PrCs in NWN2

RangerDeWood · Post by **RangerDeWood** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:07 pm

I'm asuming this goes here because, frankly, the NWN2 forum titles are a bit vague. I was beginning to think of PC concepts for ALFA2 and remembered hearing that there was going to be support for PrCs with spell-level progression if not ones already made up. With the PrC system they already had set up in SoU and HotU, this will pretty much open up at least the possibility of almost every PrC WotC has ever designed. So, with that, I have two questions:

1. Will ALFA2 be supporting PrCs?

2. If we are supporting PrCs, will the Admin be willing to allow the creation of ones that are popular but not necessarily contained within the game of NWN2 itself?

Keep in mind that I haven't taken the time to weed through the jungle of NWN2 forums in search of an answer first, so if this has already talked about, please just give me the link to the proper thread. Also, with the addition of PrCs, this is assuming that there will be PrCs that we will decide are overpowered or simply not plausible for ALFA2. If there were to be an ALFA-wise vote on which PrCs are thought to be the most popular (done much in the same way as the Year Name contest) would Admin be willing to allow those PrCs to be built? I'm not expecting 50 PrCs, but a solid list of 10, or even 5, will be more than acceptable.

Blackwill · Post by **Blackwill** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:25 pm

1. I'm not sure this has been covered. I really do hope PrC are allowed, because they only enhance the uniqueness of PCs.

2. I haven't red anything about being able to create our own PrC classes if they are not supported in NWN2. I think this is still unannounced, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Let's just hope they include the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Handbook Prestige Classes.

Fionn · Post by **Fionn** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:43 pm

I would assume we'll disable them out of box. Once they are tested, those that do not have huge exploit issues (e.g. HiPS) will be enabled as we do now (per PC by a DM).

When we have everything else working fine, or if we get some coder that *really* wants to do PrCs, someone will likely spend time making more. It's highly likely this will come off the vault before anyone in ALFA is high enough level to care.

I would recommend you make your character, then make the character sheet. On the off chance that your character actually goes all the way down a path towards a PrC we have, and you miss a Feat, it's likely a DM will work with you to fix that.

TheCrazyGoblin · Post by **TheCrazyGoblin** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:44 pm

NWN1 ALFA supports them, so why wouldn't NWN2 ALFA?

Some snippets on PrC's

Ferret Baudoin wrote:The prestige classes from SoU and HotU have been updated, but mainly to update them to 3.5 where applicable. We've also made prestige class changes because we have more functionality in some cases which has allowed us to make changes to make the class match the books closer. Some classes didn't need any changes at all, though, so don't expect them to be completely different.

Ferret Baudoin wrote:There aren't any more base classes besides the Warlock, fyi. And in re prestige classes NWN2 all of the gang from SoU and HotU are in + more (Arcane Trickster is the only one announced so far).

Ferret Baudoin wrote:The only new prestige class we've announced is the Arcane Trickster. Trying to read between the lines in dev comments could lead to disappointment - so just beware. We have some cool new classes we'll announce later - so just don't "count" on anything until it goes to press.

Ferret Baudoin wrote:If one of the NWN1 prestige classes has a 3.5 edition change to it, we definitely update that. That much I can say right now, yup yup. I really like 3.5, I was going through and doing a 3.5 pass of some monsters the other day - it's fun tinkering with monster stats, hee hee.

In NWN1, none of the PrCs had their own spell lists. Instead, they had a few special abilities they could use X times per day. Will PrCs (such as Assassins) have their proper spell lists in NWN2?

Ferret: The NWN1 prestige classes don’t have spell lists. That’s one of the reasons we pushed so hard to get spell progression prestige classes in our game because we wanted to have prestige classes that have a lot more “spell power.” There are a lot of prestige classes to choose from, so there should now be something for everyone.

Wynna · Post by **Wynna** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 5:47 pm

I've certainly got no problem with PrCs. We'll test 'em, figure out what's unbalancing, talk amongst ourselves about them and implement what makes sense, imo.

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 8:39 pm

balance issues are the only real constraint. There was an effort to code a whole slew of PrCs for use in alfa with plans and templates written up, but the coding difficulties are what put an end to that effort. So, yes, PrCs will be supported, but not necessarily the PrCs that ship with the game as written.

Swift · Post by **Swift** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:29 am

It could be assumed though that the ones currently allowed in ALFA will be allowed for ALFA2 though, right?

Dorn · Post by **Dorn** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:24 am

The problem with planning for a PrC of course is that they are offered by DMs, not taken by players, and it may be that the story doesn't take you in that direction regardless of what stat/feat/mundane class combination you take. Of course RDWs aware of this...just putting a reminder in for the rest of us

In terms of PrCs in ALFA2.

I agree that it will be AGEs before anyones going to be there. About 4 months after live servers for even the lowest level PrC and that is after 5 months of development. Many will have been developed in the vault in that 9 months and we can take them and tweak them as required.

And the ones currently allowed (ie those boxed) should be again permitted but only after the exploitable parts have been removed as pointed out.

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 5:36 am

Swift wrote:It could be assumed though that the ones currently allowed in ALFA will be allowed for ALFA2 though, right?

there's good reason to believe so, especially if the PrCs are going to be molded to be closer to 3.5 rules. Plus, we already have a pretty good idea about what features on the NWN PrCs had to be changed so less debate there. However, you know what they say..."assumption" is the mother of "fuckup", so we'll see what comes with the game.

RangerDeWood · Post by **RangerDeWood** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:02 am

I agree that it will be AGEs before anyones going to be there. About 4 months after live servers for even the lowest level PrC and that is after 5 months of development.

4 months isn't that long. And I doubt it's going to actually take 4 months for someone to get to lvl4 because that doesn't even happen now. Yes, realistically, I would assume 6 months before the first PrC in ALFA2. This should be more than enough time to develop them properly for ALFA. A Player should never expect a PrC when they make their PC, but if you want to attempt to get one it's usually wise to make a PC so that it's possible. PrCs are a reward in ALFA, as they should be, I was just curious whether they had been discussed by those who are deciding ALFA2 because I'd heard the things that were quoted by TCG.

Grand Fromage · Post by **Grand Fromage** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:43 am

RangerDeWood wrote:
I agree that it will be AGEs before anyones going to be there. About 4 months after live servers for even the lowest level PrC and that is after 5 months of development.
4 months isn't that long. And I doubt it's going to actually take 4 months for someone to get to lvl4 because that doesn't even happen now.

You might be surprised, leveling was far slower at live. Of course, the servers were down half the time and no one knew what they were doing, that might've contributed.

Ronan · Post by **Ronan** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:53 am

As I may end up writing a PrC or two for NWN2, I'd prefer to concentrate on those which allow builds to work well which would not otherwise be able to, and PrCs which give unique abilities not otherwise RP-able. Examples include divine champions / Arcane devotees, armored fighter/mages (so spellsword and bladesinger), cleric/mages, druid/mages, druid/clerics, etc. PrCs which offer slightly different abilities than a base class aren't so important to me. A wizard can RP being a loremaster without actually having loremaster levels, since the difference isn't that great.

These type of PCs are possible with base classes, but mostly they are gimped.

I also kinda hope we replace warlock with a class of our own. Never heard of a warlock in FR.

RangerDeWood · Post by **RangerDeWood** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:41 am

I also kinda hope we replace warlock with a class of our own. Never heard of a warlock in FR.

Neither have I. Personally, I can't believe they're putting Warlock into NWN2 at all as there's so many other, more appropriate classes.

Oh, and while I'm at it.... *points Ronan in the direction of True Necromancer*

JspecWip · Post by **JspecWip** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:26 am

True Necro pfffhaa, Shou Disciple 4tw

fluffmonster · Post by **fluffmonster** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:31 am

is a warlock class something that really bugs people? Its always possible to disable a class I suppose, but it seems the contribution to variety would outweigh the canon clash.