It's not a secret, Dragon Age: Origins hits retailers this Tuesday (November 3rd). With estimates from Bioware on 80+ hour completion times and various things that affect the games outcome, including class, sex and choices made, not to mention the fact that it's been dubbed the "Spiritual Successor To Baldur's Gate", Dragon Age is a truly MASSIVE game.
To help give you a headstart on the game, we've put together a rundown of the three main classes available in Dragon Age, including two specializations for each main class, their history, and the stat modifiers you can expect to receive for each class.
Remember, it's not just your class that affects the game, but also the sex of your character, the decisions you make, and whether or not you complete the optional/side quests.
Mage
Benefits: +5 magic, +4 willpower, +1 cunning
As dangerous as it is potent, magic is a curse for those lacking the will to wield it. Malevolent spirits that wish to enter the world of the living are drawn to mages like beacons, putting the mage and everyone nearby I constant jeopardy. Because of this, mages tend to lead lives of isolation, locked away from the world they threaten. Specializations include shifter and spirit healer.
Mage Specializations
- Shapeshifter
Specializations Bonus: +2 constitution, +1 armor
Rumors speak of barbarians that hold secrets of transforming the body into the form of animals. The Circle of Magi denies such rumors. But this rare art survives in the forgotten corners of Thedas. Mastery of their bodies allows shapeshifters some protection, even in human form. Making them durable opponents and staunch allies.
Shapeshifter History
While the Circle of Magi would prefer that it be so, theirs is not the only tradition of magic in Thedas. Prior to the Circle’s formation, magic was either practiced by the Magisters of the Tevinter Imperium or in remote areas, knowledge handed down from one generation of practitioners to the next. These “hedge mages”, as Enchanters of the Circle refer to them, or “witches” as legend would name them, do not always employ forbidden magic. Quite often their talents lie in the creation of charms, the use of curses and the ability to change their own forms.
It is this last talent that has, over the centuries, been incorporated back into the Circle. Said to have been first introduced by hedge mages that joined the Circle (perhaps by force), the path of the Shapeshifter is one that crosses the boundary between mage and warrior. Some mages see it as a form of self-mastery, while others use it as a method of survival, a physical bag of tricks that enable the mage to be unpredictable in battle.
Shapeshifters must master one form at a time, the most common ones being those that are found in the Fereldan wilds. The mighty bear is popular as are wildcats, spiders, and even birds. Legend tells of mages who mastered even more fantastical and deadly forms. To a skilled Shapeshifter, no door is impassable, no fight is unwinnable, and no terrain inhospitable as long as they know a shape that can meet the task at hand.
- Spirit Healer
Specializations Bonus: +2 magic, minor combat heath regeneration
Not all entities of the Fade are demonic. Many are benevolent entities consisting of life energy, which can be called upon to mend flesh and heal disease. Spirit healers focus on channeling the energies granted by these spirits, making them indispensable members of a party of adventurers.
Spirit Healer History
Not all things to come from the Fade are harmful. While maleficarum summon and control demons from the Fade, some mages within the Circle of Magi seek to summon spirits that do not feed on the darker side of the human psyche. These are benign spirits of fortitude, compassion and hope that rarely seek to cross the Veil into our world and can be persuaded to protect and restore life rather than destroy it. The people of Thedas may think of all spirits as malevolent entities, but as the spirit healers propose, there is much good to be done alongside the Maker’s first children.
While healing spells do exist, spirit healers are well-known for taking healing and restoration far beyond a standard mage’s capabilities. In effect, the spirit healer summons a benevolent spirit through the veil and that spirit uses its abilities on the mage’s behalf. Thus, spirit healers are highly desired in the ranks of the Circle.
Becoming a spirit healer, however, is no simple matter. To gain the services of such benevolent and righteous beings requires that the mage earn their trust. Often this requires a series of trials to prove that the mage’s goals are as noble as the spirit demands, though some mages have claimed to command the compliance of such spirits through sheer force of charisma. Some spirit mages even claim they did not choose their calling; instead, a powerful spirit chose them and led them into lives of service and ordeal.
It should also be noted that the calling of a spirit healer is a dangerous one. The summoning of spirits through the Veil inevitably draws demons to the mage, sometimes very powerful ones. More than one tale exists of a spirit healer being fooled into believing a demon to be a spirit and inadvertently bringing them across the Veil... or being tricked into letting down their guard and possessed. As such, once a mage becomes a spirit healer they must heighten their vigilance for the remainder of their lives. It is a calling that not all will gladly suffer.
Rogue
Benefits: +4 dexterity, +2 willpower, +4 cunning
Rogues are skilled adventurers who come from all walks of life. All races possess some skill in picking locks and spotting traps, making them valuable asset to any party. Tactically they are not ideal front-line fighters, but if rogue can circle around behind their target, they can backstab to devastating effect. Rogue specializations are bard and assassin.
Rogue Specializations
- Bard
Specializations Bonus: +2 willpower, +1 cunning
Bards follow an Orlesian tradition, acting as assassins, spies, saboteurs and following other secretive pursuits in the constant and sometimes petty, struggles between nobles. Having taken the minstrel's art to new levels, bards are skilled performers and master manipulators; bards can inspire their allies or dishearten their foes through song and tale.
Bard History
A bard is something of a curiosity even in the courts of Orlais, where intrigue is as common as silk. Musicians and troubadours, doubling as spies, exploit their access to powerful nobility to glean secrets for employers who are usually nameless even to the bard. The nobles welcome such entertainers with full knowledge that any could be a bard; the thrill of outwitting a spy is a notion the Orlesian aristocracy can hardly resist. Unfortunately, when they finally realize that a master bard has been among them, it is usually too late. Bards use music to soothe hearts and cloud minds; in combat, their abilities to inspire allies and distract foes are legendary. Beyond their music, they are masters of dirty fighting, stealth and larceny.
In other parts of the world, bards are less prominent but no less dangerous. Bards travel wherever secrets have value: in Ferelden, they once played fairs and graced the courts of banns and arls, listening for secrets that could be used to sway the fiercely independent nobility. Outside of Orlais, most traveling entertainers are now merely musicians, but that only makes the spies more difficult to detect.
- Assassin
Specializations Bonus: +2 dexterity, +2.5% critical chance
The assassin finds any notion of fairness a quaint ideal that has no place in combat. Poisons are their weapon of choice, as are crippling strikes that inflict persistent wounds on their foes. As killers, assassins are a market of stealth and efficiency.
Assassin History
Anyone who is paid to kill another is an assassin, yes? In the far off land of Antiva, such a statement would earn you only nervous looks and the rapid departure of whomever you were speaking to. There, assassination is considered an art form. The guild of assassins known as the Crows holds almost as much political powers as powerful noblemen and military commanders. Any man, it is said, exists within their reach, and the Crows have proven this adage time and time again. More than one king of Antiva has even hailed from their ranks, and it should come as no surprise that those particular kings have in fact numbered amongst the nation’s most effective rulers.
Outside of Antiva, assassination as a craft is rarely held with the same esteem. The Orlesian bard, for instance, may perform assassinations in the course of their duty but rarely is it the actual purpose they are set to. To a true assassin, murder is their craft and they make no bones about trying to distinguish themselves otherwise. Poison is their tool, just as is a slit throat or a silent strike to a critical area of the body, and all are designed to kill with maximum efficiency.
The common notion is that assassins stem from a warrior tradition, dating back to the “hassarans” that roamed Antiva and the Free Marches during the time of the First Blight. These were men and women who had been trained into lethal killers using nothing but their hands, feared throughout the north. The truth, however, is one few accept: the Crows started as an arm of the Chantry. In the gentle hills north of Treviso, an order of monks used the herbs grown in the gardens of their abbey to oppose the rule of a despotic duke in the only manner they could. The poisons they developed were intended to help the helpless, and while many would wonder that an order of assassins could have had such noble beginnings the truth of the matter is that the Crows do not see themselves as corrupt in the slightest. In their own words: “All that is good has been built on the bodies of the fallen. If we are to be killers, then let us also be architects.”
Warrior
Benefits: +4 strength, +3 dexterity, +3 constitution
Warriors are powerful fighters, focusing on melee and ranged weapons to deal with their foes. They can withstand and deliver a great deal of punishment and have a strong understanding of tactics and strategy. Specializations for a warrior include berserker and templar.
Warrior Specializations
- Berserker
Specialization Bonus: +2 strength, +10 health
The first berserkers were dwarves. They would sacrifice finesse for the dark rage that increased their strength and resilience. Eventually, dwarves taught these skills to others, and now berserkers can be found amongst all races. They are renowned as terrifying adversaries.
Berserker History
Experienced warriors tell of the horrors of war, of steeling one’s courage and fighting through pain and fear that would cripple lesser men. According to them, to give over to rage in battle is to hand victory to your opponents; anger clouds one’s mind and forces a warrior to make foolish and often fatal mistakes. The deadly berserkers dare (for a berserker would never beg) to differ. To them, the only way to conquer the terror of war is to become that terror yourself.
Founded centuries ago as a fighting tradition among the dwarves of the Frostback Mountains, the berserker philosophy is simple: embrace the rage, internalize the terror, and wreak horror upon the field of battle. When a berserker rages, finesse, precision, and honor cower in the face of pure violence and blades flash in a haze of red mist. While this makes berserkers unpredictable on the field, it also makes them terrifying to behold and even the vile and mindless darkspawn have been known to cower in the face of a squad of raging berserkers.
While berserkers make up a significant part of the dwarven warrior castes, the tradition was long ago taught to the Avvar barbarians in the Frostbacks and through them made its way to the Ash Warriors, themselves the most renowned mercenaries in human lands. Today, many human and dwarf armies go to field with a squad or two of berserkers—always on the front lines, ready to go mad and kill without fear.
- Templar
Specialization Bonus: +2 magic, +3 mental resistance
Mages who refuse the Circle's control become apostates and live in fear of a templar's powers- the ability to dispel and resist magic. As servants of the Chantry, the templars have been the most effective means of controlling the spread and use of arcane power for centuries.
Templar History
Often portrayed as stoic and grim, the Order of Templars was created as the martial arm of the Chantry. Armed with the ability to dispel and resist magic in addition to their formidable combat talents, the templars are uniquely qualified to act as both a foil for apostates – mages who refuse to submit to the authority of the Circle – and a first line of defense against the dark powers of blood mages and abominations.
While mages often resent the templars as symbols of the Chantry’s control over magic, the people of Thedas see them as saviors and holy warriors, champions of all that is good armed with piety enough to protect the world from the ravages of foul magic. In reality, the Chantry’s militant arm looks first for skilled warriors with unshakable faith in the Maker, with a flawless moral center as a secondary concern. Templars must carry out their duty with an emotional distance, and the Order of Templars would rather have soldiers with religious fervor and absolute loyalty than paragons of virtue who might question orders when it comes time to make difficult choices.
It is this sense of ruthless piety that most frightens mages when they get the templars’ attention: When the templars are sent to eliminate a possible blood mage, there is no reasoning with them, and if the templars are prepared the mage’s magic is often all but useless. Driven by their faith, the templars are one of the most feared and respected forces in Thedas.