Dragon Age Magic System

I feel as though this might be a case of gameplay and story segregation.

Assuming specialisations make a return for DA4, I'd really like to see hybrid specs (and a bard would qualify as a mage/rogue hybrid).  And I'd like every song to be The Touch, from the 1986 Transformers movie.  Because that shit slays.

I'm pretty sure there is already a thread about that somewhere, so I won't derail this one further, but to be somewhat on topic, I'll just say that I'd like magic and mages to have multiple (possible) roles within the party.  DPS or AoE glass cannon, buff or de-buff and preferably have access to ALL FREAKIN' SPELLS THAT THEY KNOW!

Oh, completely agree - my point was more based on the idea that mages lost more utility - in my opinion - in the jump from DAO/DA2's ability access to that of DAI.  Warriors could still tank n taunt or deal limited AoE damage with two handers.  Rogues were still DPS masters that could either be melee or ranged (except Varric, of course, who was only ranged), but with mages there just seemed to be fewer options than the previous titles (maybe it was just my perception of it, though) with how to build them out.

TL/DR - I didn't like the 8 active ability limit and hope it goes away 

Well...



I remember filling my whole quick selection bar in DAO so 39+ spells is a bit overkill but mapping 16 spells/skills is perfectly doable if we consider that Andromeda let us map 12 in arrangements of 3.

Having 4 combinations of 4 which any console player can swap quickly should keep things quick and balanced.

With that said we should return the spell schools to their Fereldan circle configuration but with less active abilities and more passives.

My general view is that each school should have 6 active abilities as follows:

Arcane: Barrier / Mind Blast / Energy Barrage / Dispel / Repulsion Field / Crushing Prison

Creation: Heal / Rejuvenation / Revival / Heroic Aura / Haste / Stinging Swarm

Primal: Flashfire / Fireball / Winter's Grasp / Cone of Cold / Stone Fist / Chain Lightning

Spirit: Spirit Bolt / Fade Step / Fade Cloak / Spirit Mark / Walking Bomb / Drain Life/Mana

Entropy: Paralyze / Sleep / Vulnerability Hex / Misdirection Hex / Horror / Entropic Cloud

Then each specialization should have 4 active abilities with one being focus based:

Rift Mage: Veilstrike / Pull of the Abyss / Disruption Field / Fade Breach*
*Immitates Mark of the Rift

Arcane Warrior: Spirit Blade / Pull / Shimmering Shield / Ressurgence

Battlemage: Fire Mine / Ice Mine / Static Cage / Firestorm

Bloodmage: Draining Aura / Hemorrhage / Blood Slave / Devastation*
*Party does a 1000% more damage for 5s/10s/15s

I plan on making proper spell trees later and make a topic about them.

I do wish for the next DA game to have more buff/de-buff spells. It really doesn't need to be to Origins' levels, though.

The only magic system I ever really enjoyed was Ars Magica's Technique + Form style of magic that was balanced by requiring magical ingredients to cast something powerful and permanent.

I would love a system where different spells have different synergies with each other. Like a freeze spell followed by a fireball shattering armour or weak enemies entirely outright. Not just the simple "prime and boom" we have right now.

But since BioWare's lead platform is console and they have a tendency to reduce and streamline everything from iteration to iteration we will probably get another "X spells / abilities loadout prime and boom" system, where X <= 8.

Well...
Unironically the Templars and Sha-Brytol draw magic from the closest thing Thedas has to actual gods, the Titans.

I'd like to see a return to DAO's four schools: Primal, Spirit, Creation, and Entropy. It was nice to be able to create different types of mages based on the spells you took, rather than being basically the same mage with different elemental types in DAI. In DAI, just about everyone was a Primal mage, it seemed

Also, in DAO I felt more free to dip into different schools rather than DA2 and DAI's encouragement to just stick with a single school/elemental damage type.

Still, I did like DA2 and DAI's ability to spend an extra skill point or two on refining particular abilities, giving them extra effects and such.

Those are some cool ideas! Id love if all these schools returned, having this variety in talents really helps build a character and replayability of classes.