Scientific Method - RPG's

Bioware has created several outstanding RPG’s including some of my favorite games of all time like Neverwinter Nights and Baulder’s Gate. The Dragon Age series is one of my favorite series currently running from Bioware. Bioware’s older game series, like Neverwinter Nights, are completely Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) based whereas Dragon Age, being an action RPG, is more loosely based on this. In Dragon Age II, you play as Hawke who will be in a mage, warrior, or rogue class, depending on the player choice. Hawke starts off the game as a refugee of Ferelden and becomes the champion of Kirkwall through resolving major political and societal issues that occur throughout the years. I’m curious to know if incorporating more D&D elements into Dragon Age II would improve the game. Although there are many items I could add to the warrior and rogue characters, since I typically play as a wizard in D&D, this scientific method will focus around additions to the mage class to improve, Hawke, the main character of Dragon Age II. That’s my step one as my question is around additions to Hawke with variables focusing on additional mage abilities.

Step 2 is to specify assumptions. Since I am predominantly a mage, in any MMO or RPG I play, I expect my mages to have the basic defensive and offensive magic you find in D&D like magic missile or something to that effect, a form of stoneskin or shield, the ability to summon something that can be an additional party member, an ability to heal or access to potions, and a globe of invulnerability or a dispel magic spell of some sort to help against other mages. Hawke as a mage has limited magic that includes spells like rock armor, a basic heal, arcane shield, sleep, cone of cold, winter’s grasp, stonefist, chain lightening, petrify, and firestorm. I believe adding additional magic spell items, would make for a mage the player would be more inclined to experience rather than a character class that is so stripped down, it’s practically defenseless when left alone. It’s the same flaw that carried over to mage classes in Bioware’s the Old Republic MMORPG.

Hawkes magic is divided into elemental, primal, spirit, creation, arcane, and entropy abilities with specialization abilities of Force magic, spirit healer, and blood mage. If each one of these abilities had an additional D&D spell added to the options, it would make for a more playable character. In step 3, I will propose those additions to each ability class. Hawke’s elemental skills are fire and ice based, similar to the school of evocation in D&D. Elemental spells include fireball, cone of cold, firestorm, winter’s grasp, pyromancer, and elemental mastery. A lot of these spells can be found in D&D already so it would be fine unchanged but there’s nothing wrong with adding a flame arrow, burning hands, or a fire/cold shield. There is a lack of defensive magic in Dragon Age II. The primal abilities consist of earth and lightening spells, which is similar to the school of evocation in D&D. Primal spells include stonefist, petrify, rock armor, tempest, and galvanism. These spells would be better with another close range offensive spell like lightening bolt. There’s too much emphasis on earth and not enough balance with lightening. The spirit abilities are similar to the D&D schools of necromancy and abjuration. Spirit spells consist of spirit bolt, walking bomb, dispel magic, death syphon, and spirit mastery. When I think necromancy, the first thing I think of is animate dead. The mage’s biggest area of opportunity in Dragon Age II is summoning familiars. The spirit needs to have animate dead. There are also other fun spells to include like vampiric touch or finger of death but I would put animate dead first. The arcane abilities are similar to the D&D school of enchantment. Arcane spells include mind blast, crushing prison, barrier, arcane shield, and elemental weapons. The arcane shield is not in D&D and isn’t very useful in Dragon Age II. If it has to be called arcane shield, I would still use D&D to influence the decision and power. I would probably use some sort of combination of mage armor and shield since those are two stackable defenses commonly used in D&D. Mage armor increases armor bonus whereas shield increases armor class so combining the two would make a perfect arcane shield. Other good enchantment spells that could be included could be daze or sleep. I would also introduce an abjuration portion into arcane magic with a globe of invulnerability or maybe an invisibility sphere of some sort to give Hawke that extra defense needed at times. That little edge is something Dragon Age II completely lacks in. The creation abilities have a healing aspect that is not typical of a wizard or sorcerer to have in D&D. Typically you have a cleric or druid use those in their school of conjuration. Creation spells include heal, haste, glyph of paralysis, glyph of repulsion, and heroic aura. Since these spells are green, I would include some offensive acid spells, as that element is nowhere to be found. Acid splash, acid fog, or Melf’s acid arrow would be good candidates. My personal favorite is Melf’s acid arrow. The last available magic abilities are entropy which are similar to D&D’s schools of enchantment and necromancy. Entropy spells include horror, sleep, misdirection, entropic cloud, and hex of torment. Some of these spells function a lot like D&D spells but they have different names. For example, horror is just another name for the spell scare in D&D, where the afflicted person goes into a panic. These are all well and good but more spells should be added to enhance the experience. Other spells not included that could make good additions would be spells like Evard’s black tentacles, time stop, grease, web, or knock. These are all useful spells that could be added to the game. Just little tweaks would allow for a better verity the player would appreciate.

Step 4 is where you test your hypothesis and decide if it’s one to continue to use or if it needs to be modified and re-tested. How I would test my game could be pretty simple. A lot of these spells were in Dragon Age: Origins. I would start by adding all the spells and seeing what that does to the game difficulty. If it then makes the mage class too overpowering, I would start subtracting spells stopping at a bare minimum of 1 extra spell per spell ability. Having obtained every Dragon Age achievement, I’ve spent a lot of time invested in the series. I believe adding a few more spells and creating a better variety will make for a stronger character that doesn’t need a full party to stay alive. The mage class was a weak demonstration in Dragon Age II that leaves a lot of room for improvement along with many other aspects of the game.

Sources:

Piggyback Interactive Limited. (2011). Dragon age ii collector's edition. Electronic Arts.

(2003). Dungeons & dragons player handbook. (v.3.5 ed.). Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast.