I'm realizing that I have through ignorance messed some things up on a new game of NWN 1 with a thief/mage, the biggest of which is that i would never have picked improved initiative had I realized it basically does nothing in game (Which I frankly find vastly annoying - If it does nothing, why is it even an option?), but also that I would have set myself up for shadowdancer much more efficiently - Basically next level I think.

I think I could work my way through doing this with Leto, but is there an easy (or easier) quick way to reset myself to level 1 and relevel without going through the mess of editing the character?

Thanks - Jonnan

Note your Experience Points, for Example 18345

~DebugMode 1
~dm_giveXP -18345
~dm_giveXP 18345
~DebugMode 0

Now you can rebuild from level 1.

I've often wondered why Improved Initiative was included. It's actually a very good feat in Pen and Paper, but surely the developers of NWN must have noticed that it was nearly useless in their real-time incarnation? No clue why it's there.

That said, I would recommend getting rid of those Wizard class levels. Rogues already have the ability to cast from scrolls and wands using the Use Magic Device skill so they actually gain almost nothing from taking a few levels of Wizard, while their biggest weakness (their poor accuracy in combat) is only compounded by the combination. If you want to play this sort of class combo, the Bard is much better suited to it.

Cool - I was hoping it would be something that simple. Many Thanks I say to thee *Feh* upon thee! Dashing Wizards with Rapiers are *COOL*.

Nah, for my purposes I take a few levels of thief/shadowdancer for the fantastic RP the skill point bonuses makes available and the fact that the bonus feats complement the wizard so well - a wizard with Evasion/Improved Evasion and slippery mind is a pretty nice combo. Bards aren't bad, but the emphasis is different.

Leto is the better way of fixing such a mistake in an NWN1 character build.

Launch Leto

Menu -> File -> Open
Open the folder where the most recent full save is.
File type - From List in File -> select the .sav file, and Open
In the Select Resource popup, scroll right to the bottom and select Module IFO then click Select
In the Browse Lists popup, select your PC and click OK

Click Feats, and scroll down to Improved Initiative and untick it.
Then think of what should be its replacement and tick that.

Menu -> File -> Save As
File type - Into List in File-> -> select the .sav file, and Save
Clear the warning popup, since you DO want to overwrite.
In the Select Resource popup, scroll right to the bottom and select Module IFO then click Select
In the Browse Lists popup, select your PC and click OK

And you're done.
Sure it seems long winded, but I think it'd be faster than using the console to remove XP, then add XP, then manually in game going through re-leveling.

Actually they're quite redundant since high-level defensive spells and magical equipment can make you immune to most of the effects that these help against. This on its own would be fine, but the bigger problem is that it comes at a massive cost. Such a big investment in Rogue and Shadowdancer will massively reduces your spellcasting power; depending on exactly what level and build we're talking about your spellcasting could be 10 to 30 times weaker than a single-class wizard.

There are really two recommendations I could give: keep your Rogue levels down to 1 or 2 to maximize your Wizard spellcasting power, or eliminate the Wizard levels altogether and use wands and scrolls. If you want to find out the hard way why this combo isn't very good then there's nothing stopping you. Many other people, myself included, have been down that road. The final destination is the realization that Wizard and Sorcerer are truly terrible for multi-classing, and you need to plan very carefully to make it work. Parry is useless. Setting aside how low the probability of actually deflecting an attack actually is, against opponents that get more than 3 attacks (at a certain point this will just about everything) some of those attacks completely bypass your parry regardless of how good you are at it. Never invest any points into this useless skill.

In my own case, I'm running an Elf Rogue/Wizard in my current playthrough of the NWN 1 OC.
I primarily focus the wizard stuff on offensive, rather than defensive or buffs. I use scrolls, wands, and other gear that I acquire for that.
I've no plans at all to multiclass into Shadowdancer. Currently my PC is character level 10, Rogue 8/Wizard 2. At present my PC is still dealing with chapter 1 stuff, and the current hassle is figuring out how to grind for XP, without resorting to cheating, to get my skills up high enough to recover some traps in the Blacklake District that require a higher skill than I currently have.
Jonnan, what race is your current PC?

That's towards the upper end of what's manageable. Such an investment still hurts, as you're a full spell level behind where you would have otherwise been, but it's within reason. However, jonnan is talking about Slippery Mind and Improved Evasion, which means over 10 levels of combined Rogue and Shadowdancer. That's way over the top and will leave you utterly incompetent at spellcasting.

I agree with Darvin. A pure Rogue can cast spells from scrolls without problems. It costs you a little but that wasnt a problem for me. I finished the OC with a pure dualwielding Rogue on impossible. Traps. They are amazingly powerful.

Traps in NWN/Baldur's Gate are kinda like farming pudding's in Nethack - It's amazingly effective, but the punishment for farming puddings is that you're farming puddings. I refuse to setup hundreds of traps to kill a Dragon - among other things it bores the Bards to tears when they try to sing about my epic battles, then they start singing satires.

That said I just defeated Gulnan (and am going to have to do it again because she got to 'Nearly Dead' then decided to throw a fit and not talk to me any more. Lizard Women are so spoiled today.) with a (Hardcore) Human Rogue 2, Mage 5 Shadowdancer 1 (Human); It's worth noting 'Will' is a cheat character anyway being edited to match a great set of tabletop rolls rather than point-bought (Yeah I won't deal with traps, but I'll happily roll up a character and cheat edit them into the academy in Neverwinter. Hypocrisy: Learn It, Love It, Live It!)

I may or may not go all that deep into the shadowdancer pool - I wasn't planning on doing it all early, but definitely at least Shadowdancer 2 for Darkvision and another rogue level for the skill points - after that it will be a matter of maintaining my skills and picking up feats as needed; Darvin obviously hates it, but it's not like there's anything in the games that can't be knocked out with patience and a Ring of Regeneration, and having wizard spells at caster level and other items at magic item level doesn't exactly break my heart.

So anyway if you have no other third class lined up in your heart of hearts Shadowdancer 1 is definitely a fun trade off just for the 'Hide in Plain Sight' feat, which is darn near munchkiny.

He's a level 2 wizard, not a level 8. Unless that was a mistake?

2 wizard levels are basically useless. You get level 1 spells only, at low DCs.

I do like multi-class wizards. I've made many fighter-wizards (and variations on that theme) over the years. They're not strong characters, but with some effort they can get by. There's always this nagging awareness of "I could have made a cleric and been twice as strong," but there's just something more appealing about fighter/wizards.

Darvin's advice still applies, though: get as few non-wizard levels as possible.

My first attempt at fighter/wizard had many fighter levels, dual wielded, used the parry skill, was dex based, and was before they added spells like flame weapon. It sucked. A lot. By the end of the OC, I just about managed to cast Stoneskin and Improved Invis. The only reason I survived at all was because Greater Swordsmen Belts and the like are ridiculously overpowered.

If I made a character like that now, I'd take 2 fighter levels by level 20. And avoid dual wielding and parry.

Same goes for a wizard/rogue. Actually, with that character I'd just take 20 wizard levels and take a Pixie familiar. And/or memorise Knock and Find Traps. Rogue skills are great, but wizards are just about the only class who don't need them.

My mistake, I read that backwards. I agree, 2 levels of Wizard is completely pointless. Just use wands and scrolls and spend those valuable levels somewhere else.

Totally concur; there is something awesome about Fighter/Wizard... but it's unfortunately quite weak-sauce. Even with the Eldritch Knight option in NWN2 it's still pretty lackluster.

She is an Elf, character level 10, Rogue 8/Wizard 2. My fault, I should have made that first part clear.
Interesting that you mention a Pixie familiar. I chose that as well.
Melf's Acid Arrow, and Knock are ones I'm looking forwards to adding for the next Wizard level-up (Wiz 3). As for Find Traps, both the spell (Wiz 4) and scrolls are not so useful, since I can already do that.
Right now, she can't dish out the spell damage in big numbers, but with my current playthrough still being in the first part of the OC, that's not as big an issue as it would otherwise be.

Jonnan, where in the game are you up to?
I'm currently in Blacklake, dealing with... matters... in the Meldanen Estate. but there are some traps barring my way that I can't, yet, recover.
While I could easily respec her, to rebalance Rogue/Wizard, or completely remove the Wizard stuff, I had planned the build to be 4 Rogue then 1 Wizard, planning on topping out at Rogue 32/Wizard 8.

That's actually the least useful familiar choice for you.

Pixies can pick locks and disarm traps. Which is very, very useful if you're not a rogue. But since you can already do that yourself...

Then again, most other familiars won't be much good to you either, as they'll be level 2 and you're level 10. The issue is that you'll never be able to deal spell damage in big numbers. You'll never be able to cast disabling spells that the enemy won't save against. By the time you do get Acid Arrow, it will deal so little damage most enemies won't even notice. (10.5 average) Your own sneak attacks are already twice as strong as the Acid Arrow spell.

In comparison: A real (single-class) wizard at level 11 would be able to cast Isaac's Greater Missile Storm, which against a single target would deal an average of 77 damage.

It's not a complete loss: you can cast some quite useful defensive spells that last a few minutes real-time. Endure Elements probably still helps at this stage, Protection from Evil is also useful. Even Shield could come in handy.The problem is, though, that you could get the same benefits by buying a few (dead cheap) potions or wands. Your wizard level is so low that potions are actually better than what you can cast yourself.

I'm sure that you can still survive. Most enemies you face are rather weak, and if you're clever in using traps and such you can probably beat tougher enemies. But I expect you'll really struggle later on, either against the swarms of high-hitpoint monsters you'll face, or against bosses and enemies that are immune to sneak attacks.

Perhaps you won't mind the really long, drawn out fights against random enemies on the road you'll meet later. But I remember that I got very frustrated with my poorly-designed multi-class wizard when I played this game. (Admittedly not helped by the fact that the original campaign isn't all that good.)

You may also run up against fights that are essentially unbeatable with your character, unless you do the "set 100 traps first" thing. But as Jonann describes, that gets rather boring. You won't reach those levels, actually. Not in the OC.

Epic levels were added in the Hordes of the Underdark expansion, which is meant to be played with a character that has finished the Shadows of Undrentide expansion. But you're supposed to start SoU with a fresh level 1 character, and not even HotU will take you up to level 40.

The OC will bring you up to about level 16-18. It depends on how many side-quests you do and whether or not you bring henchmen/summons along.

SoU ranges from level 1 to level 12-13. HotU starts at level 13-15 and goes up to level 25-27, again depending on how much stuff you do/companions you have.

However, there are some user-made campaigns that reach all the way to level 40, including some that you're meant to play with your HotU character, and some that start at level 1. Well, one. Aielund. There may be more but I can't recall.

Online persistent multiplayer worlds often go up to level 40, but in almost all cases you can't play them with your offline characters. You have to make new ones specifically for those servers.