When you do the five tomes quest you have access to creating items downstairs or whatever. Are you limited to creating what is in the five tomes or can you create other weapons and such. If so does anyone no of a list that would tell me what makes what?
Also, I just wanted to say that so far you guys are the sh*t. Prompt answers in an intelligent manner is somewhat of a rarity even on the best forums so thanks. I'm enjoying playing nwn as I haven't enjoyed a game since Arcanum or the fallout series (in fact I'm hoping for fallout 3 once TES IV gets its day in the sun.)
Which leads to my other question. Can anyone recommend or not recommend ToEE. I never bought it although I thouroughly enjoyed arcanum (actually I never bought their bloodlines release either). Anyway I've been considering getting it but wanted to get some opinions on it first. Hell as long as I brought it up does anyone have a recommendation good or bad for Vampire bloodlines.
chapter 2 item creation a comment and ToEE
You're stuck with the items specified in the tomes, unfortunately.
I own TOEE, I'd say it's not as good as NWN but it's not bad. It operates in turn-based mode rather than NWN's system which is closer to real-time - It's similar to the turn based combat mode in Arcanum. If you do decide to get TOEE, it does have some bugs, so make sure you look into getting patches for it. Once you've done that, the game should operate fine.
I don't own Bloodlines, so I can't recommend on that one.
I own TOEE, I'd say it's not as good as NWN but it's not bad. It operates in turn-based mode rather than NWN's system which is closer to real-time - It's similar to the turn based combat mode in Arcanum. If you do decide to get TOEE, it does have some bugs, so make sure you look into getting patches for it. Once you've done that, the game should operate fine.
I don't own Bloodlines, so I can't recommend on that one.
Unfortunately NWN does not offer alot of flexibility in the ways of weapon/armor/item crafting, you can only make a handful of magic items (most if which I found little use for as there is usually better equipment available or you will already have that item by the time you can craft it). That being said and going to your second question this is probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of ToEE.
If you elect to take some characters in your ToEE party that are capable of crafting/enhancing magical items (and I recommend you do) you will definitely be pleased. Imagine taking that +1 mace you found and converting it to a +3 mace that is bestowed with the powers of good, lawfulness (extra damage vs evil and chaotic enemies), fire, cold (even more extra damage), and has a keen edge (larger critical hit range). You can really smack your opponents good with such a creation.
To further address your question about ToEE, I somewhat disagree with the previous poster (but not totally). I wouldn't say that NWN is better than ToEE or vice versa. I found BOTH games offered very many strengths but they both had their weaknesses. For example, as previously mentioned ToEE has turn-based combat. Remember that PnP D&D is itself turn based and so I really think ToEE does a formidable job of simulating classic PnP mechanics when it comes to the battles, ESPECIALLY the battles. Also since ToEE is a low level D&D game (max character level for unmodded ToEE is 10), it forces you to really think about the actions you decide to take in combat in a tactical way. The turn based mechanics really facilitate this. A low hit point character can only take a couple good hits before he/she goes down so you need to carefully plan what each of your characters does in the tougher battles to minimize casualties, or in some cases just to survive the battle altogether!
Personally I found that ToEE allowed me to really appreciate my investments into the various skills available. Imagine that those few points of tumble that you put into your rogue really saved her when she was surrounded by a group of baddies that caught you off guard in a surprise attack. She was able to retreat to safety, taking only minor damage while your main tank rushed in to lay down some damage. Also your conversation skills bluff, intimidate, persuade, etc. really go a long way in ToEE. I found the rewards for making successfull checks were greater in this game, forcing you to make a party spokesperson. Also you can create a party of 5 instead of having just a main character and a henchmen like in NWN and you fully control all characters and how they level. This really allows you to create a well balanced party.
As you can imagine I can go on and on about ToEE cause I really enjoyed it. But to summarize some of the not-so-good features of ToEE (compared to NWN):
-max character level is 10. In the NWN OC it is 20, allowing you to see your character fully develop. If you have the NWN expansions, its even higher
-no access to prestige classes. Some of these classes, playable in NWN, are great and really enhance the fun factor
-OC is not nearly as long as the NWN OC (related to the low level bad point)
So IMO the ultimate cRPG D&D experience would be a combination of these two great titles. I really hope to see more games like ToEE with the turn based combat, and highly recommend trying it!
If you elect to take some characters in your ToEE party that are capable of crafting/enhancing magical items (and I recommend you do) you will definitely be pleased. Imagine taking that +1 mace you found and converting it to a +3 mace that is bestowed with the powers of good, lawfulness (extra damage vs evil and chaotic enemies), fire, cold (even more extra damage), and has a keen edge (larger critical hit range). You can really smack your opponents good with such a creation.
To further address your question about ToEE, I somewhat disagree with the previous poster (but not totally). I wouldn't say that NWN is better than ToEE or vice versa. I found BOTH games offered very many strengths but they both had their weaknesses. For example, as previously mentioned ToEE has turn-based combat. Remember that PnP D&D is itself turn based and so I really think ToEE does a formidable job of simulating classic PnP mechanics when it comes to the battles, ESPECIALLY the battles. Also since ToEE is a low level D&D game (max character level for unmodded ToEE is 10), it forces you to really think about the actions you decide to take in combat in a tactical way. The turn based mechanics really facilitate this. A low hit point character can only take a couple good hits before he/she goes down so you need to carefully plan what each of your characters does in the tougher battles to minimize casualties, or in some cases just to survive the battle altogether!
Personally I found that ToEE allowed me to really appreciate my investments into the various skills available. Imagine that those few points of tumble that you put into your rogue really saved her when she was surrounded by a group of baddies that caught you off guard in a surprise attack. She was able to retreat to safety, taking only minor damage while your main tank rushed in to lay down some damage. Also your conversation skills bluff, intimidate, persuade, etc. really go a long way in ToEE. I found the rewards for making successfull checks were greater in this game, forcing you to make a party spokesperson. Also you can create a party of 5 instead of having just a main character and a henchmen like in NWN and you fully control all characters and how they level. This really allows you to create a well balanced party.
As you can imagine I can go on and on about ToEE cause I really enjoyed it. But to summarize some of the not-so-good features of ToEE (compared to NWN):
-max character level is 10. In the NWN OC it is 20, allowing you to see your character fully develop. If you have the NWN expansions, its even higher
-no access to prestige classes. Some of these classes, playable in NWN, are great and really enhance the fun factor
-OC is not nearly as long as the NWN OC (related to the low level bad point)
So IMO the ultimate cRPG D&D experience would be a combination of these two great titles. I really hope to see more games like ToEE with the turn based combat, and highly recommend trying it!