Line #35 NeverwinterNights2/TropesMToR


1	[[NeverwinterNights2/Tropes0ToF Tropes 0-F]] \| [[NeverwinterNights2/TropesGToL Tropes G-L]] \| '''Tropes M-R''' \| [[NeverwinterNights2/TropesSToZ Tropes S-Z]] \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Mask of the Betrayer}}'' \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Storm of Zehir}}'' \| ''NeverwinterNights2/{{Mysteries of Westgate}}''
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3	!!!''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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5	* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: Torio Claven during the trial in Chapter 2. She will make you want to strangle her, ressurrect her and then burn her at a stake.
6	* MassiveRaceSelection: Unlike the first installment, this game has a much wider selection of races:
7	** Human
8	** Half-elf, half-drow, half-orc.
9	** Moon elf, sun elf, wild elf, wood elf, drow.
10	** Shield dwarf, gold dwarf, duergar.
11	** Rock gnome, deep gnome.
12	** Lightfoot halfling, strongheart halfling.
13	** Assimar, tiefling, air genasi, water genasi, earth genasi, fire genasi.
14	** Gray orc.
15	** Yuan-ti pureblood.
16	* MeaningfulName: Ammon Jerro is a fiend binder who [[spoiler:kills Shandra]] in a fit of anger. Amon is a Goetic Demon ([[MixAndMatchCritters wolf with a serphant's tail]] [[VoluntaryShapeshifting or]] man with a Raven's head) sometimes linked to [[SevenDeadlySins wrath]].)
17	** He also shares a name with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amon_Goeth Amon Goeth]].
18	* MeleeATrois: In one mission, you have a red dragon and a tribe of fire giants that you need to get rid of. How it usually works is that you make a deal with one to help you fight the other. [[spoiler:Being ChaoticEvil, whichever one you ally with will betray you after the other is defeated.]] You can, however, choose to fight them both at once, resulting in this trope.
19	* MistakenForMurderer: In Act II, the Luskan ambassador to Neverwinter accuses you of slaughtering an entire village at [[TheDragon Black Garius']] behest.
20	* TheMole:
21	** [[spoiler:Torio]].
22	** Also potentially [[spoiler:the Knight Captain.]]
23	* ModularEpilogue: At the end of the game, the player is shown what happens to various locations and people who were influenced by the PC's decisions. For the ending itself, though, there are only two options.
24	* MrExposition
25	* MuggingTheMonster:
26	** Khelgar's backstory features him picking a fight with a group of traveling Sun Soul monks during a particularly lively BarBrawl. Anybody who's read [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms the lore of the setting]] [[BareFistedMonk knows why this is an incredibly bad idea]]. Long-story short, they would beat the ever-loving crap out of him. In an amusing twist he ''thanked'' them for the thrashing and asked the surprised monks how you go about becoming one.
27	** One random encounter is a group of lower-level adventurers trying to kill your party and steal your better gear. Half of them will leg it if you point out how stupid that is.
28	* MultipleEndings:
29	** Played straight in the OC and ''Mask'', with one of Obsidian's {{signature\|Style}} {{Where Are They Now Epilogue}}s.
30	** In ''Storm of Zehir'', you can make a Bluff or Intimidate check on the ''author'' to change elements of the ending and get any variation you want.
31	* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: Lorne has the Deathless Frenzy ability from the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' version of his "Frenzied Berserker" class. Players can also become Frenzied Berserkers, but never get Deathless Frenzy.
32	* MythologyGag:
33	** ''Volo's Guides'' are notorious in {{canon}} for being [[ParodiesForDummies an awful mix of brilliant investigations and silly hearsay]]. Elminster notably hunted down and destroyed every copy of ''Volo's Guide to All Things Magical'', partly because it exposed a number of wizardly trade secrets, and partly because the first edition contained a lot of recipes on how to kill oneself in new and exciting ways. In the OpeningMonologue to ''Storm of Zehir'', Volo mentions that Elminster judged his most recent book, ''Volo's Complete Guide to the Behavior of Nymphs'', to be "too naughty for print." (A little hypocritical, honestly, considering [[TheCasanova the guy will sleep with anything that has two X chromosomes and isn't related to him]].)
34	** One of the lies the Knight-Captain can tell Daerred's party sends them to a Waterdeep inn called the Yawning Portal--which contains an entrance to the notorious dungeon of Undermountain.
35	* NamedWeapons: And armors, and rings, and magic staves, and so forth.
36	* NatureHero: Elanee, Umoja and possibly a druid or ranger player.
37	* {{Nerf}}: Unlike in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', knockdowns no longer cause damage and now have a cooldown between uses.
38	* NewGamePlus: Officially exporting characters lets you take them to a new module on the rare chance you find ones with end level and start levels that match up; unofficially it allows you to repeat the campaign at level 20.
39	* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:Zhjaeve is the only party member that isn't confirmed to have lived or died during the collapse of the Vale.]]
40	* NominalImportance: Refugee, Refugee, Refugee, Liza... Guess which one is a quest giver.
41	* NonLethalKO: Only in the first game and ''Mask of the Betrayer''. ''Storm of Zehir'' plays it closer to the pen-and-paper rules: if a character reaches -10 HP, they're dead and have to be resurrected with a spell.
42	* NonStandardSkillLearning: In ''Mask of the Betrayer'', increasing your RelationshipValues with party members unlocked bonus feats (mainly skill and ability boosts applied to both you and the party member). Meanwhile the ''Storm of Zehir'' expansion has a list of Teamwork Feats which require two steps to unlock: meet requirements outlined in the game manual, then accept and complete a corresponding sidequest from the Adventurers' Guild at Crossroad Keep. All three games also give history feats for completing story requirements, and in ''[=SoZ=]'' some of them grant bonuses.
43	* NormalFishInATinyPond: West Harbor's favorite sons Cormick and Lorne are both legendary in town to the point that if you prove you're the best at everything in the harvest fair you're considered ''almost'' up to their level. Once they moved to Neverwinter, Cormick's level of competence leveled out at "questionably competent city guard lower management" and Lorne was disgraced in the military and became a brute enforcer for Luskan after the war.
44	* OhMyGods: Used heavily. To name just a couple of examples, during the Battle of West Harbor one of the militiamen blurts out "Cyric's blood!" and Khelgar's "swear" emote is "By Tyr's right buttock!"
45	* OptionalPartyMember:
46	** The Construct in the original campaign.
47	** ''Mask of the Betrayer'' has a golem you can reactivate in the starting dungeon. It craps out when you escape. Much later, [[spoiler:if on the Fugue Plane you choose to defend against the Crusade instead of leading it, Kaelyn leaves the party and Kelemvor gives you Araman to replace her.]]
48	** ''All'' the cohorts in ''Storm of Zehir'' are optional.
49	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In addition to a few bog-standard [[AlwaysChaoticEvil chromatic dragons]], the OC has [[spoiler:Nolaloth, a great wyrm of indeterminate race that was hired by Illefarn to challenge the King of Shadows. He severely injured the King but was struck down. [[OurLichesAreDifferent Illefarn bound his soul to his heart, which they transmuted to crystal.]]]]
50	* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Clan Ironfist are fairly close to the ideal dwarven clan from Tolkien's writings, but Khelgar, seemingly an embodiment of this trope, was thrown out of his clan for being too drunken and violent, neglecting the trope's more positive aspects.
51	** Averted with the majority of the other dwarves in the game. First of all, none of the dwarf characters with speaking roles have the "expected" Scottish accent except Khelgar (making it something of an open question where he picked it up). Brother Maxil is clean shaven, wears a simple robe, and appears to be the level-headed one in Daerrad's party. Brother Ivarr is a tall, thin healer. [[spoiler: Annaeus is responsible for the creation of the Guardian, and he's implied to take sadistic pleasure in it's suffering.]] Zinn is [[AffablyEvil Affably Evil]], politely introducing himself and his band of adventurers before telling you that he's here to kill you. Downplayed with Callum; he fits the bill of heavily armored axe-swinging warrior with a brunt and straight-forward attitude, but he serves a human lord as one of the Neverwinter Nine. [[HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday He doesn't go out of his way to draw attention to the fact that he's a dwarf, either.]]
52	** A dwarven player character is technically incapable of playing this trope completely straight because he or she was raised by an elf on the surface, and everyone else in their hometown is human.
53	** Averted with a few of the generic dwarf [[NonPlayerCharacter NPCs]] too: Two of Khulmar's scouts have no facial hair. One of the Neverwinter Academy students is a dwarf. Dwarven women are also in the audience at [[spoiler:the murder trial.]]
54	* OurGiantsAreBigger: Fire giants take part in a late-game quest which serves as the recruitment quest for Clan Ironfist and the near-conclusion of Khelgar's CharacterDevelopment. They resemble large, red-haired, black-skinned dwarves, and have [[HornyVikings horned helmets]] and [[EvilSoundsDeep deep voices]].
55	* OurGnomesAreWeirder: As ever, the gnomes are the short, comical, laughably insane comic relief of the setting -- especially Grobnar.
56	* OverzealousUnderling: You can be given the chance to do this, depending on whether you side with the City Watch or the Shadow Thieves in the first chapter. If you side with the Watch, Marshal Cormick will order you to root out members of the Watch who are taking bribes; if you do so by killing them, Captain Brelaina will chew you out for your "foul" and "unrelenting" approach to justice. If you side with the Thieves, your handler Moire will command you to burn down the Watch post... after which her boss, Axle, will complain that your recklessness has started a war between the Watch and the Thieves which he didn't need.
57	* PacifistRun: Not possible for the entire game, but if a player sides with the Thieves Guild it is possible to avoid killing any of the Town Guard. Some outcomes seem unintended, as some guards will attack you no matter what, but through a combination of diplomacy, stealth, or simply distracting a guard with one party member while another runs ahead, it is achievable. For example, one quest objective involves defending a warehouse from being raided by the town guard - The player can instead simply run to the area's exit and leave.
58	* PardonMyKlingon: Zhjaeve uses "illithid" as a curse.
59	* ParentalAbandonment: Your biological father's a question mark, and your mother is dead.
60	* PausableRealtime
61	* PersonalHateBeforeCommonGoals: At one point, a priestess named Zhjaeve joins your party and you can ask her why her people, the Githzerai, aren't taking a more active role in the war against [[BigBad The King of Shadows]]. She responds that while her people recognise the King as a threat, their arch-enemies the Githyanki are already fighting against the King and that the two races hate each other so much that the Githyanki would happily ignore the King and let him grow in power unopposed if it meant a chance to destroy the Githzerai.
62	* PlotTumor: Starting with the Ember Trial, a lot seems to happen to sidetrack the player from the Jerro Estate.
63	* PointAndClickMap: You don't get random encounters while traveling, but some scripted events will yank you from your travel.
64	* PointOfNoReturn: Act transitions.
65	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Baalbisan, one of the demons found in Jerro's Haven, is a misogynist of epic proportions.
66	* PoorCommunicationKills:
67	** [[spoiler:Both Zhjaeve and Ammon Jerro are guilty of this.]]
68	** Those two are also guilty of it due to poor game mechanics, as they refuse to teach anyone how to use the KryptoniteFactor during the final battles, even if the storyline makes it clear the PC should be just as capable as either of them.
69	* PragmaticVillainy: Axle, leader of the Neverwinter branch of the [[ThievesGuild Shadow Thieves]], gets annoyed at some of the violent and disruptive acts carried out by his [[TheDragon second-in-command]] Moire, as it creates tension he doesn't need and requires him to take expensive precautions like importing weapons and paying more bribes.
70	* {{Precursors}}: The [[spoiler:Illefarn empire.]]
71	* PrestigeClass: With both expansions, there are 23 in all. It's possible to add even more with mods.
72	* PurelyAestheticGender: This being D&D...
73	* PureMagicBeing: The King of Shadows is a creature of pure Shadow Weave magic.
74	* PyroManiac: Qara has touches of this -- though this was made more explicit in some of the content that was DummiedOut.
75	* RagtagBandOfMisfits: Yeah, in the early game you've got a harborman, a dwarf who wants to be a monk, a tiefling, an elf druid. The game even lampshades this.
76	* {{Railroading}}: The most blatant example is [[https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=945 the gate to Blacklake District]]. You basically spend half of Act I doing all kinds of quests just so you can have a brief conversation with someone who lives on the other side, despite the fact that logically, the gate is a trivial obstacle that could be overcome [[https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/images/nwn2_door_players.jpg in a variety of ways]].
77	* RainbowPimpGear: More prominent than its [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights predecessor]] and sadly, you can't dye your equipment in this game.
78	* RandomlyGeneratedLoot: While not standard, this is possible when creating a module through using its scripting language. It is actually done in the "Diablo - The Dark Wanderer" multiplayer module (running on the Viking Northeast server) to imitate the way the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' game generates its loot.
79	* RecurringTraveller: [[spoiler:Guyven of the Road]].
80	* RelationshipValues
81	* RenovatingThePlayerHeadquarters: After the player drives out the King of Shadows' minions from Crossroad Keep, they are rewarded a title of nobility that grants them ownership of the keep and are given tasks such as recruiting [=NPCs=] to help man it, investing in renovating various parts of it and forming a militia unit to protect the land surrounding it.
82	* RestingRecovery: Done differently in each campaign.
83	** The OC uses the system from ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'' and ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': resting takes six seconds, fully heals you and replenishes your spells, and only requires you to be far enough away from any enemies. The only thing it can't do is remove diseases (not every time, anyway) and curses.
84	** ''Mask of the Betrayer'' quite thoroughly upends the system. Resting now causes eight hours to pass on the InUniverseGameClock, which, after Mulsantir, raises your level of spirit hunger and brings you closer to a NonstandardGameOver.
85	** ''Storm of Zehir'' also causes eight hours to pass, you can't rest in dungeons at all, and if you make camp in the wilds you may be at risk of getting caught flat-footed for a RandomEncounter (in other words, the enemy gets a surprise round). There are items and teamwork feats to reduce the risk of the latter.
86	* RocksFallEveryoneDies: [[spoiler:The ending. The REAL ENDING.]] No we don't know why either, but if you play the expansions it turns out you live.
87	** While you can alter the dialogue in the ''Mask of the Betrayer'' expansion a bit, [[spoiler: many of your companions can actually survive]], with only [[spoiler:Bishop, Qara, and Grobnar]] 100% confirmed to be dead, with [[spoiler: Elanee and Casavir]] strongly implied to be dead but with room for ambiguity. [[spoiler:Bishop and Qara]] usually die before the ending occurs, though it is possible for them to survive until the ending. [[spoiler: Elanee and Casavir]] were not well liked and killing them off was probably done just to justify them no longer appearing and making way for the new love interests. A somewhat obscure conversation in ''Storm of Zehir'' indicates that [[spoiler: Casavir]] actually survived, having merely been seriously wounded, but was captured by Luskan troops.
88	*** [[spoiler:Zhjaeve is the odd woman out. It's never confirmed whether she lived or died. She seems the most likely to survive of all of them in principle though, since she can planeshift home at will under tabletop rules.]]
89	* RollingPinOfDoom: A couple of different clubs are rolling pins.
90	* RomanceSidequest:
91	** After the first stage of the Battle of Crossroad Keep, Casavir (for a female PC) or Elanee (for a male PC) will meet you on the walls in the evening and make a LoveConfession, which you can choose to reciprocate.
92	** Done better with Safiya and Gann in ''Mask of the Betrayer'', where the opposite-sex party member may begin to fall in love with the Knight-Captain over the course of the campaign.

Context NeverwinterNights2 / TropesMToR