[Balanor]

-A brand new features is available: Tattooing and Appearance Modification! Tattooists can be found in taverns and other locations in all the main cities of Thay, as well as others in various towns and castles throughout the land. Thanks go to Karilynn for providing names and descriptions for over a half dozen Tattooists
1. This feature allows existing PCs to change their hairstyle (head), and apply tattoos to themselves through the use of Tattooist Models
2. The existing color of tattoos, hair, and skin can also be changed through these Tattooist Models, as well
3. Certain skilled tattooists can magically inscribe any tattoos on your body. After this is done, any spell of up to 3rd level can be bound to these tattoos which allows for near-instantaneous casting of them (and to free up valuable quickslots as well)
4. Talk to a tattooist in-game or review the Tattooing and Appearance Modification thread for full details

-Major changes have been made to NPC generation and randomization. Through the use of NWNX, NPCs will have their race (and racial feats and abilities), gender, and voiceset dynamically changed when they are spawned/created in-game. This allows for a HUGE variety of NPCs
1. Watch out for male or female gnome fanatical paladins, elf monks, half-orc bards, and so on - and be prepared to adjust your tactics if needed. For example, a dwarf mercenary may now not always be an axe wielding fighter, but possibly a magic slinging wizard instead!
2. This also includes changes to the random encounter system creature creation categories, and 25 new assassin, blackguard, and barbarian NPCs. In the northern tharchs of Thay, you may begin running in to the ferocious Rashemi Berserkers as well
3. The racial variety of hostile NPCs that you encounter is meant to roughly mirror the population of Thay. As a result, around 40% of the time hostile NPCs will be human, followed by the half-breed, dwarf, then halfling races. Bringing up the rare end of the spectrum are the elf and gnome races which will only be found 5% of the time. However, there are many encounters throughout Thay that are setup to always create hostile NPCs of a certain race

-As a result of more races becoming available through the improved NPC generation system, slave merchants have begun requesting Gnome slaves, and will pay well for them as one of the rarer and more difficult races to obtain in Thay

-Hekklessar Mediocros' Palace in Eltabbar is now available. This nobleman, an active figure in Eltabbar’s politics, shares his luxurious mansion with a wife and nine children, all of whom he despises and who thoroughly despise him in return. Loud, violent fights with numerous thrown objects and shrieking rejoinders are a common event here, after which Mediocros flees to the peace of a tavern in the poor quarter along with a rowdy band of companions

-When re-descripting the entrance to a player-owned door, the #W# and #W#[spacebar] command will work to erase or reset the description on it

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. The extreme cold effects of winter/frozen areas have been fixed so that people who are not properly dressed for the climate will begin to take damage from freezing
2. A mounted caster of the Battletide spell can no longer outrun its area of effect
3. If in a Dead Magic zone, mundane items will function (such as bandages, poultice, drugs, food, drink, and many other non-magical items with a unique property)
4. The Darkness spell and abilities have been modified so the effect will never permanently remain on anyone affected by it
5. A long-running problem with player-owned buildings in which merchants, stored items, or door improvements could go missing, has been resolved
6. Tiefling tails will always be restored on player login, and should now always be restored when dismounting from a horse
7. A couple problems with building deeds being unable to claim a building have been resolved
8. Retrieval/delivery/assassination quests to the Thossos - Legion Outpost will properly function again
9. The standard AB penalty of -4 will correctly be applied when on horseback and using a ranged weapon. This is reduced to -2 with the Mounted Archery feat
10. When newly placed in any building, the Hidden Chamber Door entrance will lead to the secret chamber (you don't need to exit and re-enter for it to work anymore)
11. When newly placed in any building, or when picked up and placed in a new spot, Kegs, Casks, and Music Boxes can be used right away
12. It is now possible to reach the Kepetur Ruins by traveling overland from the east
13. Statues in the Amruthar Crypts will not be attacked by hostile creatures anymore
14. Animated Sphinx statues, when they come to life, will be hostile to everyone, rather than friendly
15. An exit out of the Undead Dungeon in The Citadel has been fixed so PCs who take the path that leads to it are not stuck in the area

[Balanor]

-A small submerged temple to Umberlee, the Shrine by the Sea, is now available in Thasselen. Thanks go to Karilynn for creating the faction conversation that made it joinable

-Building owners can change area lighting, fog color, fog amount, the nighttime music, and the daytime music of their buildings by using their building key on the interior exit of their building

-Animated furniture (statues, skeletons, zombie corpses, etc) in player-owned buildings will not come alive and attack *if* the nearest person to them has a building key to the property. This will make them much more useful as guards for your building, if you wish

-PCs who own merchants can change their merchant's name, description, and greeting to customers

-You can now delete messages from any of your characters at any message board, regardless of the character you are logged in with. Please do this to help keep in-game message boards current so they aren't holding irrelevant messages. In addition, a few players have been set as global moderators to help clean up and continually monitor in-game message boards by removing old or unnecessary messages

-In an attempt to provide better balance between non-magic-user with magic-user classes, the treasure drops for mid-upper level PCs now include +3 weapons and armor, and rare Potions of Stone Form may be found or purchased

-Related to the above, the following spell changes have been made for our low-mid magic PW after discussion among the staff and receiving feedback from various community members. Updated in-game spell descriptions will be in the next hak update:
1. Great Magic Weapon now provides a +1 Enhancement Bonus for every 4 caster levels as per D&D 3.5 rules
2. Magic Vestment now provides a +1 Armor Bonus for every 4 caster levels as per D&D 3.5 rules
3. Endure Elements, Resist Elements, and Protection from Elements are back to their standard NWN implementation, except they all now last 1 turn/level
4. Continual Light will last for 24 hours as a temporary item property (to address a somewhat common exploit)

-Commoner NPCs, who are not questgivers or quest targets, will not have much to say if there is another PC nearby when you talk to them. Also, as a related point of clarification to something that has been in place for years: the option to preach to a NPC in a temple not dedicated to your god is also another reason this option may not be displayed

-As with almost anything else that provides more than just a little notoriety, there is now a short cooldown before you'll get notoriety from preaching to multiple commoner NPCs

-Per source material, the Sunbeam spell will end a Darkenbeast's transformation, destroying any Darkenbeasts affected by it

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Scores of minor bugs. So many I gave up trying to remember/list them. So if you reported an issue and it's not happening anymore, then it's probably fixed. Otherwise, it's not. However, important issues that have been fixed which I want to bring attention to are:
2. Magic can be cast in the Astral Plane, as was always intended, it is just that normal healing (bandages) and poisons do not work there
3. Petitioners in Warrior's Rest and Githyanki in Astral Plane will spawn as normal

[Balanor]

-The Thay PW hak has been updated! You will now need to download the thaypw_0.95.hak and thaypw_0.53.tlk found here in order to login to the Thay PW. This hak provides the basis for a variety of many new, cool things. Thanks go to Miscr3ant for the work he put into this hak update
1. Dynamic Orc models are in place, including three orc heads, for Orc PCs. See the subrace thread for the benefits and drawbacks of using the dynamic model for your orc PC
2. The Champion of Torm class has had all references changed to the more appropriate, and generic, Divine Champion class and no longer has an alignment restriction. This includes replacing the Smite Evil with the Smite Infidel feat which provides the Divine Champion a smite bonus against any who do not worship the same god as them. In addition, Extra Smiting can increase the use of Smite Infidel to 3x per day, as it does with the other two Smite feats
3. Over 265 new high-quality creature models have been added to either improve current creature appearances, or to provide the appearance for new creatures that will arrive in future server updates
4. Lighting has been adjusted, module-wide, to become darker at night and in interior areas. This is to make torches or dark/low-light vision more useful to everyone
5. Dwarves with a martial weapon proficiency will get the Dwarven Waraxe proficiency for free. This opens up the Dwarven Waraxe Weapon focus feat to them as well
6. Magic rods may be held in either, or both, hands and can also be used as clubs that deal 1d6 damage
7. The Craft Armor skill has had its name and description changed to Control Shape which is, and always has been, only used by lycan PCs
8. The Lich Menu feat, which when used opens the lich menu, will be added to new PCs who attain lichdom from this point forward
9. A few new placeables such as fog and round carpets

-With overwhelming community support to do so, a dozen new torso and pelvis tattoo appearances have been added for non-subrace PCs and NPCs. While not its primary intention, this addition does mean that unclothed characters in the Thay PW will actually be naked/nude
1. You can get these new tattoos on your character by speaking to one of the many in-game tattooists, or to the body model in Your Mind's Eye for new PCs
2. This addition also increases the number of magical tattoo slots by 1 (pelvis tattoos). This means all races can have at least 10 magical tattoos
3. The new dynamic orc models do have one tattoo model type for each bodypart, but do not have the complete selection of all 12 like the standard race models. Dynamic gnoll and goblin models do not have tattoos at all, but do utilize tattoo colors in their overall appearance

-Spells that were modified in the last server update now have their descriptions changed to properly reflect their updated status in-game thanks to the hak update. In addition, there are several new spells:
1. Create Darkenbeast, Create Chosen One, and Animate Dread Warrior are Thay-specific spells now available
2. Scry has been setup as a spell following 3.5 rules. As a result it has been removed as a special perk of the wizard and sorcerer classes from the player menu. Wizards, sorcerers, druids, and bards must memorize it or cast it from a scroll in order to scry
3. Dimension Door is available as a spell for bards, wizards and sorcerers. Furthermore, it can also transport a number of nearby party members as determined by the caster's level

-On the northern side of the Gorge of Gauros, just 1 league east and 3 leagues north of Gauros Keep, lies a dry hanging valley. Not only is it home to a number of monsters, but it holds the lair of Magrevystala, a very old female red dragon. These dangerous areas are only recommended for mid-high level adventurers

-Due to a number of new werewolf creature models made available with this hak update, werewolf PCs will now have a hybrid appearance based on their gender, overall level, and/or primary class

-Due to a number of new lich creature models made available with this hak update, when a lich PC is killed the lich appearance he or she re-forms with will be determined on gender (there are female lich appearances), overall level, and even alignment (there is a Baelnorn appearance for good-aligned liches)

-Additional static (non-dynamic) models are available for subrace Orcs and Goblin PCs if you choose not to select the default dynamic model for them upon creation. See the subrace thread for links to screenshots of the appearance options

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Multiple problems with raven portal stones
2. Furniture lowered in player buildings will remain that way
3. Certain types of diamonds will now be replaced with the Thay-specific version so they can be used for Raise Dead spells and scrolls
4. Hostile creatures in zulkir areas, such as Maligor's Tower and the Tam Estate, will only go non-hostile to someone if they have the building key for the location

[Balanor]

This update is, without a doubt, the largest and most complex single update ever released for Thay. It includes substantial changes that will affect all players. As a result of these significant changes, be aware of the correct process to Report a Problem if you think you've encountered an issue. In particular; please verify the steps to consistently reproduce the issue before you post a problem report.

-The Thay PW Hak has been updated to version 1.0. You will now need to download the thaypw_1.0.hak and thaypw_0.55.tlk found here in order to login to the Thay PW. While not as physically large as the last hak update, the changes within it are significant, and detailed below

-There have been significant changes to the prestige classes, and a couple changes to the core classes as well - primarily Clerics, Rangers, and Paladins. For complete details, see this thread

-The Craft Trap skill has been changed to simply the 'Craft' skill, and Craft Weapon has been replaced with Disguise. Note that neither of these skills yet have a functional use in Thay. But it is my intention to eventually tie crafting to the Enchantment Forges and/or other crafting features, and the Disguise skill will be needed to most efficiently use the Disguise feature when it is finally implemented

-Over 100 new spells have been added. For complete details, see this thread. In addition, there are several spell changes of note:
1. Dimension Door, when targeted on the caster, will give the person 6 seconds to specify how many meters forward they wish to transport
2. Glyph of Warding has been improved to provide a selection of all 5 elemental energy as the glyph type when cast
3. Elemental Shield has been change to D&D implementation and is now called Fire Shield. It will allow you to choose either a warm or chill shield when cast
4. Sphere of Chaos is a new domain spell only available to clerics that select the Luck or Chaos domain
5. Thanks go to Sundraoi for creating the interior of Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
6. Thanks go to Purulent Carcass, Bertram Anders, Pleiade, Beladra Marias, Animayhem, and Dark Ranger for some initial testing of the spells

-To make them more useful in Thay, Holy and Unholy water have had their damage increased to 2d8, rather than 2d4

-Those wearing a Ring of Nondetection, Robes of Rukhyon, or a Harper Pin (faction item) are no longer completely immune to scrying. They are, however, under a perpetual nondetection spell which makes it much more difficult for someone to scry upon them

-The Talos portal within the Thossos Keep ruins that will now transport anyone who uses it to a 'civilized' area of Thay. However, those who do not worship Talos must prove themselves strong enough to ride the lightning…

-Thayan Gladiators can instantly transport themselves back to the Ludus Magnus through the use of a magic sigil on their Thayan Gladiator armor

-Over 15 new creature models, such as Dao, Djinni, Efreeti, Werecreatures, Desert Zombie, Zombie Knights, and a bunch of NPC models, will improve the appearance of existing creatures, or allow the creation of new creatures

-22 new types of creatures have been added, such as Carrion Crawlers, Crawling Claws, Mulhorandi Guardians, Scarecrows, Fomorians and other giants, giant and ogre skeletons, and an entire subset of Kuo-toa that may be encountered in coastal or underwater areas. Oh! And last, but certainly not least: Rust Monsters

-Dozens upon dozens of new placeable models have been added, and existing models have their appearance improved. Look for taverns that have 'real' bars now, a much larger and more gruesome variety of corpses, bones, and skulls, new statues, flags, and bookshelves - even an improved Pit Trap appearance

-Well over 400 new visual effects (VFX) have been added. This results in a variety of cool differences with new and existing spells, as well as some new goodies
1. There are 7 open-faced helms. Note that as VFX these helms do not actually occupy the helm slot, cannot be modified at a tailor model, and cannot hold any enchantments. In addition, since some PC heads that have 'big hair' will not be able to use these helms because the hair would poke through the helm. In other words; open faced helms really are only for looks and can only be used by PCs with a short haircut
2. There are 6 glowing (Ki) stone circlets, a gold crown, and a fanged/barbarian-like crown. The same restrictions for open-faced helms apply to the circlets and crowns
3. There are 3 eye patches. In addition, there is a green parrot, a red parrot, and even a small spirit that will sit on your shoulder. Aspiring pirates rejoice!
4. Cold breath VFX will be applied to PCs in freezing areas, such as the Temple of Auril and Chur Gathos
5. Watch out for sandstorms that can appear out of nowhere in Desert-like areas such as Kepetur, Moszabbar, and the Badlands of High Thay
6. A new, and more appropriate, AFK visual effect will be applied to someone who is AFK
7. New Ioun Stone VFX

-Over 130 new doors of all types (cloth, wood, metal, etc) have been added. In addition, the default ugly orange wood doors have been replaced using models from these new doors

-Over 20 new flags, lanterns, and candles that a PC can hold have been added. In addition, when amulets, belts, books, boots, bracers, gems, gloves/gauntlets, keys, rings, and thieves' tools are dropped on the ground they will look like the item that was dropped - not a stupid loot bag anymore

-When a PC slave's master is enslaved or deleted, upon the PC slave's next login they will be automatically re-enslaved and sent back to the Slave Pens of Thay

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Static questgivers, in addition to the Beggar and faction questgivers, will give quests to PCs even if others are nearby
2. All suite doors within taverns/inn have had their Plot flag removed, which means that vampires in mist form can pass through them
3. Messenger crows sent by someone looking to form a party with will no longer be able to reach PCs in Underwater areas, or basically anywhere a portal stone cannot be used - such as if they are in The Citadel or on a different plane of existence. If a standard raven letter is sent to someone who is online but in these areas, they will instead receive it the next time they login if they are no longer located there
4. Wererat and Werecat models have changed to fix the rigid animation issue they had due to the last hak update
5. Poison purchased from a merchant will work again when applying it to weapons of food/drink
6. Blackguard mounts, when kicked from the party, can be re-added by the blackguard again
7. Raise dead will work on PCs when cast
8. PCs getting forced to respawn when not dead will not occur

[Balanor]

-Due to the events of an invitation campaign that ended several months ago, the Cult of the Dragon is now an available and officially sanctioned faction to join by visting Dragon Manor in Surthay. Thanks go to the many players involved in that campaign, and especially to Karilynn for creating the faction recruiter's conversation

-The Temple of Valkur in the bay of the Alaor Naval Base is available to join. Thanks go to DarkRanger for retiring his PC to become the high priest, Sundraoi for the creation of the island caves and lighthouse of the temple, and to Karilynn for creating the faction recruiter's conversation

-Due to the events of a DM-led campaign by DM Plinth, the Ruins of Surag have become a permanent addition to the Thay PW. This town, destroyed by a slave revolt, can be found 3 leagues south and 2 leagues east of Eltabbar, or 4 leagues north and 3 leagues east of Tyraturos

-Ruins of ancient Raumathar within the northern Sunrise Mountains have recently been discovered 1 league south and 5 leagues east of Gauros Keep. The surrounding mountains and the ruins themselves are recommended for mid-high level adventurers

-The monastic order of the Long Death originated in Thay. Now the Monastery of the Long Death, hidden deep in the northern Sunrise mountains, can be found and joined by monks seeking to follow the teachings of the Long Death. Those seeking to locate this secretive and macabre place should begin their search in the Sunrise Mountains east of Gauros Keep. Thanks go to Karilynn for creating the faction recruiter's conversation

-Thanks to assistance from Miscr3ant, there are more player housing floorplan choices available. There are now 5 floorplans for all houses, and 3 floorplans for manors and towers. Those who already own a building can choose to remodel if and use one of these new floorplans by using their building key on the exterior door to their house. Those looking for new houses may find these floorplans when you claim a previously unclaimed building of that floorplan type

-There are 15 new DM-awarded-only items that can apply unique VFX appearances to your PC. These items will allow your character to use one of the 7 new open face helms, 6 new tiaras with glowing Ki stones, or 2 new crowns. Only unmounted standard appearance PCs can use them, and even then you are reminded with every use to make sure your head/hairstyle works with them and does not poke through. Please make sure if you are awarded one of these special items that you visit a Tattooist Model and change your head/hairstyle there if it does not 'fit' the open face helm, tiara, or crown

-Mounted NPCs with the Mounted Combat feat will now have it function as it does for PCs. So rather than completely avoid attacks, mounted NPCs will simply get an AC bonus that improves with the level of their Ride skill

-New stalwart and heavily armored Dwarven Defenders NPCs will be encountered during your adventures

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. The bug with a pre-cast Acid Sheathe on a Thrall of Eltab causing hundreds of hit points of damage has been fixed
2. The Disguise spell is no longer permanent and the appearance selected with it will last only as long as its description states
3. NPCs in public areas should no longer be spawning in parts of the area they don't belong - such as within purchased inn rooms and behind stairway or exit doors
4. When using a Pelvis or new tattoo from the last hak update on a PC, the cost to magically inscribe those tattoos is now properly calculated and will no longer result in an astronomical amount
5. Tomes that permanently increase an ability score will each increase the correct ability score now
6. Changes have been made so an item's Regeneration property should not turn into a latent property when no other regeneration item is equipped

[Balanor]

-The thaypw_1.0.hak and thaypw_0.55.tlk files were recently updated to fix a variety of minor things. It is recommended everyone re-download and overwrite your existing thaypw_1.0.hak and thaypw_0.55.tlk files. This is not required, but the updated files address the following minor details:
1. Dragon Disciples PCs no longer incur an ECL increase as they take levels in the Dragon Disciple class, and the updated tlk updates the in-game class description to reflect this. Note that the actual removal of the ECL penalty is already occurring regardless of whether to not you choose to download the updated tlk file
2. Fire, Air, and Water elementals will have their attack or death animations working again
3. Numerous spelling and grammar errors on spell scrolls and spell descriptions are corrected

-Poison now causes slow but lethal damage, the equivalent of the poison's Save DC, every turn it is poisoning a target. Furthermore, at the end of every turn, if the saving throw to avoid the secondary effect is failed, and then the poison's initial saving throw is failed again, poison will be applied for another turn. Full details and discussion can be found here

-When paying for an enchantment at an enchantment forge, the forge will first take the gold from your vault account and then, if there is any remaining balance, it will take the balance from any gold your character has on him/herself

-Merchant PCs can set a minimum buy price for their merchants now. So if you don't want people selling your merchant a bunch of junk items, you can specify just how little an item must be valued at for your merchant to buy it. A bit of NWN game engine trickery was needed to make this work, when means inventory items that do not meet the minimum value requirement are temporarily marked as unsellable and undroppable (i.e. - cursed) when talking to one of these merchants

-Changes have been made to three of the Elemental Planes:
1. In the elemental plane of Earth, what little air exists is thick with dust that causes mere mortals to slowly suffocate there. Slow suffocation incurs 1d6 damage every few minutes and also requires a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 which increases every time it occurs) in order to avoid passing out
2. In the elemental plane of Water, a person must be able to breathe underwater or drown as they would in any other underwater area
3. In the elemental plane of Fire, as per the DMG 3.5 guide, 3d10 fire damage occurs every round. Those who brave this plane (to perhaps find a special questgiver...), would do well to be stocked up on fire damage resistance items and spells
4. The good news though is that anyone who enters the elemental plane of earth, fire, or water via its appropriate portal in Dillomat's tower is provided temporary protection from these dangerous planar affects. But plan well before traveling to any of these locations as you will likely need a means to survive after the temporary portal benefits wear off

-There are now 5 different types of floorplans for each of the 5 different building types a character may own. Screenshots and the in-game description of all available building floorplans can be viewed here on the Thay PW's OneNote under the Building Floorplans section

-Mount and Pack Slave saddlebags will immediately return any items beyond the weight limit that the creature can carry, rather than waiting to inform the owner the contents of the saddlebag are over the weight limit when you try to close it

-There are several additional tunes at music boxes. They will play in order if more money is deposited in a music box after the previous tune ends

-The following bugs have been fixed:
1. Gnoll PCs who use the dynamic gnoll model will no longer have shoulder pads and belts appearing on them when they are shirtless or wearing no clothing
2. When first summoned, mounts will no longer have a white portrait
3. The paladin Divine Health ability will once again protect the paladin from lycanthropy
4. Gaed Attimthree will no longer provide his quest multiple times to the same PC
5. One PC being marked as two of your three possible active PCs, which would occur after you deleted an existing active PC, should no longer be happening

[Bertram Anders]

-More than 75 new spells from update 7.3 have been setup within the creature AI (Artificial Intelligence) and have been given to various hostile creatures and NPCs. Be careful for new spells being thrown at your PCs, and be prepared to adjust your tactics for taking out various spellcasters (or just run away)



-The available spells that can be randomly applied to wands, rods, or staves you may find as treasure have been completely reviewed and revised to include many of the spells from update 7.3 as well



-Thay's realistic weather system has been completely revised and simplified. Some of the more noticeable changes include -

1. It will get very dark in the middle of the night (Thay is an even scarier place in the dark). This darker-night aspect will affect even those with Low Light or Darkvision

2. Cold regions, such as Chur Gathos and its surrounds, will likely require some winter-gear planning before extensively adventuring in them. Review the realistic weather system page linked to above for complete details

3. It will typically be more hazy/foggy in the mornings (especially in coastal and swamp locations), and it is possible there will be fog even during the daytime

4. Due to Red Wizards spells in the 'normal' regions of Thay, there is a very good chance of rain around midnight and the very early morning hours each day



-Vaultkeepers will take 5% of any coin deposit made with them. ICly, this fee is to pay for the convenience of the secure vault system (guards, vaultkeepers, the tie-in to Enchantment Forges, the House of Oversight, etc). OOCly, this is to try and further encourage PCs to freely spend their money rather than horde it



-Enchantment forges will only require gold and will no longer take XP from a PC when placing an enchantment on an item



-Enchantment Forges will no longer allow any non-DM to place spells greater than 4th level on any item (just like how crafting a wand works). In addition, for spell levels 2-4 that can appear as options at a forge, they are now tied to a PC's notoriety rather than total level



-Sorcerers will now start being encountered in your adventures. They may often go by the name of Witch, Warlock, or if adventuring in the northern tharchs: Witch of Rashemen



-The Charm spells last 1 round/level on hostile creatures (they will just stand where they are and not attack the PC, but they may attacks others to whom they are hostile) or 1 hour/level on nonhostile creatures. Mass charm lasts 1 minute/level against hostile creatures



-Red Wizard NPCs can now activate their magic tattoos to self-buff themselves - even if in combat. Think very carefully, and prepare yourself well, before you risk upsetting a random Red Wizard and his entourage...



-DMs, when casting plague of undead, will have all undead arise as creatures hostile to PCs



-DMs have new commands to change the fog setting in an area and another to start/stop a sandstorm in sandstorm-prone areas



-The following bugs have been fixed:

1. Charm Spells cast on non-hostile NPCs will no longer cause the target to go hostile to the PC and attack

2. Legionnaire PCs may only summon NPC legionnaires to their aid if they are within their tharch

3. When DMs spawn hostile NPCs in exterior town/city areas they will no longer be named to a Thug doing subdual-only damage

[Bertram Anders]

-The Thay PW hakpak has been updated to version 1.02. You will need to download the thaypw_1.02.hak and the thaypw_0.56.tlk , found here in order to login to the Thay PW. But as with other hakpak updates, this means a bunch of new goodies for everyone!



-The optional Thay PW Enhancement Hak has also been updated to include cave and mine ceilings, beholder cave ceilings, illithid cave ceilings, canopied forests, and Baldur's Gate spell incantations sounds. Note that the name of this hak has been changed to simply thaypw_patch.hak. If you download and use it, you should delete the old thaypw_patch_v1 hak and remove the reference for it from the nwnpatch.ini file (or just replace the nwnpatch.ini file with the new one)



-Almost all heads for humans and elves, and some for dwarves, have been updated to improve the quality of their appearance (from Thayan's point of view), and match eye color to tattoo color. In addition, there are over 50+ new heads for humans, elves, dwarves, and gnomes available at tattooist and body models. But perhaps most important (for Thay); there are now several more tattooed head options for both male and female humans and elves. Keep in mind that if you don't like the updated appearance of your character's head or eyes, you can view all the new head choices and change eye/tattoo color by visiting an in-game Tattooist Model



-A new swamp tileset has been added, and there is a new area of adventure that uses this tileset. Located 4 leagues south and 2 leagues west of Surthay, intrepid adventures can find a Lizardfolk Stronghold guarding the entrance to a Black Dragon Lair in the depths of the Surmarsh swamp. This location is recommended for mid-high level adventurers. In addition, all overland swamp areas have all been recreated using this new tileset



-All load screen tips (the screens that appear when traveling from area to area) are now customized to be specific, and hopefully useful, tips for the Thay PW



-The boring green power-up icons by the icon next to your portrait, which only had a flat white shield on it (like the resistance spell), have their appearances changed to provide a better visual display for things like immunity to Fire, Cold, Death, Sneak Attack, Critical Hits, Stun, etc



-Adventurers in disease-prone areas like swamps, or locations nearby swamps, may potentially contract a disease if they linger in them for a time



-Trees in the Winter tileset, for areas such as Chur Gathos, have all been changed to the more appropriate evergreen tree appearance



-All grenadelike items have an improved visual appearance when dropped on the ground, and an improved visual effect when thrown



-Due to popular request, the wealth management concept and economic aspects of Thay are explained in more detail here



-There have been security changes regarding player CD Keys. Now only one CD Key may be tied to a player login, and only one CD Key per IP address will be allowed per server reset (unless it's confirmed that two or more people are logging in from the same location). These changes are to combat hacker/griefer/exploiter tactics. The !addkey command has been deprecated, but a DM can always clear your CD Key association so if you get a new copy of NWN, you'll be able to login to the server with it



-Due to abuse of the AFK command to avoid assassins (such as going AFK when simply talking to a NPC), the AFK feature can only be activated once every 10 minutes. You can still go AFK whenever you need without using this command, of course



-Over 50 new placeables have been added, such as numerous magic mouths and many ground and wall bloodstains, bloodspatters, and bloody wall writing. One of the most noticeable changes this will provide is when a PC starts bleeding, or a NPC dies, the blood they spill will not all look alike



-Random NPC Red Wizards will have random various tattooed or hooded heads appropriate for a Red Wizard of Thay



-There are 30+ new player housing furniture items. All of these are available from various furniture merchants throughout the PW:

Furniture - Bar

Furniture - Bar, Corner

Furniture - Bar, Fancy

Furniture - Bar, Fancy Corner

Furniture - Blade Barrier, Spinning

Furniture - Bloody Die

Furniture - Bloody Get Out

Furniture - Bloody Handprint 1

Furniture - Bloody Handprint 2

Furniture - Bloody Handprint 3

Furniture - Bloody Red Rum

Furniture - Bloody Wall Skull

Furniture - Bookshelf with Bottles 1

Furniture - Bookshelf with Bottles 2

Furniture - Magic Mouth, Floor

Furniture - Magic Mouth, Floor Talking

Furniture - Magic Mouth, Wall

Furniture - Magic Mouth, Wall Talking

Furniture - Pillar, Wood

Furniture - Rug, Round Brown

Furniture - Rug, Round Green

Furniture - Rug, Round Red

Furniture - Ruined Fence

Furniture - Skeletal Remains 1

Furniture - Skeletal Remains 2

Furniture - Skeletal Remains 3

Furniture - Skull

Furniture - Skull Pile, Large

Furniture - Skull Pile, Medium

Furniture - Skull Pile, Small

Furniture - Statue, Monk with Bowl

Furniture - Statue, Monk with Crystal

Furniture - Table, Large Wood

Furniture - Throne, Red Jeweled



-The following bugs have been fixed:

1. Charm Spells cast on non-hostile NPCs will no longer cause the target to go hostile to the PC and attack

2. Legionnaire PCs may only summon NPC legionnaires to their aid if they are within their tharch

3. When DMs spawn NPCs in exterior town/city areas they will no longer automatically be named to a Thug doing subdual-only damage

4. Mass Heal has been corrected to follow 3.5 rules and is now a level 9 cleric spell

5. Thanks to the help of Shadooow on the Bioware forums, it is no longer possible to see through the 1x1 or 2x2 round room walls in the Castle Interior 2 tileset (such as in player-owned manors), or through exterior ruin walls in the Ruins tileset (such as in Dillomat's Tower)

[Bertram Anders]

-Over 50 new items have been added to merchants and treasure, and many of these have with special powers that aren't just your standard enchantment forge options! You can view the complete list and description of these new items here. Please note that in some cases an item's Item Properties may not seem that impressive, but if you read the description of the item you can find out what special abilities occur when using an item's unique power or by simply equipping it 



-Several of the more unique items to call out are:

1. Merchant in a Bottle - A Djinni merchant can be called forth from this bottle once per actual in-game day to buy and sell items. He possesses almost all of the new items that have been added in this update

2. Ring Gate - This can be used to instantaneously transfer items in your inventory to anyone else who possesses a Ring Gate

3. Aspect Mirror - This is a pretty neat tool that will create an ethereal image of you and a person you are speaking with, no matter where you are at. It's a great IC way to truly hold an IC discussion when you aren't in the same location as someone else

4. Wings of Flying, Winged Boots, & Lesser Wings Boots - These will allow flight a limited number of times, or times per day

5. Panic Button - This is a single-use item that casts darkness, then haste and invisibility on the user. Very useful if you're in a tough spot…

6. Sapphire Shards of Dead Magic - Extremely dangerous to friends and foes alike; these dead-magic-imbued sapphire shards will temporarily turn whatever area they are activated in to a dead magic zone where spells and magic will not function, and all magical items will have their properties stripped from them while in the area

7. Iron Flask - Can be used to capture and recall any outsider. Beware though; any attempt to recapture the same outsider is more difficult than the first attempt

8. Staff of Convictions - A quarterstaff that, when equipped, creates a powerful holy or unholy aura on its wielder against opponents of opposite alignment. In addition, it can cast a fireball/lightning combination spell numerous times per day

9. Shifting Staff - Up to three times per day this quarterstaff will polymorph its wielder into one of ~100 random creatures - from a chicken up to a dragon!

10. Incense of the Gorgon - Creates a very short-lived fog that can transform any within it to stone

11. Tovar's Instant Well - When used it creates a well at nearly any location from which you can then refill your water flask

12. Boots of Striding and Springing & Gloves of Swimming and Climbing - Provide +5 bonuses to the corresponding movement skills. For example, if you can't swim across that river, equip the Gloves of Swimming and Climbing to help you out

13. Gauntlets of the Heartfelt Blows - These gloves provide a damage bonus equal to the wearer's Charisma modifier (+1 minimum)



-In addition, the Miniature Steam Golem of Distraction has been updated to make it more useful, and cheaper. New versions of this item now have 25 charges, and each time you use it (which costs one charge) you will be protected from assassins until the next server reset. Using the Miniature Steam Golem of Distraction if it has already been activated since the last server reset will tell you so, and not take a charge away.

This change means that if you dislike Thay's automated NPC assassin system, you can use a Miniature Steam Golem of Distraction to essentially 'turn it off' every time you login



-For those of you who prefer to enchant your own items, there is also good news -

Almost all of the On Hit item properties can now be added to ammunition, thrown weapons, melee weapons, and armor at the Enchantment Forges!  While some (such as On Hit: Vorpal) are only available to DMs, nearly all of these 22 newly added On Hit properties can be selected by characters as they become more notorious



-Two new planar areas can be accessed from Dillomat's Tower: Cania and Nishrek.

1. Cania is a frozen level of the Nine Hells, inhabited by devils. Be sure you are dressed very warmly for its extremely bitter cold, or possess magic, to help survive the cold weather effects that you will face there

2. Nishrek is a realm of perpetual battle for orc-kind, and the home of the Orc pantheon. Very similar to Warrior's Rest, you can expect to be swept up into the never-ending battles that rage there



-Poison has been updated so that even if a PC succeeds on the saving throw to avoid a poison's secondary effect at the end of a turn, it will still be active on them. The PC still can, however, overcome the poison on the subsequent turn(s) by succeeding against the initial effect saving throw that will occur at the beginning of each turn (which in your combat logs will appear immediately after the secondary effect saving throw, as one turn ends and another begins)



-Druids and Rangers receive a bonus to their cooking skill when cooking over a campfire. Barbarians receive half that bonus when cooking over a campfire. In addition, every time any PC successfully cooks something, it will be tracked and the total number of those attempts will be used as a modifier to your cooking skill. So it is now possible to get better at cooking if you do it often enough and occasionally succeed



-7 new oozes has been added to the encounter system. Watch out for large and huge Aballin, flaming conflagration oozes, and the powerful Arcane Ooze which will drain spells from anyone who gets too close to it!



-Estates and estate interiors for all zulkirs are complete. Nevron and Yaphll now have their estates finished in High Thay, Druxus Rhym's estate is complete in northern Tyraturos, and Lauzoril has his hidden home created...somewhere...as well



-Within any zulkir, noble estate, or otherwise restricted area (such as in parts of the Tharchioness' Palace, the House of Oversight, etc), creatures and NPCs in those locations will go, or remain, hostile to any PC without the proper key. But if someone does have a key to one of these restricted areas, the NPCs will recognize them and anyone else in that person's party who is also in the area, and either go, or remain, non-hostile to that PC and their party 'guests'



-The following bugs have been fixed:

1. Undead creatures can no longer be killed or affect by the poison layer (4th color) of a prismatic sphere

[Bertram Anders]

-Avast! Shiver me timbers! Thar be pirates here! The pirate haven of Tortuga can now be found along a desolate stretch of Alamber Coast at the River Thazarim Estuary. On the Thay PW overland map, these new locations are located within overland area 719. You'll find Pirates with eye patches, Swashbucklers with parrots on their shoulders, Pirate Ships, and more drawing on inspiration from both the Forgotten Realms and real-world pirate lore. Pirate lovers rejoice!

1. This new addition comprises 5 new areas of adventure targeted for mid-high level PCs, and 1 new tavern

2. Tortuga itself is located on the western side of the River Thazarim estuary where it empties into the Alamber Sea. It can be reached on foot by following the coast 7 leagues east of Bezantur, by taking the Crystal Ball airship in Eltabbar, or by sailing on a couple ships from other locations on the Alamber Sea that will brave the pirates, and pirate hunters, to get there

3. The River Thazarim Estuary can also be reached from the eastern Thazalhar tharch side of the river, 2 leagues south and 5 leagues west of Moszabbar. While it may be possible to swim across the large estuary to reach either side of the river, there also exists an underwater cavern, known as Shipwreck Hollow. The eastern entrance to this ship graveyard leads underneath the estuary and connects to the underground Buccaneer Bay, which itself opens to the Tortuga side (west side) of the river

4. In Tortuga you will find the Rum Runner; a seedy tavern run by a certain Long John Silver and Anne Bonny. The place welcomes all (if you can get through the hostile pirates outside). Be sure to talk to the other patrons there for a little bit of added pirate 'flair'

 

-To complement this pirate-themed update, a new quest type has been added: Treasure Hunting. Search out the new Treasure Map items to uncover clues which will lead you to the booty! There are also some tips about this type of quest on the Unlimited Quests page under the heading "Tips for Quest Type 10 - Treasure Hunt"

 

-Cespenar, the imp from Baldur's Gate - Throne of Bhaal, can now be found serving a new Red Wizard master, and may provide a quest to your mid-level adventurer. The reward for completion of this quest will allow you to call upon a very useful and unique merchant who sells items no other merchant possesses...

 

-Hostile NPCs found in Road areas are now classified as Bandits, Outlaws, or Marauders

 

-Placed sounds have been updated in most areas, especially in taverns and in towns/cities

 

-The following bugs have been fixed:

1. If you now change your head at a Tattooist model, when you return to your normal appearance after using a Disguise Self spell, it will no longer revert your head back to the original head your PC first had

2. XP will be awarded for destroying a creature with Destruction or Disintegration spells

3. It is possible to get to the Surmarsh Stronghold area from the north, as intended