Dragon Age Origins: Creating a new hero Dragon Age: Origins Guide

Last update: 07 June 2024

CHOOSING A GENDER

Bear in mind that the decision of choosing a gender won't affect any attributes of your future character, because they're all the same for both male and female characters. You can expect to notice the differences in other aspects of the game:

- possible quest solutions - in some cases playing as a male character will allow you to achieve a better ending, however there are some quests where the most interesting outcome is reserved for a woman

- relations with other team members - the differences can be seen especially when it comes to romance, because some of the followers will date only a man, some only a woman and some will date both

- course of some of the origin stories - the biggest change here involves the city elf character, because while playing as a male elf you'll want to rescue the women and when playing as a female elf you'll want to escape from the estate

CHOOSING RACE AND CLASS

Check the table below to find out about the differences between available races.

Race	Available classes	Available origins	Bonuses	Additional info
Human	warrior mage rogue	Human noble Magi	+1 to strength +1 to dexterity +1 to magic +1 to cunning	The most versatile race of all three, however there are only two available origin stories for a human.
Elf	warrior mage rogue	Dalish elf City elf Magi	+2 to willpower +2 to magic	Three origin stories to choose from, however the initial bonuses involve only two attributes instead of three (dwarf) ore even four (human).
Dwarf	warrior rogue	Dwarf commoner Dwarf noble	+1 to strength +1 to dexterity +2 to constitution 10% chance to repel magic	Very useful attribute bonuses, however you're allowed to choose between two origin stories and only two out of three classes (dwarves can't become mages).

Check the table below to find out about the differences between available character classes.

Character class	Available to	Class bonuses	Available specializations
Mage	human elf	+5 to magic +4 to willpower +1 to cunning	blood mage arcane warrior spirit healer shapeshifter
Rogue	human elf dwarf	+4 to dexterity +2 to willpower +4 to cunning	bard ranger assassin duelist
Warrior	human elf dwarf	+4 to strength +3 to dexterity +3 to constitution	berserker champion reaver templar

Check the table below to find out how many attribute points you can get at the beginning of the game depending on the race and on the character class. Make sure to read other sections of the guide to find out more about each attribute.

Chart legend: ST - strength, DX - dexterity, WP - willpower, MA - magic, CU - cunning, CO - constitution. The green color shows the highest values for each class and the red color shows the lowest values.

Character race	Character class	ST	DC	WP	MA	CU	CO
Dwarf	Rogue	11	15	12	10	14	12
Dwarf	Warrior	15	14	10	10	10	15
Elf	Rogue	10	14	14	12	14	10
Elf	Mage	10	10	16	17	11	10
Elf	Warrior	14	13	12	12	10	13
Human	Rogue	11	15	12	11	15	10
Human	Mage	11	11	14	16	12	10
Human	Warrior	15	14	10	11	11	13

Suggestions:

Choosing a warrior offers a relatively problem-free gameplay for most of the game, however on the other hand you won't be able to use some of rogue's extremely useful abilities. Thankfully this will only be an issue in the early parts of the game, because as you progress two rogue companions will join your team and therefore you'll have a chance to rely on their skills instead. I would recommend choosing a dwarven warrior because of the fact that all members of this race receive a large constitution bonus at the beginning of the game, making it more difficult for the monsters to kill them.

My favorite class is the rogue and it's also what I would recommend for your first playthrough. Bear in mind that the rogue isn't as powerful as a warrior and he or she will have to rely on his warrior companions, but on the other hand you'll gain access to a large array of useful skills and talents. Lockpicking talent is one of the best in the game, because it will allow you to open most doors and chests from the first minutes spent in Ferelden. If you decide to play as a rogue you should choose being a human.

As for playing as a mage, I would recommend choosing this class only to more experienced RPG players, because you would have to pay much more attention to the development process of your character and it'll be easier to make a mistake by choosing wrong attributes or spells. You would also have to spend more time planning your strategy. There are a lot of options here and being a healer or an offensive spells caster are just two of the most obvious examples. If you do decide to choose this class then you should consider playing as an elf, because this race receives useful bonuses to magic and willpower at the beginning of the game.

CHOOSING THE ORIGIN STORY

My personal opinion is that you should pay more attention to choosing a correct class and race so that the final result would suit your preferred style of playing. Leave the decision of choosing the origin for last, especially since each combination will present you with at least two interesting options for a story. Check the table below to find out more about each of six available stories and you can find their walkthroughs in the main guide.

Origin name	Class requirements	Estimated time of play	Additional info
City elf	Elven warrior Elven rogue	2 hours	This is one of the most interesting stories available in the game. Finishing this version of the prologue shouldn't be a huge challenge for you, however two last fights are going to be slightly more difficult. Don't forget that you'll perform different quests depending on the gender of your character.
Dalish elf	Elven warrior Elven rogue	1 hour	The dalish elf story is without a doubt the shortest one from all six and it's also one of the easier ones. The main reason is that you'll always have at least one powerful follower at your side. In addition to that you'll explore small areas filled with not that powerful monsters and you'll have to dispose of only one enemy mage.
Dwarf commoner	Dwarven rogue	2 hours	This is one of the easier stories, mostly because you'll be going against other dwarves and you won't encounter any powerful beasts. I would recommend choosing a rogue class, because you'll encounter a lot of locked chests during your journey.
Dwarf noble	Dwarven warrior Dwarven rogue	2,5 hours	Choosing this origin story will affect one of the main quests (the one tied to an election in Orzammar) later on during the game. As for the prologue itself, it's longer than most of the other stories and more difficult than the Dwarf commoner story.
Human noble	Human warrior Human rogue	1,5 hours	The first part of this story offers a lot of conversations, exploration and easy quests, however the second half is much more challenging. Nevertheless you should have any problems advancing to the main game.
Magi	Human mage Elven mage	2,5 hours	This is one of the longest introductions and it's also one of the most difficult ones. The good news is that you'll have a chance to earn a lot of experience points and to find at least a few interesting artifacts and weapons.