Dragon Age Origins First-Timer build

[dq_177]

Hey I got the all-content edition when it was on sale on Steam recently and am about to play it.
The only thing I'm a little wary on is the Build of my character (and maybe the others party members) since this game your Build is pretty important to success?

I was thinking of going Human Nobel for origin and then Warrior for my class but beyond that I am unsure.

Does anyone more experiancedd have any advice on these matters?

[dq_177]

Yes Shale does have interesting options with the 'stances' and the nature of their equippable items. I used them and Oghren for the Dwarf lands recruitment questlines just recently.

Random suggested-party style question for when I move onto the Awakening expansion, what sort of groupings would work well for my Male Noble Warrior (Templar/Champion) (Sword & Shield) Warden?
For some reason it seems like dealing with them will be more of a hassle than the Origins crew.

[butterfingers158]

Anders, Nathaniel (archers got a huge buff in Awakening), Velanna would work pretty well

In truth, Velanna could be anyone, but I picked another mage for more aoe damage. Basically Anders=Wynne, Nathaniel=Lelianna (but buffed). Oghren would also be a good choice, Spirit warrior specilization makes 2h warriors do stupid amounts of damage.

[dq_177]

It so happens I DID want to use Nathaniel specifically after finding out a little about him, and if he's a rogue that means he can be my walking lockpick at the same time I guess.
How would Anders/Nathaniel/Velanna work in terms of apporval reactions?

While I'm talking about Awakening is it true it has more bugs related to companions and their quests than the main game even in the latest version? I saw that mentioned around somewhere.

[butterfingers158]

To be honest most of the approval in awakening comes from one on one conversations from what I recall.

I've never had bug problems playing it, but that could just be my good fortune.

[Amycus]

Awakening is pretty buggy, unfortunately yes. There is the infamous silverite mine bug, where you are meant to TEMPORARILY lose all the equipment you where wearing, and slowly getting it back. But sadly there is a bug that makes it impossible to recover them. I think there are mods that fix most of these bugs now though.

In awakening archers suddenly become the single most overpowered class. In the main game, I prefer an archer with as much cunning as possible, combined with the "lethality" talent. In Awakening however, there is a talent that can turn a Pure DEX archer to an unstoppable killing machine, making it easy to solo with if you so please.

[crazy_zeke]

The great thing about Dragon age is how you can replay it over and over. Learn from your mistakes but its ok to build terrible the first run through!

[dq_177]

Huh, I only just realized I don't understand rogues in terms of stat allocation,
I've mostly been running Leliana as a skillmonkey, her primary purpose is to pick locks with her archery as a secondary (and now she's a ranger so she can summon another unit for our team). I've mostly been putting her points into dex so she can use better bows.

Its not a big deal since it seems to be working for her but when I look at Zev I dunno what I'm supposed to be doing.
Its not a big deal since I never use him and she doesn't seem to be deadweight but I thought since there was this thread still I might as well ask people on what the best way to stat a rogue is (I assume it might differ depending on exactly what type of rogue it is of course)

[theworldismypillow]

I usually go rogue and just kind of play and learn. I'm not the most tactical person xD Even in Dark Souls, I just do whatever.

[dq_177]

İlk olarak Radix tarafından gönderildi:

I usually go rogue and just kind of play and learn. I'm not the most tactical person xD Even in Dark Souls, I just do whatever.

Well yeah, I'm not trying to go for 'super optimal' in my game style or anything. I just like to hear the opinions of the more knowledgeable people here, its interesting and I enjoy the increased understanding.

[Amarae Morti]

a melee rogue is normally cunning based. archers need more dexterity. problem with archers in DAO is that bows get part of their damage from str and the damage return from putting points into str isn't really worth it. so archer damage suffers no matter what.

There are mods that fix a lot of the issues and are highly recommended.

Mage design is just that. You need to have a design in mind or you can easily gimp your toon. There are some very good guides to mages out there and I recommend you study up and have a good idea of what you want. Especially if you plan on having multiple mages in your party ie. Morrigan. If your mage design compliments Morrigan, you can devastate. A gimp design can make life difficult. Playing a mage is among my favorites.

I don't much care about rogues though. The whole class concept is broken and stupid, imo.

[dq_177]

Starting Awakening with my Male Noble, you just load the Epilogue Auto-Save and keep going right? I hear porting your character from other areas can cause problems with triggers in later expansions.

[dq_177]

Just got my first actual party members and now I'm sort of lost completly when it comes to these new specializations in Awakening and which of the new companions would be best suit to what combinations of them.

Things were so much simplier during the blight, and now I miss my dog and cute red-headed girlfriend from NotFrance.

[Landeril [BCK]]

The new Specializations are just changes on the first ones. Battlemage is a Primal Mage Specialization(Works well with Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage). Keeper is another Primal Mage(Earth mostly), and goes good with Spirit Healer/Blood Mage.

Shadow is for your sneaky rogues(Works well with Assassin/Duelist), while The Legionnaire Scout is more for combat Rogues(Works best with Ranger/Duelist/Bard).

The Spirit Warrior is basically the Arcane Warrior in reverse and works well with Templar, or Champion in my opinion. The Other Warrior Class, Guardian, is better for Tanks. Pair it with Templar, or champion.

As to your party. I like Nathaniel, Justice, and Anders, when I play as a Human Warrior(I normally play the DPS, Dual Wield). I made Nathaniel take Shadow, Justice had Spirit Warrior/Champion, while Anders had Spirit Healer/Battlemage. I also found Oghren was better paired with Guardian. Velanna, the Dalish Elf, I always paired with Battlemage to compliment her Keeper. Sigrun, the Dwarf, starts as a Legionnare Scout, which I thought the Ranger helped with.


Beyond that mate, I can't offer any more advice on Awakening.

[Crazy Alchemy]

Warriors are probably the least versitile class, If you specialize in Melee you're probably best going Weapon and Shield because the Warrior excels at that, Two Handed is also pretty good. Rogue does two weapon and ranged better. There's no real point in specializing in more than one weapon proficiency tree.

Stats wise if you're a warrior Strength and Constitution are your main stats and Dexterity is your main secondary stat, unless for some strange reason you want to go Archer or Duel Wielder as a warrior. Willpower Magic and Cunning are all generally unimportant.

[butterfingers158]

Constitution is unimportant (except for maybe a Blood Mage), better to put those points in Dex to avoid attacks if you're going to tank.