Tech Staff: Skill workings?

[Veilan]

Hey,

sorry to bother you with more, but Rusty asked me to try to find out what possibilities we have to dealing with several aspects of NWN 2's skills.

First, can you see this thread? It may help give some more background:

NWN 2: Skills

So... here's what we're looking for in a nutshell:

General:

• Synergy
  NWN 2 seems to have no synergies. Is there any good, not too clumsy way we could implement them as in PnP?
• Saving up Skill Points
  In NWN 2, you can save up to five skill points from level to level - this allows some dodginess with multiclassing. It's a step up from NWN 1, where there was no limit, but PnP allows none. Is there any way at all to tackle this? It's not a high priority, but it would be nice to know what we can or can't do anyway.
• Skill Rank Cap
  In NWN 2, skill maximum caps do not apply on cross-class levels if you posess at least 1 level with the skill in question as class skill, meaning you can raise skills too high, even if at cross-class cost. I do not think we have any way to change this, do we?

Specific:

• Open Lock
  Any way to get take 10 / take 20 any closer to PnP mechanisms?
• Spellcraft
  If there's some easy way to move the save bonus from +1 per 5 ranks to +1 per 10 ranks, that may be worth implementing.
• Appraise
  A question as much for how the builders will handle it as for us, can we somehow alter the range of maximum deviation it allows, so we could just green-light the builders to let stores use it without worries?
• Heal
  Needless to say that the NWN 2 application is out of whack. Can we emulate PnP workings, using the work we did for NWN 1?
• Perform
  Can we make this as appropriate class skills and trainable as cross-class skills for everyone somehow? Not only because it's a fun skill to have, but also of course in light of possible later PrC applications.
• Sleight of Hand
  Rusty wants to get rid of the +10 difficulty increase for hostile targets. Now I don't think that's important at all, but would it technically be possible without trouble?
• Use Magic Device
  If I'm not mistaken, AL worked on a system to bring this closer to canon, yes? A bit of a memory freshener / link would be great.

Okay, that was all. Again, this is so far just an informative request on Rusty's behalf - I guess once we got some understanding of the technical possibilities and limitations, we can get some more input and prioritise what is worth and what isn't worth tackling.

Sorry for putting yet more worries on the plates, but after those pesky Admins posted this as a live hurdle, I guess it's worth dealing with.

Thanks once more for the help and input,

[AcadiusLost]

• Synergy
  NWN 2 seems to have no synergies. Is there any good, not too clumsy way we could implement them as in PnP?
• Saving up Skill Points
  In NWN 2, you can save up to five skill points from level to level - this allows some dodginess with multiclassing. It's a step up from NWN 1, where there was no limit, but PnP allows none. Is there any way at all to tackle this? It's not a high priority, but it would be nice to know what we can or can't do anyway.
• Skill Rank Cap

PnP also allows buying half-ranks of crossclass skills, which we can't manage. I don't see a carryover as a serious concern- if someone discovers a way to limit it to a single skillpoint carryover, that'd be an improvement. Like the crossclass skill maximum ranks, it's an issue that requires getting in close and personal with NWN2's peculiar semi-XML-based GUI coding, simple things may be do-able, complex ones may be unfeasible. It's hard to predict. I've gotten by on a few things by experimentation, but it's very hit and miss (and introduces headaches on future patches, since they don't bother to document XML changes like they do 2da ones). With regards to synergies, they tend do be context-specific- where we're doing our own coding for things (scrolls) we can (and have) applied them. I'm not sure I see a need or utility for trying to implement synergy through an ACR system applying temporary skill bonuses based on ranks in other skills- it's overcomplicated and means we collide with nostacking code for +skill items.

Specific:

• Heal
  Needless to say that the NWN 2 application is out of whack. Can we emulate PnP workings, using the work we did for NWN 1?
• Perform
  Can we make this as appropriate class skills and trainable as cross-class skills for everyone somehow? Not only because it's a fun skill to have, but also of course in light of possible later PrC applications.
• Sleight of Hand
  Rusty wants to get rid of the +10 difficulty increase for hostile targets. Now I don't think that's important at all, but would it technically be possible without trouble?
• Use Magic Device
  If I'm not mistaken, AL worked on a system to bring this closer to canon, yes? A bit of a memory freshener / link would be great.

Heal currently functions to bandage/stabilize dying PCs via PnP 3.5E mechanics. We've some framework coded for the Longterm Care aspect to increase natural healing rates, but we don't have any good way to tell if the "healer" is actually staying with the patient and tending them- whacking them with a heal check then leaving isn't a faithful use of the mechanic.
[edit: the OC use of the skill involves Healing Kits, which AFAIK, will not be allowed on any ALFA server.]

Perform is tied into the PnP skillset that's coded and waiting for Obsidian's stability patch that is supposed to solve the massive instability problem with long skills.2da files. In that handling, the Perform skill itself is hidden, but retains ranks equal to the highest Perform subskill in order to allow bard feat qualification. The Perform subskills are available to all classes as class or nonclass skills by PnP rules, so Perform (Dance), and Perform (Singing) could be tested for separately. If we have a strong need to make Perform a useable skill for other character classes before we move to the PnP skillset, we can, though it's a nontrivial exercise if the default NWN2 class skill 2das haven't already got entries for it for other classes. Remember, the conversion to PnP skills will allow (perhaps requitre) a free reallocation of skillpoints, so it's no major disadvantage to be denied the opportunity to invest in Perform early on.

Use Magic Device: Now functions by 3.5E PnP rules for scroll activation (inlcluding the variant use for caster classes activating a spell for which they do not have a high enough primary casting attribute). UMD function for nonscroll magical items is unchanged from NWN2/MotB default behaviour.