eneral Information on Character Creation

General Information on Character Creation by Agrafes:

First of all, do not start by rolling up the character. I know it is easy and tempting with the NWN game, but chances are that you are getting so lost in numbers and feats that you forget the most important part:
What is your character going to be?

I do not refer to character classes like fighter, thief or mage. Before you start with that, think about what you want the character to achieve. Does he flee from someone, seek someone? Is his goal to buy a house or marry a wealthy noble? Do not make gaining a certain level your primary goal, because if you loose that (and there WILL be setbacks, believe me), you will loose your characters definition and rob yourself of the fun playing that character.
But do not worry too much if you cannot find a goal right now. If that eludes you, postpone that decision and try to define a goal from what your character perceives when he first enters the city. Pick some traits that define him:

• What will be his primary strength?
•  What will be his weakness?
•  Is he courageous, cowardly? Reckless or careful?
•  Will there be something special about your character? Does he talk with a lisp, stutter?
•  How will he be around other persons? Charismatic or rude, outgoing or shy?
•  How will he react to them? Ignore them, revere them, kill them?
•  Is there something he likes, something he hates?
•  Where does he come from, why did he leave that place?
•  What drove him to come to Phlan?
• Why does he stay?

To sum it up, try to create a picture of your character and flesh it out as good as you can. If you cannot answer the questions above, your character will be a bland, "running to the same quest after the reset" type fellow.

Try to pick a challenge
Include something in your character that you usually would not do. If you overcome that, you will become much more attached to your character.

Regain some distance
So now you have put a lot of effort in that character even before you fired up NWN2 . Now think about it, and realize it is just a game. If someone kills your character, it is just some bits flipping in a computer on the other side of the world (ok, next door for you Americans ). No one attacked you, no-one called you names. Calm down a bit and realize that you and your character are different.

Ok, now I allow you to start Neverwinter Nights 2 and create your character.

Playing
This goes a bit beyond the scope of the title, but bear with me. The first few steps in Phlan are crucial for new players. Take some time. Look around. Speak to people. In no time you will know a lot of people who will know a lot of people too. Ignore the ones who rush quests, send ‘TELLs’ "Are you finished?" or beat up commoners (or, at your discretion, beat them to a pulp). Think how your character would react being in a new city with strange people and rampaging, invincible boys.

In fact, FORGET levels! They are a tool, a crutch to measure success in game terms. You need them to be able to do some of the quests? Well, think WHY you do the quests first!

Why is it right for your character to rush off and risk his life for some people he just met? If you have a RP reason - fine. If not, ask yourself if you really should do that quest. Most of the time it should not be hard justifying why you do that.

Stick with your character

Unless something drastic happens, stick with the idea you developed. "Drastic" of course is relative; just being gifted 300 coins after being robbed qualified as being "drastic" enough to decide that my character would follow a more friendly course than I had originally intended.

So ((something bad)) happened?
Basically, once your character is more than just a bunch of numbers, nothing can be done to seriously hurt your character.
Sure, he might loose a level or his items, but you still have his personality and his friends. Try to see what happened as a step along the way, as a temporary setback. It is easier said then done, for instance I like my character as he is now and would HATE seeing him loose a level again.
You have gone further than just trying to level your character up in a record time. Loosing something might push you further from your defined goal, but it does not harm the completion of the goal at all.

And lastly, don't change the world, change yourself! Bears did kill you? Well, what were you doing out there? Goblins slaughtered you in the overrun Ruins? I bet there was a guard saying you should be careful where you went in there and that you were crazy to do so! A dragon ate you? What do you expect, an invitation to plunder his hoard?

Quit the whining and realize that this world is not there to please you. There are bigger powers at work that do not care much whether you just entered the city and got hit by their fireballs area of effect. The only time I accept that griping about a death is warranted is when a bug caused it. And even then... well, consider it a penalty for doing the same quest over and over again . And since nothing can be done about the more serious bugs - what could you expect? A DM raising you? Think real life. Would you expect to be unharmed when a bus runs you over because his brakes have failed? No?
Why should your character receive such an attention then?

Tips on Role-playing By Reana Talons

Tips on Role-playing

This author of this excellent post on role-playing is Reana Talons, who plays on another server. I've reproduced the post here with permission.

• Choose a character and stick with it.
• You will never distinguish your character by what they can do.
• It doesn't matter how much strength you have or what level you are or what abilities you have. It all means nothing, because anyone can do those same things if they choose.
• What distinguishes your character is how they are known.
• Respect other players.
• Remember that despite what characters say and do. There is another person behind that mask whom you do not know. This person puts
  hours, weeks, and months into his or her character just as you do. Each piece of equipment they own and all the exp they earn, is all paid for with that time.
• If you steal or kill another player make sure that you are earning the right to do so. Make sure that you are returning the time that player has lost to them in entertainment value. Do not cheapen the loss of their XP or goods by doing it OOC. That only makes the other player feel that they have wasted their time in acquiring what they have.
  If for any moment people feel they are wasting their time then they will have bad feelings and leave.

To evil or amoral characters

The above applies especially to you. Being an evil character or PvP character carries with it the responsibility to ensure that you are providing an entertaining time to the players whose characters you are working against.

You must be almost like a DM in that you must be fair in the degree you play your character.

Hunting newbies is not fair. It offers no challenge for a new player to overcome because they haven't a chance. That is not fun for a player.

Do not bring IC things into OOC
Do not say and do things that are OOC if they could be considered combative, cruel, or hurtful. If you are OOC then it is as good as saying or doing those things actually to another player. That is not in game. It is one person abusing another.

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