Character creation

Character creation is the process by which a player creates a player character (PC) to be used when playing a module or on a persistent world.

Before playing Neverwinter Nights, the player first has to decide what type of character to play. There is a great deal of room for customization, so this may seem a little intimidating at first. It is best to remember that there are no good or bad characters, and different people appreciate different aspects of the game. The player can create any number of characters, so feel free to experiment. Neverwinter has a very flexible system for character modification, so do not worry too much about the decisions made early on.

One way to navigate the character creation process is to start with a character concept. Many roleplayers enjoy mimicking figures from history, myth, or popular culture. Those who enjoy a challenge sometimes construct a flawed character, perhaps one who is sickly or a bit of a buffoon. Perhaps they might take a classical stereotype and play it in a new and refreshing manner, like a dwarvan barbarian who is scholarly or prefers a sling to an axe. Regardless of where the inspiration comes from, having a concept makes the process of character creation much easier.

Steps

• Gender
• Race
• Portrait
• Class
• Alignment
• Ability scores
• Skills
• Feats
• Spell school (wizards only)
• Domains (clerics only)
• Animal companions or familiars (druids, or wizards and sorcerers)
• Spells (some spellcasters)
• Character appearance
• Character information

Notes

• Some NWN players advise against using the "recommended" button as well as the packages offered in the character creation process.
  • The "recommended" button often places skill points in cross-class skills instead of class skills.
  • The "recommended" presets do not take into account the new skills introduced in the expansion packs.
  • Packages invest skill points in skills the character might end up not using. Conversely, it might not put ranks into important skills.
  • A player with HotU installed might find the "recommended" button selecting an item creation feat, such as brew potion, that is not useful if the player intends to play SoU or the original campaign; the brew potion feat requires a specific "blank" magic potion bottle, and only HotU has such items available to the character.
  • A "recommended" feat for fighters is weapon focus (longsword), even if the PC has this feat with different weapon selected.
  • "Recommended" ability scores occur prior to choosing a package. This means that the recommended scores might buy many strength points, but one of the packages could be geared towards dexterity-based combat.
  • On the other hand, the "recommended" ability scores may be useful for a player to get an idea of how many points a class typically allots to each ability.