New to server, question about wands / scrolls, and pets.

[neverborn]

Hello, I am completely new to HG, and kind of new to NWN servers in general.  I have tried a couple, but not for more then a few days.

I want to give HG a try, and have a question about magic item creation like scrolls and wands.

I remember that in the base game there where some issues with making your own scrolls and wands.  Most spells didn't have very many versions that could be put on items, so for example a scroll of fireball made by a level 20 wizard was the same as one made by a level 10, it didn't scale because of the limited versions (caster levels) of fireball the game could apply to items.  (maybe not fireball specifically, but many spells where like this)

I think servers running NWN have this same issue unless the admins script around it.  How do scrolls and wands (and maybe potions) work in HG when crafted by players?

And a related question, is the number of charges on player crafted wands random, or fixed like the pen and paper game?

Last question, I think summoned creatures and familiars caused an XP penalty for wizards in the base game.  I have read that grouping with players gives a XP bonus on HG, but what effect do pets and familiars have?

[Deleted]

No penalty for pets / familiars.
Random charges on creation for crafting, but recharger items exist in end-game. Or ask an end-game player to recharge your item.
Your CL issues are somewhat rectified.

[simpetar]

First of all: welcome to HG

1. Scrolls and wands crafted by players give you spells cast at their lowest possible level. So for instance, wand with Fireballs will be at caster level 5, scrolls with Thunderclap will be at level 13. Character level does not matter. Some scrolls are still worth scribing in later game, mostly with utility spells, such as Black Blade of Disaster (awesome for distraction), Greater Sanctuary (for hiding), or Stone to Flesh (to cure petrified people). However, there are custom wands to be found, rods to be bought and potions to be brewed at the alchemist (require special ingredients) with spells cast at much higher level. None of these have anything to do with the original item creation feats though.

2. Wands crafted by players have their number of charges random. A wand can usually hold 50 charges at most, and after depleting the last one, it is destroyed. In the late game, you can find or purchase devices that will restore charges.

3. No XP penalty for familiar death. You take 1d4 magic damage when they die and then you can resummon them after rest.

[neverborn]

Dec 11, 2021 6:52:03 GMT simpetar said:

First of all: welcome to HG

1. Scrolls and wands crafted by players give you spells cast at their lowest possible level. So for instance, wand with Fireballs will be at caster level 5, scrolls with Thunderclap will be at level 13. Character level does not matter. Some scrolls are still worth scribing in later game, mostly with utility spells, such as Black Blade of Disaster (awesome for distraction), Greater Sanctuary (for hiding), or Stone to Flesh (to cure petrified people). However, there are custom wands to be found, rods to be bought and potions to be brewed at the alchemist (require special ingredients) with spells cast at much higher level. None of these have anything to do with the original item creation feats though.

2. Wands crafted by players have their number of charges random. A wand can usually hold 50 charges at most, and after depleting the last one, it is destroyed. In the late game, you can find or purchase devices that will restore charges.

3. No XP penalty for familiar death. You take 1d4 magic damage when they die and then you can resummon them after rest.

OK, so no xp penalty for using a summon and familiar every fight, it wont effect a wizards speed of leveling.

As for the wands and potions, it sounds like its not going to be worth making a wand of fireballs (for example) at level 20 or 30, because the result will be a level 5 wand.  And for utility spells the free scribe scroll feet will do fine.  You also mention special potions that will be useful, but don't require the feats?  So it seems likely that players on this server don't waist feats on item creation.

That's a shame, I love crafting.

Maybe armor and weapon crafting skills are more useful and fulfilling?

[simpetar]

Dec 11, 2021 8:50:25 GMT neverborn said:

OK, so no xp penalty for using a summon and familiar every fight, it wont effect a wizards speed of leveling.

Correct. A lot of wizards and sorcerers use Pixie primarily, for general rogue duties (picking locks, searching for traps and secrets, etc.) Familiars scale with your level even beyond lvl 40, but eventually monsters hit so hard and have so many special attacks that they get summoned only on seldom occasions. During early levels though (say, lvl 30 and below), familiars can hold their ground, especially if you give them some love and buffs

You also mention special potions that will be useful, but don't require the feats?

These potions and consumables come into play generally after level 40, and some of them have effects far beyond simple mimicking spells.

So it seems likely that players on this server don't waist feats on item creation.

Correct. HG is very much a min-max server, and many builds simply don't have the luxury of spending feats on item creation. Although some people keep dedicated and specialized crafting characters for various purposes. For instance Holy Sword wands offer melee characters on-hit breach which is handy for stripping lesser casters off their buffs.

That's a shame, I love crafting.

There IS crafting on HG, but not in the usual sense of creating new items. It has more to do with fixing, tweaking, and improving certain items you already have. This is quite a vast topic to cover in a forum post; in short, it involves secret "random drop" items, (secret) crafting materials, and it lets you add new properties, fixing or restoring lost properties and many, many other things. Additionally, certain weapons you find can also be reforged and have their damage types altered, that's a whole other kind of "crafting".

Maybe armor and weapon crafting skills are more useful and fulfilling?

Yes, in a way. Aside from altering your outfit's appearance, every 40 points in Craft Armor skill improves your Armor Class by 1 (up to +3 at 120 Craft Armor), and similarly every 40 points in Craft Weapon improve your Attack Bonus by 1 (up to +3 at 120 CW).

Not going to delve into crafting and setting traps here (many people find it waste of time, and rightly so), but it is also a thing that exists

[boroie]

Welcome to HG! It may seem very daunting but stick with it, its an unbelievably customised server with so much content added beyond the traditional 1-40. Levels go up to 80 here for one thing with commensurate power increases at different tiers. I'd recommend having a brief look at this link, it does not go into huge detail but illustrates some of the skills/feats changes that were made. 
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Custom_Changes

There are some exceptions to the CL rule for scrolls, for exampleI believe Mordenkainens Disjunction is read at the actual caster level of the character, not the minimum scribe level (17) for the purposes of determining how many spells are stripped and what SR is reduced by.  

[chirality]

Dec 11, 2021 10:32:06 GMT boroie said:

There are some exceptions to the CL rule for scrolls, for exampleI believe Mordenkainens Disjunction is read at the actual caster level of the character, not the minimum scribe level (17) for the purposes of determining how many spells are stripped and what SR is reduced by.  

Close, but not quite. Character level of the user, not the caster level. Subtle, yet important, difference.

neverborn Not sure which aspect of crafting you love--customizing the appearance of gear or brewing/scribing your own stuff. In their case, HG offers plenty of opportunity. As simpetar mentioned, however, as you peruse forums or ask ingame, just keep in mind that the term "crafting" may be somewhat confusing, as it is used by HGers to refer to the special process by which the properties of an item are changed, via either reagents (generally referred to as "secrets") or gems (for weapons). This phrasing is often used interchangeably with "forging." However, people also use the term "crafting" to refer to modifying the appearance of gear and weapons, as well (via the vanilla Craft Armor/Weapon skills, which work as expected, and usually in conjunction with Universal Dye Kits purchased in the starting town). So, just keep in mind that you'll need to rely on context clues to know what "kind" of "crafting" people are talking about when they mention it.

[magecat]

Welcome to the server, here's a couple of helpful links...

Webdash: Near real time status of the HG environment - webdash.hgweb.org/

Set Loot Spreadsheet: List of things that are Always there (Spoiler Alert) - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aYmBT3Ag_JVNCrA7XqLjeqDv4TfF42NNfUyaHoRXwDk/edit#gid=0

Quests page in the Wiki (Spoiler Alert) - wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Quests

[jelricle]

Dec 11, 2021 6:08:27 GMT neverborn said:

Hello, I am completely new to HG, and kind of new to NWN servers in general. 

Welcome to HG! Is neverborn your user name? (Not the name of your toon/character but how you login?).

HG is so customized that it is practically a different game from the regular NWN mods. It is like C++ vs regular C programming language.

As a bit of an eternal newb, myself, I wanted to pass on some insights and some things I wish I had known earlier on, from that perspective.

1) I have played a bespoke shifter build that is far from min/max. I just had fun exploring and following the plot threads. It has carried me, largely as a soloist, up through the 50’s (At level 60, I am going to finally reincarnate my character with one of the HG specific sub races, using a more powerful build and sacrificing a bit of well rounded-ness. I have no doubt that this will be to the relief of many veterans who, even so, have gone out of their way to include me in groups. :-D )


2) I want to underscore magecat’s quest link. Following those quests from the docks is a great guide as you play the pre-immortal game.

The wiki is great. I also wanted to highlight the accomplishments page:

(Spoilers, of course, but only if you click on the hints)
wiki.hgweb.org/wiki/Accomplishments

Achieving those pre-legendary accomplishments let’s you gauge your character progress and provides perks to your character if the quests are completed before the level cut-offs.


3) A lot of commands can be typed into the command/voice bar.

!newbie — Feel free to shout out questions by typing: !newbie <your question here>
It will post to all servers, and you almost always get responses

!tell — you can talk to somebody directly by typing: !tell “<user name>“ <your message here>
The quotes are only needed if the target person’s username has a space in it. The message will be queued for them if they are not presently on-line and will be delivered when the log in

!portal — Jump between the many servers with: !portal <server number>
111, 119, 211, 212, 213, 214, 311, 312, 313, 314, 411, 412, 413, 414. You can see how long a server is up by typing: !list servers

!who all area — This will list everybody presently playing, what server they are on and what area of the world they are in


4) You can only have 150 slots taken up in your inventory!!!!! That includes within your containers/bags. Each non stackable item is one slot, and each stack of stackable items is a slot. You can store any number of extra items in chests in the bank. (See point 5, below)
To count your inventory, type: !count inv
If you are in the town with more than 150 inventory, you get teleported to “Encumbria” where you will have to sell or drop items until you are at 150 or below.

5) Put things in the bank. In the town docks is the bank. Inside the bank, just go to the lower right (South east) and there is a pedestal that will send you to your vault. Use the Transfer chest to store extra items. You start with just the default chest, but you can create as many as you want (and/or switch to any of them) by typing: !bc <name of new chest>
You can list all your chests by typing: !list bc

[magecat]

!list bc - Tells you the name of all bank chests associated to the account (not the character, but the account you logged into).

Bank chests allow you to transfer things between characters. It is strongly recommended not to use the Persistent Storage Chest, as all of the inter-character functions work through the Persistent Transfer Chest.

!wallet - account wide money functions, usually only works in town.