Asking cause it's come up in much debate with a few folks who seem to like dropping poly bombs.
What is the limit in terms of poly counts for various parts for nwn.
I found a list for NWN 2.
Polygon limits for Player Characters and (Humanoid)PC Companions
--One thing every content builder and blueprint maker should keep in mind: A PC or Companion should never display more than 10,000 polygons on the screen at a time. This is an absolute worst case maximum. Most PC's will average between 7k to 8k polys. This total includes head, hair, armor, items equipped in both hands, wings, tails, and any permanent VFX.
--Numbers breakdown on individual parts: All of the following values are based off of the largest OE mesh of that type, padded with 50 to 100 faces to make the number look nice. These are the maximum number of faces any of these parts should ever be, not an average.
Head: 1700 (worst case scenario - male dwarf with a full beard) This value includes facial hair. For non-dwarves, the count is much lower, but anything under 1700 is safe.
Hair/Helm: 700 - Full covering helms replace the hair, so both of these parts are allowed the same number of faces. Helms that only partially hide the hair should be less than 500 faces, and those that don't hide the hair at all should be less than 300.
Body: 2600 (worst case scenario - male bard armor) This value is an extreme maxima, and any armor with that many polys isn't designed to be used with armor attachments or belts. Most body armors range from 1200 to 1800 polygons. Female bodies tend to be around 200 polys larger than the males with the same outfit ( the +200 Cleavage and Curves modifier )
Gloves: 700 - All the stock hands use the same mesh, and that mesh has 550 faces. Any different design (long gloves, shotgun prosthetics) will change the poly count. if the count is higher than 550, the builder should make a note in his readme so blueprint makers can adjust their designs accordingly.
Boots: 700 - Most of the boots are similar and any variation mostly comes from the texture work.
Cloak/Belt: 500 - Typical cloaks and belt items should be less than 500 polys. Since the Cloak and Belt slots are the only "optional" skin mesh armor parts, they sometimes get used for accent features like aprons, body tattoos, or stackable armor variants. If the poly count of either part goes above 500, the builder needs to note this in his readme so blueprinters can take that into account.
Wings: 350
Tail: 150
Armor Attachments: 150 to 300 - These parts need to be minimalist and used only for color accent and providing minor variation to the area it hooks to. Since the parts are so small, most of the detailing should be done in the texture work.
Hand items (weapons, shields, instruments, torches, etc.): 1200 - This is the total value of a weapon's 3 parts combined. Shields and off hand items usually don't need that many faces, but, since weapons get dual-wielded, the off hand is permitted the same number as the main hand. "Common" weapons will have poly counts in the 300 to 600 range with only the special, more unique implements of destruction coming close to the 1200 limit. Keep in mind, having your entire goblin army dual-wielding 1k poly Fiery Butter Knives of Toasting +5 will still bring your machine to it's knees.
Polygon limits for placeables
Stackable singles: 300 - These are the placeables that tend to get lumped together in large amounts and stacked on top of each other.(books, crates, barrels, rocks, bushes, small plants, sacks of grain, etc.) Area designers like to use a lot of these to break up the regularity of a room or region, so they need to be low impact.
Stackable pre-grouped: 600 - Pretty much the same as the stackable singles except individual items are already grouped together and optimized somewhat. (patch of weeds, cluster of rocks, stack of crates) They're still used to build up clutter in an area so the poly count remains low.
