ECL Races and NWN 2

[Yosemite Sam]

I believe I recall reading that it would be possible to limit the levels and experience in NWN 2 such that the ECL of a character is limited to 40 (or 20).  Will this be taken into account for things like WL?  Its not a problem now, but I also think its somewhat ignored. Not trying to rock the boat, just point out something that needs to be thought about.  Micheal Mordicia has and effective level of 22 already, and will have an effective level of 23 when he is eligible to apply for WL.  Should this be taken into account? If the races are to be limited in total levels, then I would say yes.

I think its better to discuss things like this before any switch is made, than afterwards.


PS. Thanks to all who where at the first half of my CDQ. The party was great and the contrast of the eviction was just fantastic from a RP perspective.  Thanks Geryon!!

[Dorganath]

Er...not quite sure what you're asking here....
  Though if you're asking if ECL subraces should be allowed to apply for WL status using their effective level vs. their actual level, then I kind of doubt it. ECL is a balancer. Mikey is not 22nd level, he's 19th. His racial bonuses and/or abilities make him stronger than a typical 19th level character, so he draws tougher monsters and/or gains fewer XP to balance things out.

[Ne'er]

While I don't know exactly how it will work in NWN 2, the way I see it currently is like this:

The half-giant (since that is the example used) is much stronger than the other races. Sure, they have some drawbacks from their Int and Cha, but their other abilities more than make up for that. And on top of that, the majority of half-giants are going to be fighters or barbarians anyway, so they don't really need the Int or Cha that they have been penalized of. Thus, a level 1 half-giant fighter ends up far more powerful than a level 1 any other fighter. That is what brings in the ECL.

The ECL makes it so the character won't level up as quickly by configuring them to be, essentially, a higher level character. This is because they are more powerful and have more of an ability to gain xp quicker. Basically, the way I see it is that the ECL is just another way of balancing the character.

So, in my own opinion, I don't think the fact that you have an ECL should be taken into account for applying for a WL position, since its only real purpose is to balance an otherwise over-powered creature.

[Leanthar]

What Ne'er and Dorganath said.

[Yosemite Sam]

I think you miss my point.  I  believe that in NWN2 you can limit the xp a character can get, effectively limiting a character to less than 40 real levels. It is true that a high ECL character can level quickly, espeically at the start.  But that does drop off quite a bit, when they gain xp for killing things as they get into higher levels.  The spawns they get are for the character level, but they gain xp as if they are there Effective level.  This has the tendency to slow things down a bit. If it was that easy to level them, how come so few high level high ECL characters are around.

Please note, I am trying to discuss how things might work in NWN 2, not change how they work now.  If characters are limited ( and I think its fair to do so) by their ECL + character level to 40, how does that affect things?

[Leanthar]

We can't comment on that stuff until we have nwn2 in our hands, sorry. I am not against evaluating things later on but there is a reason that ECL's exist in D20 (D&D) and they have worked for a long time...though clearly this is an online world which D20 does not work well for I don't think. No promises at all though.