As part of the character creation process for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players will need to choose a class for their player-controlled tower and faction. After customizing much of your Rook’s body, including things like Qunari horn type and material, for example with the hundreds of options available in Veilguard, it will be time to choose said class.
There are three classes to choose from: Rogue, Mage and Warrior. As the names suggest, each features a unique combat system and plays differently as a result. While you’ll be doing things like light and heavy attacks using the same buttons, what those attacks do is different depending on your class. For example, a warrior with a sword and shield can shoot sideways or aim his shield to throw it like Captain America, while a mage can use the same button to throw magical attacks from a distance – more about Veilguard combat Game Informer’s exclusive feature here. Additionally, as you spec these classes and unlock their individual specializations, the differences will become even more pronounced.
- Rogue has access to three specializations. Duelist is the fastest of the three, having two blades for quick strikes; the saboteur uses tricks and traps; and the Veil Ranger is purely ranged, blasting enemies from a distance with a bow.
- Mage can use necromancy with the Death Caller specialization; Summoners wield fire, ice, and lightning; and Spellblade uses magical melee attacks.
- Fighter he can become a Reaper, using nightblades to steal life and risk death to gain unnatural powers; the slayer, a simple but powerful two-handed weapon expert; or Champion, a tactical defense fighter.
While these specializations don’t matter upfront – you’re assigned to them using skill trees as you progress through the game – it’s nice to see the potential of each class before choosing it.
For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, players choose a faction. The Gray Guardians a return joined by other returning favorites and new additions such as Antivan Crows, Mourning watch, Shadow dragonswith a pirate theme Good luckwhich is what I chose in my demo for the stream Game informant title story and Veil sweaters.
Each faction has a unique casual outfit that is worn in specific scenes when the character is not wearing armor, and three unique traits. Lords of Fortune, for example, gain additional reputation with that particular faction, have increased damage over Mercenaries, and perform enemy takedowns with slightly less effort. Veilguard game director Corinne Busche says that this faction choice, which ties into your character’s story, determines who was your tower before, how they met Varric, why they travel with Varric instead of their faction, and more.
“The message of The Veilguard is that you don’t save the world alone — you need your companions, but you also need these factions, these other groups in the world,” creative director John Epler tells me. “You help them, now they’ll help you.”
He says that BioWare wanted to avoid having to collect 200 random resources or items before helping you save the world. Instead, the team tried to create factions that want to help you, but have realistic challenges and problems in front of them, so the narrative makes sense as to why you help them in return for their help when the time comes.
“In terms of gameplay – each of our classes has a specialization and each of them is tied to a faction,” Epler continues. “But apart from that, each faction has a [companion] As well as [people we’re calling agents, ancillarily] who exist as the faces of these factions. We didn’t just want to say, ‘Here are the Gray Wardens, come and deal with them.’ We wanted characters within this faction that are relatable, that you can see and become the face of the faction, so that even when there are moments where the faction as a whole might be in the spotlight with you, those characters are still with you; he still has your back.”
If you want to change your character’s physical appearance, you can do so using the Mirror of Transformation, which can be found in the main Veilguard hub, The Lighthouse. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked and cannot be changed after you select them in the game’s character creator.
[Editor’s Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and Game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused.]
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