Character Creation
Maugeter - The Keys to the City is designed to be played with a newly-created level one character. You should create this character using Neverwinter Nights when you start the module, rather than in advance, or with some third-party creator or editor like CODI's character creator. Changes to skill point allocation, familiars and so forth may result in errors if you use a pre-existing character.
Race
Because race is not important to the people of Maugeter, you will find that they generally do not comment on it. When choosing a race, you should bear in mind that there half-elves and gnomes are very rare and you will not be able to play one as a player character. Half-orcs are also not playable, but orcs are very common and you should use the half-orc racial choice to play an orc. Assuming SetSubRace() works as promised in 1.31, the module will do the rest for you. If you want to play it safe, put Orc in your subrace box, though this makes no actual in-game difference.
No subraces (Drow, Duergar, etc) are supported in Maugeter because in general they do not exist in the world. Trace elemental ancestry resulting in oddly-coloured skin is not unknown, but powerful elemental crossbreeds such as genasi are not permitted. If NWN allowed better control over the menu system I'd love to implement something like this, but it's just not possible.
Class
You can play as any class in Maugeter. More than that, your class to some extent determines your character's story and reasons for being in Maugeter. It is important to remember that no matter how you multiclass, the game assumes you are whatever you started as - a druid who takes levels of fighter will be a part of the druid-only plot, but a fighter who takes levels of druid will not ever see it. If you want to remain in accordance with the game world (I have no way of forcing you to, though I'd really rather you did), you shouldn't take levels of paladin, druid, cleric or monk if you didn't start as one. A starting ranger character could conceivably take druid levels.
For more details on the plots available to different classes, see the Story page.
Barbarians: All barbarian characters hail from the forest village of Duroc, and have a unique plot involving a cure for their sister. Note that the barbarian plot involves members of the character's family, and players who do not like such interference with their character's background should choose a different class. It is my opinion that a tribal character without a family is just a glorified fighter with increased movement speed, and that such familial involvement is as crucial to a barbarian as a code of honour is to a paladin.
Paladins: All paladins in the world are born in the same region, destined to become officers in the Great Army of Ristinnol. Paladin characters have a unique plot involving a trial to earn their Knighthood. Paladin characters must choose which of the Great Army's three Orders they belong to: the valourous Order of the Falcon, the grim-faced Order of Law, or the noble and caring Order of Peace. This choice takes place at the very beginning of the module. A "falling" plot exists for paladins who fail to uphold their vows and ideals. Paladins begin the game with a suit of half-plate armour which they are honour-bound to wear, and which forms a focus for their Detect Evil ability.
Druids & Rangers Druids and Rangers come from the Emberwild forest, on undercover business in the city. Rangers begin the game with a very powerful bow to make up for their otherwise lacklustre performance compared with Fighters in NWN. If I have a chance, and/or inspiration, I'll add in a few bonuses for characters who remain on the Ranger's path rather than falling to the tempation of multiclassing. Druidic animal companions have been substantially altered. See the Familiars page for more details.
Fighters & Rogues As a fighter or rogue you have two choices: you are either travelling to the city to join the Mercenaries' Guild, world-renowned for its skilled warriors, or you are travelling to the city to make your first steps into a profitable life of crime and dark deeds. Though they share the same quests, there are enough methods of resolution to allow for very different play styles.
Bards: Like fighters and rogues, bard characters can join the Mercenaries' Guild or begin a life of crime. In addition, you can choose to be travelling to the city in answer of Lord Abertay's call for the finest entertainer, musician and poet in the land. Traditionally a weak class particularly when alone, Bards benefit from the low-combat (or at least low mandatory combat) nature of the module.
Wizards & Sorcerers: Arcane spellcasters can choose to be travelling to the city in the hopes of joining the Maugeter School of Wizardry, the land's premiere institute for magical tuition. Alternatively, they have the same choices available to fighters and rogues of joining the Mercenaries' Guild or starting a life of crime. Familiars have been completely replaced - now you get to choose your favourite from ten different mephits. See the Familiars page for more details.
Clerics: In order to find your faith and progress in power, you must travel to the city and meet with the heads of the established churches. One of the land's gods is your patron - you just need to find out which one. No alignment restrictions are placed on clerics, although once you have chosen a god the tasks they require of you will quickly shift your alignment to match theirs. Note that only one of the evil deities is recruiting at the moment, but that he takes all sorts.
Monks: Monks have their own unique plot, although they share most of their quests with the Mercenaries' Guild. Monks must choose which of the three orders (A-PRI, A-EN and A-SUR) they belong to, corresponding roughly to good, neutral and evil monks.
Characteristics
In general you have completely free choice for your character's characteristics (strength, dexterity, etc). However, there are a couple of things to bear in mind. Firstly, this is not a hack-and-slash module, and so prioritising your character's martial abilities above all others is not of paramount importance. Secondly, there are harsh penalties for characters with non-physical characteristics (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) below 10. Although there is no "stupid speak", a character with a low Int will simply not know certain pieces of information about the world you might otherwise expect them to. A character with a low Wis has no common sense, and you may receive not receive dialogue options for certain choices you as a player might find obvious. A character with a low Cha has a weak sense of ego and personality, and is prone to believing what they are told - you will find yourself unable to question otherwise obviously suspicious characters because your character has been swayed over.
Skills
The first most important thing to notice about skills in Maugeter is that all skills are class skills for all characters, regardless of class (though this does not affect the class-exclusive skills). This should make a huge difference to how you assign your skill points - and greatly increase the value of the Intelligence statistic.
To give yourself the most flexibility, put a few points into many useful skills rather than lumping four each into Concentration, Lore, Discipline and the other boring hack-and-slash ones (although don't neglect them completely). A couple of points of Open Lock will serve you well, at least early on, as will a couple of points of Disable Device.
Important skills every character should consider are Persuade, which is frequently used, and Heal, one or more points of which can be used to patch up an incapacitated Henchman without using a healer's kit. In general, you should select skills you find appropriate to your character.
A note on Discipline: like many NWN players I am somewhat underwhelmed by the Discipline skill. I have no problem with breaking the 3e D&D rules, but breaking them so that they're worse is unacceptable nonsense. My unhappy solution to this is to make sure that no NPCs in the world have the Knockdown, Disarm and similar feats so you won't be forced to take the maximum ranks in Discipline. However, to make up for this I am trying to come up with places where Discipline can be used like any other skill. I recommend ranks in Discipline for any character of a disciplined nature, such as paladins, monks and lawful fighters.
Maugeter operates a "fixed skill check" system - for more details see the Rules page.
Feats
On the whole, feats operate according to the NWN standard. However, both Weapon Focus and Skill Focus need a little additional explanation. The important thing to know about Weapon Focus is that certain weapons do not exist in the world, and some are incredibly rare, so taking Weapon Focus for them is or may be a waste of a feat.
The following weapons don't exist in the game, and you should not take Weapon Focus with them:
- Light Hammer, Light Flail, Warhammer, Kukri, Shuriken, Katana
(Hammer weapons descend either from Dwarven culture, or as a technologically advanced form of mace. Neither of these exist. Light flails are equivalent in every way to morningstars, and so only heavy flails are included. Kukri, shuriken and katanas are culturally nonexistent.)
The following weapons are rare in the game, and finding powerful examples of them is likely to be difficult, expensive or challenging. You can take Weapon Focus, but it is recommended that you don't do so until you have found one. Interesting, unique magic versions of these items are likely to be one-of-a-kind or not exist at all:
- Double Sword, Double Axe, Dire Mace, Spear, Halberd, Sickle, Scythe, Club, Sling
Double sword, double axes and dire maces are very specialist weapons, and almost always custom made - if you look hard enough you may be able to find one, but they will never be in abundance.
Although spears and halberds are commonly available, they are generally manufactured for footsoldiers and as such very few well-made, powerful or magical examples exist. As such they are not the ideal weapon for the adventurer. Double weapons are extremely rare - you will be able to find them if you look carefully, but you might not find them. Sickles, scythes and clubs are peasant weapons - you might come across the occasional non-magical version, but it would be highly unlikely that you find one suitable for a well-equipped adventurer. Slings are also peasant weapons, although several characters will start the game with one, you are unlikely to find specially enchanted ones except under the most unusual circumstances. Scimitars and kamas are a special case - the people of the civilised lands do not use them, but they are used and manufactured by the druids of the Emberwild forest and the Monks of the Rammas mountains respectively. If you do not start the game as the appropriate class, you will probably not be able to find such weapons.
Other weapons are common in the world, but you should note that swords are in abundance compared with axes and blunts, and longswords are the most common of all. If you want your character to have the greatest freedom of choice with weaponry, either don't take the Weapon Focus feat, or wield a longsword.
Finally, if you start the game with the Weapon Focus feat with a weapon compatible with your character (an axe for a Barbarian, a sword for a Paladin, anything for a Fighter) the game will equip you with one rather than the default weapon for your class. For example, a Paladin with Weapon Focus: Greatsword will start with a greatsword rather than a longsword and tower shield. Choosing Exotic Weapon Proficiency for a character starts them with a bastard sword rather than a longsword. The best way to take advantage of this system is to experiment with it.
Skill Focus is slightly different - I have tried to work in extra abilities for characters who possess each of the Skill Focus feats, but haven't got very far through them all yet. I'll keep this page updated as they get added. At the moment, the only Skill Focuses which give you special abilities are:
- Animal Empathy: the character can speak to animals (all Druids and Rangers have this ability regardless)
- Lore: your character possesses miscellaneous knowledge, including the ability to read Thieves' Sign (all Rogues and character who choose the life of crime character motivation can also read Thieves' Sign)
Class-specific Abilities and Restrictions
A few of the classes have unusual or additional abilities, or some choice they must make, on top of what they normally receive in NWN.
Rogues can always read Thieves' Sign, which occasionally opens additional options for them.
Druids & Rangers can speak to animals. On the whole this isn't very useful, but occasionally one of them will have something worthwhile to say. In addition, Druids choose from a range of special animal companions - see the Familiars Page.
Bards have the option of staying the night in an Inn for free if they can pass a Perform check of the appropriate difficulty. (Thanks to Catherine Porter for this.)
Wizards & Sorcerers choose their familiar from the various families of mephit - find out more on the Familiars Page.
Paladins must belong to one of the three knightly orders of the Fortress of Ristinnol. More details can be found on the Ristinnol Page. Paladins are also able to cast Detect Evil from the Unique Power of their armour.
Monks must belong to one of the three orders of the Rammas mountains, which corresponds to their alignment. Lawful Good monks belong to A-PRI. Lawful Neutral monks belong to A-EN. Lawful Evil monks belong to A-SUR.
Clerics do not choose a deity during character creation, but instead come to serve one of the gods during the course of play.
Equipment
Your starting equipment is determined by your class, race and feats. I have a pretty large function which takes a best guess at what your character should be wielding based on their feats. Note that Paladins are always armed with some kind of sword (axes are extremely rare in Ristinnol) and Barbarbians are always armed with some kind of axe. All characters receive a ranged weapon that they will be able to use.