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GUIDE
TO PLAYING
THREE
TOWNS
DIFFICULTY
The first
thing a player needs to understand about Three Towns is that it may be
more difficult than other modules or persistent worlds. The enemies are
custom-designed to be challenging but not stupidly overpowered, many changes
have been made to otherwise buggy and unbalanced spells and systems, and
the difficulty in getting metal-based gear can be daunting, especially
at the start of your career. Encounters are not scaled to the level and
number of the adventurers who may come across them; they simply exist
where they exist, and if your new character winds up in over his head,
it's probably because he stumbled into an area where overpowering enemies
were present, not because of a fault with a spawner. Chalk it up to experience
and make a note to return later, or with a larger group, or both.
Monsters
in Three Towns are all custom-created, and with the exception of certain
very weak or very strong monsters, all have character classes and intelligently
chosen skills and feats and 75% to 100% of their maximum possible hit
points, as opposed to the NWN standard of 50%.
Three
Towns runs using the D&D Hardcore Rules difficulty setting. This means
that monsters and NPC's can and will critical hit, use talents like knockdown
and disarm, and generally defend themselves to the best of their poor
code-controlled ability. Three Towns is primarily full PvP, which means
that not only might you want to keep an eye out on other players who may
not have your best interests in mind, but you should be careful about
where you toss that fireball, unless you don't mind crisping your teammates
along with the enemy.
CHARACTER
DESIGN
Because
of the difficulty in Three Towns, it will be greatly to your benefit as
a player to have a solid handle on "strong" character design.
This means that while your halfling bard with base 13 in all attributes
may have done fine in the single-player game, your experience in Three
Towns may be somewhat unpleasant. The idea of min-maxing, or optimizing
your character design, may be an anaethma to many members of the roleplaying
community, it is nevertheless valid and, due to its very existence, governs
the path a module design may take. A world designed for "average"
characters will be a joke to min-maxed characters when it comes to combat,
and unlike in a real pen and paper game, there are almost no counterbalances
to this optimization.
To help
prospective players design strong characters, here are some general hints.
These hints are based on the experience and viewpoints of the builders
of Three Towns, and of course are not holy writ by any means.
Strength-Based
Characters
A powerful and relatively easy to play design, the strength character
kills the enemy with melee attacks, exploiting the to-hit and damage
bonuses strength brings. Ideally, you start with as much strength as
you can get, which means 18 for most races and 20 for half-orcs. (Obviously
gnomes and halflings are poor racial picks here.) Two-handed weapons
are a favorite with this sort of character, as a two-handed weapon gives
you 150% of your strength damage bonues (i.e. a strength of 18 gets
you +6 damage, not +4). Two-weapon fighters are also feasable and fun
to play, though they require extra feats for two-weapon fighting, ambidexterity,
and possibly improved two-weapon fighting, and even more feats if they
wish to specialize in two different weapons. Shield fighters lack the
total damage output of either of these, but a big fat tower can keep
you alive for a long time in the thick of melee, which is where you're
going to be.
Dexterity-Based
Characters
More difficult to play, but often the only real option for certain character
types. If you are playing a dexterity based character, get as much dexterity
as you can afford (18 or 20) and GET WEAPON FINESSE. The weapon finesse
feat allows you to use your dexterity for your to-hit bonus when wielding
a light weapon such as a rapier, so a rogue with 10 strength and 20
dex goes from +0 to hit to +5. Your damage output will never be quite
as good as the strength-based character, but you'll be better with missile
weapons, saves, thief skills, etc... presumably the reason you went
with high dexterity in the first place. Also be aware of the limiting
effects of armor on your dexterity bonus. Leather allows for a maximum
AC bonus from dexterity of 6, while studded allows 4, therefore you
may actually be better off with plain old leather if you have a dexterity
of 20.
Equipment-Based
Characters
Don't fall into the trap of playing a certain character type because
you "know" there's a spiffy piece of equipment available for
you which will shore up your weaknesses and make you into a god. You
have no idea if this sort of equipment will be available, you don't
know what other equipment may be available, and it's a really dumb idea
to begin with. This failing is most common in local vault players who
design their own gear for hours and hours, and players who read too
many hint books.
Development:
Hit Point Rolls
A somewhat cheesy trick when levelling up is to simply cancel any roll
that gives you less than you maximum possible hit points. If you are
a barbarian with 16 constitution and the toughness feat, this means
you keep rerolling until you get that magic 16 hit points. If you have
the patience for this sort of rerolling, it can benefit you over the
long haul.
Development:
Ability Increases
The min-maxer's general rule for ability increases is to design your
character with a high value in your primary attribute, whatever that
is, and raise it every chance you get. This means that if you are a
big two-handed sword wielding fighter who started with 18 strength,
every time you get the opportunity to raise an ability score (at levels
4, 8, 12, 16 and 20) you raise your strength. As long as you spent 16
of your starting 30 ability points to start at 18, it just makes good
sense to keep raising it rather than shoring up your humiliatingly low
8 intelligence.
Planning Ahead
If you want to be really picky about how your character develops, particularly
with a multiclass where the timing of your level increases can be crucial,
try to plan out a career path for yourself. If you like, load up Contest
of Champions (a PvP module irrationally force-fed into the infamously
bad 1.21 patch) in single player and get the Fight Master to level you
up as high as you like, and just see the progression you make as you
level up.
THE
FIRST VENDOR
The first
vendor you will encounter is actually two vendors; the Entry Daemon provides
general goods at one price, and metal-heavy goods at a higher price. Our
general recommendation is that you determine what metal-heavy things you
require and make sure you buy them first. You can always pick up the nonmetal
goods later, albeit at a higher price, but certain metal-heavy items will
not be available at all until you bring in enough salvage for the Guild
of Smiths. Make sure you have one o those two-handed swords you put focus
into, and worry about buying your accessory longbow later.
GETTING ENOUGH
MONEY
Some early testers
of Three Towns complained that there was not enough money for basic supplies.
I've never found this to be the case, but I'm a notorious miser. Nevertheless,
low level creatures drop a fair bit of coin and some nifty items, and
you can do relatively well financially in Three Towns if you play smart.
However, you should
never expect to become a tycoon in Three Towns like you can in the single
player game. For one thing, Three Towns is a fairly poverty-stricken setting,
and the merchants will sell high and buy low, especially if you're forced
to deal on the black market. In addition, the gate guards will look over
your equipment most thoroughly when you seek entrance, and charge you
a head tax according to what you're carrying if they deem you wealthy
enough to afford it. The head tax should never be outrageous relative
to what you own, but a little tax every time you go into town will add
up, forcing you to plan your town trips and keeping the game economy from
exploding too quickly.
Pick up everything,
be thrifty, and invest in a couple of magic bags so you can haul more
loot (especially scrap metal). You will never be as rich as you migh think
you should be, but you'll be rich enough to do what you need. If you find
yourself going broke from constantly buying an infinite number of healing
kits which you "need" to fight the things you're going for,
you probably don't really "need" to be going after something
that difficult in the first place.
QUESTS
Three Towns' variable
saving system means that we can save an infinite number of quests states
and such on your character, even between server restarts and the occasional
crash. Quests are not given out in Three Towns by level; no one will say,
"Sorry, I can't give this quest to a level 4." Just because
you get a quest as soon as you materialize in Three Towns doesn't mean
you'll be able to complete it anytime soon. However, go ahead and get
as many quests as you can find; your journal will be updated and keep
you current on what you have cooking (yes, even between restarts).
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