Should I use mods if I haven't played the game before?

YES—TSLRCM

The most well-known, important and broadly-appreciated mod for TSL is TSLRCM (The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod).

TSLRCM is essential even on your first playthrough. It not only brings back a plethora of cut content, making the plot easier to understand and the game more enjoyable, but also fixes a massive quantity of bugs, some of which are extremely serious and even game-breaking. There is positively no reason not to use TSLRCM on every single playthrough, unless you're playing on the Xbox and have no option to. There is even a mobile-compatible version, MTSLRCM, for those playing the game on their phones.

The KOTOR 2 Community Patch is also an important, though less critical, collection of supplemental bugfixes that address several issues which slipped through the cracks during TSLRCM's development, and is safe to use alongside TSLRCM (indeed, it requires it!).

Other mods

If you don't mind having more mods installed during your first playthrough, you can take a look at the Mod Builds. We're a little biased given that this site hosts them, but we also truly believe that the Spoiler-Free mod build, which is a subset of the base mod build specifically geared towards new players, includes tasteful improvements across the game without modifying its original atmosphere, progression, or story. It's designed to enhance the base game rather than modify it, and its use will, in our opinion, not detract from the experience of KOTOR 2 in the slightest. Most importantly, as the name suggests, installs of that build are censored to prevent you from being spoiled during the download or install process for the mods, allowing you to install the content safely without risking your experience being compromised.

I want to avoid making some "general mistakes" in the course of my playthrough. Without serious spoilers, what are some things I should know?

First and foremost: play with TSLRCM. It is a mistake not to benefit from its restored content and bug fixes, which are numerous. The KOTOR 2 development team has praised its efforts as restoring the game as close to their vision as is possible, and that should be indicative of its quality.

Be aware that, from the moment you step on the Harbinger, you can earn positive or negative influence with your companions based on your actions and conversations with them. Either extremely high or extremely low influence will unlock new dialogue for your companions (for more info, see here), but your companions will tend toward your same alignment with high influence, and your opposite alignment with low influence. Due to unfortunate design decisions by the developers, some incredibly plot-critical dialogue and background for the game is locked behind sufficiently influencing companions—thus, to get the most out of KOTOR 2, it is CRITICAL to unlock as much companion dialogue as possible, so you should be incredibly mindful of which companions you're trying to talk to via positive influence and which companions you're attempting to speak to via negative influence, and behave accordingly around them. Companions will have their own likes and dislikes which will be up to you to discover. If you care to know those companions who matter the most for plot-relevant influence unlocks it is the following, in order: Kreia, T3-M4, Disciple (female-only companion unless using PartySwap mod), HK-47, Atton, Mandalore, Bao-Dur. All other companions reveal additional personal information or receive class level-ups during their influence process, but do not reveal any story-critical information.

Regardless of your alignment, siding with the Ithorians on Citadel Station is the most beneficial route in terms of min-maxing. It's your choice whether or not you want to benefit from this.

If you have the Handmaiden in your party, do not speak to Visas until you have trained the Handmaiden completely (you'll know what I mean when you get there). Otherwise you'll experience a nasty side-effect.

Save Korriban for last, and ensure your character is strongly aligned (either LS or DS) before you go.

Be aware that completed quests on Nar Shaddaa contribute to triggering a plot event which will immediately force you to progress along a very linear and difficult path, and that certain quests will become unavailable after that trigger fires (note that this trigger is not the Red Eclipse encounter). Attempt to travel between modules as little as possible and be as completionist as possible in the time you have, so that you can complete what quests you need to before the trigger occurs. In particular: travel to the Docks, then the entertainment module, before you travel to the Refugee zone, and delay doing the Red Eclipse as long as you can. Also be aware that some conversations can be listened in on with stealth.

My game is crashing before/shortly after the main menu, or whenever I have a cutscene!

This is most likely a bug known as the "fullscreen bug," which usually causes the KOTOR games to crash or minimize on or shortly after startup, and/or when two cutscenes are played back-to-back. If you're on a laptop with an integrated graphics card and you're experiencing similar issues it might not be the fullscreen bug—the KOTORs don't play nicely with integrated graphics, and in that case your issue may not be fixable—but even for users with integrated cards, attempting some of the following options sometimes results in success.

The first and simplest option is to get the game on Steam. The Steam version of KOTOR 2 has native widescreen options which should fix the problem automatically, and with Steam's refund feature you can test to see if the problem is fixed and simply refund the game if it, for whatever reason, does not resolve itself. Keep in mind that, in the case of users with laptops or integrated cards, using the Steam version alone might not result in a fix; it may require following the steps in the second video of step five used in addition to the Steam version to resolve the problem, if it can be resolved at all.

The second option is to entirely disable movies in the KOTOR 2 .ini file. This is obviously not a great solution, and should only be taken if the other two options fail for whatever reason.

The third option is to navigate to your KOTOR 2 .ini in KOTOR 2's game folder (on Steam, it's located in Steam/steamapps/common/Knights of the Old Republic II), open it with a text editor such as notepad, edit the line that says "fullscreen=1" to be "fullscreen=0," and add a line under the Graphics settings called "AllowWindowedMode=1". This should open the game in windowed mode for you, and should thereby solve your issue.

The fourth option is to right-click your game's executable file, select Properties, then go to the compatibility tab and check "Deactivate Visual Designs", "Deactivate desktop..." and "Deactivate scaling...." Note that this has only been tested on Windows 7 and only seems to work in certain circumstances, but is worth giving a try before the more intensive option listed below (thanks to Kexikus for pointing this out!).

The fourth option is the most time-consuming, but also has the highest success rate and is the most functional option, as it allows you to play KOTOR 2 not only in fullscreen, but also in widescreen whilst almost always fixing the issue. It will require you to first follow the instructions in this video to apply widescreen, and then to either apply high-resolution cutscenes from this mod (not guaranteed to work, although you can download and test these cutscenes more quickly than you can make the altered cutscenes in the alternate option, and these cutscenes are high-quality and can be used as the basis for manual movie rescaling in the alternate step if it doesn't work for you) or utilize the .bik movie rescaling in this video (note that the .bik upscaling step in this video can take as much as 12 hours to complete, although the process is automatic). Whether the HD cutscenes method or the .bik movie rescaling method is utilized, the hex editing steps showcased in the second half of the second video by Xuul will need to be taken in order for the new movies to play properly and fix your issue. Please note also that 1366x768 is not supported by this method, and indeed cannot mechanically function ingame. If this is your resolution, you will need to select the closest supported resolution for widescreen and upscale the movies to match that resolution instead.

With these widescreen steps completed, you might also want to take a look at this list of mods, which further improves the game's widescreen support.

I can't move after combat/my character will randomly freeze and I can't get them to move again!

This is a known bug. Some people are able to resolve it by enabling or disabling v-sync in the options menu. However, this doesn't always work (particularly in windowed mode). The issue occurs in instances where the game's refresh rate is asynchronous with your monitor's refresh rate. For example, if your monitor's native refresh rate is 59Hz, or a high refresh rate like 120Hz, 144Hz, it won't match the game's 60Hz refresh rate and can result in the bug. You can try resolving the problem one of two ways.

The first, and easiest, option is to merely set your monitor's refresh rate to 60hz for the duration of your time ingame. For most users with desktop computers this is simple to do and can be edited directly on your monitor, or via Windows settings (though the latter seems to work less frequently than editing it directly on your monitor's settings). For laptop users editing the refresh rate will be more difficult, but the program Custom Resolution Utility has been used by dozens of users to simulate a 60hz runtime environment with great success. This also fixes the problem some laptop users experience of resolution options not appearing ingame (see here).

The second option is to cap the game's framerate to match that of a low refresh rate monitor, or to 60 for a high refresh rate monitor. How you do so will differ depending on your video card brand.

1. For nVidia users: Download nVidia Inspector from here - https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-profile-inspector-download.html Run Inspector, click on the little tool button on the right to pop up the driver profile editor. From the profiles drop-down menu on the top left, choose Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic or Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 2. Under the Sync and Refresh section, choose the drop-down next to Frame Rate Limiter and choose 60 FPS. Then hit the Apply button on the top right.

2. For AMD users: Open Radeon settings (comes bundled in the driver install) -> Gaming -> KOTOR -> Profile graphics -> Frame rate target control -> your monitor Hz

I don't have any resolution options ingame!

This is an issue which sometimes occurs with laptop setups, caused by your system's refresh rate being much higher than what the game expects to find. It thus does not properly register your monitor and refuses to provide resolution options since it thinks you don't have any visual device attached.

This problem is annoying, but can be resolved. Some laptops can successfully change their refresh rates to be low enough for the game to recognize, either through the laptop's software, Windows software (Settings -> System -> Advanced Display Settings -> Refresh Rate on Windows 10), though this method does not always work. What has shown a 100% success rate so far is the Custom Resolution Utility program. This program can forcibly simulate a 60hz environment, which will unlock the game's resolution options and thereby allow you to change the resolution ingame, or apply widescreen patching successfully.

All my dialogue is going super fast/skipping by itself!

This is a known issue with all versions of the game, but happens most frequently on the patched Steam, GoG, mobile and Switch versions of the game. Simply exit the game entirely (that is, close it, don't go back to the menu) and reopen it.

If you're looking to reduce or eliminate this issue, reverting the game to the original patch state of the title has been known to reduce the occurrence of the problem, but is only possible on GoG and Steam. For Steam: navigate to KOTOR 2 in your Steam library, right-click and select properties, go to Betas and opt in to the "legacypc" beta. For GoG: you must be using the GoG Galaxy launcher, go to the game's options in GOG Galaxy, then Manage Installation, then Configure, and you can switch to the old version.

Do note, there are many potential downsides to the reversion, and oftentimes it requires manually patching the game for widescreen support. Unless you view this problem as insurmountable or you are experiencing other major issues with the Aspyr patch, it is not recommended to revert. If you do decide to revert, it is recommended that you follow the steps here, which will direct you to the tools you need to patch that functionality (which oftentimes averts a game-breaking bug) back into the game.

I'm experiencing a corrupt savegame!

If possible, reload an older save and keep doing so until you find a save that doesn't have the corruption. Then write down the steps taken between that healthy save and the corrupted one and carefully re-trace them in an effort to pin down what caused the corruption. After that, it would be helpful to try to determine the mod (if any) that is responsible and either ask the mod author directly or post on Deadly Stream with a list of your mods, a description of the problem, and any info you've uncovered from the above steps.

I loaded my save and I'm now suddenly playing as an entirely different character!

It is known as "Arren Kae bug".

Based on this thread, you should go to your save directory and delete the future game folder. To prevent the problem from occurring again, it's recommended that you also disable cloud saves.

My swoop bikes are hovering in midair!

Toggling your game executable's compatibility settings between Windows XP SP2/SP3 should fix the issue. Which compatibility mode works for the problem seems to vary between systems.

How do I get KOTOR 2 to run in widescreen?

Purchasing KOTOR 2 on Steam or GoG gives you native widescreen options, which usually prevents all occurrences of the "fullscreen bug." The same patch that adds widescreen can cause lag issues, however these are rare and widescreen can still be patched in manually.

If you do not own the game on Steam or GoG or have performance or other problems running the most recent Aspyr patch, to play the game fullscreen and widescreen whilst still avoiding the fullscreen bug, you will need to follow the instructions in this video, which will allow you to play widescreen. For Steam or GoG players, please note if you intend to manually apply widescreen you will need to roll back to the previous patch of the game to do so. For Steam: navigate to KOTOR 2 in your Steam library, right-click and select properties, go to Betas and opt in to the "legacypc" beta. For GoG: you must be using the GoG Galaxy launcher, go to the game's options in GOG Galaxy, then Manage Installation, then Configure, and you can switch to the old version.

If you have problems with cutscene crashes beyond this point, you can either apply high-resolution cutscenes from this mod (not guaranteed to work, although you can download and test these cutscenes more quickly than you can make the altered cutscenes in the alternate option, and these cutscenes are high-quality and can be used as the basis for manual movie rescaling in the alternate step if it doesn't work for you) or utilize the .bik movie rescaling in this video (note that the .bik upscaling step in this video can take as much as 12 hours to complete, although the process is automatic). Whether the HD cutscenes method or the .bik movie rescaling method is utilized, the hex editing steps showcased in the second half of the second video by Xuul will need to be taken in order for the new movies to play properly and fix your issue. Please note also that 1366x768 is not supported by this method, and indeed cannot mechanically function ingame. If this is your resolution, you will need to select the closest supported resolution for widescreen and upscale the movies to match that resolution instead.

With these widescreen steps completed, you might also want to take a look at this list of mods, which further improves the game's widescreen support.

My framerate is terrible despite of having a decent computer!

Upgrading your video card drivers is the first step. Although it's unlikely this will significantly improve your performance, it's still something you should try.

Second, disabling any third-party software interfacing with KOTOR 2's graphics (so something like an Nvidia program forcing antialiasing on the game, etc). This may or may not fix your issue, but again is important to do early to make sure the issue isn't easily fixable.

Next, disable grass in the game's .ini file and frame buffer effects and soft shadows in the game's menu (or also in the .ini if you have a non-Steam copy). These are two common settings which can cause lag even on new machines thanks to poor optimization, and turning them off might fix your problem entirely.

If that fails, remove any and all mods you may be using which improve the game's graphics, as the increased rendering might be the cause of your problem.

Rarely, stuttering problems have been associated with the Aspyr game patch, which both the GoG and Steam versions of the game have; removing this patch by reverting the game to the "legacypc" version (For Steam: navigate to KOTOR 2 in your Steam library, right-click and select properties, go to Betas and opt in to the "legacypc" beta. For GoG: you must be using the GoG Galaxy launcher, go to the game's options in GOG Galaxy, then Manage Installation, then Configure, and you can switch to the old version) may resolve the issue, but is also likely to force you to manually patch widescreen functionality back into your game. See the answer directly above, which will direct you to the tools you need to patch that functionality (which oftentimes averts a game-breaking bug) back into the game.

If all that fails, you have no further options but to reduce the quality of the game by significantly reducing or disabling the game's graphics settings.

How does KOTOR 2's influence system work?

KOTOR 2 has an influence system which activates from the point the player steps onto the Harbinger at Peragus. This influence system is based off of actions as well as dialogue, and is variable on a companion-by-companion basis. Certain companions like Light Side actions whilst others like Dark Side actions, and some like both. Still other companions care more about the manner in which they are treated than the "alignment" of your choices (although that doesn't mean that they don't take alignment into account); Kreia, for example, does not like having her opinions ignored or disregarded. To an extent, it is up to the player to find out what all of their companions favor.

Influence—both high and low—unlocks additional companion dialogue, and in certain cases allows your companions to gain prestige classes. Because KOTOR 2 is a game which is, in many ways, driven by the story of your companions (and because, due to design decisions, many companions have plot-critical information locked behind their influence unlocks), it is highly important to unlock as much of their unique dialogue as you can, and therefore it might well be prudent for the player to actively choose to get high influence with companions which are similarly ideologically aligned to them and low influence with companions who do not agree with their choices, so the player can unlock all of their companions' unique dialogue without having to take actions which are not in keeping with their preferred alignment.

What does each individual skill/attribute get used for?

Attributes apply bonuses or penalties to combat, skills, saving throws, and Force powers. For every 2 levels an attribute is increased, that attribute's modifier increases by 1. For example, an attribute level of 8 has a modifier of -1. If that attribute is increased to 9, the modifier will still be -1, but if that attribute is increased to 10, the modifier will now be 0.

The Strength modifier affects attack and damage rolls in combat when using melee weapons and lightsabers. A user's Strength modifier is also used when calculating whether a target is stunned when the user uses the Critical Strike feat. The damage bonus is based on how many weapons are used in an attack and whether the weapons are single-bladed or double-bladed. When a single weapon is used, the damage bonus is 1.5 times the Strength modifier. When two, single-bladed weapons are used, the weapon in the main hand receives a damage bonus equal to the user’s Strength modifier, and the weapon in the off hand receives a damage bonus equal to half the user’s Strength modifier. When a double-bladed weapon is used, the main hand attack receives a damage bonus equal to 1.5 times the user’s Strength modifier, while the off hand attack receives a damage bonus equal to the user’s Strength modifier. Fractions/decimal values are apparently ignored rather than rounded.

A user's Dexterity modifier affects attack rolls in combat when using ranged weapons. A user’s Dexterity modifier can also be used to affect attack rolls with melee weapons and lightsabers (in place of the user’s Strength modifier) if the user has the Finesse: Melee Weapons or Finesse: Lightsabers feats, respectively, and the user’s Dexterity modifier is greater than or equal to the user’s Strength modifier. The Dexterity modifier is also used to calculate a character's defense value and affects the user's reflex saving throw and Stealth skill.

The Constitution modifier affects the number of vitality points (health) a character gains when leveling up. This attribute also determines what implants a character can equip (note that implants take into account the user’s actual Constitution rather than the user’s Constitution modifier). Constitution also affects a character’s fortitude saving throw.

A character’s Intelligence modifier impacts the number of points a character can spend on skills when leveling up. It also affects the user's Computer Use, Demolitions, and Repair skills. The intelligence modifier is also used when calculating whether a target is stunned when the user uses the Sniper Shot feat. The amount of vitality points a droid receives from a repair kit is also affected by the Intelligence attribute.

The Wisdom modifier affects how many Force points a Force-sensitive character gets per level. It affects the Awareness, Security, and Treat Injury skills, impacts the user's will saving throw, and is used when calculating whether a target is affected in certain ways by offensive Force powers that the user uses. The Wisdom modifier also affects the amount of vitality points a non-droid character receives from medpacs and Healing Force powers, as well as defense granted by the Battle Precognition Force power.

A character’s Charisma modifier affects the cost of using Force powers that have an alignment opposite the user. Charisma is also used when calculating whether a target is affected in certain ways by offensive Force powers that the user uses. The Charisma modifier is also applied to the user's Persuade skill, as well as the number of vitality points a non-droid character receives from Healing Force powers. In KotOR II, the main player’s Charisma modifier is added to the attack rolls of all party members, regardless of whether the modifier is positive or negative.

Skills are used to perform specific actions within the game. When using most skills to perform such an action, the skill value is added to a d20 roll (a randomly generated number between 1 and 20, inclusive), and this sum is compared against a number known as a Difficulty Check (DC). If the sum is greater than or equal to the DC, the action is successful. In the original KotOR, only the main character's Persuade skill could be used for certain dialogue options, but in KotOR II, certain dialogue options may correspond to other skills of the main character. For example, if the main character's Awareness skill is high enough, the main character may notice something in another character's dialogue and have an option to comment on it.

Computer Use is used when attempting to hack (slice) computer terminals using computer spikes. For every 4 points a character has in Computer Use (after modifiers), the number of spikes required for an action is reduced by 1. There is no DC associated with slicing terminals. The Computer Use skill is also used to upgrade (different from leveling-up) a certain party member in KotOR II.

Demolitions is used to set, disarm, and recover mines. Minor, average, strong, deadly, and devastating mines have a DC of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30, respectively, to set. Disarming a mine adds 5 to its respective DC to set. Recovering a mine adds 15 to the respective DC to set. When the not engaged in combat, the d20 roll always results in 20. In Easy difficulty, all DCs are 5 less. In Difficult difficulty, all DCs are 5 more. Disarming mines grants experience points (XP) equal to 10 times the level of the character that did the disarming. Recovering a mine grants XP equal to 15 times the disarming character’s level. Using a mine to open locks does not result in broken items, but also does not grant XP. Mines must be detected by a character's Awareness skill before they can be disarmed or recovered. A character with no points in Demolitions cannot set, disarm, or recover mines.

Entering Stealth mode allows a character to go unnoticed by enemies as long as the enemies' Awareness skills are less than the user's Stealth skill (after modifiers). When a character is in Stealth, they can set/disarm/recover mines, use computer terminals, repair droids, and open doors/containers. Entering combat cancels Stealth. In order to use Stealth, a character must have a device that enables Stealth equipped to them. A character with no points in Stealth cannot enter Stealth mode.

Awareness allows a character to detect mines and characters in Stealth mode. If the sum of a user's Awareness skill and a d20 roll is greater than or equal to the detection DC of a mine or another character's Stealth skill (after modifiers), the object or character is detected. Minor, average, strong, deadly, and devastating mines have a detection DC of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30, respectively. On Easy difficulty, these DCs are reduced by 5. On Difficult difficulty, these DCs are increased by 5. When a character is running, 5 points are subtracted from the character's Awareness skill. When not engaged in combat, the d20 roll always results in 20. Awareness is always active, and is also a skill that is widely used in dialogue checks for additional content and revelations.

The Persuade skill is only usable by the main character and allows the character to choose certain dialogue options throughout the game. Persuade can play a large role in attempting to gain influence with a party member. When attempting to Persuade someone in a conversation, a ratio (R) is calculated as the Persuade skill (P) divided by the sum of the character's total level (L) and 5. In other words R = P / (L + 5). Throughout the game, Persuade opportunities are categorized as easy, medium, and hard. The aforementioned ratio determines the chance of a Persuade attempt succeeding in each category:

• If R is less than or equal to 0.25, easy attempts have a 40% chance of success. Medium and hard attempts will never succeed.
• If R is between 0.25 and 0.5, easy attempts have a 50% chance of success. Medium attempts have a 25% chance of success. Hard attempts will never succeed.
• If R is between 0.5 and 0.75, easy attempts have a 75% chance of success. Medium attempts have a 50% chance of success. Hard attempts have a 25% chance of success.
• If R is between 0.75 and 1, easy and medium attempts will always succeed. Hard attempts have a 75% chance of success.
• If R is greater than 1, all attempts will always succeed.

The Repair skill allows a character to fix disabled droids using parts. Similar to Computer Use, for every 4 Repair points a character has in Repair (after modifiers), the number of parts required to repair part of a droid's functionality is reduced by 1. There is no DC associated with repairing disabled droids. Repair also affects the amount of vitality points (health) recovered when droid characters use repair kits on themselves. The Computer Use skill is also used to upgrade (different from leveling-up) a certain party member in KotOR II.

The Security skill allows a character to open locked containers and doors. Locked containers and doors can also be bashed, at which point a character will attack the container or door and gradually or instantly deplete the object's "vitality", thereby opening it. However, opening locks in this manner may result in broken items, which are unusable except that they can be broken down into generic components are a workbench. On Easy difficulty, the DC of locks are decreased by 5. On Difficult difficulty, the DC of locks are increased by 5. When the Security skill is successfully used to open a lock, XP equal to 5 times the user’s level is gained. Security spikes grant a bonus to this skill when used on a lock. A character with no points in Security cannot use the skill.

The Treaty Injury modifier is added to the number of vitality points gained when medpacs are used on a non-droid character.

Is ranged damage affected by any attribute? What about chance-to-hit?

Ranged damage is not affected by any attribute. However, chance-to-hit is affected by your Dexterity modifier.

What do Flurry, Critical Strike, and Power Attack do?

Flurry allows you to make one additional attack per round. At Basic level you take a -4 attack penalty that round (basically a reduction in your chance-to-hit), as well as a -2 Defense penalty (an increase in your chance to be hit) for that round and three seconds after. At Improved level these penalties are reduced to -2 and -1, respectively, and at Master level they are eliminated.

Critical Strike increases the critical threat range—that is, a better chance of a critical hit—in exchange for a -5 Defense penalty at all levels. At Basic level the threat range is doubled, at Improved Level it is tripled, and at Master level it is quadrupled. For example, a weapon that only generates a threat chance on a roll of 20 would do so on at least a roll of 19, 18, or 17, respectively.

Additionally, all hits have the opportunity to stun, if the target fails a Fortitude save at a DC of the attacker's level plus their Dexterity modifier.

Power Attack increases the base damage of your attacks, in exchange for a -3 attack penalty. At Basic level the bonus is +3, at Improved Level it is +7, and at Master Level it is +12.

Additionally, critical hits have the opportunity to stun, if the target fails a Fortitude save of the attacker's level plus twice their Strength modifier.

What do Rapid Fire, Sniper Shot, and Power Blast do?

Rapid Fire allows you to make one additional attack per round. At Basic level you take a -4 attack penalty that round (basically a reduction in your chance-to-hit), as well as a -2 Defense penalty (an increase in your chance to be hit) for that round and three seconds after. At Improved level these penalties are reduced to -2 and -1, respectively, and at Master level they are eliminated.

Sniper Shot increases the critical threat range—that is, a better chance of a critical hit—in exchange for a -5 Defense penalty at all levels. At Basic level the threat range is doubled, at Improved Level it is tripled, and at Master level it is quadrupled. For example, a weapon that only generates a threat chance on a roll of 20 would do so on at least a roll of 19, 18, or 17, respectively.

Additionally, all hits have the opportunity to stun, if the target fails a Fortitude save at a DC of the attacker's level plus their Intelligence modifier.

Power Blast increases the base damage of your attacks, in exchange for a -3 attack penalty. At Basic level the bonus is +3, at Improved Level it is +7, and at Master Level it is +12.

Additionally, critical hits have the opportunity to stun, if the target fails a Fortitude save of the attacker's level plus twice their Intelligence modifier.

Is it a better idea to try to stack critical damage or to focus on raw damage output?

Raw Damage output is honestly a much safer avenue for most players. Critical Damage has a very small item window to improve, with few improvements granting a larger crit window and the player character struggles from not having critical boosts from playing Scoundrel or having Sneak Attack. Even with weapons built perfectly for critical hits, crits only have about a 25% chance rate at best, and a raw damage boost can provide more consistent damage when crit stacking will only net you the bonus on 1 of every 4 hits.

What kind of build is best for getting the most out of the story?

Unlike in the original KOTOR, in KOTOR 2 skills are incredibly important for many things. Not only are they mandatory for crafting (indeed, almost all skills play a role here), they are also necessary for many unique dialogue options, and some highly important skills like Repair, Security, and Computer Use are frequently used as optional checks which can allow the PC to unlock special quests and earn significant extra EXP and credits.

For this reason, we generally advise players to start out as a Sentinel, which has the most skill points per level and class feats, with 14 INT. If the player spends their first two feats in cross-classing the Sentinel's two non-class skills and, from there, levels all skills equally, by the time the player can become a prestige class they will have sufficient skills in almost all categories not only to unlock all relevant quests and dialogue, but also to craft almost all items/upgrades (with the benefit of some equippable items which further boost skills).

This allows you to get the most out of the game while also giving you the freedom to choose your own prestige class, as by the time a prestige class is an option you will already have all the skills you're likely to need.

Are there any unnecessary skills in KOTOR 2?

No.

All skills (not only persuade and repair as in KotOR 1) play a role in dialogue checks. This means that certain dialogue options will only appear, or succeed, if you (as a PC, your companions' points don't count) have a particular skill at a high enough level.

Besides, all skills except for Persuade can be used to create items on Workbench/Lab station, though you can use your companions for crafting.

I'm trying to create a powerful melee character; how should I build one?

Above all, we recommend viewing this thread regarding base classes and prestige classes, which has some wonderful information about class breakdowns to help you with character-building.

First, note that specifically constructing the most powerful melee class as this guide details isn't recommended for a first playthrough—although incredibly strong, it also tends to lack the skill levels required to unlock important story elements; please see the top post in this category for suggestions on a story-oriented build, which is recommended for those unfamiliar with the story, or with playing alongside TSLRCM. It's perfectly possible and indeed even recommended to start with a skills-oriented build and shift to a combat-oriented one with the advent of the PC's prestige class, so utilizing some of the information here can still prove useful, but following the outline of the skills-oriented build as the main guide is still suggested for new users.

Heavy-hitting Melee characters should specialize in the Jedi Guardian starter class, and further spec into the Jedi Weaponmaster or Sith Marauder prestige classes, depending on your alignment. Their chief attribute is Strength, though Constitution and a degree of Dexterity are good ideas as well. Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence should all fall by the wayside in favor of these combat stats. Many builds don't recommend raising these above eight.

In terms of feats, you're going to want to specialize in combat skills like Conditioning, Jedi Defense, and Toughness after improving whichever attack tree you choose (flurry, power attack, or critical strike) and Two-Handed Weapon Fighting. As a Melee class, it's recommended you use two weapons instead of one, due to the vast increase in damage output.

If you've done things right, you should have very few points to put into skills. For a Guardian/Weapon Master/Marauder build, the only skills to recommend are Treat Injury and Persuade. Treat Injury can get you out of virtually any tight spot, and persuade is useful in greasing things along, especially as only the player character can use it. However, in terms of priority for a pure combat build, Treat Injury is certainly a more valuable skill than Persuade.

As for your force powers, make sure you invest in skill buffs, hopefully ones that don't use your wisdom or charisma modifiers too much. Force Speed, Force Valor, and Force Resistance should all be high-priority, among others. Dark-Side characters may have to be careful to avoid Light-Side powers due to low charisma; in this case, the plague tree is usually excellent for helping neutralize tough enemies.

If you'd like to calculate damage for your melee builds, you can use this spreadsheet developed by /u/jorgaitan.

I'm trying to create a powerful Force-wielder; how should I build one?

Above all, we recommend viewing this thread regarding base classes and prestige classes, which has some wonderful information about class breakdowns to help you with character-building.

First, note that specifically constructing the most powerful Force-oriented class as this guide details isn't recommended for a first playthrough—although incredibly strong, it also tends to lack the skill levels required to unlock important story elements; please see above for suggestions on a story-oriented build, which is recommended for those unfamiliar with the story, or with playing alongside TSLRCM. It's perfectly possible and indeed even recommended to start with a skills-oriented build and shift to a combat-oriented one with the advent of the PC's prestige class, so utilizing some of the information here can still prove useful, but following the outline of the skills-oriented build as the main guide is still suggested for new users.

Creating a force-focused PC can be a a bit more tricky than a Melee Character. First, make sure you start out by choosing the Jedi Consular class for the most force gains, and later spec into the Jedi Master/Sith Lord prestige classes, depending on your alignment. Force powers and their effectiveness rolls are modified by your Wisdom and Charisma together. Of the two, I've found Wisdom to be infinitely more useful as it modifies more skills and increases your Force Point total, rendering a slightly increased cost for force powers of a different type pretty unnecessary.

For a Consular build, Wisdom, Dexterity, Charisma, and optionally Intelligence are the most useful Attributes. Wisdom and Charisma improve your force powers, though you should really only be putting your points into one of them over time and Wisdom is the more efficient of the two. Dexterity improves your defense and helps vastly with survivability, and Intelligence is a useful dump stat because this is a class where you can afford to have it. In the interests of basic survival it's wise to start the game with no Attribute lower than 10 (otherwise low Vitality might be the death of you), but from there to emphasize Wisdom and Dexterity.

In terms of feats, in addition to the usual Two-Handed Weapon Fighting and Attack Style of your choice, once you receive your first lightsaber one of the first things I'd suggest is Finesse: Lightsabers, which allows your Dexterity, rather than Strength, to modify your hit chance. Some builds do specialize in Dueling for Consulars rather than Two-Handed Weapon Fighting due to its increase in Defense, though I've always found having two weapons to be more useful regardless of your build. After that you should have only a few feats left, so pick whatever tree you'd like and maximize it.

Now, POWERS! Dark-Siders really run the table here: Force Storm, Death Field, Plague, Kill, Insanity, all good choices. Light-Siders should definitely get Force Wave, Stasis Field, Heal, and I've always had a spot in my heart for Destroy Droid even if the general consensus is that it's useless. Force Speed, Force Valor, Battle Meditation, Force Breach, Force Confusion after the Prestige Class are all pretty good choices for any Force-User. Some builds use Force Body to reduce FP costs, but honestly by the Endgame you have to really try to use all of your force points.

Is there an optimal order in which I should visit planets?

Yes, there is optimal order from gameplay standpoint. There are, however, differences dependent on your character's gender.

For a male Exile:

1. Nar Shaddaa - you can get 2-3 companions and even turn Atton into a Jedi.

2. Dxun/Onderon - you can get 1 companion there and the sooner you finish this mission affects how quickly you get a certain follow-up mission later.

3. Dantooine - you can get really powerful item there.

4. Korriban - fights there are pretty difficult and a section of the planet requires a PC of high DS/LS alignment, so it's good to leave it at the end.

For a female Exile:

1. Nar Shaddaa - you can get 2-3 companions and turn Atton into a Jedi.

2. Dantooine - you can get really powerful item and 1 companion there. It might be a good idea to get this companion and then leave the planet before finishing it, however, to do Dxun/Onderon first.

3. Dxun/Onderon - you can get 1 companion there and the sooner you finish this mission affects how quickly you get the certain follow-up mission later.

4. Korriban - difficult fights and the alignment restriction.

It should be noted, although you can still finish planets in any order you want based on your sense of what is best from storyline point of view, you should still take those points into consideration. Getting some characters too late can make you unable to achieve enough influence points with them and thus not fully resolve their personal storyline.

What are some good ways to make money?

Money in this game is honestly not as valuable as the first: rare items do not frequently show up in shops, and the item progression is geared more towards upgrading weapons at workbenches than obtaining new ones. But if there's something you want, it can be pretty easy to get.

You can try crafting valuable items at the workbench and then selling them, for instance, and Swoop Racing on Onderon can be pretty profitable. And in this game, common items are worth way more than in the first game, meaning selling your crappy vibroblades can make you at least a useable amount of money. In the worst-cast scenario, pazaak is always an option for a down-on-their-luck player with no other credit sources to turn to.

How do Workbenches/Lab Stations work?

Workbenches have three functions: a "break down" mode which allows you to break down held items into Components (which are the basic building blocks of items and upgrades), a "creation" mode which allows you to use Components to create those new items and upgrades, and an "upgrade" mode which allows you to apply and remove crafted/found upgrades from your weapons and armors.

The number of Components you receive for breaking down an item are related to your Repair score, so it may be wise to have a companion do it for you, if they have higher Repair. It's also worthwhile to note that lightsaber crystals are also applied to lightsabers via the workbench's upgrade mode.

Lab Stations function similarly, except they use Chemicals as their basic building blocks and Treat Injury as the skill which modifies how many Chemicals you receive for breaking down relevant items. Lab Stations can be used to break down/create med kits, stims, and even mines and grenades.

Both the Workbench and the Lab Station have no skill requirements for breaking down items (although a higher Repair/Treat Injury will yield more components), but they will have skill requirements for crafting new ones, so it's beneficial for the player to keep in mind what they want to craft and what sorts of skills they need to level to get to that crafting benchmark.

I heard characters in KOTOR 2 can unlock prestige classes. How do I go about unlocking them?

Yes, certain characters can. Depending upon their alignment with you (whether it is very high or very low) they will either become a prestige class of your alignment (high influence) or your opposite alignment (low influence).

The companions who can prestige are:

• Bao-Dur
• Disciple [Female PC only, w/o mods]
• Handmaiden [Male PC only, w/o mods]
• Mira [LS PC only, w/o mods]
• Atton

For Atton, Mira, and Handmaiden there are three other requirements:

• For the Handmaiden, the player must complete all of her sparring matches and speak to Kreia about her first. This dialogue will happen to be permanently locked out if the player reaches higher influence with Visas than the Handmaiden before finishing their sparring (which is very easy to do), so it's recommended not to speak to Visas until the Handmaiden prestiges.

• For Atton, the player must meet two Twi'leks in the refugee sector on Nar Shaddaa who say they know him to unlock his later dialogue, which is a prerequisite to discussing his past with him, which in turn is a prerequisite for his prestige class.

• For Mira, the player must take her to a special spot on Nar Shaddaa; where and why will be made clear by Mira to the PC when it's possible for her to prestige.

Is there a romance subplot in KOTOR 2?

There are romances, of a sort, but not quite like in K1. For male characters, you can develop relationships with the Handmaiden and Visas. For female characters, the Disciple and Atton. To pursue them, talk to those characters at every opportunity and focus on raising their influence levels.

Be aware, however, that the Handmaiden (and the Handmaiden only) will refuse to further communicate with the PC if they get Visas's influence higher than her own. It is advisable to not speak with Visas, then, until the Handmaiden's sparring quests are completed and the player undertakes the optional aftermath (it will be obvious what this is).

Which companions are the best to bring along to compliment a Jedi Guardian? Sentinel? Consular?

• A Jedi Guardian should be padded with either another Force User such as Kreia or Visas who can subdue opponents or provide even more buffs to the Guardian's slaughter (Kreia, with the Force Chain ability, is ideal for this role). The second companion I usually set aside for a skills expert such as Atton, Mira or T3-M4.

• Jedi Sentinels need as much combat support as they can get: heavy hitters like Mandalore, Disciple, Handmaiden, and Hanharr are best for both roles, with the Sentinel acting in-combat as a Consular. I usually pair a melee heavy-hitter with either HK-47 or a blaster-focused Mandalore, although using the Sentinel as a melee combatant with a Consular and a Tank (Hanharr, Melee-Focused Mandalore, Handmaiden) also works.

• Jedi Consulars need Melee and Skill support, though since I've found most Consulars spec to have reasonable intelligence this skill support can simply be in things the Consular lacks like Demolitions or Security. If they've reached prestige classes, a team of Atton/Mira/Visas and Handmaiden is usually unstoppable.

What benefits and downsides are there for using the Steam Workshop to mod KOTOR 2?

The very short answer is that the Workshop is an incredibly easy installation method which works great and can even allow you to validate local game files without worrying about mod files being changed, if you're using only a single mod. Using more than one mod alongside the Steam Workshop has a high likelihood of compatibility issues, and complicates mod installations. For more information, please see here.

Can I use Steam Workshop mods alongside non-Workshop mods? If so, how?

Yes, you can. However, since you have no control over installation of Steam Workshop mods, you can't tell in advance whether it's compatible with the rest of your mods or not. As long as it is simple retexture and doesn't involve changes in .2da files, everything should be fine.

We advise to use the Steam Workshop version of a mod only if it's the only version available, or if you're only planning on using a single mod (IE TSLRCM).

How do I clean my game of all previously installed mods?

If you own the game on Steam and mod through the Workshop, simply unsubscribing from all your mods will be sufficient. If you own the game on Steam and manually modded it, deleting KOTOR 2's Override folder and erasing all .mod files within the Modules folder should bring your game back to a native state. At this time, however, you'll need to validate the integrity of your game cache, as KOTOR 2's basegame updates are held within the Override folder, and will need to be reinstalled.

If you don't have Steam, unfortunately you'll need to uninstall your game, wipe the game's installation directory, and re-install the game to return it to a native state, unless you've kept track of every modified file you've installed and no mod file you installed overwrote a vanilla game file.

How can I tell if two mods are compatible with one another?

If the two mods do not use TSLPatcher - i.e. they consist of simply putting loose files in the Override folder - and comprise files with the same filenames, they will obviously not be compatible. Of particular concern are major files such as those of the .2da filetype, for example appearance.2da, which have influence over a large number of the game's elements. Overwriting pre-existing 2DAs and other major files can lead to a broken game.

If two mods use TSLPatcher, then, if set up properly, they should generally be compatible with each other, even when modifying the same files. For example two mods can both make additions to appearance.2da without affecting each other or other mods/the base game.

Note that there are limitations to how far this can go. Certain mods can never be compatible, regardless of how they are installed. For example, two mods that both change the head model used by a specific companion will not work together. Typically, mods will specifically call out compatibility issues such as this in their readme/documentation, so make sure to read it before installing.

As a general rule to maximise compatibility, install any loose file/Override mods first, then install TSLPatcher mods afterwards. Note that when using TSLRCM (typically always), you will generally be precluded from using older Override-style mods that include 2DAs because TSLRCM will already have copies of those files in the Override.

I'm trying to create a build of compatible mods to use; what do I need to do to make sure they'll all work together?

Ideally, have prior experience with installing mods, especially large mods that comprise a lot of changes. An understanding of how TSLPatcher and mod interoperability works in KOTOR is highly beneficial in assessing mod candidates. Read all documentation for candidate mods, paying particular attention to any known compatibility issues and bugs. Ask in the KOTOR Discord for more information, check Deadly Stream, mod comments on the Nexus, or the KOTOR reddit etc., for any sign of issues with a given mod, especially large/complex ones. Don't be afraid to ask if a collection of mods will work together before playing.

Sticking to mods that are known by the community to be stable/free of bugs is advisable. Try to avoid mods that alter the same/similar things where possible. Especially limit the number of large mods that make sweeping changes to multiple areas of the game. If in doubt, leave it out.

Simple texture mods are typically more robust in terms of technical issues. Generally speaking, overwriting existing textures in the Override folder will not cause problems for vanilla models. However, be sure to read all relevant documentation supplied by mod authors to determine if a given texture mod will be compatible with other mods you may be using, like armour, clothing, or head replacements, particularly those incorporating custom or edited models. For those playing on laptops or using integrated GPUs, beware of using excessive amounts of high resolution texture mods, as you will likely encounter issues with your device's texture streaming budget.

If possible, it would be better to incrementally construct a large mod build over several playthroughs, rather than just lump a hundred mods together and pray everything works. Make regular saves, and be prepared to lose large chunks of progress, perhaps even having to start again, due to progress-blocking bugs/incompatibilities.

Broadly, what sort of mods should I be using?

It depends entirely upon what sort of experience you want to get out of your game. There are mods which add new, non-canon content, mods which restore content which was deleted from the base game and fix bugs, graphical improvement mods, and many more. Depending upon what sort of content you want to see, your game might look significantly different. The only exceptions to this are TSLRCM, which is universally praised and universally recommended, regardless of whether it's your first time playing KOTOR 2 or not, and the KOTOR 2 Community Patch, which is a pure bugfix patch supplementing TSLRCM.

Aside from TSLRCM and the K2CP, the best way to determine what sort of content you would like to have is to simply look through the mods which are available. There are three main places to look for this content:

• GameFront was the original host of the KOTOR mods which were uploaded to FileFront, one of the oldest and longest-lived KOTOR mod databases. Not long ago it shut down before being reopened, and while this restored version has many of the mods once hosted, some have been lost. Because of the difficulty of navigating this database as well as the age of the mods and loss of several files, I only advise its use if you're looking for a specific mod which you know exists, but cannot find.

• Deadly Stream. Deadly Stream was the successor to FileFront and now hosts most of the major KOTOR mods, with a few exceptions. Searching this archive will give you a very good idea of what sorts of mods are out there, and an excellent general overview of them.

• Nexus Mods. A newcomer in terms of KOTOR modding, the Nexus nevertheless does have some content which Deadly Stream does not, and therefore may be of interest to you if you're looking to mod your games to the upper limit. However, beware that some of these mods are reuploads of modders' content taken without their permission, which means some are very outdated and not properly supported. Typically if both Deadlystream and the Nexus have a mod, the Deadlystream version will be the more updated copy.

Alternatively, if you'd like to use something pre-made which has guaranteed compatibility, you can look at the mod builds hosted here.

Keep in mind, unless using the mod builds without any personal edits/mod additions, that you do need to be concerned about mod compatibility. Not all mods work well together, or indeed work together at all, especially if they're modifying similar content. See here on ensuring mod compatibility.

If you have concerns over whether or not your personal build will work, or post in the #mod_development channel of the KOTOR Discord for compatibility advice.