Retro Game Guide: Diablo - PC Game Guide - Playable Characters Guide
Brief Game Overview
It’s now over ten years old, but the legacy that is Diablo lives on strong in the hearts of fans around the world. Blizzard Entertainmet, the company behind the Diablo game recently announced the eagerly-awaited Diablo III, but fans and newcomers of the Diablo series should first return to the original game in preparation for a whole new episode of hack-and-slash action.Set in the village of Tristram in the mythical kingdom of Khanduras, the original Diablo game featured three character classes; the warrior, the Rogue and the Sorcerer:
The Warrior
The warrior is a powerful melee fighter, master of weaponry and capable of taking more damage than any of the other available classes. Warriors also gain a slight increase in the rate of strike with a melee weapon.
According to the background, warriors range from barbarians from the northern highlands to noble paladins.Warriors are able to repair the equipment they carry, but in so doing lowers the item’s durability. However, as a warrior advances in level, the durability penalty drops.
The Warrior has a higher chance to hit in melee combat than other classes and is the only character to have a chance to cause a critical hit (which causes twice the original damage), as well as the best chance to block with a shield.
The Rogue
The rogues are essentially archers, and are relatively weak in hand-to-hand combat.
They possess a higher affinity to magic than warriors and thus are able to make better use of magic in their battles, although not nearly as well as sorcerers.
The rogues belong to a group called the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye, and are the best archers in the world of Sanctuary.
The Rogue has the ability to spot doors, chests and coffins that might be trapped and disarm any traps found. The chance to spot and disarm a trap increases with the character’s dexterity attribute.
When determining the damage dealt with her bow, the Rogue calculates not only her strength but her dexterity as well; this also govern’s the Rogue’s rate of fire, which is similarly effected in the way a warrior’s melee attack is.
The Mage
Mages are masters of the arcane arts and have the highest magical ability.
They are very weak with weapons and are not suited to close combat, preferring to rely on their magic to smite enemies.
With magic being their weapon, mages gain a slight increase in speed of casting a spell.
In Diablo, sorcerers belong to a mage clan, known as Vizjerei, and have come to Tristram looking to discover long lost tomes of magic knowledge that lie under the cathedral.
Mages can recharge magic staves at a similar cost as the warrior does with physical equipment, and similarly any reduction is lessened as the Mage advances in level.
The Sorcerer has the highest chance to hit with a magical spell, as well as having a faster spellcasting rate. Mages also gain more mana than any other class from items that improve Magic.
Character Attributes
Diablo characters have four attributes: strength, dexterity, vitality and magic. These attributes determine the character’s life and mana scores with initial and maximum scores as follows:
The strength attribute determines the level of additional damage your character inflicts with his weapon, while also being a mitigating factor in the type of melee weapon and armour you can use. It is a similar story with Dexterity and missile weapons. The higher these attributes are the more choice of weapon and armour becomes available.
Vitality essentially relates to your character’s hitpoints, as illustrated by the red orb on the gameplay screen. Similarly, magic determines the amount of mana your character has, which is represented by a blue orb. Mana is used to cast magic spells in Diablo.
In the next part of this guide to the original Diablo PC game, we’ll meet the inhabitants of Tristram and take a look at the services they offer your character throughout the game.
This post is part of the series: Diablo Character Guides
Tips on how to play each of the characters succesfully in the original Diablo game.
