Thanks to BioWare, we already know that the player character (called ‘Rook’) of Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t have Blood Magic specialization available when choosing a Mage class; the only available options are, as outlined in our info roundup article, Death Callers (necromancers), Spellblades (warrior mages who enhance their melee attacks with magic), or Evokers, masters of elemental fire, ice, and lightning magic.
Blood Magic has long been a staple of the franchise, though. Players could select it when playing as a Mage in Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II, for instance, and some fans had been looking forward to it. At first, BioWare only shared that the main character would have compelling reasons to avoid using this type of magic.
Now, Patrick Weekes (Lead Writer at BioWare on the Dragon Age franchise since David Gaider’s departure) has provided a more detailed explanation of this choice, as spotted by Twitter user Hrungr.
Blood Magic is unlikely (editor’s note: even in future games for player characters) because we’ve shifted it from a power boost to really being the key to a lot of nasty stuff we aren’t interested in having the heroes do. I think it can be ethically neutral if you only use your own blood, but after seeing it used as a required part of mind control and demon binding in Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age Inquisition, it’s just not a road we want the hero to walk right now.
As a reminder, this magic school leverages the intrinsic spellcasting power of blood for potentially powerful spells, like mind control, not to mention the extremely dangerous demon summoning ritual. In Dragon Age lore, the magisters of the Tevinter Imperium used Blood Magic to conquer most of Thedas. Nowadays, however, even they discourage its usage, at least in an official capacity.
Even though BioWare is looking to veer away from the usage of Blood Magic for player characters, that doesn’t mean there won’t be something similar. Weekes also wrote:
“Use your health to cast more spells” is a fun gameplay twist for folks who like that kind of risk/reward playstyle. We might find other ways to get that. Just not Blood Magic for the hero for now.
Are you disappointed about the disappearance of Blood Magic as a viable Mage specialization? Let us know below. As a reminder, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is scheduled to launch this Fall on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
