108 réponses à ce sujet

[Abraham_uk]

Referring to penultimate post on Page 3.

 

I've added racial abilities for all 4 races.

I've also added "Codex Abilities".

 

Codex Abilities adds lore to your codex based on your race, class and specialisation.

However depending on your race, class and specialisation certain dialogue options will be locked out in conversations.

These options will involve asking questions that The Inquisitor should know the answer to.

 

Spooney made a huge fuss when The Avatar asked "What's A Paladin"?

This is no longer an issue. The Inquisitor would never ask such a daft question.

 

[Abraham_uk]

My, my, such praises! Thanks xD

 

I can't say I'm fond of racial abilities since they thend to influence your class and build, but they do makes sense, and actually add deeper roleplaying qualities to the game. I'm okay with most of those, but I'd argue the active skills should not be there as they tend to confer larger bonuses than passives and as such will influence your decision even more.\

 

All in all, though, good stuff.

 

 

That's fine. I've ditched the actives and kept the others.

[Abraham_uk]

Seriously OP. What are you doing here?

You should be working for a game developer on the combat design team!

 

I love your ideas!

 

 

There is just one slight snag. Two decoys! Jester and Subtefuge both have the decoy ability!

 

Anyway. Duellist says he's going to work on Varric's skill tree.

I had a good go, but it was a bit of a mish mash of Marksman from DA2 and the Artificer passives from DAI.

I'm looking forward to this. Duellist, I think your ideas are amazing too. You also have a soft spot for rogues, so this should be interesting.

 

I'm also interested in what you're going to do for the final Inquisitor Warrior specialisation and the party member specialisations.

Keep up the good work. If you ever want to work for a developer or become your own indie developer I'll personally vouch for you (granted me vouching for you won't make any difference) but hey I think your ideas are that good!

[Spellbound7]

I doubt having interesting ideas is enough for me to be a developer. I can't do anything else than graphic design, so that drastically cuts down my usefulness as a dev. I did get into a programming course for C# and learning Unity, so maybe when I'm done with that

 

Also I could have sworn I replaced Decoy a while back - turns out I forgot to update it. I'll be updating a bunch of other skills along with it when I do the last spec. I'll mention them in the update notes.

[Spellbound7]

UPDATE (Likely last one)

 

• Added final Warrior Specialisation: the Vanquisher.
• Clairvoyance from Fade Lord changed to Coruscating Veil.
• Correctly updated Subterfuge tree. Decoy is replaced with Hidden Blade (passive)
• Fade Strike from Spirit Warrior changed from single target and close-quarter to personal so you can use it with ranged weapons.

[Abraham_uk]

That new specialisation looks awesome.

I'll get round to reviewing it soon as I've got to go to work.

 

Anyway. I'm curious. Ranger and Vanquisher have female pronouns in their descriptions and Jester has male pronouns in it's description.

The others have no pronouns in their descriptions.

Are these specialisations supposed to be gender exclusive? If that's the case it's a pretty bald (but interesting) move.

 

I don't personally see the problem with gender specific specialisations. It certainly shakes up the lore.

However I doubt many gamers would be too pleased.

 

If however you did not intend to make them gender specific then terms like "her" and "him" might be misleading.

 

 

Anyway. I'm adding the vanquisher specialisation soon to this very post and I'll be doing overall class reviews. Two of them would be the same as you read in the private message. The Warrior review from the private message will get an update.

[Spellbound7]

The him/her is basically to vary things instead of always just using him or her. I think forgotten realms uses her in all their descriptions, which is an interesting twist on descriptive writing, but I'm thought I'd put some equality in there

 

And, no, I wouldn't want to have gender-specific specs. That would be bad xD

[Abraham_uk]

The him/her is basically to vary things instead of always just using him or her. I think forgotten realms uses her in all their descriptions, which is an interesting twist on descriptive writing, but I'm thought I'd put some equality in there

 

And, no, I wouldn't want to have gender-specific specs. That would be bad xD

 

Don't worry. I was teasing you.

I don't think any players are going to reach level 12 (the point where you choose a specialisation) and think "oh boy, I think it's time to re-roll my character. Turns out males can't be Vanquishers" or "Ugh. I really wanted to play as a Jester, but I can't because my character is female".

 

I mean if they do think that well I think the best medicine for them is a health dose of common sense.

 

That said, there are male and female specific specs in some game. It won't work for the Dragon Age Universe, but in some games there are female only factions and male only factions, so gender specific specialisations would make a lot more sense.

 

 

 

Anyway, as promised my review of The Vanquisher! One of these days you'll be thinking, "damn I've run out of ideas. How am I going to get reviews now?"

 

Vanquisher Review:

Spoiler

Does anyone remember weapon agnostic talents in Dragon Age 2? Well this is a tree that has a lot of nice talents that work well with whatever weapon style you've taken up. Enter the fray with three weapon strikes, then buff yourself up with a duelling posture that gradually increases your damage output and a defensive posture that gradually increases your damage resistance. Then use up the defensive charges you've built up by going all in with a powerful array of attacks or brandish your duelling charges to negate stamina consumption of your abilities for a brief time. If that wasn't enough you can increase the utility of both Defensive and Duelling postures with a battle born ability stacking them up to 80% effectiveness (as opposed to 50%).

 

This is a tree that is about judging the situation and making the most of the new mechanics on offer. As a result this actually takes time and skill to master. Much like the Spirit Warrior and Undying you have another resource pool to consider. This does seem to be a theme with Warrior specialisations. If you want to excel with them, you've got to learn a new bunch of mechanics. This is exciting to experienced players who love reading descriptions. These players will get a lot out of the warrior skill trees.

 

 

Now time for the overall reviews for each class. They are amazing.

 

Overall Warrior Review:

Spoiler

 

I am not normally a fan of Warriors. Thankfully your three specialisations make them interesting. Each of the three specialisations follow a similar theme. Here is a new resource pool to consider. The Undying ironically uses their own blood as a weapon against enemies, The Spirit Warrior gains an outside resource pool from the fade to use in battle and the Vanquisher builds up defensive and offensive charges to expend into powerful blows.

 

If that wasn't enough Vanguard and Battle Master skills add a lot of flavour to the Warrior. No longer are you just the "weapons guy". You can mix things up by being a rallying commander who yanks enemies towards them, inspires the team and incites fear into the hearts of enemies, or increase your resilience and aggro every foe on the battlefield. There is a lot of cool abilities that turn what could have been a dull run of the mill warrior into a tactical power house with lots of options.

 

 

Overall Rogue Review:

Spoiler

 Artificer and Alchemy are two of the most fun trees I've seen. Then there are three really exciting specialisations to play around with. Dual Wield and Archery talents work well with the builds however it is in the tactical traps and poisons that really make this class shine. Subtefuge is a must for any rogue and you bring back some of the best talents from previous games back into the mix. The weapon and shield tree is a nice addition to the rogue's arsenal adding some crowd control to the build though with smaller weapons.

 

As for specialisations: You can bring a Mabarri Hound and a Hawk into the battlefield with a guerilla tracker inspired Ranger Skill tree, be a  horrifying speedy illusionist assassin known as The Jester or become the ultimate Wizard slaying machine as a Witch Hunter. Each of these skill trees is unique and distinct from one another. Great ideas and fascinating concepts. Of the three classes, I'd say that the Rogue has the easiest to grasp specialisations. They can be summed up as: Beast Summoner, Illusionist and Witch Slayer.

 

Mage Review:

Spoiler

The mage is in my opinion your best class. I know I'm biased towards mages, but hear me out. Every type of mage I can think of (with possible exceptions being shape shifter) there is a build for it.

DPS - check
Buffing - check
Crowd Control - check
Mind Control and Terror - Check
Healing - Check
Battlemage - Check
Resource Regulation - Check
Draining Health and Other Resources - Check
Protection and Warding - Check

Summoning - Some Interesting options here Check

Nature Based Magic - Check

 

For specialisations you have a blood curdling puppet master who uses their blood as a power source for their magic, a robe wearing traditional mage who uses support magic and rituals in battle and a glass cannon offensive mage with a strong connection to the fade. These specialisations are probably the hardest to grasp. Particularly The Fade Lord and The Ritualist. It's hard to really describe what they're about, however they both have some very useful abilities for mages.

This is a magnificent set of ideas that has me wanting to do not 3 specs but hundreds of specs. I'm not kidding you. There are so many epic builds you can do with this mage. Heck even dps lovers who are bored of the three elements have options in spirit, evocation, invocation, creation and entropy trees to play with. No class has as much versatility as the mage. This is a strong set of ideas from a very creative individual.

 

Conclusion

Spoiler

There are so many imaginative skills here, I think I'd be respecing a lot. Especially with the mage and rogue classes. There is a lot of cool skills to use. Also the level 40 cap is sensible. You get a lot of of these skills. You've put a lot of thought into this and it shows. I'm looking forward to your last Warrior specialisation (which I will be doing a build for) and the specialisations for each of the 9 characters. Good luck and keep up the good work. So much variety and so many cool looking skills.

[Spellbound7]

Glad you enjoyed them. I intended the Vanquisher as something of a glass cannon that deals in flat damage instead of stacking criticals -  I'd rather leave those to Rogues. Even though, you can still spec her as a tank by focusing purely on the defensive talents. Options, yknow? Your review is spot on

 

Anyway, I guess this is it - I don't think I've more specs to make. Sure, this definitely can be improved further (maybe I'll come back for some tweaks), but it was fun while it lasted, and the idea was always to present an alternative to what we got in Inquisiton by inspiring from the previous titles, all the while trying to bring in new mechanics to keep the gameplay fresh. I hope I managed to achieve that.

 

Now we can only hope that Bioware does better for DA4. Or releases modding tool.

[Abraham_uk]

Glad you enjoyed them. I intended the Vanquisher as something of a glass cannon that deals in flat damage instead of stacking criticals -  I'd rather leave those to Rogues. Even though, you can still spec her as a tank by focusing purely on the defensive talents. Options, yknow? Your review is spot on

 

Anyway, I guess this is it - I don't think I've more specs to make. Sure, this definitely can be improved further (maybe I'll come back for some tweaks), but it was fun while it lasted, and the idea was always to present an alternative to what we got in Inquisiton by inspiring from the previous titles, all the while trying to bring in new mechanics to keep the gameplay fresh. I hope I managed to achieve that.

 

Now we can only hope that Bioware does better for DA4. Or releases modding tool.

 

They were awesome ideas. I mean it. I had a lot of fun with them.

There are two things I want to do. Since I've already done my take on the 9 companion specialisations, I would like to see what other contributors have to say.

 

 

My suggestions are in the spoiler below, just to give you an idea of what I've done on companion specialisations. No upgrades have been included so far.

Spoiler

Specialisations: Each party member will have their own unique specialisations.

 

Iron Bull [Reaver]:

Spoiler

 

 

As the battle gets bloodier, the vicious Iron Bull becomes even more brutal. Hurting him just makes him made. A mistake most enemies don't live to repeat.

 

Ring of Pain [Active]: You mark part of the battlefield as yours. Enemies inside the ring take spirit damage while your own attacks hit harder, The more you are hurt, the stronger both effects are.

 

Blood Frenzy [Passive]: They thought you'd get weaker once they wounded you. They were wrong. Damage Bonus: 5% for each 10% missing health.

 

Terrifying Fury [Passive]: Your critical strikes have a chance to cause a gory mess and send nearby enemies fleeing in a panic.

 

Fervor [Passive]: When an enemy dies near you, the thrill of death spurs you to hit that much harder. Gain 30% damage bonus.

 

Scenting Blood [Passive]: Being near a badly wounded enemy spurs you into a frenzy, driving you to move faster and giving you a better chance of striking deadly blows.

 

Devour [Active]: You launch an attack fuelled by your fury, ripping into foes for damage that increases as your own wounds deepen. Ring of Pain significantly increases the effect. You take damage with each swing.

 

Dragon Rage [Active]: You're an unstoppable fury of physical force while this ability is active. Your attacks are harder and faster, and you gain health with each strike. This has a very long cool down.

 

Blood Bath [Active]: For a brief time your attacks are more likely to inflict a bleeding status effect. If a target is affected by any other negative effect however, you are guaranteed to inflict the bleeding status effect (unless the target is unable to bleed).

 

 

Cassandra [Templar]: 

Spoiler

 

Cassandra is an unrelenting warriors who specializes in fighting mages and demons. No enemy's magic can withstand her, and she inspires and protect her allies with her righteous power.

 

Blessed Blades [Active]: You rally all of your nearby allies to fight with greater strength, especially when facing demons.

 

Spell Purge [Active]: Through faith and will, you dispel all hostile magic from the area around you all hostile magic in area dispelled. This includes barriers and other beneficial effects.

 

Maker's Will [Active]: Your party's attacks have a chance to weaken their targets.

 

Champions of The Just [Passive]: Your righteous fervor inspires the entire party to fight harder against demons.

 

There is no Darkness [Passive]: Your faith is your protection against the elements, and not for you alone. The entire party gains increased resistance to fire, ice, electric, and spirit damage.

 

Wrath of Heaven [Active]: You summon a blinding pillar of light that stuns nearby enemies and damages demons.

 

The Maker's Shield [Active]: For a brief time spells aimed at the Templar will be deflected away. There will be a 1/3 chance that the deflected spells will be returned to the hostile caster.

 

The Last Sacrifice [Passive]: Even should you fall, you give your allies strength to fight harder in your name. When Cassandra is knocked out, party members gain a 50% damage bonus.

 

 

Blackwall [Champion]: 

Spoiler

 

Blackwall's time as a Grey Warden has taught him the most important lesson of warfare: survival. It's not about how many enemies you can kill, it's about outlasting the enemies. Blackwall's abilities have been learnt from not only his experience in battle but also through training and researching combat techniques used by previous Grey Wardens.

 

Line In The Sand [Active]: You call upon the legacy of the greatest champions in history, defying enemies as you hold your position. This stops enemies from moving past you and enables you to block choke points.

 

Adamant Bullwark [Passive]: You stand all the stronger to finish the fight, gaining a bonus to your maximum guard. In addition your armour's effectiveness has been greatly increased. Maximum guard bonus +25% and Armour Bonus + 20%.

 

To The Death [Active]: You taunt an enemy into a frenzy. Their damage output increases over time, but so does the damage they take. The effect ends if you get out of range. 

 

Unyielding Resilience [Passive]: An attack the would bring you down instead leave you with a small amount of health, and you are immune to all damage for a short time. In addition enemies that hit you with melee attacks are staggered by recoil.

 

Depletion Mode [Active]: Every attack will deal less damage but will reduce the amount of stamina a foe has. (This doesn't work on mages manna pool).
 

Counterstrike [Active]: For a brief time every melee attack the Championt receives will be answered with a counter attack.

 

Ravaging Calamity [Passive]: All of the Champion's negative effects abilities will weaken foes even more and last longer.

 

Final Stand [Long Duration Active]:  Maximum guard, half damage output and half damage taken. Also draw 100% of enemy attention. Please note that this ability remains active until all enemies on the battlefield are slain. Also with every foe that is killed, the remaining foes will become even more desperate to kill you causing their damage output to increase. This is a very risky taunt ability.

 

 

Cole [Assassin]: 

Spoiler

Any rogue can kill a target, but assassins make death into an art form. They specialize in quick, deadly kills that let them slide back into the shadows undetected, or indirect kills that eliminate targets while the assassin is safely away. Cole is one such Assassin.

 

Many ideas taken from Duellist 76.

 

Assassinate [Active, Single Target]: One shot, one kill is the oft repeated mantra for every Assassin. With a single strike, the Assassin can eliminate most foes outright while survivors suffer a massive critical hit.

 

Precision [Active, Personal]: Even without the safety of the shadows the Assassin is still a dangerous adversary, especially with time to study their target. The likelihood of landing a critical hit increases by 10% every second for 10 seconds.

 

Hidden Blades [Active]: They'll swear you leapt from the shadows like the thrown blade and hit your target with a flurry of strikes from every angle... but its obvious that you were nowhere near them at the time.

 

Mark of Death [Active]: You mark your enemy, and every hit adds part of its power to the mark's damage. Trigger your mark when you are ready, and watch your enemy fall from injuries that were never even noticed. You can manually trigger the mark early for bonus damage.

In addition the first attack from Stealth inflicts 15% more damage against an enemy who has yet to take damage while ignoring 50% of their armour.

 

Cloak of Shadows [Active]: You go into stealth, and your allies follow your lead. The entire party remains undetected for the duration of the effect, even while attacking. This ability has a very long cool down.

 

Flicker [Active, AoE]: You become a blur, striking up to four enemies in a small radius. Every strike is a critical hit.

 

I Was Never Here [Passive]: You have learned to use the distraction of an enemy's death to slip silently into the shadows. Killing a target removes any cooldown on stealth.

 

Knife In The Shadows [Passive]: You are a deadly threat to any enemy that can't see you coming. When you attack from stealth, you automatically critical hit. In addition your attacks slip past armor to find a target's hidden vulnerabilities.

Armour Penetration: 25%

 

 

Varric [Story Teller]: 

Spoiler

 

Varric is a skilled adventurer with a variety of different abilities. Abilities he learnt from his time in the Merchant Guild, "looking after" Hawke and helping out The Inquisition. Be it special abilities with his crossbow or inspiring his comrades with an embellished tale before the battle begins, Varric is one companion you'll want at your side during both times of struggle and times of peace.

 

Bianca's Song [Active]: Varric hums a melody under his breath, recalling the untellable tale of how Bianca got her name. Few things focus Varric as much.  Critical damage: +5% Critical Chance + 5%.  Attack speed: +10% and +10% Movement speed,+10% for entire party. 10% faster cooldowns for entire party as well.

 

 

Improved Engineering [Passive]: Due to faults in the design of crossbows, they have huge kickback and often miss their target when fired rapidly. This passive helps fix those issues, greatly reducing recoil. This also increases the ar

 

Rhyming Triplet [Active]: Fire three bolts in a row. The first bolt applies a bleeding status effect (useless on foes who can't bleed), the second bolt applies a temporary blindness effect (reducing a foe's accuracy) and third applies a slowing effect (slowing down the target). Please note that if you haven't selected Aim and Improved engineering there is a good chance that only the first of 3 bolts hits the target.

 

Armour Piercing Bolt [Active]: A bolt that completely ignores armour rating dealing 100% of a shot's potential damage. This shot has a higher chance of landing a critical hit.

 

And Take Them Down [Passive]: Your experience with finding and pointing out enemy vulnerabilities gives the entire party a better chance to land critical hits. Critical Hit Chance Bonus: 15%

 

Tricks of The Trade [Active]: You help the team make the most of its abilities, increasing the damage and duration of all status effects the party applies. Damage Bonus: 10%. Duration Bonus: 10%.

 

Knock Out Bomb [Active]: You hurl a grenade containing a powerful concoction that put nearby enemies to sleep. Sleeping enemies awaken after taking damage.

 

Flask of  Amplification [Active]: Throw a flask that increases the duration and area of effect of an ally's attacks. This is only effective if said ally is using either AoE and/or Duration based attacks.

 

 

Sera [Tempest]: 

Spoiler

These unpredictable experts specialize in using alchemical mixtures that wreathe them in frost or flame. Fast, chaotic, and possibly mad, they wade into the fight and dare enemies to face the storm. Sera is one such Tempest.

 

Flask of Frost [Active]: This flask coats you in an icy skin that increases your armor and freezes enemies that strike you in melee range. You can't use this ability while another one is active.

Damage Resistance: 85%  Freeze Duration: 1 second

 

Flask Maker [Passive]: Your experience with elixirs has made you better equipped to handle potions and other consumables, letting you carry more of them at a time and giving you a 25% chance not to use an elixir when you activate an ability. This ability does not apply to healing potions.

Maximum Potions Bonus: 1   Chance to Activate: 25%

 

Ride The Storm [Passive]: The effect of your elixir lasts longer if you activate one immediately after another expires.

Bonus Duration: 3 seconds

 

Flask of Fire [Active]: This flask coats you in flames that spur you to frenzied action. For a short time, your abilities cost no stamina, and enemies who attack you are knocked backward. You cannot use this ability while another elixir is active.

 

Fury of The Storm [Passive]: When your stamina is exhausted, you fight even harder, lashing out with fury to win the fight.

Damage Bonus: 10% when Stamina < 50%

 

Killer's Alchemy [Passive]: You can use more concentrated elixirs that give you an uncanny edge in battle. You do bonus damage with all attacks for a short time whenever you use an elixir or potion. This bonus is stackable.

 

Flask of Lightning [Active]: This flask sends you into a heightened state of incredible speed. Everyone on the battlefield except you moves much more slowly for a short time. You cannot use this ability while another elixir is active. Please note that this ability has a long cooldown.

 

Thousand Cuts [Active]: You choose a target, then dash to and fro- a shadow leaving blood with every leap. After you slice through other nearby foes, you land behind your target, striking deep. This ability has a long cooldown.

 

 

Dorian [Necromancer]: 

Spoiler

 

These mages specialize in binding the spirits that are drawn to death. They can put the fear of death into enemies, bring spirits to fight on their behalf, and even cause devastating explosions when their enemies die. Dorian is one such Necromancer.

 

Death Siphon [Passive]: Leach mana from corpses on the battlefield.

 

Walking Bomb [Active]: You curse an enemy, inflicting ongoing spirit damage, and then trigger the curse in a devastating explosion. If Walking Bomb kills your target, the effect spreads to nearby enemies, causing secondary explosions.

 

Spirit Mark [Active]: You mark a target with an attacking spirit, inflicting ongoing damage. If the target dies while marked, the spirit mimics the victims body briefly to fight on your behalf.

 

Death Cloud [Active]: The caster summons a cloud of leeching entropic energy that deals continuous spirit damage to all who enter. Those affected cannot heal or regenerate health. Friendly fire possible.

 

Death Hex [Active]: The target suffers a hex of lethal bad luck. Every normal hit it suffers becomes a critical hit.

 

Death Magic [Sustained]: While active, the caster draws in nearby entropic energy, draining residual life-force from any dead enemy nearby to heal the caster.

 

Power of The Dead [Passive]: Killing enemies attracts spirits that increase the power of your spells for a short time.

 

Simulacrum [Passive]:  If you are knocked unconscious, a spirit you control takes on your likeness and fights on your behalf for a short time. The spirit draws magic directly from the fade, casting spells without cost. You cannot be revived by any means until the spirit leaves.

 

 

Vivienne [Knight Enchanter]: 

Spoiler

 

Vivienne's unique abilities allows her to defend her party whilst tackling threats of an acrane nature.

 

Spirit Blade [Active]: You create a blade of solid magic that attacks enemy's stamina, mana, barriers and guard. This attack is very weak against health though.

 

Fade Cloak [Active]: You surround yourself with the magic of the Veil itself. You are briefly invulnerable and can pass through enemies unharmed. Upon decloaking you deal a lot of spirit damage to nearby foes.

 

Arcane Sphere [Active]: Set up a 5m radius sphere that increases the speed, damage output and damage resistance of everyone within. This is a risky move since everyone friend and foe alike can benefit from this sphere.

Fatiguing Fog [Active]: Send out a cloud that reduces the speed, amount of stamina/manna available and damage resistance of everyone within (friend or foe). The debuffs only applies to those within the fog.

 

Combat Clarity [Passive]: The chaos of combat frightens some, but for you, its a comfortable rhythm. Your mana regenerates faster when you're near hostile enemies.  Mana Regeneration: 50% if enemy within 5 meters.

 

Fade Shield [Passive]: You draw back the energy released by your enemies in your attacks against them. Any successful attack strengthens your barrier. The more damage you do, the more powerful your barrier grows. Barrier: 30% of damage dealt.

 

Veiled Riposte [Passive]: Whenever you have a barrier active, enemies who attack you will take damage in return. Damage Returned: 20%.

 

Knight Protector [Passive]: You're adept with defensive magic. Barriers you create take longer to naturally decay. Barrier Decay Reduction: 35%

 

 

Solas [Rift Mage]: 

Spoiler

 

Sola's connection to the fade grants him some powerful forceful abilities that can turn groups of attacking enemies into groups of flying enemies.

 

Stone Fist [Active]: You summon a boulder from the Fade and smash it into your target, sending them flying. This will also explode dealing damage to nearby enemies. Spirit Damage: 500% weapon damage.

 

Earthquake [Active]: The caster disrupts the earth, causing a violent quake that knocks everyone in the targeted area to the ground every few seconds, unless they pass a physical resistance check. Foes who do pass the resistance check will be staggered, suffer a penalty to their accuracy and be unable to perform critical hits. It is also notable that foes in the Earthquake zone will be unable to perform talents or spells since they require a lot of mental focus to perform. Friendly fire possible.

 

Tornado [Active]: Hurl enemies into the air. When the tornado ends they will fall to the ground taking a lot of damage. Foes who pass the resistance check will suffer a negative status effect that remains even when leaving the tornado area of effect. This negative status effect will make them stagger as they move about and they will suffer a debuff to their movement speed, attack speed and damage output. This is a temporary affliction that will only last 10 seconds.

 

Restorative Veil [Passive]: You pull stray magic from around weakened enemies to regain mana based on the damage you do to them.

 

Encircling Veil [Passive]: You use stray magic around weakened enemies to increase the power of status effects on them.

Duration Bonus vs. Weakened: 25% longer.

 

Smothering Veil [Passive]: Rag doll attacks deal more damage to foes who do not pass the resistance checks. Foes who do pass resistance checks will suffer even greater debuffs.

 

Twisting Veil [Passive]: You catch stray magic around weakened enemies and use it to increase the damage of your own attacks.

 

Unshakable [Sustained]: The mage suppresses the physical and elemental force of incoming attacks, becoming immune to knockdown and all elemental based negative effects (including chilled, burning, stunned, wet, drenched etc). This mode will however increase length of cooldowns and mana costs.

 

 

Inquisitor [Player Character]: 

Spoiler

 

In addition to having 3 specialisations to choose from (per class) the Inquisitor has a second specialisation. This specialisation is available regardless of class picked and will grant The Inquisitor a set of abilities that only they possess. [That's 8 skill trees in total, whereas allies only have 7]. None of the active abilities in this tree consume mana or stamina, however they do have long cooldowns.

 

Close Rift [Active ability that is automatically unlocked and cannot be removed through respec]: The Inquisitor can close rifts using the mysterious mark on their hand. Obviously can only be used near a rift.

 

Mark of the Rift [Active ability that is automatically unlocked and cannot be removed through respec]: Causes massive damage and can even kill some enemies instantly. However can only be used near a rift.

 

Aegis of The Rift [Active]: You turn the Veil itself into a magical shield that deflects enemy projectiles.

 

Focused Teamwork [Active]: During this mode successfully performing an ability combo leads to greater combo damage.

 

Rift Torture [Active]: A blast of energy that puts foes over a large area of effect in severe pain for a few seconds. Foes will be paralyzed. 

 

Enhancement From The Rift [Active]: For brief time you gain +10 to Strength and +10 to Magic. (Cannot use at same time as Perception From The Rift)

 

Perception From The Rift [Active]: For brief time you gain +10 to Cunning and +10 to Dexterity. (Cannot use at same time as Enhancement From The Rift).

 

Lessons From The Rift [Passive]: 9 attribute points to spend.

 

Dance of The Rift [Passive]: Increases chances of counter attacks at melee range.

 

Gear From The Rift [Passive]: Certain gear has unique enchantments. When worn by your party members, they will not be able to benefit from this gear. When worn by the Inquisitor however, the gear will have some unique buffs.

 

 

 

So what do you think?

 

I look forward to what take on the companions specialisations the forumites have.

Just to let you know I've kept the basic concept of everyone's specialisations the same, with the exception of Varric since the artificer abilities are a rogue skill tree. Duellist might working on Varric...

[Abraham_uk]

About Companion Specialisations:

 

I invite you guys to have a go at redesigning the 9 companions.

 

They are:

Cassandra (Templar), Blackwall (Champion), Iron Bull (Reaver),

Sera (Tempest), Varric (Cannot be artificer any more since this is a base rogue skill tree), Cole (Assassin),

Vivienne (Knight Enchanter - I altered the mechanics of Spirit Blade to stop it from being redundant), Solas (Rift Mage) and  Dorian (Necromancer)

[Spellbound7]

Hmm, speaking of kits, I could share Photoshop files with all the blending modes and such ready for skill-tree making if anyone's interested.

[Abraham_uk]

Yes.

 

I'd love to. I'd go back and re do the Companion Specialisations.

I might start a thread similar to this one but just for companions (with companion specialisations in opening post and a hyperlink to the opening post of this thread). 

[Abraham_uk]

Duellist 76 said that he wanted to see a re-do of Varric along the lines of a "machine gun" type crossbow build.

I wanted Varric to have that "Artificer" flavour like he did in Dragon Age Inquisition without interfering with the Artificer tree.

The secondary fire module was my way around this. Secondary fire doesn't use stamina, but uses consumables instead.

In order to get the 

 

Here is something I have in mind.

 

 

Marksman: [Varric]

Spoiler

 

Varric has a unique role on the battlefield. As well as having an entire archery tree he can draw from when using his crossbow, he has an additional tree with even more talents to use. His archery damage trumps that of the Inquisitor and fellow companions. If you want an archer who can pack a meaty punch in combat, Varric is your man. Trouble is he lacks the range of the other archers. Greater damage, greater speed lower range and a glass cannon.

 

 

Improved Engineering [Passive]: Due to faults in the design of crossbows, they have huge kickback and often miss their target when fired rapidly. This passive helps fix those issues, greatly reducing recoil. In addition your critical hit chance whilst using Varric's Crossbow is increased by 30% and critical hit damage whilst using Varric's crossbow is increased by 20%.
 

Armour Weakening [Sustained]: This slows down rate of fire, but every shot slightly reduces armour rating and all defences. There is a limit to how much you can debuff a target's resistance through repeated crossbow hits (for balancing reasons). 

Armour Ravaging [Upgrade]: This mode now enables the crossbow to deal more damage to guard.
 

Triple Threat [Active]: Fire three bolts in a row. The first bolt applies a bleeding status effect (useless on foes who can't bleed), the second bolt applies a temporary blindness effect (reducing a foe's accuracy) and third applies a slowing effect (slowing down the target). 

Triple Torment [Upgrade]: The debilitation effects of Triple Threat are even stronger.
 

Double Shot [Active]: Fire two bolts in a row. The first bolt lowers the foe's defences against physical attacks and the second lowers the foes damage output.  

Double Trouble [Active]: The debilitations on this ability are even stronger. 
 

Full Auto [Sustained]: Bianca now has a full auto feature. When activated, the crossbow will continuously fire until either deactivated by the player or deactivated by the battle being over. Whilst this ability doesn't consume stamina, you won't be able to regenerate stamina whilst activated and you won't be able to use other abilities.

Suppression [Upgrade]: Full Auto now makes more noise causing many enemies to panic on the battlefield.
 

Attrition Strikes [Active]: This attack to begin with this attack deals regular crossbow damage, but fret not. Every time you use Attrition Strike against a single foe, you make said foe more vulnerable to this specific attack. Every Attrition Strike deals 2% more damage than the previous one. Damage bonus cap at 20%.

Attrition Assault [Active]: Damage bonus cap raised to 30%.
 

Secondary Fire [Active]: Bianca (Varric's Crossbow) now has a secondary module. In your equipment options you can change the your secondary fire module. Some fire modules nets to trap foes. Some fire explosives. Some fire flasks. Some fire AoE poisons. This ability doesn't consume stamina but instead consumes secondary fire ammunition. So use this ability sparingly

.Secondary Assault [Upgrade]: Your secondary fire abilities have a 20% larger AoE, and deal 20% more damage.
 

Ammo Capacity [Passive]: Increases how much secondary ammo you can carry for your crossbow.

 

 

Varric's Secondary Ammo Types: 

Spoiler

 

Net - Trap enemies within a net.

Antivan Fire: Fire a flask that unleashes a flame that jumps from one enemy to another.

Cryo Grenade: An ice based grenade that potentially freezes enemies

Shock Bomb: A grenade that deals lightning damage

Grease: Fire grease on a battlefield making an area of the battlefield very vulnerable to fire based attacks. In addition anyone who walks on this area will be slowed down.

Jar of Bees: Fire a jar of bees at a group of foes overwhelming them.

Healing Mist: Unleashes a mist that restores friends and foes alike within an area.

Lyrium Fog: Unleashes a fog that prevents all within from using both talents and spells alike.

Masking Fog: Fire a projectile at an ally that lowers their threat generation.

Mythal's Favor: Fire a flask at a fallen ally to revive them.

[Spellbound7]

Oh, secondary ammo on Varric sounds sweet, although if it doesn't consume stamina, the secondary ammo resource should be clearly visible and easy to replenish - maybe like healing potions?

 

I see he can fire a Jar of Bees, Antivan Fire, Healing Mist - are there only available if he has those grenades equipped, and does that mean he can carry more of em? Are they stronger than if he just tosses them like any other character? I would suggest removing them since they can already be used (also Grease is just Pitch Grenade, but flamable, right? Unless if it spreads tar in a line or something [therefore making fire wall possible], I vote for removing that as well).

 

The way I picture the secondary ammo type working is how I did the Prime spells: each ammo is it's own sustained ability, with a number on it telling of how much of that specific ammo is available. Activating one deactivates the other, etc.

 

Good thinking

 

PS: and here's the template. It's a bit extensive, but it's easier to use than it looks.

[Abraham_uk]

Oh, secondary ammo on Varric sounds sweet, although if it doesn't consume stamina, the secondary ammo resource should be clearly visible and easy to replenish - maybe like healing potions?

 

I see he can fire a Jar of Bees, Antivan Fire, Healing Mist - are there only available if he has those grenades equipped, and does that mean he can carry more of em? Are they stronger than if he just tosses them like any other character? I would suggest removing them since they can already be used (also Grease is just Pitch Grenade, but flamable, right? Unless if it spreads tar in a line or something [therefore making fire wall possible], I vote for removing that as well).

 

The way I picture the secondary ammo type working is how I did the Prime spells: each ammo is it's own sustained ability, with a number on it telling of how much of that specific ammo is available. Activating one deactivates the other, etc.

 

Good thinking

 

PS: and here's the template. It's a bit extensive, but it's easier to use than it looks.

 

I'm going a bit extreme here, suggesting that Varric is the only character with this utility.

So no other character can use this, since they are a secondary module for Varric.

Each follower has their niche and with Varric it's as a medieval version of a machine gun commando.

Thanks for the template.

[Spellbound7]

Doesn't sound extreme to me. I mean he already has a weapon only he can use, why not skills as well? DA2 has specs that were exclusive to the companions, so why not give DA:I companions exclusive abilities? I like it.

[Abraham_uk]

Companions Redone: I'm moving the discussion on companions to a new thread.

 

http://forum.bioware...anions-re-done/

[Spellbound7]

UPDATE

 

• Updated some values from Vanguard and Weapon and Shield to be a bit more useful (Bodyguard, Barbed Armour, Shield Mastery, Shieldthane)
• Tutelary reworked. Now applies invulnerabily on taking damage for 0.5 seconds, with 4 seconds cooldown. Upgrade changed.
• Ascendant replaced with Beacon of Dreams.
• Ritual of Glaciation upgrade reworked to be more in-line with the Ritualist's role as support.
• Anoint has been updated to now channel-transter Heat Mana to another Mage.

[Spellbound7]

UPDATE

 

• Added specialisation items for each specialisation. Check the Fundamental Changes section for a list of them. Also added the items to the specialisations' descriptions.

[Abraham_uk]

 

UPDATE

 

• Added specialisation items for each specialisation. Check the Fundamental Changes section for a list of them. Also added the items to the specialisations' descriptions.

 

 

This is awesome! They add a nice unique flavour to each specialisation.

[b10d1v]

I noticed the auto scaling and ...

 

I'm sure you've done this: buddy asks you to try an MMO and you wait and wait ... until they are done creating their character or maybe you're the other guy -no judgment here.  The point is some folks pay a lot of attention to detail and others not so much and character attributes are no different.  You need the option for automatic, but also let folks manually edit character attributes.

[Abraham_uk]

I noticed the auto scaling and ...

 

I'm sure you've done this: buddy asks you to try an MMO and you wait and wait ... until they are done creating their character or maybe you're the other guy -no judgment here.  The point is some folks pay a lot of attention to detail and others not so much and character attributes are no different.  You need the option for automatic, but also let folks manually edit character attributes.

 

Hmm. Certainly gives some food for thought.

I think there could be options like that.

 

You could be asked a question at the start of the game before the story starts.

 

Do you want to manually level up your characters?

 

Yes: Let me customise my builds.

No: You handle it.

 

If you pick no, the game automatically picks abilities and attributes to make each character versatile.

If you decide mid game that you don't like the way the game levels up your characters, go to the menu, switch off the feature and then respec your characters.

Sorted.

[Abraham_uk]

I've finished the companion specialisations.

Feel free to check them out!

 

Companions Redone

[Nicholai999]

Hey, so my computer's been wonky but I finally was able to look at the posts and well, here I am. I'll just place my ideas here with some new ones I came up with.

 

So let's try bringing the bard from dao back. This specialization focuses on distractions and debilitating attacks.

 

opening number) [AOE] taunts the enemies in the specific area, the bard making them self the primary target. ( a skill that can be used to draw attention away from the party's warrior or mage). curtain call [Upgrade] three seconds after the bard taunts the enemies in the area, the bard slips into stealth. (the skill basically lures enemies to a specific spot for massive aoe damage while the bard safely sleps away.

 

Ballad) [AOE] the bard sings a song that causes enemies in the aoe to fall asleep (enemies will wake up upon being hit). Song of death [Upgrade] The enemies take longer to wake up and suffer damage while asleep.

 

Charm) [Passive] The Bard's Charm makes them less likely of being a seeked out target.

 

Trust no one) [Passive] Experience playing THE GAME has made the bard more perceptive and edgier. (increase critical hit stat)

 

The focus ability can be debilitating song) The bard sings a song that paralyzes all enemies in the aoe (allowing ranged party members to attack them) the bard however cannot attack while this ability is active. 

 

 

Another Idea I had was bring back the duelist specialization and merging it with some of the abilities of the specialist tree (DA2). Calling it the duelist or specialist (DoS). This specialization let's the rogue exploit the full potential of their weapon of choice. regardless of bow or daggers, this skill tree gives both weapons of choice a melee and ranged ability for both weapons.

This idea to me is kind of cool because it focuses on the rogue's primary weapon

the specialization tree splits in two one side focusing on the bow and arrow and one side on daggers

 

                                     (okay so I guess the ability tree can start off with some passive ability)

                                    maybe something like (Rage from da2) granting a strength stat. then the ability tree splits. 

 

Double Arrow (ability is similar to the knight                                                  Triple Blade (this ability is also like double arrow. no  

enchanter's spirit blade. No cool down time, does deplete                            cool down time, does deplete stamina upon activation.

stamina upon activation. As you guessed it, you                                           this specialization will allow the rogue to carry a one handed                       shoot two arrows simultaneously at the same target                                     sword. it will be held in the rogue's mouth. The rogue

(like double damage). Split arrows [Upgrade] if there are                                 will slash the target. Endless dance [Upgrade]

two targets in the path the arrows will split and each hit                                 It cancels the stamina cost of Triple Blade when

one of the targets                                                                                         used in succession after two basic attacks.                                                                                                                

Precision [Passive] grants critical hit stat.                                          Speed [Passive] Grants dexterity stat.

 

Bow inversion (another weapon ability like spirit blade)                                    Dagger Inversion (another weapon ability) The rogue makes use of     The rogue makes use of their bow for melee damage.                                           their daggers for ranged damage. Bull's Eye [Upgrade] The Rogue's 

Melee Archer [Upgrade] the archer's strength stat                                          critical chance stat is raised  (by set amount) when using dagger 

is raised (by whatever set amount) when using bow inversion.                        inversion.

                         then reconnects with a focus ability that grants the stat raise of rage, precision, and speed as a buff.  

 

We can also try out the ranger specialization from dao. a seasoned rogue with the skill of survival that relies on elements of the wild to aid him.

 

Diversion) Trevelyan summons a fennec, lavellan summons a halla, cadash summons a deepstalker, and adaar summons a regular ram. These beast have the same amount of health as their regular counterparts in the wild (dai). when this skill is active, the beast runs around the field causing all enemies to chase and attack them. they disappear once their life points run out. Breeder's best [Upgrade] The ranger summons slightly stronger (Diversion) beasts with better endurance.

 

Camouflage [passive]  The ranger is a master of subterfuge gaining the ability to disappear when fighting in the wild. (has a chance of randomly using stealth, not accessible in the city, near camps or keeps.  

 

Aggressive beast)  trevelyan summons a mabari, lavellan summons a wolf, cadash summons a bronto, and adaar summons a ram that fights back. Seasoned Beast [upgrade] the ranger summons stronger versions of Aggressive beast, each creature having an ability that grants them 3 guard points.

Seasoned Ranger [passive] grants the ranger an attack bonus against beasts.

 

Botany) when this ability is activated it applies the healing affects of the regeneration potion on the ranger. First aid [Upgrade] this upgrade allows the ranger to also pass on the healing affects to another party member but the ranger must be right next to the party member when activating it.

 

Call of the Dragon [Focus ability] The ranger summons a dragonling to fight alongside the party. the dragonling's health is based on the level of focused used to summon it.

 

Now for the Mages

 

We could bring back the Blood Mage. The blood mages use mind control, demon summoning, and manipulate life force to terrorize their enemies.

 

The focus ability can be Blood Magic letting the blood mage use their allies life force instead of mana in order to power their spells. their spells have no cool down time while the focus ability is active.

 

Summoning) Summon a wraith to fight alongside you and your party. Summon shade [Upgrade] Summon a shade to fight alongside you.

 

Blood puppet) you take control of one enemy to fight alongside you for ten seconds. Collateral damage [Upgrade] After ten seconds are up, your blood puppet explodes damaging near by enemies.

 

Blood letting) You use a little bit of an allies life force to heal some of your health. Blood sacrifice [Upgrade] You completely take one of your allies life force to heal yourself completely. 

 

Possession [Passive] When an ally dies, there's a 50% chance a demon will come back in their place. ( Pride demon for warriors. Terro