On the number of class combinations in NWN

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  • #1044
    TheSquid

      There are many different ways of building a character in Neverwinter Nights. A basic choice one needs to make is what class or classes to use. The purpose of this document is to count how many possibilities there are for such a choice. Disclaimer: I am not very skilled at this kind of computation.

      The game has 11 base classes and 12 prestige classes. We write B for any basic class and P for any prestige class. Every character must have either: one base class (B–), two base classes (BB-), three base classes (BBB), one base class and one prestige class (BP-), two base classes and a prestige class (BBP), or one base class and two prestige classes (BPP). Five prestige classes (Arcane Archer, Dwarven Defender, Pale Master, Red Dragon Disciple, and Shifter) have particular prerequisites that make certain combinations impossible. We call these special classes. The remaining seven prestige classes, as well as the eleven base classes, can be mixed and matched at will (assuming alignment shifts are possible).

      Case (B–)

      There are 11 class combinations which consist of only one class.

      Case (BB-)

      There are (11 choose 2) = 55 class combinations which consist of two base classes.

      Case (BBB)

      There are (11 choose 3) = 165 class combinations which consist of three base classes.

      Case (BP-)

      There are 11*7 = 77 class combinations which do not utilise the special classes. There are 3 combinations with AA, 11 combinations with DD, 3 combinations with PM, 2 combinations with RDD and one with Shifter. That is 77+3+11+3+2+1=97 total.

      Case (BBP)

      There are (11 choose 2)*7 = 385 combinations that do not use any special class. Moreover, there are (11 choose 2) = 55 combinations with DD. There are 3*8 + (3 choose 2) = 27 combinations for AA and PM each, and similarly 2*10 +1 = 21 for RDD. Finally there are 10 combinations with Shifter. The total is then 385+55+11+27+27+21+10=536 possibilities.

      Case (BPP)

      There are 11*(7 choose 2) = 231 combinations which avoid the special classes. Sorcerer/AA and Bard/AA can be any non-special class, PM, and RDD; that is 9*2 = 18 possibilities. Wizard/AA can be any non-special class and PM; that is 8. Sorcerer/PM and Bard/PM can be non-special, DD, and RDD; that is 18. Wizard/PM can be non-special and DD; that is 8. RDD can be non-special and DD; that is 8*2 = 16. DD can be non-special and Shifter; that is 8.

      Total is 231+18+8+18+8+16+8=307.

      Summarising, there are 11+55+165+97+536+307=1171 class combinations in NWN, ignoring alignment issues.

      Bonus trivia: Bard(11)/WM(23)/DD(6) is not possible, but Bard(12)/WM(22)/DD(6) is.

      #1054
      Aquarius

        That’s interesting!

        Thanks for having posted it.

        Why do the combination bard11/WM23/DD 6 is not possible? you mean from an optimized point of view or…..some other matter?

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