PhoenixAdamu

As all of the others before me have said, Arcane Warrior mages are the absolute bomb in DA: O. I can't vouch for Awakening just yet, but I am looking at grabbing that very soon; however, my experience as an Arcane Warrior mage in DA: O has been absolutely phenominal. I ended up playing the wrong way the first time as well, and thought it was crap, but as soon as I started posting stuff on here and learned the right way, it was a piece of cake, and I've tinkered with supporting spells since, but the core of the AW is the same every time: Arcane Warrior Combat Magic -> Aura of Might -> Shimmering Shield -> Fade Shroud Mage Arcane Bolt -> Arcane Shield Primal Rock Armor Spirit Mind Blast -> Force Field -> Telekinetic Weapons -> Crushing Prison Entropy Weakness -> Paralyze -> Miasma NOTE: The Telekinesis tree in the Spirit school, in my opinion, is staple for all mages to have, therefore it's considered a core requirement for AWs. With this, Rock Armor and Shimmering Shield decrease the damage you take if you DO get hit, which is very unlikely with the other sustains and AW passive spells. Plus, with Aura of Might, some points in Combat Training skills and a main focus on your Magic attribute, your attack score should be pretty high up there, making sure that you do get nice hits in. Of course, when you're ready to go melee mode, ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO HAVE COMBAT MAGIC ACTIVE; without it active, your attack score won't totally reflect and your damage won't be as great. Follow this core, though, take the Blood Magic spec up to Blood Wound and throw in some other fun spells, like the Glyphs tree in the Creation school, the Death tree in the Spirit school, and the Cold tree in the Primal school, and you have a DPS/CC machine that can go for a long, long time. You can even grab some fun spell combos to use with your AW, if you're into that kind of thing; Paralysis Explosion offers a widespread Paralysis AoE, which definitely helps, and you can also go on a Shattering frenzy with Cone of Cold and (if you can pump it up that much) a melee crit or just cast Crushing Prison. Fun stuff, indeed.

I highly doubt we're gonna know the answer to that question until at least a couple more months from now, if they're pushing DA2 to 2/2011. Which... really? 2011?! Isn't that just a bit too SOON for a sequel? I mean, good lord, EA should let Bioware create the masterpieces they're KNOWN for if they're going to survive! If not, Bioware really needs to rethink their "relationship" with EA and perhaps go solo again, or find a publisher that will GIVE them the time to work. I mean, c'mon... 2011?!?!

Yeah, I'm curious about a mage build for Awakening as well. Hope someone puts up some good advice and suggest on here that soon Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of providing anything for Awakening yet, as I don't have the game and probably won't for a while yet. 'S what happens when you have financial troubles... >< Fortunately, things should be looking up as far as spending goes, so as soon as I get my Pell grant refund in the mail, Awakening is MINE. :) And then, I can see if they nerfed Arcane Warriors any (which I kinda hope they don't ^^; ).

On an off-note before we start, I must say that the new forum skin definitely makes it look the "-ish." Don't change this one for a while. ;) Anyway, on the subject of Dragon Age, I'm hoping for two things: 1) That it, indeed, is NOT an MMO. As in Tikki's case, I'm a recovering WoW addict, and I really can't get back into the MMO schtick anymore. Just let me have my Dragon Age the way it is (just with improved graphics and animations, TYVM) and let me be! ... Well, except for checking out the mod community, of course. XD 2) That EA does indeed let Bioware alone and take their time actually crafting the second installment of DA. And no, I would not like to see another expansion pack, I want a full-fledged game like DA: O, but set in another country in Thedas, perhaps in a place such as Par Vollen or the Anderfels (especially the Anderfels, if they stick to the PC being a Grey Warden). Let them add even more awesome content and all, and just publish it as-is without rushing production. MASTERPIECES TAKE TIME, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! Okay, my semi-rant is done. Have fun interpreting my thoughts on this, guys. :3

Well, it'd be more realistic to not transfer a Warden that DIED in Origins to Awakening; after all, the Warden's DEAD, not knocked out or temporarily transported to another dimension.

I dunno, guys, but I installed patch 1.03 last night, and I haven't had any issues with it at all. All the mods I used prior are still working properly, and while it took me a while to get used to the changes on the first page of the level-up interface (I imagine they moved stuff around to make room for the new specializations), nothing else about the game has really changed. Well, except for the load-screen leak, which is a huge boon for me. ^^;

Believe it or not, the Song of Death rogue is probably the best route to take with patch 1.02. It's with this very patch that lets your dagger damage scale with Dexterity at the same rate as it would with Strength, and as soon as you get Lethality, your other dagger damage modifier will be your Cunning, anyway. The only drawback is that you're trading some of your early utility for better combat damage, but it usually pays off in spades, especially once you take the Bard spec and get up to Song of Courage; also, make sure to nab the Power of Blood talents out of Warden's Keep, if you have the DLC, as The Tainted Blade will increase your damage even more based on your Cunning.

No problem, man. I was so glad to find it, myself; I thought, FINALLY, a way to give Alistair Shield Wall right off the bat! It also makes respeccing all the other characters interesting, though Sten, Zevran, and Oghren are pretty straightforward as far as talents; attributes, however, usually end up a different story. ^^; Plus, setting your own skills up from the get-go = UBER-WIN. As far as other mods go, if you like playing with Arcane Warrior mages, I'd highly recommend getting the "Cast with Weapons" mod; this allows you to ignore any sheathing effects on the spells that would normally force it to happen, allowing the AW to play a lot more smoothly. Also, grab Advanced Tactics period, as it really does open up the tactics for your companions. Finally, No Sustain CD! :D

It could be how her tactics are set up, such as who/what she targets, what abilities she uses on certain targets, which sustains she has up... there are a fair amount of variables in how damage is calculated. Plus, keep in mind that if you're not using the Advanced Party mod, her attributes are set for her up to level 7; therefore, she'll wind up with a higher Cunning focus than she does Dexterity (which scales your arrow damage and half your bow damage). However, with both characters, you can (and SHOULD) play this to your advantage by speccing into Lethality, as it'll put Cunning in the place of Strength for the other bow modifier and add additional crit chance (if you don't use Rapid Shot as your main sustain, anyway). With Archery rogues, though, due to the fact that, by nature, their optimal spec is Ranger/Bard, you probably want your Cun only a few points lower than your Dex, but still at a pretty high number.

Well, y'know, there is always the... creature... toward the end of the Deep Roads during the Orzammar arc... the Blight would've probably turned Leliana into one of those, right? ^^; (I don't think I gave anything away with that, did I?)

I can tell you that whenever I start to cast Arcane Bolt, then move my mage and make him stop casting it, I do get that bluish mist around him, as well. It seems to go away after a load screen or if I change armor, though, so I don't know if that has any bearing on it.

Well, that's the funny thing about Miasma; it's actually a close-range AoE sustain, so it would stay in effect until the caster's dead. What you're probably talking about is Weakness, and that should be able to be removed via Dispel Magic from a mage. Other than that, it should wear off after a while. I do believe its duration is determined by the caster's Magic score in comparison to your mental resistance score.

Hence why Dual-Dagger Dexterity is the highest DPS build for a Dual Weapons warrior; you can easily make it so that you're almost like a Dex rogue with the ability to wear much heavier armor. Now, granted, Dual Weapon Strength warriors are still viable in the means of close-range AoEing down mobs. It all depends on what you really want to do with your build, I guess. However, the best weapon setup for Dual Weapon Strength is definitely the Veshialle and Starfang (Longsword). Hands. Down.

I agree with rebalious that the Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage setup is quite formidable; Arcane Warriors in themselves, when built right, are nigh indestructible, and with Blood Wound, it's easy to CC large crowds while you take on smaller ones face-to-face. Many who solo with AW/BM mages will take the Frost chain in Primal up to Cone of Cold, and no matter what I play, I usually like to take the full Telekinesis line in Spirit, as Mind Blast, Force Field, and Crushing Prison are more CC tools to keep you alive. I've also experimented with the Glyph chain in Creation, and if you can pick the targets just right, Glyph of Paralysis makes things much easier (you can also turn this into Paralysis Explosion by comboing GoP with Glyph of Repulsion to lock up a bunch of mobs at the same time). Other than that, take some high-damage spells and you'll be on your way (my major recommendation is Virulent Walking Bomb). Warriors do have the chance to do some soloing by building mainly into the Two-Handed Weapons tree, which provides utility at the same time that you get to wear that pretty massive armor (such as the Warden Commander Armor Set). In this case, people will often spec Reaver/Champion or Reaver/Templar, depending on if mages are their bane or they want that very nice AoE knockdown out of War Cry (and additional attack out of Rally).

You are right in saying that 16 Cunning's all you really need for certain skills (such as Master Coercion),and that the Lost in Dreams subarc in the Circle Tower will get you there, but if I do recall, 16 Cunning + Master Coercion still may not be enough for the toughest of persuasive dialogue; I could be wrong on this, but I think I remember reading somewhere about that. For Dexterity, that is also true, but being able to access some nice daggers for dual-wielding purposes never hurts; plus, it increases your attack a bit more, which is never bad. However, the one thing to remember is that, while you may be planning to spec AW/BM, you STILL start off a vanilla mage right off the bat, so while you're trying to get your sustains at the start, you'll still need some mana to cast the spells you have at your disposal to actually deal damage until you hit the point where you hit your Arcane Warrior spec. Putting points in Willpower at the beginning has never hurt my leveling, and it also allows for a bit more flexibility with your spells before you have to start casting from your health. I say this as an AW/BM player that doesn't play as a tank, but as a DPS/CC machine that lays waste to everything because I can. I'm still indestructible (as all Arcane Warriors should be), but I play in a different fashion than normal, and it works just fine for me. *nod* As far as the skills go, yes, I have seen now that there are mods that let you do that, but I have no problem working through the game with the horrible stuff mages start off with. And the spells, I usually end up making sure I get the staple stuff such as the sustainables and Crushing Prison ASAP, which makes it that much easier for me. After that, you can really take your AW in any direction you want, which is one of the very cool things about Dragon Age as far as customization goes. :3

For rogues, that's true; warriors, however, can't spec as an Assassin. XD So for warriors, the Dual Weapon school is planned out pretty much the same as a Backstab Rogue's build, but they can't really make use of backstabs because that's a rogue-specific thing; because of this, warriors will spec into Dual Fighting to increase their damage output (though some have experienced missed weapon hits while Dual Fighting's active, including myself...). Some may also take Taunt and spec into Whirlwind to AoE mobs down before throwing on Momentum and Dual Fighting for any stragglers. For those who like full-size weapons in both hands, they can take more activated talents such as Riposte and Punisher for after that main rotation: Taunt -> Whirlwind -> Dual-Weapon Sweep -> Disengage -> any other activated talents (stamina pending) -> turn on Momentum and Dual Fighting Seriously, for any dual-wield build, not having Momentum is just pretty much KILLING you. It's even more essential for rogues, as getting rapidly-occuring backstabs means enemies are down within seconds. Oh. Yeah. :3

To me, from a mathematical standpoint, if an equip says "+X% (type) damage," it must mean that the type of damage that is increased must be present before the increase would take effect. For example, by throwing up a Storm of the Century (which, after casting Tempest with Blizzard still in effect, would turn all the AoE damage into electric damage), you get 3X the normal electric damage associated with Tempest. Now, throw in the increased elemental damage cap (+30%) and see what happens: Buffed SotC damage = (Tempest damage * 3) + .30(Tempest damage * 3) Therefore, Storm of the Century should get some huge damage off of stuff such as the Charged Mitts and the Dalish Battery. However, if you put this stuff on Alistair and he didn't have a Lightning Rune or a Shock Coating on his weapon: Buffed Electric Damage = 0 + .30(0) = 0 Therefore, it does absolutely nothing. Now, let's say Alistair's weapon has a Grandmaster Lightning Rune on it: Buffed Electric Damage = 5 + .30(5) = 5 + 1.5 = 6.5 (chances are, this would round down to 6) This is assuming that your buffing equips affect your enchantment damage, but as you can see, not a bunch of difference. Even if you added on a Shock Coating and it would buff it in that manner, it's probably not substantial enough. Therefore, through doing the math, I'd probably stick to keeping the damage-increasing equips to Morrigan (or your own mage, depending on how you spec them).

LOL Any AW can effectively tank, really, even the ones who take Blood Mage as their second spec. I prefer to have Wynne go SH/BM to heal off her health, Heal herself back up, then do it all over again. Nothing like constant heals! :D As for warriors, the above posts pretty much set in stone which warrior does which; Weapon and Shield warriors like Alistair are tanks (go for Shield Wall ASAP), Two-Handed Weapons like Sten and Oghren are more for CC and utility (though they can do some decent damage if you pull most of your attribute points in Strength), and Dual Weapon warriors are flat-out DPS, with Dual-Dagger Dexterity being the highest-damage build (though I would love to see a Dual-Fullsize Strength Warrior go at it, too XD). I see that Archery Warriors aren't listed here, but if you don't like getting into the thick of battles yourself and prefer sniping, they can be decent "witch hunters" by speccing Templar/Champion and going for Arrow of Slaying ASAP. It's effective but boring in the opinions of many, including myself. ^^;

Okay, so now that I have finally given into my game-altering kinkiness, I can actually say what's in my override folder. All official DLC (though some are unauthorized and are not working for that reason) Ancient Boots (from Bioware Social, fixes not getting the Ancient Elven Boots from the Lothering Chantry if you get Ser Bryant's key) Expanded Inventory Madd Gift Guide No Friendly Fire (Storms of the Century galore! XD) PC Base Crit Fix Permanent Summons (no more losing Ranger pets/Animated Dead as you change areas; effects can still be cancelled manually) Two-Spec Sten No Sustain CD (was seeing if there was a "Permanent Miasma" mod, but no CDs on sustains sounds pretty cool, too!) Arcane Warrior Combat Magic Fix Shapeshifter Fix (corrects the spellpower scaling on Shapeshifter shapes) So yeah, not as extensive as, say, DarkWolfe's list, but hey, I really don't need much. The game was pretty fine on its own, but the tweaks are not bad at all. :)

True that! Jordan did indeed write quite a few Conan novels. I had forgotten that. Very cool, definitely wish you luck with your mod. :) If you want some more background info on Dragon Age, even if it's not for your mod...there's a couple of books that David Gaider wrote years back, that are now considered to be prequals to the game that deal on King Maric. The Stolen Throne, and The Calling. Maybe more than that, but those are the two that I've found. They are an interesting read. To the best of my knowledge, Gaider only wrote Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne and Dragon Age: The Calling prior to the scripts for DA: O and DA: O - Awakening. A prequel Flash game, Dragon Age: Journeys, exists on Bioware's site, I do believe, and completion of that awards some of the DLC content that you can find information on here and on the Dragon Age Wiki. But The Stolen Throne deals with the Fereldan rebellion against the Orleisian Empire (the very one that made Loghain famous), and The Calling introduces the Grey Wardens, namely a younger Duncan, and the threat of the darkspawn Blight. It also introduces the Architect, an entity that appears in Awakening, and its agenda with Thedas. I think it'd be cool, though, if Gaider decided to write other Dragon Age books based on the lore presented, especially about the Siege of Soldier's Peak (to explain more about the Warden's Keep DLC) and the Exalted Marches on Tevinter and the Dales.

I also definitely don't mind your quote, though Bioware did indeed mean "asschabs" when they had Oghren say it. The funny part? It's actually an acronym for the name of a "society" that writer David Gaider created after spending long hours on DA: O, called the ASSociation of CHAir Butt Sufferers. Hence, Bioware developers decided at the last second to throw that into Oghren's "discussion" possibilities as a random click thing. Personally, once I found out what it meant, I thought it was hysterical. Something I learned from playing DA: O, as well, you could say. :)

@DarkWolfe: Since reading the "Your Override Folder" thread here, I've been looking to try a few of the mods listed, but I'm having trouble DLing them from the DANexus site. Do you have to register with them to be able to do that, or is there something up with the server?

Y'know, that's a really good question, Steven. Though it could be that it was an intentional reference, as are many other features in the game, such as the discussion with Alistair at camp, after you release Arl Eamon's son in Redcliffe from the control of the Desire Demon. His line (as long as you don't use Jowan's blood magic ritual to send a mage into the Fade, I think): "Now that the warm fuzzy part is over, we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh, wait, it's not Tuesday, is it?" This line is a total reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's a whole list of candid references to certain works, as well as instances of characters feeling as if they're part of some kind of story, that you can find on the Dragon Age Wiki site. Perhaps there are even Conan the Barbarian references there... I'll have to look again, myself. ^^

My, my, that's a lot of Dragon Age mods... but some of them sound really useful (Gifts and 2-Spec Sten in particular). I take it you can find all these on the main DANexus site?

Okay! After much thinking about all the skills available to the Warden, I think I can safely post my thoughts on the optimal skill set to take. I've listed my thoughts before with the constructive Arcane Warrior posts, but now, I think I can really delve into the base classes to provide the most thorough questing experience, for those looking for more XP, money, and other loot. I shall break it down for each class, so... let's get started! Warrior Coercion -> Improved Coercion -> Expert Coercion -> Master Coercion Stealing Trap-Making Survival -> Improved Survival Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training -> Expert Combat Training -> Master Combat Training Exceptions All Dual Weapon Warriors: Take Poison-Making, as well; the poisons add extra damage and can benefit your party greatly. Dual-Dagger Dex Warriors: You can skip Master Combat Training, since it will be unnecessary for your build purposes. As a note, for Warden builds, you'll most likely always see Coercion fully taken and points in Stealing, Trap-Making, and Survival up to Improved Survival. As said before, this is solely for the reason of unlocking more quests, but doing so comes with more XP, money, and loot; trust me on this. ;) As for both physical damage classes, Combat Training will be crucial to get the talents you require, so don't pass these up at all, if you can help it. If you mainly play your Warden, you shouldn't need Combat Tactics at all, so skip out on them. I didn't list what starting skills you receive as a warrior besides Combat Training (and I won't do so for rogues, either, besides Poison-Making) since these vary with your origin story. Rogue Coercion -> Improved Coercion -> Expert Coercion -> Master Coercion Stealing Trap-Making Survival -> Improved Survival Poison-Making Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training -> Expert Combat Training Exceptions Archery Rogues: Unfortunately, you can't really skip Poison-Making, but you will most definitely need Master Combat Training for your fourth-tier talents such as Arrow of Slaying. This is a general base for rogues, as most builds you can come up with (even the unorthodox Dual-Fullsize Cunning builds) will be dual weapon-centric. Again, the second talent you receive is not set in stone until you choose your origin story, but Poison-Making will always be at the start of your game, and since you'll most likely head off in the dual-weapon route, you can definitely make use of it. If you find you have extra skill points, since you'll receive a point at every even-number level, you can spend extra points in skills such as Poison-Making or Trap-Making if you wish; Combat Tactics, again, is not necessary if you like playing your own character (and why WOULDN'T you?). Mage Coercion -> Improved Coercion -> Expert Coercion -> Master Coercion Stealing Trap-Making Survival -> Improved Survival Herbalism Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training Combat Tactics Exceptions Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage DPS/CC: As you'll be dual-wielding with this build, you can most definitely benefit from a point in Poison-Making. Arcane Warrior (general): Since you'll end up in melee combat often, if you find your spells still get interrupted more than you like at Improved Combat Training, you can spend 2 more points up to Master Combat Training to further steel yourself and get those spells off. At last, we come to the mages. Unfortunately, the two starting skills you get ARE set in stone, those being Herbalism and Combat Tactics... and there's no way around that unless there's a mod that can change it, so... sorry, folks. :( However, that doesn't mean you absolutely HAVE to use them. Having Herbalism, though, can help you make sure you have all the reagents needed to make Potent Lyrium Potions, if you like using that exploit (and with the amount of profit you can make as one, I wouldn't see why not). Other than that, everything else here makes sure you can open up the full amount of quests possible. So now, I think it might be time to delve a bit into companion skill sets, eh? :D Alistair, Sten, Oghren and Shale (may also include Loghain, if you allow him to live at the Landsmeet) (NOTE: I don't actually recall being able to access skills as Shale, but in case I'm wrong, and I'll find that out soon, this build will also help in setting her straight.) Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training -> Expert Combat Training -> Master Combat Training Combat Tactics -> Improved Combat Tactics -> Expert Combat Tactics -> Master Combat Tactics Yup. The warriors in your party are as about as simple as they get. Make sure they can grab access to the fourth-tier talents of their respective weapon schools and give them extra auto-commands so battles go the way you want them. That's it! Keep in mind you'll have to make sure your characters have 16 Cunning for the full Combat Tactics chain, but since they gain a skill every 3 levels, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Morrigan Herbalism -> Improved Herbalism -> Expert Herbalism -> Master Herbalism Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training Combat Tactics -> Improved Combat Tactics -> Expert Combat Tactics -> Master Combat Tactics Morrigan ends up a bit more intricate, but here, she allows you to exploit those Potent Lyrium Potions, handle her own actions in combat to the T and gain some mana regen through Improved Combat Training. She really needs nothing else, other than to make sure her Cunning also hits 16 for the Combat Tactics line (but I don't think that's a problem for her, really). Leliana Stealing -> Improved Stealing Poison-Making Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training -> Expert Combat Training -> Master Combat Training Combat Tactics -> Improved Combat Tactics -> Expert Combat Tactics -> Master Combat Tactics Unfortunately, Leliana takes a bunch of skills from the beginning that are of no real use to her, but that doesn't really matter; just skip using them. Almost treat her as you would your warriors skill-wise, taking up to Master Combat Training and Tactics. The Cunning requirement shouldn't be too hard for her, if you follow leveling her up in the rogue post listed above. Wynne Herbalism Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training Combat Tactics -> Improved Combat Tactics -> Expert Combat Tactics -> Master Combat Tactics Wynne's really not that hard to skill up, either, and the Combat Tactics line is already made well and ready for you, as she should have up to Expert when you get to the Circle Tower (even if you go there first after Lothering). Other than that, get her to Improved Combat Training and Master Tactics, and if she happens to grab extra skill points, throw them into Herbalism. Zevran Poison-Making -> Improved Poison-Making -> Expert Poison-Making -> Master Poison-Making Combat Training -> Improved Combat Training -> Expert Combat Training Combat Tactics -> Improved Combat Tactics -> Expert Combat Tactics -> Master Combat Tactics And HERE'S why I've always said to let Zev make your poisons for you as an Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage DPS/CC build! Just one more point and he gets to Master level, allowing him to make the most potent poisons and weapon coatings in the game, and all you need is one point to use them! WOOTNESS!!! Other than that, he's already got his Combat Training set for him, so set out his Tactics to Master level (Cunning should NOT be an issue), and he'll be ready to strike at the beginning of the battle. If you find that he has more skill points than listed here, go ahead and slip them into something such as Trap-Making or Stealing. Unfortunately, I can't really delve much into Dog, since he really doesn't have skills (even as a "Warrior"); however, he's really easy to customize. Basically, give him nothing but Strength. You will want to fill up all of his War Dog school (obviously), but make sure you go after Overwhelm first; the talent is too powerful not to do so. His gear seems pretty set, too, in taking either the Warpaint of the West Hills or Swiftrunner War Paint combined with the Pure female dog Braid. While Dog DOES have the capability of off-tanking, I'd prefer to make use of him as a shredder War Dog, tearing mages down with Overwhelm and taking down other foes as he sees fit. So have fun with his easy level-ups and setting the skills of your companions straight; you should have a fighting force no matter who you take with you. :) (P.S.: LOL @ the auto-edit for the Dog collar equip XD )