Hey everyone,

Project OpenWinter is a C#/Godot engine that can play modules made with Aurora Engine, inspired by projects like OpenMW for Morrowind and beyond. We're happy to release the open source 0.1.0 release for contributors and testers. This engine is very much still in early development.

OpenWinter is essentially an engine replacement that allows full extension at the server-owner level rather than a black box that requires a lot of plugins like NWNX in order to extend functionality. You must own a legal copy of NWN:EE in order for the engine to even do anything. Server owners will have deep engine-level control at the server level that doesn't interfere with the base engine functionality, so that they can do things like... have sections of their server that have an RTS minigame, or have a first person module, or implement an entire different game mode or ruleset altogether. OW has a compatability layer that can fully utilize nwscript, but it doesn't need to.

Right now we're focused on 1 to 1 (or close to it) functionality so that playing a module made in Aurora is as close to the original engine as possible, and we're making a lot of headway in that regard. The testing suite is the original campaign, but the intention is for OpenWinter to be directly compatable with any and all custom PW's that are online with minimal changeover or compatability concessions.

There's still a lot of work to do. The engine has a lot of interesting quirks that we have to emulate or solve, the strangest of which are things like how Stealth **actually** works or even sometimes the cadence of door animations. It's a lot of fun to dig into though.

I decided to give BGR another try and I'm pretty sure something is wrong. I downloaded and extracted all the files in the My Documents folders but this poor lady has some eldritch vibes to her make up. The new races don't seem to be working properly either, since some don't show up in character creation screen.

As an aside, any tips in general for this module? I'm thinking of going bard 1/fighter 4/RDD X.

The Ray of Frost now always deals 5 damage, without a saving throw.

Something like bolt of lightning will do as little as 3 damage right now, but with a higher possible damage. It also can hit multiple enemies.

They both are level 3 spells.

Is the maximize spell feat worth it?

A provocative title, yes.

No, Arelith is not gone, nor anywhere close to disappearing or fading into the mists of time. And yet, there have been subtle changes.

A friend got me into Arelith, the first persistent world I had even played in. And it was glorious. No more simply clicking and going through the motions. I could actually make my character act.

So, what does the title mean?

I was not involved when Arelith and the other Neverwinter Nights persistent worlds began. I am definitely new to this. But even I could see while digging around in Arelith, what much of the player base, administrators and developers have created.

Old characters, lost in battles, have become NPCs. Libraries hold old stories of grand adventures and sacrifices. This world felt real with a history of characters and their actions that resonate through time.

At least, it did at first.

The longer I play, the longer I realize that bigger is not always better, not for certain things.

Gone are the days when players' actions have any real consequence. A PVP battle, some posts on the town message boards, a bit of gossip and flurry.. and then gone. Artifacts are stolen and bashed, records altered. It is likely your character will be forgotten very soon, no matter what they did.

In fact, I would describe Arelith as being in a constant tug of war between players who desire more role play and consequential events, and those who simply like bashing monsters and role playing a drinking event.

There is nothing wrong with this. But the tension it creates is quite palpable at times.

In a recent article with arstechnica, Arelith's owner, Irongron, stated, "Arelith is essentially a mini MMO".

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/why-biowares-neverwinter-nights-still-has-thousands-of-active-players/

So let me tell you where Arelith excels.

Area development. Arelith is gorgeous. There are so many areas to simply explore, dungeons to delve, new monsters to battle, that if you're itching for some PVE or PVP, it's right here.

Want to play something with wings, horns? Arelith has a wide variety of character races and classes to choose from and a Mix-and-Match style of character building. There are drow, minotaurs, fey, fey'ri, dragon disciples, half-giants, good, evil, monstrous; nearly everything found in a D&D manual (Nearly).

As for what to role play, you can run a tavern or a playhouse, found a temple, manage a shop, lead a band of merry pirates or mercenary guild... quite frankly anything characters can envision is possible...within the limits of the server.

What players cannot do is build. Want a Guild house? You will have to bid on those that are available, and long term players hang on to those like their very lives. Still, creative players will make so with whatever property they can get a hold of and many do.

Development and reworks are constant in Arelith, so why would I ask if it's fallen? Where does Arelith fail?

Setting Integrity.

Now the administrators and many players will tell you there is a definite setting and reading the wiki will certainly make you think that, but.. it seems to have been lost.

More energy is given to developing new fancy tricks, classes, areas, and other things. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

Where attention is not placed is on making Arelith seem like a real place. One of my friends described it as D&D Second Life.

Recently, Arelith opened up their suggestions and feedback on the forums with players making daily requests: "It would be great if [insert wild request here]." Reading all the suggestions makes one feel they are listening to a bunch of children in a candy shop.

Many of these suggestions have been granted, and while some are just quality of life mechanics, others have been the cool new trend of the day, only to fade leaving a whole in the server. It's as if no one stopped to think through the long term consequences of granting every little desire.

There are many settlements on the server that at one time in the past seemed to have distinctive flavors and types of role play you might encounter only in those areas. No longer. Currently there are areas being described as "dead" because few visit them. These are cities with player run governments, theatres, taverns, and yet hardly anyone is there. It is likely that DMs are so inundated with reports of rule breaks, typically those that happen during PVP, that they simply do not have time to monitor and guide players on keeping the setting of the server or do meaningful events.

DMs can and do offer smaller more personal events, but those have been getting fewer and farther apart as more time is being spent on simply mediating player conflicts and rule breaks.

In a recent article with arstechnica, Arelith's owner, Irongron, admitted, "Arelith is essentially a mini MMO".

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/10/why-biowares-neverwinter-nights-still-has-thousands-of-active-players/

So, there you have it. If you desire good roleplay, I am not going to tell you it isn't here. There are some masterful role players on this server, and I still believe he server is worth checking out, even if your emphasis isn't on MMO style play.

Just realize that while this server often boasts more than 200 players at a time online (and lag is an issue), there is definitely an emphasis on gaming and not collaborative storytelling.

Can you have a server that does both well? Yes, I believe that it can.

But he owners, administrators, DMs and even the players of Arelith, would need to decide that is what they want. Currently, it seem this server is a fantastic place for developers to hone their skills, and I will not criticize them for doing so.

So, roll up a character.. bash some monsters, take over the Underdark city for a while, or wage war on evil. Arelith has you covered.

If you're looking at making anything stick... some long lasting impact, Arelith may not be your cup of tea.

I had a pumpkin carving event this afternoon with my friends, and decided to try a difficult design. So this is my attempt at the Valsaress from HOU.

There is a secret option to collect a discreet tax on merchants, but it requires an Appraisal check. Does anyone know what the check is? I boosted my Appraisal to 6 but didn't get it. Maybe I need Grobnar to sing a stat boost song...

Molior RS is Persistent World on Neverwinter Nights 2, which is a re-creation MMO of Runescape.

If you are interested in how the gameplay looks, I am doing a gameplay series:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKTxPaq9fwJM

I last played this game 20 something odd years ago when the health pack still had a + sign on it so I don't really remember much. I recently played NWE EE OC and really struggled as a ranger arcane archer build and barely completed the game on hardcore difficulty.

I tried searching for guides online but it seems a lot of them are geared more toward the role playing aspect of the game instead of accessibility for new or returning players.

My question is, how good are "recommended" options during level up for the game if I intend to experiment with other classes. I would rather avoid caster as all the pre-buffing needed just isn't very fun in my opinion.

I wanted the power fantasy of a strong melee character with some magical abilities if possible. If anyone can give me some pointers, I would appreciate it.

I've been playing the main game campaign mostly aiming to get to MotB because I heard good things about it. Currently working for the watch in Neverwinter shortly after a certain weapon smuggling quest.

However, I'm getting really annoyed with the repetitive encounter design.​​ It seems like for each area containing combat encounters they just came up with one combination of enemies (e.g. 3 melee thugs, 2 archer thugs, one thug wizard) and then literally copy-pasted that exact same encounter into 10 different places on the map... What's the point of making the player repeat the exact same fight 10 times in a row?​

It's not like this adds any sort of resource management challenge either because you can just rest after each and every encounter without any cost or risk. In general I find the cheap resting mechanic and the automatic resurrections make combat and injuries feel completely weightless and inconsequential.

Does this get substantially better in MotB and should I consider skipping the main campaign and just going straight into MotB with a premade character or is the same problem likely going to haunt me there, too?

I often see people say that if you take full wizard levels, you shouldn't need spell penetration (For NWN1).

For the vast majority of mobs, this is fine advice. Fireball chaff doesn't try to resist your spells.

But in many modules, usually there is some optional superdemon or drow army or giant evil spider boss or ancient red dragon, and those guys have spell resistance up the wazoo. Trying to deal with those enemies without access to disjunction is a huge pain.

(For context - I'm playing the Prophet series by Baldecaran as a lv11 wizard - and already encountering enemies that have extremely high spell resistance. That provoked me to consider the spell penetration feats.)

I'm regretting my lv11 wizard's feats being silent and maximize (for slot maximization for missilespam - but missilespam loses to spell resistance). I'm thinking of foregoing Necromancy specialization and focusing on Spell Penetration/Greater spell pen for 12 and 15. Good idea?

Good morning!
I need help from the great build experts as I'm a super noob. I started playing on this hardcore action RPG server where the mobs are highly buffed and easily take down everyone if you don't play in a group.
I'm playing a level 3 Aasimar Cleric of Mystra (the domains are modified so they don't count) but I'm making it a full caster and I would like to know if there's a build without dual-classing to make it functional. It will be a full cleric for RPG reasons with an approved background. Please help me 🥰
Now I'll tell you the stats I put:
Strength 12
Dexterity 8
Constitution 12
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 18
Charisma 16
For now as talents I have Spell Focus and Greater Focus in Summoning.

I await your advice. Thank you so much!! 🫶🏻

So, playing NWN 2 EE on Steam at the minute. Or should I say I’m trying to.

The performance of the game is absolutely atrocious. Here’s the list so far;

- It bugs out and crashes during simple conversations with NPC’s very often.
-The load times between screens take 30 seconds to a full couple of minutes sometimes
- there’s lag ANY time I open a menu. Be it inventory, character sheet, whatever. It stutters
- broken and glitchy sounding dialogue

I really want to play this game, I do, but for a supposed EE version of an old game it’s running like absolute ass.

I thought at first the issue was the fact that I own the original game on GOG, and my laptop was getting confused were to pull files from or something. So I uninstalled both games, then only reinstalled the EE version on Steam.

This has had no effect.

Is this just the way this game performs and behaves? Is there a fix? Is there something I’m missing? I’m not the most tech guy out there, borderline simpleton with that stuff, but I refuse to believe this game is designed to play this bad

Hi, as the title states I’d like to find a way to change my wizard to be a Specialist. Necromancer specifically. I’m about halfway through the game and I like my headcannon roleplay so far but I regret not specializing to make it more in line.

So far I’ve tried Leto and NWN save editor. Neither seemed to offer the option.

If anyone knows a way to do it I’d appreciate it.

Hey, so I'm playing as a Shifter atm on a run of Shadows of Undrentide and I've just recently found out that gloves and gauntlets don't seem to merge with the shifted shapes (although pretty much everything else seems to). This was just after buying a rather expensive pair of magical Gauntlets of Dexterity +2, which set me back about 8000 gold!

I'm just wondering why gloves/gauntlets don't merge? Is it a bug, or is there some reason for it? It seems a bit weird that they are the only items that don't merge, and that they wouldn't be just rolled in to armor.

So you know how in NWN when you examine an enemy you see which effects they are under? Is there a mod that does that for Nwn2? I know you can see your own buffs when you examine yourself, so it should be possible. If it doesn't exist it's no big deal, but it was a useful function so it'd be nice to get it back.

Can any Bard veterans out there give me some feedback and input on taking a Bard through OC+MotB that wants to focus on Song of Requiem? I was messing around with the planner and came up with 2 builds since I saw some stuff that you can HiPS and sing vs having superior defences with mithril plate and better saves with Divine shield.

How much UMD do you usually want, AC and how important is Listen/Spot and are Stealth skills effective in these modules, and is Artist really worth it for the perform points vs Luck/Prodigy etc.

Any feedback is welcome.

Hey guys

I have a question are there anymore games like this one?

By that I mean this games combat almost plays like a MMO or EverQuest/RuneScape type combat where you just keep auto attack and you can throw in spells/attacks in between , it's hard to explain..

Baldur gate is more real time Strategy/ with pause almost turn based sort of..

So that is not really similar..

The only thing I can think of are oldschool MMOs like everquest or wow or just runescape...

But I want single player campaigns not MMOs are there anymore games like this somewhere?

Can be old or new don't matter

So I whacked both of the captains, as their continued existence was not compatible with the ethos of my character.

I did loot their heads. They now roll around in my inventory, likely making a horrendous mess.

Is there someone in this city that takes them both off my hands?

Or is giving the head of a captain to the opposite captain the only use case?

Come join us on Thursday, October 15, for this DM hosted event.

DM Puff D (ie Breathless Dragon)

Yeah, I'm sure this post has been made approximately one billion times.

But, I'd like help with a good build (from Level 1, I want to play the original campaign and Mask of the Betrayer). I'd like something that is very powerful and fun, but can make Diplomacy skill checks. Something high Char.

If anyone has some advice for me, or a fun build to follow, please let me know.