Greetings sir,
I'm a player from way back during the days of the old BioWare/NWN BioBoards forums. I used to go by the forum username, Prince_Raymond (complete with underscore). I have been playing Neverwinter Nights since it was released in 2002. I know this is probably the longest of long shots, but I feel there is nothing to lose at this point. So, here goes. On August 30, 2006, BioWare released Patch 1.68 for Neverwinter Nights. This patch added visible cloaks to the game. It also added a very subtle change to the way NWN's combat UI treats free attacks. This change to the combat UI's behavior causes free attacks to follow their own -5 attack progression in addition to the standard -5 base attack progression of all classes and the Monk's -3 unarmed attack progression. The reason I say subtle is because there is absolutely no documentation anywhere in NWN's patch details describing this peculiar mechanic. What I find unsettling about it is it will cause a character's base attack bonus to drop to a negative number, becoming a penalty in and of itself. It's as if the combat UI applies an off-hand attack progression to attacks done by a character wielding neither two weapons nor a double weapon. This seemingly off-hand attack progression even stacks with the -2 penalty from Flurry of Blows while a monk is in unarmed combat despite the fact there is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed.
I have raised my concerns about this issue with the folks on the Beamdog/NWN forums, and the developers at Beamdog can't seem to decide if it is a bug or is working as intended. Can you or anyone else tell me if it is a bug? After reading Mr. Trent Oster's interview with Tech Radar commemorating NWN's 20th anniversary and learning you worked on NWN's Core Development Team, I figured you should be qualified as anyone to provide me the information I seek. If you, Mr. Jakobs, require more information pertaining to this potential bug/issue/mechanic/regression, you may find it here. Can you or anyone you may have worked with in the past please shed some light on this mystery mechanic? I would greatly appreciate it. It would be nice to know how and why that thing ended up in my single-player game in the first place.
From a personal standpoint as a player, I can share with you this issue has pretty much killed all the fun I used to have when playing Neverwinter Nights. From the time I started playing this game, it had been my favorite gateway to recreation and relaxation after a long, hard day at work. Now when I play my favorite CRPG of all time, recreation and relaxation are the furthest things from my mind. It feels very similar to harassment. What still grieves me to this day is I did not notice this subtle change to the combat UI until just days after the release of Patch 1.69, BioWare's final support patch for Neverwinter Nights. By that time, it was already too late to submit a bug report. Please, sir, I am begging you. Help me bring closure to this long-standing issue. Please respond at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for reading. Happy, healthy (both mentally and physically) gaming to all.
