I'm confused..

[Nightowl2]

Okay, I created a quick cheat team of 2 (didn't have any early saves to use), and here's the deal:

"Laying down the law" is worth 450. Kickshaw, Pike, and Geoffrey are each worth 150. Crale gives you 600 when you report back. That's 1500 total. So, whether you kill them or get them to the palisade, it comes out to the same xp. Ergo, it comes down to whether you want to kill them or take the "nice" approach.

Then I went to work on the wizard (an Elf), and, by gosh, you were absolutely right about the feats. For some reason - possibly sloppy code - wizards start off with an extra feat, and get extras at 5th and every 5 levels after that, right up to level 30. That is very much outside the rules. I'd love to know if they meant it to be that way or not, because the manual sure has nothing to say about it, nor the tables in back.

Nightowl2

[Gimli]

Right, I was surprised too about the feats since the manual is mum on them. I think though it's more a manual oversight than a coding problem; NWN gave Wizards the extra feats too (though limited to metamagic ones).

Also the exp for killing the iron collar guys depends on their DC to your party - how high level were the guys you used? When I kill them, my 6 characters are usually level 2, and at that level they get 225-250.

[Nightowl2]

Hmmm. Well, I forgot to check what level the pair was when they took out the Iron Collar. Maybe level 3? Had to clean up the gobbies, and we killed Phaen but didn't tell Elytharra. Skipped most of the optional stuff, in fact, since I didn't want too much experience. So I guess they must have been level 3 or maybe 4. Can't go back now, as the game is off my drive to make room for something else.

Oh well.

As for extra wizard feats, that isn't in the PHB, unless I missed something there.

Nightowl2

[Gimli]

Hmm, I don't have the paper 3rd Edition rule books, but I am checking here:

http://www.wizards.com/d20/article.asp?x=srd

under the "basic classes II" link, and it does say they get them - although (and this was also the case in NWN) they don't get one at 1st, just 5th and every 5 levels thereafter.

[Nightowl2]

Oof! I just checked in the PHB...and wizards *do* get a bonus feat every five levels, but it has to be magic-related. Sheesh, how'd I ever miss that one? But yeah, it's supposed to be every five levels, not at 1st level. Umm, that means a human wiz in IWD2 would get 3 feats at 1st level, just like a fighter would.

Nightowl2