the Aribeth (a Paladin) to Strength 30 (+10) and Wisdom 25 (+7).
Out of interest mind, if you polymorph into an Earth Elemental you have a strength of 44 (+17).

Strength 34 for a +12 bonus
Dexterity 25 for a +7 bonus
Constitution 28 for a +9 bonus
Intelligence 34 for a +12 bonus
Wisdom 22 for a +6
Charisma 30 for a +10

'Use Magic Device' proficiency
I neglected this the first few time I played until I realised now useful it is. Ever identified an item and thought, Darn, I wish I was (…) so I could use that!. Well, if you increase this ability you probably could. Five or ten points assigned covers all but the most powerful items. A few of the most powerful items naturally need this far higher though. The highest I've seen so far is 42 points needed for the deva's mace, though the katana 'Radiant Death' for Weapon Masters was beyond anything I could wield, despite pushing it to around 50.
…
I finally managed it with a 'use magic device' of 56

I'm not sure why, but your charisma bonus factors into this. Yes, it is by the rules, but why charm!?


Money making tips and the usefulness of craft skills
While some items - especially bolts and arrows - can only made at a loss, others can prove lucrative. Kick in a few doors for iron and steel and you can easily get, oh 12 gp. Soon have you rich. Hmmm, more lucrative is it? If you 'enchant' a weapon or robe with the 'continual light scroll' or (far, far cheaper) the 'light gems' then the same sword can be worth over 500 gp (depending on your appraisal skill) because it is a magic item.
Incidentally, a 'Long Sword +1' does far better, going from 1,565 gp to 3,750 gp. It scales up with +2 and so forth. Yay for my enterprising bard! Of course, if this was a tabletop game any right minded DM might have something to say about it.

On a related note, while less traps are over worth a few gold, rogues can get several thousand gp for some of the more deadly ones. It clearly pays to try and recover any traps you encounter.

Chapter One: Neverwinter City

Personally, I've found the easiest route is to complete the districts in this order:

1. Beggars
2. Docks
3. Peninsula
4. Blacklake

Doors

On the subject of locked and warded doors, there are two types that might baffle you. The first, like the one in the graveyard, have a chest with a note inside. These are part of Oleff's quest to find historic Neverwinter artifacts. If you put the hinted item in the chest, the door will open.

Four other doors will have a sundial beside them. These are part of the subquest to join the mage guild. Talk to Eltoora.

Other doors, generally barred, either need a key finding or you have to enter the building another way and open the door on the way out. I suspect a few doors are never meant to be opened though.



For the Snaker Cult House (strange door) in the Beggar's District, talk to Jemanie in a nearby house to get the Estate Ward Stone.


Hard battles
While a few like Calik the blood pirate can be particularly tough going, with the exception of those manic Bloated Dire Spiders (hint: 'immunity to poison' is the key), the only one likely to give you a major headache and rightly classed as 'impossible' is Gulnan.

There are basically two ways to defeated her, I've found. Either hit her hard and fast before she casts all her protective and enhancing spells on herself, or kill all the minions and run like heck before she gets you!

With a hard hitting Dwarf the first is an easy option, a weaker character may not be so lucky. What I did was kill everything else, smash up the altar, raid the chests, then I shot her in the back with a crossbow. Unlike some monsters who may give up and return to their lair Gulnan is merciless. I admit it took me ages, but I just just ran circuits around the crypts, whacking her as she came around the corner, running off cackling before she could use that scimitar of hers. If you wait long enough all her enchantments will wear off, so you spell up yourself and the next time she turns the corners, skewer the evil thing!


Helms Hold

Besides a Barok tooth, dragons blood and holy water, there are a number of nice items to be (randomly) found in chests, especially the heavily trapped one in the basement and those in Desther's Chambers. Your level (any maybe class?) will determine the power of the items item.

Just make sure you search the rest of the area before entering Desther's Chambers on the third floor because it's warded. There's no going back once you have entered it.

Chapter Two: Port Llast and Luskan

I don't recall anything particular hard about the Port llast areas but one or two bits of Luskan might have you scratching your head. As ever, explore every nook and cranny.

Elaith Craulnober has the key to Wanev's, plus a side quest to gather gems.

Luskan

Comcarr's Fantabulous Contraptulater
Location of the levers:

• Lever of Stone - in a chest in a locked room in the Wind and Tickle
• Lever of Wind - in the sewers, in a box near the Ghoul Lord
• Lever of Water - from the Ghoul outcast for his brothers Amulet of Power, along with the key to the chamber, which is also in the sewers.
• Lever of Fire (is intact)

Potions available
Use…

Water and Stone for Endurance
Water and Wind for 'Cure Moderate Wounds'
Water and Fire for 'Fox's Cunning'

Water, Fire and Stone for *NOTHING*
Water, Fire and Air for Speed
Water, Stone and Wind for Clarity

Water, Stone, Wind and Water for *sewage* (Honest!)

Fire and Stone for 'Bull's Strength'
Fire and Wind for 'Cat's Grace'

Stone and Wind for Invisibility

Incidentally, telling the merchant gets you 250 XP and a big discount. Note that this may have a negative effect on the prices you sell items for.


Host Tower
On level 3 put a Slaad tongue and Gargoyle Skull on the alchemist table and cast 'Dispel Magic' for a Rod of Reversal. If you are not a spell caster, the 'Ring of Magic Defence' works just as well (if you have (randomly) found one), as does a 'rod of dispelling'.

On level 4, with the locked door, use golem replication rods and let the helmed horror batter open the door. Save first mind as it can be a rough battle. Personally I found it hardest winning and keeping the wizard (Riardo Domine) alive as he kept casting acid clouds and ice storms just before pleading I surrender and killing himself with his own magic. D'oh!

Can't remember if it was here and/or later, but the battle devourers are susceptible to magic missiles and bludgeoning. Just piercing and slashing at them is a good way to die, if I recall.

Chapter Three: Beorunna's Well

The Elk tribe fort, Northern Homesteads
Rescue Uncas from the Orc caves for the feather token to enter fort in peace. Besides the quest for Zoltan, you'll find two items for your henchmen here.

The wizards dungeon, Coldwood.
I doubt you'll get stuck with the gongs and there is a huge clue on a scroll there, but if you do, the sequence for the gongs is Puma, Dog, Bear, Dragon.

Defeating the Red Dreagon, Klauth
If you explore properly follow the clues, you know to kill the poor Blue Dragon BEFORE putting the orb in it's pedestal. With it you can poison the elder wyrm with the tainted item and 'relatively' easily slaughter him. Spelling up heavily before trying is always a good idea, just in case!


Creator Ruins

Riddle of Light

(Example)
Blue and yellow make green, so you would put one green stone in each of the secondary pools.

Riddle of Smoke

Top: Orange sunstone, so mix red and yellow
Middle: Purple amethyst, so mix red and blue
Bottom: Green jade, so mix blue and yellow

I'm not sure of the relevance of this, but an easel was annotated that the Old Ones believed in the power of certain gems and that malachite was the least of them, amethyst highly prized and emeralds the most revered. I half suspect that it you put said gems somewhere you get a reward. Or maybe not!

Riddle of Sound

Simply trot behind the fairy, banging the gongs after her.

Chapter Four: Neverwinter Core and the Source Stone

Defeating the Golems
My own character was - is - a tough old bird, due in no small part to his dodge and evasion skills, so I chose the beat them into scrap metal for the possible extra experience points. The easier way is to look for the door(s) with the glowing lights and kill the wizards fast. These houses and their trapped chests also seem to hold the most powerful (random) equipment in the game too.


Morag
The only other difficulty you may encounter is actually touching Morag. I'd taken out her elite guards by forcing them to come at me one at a time through the door.

Using a 'Horrid Wilting' scroll killed most of the priestesses chanting behind the 'Barrier of Blades', leaving the evil lizard queen vulnerable to the business end of my halberd. Needless to say other weapons work equally well with the respective protective chanter(s) removed. Unless I'm mistaken, killing all the lizard women kills Morag too, but that way you lose 500 experience points you can use towards the expansions.

Shadows of Undrentide

To be written up. Ask over the forums or email me for an instant answer.

Can't remember anything taxing mind.
Cautionary warning:
Sell everything you don't REALLY need while you can. If you carry on to the Hordes expansion you will have two concerns, Firstly, you start the game by having everything stolen. Then you find that there is a (ridiculous) cap on what you can sell ites for.

Hordes of the Underdark

To be written up. Ask over the forums or email me for an instant answer.


Cautionary warning.
Anything you aren't carrying on you after you free Halister and venture into the Underdark is lost. This includes anything you hoard in the 'Gatehouse' because you can't find enough backpacks.


Where's my stolen gear!?
It is in a black chest in a Drow camp, near some tents.
OK, got it. THAT IT!? Where's the rest of my gear!?

Ah, here's the trick, which I consider NOT a cheat but fixing a flaw in the code…
Get everything out of the chest. Save the game, then open the chest. It's full again, but of different items. Repeat this until the chest is truly empty.
Now, the first time around this was perfect. The second time, for some reason, it ate all but one of my bags. Everything to the last skeleton knuckle was returned, but I had nothing to put all the accumulated junk in!
*MUTTER*
Just looked at the screengrab I made. It seems you can always scroll the contents left and righ instead to get them all. D'oh. The hours I spent, I wasted shuffling items from inventory and back. Darn it!

Incidentally, I've noticed this on a few mobs too. If the corpse doesn't fade away it's probably because you haven't got everything.

Chapter 2

What is the thing with Nashers gear?
I won't spoil the fun of searching, but three of the four items are on merchants. If you want to get them all I suggest you don't go all aggressive before you have them, eh.

The items consist of a cloak, ring, boots and gloves and, if worn as a complete set, at least doubles the enchantment on them while equipped.


Pearl of Tongues, Pearl of Bashing ~ How do I work the bridge control?
If you aren't smart enough you can use the 'pearl of tongues' to help you open the bridge control for entry into the Beholder caves.

I admit the 'pearl of bashing' took me longer as I'd already solved that puzzle, but it is actually an 'easter egg' of sorts.


Illithid caverns of Zorvak'Mur
I'd advice you get the Helm of Shielding from the duergar as you enter the area.


Magic dead zone in the Beholder area
I can see this confusing a few people, but the clue is given at the base…
Simply press the outer plates to match the (fixed) innermost one in each arm.


On the Island of the Maker
The clues are in the tomes, but if you are wondering what the heck to do in the 'control room', think digital LCD.

Observation for those with a high armourers skill, if you fight the adamantine golem you can have a bar of the metal… The duergar on the island do mention wanting some in conversation, but there's no mini-quest there. I feel this is a GREATLY missed opportunity by the developers, even if selling the ingot only gave the cost and a hundred XP, especially while there's only two bars in the game.


The lightning trap
The sling and bullets are the clue. Take out the magic mirrors before they discharge. You'll find it is easy if you use the space bar to aim between shots.


Golem Construction Machine - Controlling Amulet
Another irritating point for me, and many others, if seems, Googling as I was for the solution myself…

It is to create a summonable 'Shield Guardian' to battle for you. Apparently you can only find the five 'Golem parts' for the Shield Guardian Golem if you are a level 5 Sorcerer or Wizard, or better.

AGAIN, I see this as a plot, scenerio failing by the developers. Personally I think they messed up! Too late now, unless they read this and fix it in a patch, but here's how I believe it should go:

Any class can see and get the items, but only the relevant characters can actually cast the spells on the device. After all, this is exactly how it worked for Eltoora's tomes, and for a few others using the alchemists chests.

Given the duergar are scavenging for golem parts it seems to me ridiculous that (for those not wanting a personal war machine) there wasn't a side quest to take the torso etc to Dahanna, giving say 100 xp for each part, or, perhaps, 500 or more for the complete shell. Tell me I'm wrong, Bioware!

Chapter 3

Cania and Baator
This really is rather linear, but there are still a few pointers to considers. First off, I'd recommend NOT waking up the Sleeping Man until it's time. Remember, amulets, potions and ioun stones, even shields etc can boost weak statistics to more usable levels, eh. Same for going on an unnecessary killing spree in the town.

Secondly, once you get the ring necessary to move forward in the game, I advice you to wear it all the time. From the off there are a number of chests and such you can only see when wearing it. Caveat: However, there are a few were the shifted nature of the ring means other chests are invisible to you unless you take it off…

Ice wall / barrier
Notice how you perhaps took a pasting when you encountered the first guardian, transformed as you were to a pixie and so forth. Well, now is the time to look at the sensei's amulet again for inspiration to progress…
Oh aye, got you!
Easy when you know how, eh


Mimic
I laughed long and hard when I entered this place. The developers have a warped sense of humour.

Anyway, getting past the force field barriers - just keep taking the ring on and off to phase shift past them.

You can waste hours here running round in circles after the mimic and rats, but ultimately it will get boring and / or frustrating. Just lay a candy trail of the thrown gems to the center of the area and wait to throw the trigger. As ever save - just in case.


Puzzlers Sepulcher
Obviously the puzzle elements lies in the scattered switches. I won't spoil all the fun (unless you specifically ask), but suffice as to say, there's the white way to do this, and there's the wrong.


Frost Giant castle
You can stop looking. At far as I'm aware there is no key to that huge door. Most annoying!


Name names!
Apparently the Gods never lie but, if you want to save first and experiment, the name of your one true love is - random. Ah. OK. Similarly so for the Sleeping man. Killed the sensei before setting off and found she's 'the one'? Me, I replayed the level again, but you can just rewrite the stars in the heavens and load a save to find his soul mate is actually (now) Nathyrra, Aribeth, or even (if you are a lady) you.

Neverwinter Nights II

The next release is a good year away, but in advance, here's the start of my 'wishlist' for it…

Containers

More, better, containers:

A (hefty) tome for wizards spells
Waterproof leather scroll cases for scrolls and letters
Velvet pouch for gems.
Keyrings and so forth.

One thing I'd really like to see is a 'Bag of Holding that works like the merchants stores. So much easier to organise everything. Plus, the way the bags work at present isn't actually played by the rules. They are supposed to open into a nondimensional space of fixed volume and capacity.

'Bag 1' has a weight limit of 250lb, but 30 cubic feet volume
'Bag 4' allows up to 1,500lb of material and 250 cubic feet for packrats to clutter (that's 6'4" a side, roughly)

Given everything already has a weight (if not an encumberance) I personally see no reason it can't be done this way. Thus a small bag of holding will, at best, allow three full sets of armour (with helm, gauntlets and boots), but an effectively unlimited number of potions, gems and scrolls.

Proficiency skills and components

It REALLY annoys me that incredibly hard to obtain items like the dying breath of a dragon sell for a mere 1 gp. I'll like to see realistic, commensurate prices for spell components such as Slaad tongue. I strongly feel that while the items can be bought from or sold to suitable alchemist merchants, you should be skilled to harvest them.

The earlier Dungeons and Dragons allowed for profiencies like 'herblore' but there's no reason the 'Knowledge' skill can't be used. It already ready allows for Arcana and Nature and, as the (3e) Players handbook says, With your DM's approval, you can invent new areas of knowledge

Here's a few examples:

Knowledge: Herblore: DC 14 to recognise AND pick a Fenberry

Knowledge: Arcane alchemy: DC 24 to correctly remove a 'Rakasha's eye'

If they could be perishable (without a preserve spell, so much the better)

… Crafting and creating (epic) magic items

Like, I assume, a great many others, I'd like to see the option to create magic items. The Epic levels handbook has a whole chapter on the subject, so it's not like there isn't a precedent.

As a basic, you see 'craft weapon / armor' as a prerequisite to the necessary 'craft magic arms and armor', itself needed for 'craft epic magic arms and armor'

True, something like this will be infinitely more valuable in the likes of the upcoming* Dungeons & Dragons Online, but still nice to see. The underlying code is there from Rizolvir, I imagine.

… wears my armour!?

(Pun intended)

Figuring in encumberance and racial size would be great too. An Elf shouldn't be able to don a dwarven platemail (artifact), no matter how high their 'use magic device' proficiency, hmmm. There really should be a basic check that a six foot half-orc can't just slip into the diminutive halfling chainmail. The Hordes does actually point the way to this by offering Merkil's Plate (Dwarven) and the larger 'Searing Armor' for humans and the like.

Ummm…

I cast 'continual light' on my Epic Cloak of Stealth, embed a 'light gem' in my blackened dagger, then effortly fade into the shadows - despite the fact I'm lit up like a christmas tree and am giving the cloaked Drow archers all the time in the world to make 'called shots' to my soft spots!

Anyone else see a flaw here?