Shadows of Undrentide - Overall thoughts

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Harbourboy - Yeah, I think there must be some random drops in there. I tried the module once before with a pure class, charisma based paladin and struggled all the way to the rescue of the guide before giving up. I didnt get a magic longsword until I (eventually) defeated the manticore. I had many of the same problems you and others have described above. As I said in my previous post, I think the module was designed to be played with the cool new prestige classes that came with it, and this included lots of nice bonuses if you played evil. There was a suit of blackguard armour that helped no end, and I had plenty of money and extra experience from killing/extorting people that my paladin wouldnt. I think I got lucky with my choices of weapon specialisations as well. I was dreading not being able to find a decent battleaxe, but the one I did eventually find turned out to be a doozy. The flail was sweet too, although I didnt use it too much except when I really needed to tear things up and wasnt in too much danger of getting pummelled.

A combination of luck, a few savvy choices and adaptability left me with few problems getting through this module, but its easy to see how it could have been exceedingly hard. Its a lasting challenge, and I think that is more a good thing than bad.

 

Right, nothing like the Neverending Prison in the OC. Plus, the relatively low magic setting made a paladin's weapon-related spells useful. Greater Magical Weapon or the Holy Sword spell starts to matter when there's no swarm of +4 and +5 weapons (putting aside the fact you get a real holy avenger earlier than the spells mentioned). Some battles were really difficult but I think I had to reload less than in the OC.

 

Yeah, the thing I found rough with the paladin, though, was that he got very few of those handy spells and their durations were pretty short. It was fine normally but in places like J'Nah's elemental maze the pace slowed to a frustrating degree. Perhaps if I'd stuck at it things would have got easier, but I've played far too many paladins in my time. The blackguard was just too fun to resist and the fact that he started out being strength based rather than relying on his charisma abilities like my pally helped no end in the early stages. He was much better at using magical weapons in which he wasnt focused/specialised (the ice grinder hammer did the business until he found a +1 battleaxe). When he started gaining blackguard abilities they became the icing on the black, demonic cake rather than the only thing he had to rely on.

I might give Raoul the paladin another bash some time, though. I'd like to try all the pally side quests and I woulnt feel obliged to kick Deekin every half an hour for RP purposes. Hehe...

 

****Somewhat spoiler for people who haven't beat NWN***

The only thing I really don't like about the xpac's for NWN, is that I can't continue my NWN character, even though they give me fortunes about fighting more powerful enemies, blah blah blah. There's also no mention of my hero, AT ALL, despite the fact he saved the entire north from becoming a steaming jungle. For the rest I love it. I don't mind the lack of henchmen, because I like using Deekin. Deekin is awesome. Deekin is Deekin is funny and annoying and fun all at once.


****SPOILER ENDED*****

 

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm pretty sure I encountered some book (you know, those bleuish things you probably instantly dismiss ) in SoU heralding of your exploits in the oc.