Dragon Age--What's the best class/race to start as?

[Endorenna]

I just got Dragon Age for my birthday. I'm going to start it in a bit, and (as the thread title says) I was wondering what class/race is easiest for a first playthrough.

 

PS: I would've posted this in the main Dragon Age thread, but I didn't want to see any spoilers, hehe. >_<

[Hope Estheim]

Warrior of any Race. It's the easiest... the mage is one of the hardest to play as... haha...

[Taak Farst]

funwise id go with mage because of the variety different effects he/she can cause but for survival and pure ownage id pick warrior - i was never a fan of rogue.

 

Race? I'd go with elf or human - not a fan of dwarves

 

If you pick elf go with the city elf origin story - more fun.

[mur'phon]

Mage is, from what I have heard the most powerfull class by far. Unfourtantely, it's also so much fun playing as a mage that I have been unable to play as anything else (yes, I know I could always use npc mages, but if I want two in my party I'd have to put up with Wynne), so you have been warned. Thing is, in DA, mages are almost as powerfull as they tend to be in fiction, they can stun in a huge area, unleash a storm more powerfull than a nuke, heal/resurect allies, or send anyone who gets close flying. As for race, I'm not sure what difference it makes, as mages aren't exactly liked by most people, even if they are human.

 

edit: how the heck is a mage hard to play? Did you guys forget to pick up the ice and ward spells? I'll admit that a mage needs more micro management, but DA is an easy game, so you can screw up quite a bit with the spells and still be a medieval VMD.

 

Another reason for playing as a mage: since it's basically a requirement to have at least one mage in your party, and since you'll controll your mage party member(s) most of the time, it's more immersive to pick the class that you'll controll the most.

[Rake]

Mages are by far the most powerful, as mur'phon said, however, it really boils down to preference. The game is pretty doable with any class, however, I find the warrior to be EXTREMELY boring. Warriors in DA essentially auto attack (they literally have nothing but a bunch of auto attack abilities) for all 20 or so hours of combat.

 

Mages are really fun, lots of variety and different playstyles (can freeze a dude, blow up a group, raise an inferno, place weaknesses, stun, heal, protect, etc...)

 

Rogues are also really fun; I've only played on for a few hours, but it says a lot about a class that can be fun at the beginning of the game when you only have like 2 abilities. I'd just suggest avoiding warrior unless your a big roleplayer and want to fit in with the role of "human noble warrior" or something of the like.

[stoffe]

I just got Dragon Age for my birthday. I'm going to start it in a bit, and (as the thread title says) I was wondering what class/race is easiest for a first playthrough.

 

My first character was a mage, and while your repetoire of spells is somewhat limited early on you will eventually be able to pick up enough spells (from levelups, books, plot events etc) to be able to handle pretty much any situation. There is something morbidly satisfying about being able to clean out a whole room full of bad guys before they even know you're there (my mage the Storm of the Century spell combo).

 

For mage specializations (you can learn them at level 7 and 14) I'd pick Spirit Healer and Arcane Warrior. Spirit Healer is very helpful in keeping your group alive and healthy, while Arcane Warrior allows you to wear armor as a mage (lets you use the Magic attribute instead of Strength to meet equipment requirements for armor and weapons). Not only helpful in staying alive, but also essential from a fashion standpoint since the mage robes in Ðragon Age look absolutely horrid.

 

Since I like playing out-of-the-ordinary characters I'd recommend Female Elven Mage, since all those 3 are things that various NPCs will raise an eyebrow about when they meet you as a Grey Warden. (Duncan's whole crew aside from you was made up of human male rogue/warrior Wardens, according to Alistair.)

 

(There are also some parts of the game in Redcliffe you can only do as a mage, so if you aren't one yourself you'd have to use Wynne or Morrigan instead, which gives very limited dialog choices for that.)

[mur'phon]

While I agree that spirit healer is a good specialization, I'd go with Blood Magic instead of Arcane Warrior. It lets you cast some spells without mana (more usefull than you'd think, as you can always heal yourself/have others heal you afterwards), and gives you a devastating area of effect spell that doesen't harm allies, as well as the ability to mind controll (or damage like hell if they happen to be bosses). The only problem with Blood Magic is , if you, like many others RP as yourself on the first playthrough, you'd either have to be a self serving bastard, or (like me) rather utilitarian to justify the choice neccesary, that, and it isn't easy to know that when you have your opportunity to learn BM. Without really spoiling anything, aside from letting you know when you have got the choice,

Show spoiler

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asking for power as payment for allowing a scantly clad relative of the devil to live now and do something evil in the future, is how you get it.

And if you want to know the hub area you get it in,

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it's in Redcliffe

 

Oh, and assuming you keeep freezing/stunning/blasting enemies that get close to you, you aren't going to have much need for armor (aside from the looks of course), and IIRC even Arcane Warriors will have to spend a fair bit more mana on each spell while wearing armor.

[stoffe]

While I agree that spirit healer is a good specialization' date=' I'd go with Blood Magic instead of Arcane Warrior. It lets you cast some spells without mana (more usefull than you'd think, as you can always heal yourself/have others heal you afterwards), and gives you a devastating area of effect spell that doesen't harm allies, as well as the ability to mind controll (or damage like hell if they happen to be bosses).[/quote']

 

Blood Magic is also made out to be something only Evil Bastards dabble in (so I let Morrigan learn it at level 14 ) since it's the Forbidden school of magic i ÐA lore. Though there are actually disappointingly few consequences for learning and using it, so it's mostly a roleplaying issue.

 

Generally I've only found Blood Magic to be mildly useful, really. Rather disappointing since everyone you talk to seem to think Blood Mages are extremely powerful (and certain cutscenes seems to imply that as well). Sure, Blood Wound is a very good spell and the nearly whole reason to pick it up unless you're dabbling in special builds*. Though given how extremely common Lyrium potions are in the game (and you can always make more yourself if you learn Herbalism) I've never found running out of mana to be much of an issue. But other than that there are plenty of other mass disabler spells like Sleep, Mass Paralysis etc so BM doesn't bring that much unique to the table.

 

And the Blood Control ability can be a double-edged sword. If the victim dies while they're dominated (either from the damage from the spell itself or killed by their allies) you won't get any experience points for their death since they aren't hostile to you.

 

Oh, and assuming you keeep freezing/stunning/blasting enemies that get close to you, you aren't going to have much need for armor (aside from the looks of course), and IIRC even Arcane Warriors will have to spend a fair bit more mana on each spell while wearing armor.

 

Yep, Cone of Cold and Glyph of Repulsion are very useful for staying alive. But if you wear an armor set that gives you fatigue reduction as a set bonus then your spells will actually be cheaper to cast than if you were casting them wearing a robe, since you end up with negative fatigue. The drake/dragon armor from Wade can be used for this, for example.

 

 

 

*: Blood Mage and Arcane Warrior can be a very potent combo since it allows you to use up all your mana for sustained enchantments/buffs and then use blood magic to cast active spells from health.

[igyman]

As others have said, definitely choose warrior as your class. As for races, well, it all comes down to personal preference - I went with an elf and chose the Dalish origin story. Now, after seeing the other origin stories, I have to say the Dalish Elf origin was the best.

 

Now, when it comes to specializations, I must admit, I never found any use for them - I actually spec'd my first character right before the finale.

[Endorenna]

Hmm...well, in other games I've played, warriors/soldiers always seemed kinda boring to play, and casters/(whatever you call people who use subtlety over brute force) were always a lot more fun, so I think I'll start with a mage or a rogue. Since there hasn't been much love for rogues in here so far, mage seems like the best thing to go with for now.

 

As far as spec goes...hmm...I'll probably want to grab Spirit Healer so I won't have to waste a companion slot for a healer, and the second one...I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

So--female ('cuz I always play as a girl first) elf ('cuz Coercion sounds like a good thing to have from the get-go) mage. I'm off to the character creator.

 

Thanks, guys.

[Darth Payne]

I've preferred Rogue myself for the simple reason that it allows me to open more locked chests/doors without having to bring my own rogue along on every mission.

[Endorenna]

One more question. I saw during character creation that only one origin was open to me--do the others open up after a playthrough, or is my elf mage forever stuck with the Dalish elf opening? (I'm gonna make a rogue next anyway, so it doesn't really matter--just wondering if it's possible for an elf mage to be a City elf, haha.)

[Mav]

Origin story is mostly based on race, but here goes...

 

Human: Warrior/Rogue - Human Noble story

Dwarf: - Choice of Noble Dwarf or Commoner Dwarf

Elf: Warrior/Rogue - Choice of City Elf/Dalish Elf

 

All Mage's have mage origin story.

 

At least that's how I remember it working, haven't played in a long while though.

[mur'phon]

Blood Magic is also made out to be something only Evil Bastards dabble in

 

Well, yes, but since it's made out to be godlike in cutscences, I found it hard to justify my character not learning it, because of me being the chosen one and all that.

 

Generally I've only found Blood Magic to be mildly useful, really.

 

Agreed, however I'd argue that the other specializations (aside from SH) are even worse)

 

Though given how extremely common Lyrium potions are in the game (and you can always make more yourself if you learn Herbalism) I've never found running out of mana to be much of an issue

 

Because the game is so easy, potions are insanely powerfull, and because I dislike how the game handles dificulty at higher levels, I only use lyrium potions in the harder battles, and even then I restrict myself.

 

But other than that there are plenty of other mass disabler spells like Sleep, Mass Paralysis etc so BM doesn't bring that much unique to the table.

 

It's a long time since I played DA, so do those spells only target foes, let you attack them without breaking the stun, do a fair bit of damage and are hard to resist? I'm not using the spell as my primary mass dissabler (crossing glyphs are better), it's mainly used either when I'm swarmed or to dispatch hordes of archers/mages.

[Endorenna]

So...how's the shapeshifter spec compared to blood and arcane warrior?

[mur'phon]

Useless.

The forms aren't exactly powerfull, it takes time to shapeshift and you can't cast spells while shifted, and since running ut of mana is unlikely to be a problem as long as you plan a bit (or use potions) you'll never be in a situation where you'd want to shapeshift. I played the whole game with Morrigan in my party, not once did I shift her (excluding the handfull of times I tested it).

[stoffe]

Useless.

The forms aren't exactly powerfull, it takes time to shapeshift and you can't cast spells while shifted, and since running ut of mana is unlikely to be a problem as long as you plan a bit (or use potions) you'll never be in a situation where you'd want to shapeshift. I played the whole game with Morrigan in my party, not once did I shift her (excluding the handfull of times I tested it).

 

Agreed, the Shapeshifter might have been a fun specialization if it wasn't utterly crippled by the way it was designed. In addition what was mentioned above all the Shapeshifter forms have atrociously long recharge times, and every time you enter dialog or a cutscene you will be forced out of your shapeshifted form. So any situation where the enemies like to chat before or during battle will leave you without your shapeshift form and unable to re-enter it for the rest of the fight. The same applies if you encounter enemies with abilities that dispels magic since a dispel will end your shapeshifting form as well.

 

The only remotely useful ability the forms have, in my opinion, is the Overwhelm talent which is handy for dealing with enemy casters. But as a mage you'll have plenty of other means at your disposal for disabling an enemy. And if you like playing with Overwhelm you can just bring along your Mabari dog instead since he can learn it too

[DarthParametric]

Shapeshifter is a much more interesting proposition with a mod like this, but yeah the vanilla version is basically useless. In fact most of the specialisations across all classes leave a bit to be desired.

[Endorenna]

Haha, okay. So: skip shapeshifter for now (since I'm not using mods the first time through...probably will later, 'cuz that mod looks pretty good), get Spirit Healing unless I want to drag a healer (Wynne, I'm guessing) along the whole game, and I guess the Blood/Arcane spec really depends on how sick I am of the mage's quilted dresses by then.

[mur'phon]

If you want to drag along a healer, I'd rather use Morrigan because Wynne suffers from a lack of funny lines and an abundance of preachy ones, also other companions lines to her are a lot more fun (especially Allistars). Morrigan will be just as good a healer once she picks up the specialization, and even before she does that, there won't be much difference as it takes a few levels to unlock all the tallents.

[stoffe]

If you want to drag along a healer' date=' I'd rather use Morrigan because Wynne suffers from a lack of funny lines and an abundance of preachy ones, also other companions lines to her are a lot more fun (especially Allistars). Morrigan will be just as good a healer once she picks up the specialization, and even before she does that, there won't be much difference as it takes a few levels to unlock all the tallents.[/quote']

 

But she disapproves... of everything. Absolutely everything.

 

Exhibit A

 

Morrigan guards the camp in my games for that very reason. Gets somewhat tiring to have someone questioning your every move and giving you exceptionally bad advise all the time. And she's a lot easier to keep happy if she's left in the camp.

[Hope Estheim]

But she disapproves... of everything. Absolutely everything.

 

Morrigan guards the camp in my games for that very reason. Gets somewhat tiring to have someone questioning your every move and giving you exceptionally bad advise all the time. And she's a lot easier to keep happy if she's left in the camp.

 

Not quite. You just have to know how to work her You don't always have to get a "Morrigan disapproves -___" haha... I have made it to where I've had 100% influence with her and I've made her do what I want, without losing influence You just have to know which lines to choose

[mur'phon]

We have different playstyles, I'm basically a pragmatist, so she's not that pissed at me, besides, the only people who don't disagreee half the time with me are Dog, Oghren and Zhev, and of those, only Zhev has a sence of humor. Also, since Morrigan likes anything shiny, and since shiny stuff is everywhere, it's not exactly hard to bribe her happy.

 

Anyways, keep in mind that the alternative is Wynne, who is a lot more preachy when she disaproves. Besides, I'm not bringing her along to advice me, I bring her along so that she can embaras Allistar, and be offended by Leliana.

 

Getting 100% with any character isn't hard at all, at the end of the game I believe only Oghren didn't have a 100% aproval rating of me.

[Mav]

But she disapproves... of everything. Absolutely everything.

 

[Miltiades]

Finished DA:O not that long ago, after a 100 hour journey through Ferelden. Played as a Human Noble Rogue, specialized in Archery. Playing a Rogue Archer is a bitch in the first chapters of the game, though I guess it's as difficult for every player who doesn't have a healer in the party.

 

Morrigan initially disapproved of many of my decisions, but I eventually got to 100% approval rate with her. She isn't half as bad/boring as much of the other characters.