NWN Player Rules: Difference between revisions

This list is subject to change at any time and is not exhaustive. The Layonara Administration control all interpretation and punishment for breaking these rules. We are always willing to discuss infringements and do not wish to come down hard on people unless absolutely necessary. In cases when the rules may not provide all the necessary answers, it is up to the player to exercise their own common sense and do what they feel is correct. If it "feels" wrong, it most likely is. Trust your instincts.

Of course at times, what characters believe themselves may have little to do with reality. A character may believe that in a drunken haze Vorax visited them and gave them a holy mission. However, the player, not the character, must keep in mind, that unless this is approved by a GM it was only a drunken haze and it did not really happen.

A character praying to a deity or interpreting things as signs from a deity could be considered contact with a deity, and a character may strongly believe that their every prayer is heard and that every odd occurance is a sign. Again, keep in mind that only a GM has the authority to say whether a prayer was heard, and if there was any reaction, and whether any of these occurances are truly signs from a deity.

Keep in mind that a character's perceptions and convictions do not have to be true by any means. Therefore, keep a separation in your mind as a player between what is true and what your character believes. Try to avoid becoming entangled in ooc arguments about what is really true as that can be irrelevant to what a character believes. A good way to head off such issues if they come up is to send a tell reminding the other involved players that what you are saying is your character's beliefs. Something like, "//my character also thinks he's the queen of England" often gets the point across.

While the NWN engine is indeed quite capable of creating interesting worlds to explore and providing a decent translation of the D&D rules into a digital medium, it definitely also has its flaws and drawbacks. Most of these come in the form of engine limitations and gaps in the artificial intelligence itself, and this can often be exploited by players in a way that would be inconsistent within an RP environment.

A common example of this would be exploiting gaps and quirks in monster A.I. in order to maximize the amount of experience gained from enemies and thus "farming" exp. For instance, a map could feature a large assortment of enemies that will tend to swarm the players because of their A.I. scripts. Using powerful area of effect spells such as Fireball or Hammer of the Gods after herding all of them together into one concentrated mass would be considered exploiting the enemy A.I. Players should refrain from doing this, and repetition of it in a single area would most definitely be construed as an exploit.

Invisibility, sanctuary, greater sanctuary and similar spells should also be used appropriately, and never used to exploit creature AI or bypass spawns when it does not make sense to do so. Players should refrain from using these spells to bypass a number of spawns in an area only to engage the last spawn guarding CNR, etc., especially when the creatures in those spawns would have other means of detecting your character (e.g. listen checks, visible footprints, and so on). Players should use common sense, refrain from doing anything that does not "feel right", and ask the GM Team for clarification if they are unsure whether a use of these spells is okay or not.

Just like in pen and paper games players would divide up the treasure at the end and rarely (if ever) would a fighter take an item that could be used by a mage, and vice versa. In PnP games players worked well together because you are face to face in a social setting and because you valued the game and the group as a whole. It should be the same here within the Layonara community. Respect and courtesy should be the rule of thumb.

Only use summons with arms and legs to harvest. Do not use animals and such; it just does not fit well, no matter how far the reality is pushed.

It is possible for a low-level character in a group of higher-level characters to contribute in some form, whether by flinging spells, tossing potions, firing arrows or any number of other contributing things, even if they're not terribly effective. The important part is that they attempt to contribute. Similarly, a high-level character can escort a group of lower-level characters without doing all the work for them. So, in this spirit, we ask for the Community to respect this and to keep these things in mind when going out and about. We're not going to break up a party on Dregar that contains a 5th level character just for that fact alone, nor will we go on hunts when we see a wide party level spread.

Stealing from other Player Characters is not allowed on Layonara. This includes but is not limited to taking items or gold from unlocked chests in houses, unattended oxen bags and pick pocketing. Like PvP, the only time stealing will ever be condoned is if all parties involved are aware and agree to the situation and it is monitored by a GM.

Characters must level up as soon as it is reasonably feasible to do so. In other words, at the point at which your character accumulates enough XP to reach the next level, you must go through the level-up process. Gathering XP while the level up option is available is known as XP Storing, and is against the server rules.