Should I use Wands of Cure Light Wounds to heal in Neverwinter Nights 2?
Solution 1:
You should rely on either Healing (the skill) or on taking a rest; any healing Wand is practically worthless in NWN2
Even though Neverwinter Nights 2 bases its rules on D&D 3.5e, many things are different in the video game. Here are some of the changes related to the question asked.
Characters in NWN2 have significantly more HP
For each level a Player Character (PC) gets, instead of rolling their Hit Dice to determine their new amount of Health Points, they always get the maximum possible amount, plus their Constitution modifier. For example, a Wizard (Hit Dice is d4) with Constitution of 14 (bonus +2) gets exactly 4+2=6 HP for each level, barring other bonuses, a Barbarian (HD is d12) with the same Constitution would get 12+2=14 HP per level. This gives the PCs around 1.6 to 1.85 times more HP, essentially making it take around 1.6 to 1.85 times more healing spells to restore them to full HP (or kill them). It makes any healing or damaging spell significantly less effective since they consume the same amount of wand charges or spell slots for reduced effect.
Wand crafting works in a weird way and is overpriced compared to 3.5e
The Wand cost formula in D&D 3.5e was: [Caster Level x Spell Level x 750 GP], or x375 GP if the wand is to be crafted by a PC. Note that this CL is the CL of the Wand, and it can be made lower than the CL of the crafter.
So, A Wand Of Cure Light Wounds (level 1 spell) with Caster level of 1 in 3.5e costs 750 GP at the market, and 375 GP if crafted by the PCs, one charge being worth 15 GP and 7.5 GP respectively. At the same time, in NWN2 the basic crafting price is always twice as high ([CL x Spell Level x 750 GP] for crafting).
What's more, Caster Levels of the Wands are fixed in Neverwinter Nights 2. For example, any Wand of Mage Armor will always have CL 2 and the spell will last for 2 hours, no matter what Caster Level did the actual Wand creator have. Any Wand of Flame Arrow (a spell available at level 5 for Wizards) will have Caster Level 18, making the cost extremely high, but theoretically allowing a party who crafts it to have 50 charges dealing 16d6+4 Fire Damage at e.g. level 6 if they find such a wand. The price of 40500 is rather high, but abusing the trade model in Storm of Zehir can give you a very powerful source of damage in this way.
So, in NWN2 it is only possible to make a Wand of Cure Light Wounds with Caster Level of 5, the crafting price is 3750 GP. This is ~x1.9 more healing for an x5 cost compared to potential Caster Level of 1, which makes this Wand just too expensive.
Again, this does not make all the Wands entirely useless, but you need to find those spells that are actually worth imbuing into a Wand (worth the XP and GP cost), which might be a challenge.
The only Wand which is economically practical is a Wand of Lesser Vigor, which costs 15 GP per charge and heals 11 HP per use, but it is just so slow!
If you find a Wand in NWN2, the best thing to do is probably selling it. Wands are just too expensive.
The Heal skill was significantly buffed compared to D&D 3.5e
While the Heal skill from D&D 3.5e was almost useless, things have changed in NWN2.
- Any use of Healing skill is now instant, you don't have to wait for a long time.
- It is even possible to use it in combat to recover fallen allies!
- Healing skill can be used to instantly remove poison and disease. Using spells for that costs spell slots, which are more valuable than 50 GP for one Healing kit +1 (the cheapest one that you can find).
- Healing skill is available for literally everyone for untrained use.
- Healing kits don't take much space and don't weight much (just one pound per kit). A party can afford to carry a lot of them (I would suggest each party member to carry 2-3 times more kits than that member has Hit Dice).
Note: when not in combat, a character is always assumed to roll a 20 on their Healing check. So, an untrained healer (the skill of 0) with Wisdom of 10 (no penalty or bonus) would heal 21 HP with each kit.
Taking a rest was buffed too
Resting for 8 hours lets characters regain their full HP, removes all poison and disease. It also refills items with X times per day charges and spell slots of caster characters.
I suggest resting after every encounter if you can rest, even if you haven't spent all of your spell slots. It saves you money on the Healing Kits, and makes it less likely to be caught without spell slots. If you find it currently dangerous to rest in open field, don't covet to spend those 50 GP for a room in a tavern. It is worth not being caught by monsters that are 3 levels higher than you when you aren't ready for that.