Dragon Age: Origins Awakening: Party Tactics, Runecrafting, and Level 20 Skill Chains

Importing a Warden and Starting at Level 18

Opening the expansion presents a choice between two routes. Selecting the import option from another module lists the available characters; picking one and confirming loads that Warden into the new campaign. A character who died at the climax of the original story is treated as having lived, so play continues with that same hero. If the imported character had not yet reached level 18, the game jumps them straight to that threshold on entry. Choosing to create a new character instead begins the game as a Grey Warden from Orlais, and every newly created character starts at level 18.

Both paths land the Warden at the same starting threshold with points waiting to be spent. The expansion adds two new specializations for each class and grants a third specialization point at level 22. As a bonus, two points are available to spend as soon as play begins, but only on specializations already unlocked from the original Dragon Age: Origins. Specializations also carry attribute bonuses and secondary bonuses: for example, the Spirit Warrior adds one point of Constitution and five points of physical resistance, while the Shadow adds one point of Dexterity.

Level 20 Skill Chains and 56 New Talents

Experience drives the climb toward the level 20 milestone, where a fresh set of options opens. At that point three new skill chains become available to both newly created and imported characters. Runecrafting centers on iconography and lyrium inscription, letting a character craft runes that upgrade weapons and armor, with higher ranks producing more powerful runes. Vitality reflects peak physical condition, adding a bonus to health with each rank. Clarity represents mental discipline, shutting out distractions, and each rank adds a bonus to mana or stamina, feeding directly into resource pools used in play.

The expansion adds 56 new talents and spells, and these abilities reach the character through two different channels. Some become available at level 20, tying them to the same threshold that unlocks the new skill chains. Others are associated with the six new specializations, meaning a character must adopt one of those specialization paths to gain access to that group of abilities. The result is a layered progression: the level 20 gate opens certain talents for any qualifying character, while the specialization choice routes other new talents and spells along a more focused path.

Runecrafting and Nine-Tier Equipment

Weapons and armor made of wood, metal, and leather now span nine tiers of quality, two tiers above the best equipment found in the original Dragon Age: Origins campaign. The expansion also introduces more than 500 new items, among them legendary weapons and armor. Runecrafting feeds directly into this gear system: the skill lets a character create and upgrade runes, and its higher ranks produce more powerful runes. The power range for runes expands from five tiers to seven, and the new rune types include defensive runes that can be applied to armor rather than weapons.

Beyond gear, the expansion adds quick-use consumables that split along class and effect lines. Stamina Draughts instantly restore some stamina for warriors and rogues; mages cannot use them. Dispel weapon coatings, grenades, and traps strip hostile magical effects, while elemental coatings, grenades, and traps deal damage from all five elemental types at once. Ethereal versions of consumables already known from Dragon Age: Origins round out the list. These items sit alongside the expanded weapon and armor tiers, giving crafted runes and nine-tier gear practical support in the field.

Party Selection, Camera Work, and Tactical Combat Controls

Movement and camera work are split between keyboard and mouse. The W and S keys run the character forward and backward, while Q and E handle lateral running. Camera rotation is mapped to A and D, with Home and End adjusting the camera's vertical angle. Zooming uses the Page Up and Page Down keys, and scrolling the mouse wheel also zooms; when fully zoomed out, the arrow keys pan across the battlefield. Dragging with the mouse wheel held down or nudging the screen edge pans at that zoom level. At any zoom, right-click dragging rotates the camera. A slash on the numpad toggles between running and walking.

Combat and party control rely on direct clicks and function keys. Right-clicking an enemy attacks it, while right-clicking an object interacts with it or right-clicking the ground moves the selected character. After choosing a targeted spell or talent from the quickbar with a number key, a left-click selects the target and a right-click cancels it. Left-click selects a party member, and dragging a selection box while left-clicking selects multiple characters. F1 through F4 select individual characters, and Shift combined with those keys selects several at once. The H key toggles party move and hold, the equals key selects the full party, and Spacebar pauses combat. The 1 through 0 keys trigger quickbar abilities, and the slash key swaps weapon sets.

First published Oct 22, 2026.