Dragon Age: Intro to Game Mechanics

[thantor3]

I just started playing this game and I am somewhat disappointed a the lack of explanation of the basic game mechanics. With both the small manual that comes with the game and the official game guide, I still couldn’t find answers to some of my questions. Others I could find but took waaay too much time. So I thought I would start a thread so that others don’t have to spend hours looking this minutiae up or so that people who are new can ask questions about basic mechanics.

Movement: why does my party not do what I tell them to?
It is highly annoying when you want one party member, like your tank, to wade out into battle alone to focus threat and others of your party refuse to stay behind. It took me a while to realize that on the left side, under the party portraits, there is a toggle that allows you to tell your party to hold their positions.

Another reason party members could be doing strange things is because of their Tactics setting. This function is well covered in the literature but you need to remember to check the Tactics screen for each new party member you add or they may do annoying things. Speaking of Tactics, has anyone found it useful to put more skill points into combat tactics? I just turn them off for the most part and find them irritating but perhaps I am missing something.

Party Position: who gets to ride shotgun?
If I remember correctly, in BGII there was a option to place your party members in particular positions and change the shape of the position field (e.g. line, diamond, columns, etc.) Is there anything like that is DA:O? The way it currently stands, my mage is always out front when I move the whole party, which isn't endearing me to her.

Immersion: the joy of bonding
Though it is not often discussed, there are ways to enhance your immersion in a role playing game and one of them is the process of bonding with your character, a concept that was used to great effect in the recent movie Avatar. Certainly it is fine to choice a simple default build and move on, but consider that possibility that all the steps that go into crafting your character, including choosing their name and background, increase the potential for immersion in the DA:O world. The game has a great character generation system but even more powerful than that is your imagination – use it. I even went so far as choosing a theme song for my female arcane warrior, which is used well in this video: YouTube - Éowyn - Warrior Princess
Nothing like the sound of Swedish battle bards to enhance immersion.
Perhaps this subject is a no-brainer but I thought I would mention it…

Combat magic: central casting and other conundrums
I still haven’t fully figured this out. I understand that each spell has an activation cost in mana and a cool down period. However, there have been several times in battle when I will choose a spell (like Stonefist) in the quickbar, it sparkles, but I do not get the crosshair icon that allows me to cast the spell on that target. The icon will instead stay as a sword. I have tried left clicking or right clicking on the spell, left or right clicking on the target. Sometimes the spell icon will come up next to the characters portrait and sometimes it will not, but I am not sure if this means the spell is working or not. If someone could explain this to me, I would appreciate it.

Also, the Area of Effect (AoE) spells allow you to target an area or a victim (i.e. you get a crosshair icon on an enemy). Any feedback on how to use either to best advantage?

Threat: going aggro or why are the bad guys are always after my mage?
Threat is fairly well explained, but what is counter-intuitive is that your character generates more threat with increased healing, so be aware of that. My question here has to do with AoE spells. It is great to cast them as the enemy is coming toward you, before your party members get involved, but then your mage generates huge threat. Is there a way to cast AoE and then put the threat back on the tank in some way?

Mods: shapeshifting the mechanics
There are a few good places for mods, such as Dragon Age Nexus and DA Mods:
Dragon Age Nexus
Dragon Age Mods

A note about mods - if you patch the game, be sure that the mod will work with your newly patched version. There are some mods now that only worked with a specific patched version.

If, like me, you got really torqued off about the DLC content issue, you can use a mod to cover the base about additional storage. It is called Innodil's Pocket Plane and gives you a full party camp replacement with lots of storage, a merchant with an unlimited supply of crafting materials, etc. You can mod the mod if you like to have the merchant buy things from you at a high price, sell them to you cheap, or allow teleport in the middle of combat. Be aware that the merchant is actually a bird in a bird cage, which took me awhile to figure out. Since we are talking about a mod, I don't think that is a spoiler.
Innodils Pocket Plane Party Camp

Some useful mods (note that the actual files are on an invisible tab next to "Description" that says "Files" )
DAMOdder (manages mods): DAModder - Mod Manager

Open Locks Spells: Open Lock Spells

Spell Shaping: allows spell casters to shape and direct wide-area spells in a manner that does not hurt allies. Spell Shaping Skill

Free Love: Casts a spell on Morrigan to make her think all players are Male, and a spell on Allistair to make him think all players are Female.
[Gameplay] Free Love!


I think Fable asked about a trainer. Here is an in-game one:
Dragon Age Beguiler 003

[Xandax]

Movement: why does my party not do what I tell them to?
It is highly annoying when you want one party member, like your tank, to wade out into battle alone to focus threat and others of your party refuse to stay behind. It took me a while to realize that on the left side, under the party portraits, there is a toggle that allows you to tell your party to hold their positions.

Another reason party members could be doing strange things is because of their Tactics setting. This function is well covered in the literature but you need to remember to check the Tactics screen for each new party member you add or they may do annoying things. Speaking of Tactics, has anyone found it useful to put more skill points into combat tactics? I just turn them off for the most part and find them irritating but perhaps I am missing something.
<snip>

Tactics and behaviour type (tactics screen) are usually the reason companions do as they do.

However another issue is that they do rarely engage in combat unless the main character/controlled character does. Which is why if you set a movement point out in the distance and move your controlled character back, they'll sometimes run back and forth.

As for whether it is useful to put skills into tactics points, then the answer is "depends". If the character have many skills and you want to utilize tactics - then yes, it can be worth it. If not - then no.
I never do for my main character because I control that one most, but characters like spell casters (Moriganna and Wynne), I often do, to allow them to circle through spells more effectively without me micromanaging them.

Party Position: who gets to ride shotgun?
<snip>

Always the controlled character.

Combat magic: central casting and other conundrums
...However, there have been several times in battle when I will choose a spell (like Stonefist) in the quickbar, it sparkles, but I do not get the crosshair icon that allows me to cast the spell on that target. ...<snip>

If you already have an valid target (enemy or friendly, depending on spell) targeted, you do not get the crossair but the spell will target that target.

<snip>
Also, the Area of Effect (AoE) spells allow you to target an area or a victim (i.e. you get a crosshair icon on an enemy). Any feedback on how to use either to best advantage? <snip>

Depends on the situation and the spell.

For example: Mana Clash and a situation where you have 2 enemy spell casters.
If you can position the area of effect to hit both by placing the area marker between them it is useful.
If you only face one caster, you might as well target him directly.
And similar for fireball spells and so on.
Also spells with long casting time/effect time, can be put up on an area in front of the enemies so they'll have to move through it.

<snip>
Threat: going aggro or why are the bad guys are always after my mage?
Threat is fairly well explained, but what is counter-intuitive is that your character generates more threat with increased healing, so be aware of that. My question here has to do with AoE spells. It is great to cast them as the enemy is coming toward you, before your party members get involved, but then your mage generates huge threat. Is there a way to cast AoE and then put the threat back on the tank in some way?
<snip>

Threat/Aggro is handled very much as you'd expect it from a MMO, thus the healing/damage done creating aggro.
Mages have no way of diminishing threat that I know of (outside doing less/nothing in the following round), but must rely on warrior taunts skills.
Knock down and paralyze abilities will help you win some time for the tanks to regain aggro.

[thantor3]

Thanks, Xandax! All of that was very helpful.

If you already have an valid target (enemy or friendly, depending on spell) targeted, you do not get the crossair but the spell will target that target.

So to acquire a new valid target, I assume you have to right click on someone else?

Always the controlled character.

Ok. So there is no way to re-arrange the order of your party when you move the party as a whole?

However another issue is that they do rarely engage in combat unless the main character/controlled character does. Which is why if you set a movement point out in the distance and move your controlled character back, they'll sometimes run back and forth.

I see. That makes it a little tricky if your main character is a mage, since you seem to need to then keep the tank as the controlled character much of the time.

[Xandax]

<snip>
So to acquire a new valid target, I assume you have to right click on someone else? <snip>.

Or just deselect your current target, allowing for the cross-air to come into play.

[thantor3]

I have returned to answer some of my previous questions and some new ones:

1. Taking directions
The best way I have found to keep party members from running off on their own during combat is to use the toggle switch under the portraits to "hold" position. Then send your tank in first to gather threat so the bad guys focus on him. After this you can either allow your party to move, move them manually, or allow them to move according to the Tactics you set up previously.

2. Combat and casting
Just to summarize: right click on the enemy to select them as a target for that character. Once they are selected, you can then left click on a spell, which will appear next to the mage characters portrait, or a talent, and it will be applied to that character or enemy. If you want your whole party to focus on one enemy, click the "whole party" toggle under the character portraits on the left hand side, then right click to select the enemy. "Attacking" should appear on all character portraits after you right click on the chosen enemy. Remember, you do not have to select a spell or talent to get your character to attack - your character will still attack with the weapon they have available.

To target yourself or an ally, left click to select the spell (like Heal). You should get a crosshair icon. Focus that on the selected character.

3. Difficulty level and game penalties
The game does not seem to penalize you if you chose an easier setting. The only thing you give up is a higher chance of the enemy dropping additional items.

4. Threaten and Taunt don't work?
Threaten and Taunt seem to have limited area effect. They also seem to work better if you have already hit the enemy at least once or are right on top of them. Better to use during battle as opposed to at the beginning of battle.

5. Why can't I access the party camp?
The party camp is not available early in the game. It becomes available after you visit the first village.

6. How do I make health poultices?
You need at least one point in Herbalism. Then you will need a recipe, which will then allow you to see the components you need, like elfroot, flask, etc. Go to skills and find the herbalism icon. Drag it to an open slot on the quickbar at the bottom of the screen. Once there, click on the icon, which will open the Herbalism screen. Recipes are on the left. Click to select and it will show you how much of each component you have. Click the button at the bottom right to make what you would like.

7. How do you give someone a gift?
To give a companion a gift, simply select that companion and then go into the inventory screen. Right click on the gift and hold down the right mouse button. You'll see the icon to give as a gift on the left side of the radial menu that pops up. Might want to check on Dragon Age wiki to see which gifts should be given to whom. Remember that the effectiveness of gifts decreases the more times you give them to a character, so it may be better to give preferred gifts first.

[Xandax]

Threaten requires the character to hit the target for it to work.

Taunt is an "smallish" area of effect, centered around the character and doesn't require the character to hit. But because the character doesn't hit them, if other party members do, they can pull the aggro (or via healing)

[dragon wench]

Very helpful thread

OK, I have a question. In the BG series if you recruited a character and then removed them from the party, their level would not scale with your own if you picked them back up..

Since I've observed that so far in Dragon Age there's something of a "You snooze, you lose," mechanic and NPCs seem to vanish from the game if you don't grab them when you have the chance, I've been recruiting them as they come available so that I can employ them as necessary.

If a companion is out of rotation for a while, will their level be the same as the rest of the group when you return them to the battlefield?

[Nightmare]

If a companion is out of rotation for a while, will their level be the same as the rest of the group when you return them to the battlefield?

They'll be auto-leveled to one level lower than your player character. So, if you Alistair in your party the entire time, he'll be at the same level as your main, but if you leave him aside for a while, then he'll be one level lower.

[thantor3]

Very helpful thread

If a companion is out of rotation for a while, will their level be the same as the rest of the group when you return them to the battlefield?

So nice of you to show up. *hug*

There are mods that will make the game more BGish, so that your party will not auto-level, if that is what you are looking for...

[dragon wench]

So nice of you to show up. *hug*

There are mods that will make the game more BGish, so that your party will not auto-level, if that is what you are looking for...

Aww thanks. *hug back*

lol! Actually, I'm happy with all of my recruits auto-levelling like that. I always found it a pain in BG2 when dismissing a party member meant that if you picked them back up you'd have to mess with Shadow Keeper in order to ensure they could keep up with the rest of the group.

[thantor3]

Merchant Wares Comparison
When talking to a merchant, by default you can compare the merchant's wares only to the character who is "talking" to the merchant. However, on the bottom right hand side of the purchasing screen there is a difficult to see drop down menu that allows you to compare the merchant's wares to any equipment currently held by any of your companions

Getting Hard
A topic people are often curious about is the area of "hardening," Despite rumors, this is not a phenomenon that happens only in threads in which Dragon Wench takes part, nor does it confer attributes, talents, or other bonuses to your companions. Rather, it is a specific development that happens to two of your companions that changes their personalities and can affect the end game. Do not investigate this further unless you are comfortable with the spoilerish nature of this content.

Trapped
In order for your rogue to be skilled in disarm traps, you should put points into the Deft Hands talent chain - the more the better. The more points in the chain, the better able your rogue can find the traps. With low ability, the rogue can see the trap (ghostly outline) but cannot disarm them. Also, if you are moving too quickly, your rogue may not see the trap in time.

Your ability to disarm a trap is a combination of your trap disarming skill and your cunning level, just like lockpicking. You can always disarm your own traps, however. Note that your trap making skill does not increase your ability to detect traps. Also, your ability to detect traps and to disarm them are calculated differently, so there may be traps you can detect but not disarm. As you increase your talents in Deft Hands chain, the radius of the volume (measured in meters) that the game allows you to check increases, so your ability to detect traps increases as well. This is especially useful if you are moving quickly.

To create and set traps, your rogue needs skills in Trap Mapping, as well as recipes and ingredients to make the traps. The more powerful the trap, the higher the skill needed, just like Poison Making or Herbalism. Once the trap is made, it will be in your inventory. It may be helpful to drag the icon to the quick bar so it is easy to access the trap when you need it.

Persuade or Intimidate?
The ability to coerce people into doing what you want is a combination of your ranks in Coercion, your points in Cunning (for Persuade) or your points in Strength (for Intimidate). Based on the formula, having Coercion at its highest rank should allow you to pass all intimidation or persuasion checks without needing to put any points in Cunning or Strength.

[dragon wench]

@Than,
*refrains from comments about "exploratory games"*

Er.. okay.. back to regular, scheduled programming..

This was probably just a couple of personal "d'ooh moments," but... on the upper left corner of the character inventory screen there's a little icon for weapon sets, so that you can more quickly switch from two daggers to a bow, or what have you.. Now, this part I figured out pretty early on.. However, what eluded me is that once you place a weapon into a set it vanishes from your inventory. I spent quite a lot time trying to figure out which merchant I'd sold Zev's Crow dagger to.. only to eventually realise that he was still carrying it.

Or... I only just clued in to the fact that you can level party members while at camp. You just need to go to the character screen... For some unknown reason I assumed they needed to be in your group with the little cross beside their portraits.


This is actually an in-game exploit or cheat even.. so highlight below to view:

Spoiler

If you don't want to pay or suffer the consequences for unlocking a certain specialization.. you don't have to. Simply quicksave, and buy said tome or undergo whatever it takes to unlock Blood Mage, Reaver etc. Quit the game and reload your save, your unlocked specialization will still be unlocked.

[thantor3]

@Than,
*refrains from comments about "exploratory games"*

Er.. okay.. back to regular, scheduled programming..

*Sigh* Ah, for the old days of pantless camaraderie, wanton abandon, and deep COMMunication. Now "exploratory" is little more than a medical procedure...

Ranged Rage
It is useful to know the range your mage can cast a spell without moving. There are time you want to surprise your enemies without tipping your hand. For AoE spelles, one way the game communicates this to you is by the color of the casting circle. If you click on an AoE spell, you typically get a large targeting circle. If the circle is golden, it means your mage can cast it without moving or without moving much. If it is silver, it means they will have to move to cast it. Be aware that if you are casting a spell using a crosshair type icon that you place on a target, your mage will move as far as necessary to cast that spell, which may pull them into harm's way.

Spell Combo
In the game, there are combinations of spells that work very powerfully together. Since it would be spoilerish to reveal what these are, just be aware that a combination of two or three spells in a specific order can create devastating effects. Be sure to experiment with your companions well back from the area of effect, especially when doing some of the three spell combos.

Killing Zones
Mages can set up very effective killing zones if they are appraised of the position of the enemy beforehand and have some mechanism to draw the enemy into the trap. The spell combos mentioned above are the main way to set up extensive traps. Rogues can contribute by setting traps as well. Often times, the challenge is how to pull the enemy into the trap without endagering one of your companions. The long range, AoE spell Earthquake can work well in this regard as can sending in a summoned animal to get attention and draw threat. If you don't want the summoned creature harmed extensively, you can throw Forcefield around them until your tank can pull enough threat.

Scouting
Having a rogue that can disarm traps and appraise you of enemy locations is an amazing advantage. While it is great fun to go blazing into a situation with two mages (excluding the healer), I will often give up one mage for a scout, especially in some of the dungeons were there are a lot of traps or when the enemy is set up in a way that would be advantageous for ambushes. For this to be maximally effective, however, the rogue will need points spent in the Deft Hands chain, as well as the Stealth chain. Finally, it is very helpful to have a least one or two points in Survival, so that enemy positions light up on the mini-map. A bonus option is the ability of the rogue to set traps while in stealth mode. I have found the scout build and the Ranger specialization to work very well together.

Candid Camera
While it can be a pain to work with, the camera angle will not only zoom out but it will also move laterally. That is, if you zoom all the way out and move your mouse left or right, the camera will pan over to show you more of the terrain (and the location of enemies). This is often difficult inside areas with structures or in dungeons, but keep trying different combinations of zoom with left and right movement with your mouse. If you persist, sometimes you can see activate enemies (i.e. with red circles) and can target them from a distance. Crushing Prison works very well in this regard and it is quite satisfying to watch an enemy mage crumble before he or she even knew what hit them.

In my experience, you have to rotate the screen so you can move left or right to see the area you want to view. It doesn't seem to work if you move the mouse forward or backward.

Emissaries
After you finish a major quest line like "Broken Circle," an emissary from that particular area (e.g. mage, dwarf, etc.) will show up in your camp. You can contribute gold, runes, etc. to their cause, which gives you experience points according to the game guide. However, this experience point bump is small - one poster suggested 10 XP per item, so you have to donate a lot to see a measurable gain. Also, the emissaries do not allow you to donate to them directly. You have to click on the crates near them to donate.

[thantor3]

Screenshots
The game is set up so you can take screenshots whenever you want. Hit the "Print Screen" button. You can find the screenshots in your Bioware folder (usually in My Documents) under "Screenshot/User." The screenshots function like a photo album of where you have been and who you were with. Pretty fun.

Shale
Shale is a downloadable golem who can be either a tank or DPS party member. Her talent system is completely different than any other party member. She does not wear armor or use weapons but depends on different types of crystals. She also does not specialize. She has a very dry, sarcastic wit and hates birds, especially pigeons. She is based on HK-47 from BioWare's "Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic".

As per Dragon Age Wiki:
"Shale can serve four different roles through her talents. Each has a set of four talents (one sustained plus three related active or passive) designed around a role."

These roles are offensive (Pulverizing Blows Tree), defensive (Stoneheart Tree), ranged (Rock Mastery Tree), and support (Stone Aura Tree). Note that in Stone Aura mode Shale cannot move.

"The three related talents become accessible in combat if the corresponding Sustained Talent is activated."

You can only use one talent tree at a time - you cannot pick and choose specific talents from them on the fly without first changing to the talent tree you want.

"In addition, learning any of the three related talents increases the power of the sustained talent. In addition to unique talents, Shale has access to Warrior Talents. Shale does not have access to any of the skills the other characters have nor can she specialize in any of the Warrior specializations."

Wardens Best Friend
Having the ability to bring a war dog along in your party is an interesting idea. However, the reality is that it is hard to give up a slot to a party member that offers no dialog and has limited flexibilty and upgrade options. For example, he/she can't switch from melee to ranged weapons, can't cast spells, can't set or disarm traps, isn't a romance option, etc. So the fact that Dog takes up a whole party member slot has generated a good deal of controversy, with many people saying Dog should have functioned like a summoned pet.

The best solution I have found for this is to grab the mod that gives the party an additional slot just for Dog using a permanent summoning slot. Dog packs a pretty mean punch and can do some limited scouting (if you don't want to bring a rogue along) as he is usually able to outrun most enemies, so having him/her along allows you to be more flexible with party selection and can add some fun to your adventure.

[thantor3]

Arcane Sustainables
One of the things to consider about being an arcane mage is when to switch on the sustainable spells, like Combat Magic or Shimmering Shield, that make this build so awesome. If you switch them on too early, you take a significant negative to mana regeneration. This is not unlike the blood mage build, where you take a huge negative hit to how much you can heal once you switch on blood magic. However, if you wait too long to turn on the sustainables you will not get maximum value from them. The conventional wisdom on this is to go through your major spell rotation, whatever that is, then turn on the sustainables when mana is low. Another way to work it is to have the sustainables turn on when certain conditions, like being surrounded by 3 enemies, activate them via the Tactics screen. I use this method for Wynne, since I often leave her on autopilot and therefore lose her via an ambush or attack from the rear.


Matching Set
There are armor sets available in the game. If you collect the whole set, you get additional bonuses. For example, the Effort set gives -10% to fatigue, the Juggernaut Plate set gives +3 to strength and +3 to constitution, and the Legion of the Dead gives +3 to damage and +3 to constitution.

[dragon wench]

I suspect most people know this already, but just in case...

One thing I found quite irritating is that good gear becomes a bit outdated as you level owing to the tier at which you originally acquired it.
I did some hunting around and read on various other forums that one way around this issue is to sell said equipment to the merchants at Warden's Keep, leave the area and then return..
I tried this, and much to my delight almost everything I had sold had been upgraded to either Silverite or Dragonbone. This technique doesn't work on everything (for example the Greenblade, Oathkeeper etc.), but it does work on a lot.. for example the gear you can find in Return to Ostagar, the keep itself.. and so on.
To be safe, simply save before trying it out.

Rumour has it that the trick works with other merchants too, but I don't know this for sure.

[GawainBS]

Thanks for sharing! It's quite cool.

[galraen]

Oooo, checks equipment and rushes of to Warden's Keep!

Thanks DW.

[GoldDragon]

Some of the equipment also raises in Bodahn's inventory, but not all.

[John009]

This forum is very effective for gamer because there is lot of information in it, you can use a mod to cover the base about additional storage. It is called Pocket Plane and gives you a full party camp replacement with lots of storage


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