The skills in Dragon Age: Origins do not have as noticeable benefits as talents, but the selection of skills can be quite important in the long run. Some skills can be beneficial even on characters you never include in your party. The game does clearly explain what each skill does, but this information is not clear enough to help decide just how useful a skill actually is to have. Each skill has four different levels that can be taken. In most cases, the crafting skills are best leveled on a character you do not use. You can switch them into your party whenever you need to craft an item and then replace them with your normal party members. Dominoqq is an online platform that you can check out for some of the best tips and tricks that you can learn when it comes to learning more about Dragon Age: Origins. 

Coercion

Coercion is the only character-specific skill. Only the main character, regardless of class, can level it. This improves the chance a Persuade or Intimidate conversation option will work. There is no reason not to eventually take all four levels of this skill. It does not need to be a priority, but the benefit of being able to persuade or intimidate an NPC is very important due to how conversation heavy “Dragon Age: Origins” is.

Stealing

Stealing is a terrible skill. The only reason you should ever put a point into it is that one specific questline requires the main character to have a rank of Stealing before you can get it. The reason Stealing is a terrible skill is that it offers little benefit, but massive repercussions. Just using the skill can potentially cause some NPCs to become hostile towards you even if you never get caught. The skill will let you earn a little extra money, but you should never have issues with money anyways if you do side quests.

Trap-Making

Trap-Making is a skill available to every class, but only a Rogue should ever take it. This is the only crafting skill that you will want all four ranks on a regular party member. The second and fourth ranks of the skill substantially increase the range you can see traps. Without the skill, you will almost step on a trap before you can see it. With all four ranks you can usually see a trap as soon as you walk into the room it is in. In most cases, this skill should only be leveled on Leliana or the main character depending on who you use to disarm traps.

Survival

Survival is a semi-useful skill that allows you to see nearby creatures. It is nice, but not crucial to have a character with all four ranks on the skill in your party. Survival also gives a small bonus to nature resistance and eventually physical resistance. Survival is the best skill to dump points into if there is nothing else you need.

Herbalism

Herbalism allows you to make different potions. It is the only way to get a consistent supply of higher level potions and for very cheap as well. You should level this on a character you never plan on using. Wynne and Morrigan are the easiest choices because both come with a few ranks of this skill.

Poison-Making

Poison-Making is one of the few skills worthwhile to have on many characters. You need one rank of the skill to use poisons, which can be quite helpful for any melee character. You only actually need one character with four ranks of the skill to actually craft potions. One rank is a good choice for any party member with a melee weapon. However, Zevran is the only person you should get all four ranks of the skill with.

Combat Training

Rogues and warriors absolutely need all four ranks of Combat Training. You need third and fourth rank Combat Training to get third and fourth rank weapon talents. Arcane Warrior specialized mages should get all four ranks as well.

Combat Tactics

Combat Tactics is the second-worst talent in “Dragon Age: Origins.” Unfortunately, the game will prioritize it if it is allowed to auto-level your characters. This skill gives more tactics slots to set the AI of your characters. You get more tactics slots automatically as you level the character up without this skill. Rogues and warriors simply do not need the extra tactics slots in the first place. Mages still will not have enough to be prepared for every possible situation without the player controlling the character at least some of the time.