importing and attributes

[ImNotCrazy44]

Question 1: I have the ultimate edition and am wondering how the expansion works...Does it add content to DA:O or is it one of those types of expansions where its sort of a game of its own and you have to import you character from the first game? I ask this because I heard about possibly having to re-spec your character when starting on teh awakening stuff...whats that all about?

 

 

Question 2: How do the attributes work for an dual weapon rogue? I'm a bit confused as to what the prime stat for this build is...I've heard a series of things on forums and am not sure what to believe...according to the DOAwikia, str increases melee damage and chance to hit with melee...dex ALSO determines chance to hit...so does chance to hit apply modifiers of both stats or does it just use what ever stat is highest?

 

Basically I'll be using dex for rogue abilities and chance to hit, cunning for extra damage, and strength will simply let me equip things?

 

Oh, and with lethality, cunning is used for damage ONLY, and NOT chance to hit right?

[Sync182]

The Expansion pack is Dragon Age: Awakening, and it does NOT add anything to DA:O (not as far as I am aware, anyway). Awakening is a game in its own right, and imports information from your DA:O savegame.

 

Do not confuse Awakening with the DLC Premium modules that either plug into DA:O to become part of the official campaign and bring additional items with them (Warden's Keep, Return to Ostagar, Stone Prisoner, Feastday...stuff), or are standalone games that provide additional items to DA:O upon completion (Leliana's Song, Witch Hunt, Darkspawn Chronicles, Golems of Amgarrak). Note that Witch Hunt, while a standalone game/mod, can also import info from your DA:O and DA:A games.

 

You do not have to re-spec your Origins character to play Awakening...but it's probably not going to hurt you to do so, given that there are additional abilites in DA:A which an Origins character cannot make allowances for.

 

Dual weapon Rogues - my favourite kind. ;)

 

I typically do a 1-1-1 attribute bump each level for STR-DEX-CUN until STR hits 20, then I go 2-1 for DEX-CUN. STR helps you deal more damage, but when you start adding Cunning to damage your STR score then is only good for seeing what you can equip. As a Rogue, DEX is your main source of attack bonus, and CUN adds to damage when you get higher in the class.

 

Unless I'm way off the mark...? Anyone...? :)

[Thandal]

Adding onto what Sync182 said; ALL of the additional "games" for Dragon Age are "addins", and require that you have DA:Origins installed in order to use them.

 

Three of them, The Stone Prisoner (TSP), Return to Ostagar (RtO), and Warden's Keep (WK) become part of the main campaign and are accessed in-game. DA:Awakening (also called "Expansion Pack 1", or "ep1") is another campaign that continues the story of "your Warden", as does Golems of Amgarrak (GoA) and Witch Hunt (WH).

 

Completing each of the addin modules "unlocks" a bonus item (sometimes several items) that become available to you in the base game and the OTHER modules, whether you're replaying one or starting it for the first time.

 

Unless you hak your saved games you cannot play your Warden "backward in time", but only import your character from one to the next in the order BioWare released the modules. So: DA:O, then (optionally, skipping any you don't own or want to play) DA:A, GoA, and finally WH. Since you have the UE, you have all of them available to you. As an alernative to playing your Warden in every module, you may start a whole new character for any or all of them.

 

Leliana's Song (LS) and "The DLC Which Must Not Be Named" (DC), are the two addins that are "completely outside the game" and do not allow you to import your Warden. In those you play as another protagonist altogther, so they aren't part of the sequencing.

[ImNotCrazy44]

So even in awakening is there a point to raising str over 20? I was strongly considering the Legionnaire Scout as my 3rd specialization (along with assassin and shadow). I'd take duelist but I figured I'd have a pretty high crit chance so it wouldn't give me much advantage. i figured my character would focus mostly on backstabs and crits.

[Thandal]

So even in awakening is there a point to raising str over 20? I was strongly considering the Legionnaire Scout as my 3rd specialization (along with assassin and shadow). I'd take duelist but I figured I'd have a pretty high crit chance so it wouldn't give me much advantage. i figured my character would focus mostly on backstabs and crits.

Missing your point here... The level cap was raised in Awakening (I usually finish at Level 34 or 35.) So yes, there is value in adding points to whatever attributes are useful for the Skills/Talents/Specializations you'd like your Warden to pursue. :thumbsup:

 

BTW: I believe 35 is the new limit, since if reached during DA:A, my Warden doesn't level-up in GoA or WH. :confused:

[Sync182]

Level cap - up to 25 in DA:O, then up to 35 in DA:A.

 

It's a shame, because level 35 isn't hard to achieve. :-/

 

There are mods that allow you to expand this, but I don't know if they apply through the DLCs as well...

[dayfax]

Oh, and with lethality, cunning is used for damage ONLY, and NOT chance to hit right?

 

Yes.

 

The generally accepted build is to max STR to 20 or 22 (for top level armor), DEX just high enough to get the abilities you want, and pump everything else into CUNN. (Also, equip two of the best daggers you can find and make a bee-line for Momentum in the dual-weapon talents.) If you have a DEX in the high 20s, you're not going to miss very often either. Plus, the first talent in the Duelist specialization gives you approximately +10 to hit anyway.

 

This sort of build saves you a few talent points on coercion and lock picking and you end up only having to focus attribute points on one thing from mid game onwards.

 

But the real benefit, of course, is that it gives you the biggest single target DPS of any class in the game.