The Warrior: Attributes

Attributes

Strength increases your damage and affects your accuracy with melee attacks, making it the warrior's number-one attribute.

As you might expect, it's reflected in the warrior class bonus with a +4 strength. Many talents will require high strength scores, and more powerful weapons and armor require a higher strength stat.

When you level up, you may consider spending two points on strength for every one point you spend somewhere else, especially early in your warrior career to unlock talents quicker (you may even decide to put all three points per level in strength to unlock talents earlier).

Next, a warrior should stock up on constitution. You can always use more health, which constitution directly increases, and constitution also boosts resilience to keep you fighting on the battlefield longer.

The warrior's starting bonus of +3 constitution gives you a good jump, and you should consider throwing points to constitution if you don't have any other attribute you want to improve immediately.

Warrior Attribute Bonuses

+4 Strength

+3 Dexterity

+3 Constitution

Dexterity can do a lot for a warrior. It affects your chance to hit, increases your chance to dodge enemy blows, and augments damage from piercing weapons like arrows and daggers.

Archery and dual weapon - specced warriors should load up on dexterity, even forgoing strength early if you need to unlock certain ranged or dual-weapon talents.

The warrior's +3 dexterity bonus pushes you to above-average dexterity from the start, and you should continue spending points if you plan on a healthy balance of offense and defense.

At first glance, you might dismiss willpower as a stat for mages. But read the fine print. Willpower increases stamina, so if your warrior loves to perform daring maneuvers that drain a lot of stamina - and who doesn't! - you'll have to throw points to this attribute once in a while.

At lower levels, you won't have the extra points to boost willpower, but when you hit the teens, start looking to expand your stamina pool.

Magic shouldn't be a priority at all; however, it does increase the effect of potions and salves, and because most warriors rely on potions to buff health in a fight, magic is not entirely useless.

Cunning can be neglected, unless you plan to use Coercion and wish to persuade many of the NPCs with your tongue.

However, because you can also intimidate many of those same NPCs with your strength score, cunning is a luxury stat that you should only bump up once all your main attributes are in great shape.

During character creation, feel free to choose a race based on the corresponding origin story you would like to play through as a warrior.

It's much more important to enjoy the origin story for your character than it is to worry about a point here or there in your attributes.

However, if maximizing your warrior stats appeals to you, choose a dwarf or human. A dwarven warrior gives you a starting 15 strength, 14 dexterity, and 15 constitution.

You can't beat that for your main attributes. For a more well-rounded approach, try the human warrior with 15 strength, 14 dexterity, and 13 constitution (with a couple of points spread to magic and cunning).

The elven warrior isn't as solid out of the gates as his natural race bonus applies to willpower and magic, so an elf's main warrior attributes aren't as high.

Warrior Starting Attributes

Once you choose your warrior's race, you begin with five extra points to add to your attributes. That's almost two "level ups" worth of attribute growth, so spend it wisely.

If you want a powerful and damaging warrior, apply all five points to strength. If you want a more defensive juggernaut, spend three points on constitution and two points on dexterity.

In most cases, though, it's probably best to stick with the standard warrior advice—strength first, then constitution—and spend three points on strength and two points on constitution.