Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II Q&A

The Armchair Empire has conducted an interview with Dave Maldonado, lead designer for the upcoming Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. Here's a bit of what was said:

Q: How much character customization will be made available? Part of the attraction of Dark Alliance for non-D&D fans was just being able to jump right in with a pre-made character.

A: When the team refers to improved character customization, we're talking about in-game... enough abilities (again, spells and feats) and combat skills that a character can only master a handful of them in one play-through, ability scores with a more significant effect on the game (making that extra point every four levels--as well as magic items that modify statistics--that much more precious), an item creation system that allows players to craft the specific equipment that they want to use (e.g. take a weapon of wounding you don't need and use the materials to make a breastplate that boosts your HP a bit each time you're struck), etc.