BioWare detailed the new crafting system welcoming players on "Dragon Age Inquisition." Know what schematics are, how elemental effects apply, gear customisation and inventory detailed by Chris Pickford and Mike Laidlaw.

'Dragon Age Inquisition' Crafting System

BioWare revealed interesting details at the official website of "Dragon Age" on how crafting system works on the third instalment of the game series. Crafting includes customisation on both armours and weapons on the game derived from "schematics."

"First, we wanted you to have a lot of opportunities to customise your look. Second, we wanted to encourage experimentation and if things were really cooking, targeted creation," Creative Director Mike Laidlaw said as introduction to the schematic concept.

A schematic determines the possible shape of a blade or core armour when crafting. Every schematic can feature combination of metals, leathers and cloths, which measure the effectiveness of that specific gear. In addition to effectiveness, materials used will also influence bonuses and visual appearance. Here are some effects Laidlaw pointed out on how materials can affect visual appearance and in-game combat rules:

- Blades made from serpentstone will have dull greenish colour while onyx gives shiny black colour.

- Core piece of a gear can be upgraded.

- Upgraded armours will have different visual appearance than before.

- Upgrade armours will also gain new properties.

- Regardless of upgrades, armours will always inherit the colour scheme of the core body.

- Same with armour upgrades, installing a new hilt or pommel on the sword will always match the rest of the blade's colour scheme.

- Craft gears can have customised names.

Questions Answered By BioWare

BioWare answered several questions from different individuals around the world regarding the new crafting system. Know the facts on looting, crafting, elemental effects, inventory, cross-class combos and availability of schematics.

1. Crafting is only an option for players. Several in-game items around Thedas can make the Inquisitor powerful without the need for crafting.

2. Inventory is measured by the number of slots rather than weight. Players can improve the inventory slots via Inquisition customisation.

3. Schematics are available via looting or purchase.

4. Strength between crafted and looted items varies. Crafted items can be powerful depending on the materials used and management purposes -- defence, offence or balance.

5. Crafted weapons will have elemental effects via masterworking system and runes system.

6. Masterworking and runes systems can trigger cross-class combos with other abilities due to elemental effects.

7. Staves used by mages can also be modified with exclusive access to special runes.

8. Unique armours and weapons are possible to occur using the new crafting system.

9. New materials are added on the game with usability restrictions between classes.

10. Abundance of crafting materials is based on rarity level.

Customisation of armours and weapons are not exclusive to the Inquisitor, which means players can also apply the feature on companions. Moreover, customisation of the keep using themes such as Ferelden or Orlais has been enabled.