Guide to SPL for NWN Newbies
What is Neverwinter Nights?
Neverwinter Nights is a roleplaying game, adapted from the Dungeons and Dragons system, 3rd Edition (3e, 3.5e), as compared to eg. modern D&D which is 5th Edition (5e). It is an old game, adapted as best as possible for the modern gaming world. It is a labor of love and it is often janky, but the roleplaying communities of today is why it still has an alive and vibrant community of roleplayers, modders and module makers. Most of NWN play is played on persistent worlds, that is multiplayer servers. This is a quick guide to help you out understand what is happening when players say arcane, magical terms such as "Armor Class", "Hit Die" and more.
Basic D&D 3.5e Concepts
D&D, and with it Neverwinter Nights, is heavily orientated towards combat in terms of mechanics. SPL is a constant roleplay server, but it also has combat, and many players appreciate mechanical PVE combat (Player vs. Environment). SPL does permit PVP (Player vs. Player), however it is not primarily a PvP server.
The Neverwinter Fandom Wiki explains many concepts in a far clearer, though complicated manner. It's accurate for things that haven't been changed on SPL. The guide following this is for those who want a brief, quick guide for the most relevant things, or if the NWN Fandom Wiki is unavailable (let's hope it stays available).
Each Player Character (PC) has their own Hit Points (HP), Attack Bonus (AB), Armor Class (AC), Ability Scores, Saves, Skills and Feats. PCs have their professions & capabilities and their race of origin, some mundane, some strange, some planar. Some have or strange powers from their class. Ability Scores describe what your PC is like, are they strong, weak, agile, slow, etc. Skills describe what These random names seem complicated, but will be clearer when in context.
Because D&D 3.5e is a d20 system, that means it primarily uses 20-sided dice to solve all sorts of things. For clarity, that's what d20 means, 1 to 20, randomly chosen.
The game uses lots of dice rolls. You don't have to do any of them to play, so this is purely for understanding what is happening (and maybe understanding what you need for your build). Due to the complexity of 3rd Edition D&D, we highly suggest that you ask for a build from the more skilled and knowledgeable players that'd suit your roleplay and mechanical desires. We also have the test character system to allow you to make a test character.
Basic Combat
Hit Points
To represent your PC's lifeforce and survival in combat, you have Hit Points. Different Classes get more or less Hit Points (eg. Wizard gets d4, while a Fighter gets d10 to represent the Fighter being sturdier in combat). For each level (or hit die) you have, the more HP you have. The more Constitution you have, the more HP you have by adding your Constitution modifier to each level you have (You get your CON modifier by subtracting 10 from your Constitution, and dividing by 2). On SPL, you do not roll for HP, you take the maximum amount (eg. d6 becomes 6).
HP: Levels (Hit Die) * (Class Hit Die + CON modifier)
If you're multiclassing (have more than one class), you add those two classes' HP together. Example, 6 levels of Fighter and 4 levels of Wizard (a total of 10 Hit Die) with 12 Constitution would be:
6 Fighter * (d10 + (12-10)/2 + 4 Wizard * (d4 + (12-10)/2) = 6 * (10 + 1) + 4 * (4 + 1) = 66 + 20 = 86 HP
A Fighter of 10 levels (10 Hit Die) would be 110 HP in this case.
Ability Scores
To represent your PC's physical and mental attributes, your PC has Ability Scores:
- Strength (physical prowess and sheer might)
- Dexterity (agility, movement, evasiveness)
- Constitution (endurance, life force)
- Wisdom (mental fortitude, mental endurance, willpower, perceptiveness)
- Intelligence (mental faculties & processing)
- Charisma (personal presence, force of personality, attractiveness & persuasiveness)
Your raw score is what you have on character creation, and what you increase when levelling up (every 4 levels). However, you primarily use your Ability Score Modifier for bonuses. This is gained by taking your Ability Score, reducing it by 10 and then dividing by 2. The modifier is always rounded to the worse option (down for positives, up for negatives). The bonuses can be positive, but also negative. Examples being, 16 would be +3 (16-10)/2 = 6/2 = 3, while 9 would be (9-10)/2=-0.5 = -1
Attacks
When an Attack happens, the Attacker rolls a d20 and adds their Attack Bonus, against the Target's Armor Class. The higher your AB, the more likely you are to hit. The higher your AC, the less likely you are to be hit.
Attack: d20+AB vs. AC
When an Attack succeeds, the Attacker rolls Damage depending on their Weapon and Damage Bonuses. For every Weapon, you add your Strength Modifier (Take your Strength, remove 10 from it and divide it by 2) and do damage. Some weapons have damage bonuses, such as a flaming sword, an arrow with ice, etc.
Damage: dX+Damage Bonus - (Damage Resistance or Damage Reduction)
If the Defender who takes damage has Damage Resistance, Damage Reduction or Damage Immunity, they take less damage depending on what they have. If they have Damage Immunity, they take a percentage of damage less (eg. 20% DI means they take only 80% of the Damage they would've taken.)
Improving AB, AC and Damage
You get more AB by having a higher Strength modifier, or Dexterity modifier with Finesse weapons (agile, small weapons), having stronger weapons and using magical effects, powers and so on.
You get more AC by having a higher Dexterity modifier, or by using armor. However, heavier armors cap your Dexterity modifier bonus, so really evasive PCs usually wear light armors or even clothing, while less mobile, sturdier PCs wear heavy armors.
You get more Damage from having stronger weapons, more Strength (or Dexterity on SPL with a certain Feat), using magic or certain effects.
Saves
Often times, there are magical effects, poisons, spells and other things affecting your PC. To try to resist such effects naturally, you use your PC's Saves. Will represents your PC's willpower and mental resistance. Fortitude represents your PC's vitality and resistance to disease and poison. Reflex represents your PC's agility and evasive prowess. You gain Saves from your Class Levels and from Ability Score Modifiers, Wisdom for Will, Constitution for Fortitude and Dexterity for Reflex.
To represent how powerful an effect is, it has a Difficulty Class (DC) to measure how likely a PC is to resist it.
When affected by an effect, you roll your Save vs. the DC of the effect.
Saves: Save (Will, Fortitude or Reflex, depending on the effect) + Save Modifier(s) vs. the Effect DC
Skills
To measure a PC's capabilities gained along their journey, you have Skills. Skills are usually rolled as a d20 to show how capable a character is (or isn't). On each level up, you add more Skills to your character based on your Intelligence modifier. Some skills can only be used if the
Skills: d20 + Skill Point + Ability Modifier vs. DC, or another (N)PC's Roll
On SPL, we also have the Roleplay Skills system to allow PCs to have more Skills to represent a nuanced character (and reduce the need for powergaming builds). Skills are used in various ways, on SPL you can use them in Roleplay by using the Ability Rolling System. Some areas of the module might check your Skills automatically. Do take note that PCs are not obligated to follow Intimidate, Deception and Persuade rolls; and be sure to read the Rules.
Feats
Feats are special traits your PC gains as they level up. Some can be minor boosts to power, while some are necessary for a mechanical build to function. Please be aware that many of our Feats are custom, or edited, compared to Vanilla NWN. You gain a feat every 3 levels (and 1 on level 1, 2 if you're a Human PC). Some Classes give you more feats as necessary.
Spells
Some Classes have spellcasting abilities. A spellcasting class usually has an appropriate mental attribute associated with spellcasting, eg. for Clerics & Druids it is Wisdom, for Wizards it is Intelligence, etc. These abilities affect how many spells you can cast, and how strong they are (usually for DCs). Damage tends to scale with the class level of the class that gave you the spells.
There are cantrips (very weak, simple spells) and spells from circles 1 to 9, where the most powerful of spells are circle 9. Some spellcasting classes are prepared spellcasters, meaning you prepare spells ahead of time in spell slots and then have to rest to gain them, while some classes are spontaneous casters, which means they know some spells at all times, and can cast them freely to a limit, after which they have to rest.
Elementary NWN Tips
You move by left click, you have many different commands on right click, varying from emotes, to spells, to commands. While a newbie, be very careful with right clicking on allies, especially NPCs, so that you do not accidentally attack them (the sword icon).
You can bind items, spells, powers and abilities to your hotbar, and there's three hotbars (F1-F12, Shift + F1-F12 and CTRL + F1-F12).
Some say that spellcasters are a good way to learn NWN, some say that simple martial (combat, non-spellcasting) classes such as Fighter are a good way to learn NWN. Make a test character, see what you find enjoyable.
Tips & Tricks for Newbies to Roleplay in NWN
A good reminder is that you are constantly in character on SPL, except when in the AFK room (the command /afk to go there). If you need to speak out of character, use (( text )) you are OOC (Out of Character), or use tells (/t "Character Name" or /tp "Player Account Name") to send them a direct message (a tell). Try to keep OOC chatter to a minimum in public channels (speak, whisper, hush, party, etc.), use tells or the Discord for that.
In-character conflict often happens, especially in Planescape, a setting of great conflicts. It's important to stay polite, respectful and not get heated Out of Character, despite In-Character tensions. A Guard investigating your character's behavior, or a Bandit in the Hive threatening you, or an Athar mocking your Cleric doesn't mean that the Player is against you personally, merely their PC being in conflict with your PC.
Remember that some areas frown upon, or may even legally punish, those who show their weapons in city areas (such as the Market Ward in Sigil). You can unequip your weapon (and shield) in the City; while some areas might be dangerous to even approach without a weapon in hand.
If you are new to Roleplay in NWN, it's usually customary for PCs to walk (think about whether your character would be running all of the time or not, an old wizard wouldn't certainly, while an impatient warrior-adventurer maybe would). You can use Detect Mode (a magnifying glass icon) to toggle between walking and running; if you're playing an Elf (or Detect Mode doesn't work), you can use the command /walk to toggle it on and off.
While you're getting used to NWN, you can use /freeze or /lock to disable your character's movement temporarily so that you do not accidentally run off during roleplay (/unfreeze or /unlock to disable it!).
You can use the command /descedit to change your PC's description; it's good to describe how your character appears so others can understand what your character looks like. Remember to keep it reasonable.
You can use /w to whisper, or you can use the custom SPL command /hush <0-7> to whisper in a different radius. If your character wants to shout across a distance, you can use /sh to shout (the /s command is only for DMs). Party chat (/p) is enabled on the server, and is exclusively IC-only. Use it only when reasonable such as across transitions that are close to each other, but cannot be seen in normal chat.
You can use /listpcs to find people who are interested in roleplay, but it's always best to check ahead of time if they are not in a public area to see whether they are intentionally on the list or not. Remember to respect the metagaming rules.
If you need to contact a DM or speak to a DM during an event, you can use /dm; however this only works if a DM is online in-game to see it, if you need assistance, put a Ticket up on the Discord.