Custom Content Compared to other NWN2 Persistent Worlds, what does Shores of Haldun have to offer that makes it unique? To answer this question the DM staff has compiled a list of features that we like the most about SoH: An active DM team - daily DM events. We pride ourselves in having a very active DM team. DM events are run on a daily scale often with several events each day. Please note these are not all server-wide events. Some may be guild specific plots, where others may be random events for adventuring groups and others again may be main plot events that are tired to the overall storyline of the module. Fame/Reputation The new reputation system will take into account the major factions for characters, and this will determine how different NPCs react to them. This will be especially noticeable with merchants, though as one goes up in one faction, their fame/notoriety will have an equal and opposite affect when they deal with opposing factions. Custom Items As Shores of Haldun is a unique setting all the items you will come across in the game have been customized to fit the SoH setting. Respawnable loot placeables Instead of just using the standard NWN spawn system we are using a spawn system called NESS this time around. NESS allows for much more customizable spawning of monsters and also takes fewer resources than the standard system. Amongst some of the things NESS can do is a respawn of lootable placeables, meaning that in SoH many of our lootable placeables can be bashed to pieces to respawn at a later time. If you run into a locked chest and you do not have a rogue around, you can simply bash it now. We have also taken the arcane "Knock" spell into account this time so it will be useable with a larger number of locks than before. Disguises In SoH it will be possible to get your hands on disguises that work effectively by temporarily changing a character's name while disguised. Disguises are put together by a body and a head piece, which both need to be equipped for it to take effect. Custom Scripted Items Shores of Haldun will have a variety of custom scripted items. Some examples are the single-use herbs and charms that have custom effects rather than just using the typical spell effects. Random generated loot Our head scripter Chevy has created a random generated loot system. Some may know such system from a game such as Diablo. Basically it means your loot is randomly created with random properties however the properties are "intelligently" added. This means you aren't likely to find any +2 pickpocket double axes, but rather items with properties that actually make sense. Wealth Cap We have chosen to add a wealth cap to SoH which means a PC will at most be able to carry around set amount of gold pieces. We have chosen to do this in order to support game balance which is easily tipped by those who tend to collect insane amounts of money. This will make small valuable items (such as gems and jewelry) worth holding onto, so retaining a small fortune is still possible. Solo friendly Dungeons Whereas our previous incarnation of DC known as Erithorn's Might was mainly built for group-levelling we have chosen to make more of our dungeons more solo friendly for SoH. Also, we hope to have a better variety of dungeons this time around. We are aiming for at least three different dungeons for the various level groups: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 7-8, 9-10� etc. Although some dungeons will unfortunately not be ready for our July launch date, more will be added as the server matures and the need for higher level dungeons increases. There will still be group-focused hunting areas, designed for parties rather than the solo explorer. Essence System SoH has an essence system. You can compare the essence system to a 'soul'. If you "die" in battle your soul is weakened and you will lose essence, however this essence regenerates over time. Spellcasters likewise drain their essence when they cast higher level spells. Depending on how high your essence is there are various bonuses or penalties. When you create a new character your essence start at 50. Death Death only occurs in the party when everybody "dies" or when they leave a downed party member behind. Essence is still lost for losing all HP during a fight, but resurrection will be automatic as long as there are other party members nearby at the end of the battle. Mentoring System To encourage veterans to interact with new players, we have in SoH incorporated a mentoring system. PCs can form a 2-person party, student and mentor: The student will then gain an XP bonus and the mentor gains essence. The student and mentor have to be of the same class and there will have to be a certain level difference upon the two. The student will only gain the XP bonus if he's the one doing the actual killing: They learn nothing if the master is cutting everything down. Class Restrictions These restrictions are subjects to change The Monk, Paladin, Warlock, Blackguard and Shadowdancer classes are required a minimum of five levels by level 20. Red Dragon Disciples are not an option. Maximum one prestige class pr. character Clerics require two domains from their deity list in order to advance beyond level 5. When creating a cleric character, it is strongly recommended that you do not choose a level-up package or take the "recommended" domains. Obsidian's choices will not likely match our own! Take the time to customize your cleric so he/she falls within the domain rules if you want the character to be able to advance in cleric level beyond 5. [MOTB] Blackguard/Favoured Soul is not a viable class combination due to the nature of where their powers hail from. Warlocks start as guilded into the 13th circle of Soros. Blackguards start as guilded into the Final Hour. (Please see the FAQ forum on the boards for more information on Warlocks and Blackguards) To obtain the following Prestige Classes you must be a member of mentioned guild: Class: Guild Thief (Shadow Thief of Amn) Guild: The Silverfish Class: Bannerman Sentinel (Neverwinter Nine) Guild: The Bannermen Class: Minstrels' Scout (Harper Scout) Guild: The Minstrels General Info on Guilds Restrictions: One guilded character per player. This means you can have one of your characters be a member of as many guilds as you like, but it can only be that one, single character who is member of a guild. We have chosen to do it this way to avoid the possible metagaming issues with players having several characters in various guilds, that work against each others interests. Also because it is very discouraging for Guild Leaders to put effort into a guild, only to have other player temporary roll up a secondary character that will be played for a few weeks and then never appear again. To become a member of a guild. To become a member of a guild you need to seek out the Guild Leader of the chosen Guild in the game. If you due to timezone differences cannot catch the Guild Leader in the game, we recommend you register on our player boards and send the player of the Guild Leader a private message; asking how you become a member of the guild. Player-run Guilds While most guilds will be run by a DM, players may occasionally be rewarded with an IC administrative position in the guild as a result of their roleplay. However you can also create your own guild but be aware that player-run guilds will not gain the same level of support as the guilds the DMs have set into the world from its creation of. This does not mean you will not get any support at all, but it does mean you should not expect that your own guild is given a patron DM, guild specific quests, or an in game guild hall. We have chosen to do it this way due to experiences from previous incarnations of DC where many player guilds that were created only lasted very briefly. Rather than making your own guild we encourage that you join some of the guilds already there. For further information on available guilds please see our player boards. Dice Rolls An occasional dice roll can add an element of interest and make characters seem a little more tangible. Too many rolls can bog the action down, though. The issue has come up enough that I thought it might be helpful to have guidelines on server policy posted here. First, if a DM is there, the DM will determine what is rolled, applicable modifiers, the DC (or opposing roll), and the outcome. If there is no DM present, then it becomes a matter of cooperation between the players. It's up to the people making the roll to decide (through tells) what is rolled, suitable modifiers, DC, and outcome. This is usually done on the fly and people on this server are very good about deciding reasonable outcomes. Social/diplomacy skills deserve special mention. Generally speaking, the usefulness of these skills in PC-to-PC interactions is limited to being a hint for how others should respond. Their use should be sparing, since it tends to be disruptive to have to stop, roll, figure out modifiers and all that while you're trying to talk. But also, human interaction (or elven or whatever) is too complex to be easily boiled down to a d20 + modifiers. These skills work fine against NPCs where a DM can whip up a DC without too much trouble. Doing so with somebody else's "living" creation...is a little tough. As with other rolls, if the people involved with the roll agree to the modifiers, DC, and terms of success/failure, then it's all good. Furthermore, it's fine to roll your diplomacy skills to hint to other players how, say, persuasive or intimidating your character is. Just don't get uppity when characters don't behave the way you want them to. Playing along is encouraged, but some characters just won't easily be intimidated by a gnome...or they won't be easily persuaded to jump of a bridge. Just for reference, a good baseline DC for diplomacy skills is: 10 + Hit Dice of the target + applicable modifiers. The degrees of success and failure more or less have to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Death The world of DC can be a dangerous place and death does happen. A PC who dies is presented with the option of respawning. Doing so will exact a toll on the character's XP, possibly draining the character of a level. At its core, respawning is an OOC mechanic, a convenience so that you do not have to start a new character if a particularly tough goblin scores a lucky blow. You may justify the cause of your character's reprieve from death however you wish (within reason), but the staff encourages people to use respawning only as a last resort so that immersion is maintained. Permanent death does happen as well, though very rarely. Most of these are the result of executions by the state. For example, if you play a character who is a known murderer and that character is caught by the authorities, the ensuing execution will be permanent and final. Other permanent deaths may be ruled by the DM as the situation warrants. Only the DMs have the authority to rule a death permanent. No player may permanently kill your character without your consent. In addition, a player who tries to "force" a permanent death on another character (by beheading the corpse, burning or burying the body, or other such things) will be assumed to be doing so in rebellion of this rule. Do not do it. To Pickpocket Don't be a jerk. That's the guiding light here. If you hit the same person 50 times, you're being a jerk, and if you hit one of the lowbies fresh out of the OOC room, you're being a jerk. If you do either of those things, you'll probably get banned. Use the skill sparingly, and don't hit the people who are still running around in their starting gear. Taking somebody's unique quest item or main weapon and not returning it is a pretty lame thing to do also. You may play an evil thief in the game, but be nice to the other players OOC. Pickpocket limits One general guide that has been used in the past is a maximum of 2 pickpocket attempts per victim, per real life day. If you get arrows both times, tough luck. The upshot is that you might get two gems. An alternative general guide has been to steal a maximum of 1 item of value (worth more than 1 gold) per victim, per real life day. Once you grab a handful of gold or a stack of potions, you've hit your limit. These are the upper limits. If you choose not to use the skill at all except in special circumstances, so much the better. Other pickpocket restrictions If you get OOC items like emote wands, send the person a tell and return it. If you grab something that you think you probably shouldn't have (like full plate, a unique quest item, or the character's main weapon), you can either send them a tell and return the item OOC, or you can send them a tell and work some kind of IC means of returning the item. Either way, return it somehow, and send them a tell letting them know that they'll be getting the item back so that they don't freak out and wonder if there's a grief stealer around. If you're not sure whether you should keep the item or not, ask a DM. What I've listed here are just guidelines. If a DM tells you to back off the stealing, or to return a certain item, their word is law. OOC consequences of pickpocketing If you're pickpocketing excessively or hitting the new players, you'll most likely get banned. We're all here to have fun, and the administration will not tolerate people trying to ruin that for others. IC consequences of pickpocketing Even if you are following the above guidelines, there can be dire IC consequences for stealing. If you are caught by authorities like town guards, you may lose a finger or two (-1 or -2 DEX). You might lose a whole hand (-5 DEX and you can no longer dual wield or use two-handed weapons). Some jurisdictions may punish theft, or repeated thefts, with execution. Much like heretical clerics, the pickpocket skill isn't intended to go completely unused, but it comes with great risk. Questionable Content Rape plays no part in a storyline on the Dragon Coast, under any circumstances. There will be no cybersex allowed on the server. While PCs aren't supposed to necessarily maintain complete chastity, sex happens "offstage." It will not be RPed out through any in-game channel. Those caught breaking these rules will face a possible ban. Keep torture and violence within tasteful levels. We realize that violence and death are integral parts of an adventure game where the player cuts through monsters by the dozen. However, when making descriptions of violent acts, please bear in mind that the others around you may not be as comfortable with the subject matter as you are. If someone expresses that they are uncomfortable with a violent situation, respect that, especially if their character is on the receiving end. Special characters: 1. Child characters are not allowed as through experience we have found these are generally more an annoyance than conductive to the RP. 2. Any type of monster race requires DM permission. 3. Character with strange, strange backgrounds require DM permission. (I.E: My mother was a vampire and my father was a dragon!) 4. Characters of noble heritage require DM permission. 5. Characters with absurd skin colours require DM permission. (I.E: My skin is bright pink because I'm descendant from a prismatic dragon!) 6. Dragon Disciples are not an option.