Summon Mount

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Hello!


I’m playing SoU with a paladin and I’ve discovered a wonderful feature: he gets an ability to summon a horse on 5th level. He can raid, this looks fabulous! The manuals and guides (at least that I’ve red) don’t mention this. I immediately checked letsplays with a paladin on YouTube – nobody ever uses horses. Why? Perhaps it has some disadvantages I’m unaware of?


I also have other questions:

1. I was going to run with Dorna as a rogue and I like her. But then I met Deekin and now I eager this little trickster to be my henchman. Deekin can’t open locks, can he? So I need to take one or two rogue levels?

2. Is Holy Avenger the best weapon for a paladin in HotU? In other words, should I import my character from SoU?

3. Will henchmen in HotU recognize an imported character? Shall I miss any fun interactions if I create a new one? Where is better to import from for more interactions: OC or SoU?


Thanks in advance!

 

1. That was added in one of the premium modules. One that had limited availability before being pulled during a licensing dispute, but then GOG managed to acquire the requisite licenses a couple years ago. Did you get "Neverwinter Nights Complete" from GOG? I somehow overlooked that it was available in the OC. I haven't played SoU since I was using the CD-version. I only played the new expansions after I purchased complete (the only reason I bought the whole game again was it was on sale as a packaged deal, I mostly wanted the expansions).
   
2. Deekin cannot open locks. However the game is supposed to be balanced so that you don't need a rogue. You should be able to bash most chests, especially if you take the Power Attack feat and can find a weapon that can do elemental damage like fire or cold. Unlike Neverwinter Nights 2, you don't usually have to worry about destroying the contents from bashing. it might be worth it to keep a 2-handed weapon like a greatsword, halberd, or other d10 or d12 weapon on-hand just for bashing. With a paladin I would not recommend taking cross-class skills for locks and traps, but a dip into rogue might be worth it. Traps will be extremely annoying, but you should get something that gives regeneration to help deal with that. IIRC drops with a cloak or ring with regeneration were uncommon once you get at least level 8.
   
3. You probably will want to import your character, but [qs]you will be stripped of gear at the start like the Gold Box games[/qs]. You need to start as a high level character in HotU, and unless the game is fully patched you won't like the automatic levelups that blindly follow your "package". I think the 1.63 or 1.64 patch fixed that little problem however. The Complete edition was fully patched to 1.69FINAL.
   
4. Henchmen who appeared in SoU will recognize the character whether or not it was actually used in SoU. The game can't tell the difference, and technically you are importing either way.

 

SlickRCBD, thanks a lot!

1. So it's a new feature. I have Diamond Edition from GOG with all patches. I tried to create various classes in HotU and I fount that only a paladin can summon a horse. Even Purple Dragon Knight can't although requirement for this class is Ride 2.
2. I hate to bush chests and doors and spring traps so I always play with a good rogue. Perhaps I'll add some rogue levels. Or perhaps I'll create a new character: elf rogue X\paladin X with high dexterity (in light armor and with a bow). I would better play with ranger/rogue, but a ranger can't summon a horse.
3. I know that my stolen staff will be found in the middle of HotU, in contrast to Gold Box. Fortunately, in Diamond Edition it's possible to configure package manually. Automatic configuration is nonsense.
4. That's a relief!

 

I can share my experience with horseback riding. Actually it looks better than it works. The horse hastes the hero and greatly reduces all dexterity bonuses – that’s all. Boots of Speed do the same but without negative effects. The horse is big and clumsy and you’ll often be informed that “you cannot reach the enemy” while this unreachable enemy beats your favorite companion. Horseback riding becomes a headache if you intend to open locks and disable/recover traps yourself because you need to dismount every time to do this. However you can search without penalty and open not locked containers and doors while being on horseback. It seems to me that Boots of Speed are much better, although I admit that horseback riding looks cool.

 

Is that added in the enhanced edition? Or in the plain NWN version on GoG? I've only ever played the CD versions, never installed the GoG version (though I have it).

 

Just out of curiosity, what weapon are you using when you "you cannot reach the enemy"? Is it a 1-handed weapon?
Have you tried using a spear or halberd?
In theory other two-handed weapons like a scythe or great axe should also work.

I'm going off P&P there were only certain weapons like a lance, or a type of hammer (was it lunerne?) that could be used from horseback. I don't know what was implemented in the game.

 

I had a katana and a warhammer, short weapon. I guess two-handed weapon could help, I didn't think of this. Anyway I did not like the idea to spoil my paladin with rogue levels. I've already finished SoU as ranger/rogue elf with Deekin, the best kobold in the world.

Edit: I tried to use the Great sword and Two-Bladed sword in my old savegame. Unfortunately it doesn’t work. These weapons are not long enough, they can hit only nearby enemies. The henchman rarely stands so close. The problem is that the horse is not as maneuvering as a footman. It is too big to get around enemies and other obstacles with ease. The footman, on the contrary, can do it relatively easy and even avoid attacks of opportunity with high Tumble. You need to cut a path while being on horseback. In fact it’s not so bad. At least my henchman never died because of this.

 

I've played SoU a few times - though the original versions not the final one; Dorna the Duergar cleric/rogue isn't a bad companion at all. If you multiclass her according to her package you'll have ok healing and trap-disabling and lock-picking. Another option is that you can run through most of a "dungeon" with Deekin, then leave and pick up Dorna to get you past the traps and locks once you've completed everything else you can. That way you don't have to muddy the build of your paladin with rogue levels.

I'll note that in the first editions of D&D the Holy Avenger was the sword every Paladin CRAVED because it had all sorts of neat extra functions that only worked for a paladin. Starting with being a +5 Holy weapon instead of a simply +2 magic weapon.

This may come as a spoiler and I'd flag it if I knew how; but there are a few neat Paladin and Monk items in the game.

 

An interesting idea. Perhaps I'll try it next time.
I didn’t like the Holy Avenger very much in SoU. It has enchantment +5 vs undead. It is good against zombies and liches and not so good against skeletons that require blunt weapon. IMHO the Desert’s Fury is better.
I don't think it's a spoiler.

 

Well, I tested the two-handed greatsword and I did not get any "can't reach" at that first fight right outside the yawning portal inn. I guess I can try to do more testing to see which weapons work and which do not. I'm going to cheat in an edited character for testing purpose, mostly so I can carry an weapon's shop inventory for convenient testing. Golf bagging at it's worst.

 

I can't remember if SoU had very many Bags of Holding. If it does you can use those to carry tons of weapons without worrying about the weight.

 

I was just doing the very beginning, and there aren't any in the yawning portal inn or the surrounding town that I could find.
Easier to cheat in a strength of 25 or something.
Although I forgot about the tests until i got the alert on this thread, I'll do them now.

 

Yeah I suppose a lot depends on when and where you are starting from.

 

For some reason suddenly I'm unable to summon a mount with a Paladin 10/Purple Dragon Knight 5 build. I even tried starting over.
Would somebody care to try my saved game and see if something just botched my game (again)?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TrSdRq-nZXuaRoYgdppBcZB0RuWPgxoJ/view?usp=sharing

 

I summoned mount without problems in your savegame. Do you use the Paladin abilities in the radial menu? You cannot summon mount via the Purple Dragon Knight abilities.

 

I right-clicked, selected character abilities, selected paladin, and tried both right and left clicking on "summon mount". Nothing happened.
I tried putting summon mount on the control quickbar, clicked on summon mount and nothing happened.
Tried quitting and relaunching the game.
I tried clicking after choosing summon mount in case I needed to show where, the character just ran where I clicked.
I haven't modded the game since I tried the greatsword, I have no idea what corrupted my install.

It may have been corrupted from the start, as I haven't tried a paladin until I tried to do these tests, and I had to reinstall a couple months ago when I put a new graphics card in the old computer. I'm not feeling like reinstalling everything from the CDs and then redoing the mods, as I'm working on something else.