Neverwinter Nights 2 Update

Since it had been so long ago that I had played Neverwinter Nights 2, rather than piece together the who and the why and the where for quests I hadn’t worked on in more than a year, I started from scratch. After some fairly solid playing these last few weeks, I’m at the point where I stopped oh those many months ago.

I rolled a new toon, but picked the same race, class, and name even: Kammris Caulfield, aasimar cleric. I love clerics in D&D 3.5. The ability to wear plate combined with the most powerful and efficient healing in the game is too irresistible, even if other classes might be more fun to play. I take Khelgar the dwarven fighter everywhere I go. Both he and Kammris tank, with Kammris giving his flaming mace an occasional rest to dish out healing when needed.

Quar (sp) is also a must-have party member. The sorcerer deals out face-melting aoe. Without her, fights would last longer and would too often end in defeat. Quar has become almost unstoppable now that she regularly applies Stoneskin. I round out my party with Neekisha (sp), the rogue. She does decent dps when she’s positioned for backstabbing and she’s absolutely crucial for trap spotting and disarming and for unlocking all those pesky chests.

That means I end up always benching the gnome bard, the elven dr00d, and the human paladin. I’m sure they’re fine toons, each and every one of them. I would likely interchange any one of them if my main was a different class than cleric. But since Kammris always shoulders the healing chores, the party’s most primary need shifts to that of dps, crowd control, and dungeon utility.

I’ve read lots of criticism about NWN2’s original campaign storyline. Admittedly, it starts slowly. But it’s building in the middle part of the game quite nicely. When I reached the actual city of Neverwinter, Kammris and company were immediately drafted in the city’s Watch, a police force ripe with corruption and lethargy. We’ve been conducting missions to help regain control of the city, fighting the town’s local mafia outfit. Most recently, I traveled outside the city to track down a disappearing Neverwinter emissary. Two local orc tribes conspired to kidnap, interrogate, and torture the diplomat as part of a larger conspiracy against Neverwinter. I find it all very appealing, especially the voice-work, the quality of which contrasts sharply with that of The Witcher.