So I noticed that the "party members" you recruit are just henchmen and the fact that you really cannot do anything to them like I cannot directly control them they are just AI partners.

So my question is this:

1. Do I only stick with 1 hench men or I can have up to a total of say 4 at least?

2. Can I change their equipment?

3. Is there some kind of loyalty/approval system because I noticed when taking to Tomi the rogueish Halfling he tells me his stories and its added in his journal. So is it like KOTOR and Dragon Age where talking to your henchmen alot can give benefits? Like is there a romance option? Can Tomi stick with me without paying him?

0. You can control you henchmen by switching to him/her, but once you do that, your PC will be controlled by AI
1. Only 1 in the OC and first expansion, 2 in the second one.
2. No in the OC, yes in the second expansion. No sure about the first
3. Each henchmen will give you a piece of equipment. Doing their quest will upgrade the equipment. The level of those equipment are the only link between you and your henchmen.

1. So basically Neverwinter Nights is a solo game like Elder Scrolls and most MMORPGs sans the group content? I can pretty much beat the game with my main character alone? (Playing a Paladin character)

2. Is Neverwinter Nights 2 the samething, or did they introduce a true party system?

Yes, NWN1 can be played solo with any class. You do have to be mindful with your character build as you'll need to be self-sufficient, but every class has the tools to succeed in this regard.

Speaking of which, multi-classing Rogue is always a great option for melee characters in NWN1. This gives you access to the Use Magic Device skill, which lets you use wands and scrolls without actually being a spellcasting class. The extra skill points and the evasion skill (which combos beautifully with the Paladin's divine grace class feature, making you almost immune to fireball-type spells) are also very helpful. NWN2 introduced a proper party system, although the camera and controls are a bit finicky due to trying to be a hybrid of NWN1 and the Infinity Engine.

I also forgot that the reason Neverwinter Nights 1 is what it is, because it was trying to emphasis the multiplayer hooking up lans and such to play with other people.

Its partly the reason why I thought this Neverwinter Nights was an MMORPG.

You can play through the original campaign solo. In fact, you'll end up on a higher level if you do, since experience gained is reduced the more members you have in your party.

As for the MMO part... well, NWN does put emphasis on multiplayer, but in a way that doesn't detract from a single-player experience, I think. To be honest, Neverwinter Nights influenced modern MMORPG a lot.

Wrong. Henchmen does not affect exp gain. (How the heck "the more members in your party" when you can have a max of 1)

Wrong again. When NWN was released, all the advertisements are about multiplayer and module building tool-set. NWN OC is a disaster, (though the 2 expansions are better), but NWN still reviewed positively because fan made mods and multiplayer.

"Associates" count towards the party size penalty and both henchmen and summoned creatures count as associates. So yes, using henchmen and summoned creatures will cause you to receive less experience. The OC was atrocious, but the expansion packs were good. I think 20/20 hindsight is, on the balance, favorable for NWN1's singleplayer.

Not only Hencmen effect your xp gain, any other creature you summon also effect it.

You shouldn't act as if you know everything when you clearly don't. As Engerek01 said, a PC's party consists of more than henchmen. Not to mention some module, including the HotU campaign, allows you to have more henchmen.

And I didn't mean the original campaign specifically, when I said NWN's single-player experience is not detracted from. If you don't know it, there are many amazing single-player modules and campaigns available. HotU is a pretty good example, but there are better ones. Darkness over Daggerford? The Prophet campaign? Wyvern Crown of Cormyr? Multiplayer is not NWN, as a platform, has to offer.

Since this seems to have been missed:

0. No, you can not switch to controlling your henchman in NWN1. You can in NWN2, but not in this game.

NWN2 has a (somewhat clunky) party system where you can have more party members and take control of each. NWN1 does not.

Wizards can, however, directly control their familiar by "possessing" them. Can be useful for scouting, though I honestly rarely bother unless in multiplayer.

2. Yes, in the first expansion you can change your henchmen's equipment. You indeed cannot in the OC, unless you install an override like this one http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/henchman-inventory-battle-ai-mod Kinda. There's no formal loyalty/approval system but there are "romances" of sorts in the OC and the second expansion. Very barebones, though, and in the OC they're with NPCs rather than with party members.

Doing fetch-quests for party members and talking to them a lot gives benefits in the OC, but not in the expansions.


Edit: Oh, and for ease of ordering the AI henchman, try using the voice menu. (Default shortcut: v) Some of the commands there are just for flavor, but those marked with an asterisk will be heeded by your henchman. So, for example, pressing v-w-x will make your henchmen stop, whilst pressing v-w-e will make them follow.

You can also use the radial menu (and add the radial menu commands to your hotkey bars if you want) but the voice menu works for all the people in your party at once, including summoned monsters, familiars, etc.

Not always. Summoned creatures can actually in many cases be gamed to get you more experience than you otherwise would have.

XP gained is a function of both party size and of average party level; associates count against the party size, but they also are counted towards the party level average. This makes certain summoning spells especially effective, because of the power of the creature compared to its nominal level - Animate Dead is probably the most notable. The Skeletal Champion you summon at level 10+ easily retains its usefulness throughout the game, but is nominally only level 7 - as a result, it depresses the party level by more than enough to compensate for having an additional associate, and you will almost always gain more XP with it than without.

Thats not the case. I just tried it with my level 15 wizard, summoned a level 1 monster and still it decreased the exp i am gaining.

To my knowledge, the NWN2 SoZ campaign is the only one that does XP awards this way and is susceptible to this kind of gaming.

The NWN2 party system for the OC and MotB expansion consists of companions that join your main PC. You cannot create your own. You can control their inventory and their AI and use puppet mode to micro-manage them if you wish. So this is similar to the behavior of the Infinity Engine games in single-player mode. The Infinity Engine games also allowed the player to create multiple party members if desired and this is a feature that is not natively available in NWN2 OC and MotB, but was added in the second NWN2 expansion SoZ via a "Party Editor". There was a mod developed for the NWN2 OC "OC Makeover SoZ Edition" and one for MotB "MotB Makeover SoZ Edition" that allow the NWN2 OC and MotB to use the feature as well as other enhancements. Those mods do require that you have both the MotB and SoZ expansions installed though.

Regards