Neverwinter Nights 2: Community Update #3

1) The biggest thing I can think of is are they base creatures that you can equip armor on? For example Orcs, Hobgoblins, etc. In NWN1 they had specific models. Do we have that or a nude Orc that we dress?

Ferret: Creatures work differently from the PC in NWN2. You don't start with an orc in loincloth and put any piece of equipment on top of him and he looks just like the PC. Creatures have a variety of their own base armor types which look more appropriate to their nature - more orcish in this case. It's not just the base armor variations for the creature you can play with, you can also mix and match creature specific attachments to provide a lot of variation in your orcish armies and they don't look like PC clones with different skin - they look like a vicious, wicked, and barbaric (and smelly) orcish army.

2) Will there be better options for controlling the behaviour of individual monsters. Currently you would have to change the onspawn or similair script for each monster as I understand it to get them to behave in unique ways, or use a 3rd party AI. Something like a clickable list of possible behaviours and a "use this spell first" type option would be ideal.

Ferret: We'll be announcing more specifics about AI improvements later on. There are some real goodies the scripters (and specifically Dan Rubalcaba) have been working on. But we're going to hammer on them more in QA before announcing the specifics.

3) Are the monsters limited to 4 classes like the players or does it work differently?

Ferret: Nope, the monsters are limited to 4 classes just like the player character. I've been told they use the same code, so a change to one is a change to another.

4) Will monsters have the same (full) animation and voice sets as PCs, or will they have limited subsets like in NWN1?

Ferret: Voice sets works the same way as the original game. Animations depend on the monster. If the critter is humanoid a lot of times it'll use the human animations as a base, which means they'll have access to a ton of animations. Non-humanoid critters have their own animation sets which don't have the same depth as the human animations but they are specific to them. Non-humanoids are primarily built to look awesome in a fight.

5) Will we be able to 'negotiate' with monsters, as in use Intimidate or Persuade to do something with them other than (repeatedly) rack them up as kills?