Open locks, UMD, Parry and Thieves of Amn questions

SnorriHT · Post by **SnorriHT** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:43 am

Hi,

I'm not sure what the differences are between NWN1 and NWN2, and I'm hoping that someone with a bit more knowledge and experience can assist. Thank you for your time

Parry
In NWN1 was arguably a fairly useless skill. However I've been reading that with the right build in NWN2 (i.e. with Improved Parry, dual-wielding and obviously lots of points in the parry skill), Rogues can become very viable in melee combat, as well as dramatically reducing incoming melee damage. Can anyone verify this? Does anyone have a parry based character and is willing to discuss their experiences?

Open Locks and Disable Traps
In NWN1 there were traps and doors that only Rogues could disable or open. Is this still the case in NWN2? Does that mean that an Assassin or Thief of Amn etc is limited to opening the medium difficulty locks and traps unless at least one level of Rogue is included in the build?

Use Magic Device
My understanding is that UMD is closer to DND3.5 than NWN1 with respect to its usefulness. Therefore there are likely to be more failures. Is this correct?

Thief of Amn
I've been mucking about with a character builder trying to reacquaint myself with the capabilities of all the classes, as well as having fun with the rock, paper and scissors decisions when making builds.

However I have been unable to unlock the Thief of Amn class. I can fulfill all the prerequisites except for the special requirement to "join the Thieves of Amn guild". Perhaps this is bug in the module or specific only to the NWN2 campaign, though it seems strange to include a prestige class that only can be used in the official campaign.

Can people play Thieves of Amn in Dasaria II?

Delemont · Post by **Delemont** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:54 am

The mechanics of all the skills you listed have not changed from NWN1.

Dasaria is not a Forgotten Realms campaign.

Tinuvhiell · Post by **Tinuvhiell** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:20 am

the only question I know for sure is UMD. It definitely has a higher failure rate than it did in NWN1.

SnorriHT · Post by **SnorriHT** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:33 am

Delemont wrote:The mechanics of all the skills you listed have not changed from NWN1.

Dasaria is not a Forgotten Realms campaign.

Ah ok. I just assumed that Thief of Amn was like a Champion of Torm in that both classes relate to Forgotten Realms, but they would be available for, or adapted to any setting.

obsoletenihilist · Post by **obsoletenihilist** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:42 am

Shadow Thief of Amn is directly related to Forgotten Realms. Champion of Torm was RIGHTLY changed to Divine Champion (which it pretty much exactly was but with a limiting name) so it could be used for any god without sounding silly.

Parry is awesome, dual wielding does not help it I don't think though.

As far as I know as long as you have the pick lock or disable you can disarm anything you want. If a fighter spends the points to have just as much open lock as a rogue of equal level then why should he/she be punished? Getting things open and disarmed for the good loot IS easier with a rogue or class that gives open and disable as class skills however.

Use Magic Device is more brutal as far as I can tell. No more rogues running around with level 9 scrolls constantly.

SnorriHT · Post by **SnorriHT** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 4:54 am

Thanks for the comments Obsoletenihilist...good to see that Parry is now a decent skill

I've heard that dual wielding makes Parry better because the additional attacks allow additional parries.

Delemont · Post by **Delemont** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 5:33 am

SnorriHT wrote: I've heard that dual wielding makes Parry better because the additional attacks allow additional parries.

Not always. Parry will never block more than 3 attacks per round.

You should try searching the nwn forums, alot of your questions have already been covered in detail there.

SnorriHT · Post by **SnorriHT** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 6:50 am

Delemont wrote:
SnorriHT wrote: I've heard that dual wielding makes Parry better because the additional attacks allow additional parries.
Not always. Parry will never block more than 3 attacks per round.

You should try searching the nwn forums, alot of your questions have already been covered in detail there.

Yes my next stop will be the NWN2 forums...thanks for the feedback

Mensha Khaine · Post by **Mensha Khaine** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 8:18 am

dual weapon defense gives you the parry bonus. Dex also gives bonus to parry. The problem is you be doing very little damage. Basically you'll be like a rogue in a room full of undead everywhere you go, but less usefull.

Maankin · Post by **Maankin** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:27 am

Delemont wrote: Not always. Parry will never block more than 3 attacks per round.

You should try searching the nwn forums, alot of your questions have already been covered in detail there.

Is this still the case in NWN2? I know it was in NWN1, but I thought this was solved.

urgualamand · Post by **urgualamand** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 12:59 pm

Another problem with parry is that the round dosnt stop as it should. The parry modifier will drop in the following round too. Example with two rounds:

parry1round1=10+13, parry2round1=10+10 , parry1round2=10+7, parry2round2=10+13

This is NOT a problem if you have more attacks than your attacker.

Delemont · Post by **Delemont** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:47 am

Maankin wrote:
Is this still the case in NWN2?.

Yes. It's not difficult to test either.

You'll find that most of NWN2's mechanics is directly imported from NWN. NWN2 is mostly a cosmetic enhancement to an old game.