Neverwinter Nights
- If the game is really beating your ass, pop open the aurora editor that came with the game and make yourself a little one room level with a chest, and fill that with whatever crazy items you desire, gold, etc. Oh and you can make unequippable items with infinite uses of spells that you simply right click and select to use. just remember to save your character after loading him up with gear.
- In single player mode it really helps to have a good NPC henchman following you around. In my experience the best are the Cleric girl, or the Halfling Rogue guy, assuming you are not the same class.
- Skip directly to Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. There is seriously no comparison to the original campaign, these expansions are what NWN should have been and SoU starts at level 1 so there's no need to even touch the OC.
- You can bank your Skill Points as you level up in order to avoid cross-class penalties. This is mostly applicable to multiclassing. For instance, if you're going Fighter/Rogue, you can bank your SP to dump into Tumble (always in multiples of 5) when you take a Rogue level for a big AC boos. This also applies to Spellcraft for magic saves bonuses.
- Healing Kits are kind of a big deal. They can get rid of poison/disease effects with a moderate investment in Heal skill. Healing potions are great, but there's really no substitute for a Healing Kit.
- You only need one level of Monk to get the sick Wisdom-to-AC bonus for Druid/Shifter classes. You can accomplish this with a Lawful Neutral character. However, doing this makes the game stupid easy.
- Low levels can be pretty tough for Wizards and Sorcerers. Make good use of a powerful familiar like the Panther, and also use your most powerful Monster Summoning spell available. Also, get a crossbow for tagging monsters.
- Master the henchman AI as soon as possible.
- When fighting powerful spellcaster bosses, Improved Knockdown (for melee types), Spell Mantle (for wizards) are your best friends.
- Devastating Critical builds, while very powerful and cheesy, are somewhat overrated. You can do better with well-tuned IK/SA fighters, battle bards, or Charisma paladins.
- On your first playthrough, always play as a warrior class(Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin or Ranger) or Cleric. They can take on pretty much any challenge without you knowing what lies ahead. It's easy for spellcasters and rogues to get in over their heads very quickly, and they should always be reserved for a time when you know your way around the engine(and the specific campaign) a little bit better.
- Play at least the Prologue and first chapter of the OC, if only for the tutorial and as a means to judge the other expansions and user mods against.
- The best Familiar hands down is the pixie. She has all the rogue skills and will open chests and disarm traps for you, freeing you up to not lug the rogue around all the time.
- Pursue a romance with the elf commander lady (It's been a while, her name escapes me) it will help you in the end. Just be a nice guy, listen to her problems, exhaust all her dialog trees, check back for something new. She will eventually give you something, hang on to it.
- Summon monsters are very helpful for wizards/sorcerers.
- Pretty much any class you start with will have difficulty with the first two areas (whichever they happen to be). Just keep struggling and use a hireling (The Orc is good but the thief is good for loot) and you should be fine by the time you get to level 6 or 7.