Is there a benefit to item creation? (spoiler)

[De_Priester]

Clearcut question, are there any items worth creating that you can't also buy or find in the game itself? Personally I haven't found the time or the need to figure out the item creating skills. I enjoy the game enough as it is but I've kept the reagents just in case.

What kind of items are there that really help you out and how do you make them?

Could I simply sell the reagents and buy myself handy items with it or are there special things you can create which cannot be bought from a vendor or found in the game?

Personally I hardly use any potions in the game, nor do I use the scrolls I find, nor do I use the wands or limited use items. As for creating armors, bombs, weapons or potions that do come in handy what are they and are they exclusive to the creation skills?

[Boldarblood]

Clearcut question, are there any items worth creating that you can't also buy or find in the game itself? Personally I haven't found the time or the need to figure out the item creating skills. I enjoy the game enough as it is but I've kept the reagents just in case.

What kind of items are there that really help you out and how do you make them?

Could I simply sell the reagents and buy myself handy items with it or are there special things you can create which cannot be bought from a vendor or found in the game?

Personally I hardly use any potions in the game, nor do I use the scrolls I find, nor do I use the wands or limited use items. As for creating armors, bombs, weapons or potions that do come in handy what are they and are they exclusive to the creation skills?

Over at gamefaqs.com there is a item creation document that you can view. Its definitely worth it.

[Tricky]

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/ ... afting.txt

[fable]

Won't work, Tricky. GameFAQs deliberately gives referral errors if you try linking to anywhere except a main page.

But anybody can surf there and check out the contents of NWN2 for themselves. Just in keep in mind, the question is deeper than simply, "Is there good stuff I can create?" You may want to know as well, "Is there good stuff I can create at a game point when I would find it useful?" And that's not something the item creation FAQ can tell you.

[koz-ivan]

saddly item creation is still more limited then i'd have liked.

to make weapons, armour or traps, you need the following:

1. to be near a forge
2. raw materials (usually 1-3 metal bars. depending on weapon size)
3. weapon mold - these are destroyed in the process of creation.
4. the skill required.

to me there are too many pre-reqs, it's cool to have your pc make their own weapons, otoh it still seems slightly more complex than it needs to be - though so far much more useful than in nwn/hotu.

plus side buying components seems to be cheaper than buying suits of armor / weapons.

i'm wondering about the utility of sliver or cold iron weapons, i may craft some in my game and hold onto them for now. (i'm guessing i'm close to finishing chapt 1)

--

the enchanting process seems better, still has some funky requirements, but i like the fact that whatever oddball weapon you choose you can modify / enchant it.

it may take some time until i get the feel for how rare some of these components are, i don't want to forge a bunch of mithril daggers only to be searching for a 3rd bar to build a suit of full plate. and i've one lump of obsidian that is beging to be used to enchant a weapon, but i'm still holding off for now as i'd rather get more bang for my buck.

--

potions, wands, traps.

never really made use of them before, not sure i'm gonna start now.

though keeping a wand of fireballs handy in case of emergency seems like a valid idea.

[De_Priester]

I know enough, I'm going to sell the reagents to a vendor and buy myself nice gear it's nort worth it for me to go through the effort of creating items. Thanks!

[Galorian]

I'd say item creation is pretty usefull

my lvl15 main (fighter/weaponmaster/dualist) is duel wielding these babies:

(Main hand) JustStinger +5 : Adamantinum Repier +5, +2 magic dmg, +2d6 Holy dmg vs. evil.
(off hand) SkyStinger +5 : Adamantinum Repier +5, +2 Magic dmg, +1d6 Lightning dmg.

Guess what weapon I specialized in?


got 3 attacks with my main hand weapon and 2 with my off hand, with equal attack bonuses - 23/18/13 (crit 13-20/*3)

Numbers between 50 and 70 flash above my enemies's heads at an alarming rate.

I guess some credit should go to my sidekicks for actually forging and enchanting the weapons...

[Padawan]

What I experienced until now is, that one can't buy traps.

For this reason mine main char is crafted in trap making. And, I have some paper sticks around my monitor with ingredients needed.

First I go *ssssssh* (walking on fingers), then I go *KAAA-BOOOM*, and they're blasted. A lot of blood, a lot of bodies.

[lnelsestuen]

I read the item creation list on gamefaqs.com and came upon some interesting items: Gold Filigree Charm & the Infernal Focus 1, 2 & 3.
It says that the Charm is used to summon Mephasm in the Keep and the Infernal Focus 1, 2 & 3 are used for bargaining with him. Has anybody tried using it?
And what is the Mephasm Quest that they refer to? I'm in Chapter III, with one save just before defending The Keep, and have done all that he asked,

Spoiler

releasing him just before fighting Jixas (spelling?) and again in Ammon Jerro's sanctuary

, but apperantly never released he had a specific quest.

[Snipercon]

ARMOR
There is no substitute for Mithril armor. If you don't have everyone wearing it, you are missing out on priceless AC.

WEAPONS
Every good tank should at least try a nice weapon with 5 vampiric regeneration. Casters can probably skip casting because you probably can't do much better than a nice staff or something with cool spells or bonus spell slots.

OTHER STUFF
The +8 ability boosts are pretty awesome. First, think about bonuses to skills, damage, ac, saves, and bonus spells (depending on ability). Then, imagine an item that listed each of those bonuses. Next, try finding an Orc that will drop something like that. Finally, realize the error of your ways and make a trip to the nearest Magician's Bench.

[NeoTiamat]

As for the components, they're pretty rare. In general, you can get better stuff if you craft, but not by nearly as much as it would seem.

The big improvement available is Mithril Armor. It's an extra few points of AC that simply cannot be replaced. Shields however, are best bought. (There are some uber shields available)

With weapons, I find that often the weapons the game provides are as good or better then what you can craft, since it isn't limited by the three enchantment slots. In particular, you can find several excellent hammers, shortswords, scythes, and a really, really good sword.

Crafting Wondrous Items is a bit touch and go. The ones you can create only have one ability, but it tends to be better then what you can get otherwise. So you can craft a +8 Wisdom amulet, but you probably won't be able to craft the weaker Talismen of Pure Good, which gives wisdom, charisma, and spell resistance, albeit at a lower level.

The other thing is that the gems for the really good crafting, the Beljurils, the King's Tears, the Star Sapphires, aren't usually available until very late, and in small numbers. I think I only found two Beljurils in the game. So don't expect to give your entire party Belts of Giant Strength +8.

The other thing that one might not think about is the amount of trouble it takes to craft. I don't know about others, but for me gems were in such short supply that I think I spent several hours alltogether pouring through recipes, and trying to weigh whether I wanted to spend that Star Sapphire on a +4 weapon for my rogue or +4 armor for my cleric. +1 AC or +1 AB? Decisions, decisions

Generally I'd say that Crafting is worthwhile, if only to get +5 Mithril Armor. Beyond that, use your own judgement. If you're a person who likes to optimize your party, and have an extra character to spend the feats with, go for it.

As for bargaining with Mephasm, it gives you some interesting dialogue and the Infernal Bargaining trait, but nothing really worthwhile, The items he offers are decidedly subpar for that time in the game.

[Magrus]

*nods* The idiocy involved in making crafting items tied to specific, limited appearance items makes the item crafting feats useful only when dealing with the support NPC's. Meaning, you bring one of your party members that you tend not to use out, level them, add a few item creation feats, and then create items with them. Then, put your party back to normal, and run around with the newly created items, completely forgetting the people that crafted them. I would have much rather have had the way it was supposed to be and taken an XP hit instead of a ridiculous hit to my gold and having ludicrous spell requirements (Light for crafting magic weapon and armor enhancements??!!) and idiocy manifested as items necessary to craft my magic items.

The system written up was both balanced and superior to the system implemented to the NWN 2 game when crafting items. Whoever implemented this new system should be beaten to death the compenant parts of the PC they used to program them into the game.

I would MUCH rather have to deal with my human Wizard ending up as a 19th instead of 20th level wizard having crafted numerous items for the party and blowing a good amount of gold than the way things amounted to already. To implement the feats as they are made me cease to want to play the game. For someone who knows how they are supposed to work it is like a guy showing up at a porn convention with a blindfold on. You know fun stuff is there, you just can't access it! Building your main character with item creation feats is a waste of your character unless you get the ohmygod scribe scroll feet free as a wizard.

I made a wand, and had to spawn the ridiculous amount of gold necessary to do so onto my wizard when I made the wand. I know what it should cost to make a wand of fireball with a 5th level. It is exactly 5,625 gp, with a 450 XP cost. You try crafting a wand of fireball in NWN 2 and see what it costs you.

[De_Priester]

It seems to me that there is so much effort involved, so much planning that I'd much rather just enjoy to play the game without getting into the trouble of crafting those items. I'm already fixed on a party and I'll give them the best gear I find selling the other items or giving those to the quest involved characters. Spending hours pondering over what items I should create just doesn't seem like fun to me. I might use those partymembers I don't care about for the crafting skills but I doubt I can be bothered. Ehrm funny to see this thread pop up again didn't expect so....

[Mordraken]

Spending hours pondering over what items I should create just doesn't seem like fun to me.

I think that's what it boils down to. For some (like Galorian who made a number of weapons and armor that could be better than what they found in the game) the aspect of item creation is fun. But if you don't like it, then no matter how easy it is, you probably won't be interested in managing your inventory to find the right ingredients).

I do think that the inventory system is one of the bottlenecks here... if it was easy to sort components and such then maybe crafting would be more attractive.

I for one plan to craft a few things that I expect will be hard to find (or maybe make some things that I don't expect to find until later like Mithril Full plate, or disposable items like wands).

That all said, I hear that the "real" crafting begins at Act 2 when you meat someone called Sand, so if you're not that far, then perhaps you haven't found the "cool" stuff yet. (?)

[De_Priester]

I think that's what it boils down to. For some (like Galorian who made a number of weapons and armor that could be better than what they found in the game) the aspect of item creation is fun. But if you don't like it, then no matter how easy it is, you probably won't be interested in managing your inventory to find the right ingredients).

I do think that the inventory system is one of the bottlenecks here... if it was easy to sort components and such then maybe crafting would be more attractive.

I for one plan to craft a few things that I expect will be hard to find (or maybe make some things that I don't expect to find until later like Mithril Full plate, or disposable items like wands).

That all said, I hear that the "real" crafting begins at Act 2 when you meat someone called Sand, so if you're not that far, then perhaps you haven't found the "cool" stuff yet. (?)

I've been there and further, I just don't think there is a need for those items. I manage fine without them and as a mage I normally blast away everything without my tanks dying. Nah I'm not much for item creation, maybe if I start dying more in later chapters...

Baldur's Gate 2 now that was itemforging, you get a few ingredients, some gold and cromwell forged you something. You didn't need a dozen recipes and a couple of what 30 /40 ingredients just because they "might" be handy.

Nah unless I find that I'm stuck without those "uber" items I'll just blast through

[andtalath@gmail]

My tip is get a couple of nice items for your main character, it is usually worth it.
Giving a non-paladin a +5, holy disruption weapon is awesome, especially since it can be done by level 15.

Also, usually it's a good idea to give the item creation feats to the worthless Grobnar, then let him cast the spells needed from scrolls.

[JackOfClubs]

That's an intriguing idea. I had no real intention of using Grobnar but putting him to work on item crafting has possibilities. Does he level up on his own or will he stay the same level as when you met him until you add him to your party?

[swcarter]

Does he level up on his own or will he stay the same level as when you met him until you add him to your party?

All companions gain experience at the same rate, whether they're in your party or not. Whoever you don't use out of Sand and Qara is a good choice for this, too.

SWC