A Few random lore questions from an upcoming PS4 player.

jaymadiv

1. What year does Neverwinter take place?
2. How does the events of the game relate to the events of the Novels, if at all?
3. How, exactly, does a Pact Blade work, and does it necessarily HAVE to be a dagger? Could it, for example, be a 1H or 2H sword?
4. Which selectable deity makes the most sense for a Warlock? they all seem like bad choices, but what is the best of the worst?

melinden

I am sure many people will help answer your questions and I am sure our answers won't all agree. Here are some options for you to choose from:

1. Short Answer: Probably 1490DR going on 1491DR
The going theory is that each module is about a year in game time. 1480DR is a good estimate for the year the game started and we are going on Module 10 in August.

Long Answer: Cryptic was careful not to give us an exact year, it allows flexibility with the story. We can extrapolate some good ranges, however.

Here is Old Zeb's excellent timeline in this thread here (I couldn't find the original post): http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/comment/3415281

2. I don't read the novels but we're fairly close to the Neverwinter Campaign guide up to Dread Ring.

Here is a dev blog that might help place these events in the new books:
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9572883-developer-blog:-rage-of-demons-backstory

3. Aw sheesh I am going to have to nerd out here for a moment. OK, it is important to know that we are sort of inbetween 4th edition and 5th edition here. Warlocks can only use simple weapons. Thankfully the weapon proficiencies for Warlocks are the same in both editions. There are ways to change those and get more complex weapons but let's stick to the basics.*

Simple Melee Weapons: Club, Dagger, Javelin, Mace, Sickle, Spear, Greatclub, Morningstar, Quarterstaff, Scythe, and Light hammer (5th ed only).

Simple Ranged Weapons: Hand crossbow, sling, crossbow, and dart (5th ed only)

Why is it a Pact blade in the game and not one of those? Developer choice. In theory I should be using a mace with my DC instead of just holding up my holy symbol but that is not the case in NWO. You will have a large number of options to pick up free weapon transmutes in the game events. It will be "blade-like" still.

4. There are no evil gods available for PCs. So I'd recommend Oghma, the god of Knowledge. He's neutral. Kelemvor, Silvanus, and Tempus are also neutral but I'm not feeling it for a Warlock. You may feel differently, of course.

Hope that helps!
-DoctorBadger

*You'd have to spend feats in the table top games, none of our in-game feats replicate the one that allows you extra weapon proficiences.

jaymadiv

melinden said:

3. Aw sheesh I am going to have to nerd out here for a moment. OK, it is important to know that we are sort of inbetween 4th edition and 5th edition here. Warlocks can only use simple weapons. Thankfully the weapon proficiencies for Warlocks are the same in both editions. There are ways to change those and get more complex weapons but let's stick to the basics.*

Simple Melee Weapons: Club, Dagger, Javelin, Mace, Sickle, Spear, Greatclub, Morningstar, Quarterstaff, Scythe, and Light hammer (5th ed only).

Simple Ranged Weapons: Hand crossbow, sling, crossbow, and dart (5th ed only)

Why is it a Pact blade in the game and not one of those? Developer choice. In theory I should be using a mace with my DC instead of just holding up my holy symbol but that is not the case in NWO. You will have a large number of options to pick up free weapon transmutes in the game events. It will be "blade-like" still.

Thanks for the response. I will read through all those links, I've been on a wiki spree ever since the PS4 release date was announced anyway.

I wanted to single out your answer for Pact Blades, because i'd like to push that discussion further.

as far as the Pact Blades, I was more curious about the ingame weapon aesthetics, are they all Daggers? in the Neverwinter Cinematic, the Tiefling Warlock(assuming he is a Warlock?) has a Sword. will I, as a SW, be able to have a Sword or some other Bladed Weapon, even if it is just a transmute? Or are all the Pact Blades dagger-sized? A Scythe Pactblade would be the height of badassery, imo.

furthermore, I am also curious about the Lore Mechanics of how a Pact Blade works. Like, how a Warlock gains/creates one, how he uses it to cast spells, how it stores its power, where the power comes from, etc. I'm a nerd for that kind of stuff.

this is all stuff I'd like to understand as I create (in my mind) the concept behind the character I make on the 12th.

melinden

There isn't much lore that I know of about Pact Blades. I don't have that many 4th and 5th ed books, however, so there might be more somewhere else.

There is a short note on the class section that Pact Blades are sought after weapons. Pact Swords and Pact Hammers are listed as Warlock magical weapons in the gear guide. There isn't a story about them, only that they increase some of the Warlock's powers (and the machanics of how they do that is listed).

Warlocks do have a spell called "Pact of Blades" in which they create a magical weapon for a period of time.

My guess is that the devs were looking for a unique weapon for the class and went with it.

Call to Arms event will also feature weapon transmutes from that theme.

Here are the dev blogs for them so you can sort of get an idea of what they look like:

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/1001710-call-to-arms:-pit-fight

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9590083-call-to-arms:-orc-assault

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/1003610-call-to-arms:-straight-to-helm

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9524073-call-to-arms:-storm-front-is-back!

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/3041443-call-to-arms:-battle-for-the-bridge-now-live

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9077953-call-to-arms:-defend-the-temple-now-live

There are also some event transmutes:

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9534433-neverwinter:-coins-of-waukeen-returns!

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9042983-the-winter-festival-of-simril-has-begun!

http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/1006370-neverwinter-event:-summer-festival


A final thought is that you will have your class storyline to play through when you start. That might give you more information about the blade and the class.