Hey there. Now, it's a long, long way before my ranger gets his animal companion, but for when he does, I'm curious. I read somewhere here that Animal Companions were amongst some patch fixes. Now, seeing as ALFA has done a number one on alot of game features, I would like to know if animal companions are treated in any way differently?
And perhaps the biggest question; Are there other ACs than the standard bear, wolf, badger, spider, boar and panther? Reason I'm asking is that a hawk would really, really suit my character, and one might think that that's one of the most likely animal companions there is. Right?
Animal Companions
Moderator: ALFA Administrators
Animal Companions
PC: Leigh Fynn
Deaders: Tristan Cole
Deaders: Tristan Cole
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AcadiusLost
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Re: Animal Companions
For NWN1, ALFA had many more options than available in the base game, as well as rules/scripts to handle persistency for them (so if your trusty badger pal gets eaten by a Balor, she's not going to be nuzzling your ear the next morning after hitting the magic "Rest" button).
So far, we've not ported those scripted over to NWN2, nor investigated extending creature type options significantly (other than disallowing wacky dinosaurs). It's been on the "to-do" list since before Live, but always low-priority, as it only affects Druids, or Rangers of 4th level or above (quite a small % of the playerbase currently).
In the meantime, ALFA players are expected to RP their companions appropriately (as actual animals rather than "spirit summons", they do not IC appear from nowhere on command). The death of an animal companion should be a major emotional blow to a PC, rather than an automatic and speedy replacement with a fresh one after one rest cycle.
This is an area that received considerable attention during ALFA's NWN1 days, but hasn't been discussed much in the NWN2 era; but it's understood that such Companions need to be handled as close friends and allies to the PC, and not used as expendable minions to tank/bait opponents, especially vs. spawns while unsupervised.
Re: Hawks particularly, NWN2's selection of bird creature models is woefully small. It's beginning to improve, but proper flighted birds aren't really available presently AFAIK.
So far, we've not ported those scripted over to NWN2, nor investigated extending creature type options significantly (other than disallowing wacky dinosaurs). It's been on the "to-do" list since before Live, but always low-priority, as it only affects Druids, or Rangers of 4th level or above (quite a small % of the playerbase currently).
In the meantime, ALFA players are expected to RP their companions appropriately (as actual animals rather than "spirit summons", they do not IC appear from nowhere on command). The death of an animal companion should be a major emotional blow to a PC, rather than an automatic and speedy replacement with a fresh one after one rest cycle.
This is an area that received considerable attention during ALFA's NWN1 days, but hasn't been discussed much in the NWN2 era; but it's understood that such Companions need to be handled as close friends and allies to the PC, and not used as expendable minions to tank/bait opponents, especially vs. spawns while unsupervised.
Re: Hawks particularly, NWN2's selection of bird creature models is woefully small. It's beginning to improve, but proper flighted birds aren't really available presently AFAIK.