New D&D rules

Okay, well I just bought NWN the other day and I would appreciate it if some one could help me with a few questions. Like for instance what exactly do the numbers to the right of the player stats mean? It's obvious that they are some type of modifier but how does it work? The numbers for DEX go down significantly when heavy armor is worn. I have a barbarian and even though I mistakenly added an ability for him to wear heavy armor I'm not sure if I want him to. Does the DEX number going down mean that he won't be able to doge as good and does it affect hit accuracy? Some of these new D&D rules are confusing. For instance my barbarian is neutral evil and I constantly do things that say I am shifted more towards evil but through all I've done it never seems to get to chaotic evil. Though if I do one good deed it says I shift towadrs good and look the title of malefactor. The number on the char sheet for alignment are neutral(50) evil (0) though the evil seems to go up if a good deed is done. Can anyone explain all of this? Sorry if this post seems rather long but I am truely lost as far as some of this stuff goes. One last quesetion I have finished chapter one with my barbarian alone without henchman. So far he's been doing fine bashing doors and chests and just taken the damage for traps. Is there any advantage to having hechmen should I have one or two?--and do the hechman have quests?

[Morgeruat]

the numbers to the right of the stat mean different things depending on where you're looking at them from. In character creation, it means how many of your initial points it takes to raise that score another point, on your character sheet it has more to do with the ability score adjustment to skills and feats that use that ability, (ie open locks uses a base number and adds a modifier to the skill based on what your stat is, the # next to the stat number is usually the amount the skill is modified by.

the numbers going down represent the fact that heavy armor is more restrictive, making it harder to move freely and gain all of your dex bonus, I try to find a happy medium where I have the best of both worlds, as far as dex or armor bounses, usually it means my theif will use leather, just because he gets the same AC adjustment as if he wore studded leather, due to studded leather being a heavier type.

I haven't run into any quests that raise or lower law/chaos, only the good/evil part. If you do something evil word gets around that you're evil, and it shifts your personal alignment, as well as how other look at you, from a reputation type of standpoint.

Every heanchman has a quest and a gift item they give you for completing the quest.

I'm not sure about heavy armor affecting attack bonuses, the only case I could see this as a problem would be if you had weapon finess and wore heavy armor.

some of this is hypothesis, and if any of it is wrong, please correct me.

[DeSoya]

The numbers to the right of the stats are your stat bonuses. They determine how much is added when useing a skill or ability that is tied to that stat.

Armor has a maximum dex bonus. What this means is that your dex adds to your armor class. Certain armors only allow you to use a certain amount of your dex. They are usually weighty or stiff armors. This simulates not being able to move as well I guess. So.... Right now my character (10th level fighter, 4th level mage) has a 16 AC nekkid. I've got a 24 dex. If I were to put on Full plate I would have a 19 AC because Full plate give an bonus of +8 to AC and has a max dex bonus of +1. This max dex bonus does not, however, do anything to attack mods. Naked or not I still get my full dex bonus to wielding my shortswords as I have the weapon finesse feat.
Hope this helps.

DeSoya

[GodSlayer]

Generally (sadly) it is best to use light armors than using heavy. Because of the dex mod. (if you examine the armor you can see the "max dex mod." for that armor). The only time where heavy armors are better is if you completely ignore your dex (put it on 6-8 or so) but its a bit dangerous as dex affects your reflex saving throw.

As to your barbarian - use max light armor as most of his special features only work with light or no armor.

GodSlayer

[DeSoya]

Originally posted by GodSlayer: Generally (sadly) it is best to use light armors than using heavy. Because of the dex mod. (if you examine the armor you can see the "max dex mod." for that armor). The only time where heavy armors are better is if you completely ignore your dex (put it on 6-8 or so) but its a bit dangerous as dex affects your reflex saving throw. As to your barbarian - use max light armor as most of his special features only work with light or no armor. GodSlayer

You can have up to a twelve dex if you plan on using Heavy armors so it's not all that bad. If you only have a twelve dex then your other stats should be better as a result so Heavy armor isn't any better or worse than lt or med armor.

As for the barbarian: You can use your rage and fast move wearing medium and light armors but not heavy.

DeSoya

[Greadius]

I have a 16 dex on my fighter/barbarian/rogue and have had no luck finding any light armor that works better at protecting me than heavy armor. Right now I'm in the Chp.1 forge armor... I specifically found a +1 Leather armor because I figured I'd get some leather in return, but instead it was a great looking piece of plate (+2 White-something). No more sneaking, but I wasn't that kind of rogue anyway.

Where did you find light armor that works better?