Neverwinter Nights 2: Warcry sits down with Ferret Baudoin

1. With the 3.5 rule set changes, how do many of these changes affect the outcome of skills and feats?

Ferret: A lot of us at Obsidian Entertainment play Dungeons and Dragons and we've had quite a few after hours campaigns, so we know our D&D. 3.5 brings some welcomed improvements and where applicable we put them in NWN2. Skills don't change too much due to 3.5 changes, but there are a number of feats that have had some changes in 3.5 that we've updated. A couple of notable ones is that Ambidexterity gets lumped into Two-Weapon Fighting (so go Florentine fighters!) and some of the background feats for the Realms were beefed up a bit in Wizard of the Coast's Player's Guide to Faerūn.

2. Community members talk quite a bit about broken feats in NWN such as the Ranger feat Hide in Plain Site. What are your plans for taking action on these feats?

Ferret: There definitely will be some balance tweaks in NWN2 - and Hide in Plain Sight is under review for it. The thing is that there is often heated debate in the community about what's broken and what's not, and we argue about it, as well. But we listen to the community discussion on issues like this.

3. Are there any feats that will not be making it into the game? If so why? (maybe better way of asking is what new feats will make it into NWN2?)

Ferret: BioWare had a bunch of fun feats in NWN1 and its expansions, so when we were looking at what feats we wanted to add we looked at things that gave the player more options or more fun choices in the sequel. One class of feats we've added are feats new to 3.5 - some of which are really important additions (like the Fighter specific feats). Other feats that were added are favorites from pen-and-paper. And others were to make sure different classes have feats they can't wait until later levels to pick up.

4. You have commented in the forums that you are sticking with the Lore skill instead of breaking down to the different Knowledge skills. Based on this will you require Spellcraft to identify items or will you just lump this up under Lore?

Ferret: In a computer game RPG having different Knowledge skills would get tricky fast - because to make them worthwhile you'd have to have a lot of specialized dialog to make the guy that picked up Knowledge - Religion feel like they got their money's worth. That could get tricky, and instead we stick with the one skill - Lore, like NWN1. It will still be used to identify items because that alone makes the skill tempting to pick up. And the fact you get to sound like a smarty throughout the game is another perk. 

5. Will you be upgrading spells to the 3.5 definitions?

Ferret: Yes, we will. There was a good stretch of time where the 3.0 Player's Handbook and 3.5 version were always open on my desk as I tried to find all the nuance changes between the systems. Fortunately, some denizens of the web also provided frightening data on this to help. But many spells have gone through changes because of 3.5. One of the biggies is the Harm and Heal spells which now have damage and healing caps. Many of the stat buff spells have had their duration changed. And many more changes are around.

6. Will you be adding new spells that did not make it into NWN1?

Ferret: In addition to a bunch of the spells from the first game, there will indeed be some new spells. One example (of many) is the Deep Slumber spell which is a buffed up version of Sleep. So now you can send creatures of less than 9 hit dice into la-la-land.

7. What kind of enhancements do you plan for crafting type skills? Will there be a crafting system put into place?

Ferret: Ask us again later. For now, I can only play this tape recording I have of crickets.

8. Are there any plans for implementing spell component requirements for casting spells as there is in PnP D&D?

Ferret: You can get realistic enough in a game to get dull. Forcing the player to remember which components he or she needs for each spell, then restocking them would get tiresome fast. Maybe some people would like it, but most people probably just want to get back to casting their Magic Missile and Meteor Swarm spells.

9. Will spell casters be able to use higher level spell slots for lower level spells as is mentioned in the PHB on p.178 under the section spell slots?

Ferret: In my experience that's a rule which is seldom acted upon in pen-and-paper, and although I could see it's uses it would present some interface headaches for the programmers.

10. Do you have plans on enhancing spell feats visually or with better sounds? Take for example an empowered fireball, should sound bigger and look stronger when it hits.

Ferret: NWN2 has a shiny new graphics engine which takes advantage of a lot of cutting edge video card technology. The upshot here is everything art-wise has been done from scratch. So even if there aren't variations between an empowered Fireball or an extended Haste spell, all the effects are new and should produce "oohs" and "aahs".

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Didn't get enough? Join us on January 26, 2006 at 6:00 PST for the first official DEV chat right here on Warcry. Ferret Baudoin will be joined by Chris Avellone (creative director), Charles Mead (lead scripter), John Morgan (associate producer), Darren monahan (Senior Producer), Frank Kowalkowski (lead programmer) and Tramell Isaac (lead artist)

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