gmod.com is not authorized to distribute this campaign. They did not ask permission and I certainly did not grant it.
Path of Evil:
Story: Unlike other adventures, you are the villain of the story. This means it's up to you to decide what needs to be done. No Aldanon rambling on, no Nasher to give specific instructions. One companion will provide a very general framework for you, but it's up to you to figure out where to go and what to do. Did anyone tell Ammon Jerro how to defeat the King of Shadows? No, he figured things out himself. You may be told you are looking for an item in a city, and it's up to you to find it.
Because of this, Path of Evil comes off as being "story-lite", that's because you're making the story as you go, becoming the villain. Path of Evil is about the history of a villain before they "threaten the Realms". Once you leave Neverwinter, Path of Evil has an open world.
You are not required to agree with every evil thing in Faerun. For example you can tell people your personal code means people should be free and refuse slaving quests. Similarly, companions can and do have "non evil" traits such as caring for their family. They're not all homocidal maniacs, and you don't have to be either.
After the first few hours, Path of Evil has an open world like Storn of Zehir where you can explore randomly. You start at level one and should finish between level 15-20, depending on how many things you do. I would not expect anyone to be able to finish with less than a level 13 party. Expect 30+ hours of gameplay.
Oh yeah, you can run a stronghold, just like in the OC.
Installation: Files are in directory format. NWN2 handles this just fine. Copy the contents of the folders to their corresponding folder in your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2 folder. The folders in the modules.7z go into your modules folder, the folders in the other.7z go into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2 folder. This way I can release a small fix of any specific issues that arise rather that requiring you to redownload an entire module.
Preferred race or class: None. For the first 4 levels, you get almost completely different quests depending on whether you are a divine caster, arcane caster, rogue, or fighter type. If you are playing a custom base class such as Thug of Ninja, Kaedrin classes, that is detected and you will be asked in character what "path" you want for the first few levels. Races with ECL of higher than 1 will make life very difficult early on. Races and classes can give you access to extra bits of content including different ways to resolve a few quests. I didn't block creating good aligned characters, but the story assumes you are and the game engine gives evil points for killing good aligned npc's, so you soon will be evil.
Magic: +1 is common and virtually all merchants outside slums will have them. +2 are available from a good assortment of merchants. +3 are extremely rare and typically only found as specific treasure. By the end, you will likely have mix of +2 and +3 gear. Official Faerun lore lists the gods as having +5 weapons, so things have been scaled with that in mind. Likewise elemental and other damage has been restricted to a single point or two.
Skill Use: Plenty. Companions skills are checked in conversation.
Combat: Many encounters scale but have min/max difficulty. Your level 15 party is never going to be challenged going into a goblin cave typically intended as a level 6-8 encounter. On the other hand some encounters, especially bosses, are placed and you might find one at a low level. Just as in SoZ, the open world design means you can get in over your head if you're not careful. To reinforce this point, it's possible to pick a fight with two iron golems and a level 18 wizard at level 1, they will of course crush you (unless you cheat, but they have no treasure).
Combat/Dialog/Puzzle balance: plenty of the first two, very few puzzles, and the puzzles can be solved via character skills.
Crafting: OC style. In most cities you must joing a local guild for a nominal fee. There are also crafting stations to be found elsewhere. Essences are relatively rare and typically only found as placed treasure, though the weakest essences are available for sale in some places. You can craft weapons that do 1-6 elemental damage. I did not change the crafting system to keep maximum compatibility (see compatibility note below).
Death system: In Neverwinter, which covered the first 4 levels or so, Path of Evil uses the OC death system, you're unconscious at 0 hp and pop up after combat. After that it switches to the SoZ death. You get an out of character note ingame when this happens and are given a coin of life.
Compatibility: I kept 2da editing to a minimum and used the default tlk file to minimize possible compatibility problems. Note that because of this one companion has a nonstandard god which does not appear ingame though the companion will often talk about them. Just pick something you think is appropriate for them when they level up :-) I used Kaedrin's classpack myself during all testing.
Environments: In Neverwinter it's never quite dark, even underground. After that it is. Go into a cave and away from the entrance it is often pitch black. There are maps where everything is pitch black. Bring a light source or use darkvision. Torches are available in each town. It also tends to be darker outdoors at night and brighter during the day than official campaigns. In a few areas, heavy fog simulates different environmental conditions such as sandstorms and will restrict your visibility.
AI: TonyK's is built in. If you really hate it, it can be removed from the campaign folder.
Music: Other than in inns and taverns, there is none. It's a design decision. If you hear some, please report it, it's a bug.
Voiceovers, lip flappers, cutscenes, romance options, companion influence systems: Nope, sorry. Path of Evil was a one man show and I concentrated on other things. except for one or two places where I forced a specific camera angle. If you do get some bizarre angle when the game uses the NWN2 conversations, let me know and I'll force a camera (otherwise it's random).
Companions: There are 11 companions. Party size is 5 max. Two companions are forced for the first module. After that you may dismiss them. No companions are necessary for plot or required after that except for areas specific to their sidequests. If you dismiss a companion, they are gone for good, you can not dismiss a companion that has something in their inventory necessary for the main quest. You can dismiss a companion who has something necessary for a sidequest however. You should have thought about that before dismissing them.
Companions are joined at level 1 and given your current xp, so you may level them as you wish. Companions may be multiclassed. There are 2 rogues, two fighters, a ranger, 2 wizards, a sorceror, 2 clerics, and a favored soul. They are not all "stat optimized" but do have good scores in their typical primary stats and sometimes others. Some have more than a 32 point buy, or extra feats that would make them otherwise "illegal", this is on purpose. One has special restrictions which would be a spoiler to reveal, but there in an OOC note put ingame for him to explain (There is a game engine limitation).
Each companion can comment on any quest (with the exception that only Neverwinter companions can be asked about Neverwinter quests), and any other companion, but you must ask them via right-click talk. They have roughly 3,000 words of dialog each. It doesn't matter if they were in the party when the quest was done, presumably you told them about things while "on the road".
Each companion except one also has a sidequest or unique way of interacting with the pc. You can ask the companion about themselves and they will fill you in on their quest. Because some areas can only be entered once, it may not be possible to complete their quests depending on where you go and when.
If you dismiss a companion, except under very limited circumstances, they are gone. They have their own objectives and will not hang around waiting until they are useful to you again. There is no companion influence though, they will not leave if they disapprove of anything you do or have other party members they do not like.
Special Note: Your character can gain extra feats and abilities beyond the normal ones from level progression. That will make them register as an "illegal character" if you try to use them somewhere else that checks that.
Second Special Note: I forgot to include Arkalezth (testing) and Apep (item pack) in the endgame credits. Thank you.
This version of the campaign folder is only necessary if you experience problems with npc's casting spells they shouldn't. Delete the Path of Evil campaign folder and put this in it's place.
Spoilers obviously. This is how you can play while committing the minimum of evil acts. There are still some required, but you were warned this is a campaign for evil players :-)
Tsadevi dialog fix for versions prior to 1.23. Only necessary if you are playing a martial category pc such as fighter/ranger etc. Tsadevi could stop recognizing you. Place into the my docs/nwn2/override.
Where is the chest in the Neverwinter sewers? How many pieces are there? Where are they? How do I get in the stronghold? Where are the companions located and what are their classes?
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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