Drakensang - Classes/Archetypes

At the website of the German print-mag "PC Games" you can now look at screenshots from the character selection-menu with all 20 classes.

You can find them here.

The classes are (translated to the best of my knowledge):

1. Warrior (Krieger)
2. Bow Hunter (Bogenschütze)
3. Soldier (Soldat)
4. Battlemage (Kampfmagier)
5. Healing Mage (Heilmagier)
6. Charlatan (Scharlatan)
7. Strayer/Gadder (Streuner)
8. Burglar/Housebreaker (Einbrecher)
9. Thief/Pickpocket (Dieb)
10. Elemental Mage (Elementarmagier)
11. Metamage (Metamagier)
12. Alchemist (Alchimist)
13. Pirate (Pirat)
14. Amazon (Amazone) - neccesarily female
15. Elven Ranger (Waldläufer)
16. Elven Spellweaver (Zauberweber)
17. Elven Fighter (Kämpfer)
18. Dwarven Mercenary (Söldner) - neccesarily male
19. Dwarven Sapper (Sappeur) - neccesarily male
20. Dwarven Prospector (Prospektor) - neccesarily male

Classes 1-14 are all human. You might notice that all classes with the exception of Amazon and Pirate are arranged in tiers of 3 similar classes. 1-3 would be Middlerealmian fighters, 4-6 Middlerealmian Mages, 7-9 Middleaventurian "low lifes", 10-12 Tulamidian Mages.

The standard attributes on the left (Eigenschaften) are:

Courage (Mut)
Cleverness (Klugheit)
Intuition (Intuition)
Charisma (Charisma)
Dexterity (Fingerfertigkeit)
Agility (Gewandheit)
Constitution (Konstitution)
Strength (Körperkraft)

Basic Attributes (Basiswerte) are right below:

Vitality (Lebensenergie) - Hit Points
Astral Energy (Astralenergie) - Mana
Endurance (Ausdauer)
Resistance to Magic (Magieresistenz)

+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

I've now translated all the description texts from the screenshots.
Have fun

Warrior

He is the allegorical hero, much appreciated by common people and bound to an elaborate code of honor. He received his training [and education] at an academy. There he not only learnt how to use heavy armor and weapons, but also how to dance at court [not only literally].

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus - Swords [probably meaning he'll have to pay less exp to increase his sword-talent]

Bow Hunter

The Bow Hunter is a ranged fighter who received his training in the army. He fights enemies from afar with aimed, unerring shots. In his light armor he is fast and agile. He also learnt the basics of the bowyers craft [bowying?] in his training.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Sense of distances
- Malus: Close Combat [probably meaning it will cost him more exp to increase his close.combat weapon talents]

Soldier

The soldier didn't enjoy the lengthy training of a warrior's academy, but got to know the rough life in one of Aventuria's armies. He fights masterfully with the two-handed sword and puts the fear of the gods into his enemies. Etiquette is alien to him, but he knows how to orient himself in an unknown city.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Malus: Lore talents [Raising lore-talents, such as street knowledge or magic lore, will be more expensive for him - again: probably]

Battlemage

The battlemage received his training [and education] at the Kampfseminar Andergast [Fightingseminar Andergast - one of Aventuria's mage-academies] - a practically oriented acadademy specialized in training conjuring fighters. He fells his enemies with a flame-lance [a confined jet of pure elemental fire], but he is also able to defend himself with his staff.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Willpower [a talent - or skill - in The Dark Eye, no attribute / see above]
- Malus: Social talents [such as etiquette, human nature or fast talk / see above]

Healing Mage

The healing mage received his training [and education] at the Donnerbach [Thunderbrook] academy, an academy with an elven orientation that mainly trains healing mages. Healing mages are no good fighters, but compensate this with their pronounced art of healing and their enhancement spells for party members [buffs].

Advantages and disadvantages:
- High astral [mana] regeneration
- Malus: Endurance [probably meaning he'll have less from the beginning, maybe it will also be more expensive for him to raise his endurence attribute - though I don't think so]

Charlatan

The charlatan has behind him a failed training at one of the mage academies and cannot resort to the full repertoire of an Aventurian mage. He is an excellent dazzler [illusionist] and skillfully uses his dexterity. His charisma is pronounced and he can fight acceptably with a rapier.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Adaptable [socially]
- Malus: Nature talents

Strayer/Gadder

The strayer grew up in the streets of the city. He is a true survivalist [an artist in getting by], in the wilderness though he seems completely lost. The strayer can quickly and accuratly assess people. His strengths lie in his persuasiveness and charisma, his favored weapon is the rapier.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Good-looking
- Malus: Nature talents

Burglar/Housebreaker

The Horasian burglar is the professed mastercraftsman among the income-redistributers [puh]. He steals because he smells a challenge and loves risk. Picking locks and disabling traps is his profession, his perception and sense for danger are pronounced like no one else's.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Haggling
- Sense of danger

Thief/Pickpocket

The thief is proud of his Phex-favored craft [Phex is the god of Thiefs and Traders alike - the most money-focused god, if you will]. He is agile and nimble and relieves the richmen's pockets of their purses. In order to not end up in a dungeon-cell he knows how to get arround in the city and he also knows how to lay a trap or two to shake off chasers.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Dagger
- Bonus: Perception

Elemental Mage

The elemental mage received his training [and education] at the 'Pentagramma Academy Rashdul'. There he learned how to control the elements and how to summon mighty companions of fire from the elemental sphere [plane].

Advantages and disadvantages:
- High astral energy [more astral energy - mana - from the beginning]
- Malus: Endurance [see above]

Metamage

The metamage engages in the manipulation of spell-matrixes, making him one of the most potent necromancers in Aventuria. Metamages like to linger in their laboratories and only leave themfor a chance of finding even mightier spells.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Resistance to magic
- Malus: Artisan talents

Alchemist

The alchemist is a highly educated and versatile scholar of a secret science. He travels the lands in search of new recipies and hidden knowledge. At the same time alchemists know a bit of magic. They mainly fight with clubs.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Alchemy

Pirate

He decided to leave his ship to seek out his fortune far away from his home. He is a rough companion with enormous strength, which he knows how to use fighting with Skraja [a relatively small, double-sided axe] and shield. He is practiced in using throwing weapons. Etiquette is alien to him, in high-society circles he feels out of place.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- High vitality [more hitpoints]
- Malus: Resistance to magic

Amazon

The amazon is part of the women who have dedicated their life to the godess Rondra. They idolize discipline and obedience as their highest virtues. They don't rely on heavy armor, they emphasize agility. This is mirrored in their characteristic tightly fitting armor.

Advantages and disadvantages:

Bonus: close combat talents [see above]
Malus: Social talents [see above]

Elven Ranger

The ranger is a survivalist [survival artist]. As with all elves, he is born with magic talents; in handling bow and arrow he is nearly unbeatable. The ranger avoids human settlements and their inhabitants. What he does not know about the wilderness isn't noteworthy.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Nature talents [plant lore, animal lore, setting traps, etc.]
- Malus: Social talents [see above]

Elven Spellweaver

The spellweaver is the mentor of elven magic. Like none other he knows how to use his magic to calm animals or summon them from the woods. Like all elves they feel alien in human society.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- High astral-energy [mana] regeneration
- Malus: Social talents

Elven Fighter

The elven fighter is mainly profficient in close combat. He knows how to handle a bow, but it plays a less important role. Elves call him 'Thara', like the deadly weapon in his hands which he uses to fight. Like all elves he doesn't feel comfortable among humans.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Sense of danger
- Low astral-energy [mana] regeneration
- Malus: Social talents

+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

Post too long...
For the dwarves, see below.

+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

The Elf looks far toohuman for my taste. It rather looks like an human with a wig instead of a true aventurian Elf.

You can take a look at how Elves in Aventuria should rather look like here:
http://www.dasschwarzeauge.de/fileadmin/downloads/offiziell/elfen.pdf

Apart from that, the list is impressive.

Dwarven Mercenary

The dwarven mercenary stands out for his love of fighting and wearing a well-worn chain mail. The favored weapons of this gruff fellow are simple axes or maces, in combination with a shield. He is an excellently trained as well as a fearless and fearsome fighter.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Axes and maces

Dwarven Sapper

The sapper is one of the most versatile mercenaries. He is familiar with axes and maces of all kinds and knows how to forge all kinds of useful items. Characteristic for him is the long leather apron and under it a chain mail, which he wears like a second skin.

Advantages and disadvantages:

Bonus: Blacksmith
Malus: Ranged combat

Dwarven Prospector

The prospector is a well trained fighter with a good grasp of hunting and rare plants. The wilderness is his home and he has learnt how to defend himself with crossbow and hatchet. He fears neither death nor evil spirits and often seems quite odd to humans.

Advantages and disadvantages:
- Bonus: Nature talents
- Malus: Social talents

#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

Last but not least a list of talents that are included in the game (from this screenshot (although without combat talents]:

Physical talents:

Sneaking
Willpower
Perception
Pickpocket
Dwarfnose [a special intuition for hidden/secret corridors, chambers and such]

Nature talents:

Animal lore
Plant lore
Survival
Set traps

Lore talents:

Streetwise
Treat poison
Treat wounds
Arcane lore

Social talents:

Seduce
Etiquette
Haggle
Human nature
Fast talk

Artisan Talents:

Alchemy
Bowyer
Blacksmith (Weapons & Armor)
Pick locks
Disable traps

#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+#+

I've found a list of the (close) combat talents here, along with a list of (some) special combat maneuvers one can learn.

Combat Talents

Brawling
Daggers
Axes and Maces
Staffs
Spears
Fencing Weapons
Sabers
Swords
Two-Handed Swords
Two-Handed Axes & Maces

The special maneuvers (the kind of skill tree) are, from top left to top right, and so on (without anymore explanation - sorry :

Offensive Stance I, II, III

Defensive Stance I, II, III

Smashing Blow -> Throw Down -> Hammerblow
-> Freeing Blow

Master Parade -> Bladewall -> Windmill

Feint -> Aimed Stab -> Death Blow
-> Blade Storm
-> Throw off feet

You might notice that there seems to be another offensive tab of maneuvers, as well as one tab for shield maneuvers.

Thanks for posting all this, ulixes-- quite a lot of depth to your translations--they really give a good feel for the classes.

I stuck your link to PCGames.de on the front page for everyone also.

Very nice translation, ulixes. Thx.

Indeed, nice work!

Strayer/Gadder

Click to expand...

In past RoA games, the Streuner was simply called Rogue (and She-Rogue).

Otherwise, great translations!

Yeah it's Drakensang week or something on PC Games. Yesterday they showed screenshots of all the female models - undressed (no, I'm not kidding you)... which you can see here: http://www.pcgames.de/aid,650392/Bildergalerie/Rollenspiel/Exklusiv_Die_weiblichen_Charaktere_aus_Drakensang_enthuellt/

And today they are showing screenshots of the starting area which you can see here: http://www.pcgames.de/aid,650458/Bildergalerie/Rollenspiel/Exklusiv_Abenteuer_in_Avestreu_-_das_Startgebiet_von_Drakensang/

Thanks for the praise, it took me a while

One more thing:

Feel free to copy the stuff and repost it whereever you want, just please name my screenname (which really is just "ulix").

Your name sounds as if you were from Ulisses directly, by the way.

Apart from that : Thanks for the translation, too.

Great job

Thanks for this

Does anyone of you know the deeper meaning behind the whole 20 classes thing?

I mean, to me, less is still more. I would have been satisfied with only 4 classes or maybe 8 classes. Is it becacuse the races is tied into the classes as well? It certainly looks that way?

For the talents etc. it sure looks a lot like the old Ultima IV and V games. (Not that I've played them, but I have heard about them).

As for the combat it seems you need to use the keyboard a lot (via short cuts) to do offensive stance II or shield maneuver II?? Or do you just learn them? and then they are sort of passive skills??

The "deeper meaning" is that these "classes" are actually called "professions" in the German-language rule system.

The word "profession" doesn't have exactly the same meaning than its English-language counterpart, but goes into that directin. The German lean-word "profession" is rarely used, normally. It rather means that someone takes his or her (English-word) "profession" rather seriously.

Well, in short, these "classes" are nonexistent in the German-language edition of the rule-set, but they are called "professions" in it.

The whole professions are made up of basically 2-3 things :

1. race / culture (culture in cases of humans, for example)
2. profession
3. sub-profession

Example :

1. human
2. mage
3. Elementarist ( = Elemental Mage)

This goes for every race, but for Drakensang, most sub-professions have been omitted. There are rather main professions there.

If you look at the first picture , you can see the race (human), in this case the "Mittelländer" (from the "Middle Realm", so to say), with the profession of a military man, and the small heads on this picture repesent the variations or sub-professions.

This is how I understood this.

In the pen & paper rule-set, there are many, many more "professions" available, and several of them wouldn't work in this game.

That's why there are so many (partly due to fan demand).

Yeah.

The fans would have wanted a "real" character-creation, like in the P&P. Where you first choose your race (there are several human races and a bunch of non-humans), then your culture and last but not least your profession (which may come in the form of several sub-professions, like Alrik pointed out).

Of course this model was not feasible for the CRPG, this is why the developers chose to include 20 predefined Race/Culture/Profession combinations. If you look at the screenshots you can even see the exact combinations they chose (Rasse/Kultur/Profession - should be self-explanatory).
They also chose to leave out overly exotic possibilities which you would have had in the P&P, like witches, druids, academics, tatoo-artists (professions); like Achaz (lizard-people), orcs or goblins (races); like Utulu, Fountlandian (Cultures).

As should be apparrent by now, in the P&P you have virtually hundreds of thousands of combination possibilities.



Concerning the skills/special maneuvers:

You'll have to learn them by spending exp, the same mechanism you raise attributes or talents. There is nothing that automatically gets raised when you level up. You have to raise (and learn) everything manually (theoretically, of course the PC-Game gives you the possibility to do it automatically for you).
Of the special combat maneuvers most aren't passive, so you'll have to activate them manually (with a short-cut, for example), but some are passive.

I suppose that "agressive stance" and "defensive stance" you'll only have to activate once (e.g. at the beginning of a fight).

But there might also be completely passive skills, like armor accustomization (which I suppose will be in the game - though I don't know), which generally lowers the encumburance that armor may cause.

For example a piece of armor might have a armor rating of 3 and an encumburance stat of 3 (normally they are more or less the same).
If you had "armor accustomization I" this piece of armor would only cause an encumburance of 2. If you had "armor accustomizadtion II" it would only have an encumburance of 1.

An armor rating of 3 would mean that if somebody did 8 hit-points, this would be lowered by 3, and the attacked person would only receive 5 damage points.
An encumburance rating menas that one's movement speed is lowered. A normal humanoid in The Dark Eye has a speed of 8 (meters/second). This gets lowered by one point per encumburance point, so if you wear a helmet with encumburance 1 and an armor with encumburance 2, you'd only be able to move with an average speed of 5 meters/second.

(Elves have a speed of 9, dwarves 7, and if your agility is higher than... I thing 15... then your speed rating also goes up one point.)

Great info and much appreciated.

If only they'd release some info on an English version...

You can get an idea of how "levelling up" (although it isn't bound by levels at all, if you've received exp, you can immediatly spend it) works, if you look at this screenshot.

On the top left you can see that this character already has 3383 experience points.
She also has 170 "Raising points", which means she must have spent 3213 points (3383 - 170) already. She is level (Stufe) 6 (although that doesn't mean much).

In brackets next to the attributes and talents you can see how much it would cost to raise these by one point. It would, for example, cost 380 points to raise courage (Mut / MU) by one point to 14. Attributes are very expensive to raise.
Talents not so much. Raising sneaking ("Schleichen", the first one) from 6 to 7 would only cost 33 exp.

If you've got more questions, go ahead and ask

All I really want to know at this point is: When will it be out?

Good RPGs are rare, so I'm certainly getting this as soon as it is released. Whether or not it turns out great remains to be seen (story, choices/consequences and so on have a lot to say, and it's hard to get any info on that untill it's released), but it's definetly worth a shot. Looks good so far.

Well, the whole class/race thing was never exactely DSA's strongest points. The first few editions did not even separate class from race and even today some of the classes doesn't seem to make much sense to me, but then again I'm used to the WFRP class system which is kinda awsome. I think it was a rather wise decision from the developers of Drakensang to give people a selection of archetypes they can choose from. It makes things easier for people who don't know much about DSA or just want to get into the game as fast as possible.

ulixes said:

She is level (Stufe) 6 (although that doesn't mean much).

Click to expand...

In earlier editions of the system the Stufe mattered much more, because you could only distribute points for skills when you levelled up.

This has been eleminated more or less because you can distrubite the points *at any time*.

The discussions about the next edition I read hint at the system dropping the levels altogether (at least that's how I understood it).

Maylander said:

All I really want to know at this point is: When will it be out ?

Click to expand...

No idea. Germany is the primary market for this game.

Ionstormsucks said:

I think it was a rather wise decision from the developers of Drakensang to give people a selection of archetypes they can choose from. It makes things easier for people who don't know much about DSA or just want to get into the game as fast as possible.

Click to expand...

Very much so, yes.

Yesterday PC Games showed the spells of Drakensang... here are the screenshots
http://www.pcgames.de/aid,650740/Bildergalerie/Rollenspiel/Exklusiv_Magisches_Drakensang_-_die_Zaubersprueche_in_DSA/#kommt%20nicht%20immer%20aus%20der%20Natur

Not sure if there is coming more today, but for now they released the system requirements:

Minimale Systemvoraussetzungen:
Betriebssystem: Windows XP mit Service Pack 2 oder Vista
Prozessor: Pentium 4 CPU 2,4 GHz oder vergleichbare CPU
RAM: 1024 MB für Windows XP, 1536 MB für Vista, 2048 MB für Vista 64
Grafikkarte: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT mit 256 MB RAM oder vergleichbar
Optisches Laufwerk: DVD-ROM
Soundkarte: Direct X 9c kompatible Soundkarte
Freier Festplattenspeicher: 6 GB

Empfohlene Systemvoraussetzungen:
Betriebssystem: Windows XP mit Service Pack 2 oder Vista
Prozessor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200, 2,6 GHz oder vergleichbare CPU
RAM: 2048 MB für Windows XP, 2560 MB für Vista
Grafikkarte: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 oder vergleichbar
Optisches Laufwerk: DVD-ROM
Soundkarte: Direct X 9c kompatible Soundkarte
Freier Festplattenspeicher: 6 GB

Click to expand...

Minimum requirements:
OS: Windows XP including Service Pack 2 or Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 processor 2,4 GHz or equivalent
Memory: 1024 MB for Windows XP, 1536 MB for Vista, 2048 MB for Vista 64
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT with 256 MB RAM or equivalent
Drive: DVD-ROM
Sound: Direct X 9c compatible
Hard Disk-Space: 6 GB

Recommended:
OS: Windows XP including Service Pack 2 or Vista
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8200, 2,6 GHz or equivalent
Memory: 2048 MB for Windows XP, 2560 MB for Vista
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or equivalent
Drive: DVD-ROM
Sound: Direct X 9c compatible
Hard Disk-Space: 6 GB

They just released another bunch of high res screenshots which you can see here:
http://www.pcgames.de/aid,651175/Bildergalerie/Rollenspiel/Exklusiv_Monster_Hexen_Ungetueme_30_High-Res-Shots_aus_Drakensang/