Dragon Age Origins Combinations

[NuclearPenguin]

What Race, class and specialization combinations did you guys go for?
If you had more then one character, post them all
Also, add what level you got to with that character
And the pros and cons of the character

My first was a Blood Mage + Spirit Healer, Didnt work well.
The blood magic reduces the healing so much...
My second was an Arcane Warrior + Spirit Healer, works perfectly fine
Im a little squishy though.

Im planning on making a warrior with Champion + Something else (Suggestions welcome) To be a sorta buff bot/support with stuns and whatnot
And a duelist/ranger, using a bear or something with dual wield sounds like fun.


Also, so I dont have to make a new post. Where is there a good melee weapon salesman?

 

[skywalkerlion]

Human Warrior Champion-Berserker.

As for good weapons salesmen, I can't help ya there :C

 

[Beffudled Sheep]

Human warrior Reaver-Berserker.
Can't help you with the salesman thing.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Human Warrior Champion-Berserker.

As for good weapons salesmen, I can't help ya there :C

Human warrior Reaver-Berserker.
Can't help you with the salesman thing.

Dont forget the pros and cons ;o

 

[Ace of Spades]

Human warrior Reaver-Berserker.
Can't help you with the salesman thing.

Aww... that's what I was gonna say...

 

[MarsProbe]

Mage - Blood Mage & Shapeshifter.

Stupidly, I missed out on even collecting the Arcane Warrior speciality as I misinterpreted the manual as stating you could only acquire two specialisations. Gutted.

Anyway, so far I haven't really used the blood magic skills very often, but then again, I've only acquired one of the skills so far.

Shapeshifter is quite good though. Especially with the final skill unlocked, having a large bear or spider join the fight has got me out of a fair few pinches.

As for the weapons - I'm not too sure, but just out of curiosity, do you have the dwarf trader and his son at the party camp? I'm not sure what he has weapons-wise but the little guy can enchant some weapons which is quite useful.

 

[Xrysthos]

Mine was Blood Mage + Shapeshifter, which was nice for the extra constitution, and easy to get. I pretty much ditched Willpower, and favoured Constitution as my secondary stat (Magic being the primary, naturally). Requires defensive use of some area of effect and single target spells, but it's a pretty potent combination. I didn't put any talent points into shapeshifting.

As for Blood Magic, it's probably a good idea to invest a talent point into the Death Syphon spell, or whatever it's called, that heals you for a small amount for each dead enemy nearby. Exit the blood magic mode when you've used the powerful spells there, and if the fighting is still ongoing, use the Death Syphon spell to heal up more quickly so that you don't have to waste potions. A good idea is to have another mage in the party with healing spells that can bring you back up.

EDIT: This is especially nice if there are groups of stationary enemy archers. They make for a nice addition to HP after they've been hit by a fireball.

As for merchants that sell good melee weapons, there's the dwarf in Denerim and the dwarf that's at your party campsite (if you save him earlier on), but the good weapons here are costly. In my opinion, it's probably a better idea to loot the weapons you need, and spend money on tomes for extra talent points.

EDIT: If you find one-handed weapons with enchantment slots, it's pretty amazing to put a Paralyze Rune into it, especially if you're looking for ways to limit the amount of damage you're taking, or the number of enemies fighting you at once.

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Mage - Blood Mage & Shapeshifter.

Stupidly, I missed out on even collecting the Arcane Warrior speciality as I misinterpreted the manual as stating you could only acquire two specialisations. Gutted.

Anyway, so far I haven't really used the blood magic skills very often, but then again, I've only acquired one of the skills so far.

Shapeshifter is quite good though. Especially with the final skill unlocked, having a large bear or spider join the fight has got me out of a fair few pinches.

As for the weapons - I'm not too sure, but just out of curiosity, do you have the dwarf trader and his son at the party camp? I'm not sure what he has weapons-wise but the little guy can enchant some weapons which is quite useful.

Yep I have them.

 

[The_Decoy]

I went for Human Noble, rogue. Just completed my first play through today.
Specialisations were in Assassin then Duelist. Very useful in my opinion, high critical rate (30% by the end) and defence, so nothing could hit me. Got to level 23/24 and I could hit as hard as Alastair but twice as fast

Pros: High attack rate, high critical rate, backstab does alot of damage and high chance of actually hitting enemies (damn revenants). Stealth is good for scouting and drawing off small groups of enemies. Paralyse rune on each weapon is a nice addition too. Oh and the poisons are pretty powerful, especially if you put a few on at once.

Cons: Can't take much damage. Need a good tank by your side and the evasion skill is a must. Defence was 125 by the end so actually hitting me with normal melee or ranged became nearly impossible.

I didn't like the shapeshifter class, Morrigan had it but I preferred her using spells from afar while the others got stuck in. My plans for next playthrough are Blood mage/Spirit healer or Reaver/berserker. Why didn't Blood mage/Spirit healer work for you?

 

[Naheal]

Elf Mage Blood Mage Arcane Warrior.

I could safely ignore willpower aside from making sure that I had all my sustained abilities and still cast spells.

 

[Irridium]

Human Warrior Champion-Berzerker.
Makes a great tank, you know, other than Shale...

However he was basically a potion whore until I found Wynne, basically leaving me with very few potions the entire game.

I started a second playthrough as a City Elf Rouge. No specializations yet.

So far its nice.

 

[Slycne]

Human Rogue Assassin Duelist

Works well, but the Assassin specialization is largely wasted because I put a lot of points in Str and didn't want to baby sit him constantly for backstabs. He spends most of his time with Dual Striking, Momentum and Dueling on - so no natural crits or backstabs with Dual Striking on but he tears people up with 2 full size one hand weapons and high enough str to wear decent armor.

 

[Archetypal_Maniac]

Templar-Champion

 

[NuclearPenguin]

Templar-Champion

I was thinking of doing that, how'd it work out?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Right now I'm just a Human Warrior, I haven't acquired any specializations yet.

BTW where's a good place to get potions, I'm always running out.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

My first play through was as a Rogue/Duelist/Assassin - this seems to work perfectly well and you end up being able to deliver absurdly high DPS to single targets while having enough durability to survive for long periods if you draw the attention of a few enemies.

My secon play through was as a Mage/Arcane Warrior/Spirit healer. This combination works fairly well and is immensely flexible, almost to the point of a fault. It was potentially more durable than my tank and could theoritically do more damage than my rogue but never at the same time. It was, if nothing else, the more interesting character to play as simply because I had so many options available to me.

My current playthrough is as a Warrior/Reaver/Beserker. This is the least interesting combination because you do high single target DPS but there is very little flexability in your approach. You are either highly durable but low dps, or have low durability (and sustainabiliy) but high DPS. As such I generally leave my main to the tactics pre-sets and focus my management duties on others.

Generally speaking, there are only a few combinations that really make sense in the long run.

Rogue:
Duelist/Assassin
Bard/Ranger
Bard/Duelist(or assassin)

Warrior:
Champion/Templar
Reaver/Beserker

Mage:
Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer
Shapeshifter/Spirit Healer
Blood Mage/Arcane Warrior

There is nothing preventing different combinations of course, the combinations I liste just have a natural synergy. Shapeshifter for example has zero synergy with Arcane Warrior as the two trees have a similar result - increased DPS and durability in melee combat.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Human Warrior Champion-Berserker.

As for good weapons salesmen, I can't help ya there :C

1.This.
2.Quests and all merchants have the higher tier weapons (varies by city,Family Sword = Rape)

 

[Jeebus357]

Right now I'm just a Human Warrior, I haven't acquired any specializations yet.

BTW where's a good place to get potions, I'm always running out.

The best way to get potions is to purchase the Items needed to make them. Buy the Potion recipes from various merchants and then: Flasks, Elf root, Lirium, Distilation agents (would need to be ingame to check thats right)

Also you need to have someone with Herbalism as an ability. Both the mages do so you should be fine there.

Spoiler Warning on locations.



Lirium for Mana can be found in the mages tower from the quatermaster.
Elf root for Health can be found in the Forest with where you help the elves from their merchant. (again can't remember the name for the forest)
The stonger potions require Distilation which can be purchased from the trader in your camp along with flasks.


End Spoiler.

Also on topic I made an Assasin Duelist but it was late in the game I chose the specializations and didn't get to use them all that much. He was a bit squishy but did good damage with his dual wielding.

 

[Chrissyluky]

Right now I'm just a Human Warrior, I haven't acquired any specializations yet.

BTW where's a good place to get potions, I'm always running out.

The best way to get potions is to purchase the Items needed to make them. Buy the Potion recipes from various merchants and then: Flasks, Elf root, Lirium, Distilation agents (would need to be ingame to check thats right)

Also you need to have someone with Herbalism as an ability. Both the mages do so you should be fine there.

Spoiler Warning on locations.



Lirium for Mana can be found in the mages tower from the quatermaster.
Elf root for Health can be found in the Forest with where you help the elves from their merchant. (again can't remember the name for the forest)
The stonger potions require Distilation which can be purchased from the trader in your camp along with flasks.


End Spoiler.

Also on topic I made an Assasin Duelist but it was late in the game I chose the specializations and didn't get to use them all that much. He was a bit squishy but did good damage with his dual wielding.

PROTIP: dont buy from the trader in your camp his prices are far higher than that of other traders despite his "discount". also if your playing rogue at all google dragon age origins ranger hotfix. it will make your rogue less worthless.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Right now I'm just a Human Warrior, I haven't acquired any specializations yet.

BTW where's a good place to get potions, I'm always running out.

The best way to get potions is to purchase the Items needed to make them. Buy the Potion recipes from various merchants and then: Flasks, Elf root, Lirium, Distilation agents (would need to be ingame to check thats right)

Also you need to have someone with Herbalism as an ability. Both the mages do so you should be fine there.

Spoiler Warning on locations.



Lirium for Mana can be found in the mages tower from the quatermaster.
Elf root for Health can be found in the Forest with where you help the elves from their merchant. (again can't remember the name for the forest)
The stonger potions require Distilation which can be purchased from the trader in your camp along with flasks.


End Spoiler.

Also on topic I made an Assasin Duelist but it was late in the game I chose the specializations and didn't get to use them all that much. He was a bit squishy but did good damage with his dual wielding.

PROTIP: dont buy from the trader in your camp his prices are far higher than that of other traders despite his "discount". also if your playing rogue at all google dragon age origins ranger hotfix. it will make your rogue less worthless.

I didn't even think about this, but it is, entirely, true. I made do by having incredibly good daggers and throwing most of the highest quality runes into them along and hoping that sustained magic would make up the rest. By and large, this process works, but it took quite some time before my rogue delivered enough damage to warrent his presence rather than a warrior.

The patch resolves a legitimate bug in the game, namely that dexterity does not actually impact the damage of weapons that it is suppsoed to - specifically daggers and longbows. There is a downside however - the patch makes enemy ranged attackers significantly more lethal and also ups the damage output of some of the melee targets as well. Since a presumaably proper rogue/assassin/duelist combination will likely dual wield smaller weapons for most of the game (primarily because only the smaller weapons offer a backstab bonus), dexterity and cunning will be the two highest stats and there is little compelling reason to have more than 22 strength (the amount required to wear the highest quality light armors in the game). With the patch installed, my rogue saw a full 30% damage increase at end game if you consider only the weapon damage, and about 15% once you factored in all the runes and sustained magics.