The lack of career choices starting to chaff just a tad? Do you have trouble relating to the somewhat conservative Fighter, Wizard or Rogue? Does your complex soul scream for more? Stop your crying and take a look at this exceptional group of people who have been hard at work creating huge extras for players of Neverwinter Nights.

The Player Resource Consortium (PRC) was founded shortly after the release of Hordes of the Underdark, with the express purpose of ending the dearth of quality prestige classes and has recently expanded into new feats and new spells to confound your enemies. The PRC started slowly, with Stratovarius releasing a 3 pack consisting of the Spellsword, Mage Killer, and Harper Mage. These were quickly followed by the Acolyte of the Skin, and even new developers, such as Attilla, DarkGod, Aaon Graywolf and Shane Hennessy.

We spoke with PR head honcho, Lockindal Linantal, about this exceptional addition to the Neverwinter Universe.

Quick! Where can I find this?

http://nwnprc.netgamers.co.uk/

What is your own experience with Neverwinter Nights?

Well, all of the members of the PRC differ in this respect. My own experience is very positive. Neverwinter Nights has enabled us to make such great content due to so much of it being customizable. It has also allowed me personally to meet many friends and become a part of many communities (such as Dusk Haven, the PRC, and even the general Neverwinter Community).

How did this group begin?

The PRC (although it was not yet under that name or, in fact, under any name) was founded by Stratovarius in early December of 2003 after the release of Hordes of the Underdark. Stratovarius had been playing through the HoTU campaign using a Pale Master and mr_bumpkin's Caster Level script. He was enjoying it quite thoroughly but decided that the Pale Master was just not good enough to be a pure caster prestige class.

As such, he decided to make his own, starting with the Mage Killer, progressing to the Harper Mage, and then the Spellsword. These three formed the first release of what became the PRC and the beginning of the group. Soon after that version, hennessy shane sent his "PnP" Shifter and the Lich template to Stratovarius (using SetAppearence function) for inclusion into the PRC. After that, things started to roll; we got CVS setup, we got web sites, we got forums, we got lots of emails, and we had a product we can all be proud of. It seems so long ago... and now we are pretty big, with 15 or so members and 40 released classes; constantly absorbing more content and more people.

Does your group only deal in prestige classes?

No, we also deal in Spells (Bleeding Edge's spell pack, and in the next release, Boneshank's Epic Spellcasting system, to be included soon), Rabbithall's crafting system (as per pnp), and Feats (from various books, some created as prereqs, some not). We also deal with template classes, home-brewed custom prestige classes (custom classes will be included in a separate installation/rar, so people don't have to use them if they would prefer to stick with WoTC classes), and base classes.

Can you explain exactly you have created?

We have created a prestige class system, creating dynamic hides (for example, the Arcane Spell Failure for the Spellsword) and properties (such as stat increases) onto PCs based on their prestige classes. We also have a custom caster level script for all of the spellcaster prestige classes, allowing their duration and damage to scale up with the caster prestige class level. This system now includes 38 prestige classes, 1 template class, and 1 base class (although, due to hard coding, it cannot be taken at the first level without the use of a 3rd party program like the CODI Character Creator).

We have also created a custom combat system for various prestige classes, such as the Foe Hunter and the Fist of Raziel, and several feats including Sanctify Martial Strike, Intimidating Rage, Sacred Vow, and Disciple of Darkness, and bleeding edge's spells, which were all taken from official books. These spells include: Mass Bull's Strength, Snilloc's Snowball Storm, Fireburst, Disintegrate, Conviction (and Legion's Conviction), for 83 spells in total.

You mentioned a combat system. Could you give more information on this?

The combat system was created by Aaon Graywolf. It was designed to simulate melee combat through scripting. The system was useful for creating spells or feats that work in combat, such as the Smite Feats. The system included Weapon Focus, Weapon Finesse, Improved Critical, and a whole bunch of other features. The main function could even be called in a for loop with an attack modifier increased at -5 to simulate the attack progression.

The limitations of the original script included no support for Ranged attacks, no checks for spells/effects on the PC, and no elemental weapon damage or sneak attack damage. I created some very basic ranged attack functions using Aaon's melee functions for reference. Soul Taker fleshed them out by adding support for ammunition enhancement bonuses, bonus attack vs. racial and alignment types, and even elemental damage checks.

Unfortunately, as of 2.0, there are two combat includes and different functions for both melee and ranged. This is where Oni steps in. He has taken a lot of Soul Taker's code and Aaon's code and is merging them into one attack function that can handle everything. Melee, Ranged, elemental damage, and even sneak attacks. In addition, the main goal is to make a single function that can be called to simulate an entire combat round starting at X main hand attack. This function would start at X, and perform the rest of the melee or ranged attack round for the character. The advantage to this is that any class that wants a special "spell attack" would not have to sacrifice their entire combat round for this single attack. In addition, it would make it even easier to script attack functions, which is our goal in making one large combat include.

What was the most difficult thing you have encountered when creating content like this?

Well, the combat system above was a large hurdle. We have also had issues with a lot of hard coded functions that sometimes seem to have "issues" with our custom prestige classes. And, of course, getting content done on time is also hard. :grins:

Do I need to be technically inclined to use your content? Where would I find out more information if I need it?

No, you do not. In fact, if you use the installer program, the entire install consists of clicking on it then clicking several more times at various stages. After that, they can be used in-game the same way that a BioWare prestige class or spell can be.

For more information, the best place to look is our home page (http://nwnprc.netgamers.co.uk/) and our forums (http://forums.netgamers.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=108). These are checked every day by most members of the team and generally offer the fastest response to questions.

What can fans expect to see from the PRC in the future?

Fans can expect continued support, bug fixes, and quality content. They can also expect more feats, more spells, and more classes. They can also expect an expansion on several systems. We are working on a full spellcasting system for classes that have their own spellbook. We plan to re-do the Blackguard, the Assassin, and the Harper Scout using this system. We also plan on expanding it to our custom classes that use +1 esc every other level instead of a spellbook, namely the Knight of the Chalice. Future inclusions will be the Champion of Gwynharwyf, possibly the Bladesinger, and probably more. We are also working on a custom system for sneak attack classes that will make REAL, STACKABLE (with both the rogue and the blackguard; without using death attack) sneak attacks. To do this, we are adding sneak attack feats to the player's hide, (or in the case of a class like the Halfling Warslinger or the Peerless Archer, onto their weapon; so it only increases their sneak attack damage on the specified weapon) depending on the variant class levels.

* Screenshots used in this article are CEP Enhanced