Spell Durations And Cleric Stuff

First questions are in regards to casters in general.

How exactly do the spell durations work with the in-combat/out of combat? I cast two spells, dark fire, and light. Both have a duration of 1 hour/level, but the darkfire expires way before the light spell does. How long are the durations for in combat, and out of combat..... When does the countdown on a spell's duration switch from the in-combat speed to the out of combat speed?

And most importantly, why is there such a system? I'm not sure I'm really seeing the benefit of it. When a player reads in their spell descriptions "duration X rounds/turns/hour per caster level", and know that 1 round is 6 seconds, 1 turn is 10 rounds (1 minute), and one game hour is 2 minutes, they rely on that information to be accurate and consistent.

Cleric questions...

On reaching 4th or 5th (forget which exactly), my Asis cleric received a "Divinely granted holy symbol". What exactly is it's purpose other from the RP effect of having a holy symbol?

Granted spells.... How exactly are these working? Do they take the cleric's level into account as if they were casting a memorized version of the spell? Is it possible for the possession of the granted spell token to apply any meta-magic to the cleric's memorized versions of the spells as the healing domain feat does in a default NWN rules setting?

MannyJabrielle wrote:First questions are in regards to casters in general.

How exactly do the spell durations work with the in-combat/out of combat? I cast two spells, dark fire, and light. Both have a duration of 1 hour/level, but the darkfire expires way before the light spell does. How long are the durations for in combat, and out of combat..... When does the countdown on a spell's duration switch from the in-combat speed to the out of combat speed?

And most importantly, why is there such a system? I'm not sure I'm really seeing the benefit of it. When a player reads in their spell descriptions "duration X rounds/turns/hour per caster level", and know that 1 round is 6 seconds, 1 turn is 10 rounds (1 minute), and one game hour is 2 minutes, they rely on that information to be accurate and consistent.

I asked shorty after I got here why my buff spells were expiring so fast in Aenea. He basically told me that buffs weren't supposed to last more than an encounter or two, so the time out of combat is 4x NWN standard. I personally don't agree with that. I, like Manny, believe that if the spell is to last a specific period of time, it should do so regardless of whether or not you are in combat.

MannyJabrielle wrote:Cleric questions...

On reaching 4th or 5th (forget which exactly), my Asis cleric received a "Divinely granted holy symbol". What exactly is it's purpose other from the RP effect of having a holy symbol?

Granted spells.... How exactly are these working? Do they take the cleric's level into account as if they were casting a memorized version of the spell? Is it possible for the possession of the granted spell token to apply any meta-magic to the cleric's memorized versions of the spells as the healing domain feat does in a default NWN rules setting?

I don't know about the Asis granted holy symbol, but Andra's casts Entangle 3 times per day.

MannyJabrielle wrote:How exactly do the spell durations work with the in-combat/out of combat? I cast two spells, dark fire, and light. Both have a duration of 1 hour/level, but the darkfire expires way before the light spell does. How long are the durations for in combat, and out of combat..... When does the countdown on a spell's duration switch from the in-combat speed to the out of combat speed?

And most importantly, why is there such a system? I'm not sure I'm really seeing the benefit of it. When a player reads in their spell descriptions "duration X rounds/turns/hour per caster level", and know that 1 round is 6 seconds, 1 turn is 10 rounds (1 minute), and one game hour is 2 minutes, they rely on that information to be accurate and consistent.

The NWN game engine handles time strangely. In combat, the game takes on a D&D turn-based system, where 1 round = 6 seconds, 1 minute = 10 rounds (60 seconds). Out of combat, to keep the game going at more than a snail's pace, time passes at 1 game hour per 2 real minutes.

When you are in combat (or casting spells or using feats or using items or otherwise "busy"), the game drops into 6-second rounds to better emulate a D&D combat round (where 1 round = 6 seconds). When you are not in combat, you go into the faster passage of time so you don't have to wait out real time for time to pass in-game. Could you imagine playing a vampire that is stuck inside for 12 real hours?

MannyJabrielle wrote:On reaching 4th or 5th (forget which exactly), my Asis cleric received a "Divinely granted holy symbol". What exactly is it's purpose other from the RP effect of having a holy symbol?

Role-play. That particular one doesn't do any more, it just is a reminder that at 5th level, the cure x wounds spells of Asis clerics are automatically Maximized.

MannyJabrielle wrote:Granted spells.... How exactly are these working? Do they take the cleric's level into account as if they were casting a memorized version of the spell? Is it possible for the possession of the granted spell token to apply any meta-magic to the cleric's memorized versions of the spells as the healing domain feat does in a default NWN rules setting?

The granted spells consider the cleric level and Wisdom modifier of the cleric. They are not affected by meta-magic, since they're not actual prepared/known spells, but are really an activated item.

Ah, so it takes 5 levels before the spells start kicking ass? Cool.

An idea I had though earlier today about holy symbols.... Clerics/druids also have a 'conjure holy symbol' spell.... and there's loads of holy symbol amulets to be found. Perhaps those could be the granted holy symbols, or perhaps when worn by a cleric of that faith(and only that cleric), the holy symbol grants the cleric a wisdom boost, or some other nice goody? Sort of like the wizard's familiar for wizards operates?

Like, for a prizimal cleric, they get extra turning feat from their amulet, Gort clerics would get a haste cast (like the wanderer's amulet), ect.... nothing huge, but a little more than being just a plain necklace for the cleric

I always wondered what the purpose of the conjure holy symbol spell was... You are telling me it doesn't really have one?

Game mechanic wise, not that I know of. It's a fun prop for roleplaying, like the occulus' magical eyes spell.