Here's a few tips:
BEWARE!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-Hey, are you only 2nd level? Done with Lothering? Hit Denerim. It's loaded with sidequests that are easy money and XP.
- Supporting Harrowmount gets you in the dwarf Arena o' Conflict Resolution to fight. Guess what that gets you? MORE XP.
- Buy the codex xp-up and money-up belts. Getting money is better than getting useless crap you have to sell. You will be rich before you're done with the 2nd subquest.
-If you're going to use Morrigan a lot, then be sure to get her in bed. All of your party members get MAJOR bonuses if you're buddy-buddy with them. There are 4 tiers of bonus level: be sure to get them all buy buying/finding presents for your pets and listening to their stories. When your fighters got Inspired Major Strength (or Con) and your mages get Inspired Major Magic, all of a sudden your party will be made up of Bruce Lee, Samurai Jack, Gandalf, and the Death Star.
- Beware your own mages. It's very easy to friendly-fire your own party into oblivion. Left on auto-kill mode Morrigan did this to me constantly, until I got sick of it and left her ass behind.
- With all due respect to those people who like to play mages, the ultimate damage spell is a WELL-PROGRAMMED FIGHTER. Select one and set one of his tactics to protect your healer (Wynne), then set the rest of his tactics to use his super-whatever attacks on the bad guys. Then set his friend the same way. You will not be disappointed.
- Shale is the cheapest character you will ever outfit. (s)He only needs armor and weapon crystals, and is super easy to be buddies with. Program him to ground-pound, slam, and rock-hurl at everything in site. He's an absolute brick.
- ALWAYS pickpocket everyone in a given area. If you're not a thief, learn to love Leliana, cuz she'll be your best friend between that and Song of Valour. I hate the fuck out of Zevran and left him in camp practically the whole game. In the second playthrough I killed him with no appreciable repercussions.
- Dragons: wear fireproof gear. I beat the smeg out of both dragons at around 14th level. Get both drake-scale armors from the dude in Denerim and put fire crystals on Shale for armor (and ice for his hands). Go to the Circle Tower and complete the Shade in the Basement (or whatever it's called) sidequest and you'll get a 2-handed sword that's has bonuses SPECIFICALLY VS DRAGONS among other things. Then go kill the fuck out of them.
-Darkspawn: Go load up on Silverite runes and then put them in your 2 and 3 slot runic weapons. You'll scythe them down like wheat.
- Here's something you can exploit like a champ. The game levels enemies according to what level you are when you first encounter them. Put on some fireproof gear and go kill Flemeth when you're around 12th level (safety tip: STAND BEHIND HER THE WHOLE TIME). Then when you counter that dragon during the Urn of Sacred Ashes and you're level15 or so? Guess what? Big as it is, that dragon is lower than you! Now here's a pop quiz: what were you killing at Ostagar?
- You'll probably have problems with something called the Broodmother during the dwarf quest. People make this out to be harder than it really is. With Wynne set up as your healer and one of your fighters programmed to attack whatever's attacking her, run up to the Broodmother and wail on it till it dies. Don't bother with the tentacles or Darkspawn. Kill it. Easy-peasy.
When all is said and done, PLAY A ROGUE: You'll be able to do the following:
- Sneak into groups of enemies and drop bombs on them.
- Sneak into enemies and first-strike their mages with 2 weapons
- pickpocket everybody in creation, even the major NPCs and children. Yes, even children have cash. Take it from them, otherwise
they'll just spend it on internet gambling and booze.
- Do all of the above wearing heavy armor just like a fighter. In fact, why play a fighter? They have fewer abilities and can't sneak up
and whack enemy bosses like a Predator. Get your strength and Dex stats up around 36-38, and keep building up Cunning and Const
and you'll be just fine. There are also TONS of stat boosting items (Helm of Honnleath, Key to the City) to help you.
- THIEVES GET EXTRA XP: for opening traps and unlocking chests and doors. Because of this, they level up faster than any other class.
Even if the battle's over you can run around disabling traps and earning XP for each one you disarm.
- THIEVES GET A WHOLE SET OF SIDEQUESTS JUST FOR THEM: Slim Caudry shows up in Denerim (he's right there as you walk into the
market district and gives you a bunch of sneak-in-and-steal and pickpocket quests. You'll get extra XP and cash.
Everything else (potions, "kill mages first") has already been said. HASTE is your number one support spell next to revive and heal, b/c even a dwarf will zip around like a bumblebee on meth with it active. If you HAVE to play a mage (how many of you named theirs Dr. Orpheus?) then you'll love Crushing Prison, Fireball, and Petrify. Just don't put your damage mage on automatic b/c the AI will decide to fry the party, and, as an old soldier once said, Friendly Fire isn't.
Hope this helps.
Now go take Ferelden to the cleaners.
BEWARE!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-Hey, are you only 2nd level? Done with Lothering? Hit Denerim. It's loaded with sidequests that are easy money and XP.
- Supporting Harrowmount gets you in the dwarf Arena o' Conflict Resolution to fight. Guess what that gets you? MORE XP.
- Buy the codex xp-up and money-up belts. Getting money is better than getting useless crap you have to sell. You will be rich before you're done with the 2nd subquest.
-If you're going to use Morrigan a lot, then be sure to get her in bed. All of your party members get MAJOR bonuses if you're buddy-buddy with them. There are 4 tiers of bonus level: be sure to get them all buy buying/finding presents for your pets and listening to their stories. When your fighters got Inspired Major Strength (or Con) and your mages get Inspired Major Magic, all of a sudden your party will be made up of Bruce Lee, Samurai Jack, Gandalf, and the Death Star.
- Beware your own mages. It's very easy to friendly-fire your own party into oblivion. Left on auto-kill mode Morrigan did this to me constantly, until I got sick of it and left her ass behind.
- With all due respect to those people who like to play mages, the ultimate damage spell is a WELL-PROGRAMMED FIGHTER. Select one and set one of his tactics to protect your healer (Wynne), then set the rest of his tactics to use his super-whatever attacks on the bad guys. Then set his friend the same way. You will not be disappointed.
- Shale is the cheapest character you will ever outfit. (s)He only needs armor and weapon crystals, and is super easy to be buddies with. Program him to ground-pound, slam, and rock-hurl at everything in site. He's an absolute brick.
- ALWAYS pickpocket everyone in a given area. If you're not a thief, learn to love Leliana, cuz she'll be your best friend between that and Song of Valour. I hate the fuck out of Zevran and left him in camp practically the whole game. In the second playthrough I killed him with no appreciable repercussions.
- Dragons: wear fireproof gear. I beat the smeg out of both dragons at around 14th level. Get both drake-scale armors from the dude in Denerim and put fire crystals on Shale for armor (and ice for his hands). Go to the Circle Tower and complete the Shade in the Basement (or whatever it's called) sidequest and you'll get a 2-handed sword that's has bonuses SPECIFICALLY VS DRAGONS among other things. Then go kill the fuck out of them.
-Darkspawn: Go load up on Silverite runes and then put them in your 2 and 3 slot runic weapons. You'll scythe them down like wheat.
- Here's something you can exploit like a champ. The game levels enemies according to what level you are when you first encounter them. Put on some fireproof gear and go kill Flemeth when you're around 12th level (safety tip: STAND BEHIND HER THE WHOLE TIME). Then when you counter that dragon during the Urn of Sacred Ashes and you're level15 or so? Guess what? Big as it is, that dragon is lower than you! Now here's a pop quiz: what were you killing at Ostagar?
- You'll probably have problems with something called the Broodmother during the dwarf quest. People make this out to be harder than it really is. With Wynne set up as your healer and one of your fighters programmed to attack whatever's attacking her, run up to the Broodmother and wail on it till it dies. Don't bother with the tentacles or Darkspawn. Kill it. Easy-peasy.
When all is said and done, PLAY A ROGUE: You'll be able to do the following:
- Sneak into groups of enemies and drop bombs on them.
- Sneak into enemies and first-strike their mages with 2 weapons
- pickpocket everybody in creation, even the major NPCs and children. Yes, even children have cash. Take it from them, otherwise
they'll just spend it on internet gambling and booze.
- Do all of the above wearing heavy armor just like a fighter. In fact, why play a fighter? They have fewer abilities and can't sneak up
and whack enemy bosses like a Predator. Get your strength and Dex stats up around 36-38, and keep building up Cunning and Const
and you'll be just fine. There are also TONS of stat boosting items (Helm of Honnleath, Key to the City) to help you.
- THIEVES GET EXTRA XP: for opening traps and unlocking chests and doors. Because of this, they level up faster than any other class.
Even if the battle's over you can run around disabling traps and earning XP for each one you disarm.
- THIEVES GET A WHOLE SET OF SIDEQUESTS JUST FOR THEM: Slim Caudry shows up in Denerim (he's right there as you walk into the
market district and gives you a bunch of sneak-in-and-steal and pickpocket quests. You'll get extra XP and cash.
Everything else (potions, "kill mages first") has already been said. HASTE is your number one support spell next to revive and heal, b/c even a dwarf will zip around like a bumblebee on meth with it active. If you HAVE to play a mage (how many of you named theirs Dr. Orpheus?) then you'll love Crushing Prison, Fireball, and Petrify. Just don't put your damage mage on automatic b/c the AI will decide to fry the party, and, as an old soldier once said, Friendly Fire isn't.
Hope this helps.
Now go take Ferelden to the cleaners.
. Oh, and the fact that both are really good, absorbing RPGs.
