[Balanor]

Hey all! I am hoping I can get some help from the community to update and revise the Tips for Adventuring in Thay thread. The last time this has had a serious revision/update was several years ago, and ALOT has changed since then. For you long term players, and for any 'newbies' who have found things out the hard way that maybe aren't talked about in this thread, I'd really love your assistance getting it updated. The main 'rule' for it is that it doesn't provide spoilers or specific IC information like 'The doors to the secret treasure chamber in the Keep of Sorrows crypt are located at XXXX by doing XXXX'. However, something general like 'If you thoroughly search dungeons you can find hidden doors to secret treasure chambers or hidden doors that give one-way shortcuts to get you back closer to the exit of the dungeon.'

Ideally, I would also like to break the initial post in that thread into sections to categorize and group tips into related areas.

If someone would be so kind as to take the lead on this and compile the tips and categorize them, I would be forever grateful. If nothing else though, I'd ask anyone interested in just helping out to provide their own tips here (or in that thread) or post ideas for how to categorize them here and I can work on updating that thread as they come in.

[DarkRanger]

-Plain gold rings can make the most useful and expensive enchantments not nearly as expensive as they would be to add onto an already enchanted item.

-When custom forging an item, make sure to get the first two enchantments right where you want them before adding a 3rd, because once an item has 3 enchantments the only option becomes removing them.

-If you've been given some authority(faction aid) don't be afraid to use it if you're alone or even in a small enough group. Another blade can be helpful, plus every adventure needs its redshirts.

-Pack slaves are better rented than bought. It's better to travel with a few fighter PCs, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Karilynn]

Rough draft of divisions by sections (just re-assigning not really changing up what is there so far)

Basic Commands:
-Use the following command to bring up the main Player Menu: !menu

-Upon login, a PC can recall or summon their mount by using the following voice command and the menu it brings up: !mount

-Use the following command to view your hunger, thirst, and fatigue status at any time: !htf

-Use the following command to switch yourself and any of your summons/familiars/slaves/henchmen to subdual mode (non-lethal damage): !subdual
Keep in mind though that subdual damage can only be done through physical means (blunt, peircing, or slashing damage). Spells, special abilities, and elemental (fire, ice, etc) damage will still cause normal damage as they cannot be controlled like physical damage can.


Character Creation and General Information:
Basics
See <insert link here> for information about sub-races and other rules.

Before just jumping in and making a character, give a moment to consider a little bit about that character’s background, if they have any particular mannerisms or expressions, or the general sort of ‘person’ they are.

Description – don’t leave the generic description. PLEASE take the time to write a few sentences. It helps others react and relate to you, and might lead to some fun RP opportunities. This doesn’t need to be super-detailed. But even a general description of height and other noticeable features can be helpful.

Make sure to choose languages at first level, if you get any bonus languages. Don’t pick common, already have it.
Deity selection – make sure you have the one selected you follow Not only does this possibly give your character opportunities, but it gives the DM information that could be helpful if they decide to run an event.

-Don't forget to choose your PC's initial starting languages before you reach level 2. Starting PCs get the ability to choose an additional number of languages equal to their Intelligence modifier, but only while they are at first level. You can select languages by bringing up the Player Menu and going to [Character Options] and then [Languages].

-Along with choosing the language: don't choose common as one of those languages. It is assumed that every character speaks common and thus common is a waste of a language.


Skills and Feats:
-The Craft Trap and Craft Weapon skills are not used in Thay. Select them only for RP purposes, if you would like them.

-The Craft Armor skill is only used with the Lycanthorphy system in Thay. It is used to allow PC Lycans to control their shapechanges to and from Hybrid, Animal, or normal form. Put points in this skill if you plan on becomeing a lifelong lycan.

-The Scribe Scroll and Brew Potions feats can be used to make some extra money for those that have one or both of them. They work in Thay just like in the standard NWN game.

-Don’t forget to review the Ride skill and Mounted Combat and Mounted Archery feats that are new with the 1.69 patch. These are very helpful if you plan to make a character that will be using horses quite a bit.


RP
If you are RP’ing, don’t run when with others, unless you are running.

If you do not treat Red Wizards with respect in RP, then be ready in character to pay the consequences. For instance, call them Master or Mistress, or Omnipotence when addressing them. They are the law and power in Thay.


Clothing/Armor/Item Customizing:
-Visit the Clothier in Bezantur - Northeast to customize your clothes. You can use the tailor models there to change clothing, weapon, shield, and helm appearances and colors.

-Use the engraving table in the Clothier or other locations to give virtually any of your items a unique name or description.
Note: This is not terribly restricted, so use common sense - no modern or outrageous names or descriptions please.

-Engraving tables have been upgraded (thanks to script work by KTA!) to allow individuals to change the description of an item (up to 320 characters). This is a great addition for those of you interested in starting a player faction and wanting to create your own custom faction items.

-Use the enchantment forges found in various locations to create items with powers you want. Most items in the treasure drops are useful and can provide gold, but the best items will be enchanted by you to fit your character’s specific needs. The forges cost experience and gold.

-There is a enchantment forge available for general public use in Nethjet – Rockhammer’s Armor.


Experience and Notoriety:
-New players, upon reaching level 2, will lose the temporary protection from slavers they receive due to the opening events. It is possible to buy this protection from any Slave Merchant, however the cost is not cheap, and increases with levels. Those who like the challenge, or don’t like giving money to slavers, can go without, but be prepared for the occasional slaver attack until you have amassed enough notoriety to make slavers decide you are too well connected and powerful to risk trying to take as a slave.

-Gain notoriety as quickly as you can. It will open up many opportunities for you and make you life easier in the process (see the point above for one example). Notoriety is gained through a variety of methods such as player award Roleplay XP, XP from the DMs, completing quests, buying and selling slaves, killing bad guys (to a small degree), among others.

-There are a variety of ways to gain experience - not just through combat. Some of these include:
1. Talking to NPCs and learning about rumors or trying to convert them to your faith is a very safe way.
2. Training at a combat dummy is another safe method, however this can only be performed a limited number of times per day with breaks in between.
3. Performing any one of the various quests can range from relatively safe (delivering a message), to potential dangerous (trying to find an item in the crypts, etc).
4. Capturing and selling Escaped Slaves
5. Character vs. Character combat
6. Picking Locks. Don't do it in front of guards or legionnaires though or you might not enjoy what happens...
7. Disarming Traps
8. Exploring new areas

-Don't forget to use the ability to award Roleplay experience to other players. This is a very useful feature in which PCs can award others even if there is no DM on to reward good RP. The ability for Players to grant XP is regulated by the system - so don't be worried about 'overusing' it.
You'll need to be within 10 meters of the player you wish to award XP to. Them you can find this option by pressing the 'R' key to bring up the Player Menu, then choose [List Nearby Interactive Objects], then choose the player from teh list that shows up, then choose the [Award Roleplaying Experience] option.

-For those of a religious nature, or those just wishing to spread the word of your god, you can even talk to NPCs about your god for another chance to gain experience and notoriety. Getting a favorable reaction from someone about your god depends on your alignment vs. theirs, your overall notoriety, your overall level, your charisma, your wisdom, and other factors.

-Special quest givers can be found in towns and castles outside of the major cities like Bezantur. Check locations in Murbant, Thasselen, the Keep of Sorrows, etc for them. In addition to gold and XP rewards, these special quest givers will provide useful magic items for successfully completing their quests.

-Talk to NPCs you see and try to convince them what a good person you are....or at least why they should respect you. If you are able to turn their reaction favorable to you, you have a good chance of getting information from them, which increase your knowledge (gaining experience) of Thay. Some of this information is month or year specific, so speak to NPCs occasionally as the years press on to learn about any new happenings.

-When speaking to commoners, there are common, uncommon, and rare types of information you can get from them. The better their personal reaction to you, the better the chance you get a more valuable piece of information (and the higher the experience reward you will receive).

-Likewise, if they like or trust you enough, you may be able to perform certain tasks or quests for them in return for gold, increased notoriety, and experience.

-Charm spells can be cast on commoners which will have a very powerful effect of raising their opinion of you (at least for a time). This will improve your chances of getting a job or information from.



Adventuring and Travel:
1. HTF (Hunger Thirst Fatigue):
-Be prepared when you leave any cities or towns and travel in the countryside of Thay – stock up on food, water, and ammunition (if you use it). The countryside can be dangerous (especially at night), and Thay is a very large realm which means it can take time getting from one place to another.

-Always keep extra food and water with you. Many a strong and hearty adventurer has starved to death getting lost in the wilderness. Having a little more food than you thought might save you from this unfortunate circumstance.

-Certain types of food will be more nutritious than others. Choose what you take on long journeys wisely.

-If you do not turn off, HTF, then you can gain a small benefit of healing from food and drink (see Healing below)

2. Healing
-If you plan to go anywhere that could be considered dangerous, stock up on healing supplies! Even if you don't plan on it, have some anyways. I can't overemphasize the importance of this. Remember, if you die, you may not be able to recover and die. This is a permadeath world, and a person dead, is dead forever (unless one of their friends thinks them important enough to spend a lot of gold on!) Carry a variety of bandage, poultices/plasters, and potions if you can afford it.

-Eating or drinking moderately nutritious items will heal you a small amount.

-Check around if you don’t like the price a temple is charging you for healing. Some temples have better prices than others on certain services. The cost to remove a curse at one temple could be considerably lower than another temple.

-Along with the last tip, spend a few points on the Heal skill. A couple of points in the skill can mean the difference between life or death when you need a bandage to heal you.

-Bandages are much easier to apply if you are not badly damaged. Use poultice, plaster, a curing potion, or eat a bit of food to raise your health first, and then try the bandages for a reduced DC to successfully apply them.

3. General Tips:
-Be careful where you take your slaves. If you take your pack slave out in the wilderness, and he dies, you don't want to be stuck carrying the 300 lbs. of extra gear he was carrying for you.

-Be careful wandering around the streets of certain towns and cities during the night time hours. You could be mugged - or worse.

If at all possible, explore the dark and dangerous places with at least one other person. Use your strengths and work together. If you’re a thief and your friend is a fighter, let that person go toe-to-toe with the goblin and you turn it in to a pin cushion with your bow from a safe distance away.

- -If adventuring alone, take things SLOW. You never know when you might spot that trap which could have ended your adventuring days.
But, when all else fails, be prepared to run....AWAY!!! Don’t count on your mysterious allies to bail you out of a near-death situation too many times. Those are precious opportunities which are very difficult to replace. Save them for the most dire of situations – like battling another Red Wizard to become a Zulkir – not wasting it due to a lucky shot from a rat in the sewers.

-When possible try to find other players to RP with, or form parties when adventuring. A group of players acting together not only stands a better chance of survival when adventuring and more fun just hanging out together, but they also stand a much better chance of receiving an impromptu DM event or attention - rather than multiple individual players scattered throughout different locations in Thay. It's really in everyone's benefit to get together if you can!

-As an incentive to this, try working together with other players to complete your quests. While only the person the quest was assigned to will receive gold and notoriety, that PC and all the PC's nearby party members will receive the XP. And who knows - maybe on a difficult enough quest, the PC assigned the quest may even be inclined to split the gold among their party members.


Caravans and Horses and Ships:
-However, if you are making an overland trip, buy a horse at the Caravanserai in Bezantur - North. It will speed up the journey - and could help get you out of trouble on the way. With enough notoriety, you may also convince the stablemasters to show you their rare stock of 'horses'...

-Pick up maps of individual towns (Bezantur especially) from various merchants. These can really help you find a location you’re looking for when you enter that town or a section of a city.

-You can buy mounts from the Caravanserai Stables in Bezantur – North and various other stables throughout Thay.

-Horses cannot be taken in to most interior or underground areas. This includes player houses, below decks on ships, and more common areas such as inns and taverns.

-If you’re looking for a relatively painless way to get to Murbant or Thasselen (and back to Bezantur), head to the docks and take a ship. The price isn’t too outrageous, and you’ll save time rather than taking a potentially dangerous overland trip.

-Encounters via caravan and ship are set so you will only have a maximum of one run-in (bandits, pirates, etc.) per trip.


Miscellaneous
-You can use Slave Shackles to capture virtually any humanoid creature that was originally hostile to you. Once shackled and enslaved, you can then direct them just like a summoned creature, familiar, or animal companion - they can even fight for you.

-If you would like a house that you don’t have money for - find someone else who wants to go in on a place with you. While only one person can technically own the building (which is the person who must pay taxes on it), you can still make copies of the house key for anyone you like by using the Key Copiers.
Then, anyone with a building key (including thieves with skeleton keys...) can use it to work with furniture. This means non-building owners could still decorate or place furniture anywhere in the building – or even take/steal furniture from the house.

-In addition, player owned merchants can be placed in player owned houses. So if you wish, a building coupled with a player-owned merchant (or a couple player owned merchants) could even be the starting point for a player-run guild.

[Sundraoi]

I'd like to expand a touch on these:

Make sure to choose languages at first level, if you get any bonus languages. Don’t pick common, already have it.

It should also be known that common may not be the only language your PC starts with. For example, some classes will have a secondary starting language; magic for mages and cant for rogues. PCs also start with a racial language if they are not human; elven, orcish, etc.

You can use Slave Shackles to capture virtually any humanoid creature that was originally hostile to you. Once shackled and enslaved, you can then direct them just like a summoned creature, familiar, or animal companion - they can even fight for you

The hostile creature must be subdued first. The creature will fall and their pack will appear by their head. At that point you use your shackles on them.

[Hellstrom]

Award roleplay XP to another player by sending them a tell with !xp

Dispel any existing buff your character cast on him/herself by typing !dispel <EnchantmentID#> in the chat window. You can get a list of buff IDs by typing !dispel without any following number.

[Anya Sandragon]

Caravans and ships:
Do not possess your familiar. Your real body could be left on the caravan once you arrive and you will be stuck until a DM assists you.

[Hellstrom]

Caravans and ships:
Do not possess your familiar. Your real body could be left on the caravan once you arrive and you will be stuck until a DM assists you.

This kinda seems more like it should be posted in the Problem Reports ( http://thaypw.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=6 )section than in Tips and Tricks. Or at least post a bug there in addition to this.

[Animayhem]

Caravans and ships:
Do not possess your familiar. Your real body could be left on the caravan once you arrive and you will be stuck until a DM assists you.

This kinda seems more like it should be posted in the Problem Reports ( http://thaypw.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=6 )section than in Tips and Tricks. Or at least post a bug there in addition to this.

It is not a bug but a game engine. When you possess your familair your body is essentailly a shell, living and breathing but with no mind. You must be near your actual body to transfer back as it has a limited range.

[Anya Sandragon]

Caravans and ships:
Do not possess your familiar. Your real body could be left on the caravan once you arrive and you will be stuck until a DM assists you.

This kinda seems more like it should be posted in the Problem Reports ( http://thaypw.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=6 )section than in Tips and Tricks. Or at least post a bug there in addition to this.

It is not a bug but a game engine. When you possess your familair your body is essentailly a shell, living and breathing but with no mind. You must be near your actual body to transfer back as it has a limited range.

I was giving a 'tip' (as that is what this section is) regarding something I witnessed, not reporting a 'bug'. At the time there was a DM Playing and that was the only fix.

[TheSupremeForce]

Don't neglect your saving throws.
Nearly all of my respawn situations have been caused by failed saves. This becomes more of an issue the more advanced you become (higher levels), as you will face an ever increasing number of spellcasting foes (which makes sense, given that this is Thay). Often, one botched save is enough to get you killed. Obviously, you're going to roll a terrible number once in a while anyway, but you can greatly reduce the likelihood of sudden death by having good saves in the first place.
Even trading off a little AC for equipment that boosts your saves might prove worthwhile.