While the RPG aspects of SpellForce aren’t perfectly polished, they are surprisingly substantial, even compared to battle-heavy RPGs such as Dungeon Siege or Icewind Dale II. Your Rune Warrior has a bevy of abilities and related statistics, increases in experience and level and accumulates a surfeit of equipment. More importantly, there is an extensive skill system that lets you create a warrior proficient in heavy weapons and armor, a healer, a elemental mage with a predilection for ice magic or a necromancer. Just as an effective melee fighter must locate decent equipment and formidable weapons, a mage must find or purchase skill-appropriate spells of power. If the extensive customizability of your character has a weakness, it is primarily the lack of documentation. You only discover attribute minimums and spell functions as you encounter them in the game, and so unlike the simplified hero systems in games such as Warcraft III, it is possible to generate a weak or handicapped character, or spread your skills too thinly in the wrong areas. Unfortunately, because you only learn a skill or two each level, it can be many hours of play before you figure that out. Once you are familiar with the skill system, the choices are varied enough you may find yourself wondering “what would happen if I played through again as a necromantic archer?” Most importantly, it’s easier to feel connected to a character when you’ve had such control over his or her development.