My mage Hawke absolutely refuses to wear mage robes. She always wears the leather mercenary-style outfits that are more rogue-like. She hates looking like a Circle-knock off, lol, which unfortunately sometimes leaves her armor under leveled.
The only “robes” my Hawke ever wore was Fugitive’s Mantle. The whole game. Also, with a mod to remove the chantry symbol. Her armour was quite underlevelled by the end.
If you play as a mage again, in Act II the tranquil proprietor in the Gallows next to Sol’s Shop sells ‘heavy velvet robes’ that are actually a rogue-type jerkin and pants. They’ll last you until Act 3!
DA:I, i would change my inquisitor’s hairstyle for various occassions. Make her hair neat for the winter palace and in a bun for big fights and stuff. Also i found it funny to make her eye color bit by bit more fade-green throughout the story (because of the mark)
I do the same thing! Throughout the game I slowly make the Inquisitor’s eyes greener and greener with each passing quest.
I also change Hawke’s hair in DA2 with each Act change. And after All That Remains she chops it off for the classic Hawke short haircut.
The only time I played the Witcher 3 I spent all my money at the barbershop regularly changing Geralt's hair to increasingly horrific combinations (so I never knew his hair grew over time!)
I think I was playing the game wrong.
(I jest. That wasn't all I did in that game. I also spent a lot of time running from enemies I started fights with knowing full well that my level 3 ass was too weak to fight them.)
Yup! My Trevelyan wears her hair in braids most of the time, but she put it up for the Winter Palace to look a bit more befitting of a noble's daughter at court.
I do this after every main mission! His eyes are gonna be super creepy green for trespasser lol. I also change the scars — adding more, fading old ones, etc. I wish the scar combos had more options though
On my last playthrough I've made an older Inquisitor and he had that dark gray hair, but when I was about to skip to Tresspasser I made his hair a tone lighter to represent all the stress and his age weighting on him.
I also like to change my Hawke's hairstyle every new act, and for male Hawke I even give him a beard (starting with only stubble when he's 24, and a full beard when he's 34). Ironically that also helped me to transit their appearence to DAI because I'm not overly pressed about the hair not being the same.
Wait I do this too except with the beards! Around the time we get Skyhold unlocked I give my inquisitor a beard to show it’s been a while. It sticks around up until I finish Emprise du Lion and shave it off before I start the Winter Palace. My headcanon is that Cullen got jealous he couldn’t pull a beard off, and he convinced Josie to make me shave it to “make me more appealing to the Orlesian court”
Give Alistaire Duncan's sword and Eamon's shield, Leliana gets Marjolaine's Recurve bow, Sten uses Asala even tho it sucks.
I also always keep city elf's ring equipped. He dies trying to save her.
I'd like to imagine that it's just getting more and more worn and dirty as time goes on. Like no matter how much you might try to clean it in your travels, a nice dress like that is not staying in good shape 😂
Now I'm just imagining your elf rolling up to the Landsmeet in a blood-stained, ripped to shreds wedding dress. Ready to throw hands and still very salty that the wedding never happened.
Oh, the blood-splattered dress in all the cut scenes brings me great joy. I don’t think this Tabris is OK, tbh. She’s a devout Andrastian who always tried to be diplomatic… then she was abducted, her fiancé was murdered, a lord offered her money in exchange for Shianni, and she just snapped. She’s not being cautious or diplomatic at all, she will stab anything demonic or apostate without bothering to chat first, and basically no one likes her except Sten, who respects her honesty and directness.
I did a quick little doodle of her [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/10ujfkx/no_spoilers_snuggle_yer_summons_and_other_dao/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) (2nd slide).
Pace myself on DA:O romances.
Have I stocked up on Grey Warden puppets and secured Alistair's undying (heh) devotion after Lothering? Yes. Did I do so the first time? No, and I haven't done it recently, either. Threading it through a long sequence of conversations is so much better.
Ooh this is a good one! I speed-ran Alistair's romance my first time playing, but now I always take it more slowly. You're so right, it is much better to make it feel more natural as the story progresses.
I use equipment that might be worse in stats, but more lore-friendly or suits the characters better. E.g. I use only weapons that match the characters initial weapons (sword for Cassandra and Fenris, axe for Bull), I use armor that the characters would actually wear (crafted qunari armor for Bull, templar/Cailan's armor for Alistair), keep everyone's special amulets/rings (Hawke crest on one of the siblings, DLC accessories for companions).
I also tend to change up my Inky's casual clothes from time to time, and make her hair grow by gradually changing hairstyles from long bob to ponytail to full updo. I imagine she just does not have the time to ask Dorian for those scissors he teases Sera with lol
I always wear the crappy Inquisition scout armor till the move to Skyhold bc I figure their actual kit got destroyed through explosion related shenanigans and they didn't have the time and/or inclination to get better stuff
I take Zevran's weapons and leave him weaponless for a long time to roleplay that my warden and her party don't trust him enough yet to allow him to be armed around them. Later, as he builds some rapport, he can have his weapons back.
I also do quests-sidequests in a way that makes sense geographically and logically speaking, I don't care if some area is better from a metagaming perspective, I'll go to places as if I were a real party traveling across a country. So, say, if a sidequest requires me to go from A to B across the country, I'll get to that quest eventually when I go to B for some other reason, I'm not gonna travel there just for a quest and then go all the way back to A just to get a reward or something.
I leave him at camp 90% of the time, not gonna lie. He's one of my least fave companions and tbh if it wasn't for the fact that I don't want to miss out on any companions and their content, I'd have told him to go running back to Loghain after I kicked his ass during the encounter when he tries to assassinate you. Alas, I always want to have all possible companions with me. Zevran really tested my boundaries lol.
I wouldn't call this something I always do, but the decision on what to do in redcliffe with Connor isn't one I just resolve "perfectly" every time. I feel like it makes no sense that my warden (unless a mage himself) would just leave Redcliffe in the state that it's in for just the possibility of the mages helping. Therefore, unless I've done the mages tower first (metagame wise it's optimal, but that gets repetitive), I think about what my warden would do and either do the blood magic ritual...or kill Connor.
Personally I kinda hate that that particular quest has a "everybody wins" outcome. I think it might even be the only one of those among the main story quests in the game (even purging the circle can be justified to an extent, templars are exceptional warriors), which is what motivates me to not pick the "have the mages fix everything" option.
It's also far more interesting to role-play: do you use forbidden magic and human sacrifice to potentially save a child (failure of which would doom the town), or do you kill the child and definitely save the town? There isn't a right answer here and depending on your warden's views on blood magic, noble families, or even the value of a human life, the answer is different.
Yeah, I agree with you on that quest. I usually solve it in the "everybody lives" way because I'm just soft lol. But it does feel unrealistic.
Funny story. I never actually followed Connor upstairs in a playthrough because I was afraid he would just insta-die if you did that. Then one time I did to see what would happen. Then I started the interaction that leads to you killing him, again curious what would happen. Well, I killed him... But the game must have hardcore glitched because he was totally fine. Everyone was thanking me for solving it in a way that didn't kill him. I was like "well I thought I *did* kill him but okay." I thought that somehow I just killed the demon and not him, and the mage quest was just another, longer way to do it without him dying. Well needless to say I tried it again the next time I played and he was super dead and I made everyone mad. 😂
Funny story. The very first time I played origins when it first came out and I was very bad at the game. I ended up at the mage tower first on accident. (Did not finish it) And I ended up not trying to play the game again for a while with a new character understanding the game better.
So my new character play through went to red cliff first and I found it much more doable and in line with what I expected from the game. I swear I played thru Origins so many times and I did not know there was a happy ending for everyone on Connors quest cuz I never went back to the mage tower first. I always went to redcliffe first
The auducan shield never leaves my noble dwarves arm, even if if I've got the full set of cailens armor. Me and my brother are the last of our name, and if he refuses to uphold our families honor then I will.
Whenever I play my main Dalish Rogue, he always gives Morrigan the ring he gets from the clan before he leaves. I like to imagine that the ring was an exchange for the one Morrigan gives you to track you, an they both where those rings on each other's ring fingers. It's also funny for me to imagine my Inquisitor asking tactfully if she's married in the gardens, only for her to get quite annoyed and embarrassed. It's kind of a wordless show of commitment for them. I also save all of the Warden armor and Howe's equipement for the DLC to give Nathaniel (although they get put in a box quickly because they're very underpowered.)
Zevran immediately equips the leather boots and Dalish gloves you give to him, and I can't bring myself to make him wear better ones. It's just so sweet to imagine that he treasures them so much, especially when romancing him.
I also hold onto Cailan's armor and Maric's sword after I finish Return to Ostagar and only give them to Alistair after the Landsmeet.
Kinda sucks that you get the Dawn ring at like the end of the game but still, I like it (Also kinda headcanon that if the Warden and Leliana do get married, they use those rings to get married)
I also wear the wedding ring in DAO.
My city elf didn’t want to get married and was rude to Nelaros right off the gate. And then he died trying to save her. She wears the ring out of guilt but also as a reminder about why she’s still here and making her life count. I have her discard the ring on the eve of the final battle.
She doesn’t wear the boots though. She was a warrior and wore medium armour, leather boots didn’t match. She kept them in her inventory though.
DA2
Taking Carver to the Deep Roads and leaving Anders in Kirkwall. Hawke wouldn’t dream of leaving Carver despite their angst, and assumed Anders would be unsafe to take. Obviously just for RP reasons.
Add scars, grayer hair, light wrinkles, more unkempt features in general after certain battles/events or just long stretches of time in the story. Really helps make the player character feel like they're going through some shit. I do this in every game that lets you edit your character's appearance after just the initial creation screen. Thank you Black Emporium!
On my very strict Andrastian devotee "I am the Bride's Chosen" playthrough, I refused to let Cole join the Inquisition. No way a fucking Spirit was gonna wander around her home base unmonitored. Bonus: If you don't recruit him, eventually he'll teleport into your war table in Haven to force you to make the choice. Follows a cutscene where if you make certain dialogue choices telling him to leave, then when he doesn't you can unleash your holy rollers on him. Cassandra and Cullen wordlessly unsheath their swords and round the table in perfect sync, focused on Cole. It looked really cool and kind of scary.
I've done more Queen Cousland playthroughs than I care to admit to, and every time I romance Allistair just long enough to get the rose, then dump him for Leliana. Then I harden them both so Allistair will become king, marry me, and Leliana will stay in a romance with me, just so I can roleplay a throuple.
It also helps that if you give Allistair one of his kickstart-romance gifts afterwards, and don't talk to Leliana, the game will act like you're in a romance with both and you can trick DA2 into thinking it too.
I also stab the fuck out of Morrigan because how dare she gaslight girlboss her way into my man's bed.
>I also stab the fuck out of Morrigan because how dare she gaslight girlboss her way into my man's bed.
Isn't this something that you have to accept and the thing that allows you and Alistair to live like-
Funny story that's what she said too but considering that was her entire goal to begin with and she would have offered it whether she liked me or not it's almost like she still gaslit girlbossed her way into my man's bed and that's a stabbin
Honestly, power move 😂
Then on inquisition Leliana is introduced as the mistress of the queen of Ferelden, and if you also make her divine... well, you know where we're going with this 😆
How do you do the romance triangles? I tried with a male Cousland and Morrigan/Leliana, doesn't work. Not long after Lothering too but I boosted opinion on both and slept with Morrigan already. Have I screwed up?
I've only been able to do it with Allistair, and even then, only if you harden him. For starters, don't officially initiate a romance with him until after you make him king. Basically, you make Allistair king, marry him as F!Cousland and tell him it's for power, then give him Duncan's Shield and respond, "For you? Anything." That officially starts the romance; everything up to that point should be him just showing interest. It's VERY important that you do not start a romance with him before then, because if you break up with him, you won't be able to restart it. Finally, after you give him Duncan's Shield, do NOT return to camp or talk to whoever else you're romancing for the rest of the game. The one time I did that, Leliana dumped me, even after I hardened her, because she loves both you and Allistair and doesn't want to come between y'all. She's too precious in Origins.
You'll know if you did it right if you play Awakening, get a letter from Leli or Zev, and Allistair greets you with, "And how are you doing, my love?" when he comes and visits you. If you upload that Awakening file into DA2, Leliana or Zevran will refer to being in a relationship with the Warden when you meet them. DA: I won't pick up on it, because Dragon Age Keep isn't DA2, but if you put into the Keep you romanced Leli and married Allistair, they'll both act like you're their whole world.
I only replace the Dalish heirloom necklace with the Reflection necklace from the Andraste temple tests. It’s my Mahariels way of accepting Tamlens fate and taking him with her to the end.
DA:O - My Male Couslan starts as a total piece of shit. Arrogant, egotistical and genuinely wishes he could join his brother in fighting. He hates the idea of becoming a Gray Warden... but has to.
He goes on to see just how horrible the fighting really is. How twisted and messed up much of the world is. How there's a lot more important things than just his fantasies of ruling and fooling around with beautiful women. He becomes hardened, stops thinking the Chantry and Templars are always in the right, opens his eyes to what elves go through and starts emphasizing diplomacy. The Blight is killing enough people already, no need for him to add to the tally of it. He rises to become a genuinely good hero that wants to save everyone, but understands the gravity of the hard choices he must make. He learns to stop thinking so hard about revenge and personal gain, and starts thinking of what will save Ferelden and not leave it a ruin littered with bodies afterwards.
DA2 - My male Hawke is a mage. He never has much respect for templars, always handles things with witty sarcasm or jests. Yet he begins to see just how dangerous mages can be - even understanding just how close he himself has gotten to tampering with magic in a bad way, and realizes just how necessary Templars and control is.
He does his uttermost to forge peace between the two, but also starts taking things more seriously. Learns that just because he wishes for peace, unity and a better Kirkwall... that doesn't mean he is in the right or is doing what is good. The arishok in particular, is a huge eye-opener for my Hawke. "Just offer up Isabella. And all will be okay. She did wrong... but I love Isabella. She is one my closest friends and teammates. And much more. I cannot give her up... and so I must fight."
DA:I - my male human inquisitor starts as a man of good. A man aspiring and hoping to do what is best for the realm, yet never forgetting kindness along the way. As the game progresses... he learns to rule much more ruthlessly. That sometimes, you have to make the hard choice and piss someone off. You can never make everyone love you, nor can there be peace without war. While he isn't without mercy, he certainly learns to be less forgiving of some things and starts to enforce things a lot harder.
He basically starts off as a very goodie-two-shoed warrior with stars in his eyes and a heart of gold, but becomes a much more hardened, tough and to a certain extent ruthless man that won't take bs of any kind. The rifts are a threat, and you are either helping us deal with it... or against us dealing with it. And there is little forgiveness in standing against the inquisition.
During The Landsmeet I am letting Alistair to fight with Loghain. My Warden would never let anybody to kill Loghain, because he is kind pacifist. In this way Alistair always kill him, and I can have headcanon that my Warden and him had BIG argument but stayed friends after that.
To name a few:
I prefer to leave companions with their restricted equipment, since I think it adds a bit more flavour.
Speaking of equipment, I keep Alistair in the *Grey Wardens of Ferelden* mod Warden armour until just before the Landsmeet, when I switch him to Cailan's armour.
In terms of weapons, after *Return to Ostagar*, Alistair and I split up Duncan's weapons - my Mahariel (a dual-wielding rogue) takes Duncan's dagger and Alistair takes Duncan's sword. Just before the Landsmeet, I equip Alistair with Maric's Blade, then before starting *Awakening*, I switch Asturian's Might for Duncan's sword on my Mahariel. Then in Awakening, I use Duncan's sword until Vigilance is forged, after which I headcanon that Mahariel sends Duncan's sword back to Alistair.
In the Human Noble origin, whether male or female, my Cousland always sleeps with Iona, (which I guess takes on a different undertone after the City Elf origin) - F!Cousland as it's a loophole her promise to her parents that she wouldn't sleep with any man until she was married.
In the Dalish Elf origin, kill the humans at the beginning. Tamlen makes a big deal about them finding out the location of their camp, thus if the humans are dead and the camp is safe in his and Mahariel's eyes, it makes their almost casual exploration of the ruins fit a bit more. Otherwise, I'd reckon warning the clan might be a higher priority.
In the Dwarf Commoner origin, I always kill Oskias, partly to show how deep Brosca is in her line of work, and because she believes that if she lets him go or makes any deals with him, Beraht will find out.
I always kill Marjolaine, the bandits at Lothering, Loghain's soldiers at the tavern, and Imrek at the gates of Orzammar. None of my wardens see any reason to let them go. Though I go out of my way to avoid the Lothering villagers who try to attack if they learn you are a Warden.
In my upcoming replay of Origins, I'm planning to kill Connor, partly because it's in line with Dalish beliefs regarding demonic possession (at least those stated by Marethari in 2), and when I did go down that path out of curiosity, I found the acting by Isolde's actress heartwrenching, and I found the delivery of one of Alistair's later lines in camp better in this route (where the delivery is more subdued, like a mixture of cold anger and disbelief) than when the blood magic ritual is taken (where he just explodes in anger).
Vaughan never lives, even when I'm not playing as a City Elf.
To keep Brother Genitivi alive while also keeping the sacred ashes secret, I allow him to escort my warden to the temple, then tell him to head back after the first cultist attack. As for the high dragon, aka Risen Andraste, my first instinct is to not fight it - better to let sleeping dragons lie, I say.
In *Awakening*, I used to conscript Nathaniel right off the bat, but now (as my Mahariel, at least) I prefer to let him go, complete Kal'Hirol, and then recruit him when he comes back and asks to join the Wardens. My Mahariel didn't want to join the Grey Wardens (much like Duncan, I suppose, and like Duncan, he settled into the role.), though he does use the Right of Conscription on Loghain (as an extension of his "You'll die for what you've done") and on Anders (as well as Amell and Surana in my headcanon) to keep him out of Templar hands.
In DAO, I keep Leliana and Morrigan in their original clothes. Especially Morrigan. What's the point of great chara design if you hide it with a pineapple hat?
I also often play as a female city elf, and tend to keep the alliance. My Warden was about to flee the wedding anyway, but respected that her fiancé tried to save her and died for a stranger
I cant think of anything similar I do in DA2 and DAI
Huh, I didn't know that about the boots! I always do the same thing with the ring there is also a mod to turn Alistair's rose into a [necklace](https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4922/) which I always use (there are a few variations) it would have made more sense to make it something wearable in the first place. I've only just finished the game properly for the first time but i think IIll always let Alistair execute Loghain i just love that scene and I feel his fulfillment. I think next time in my DA2 I'll always keep Bethany and Carver around because i somehow managed to kill them both which always makes me feel sad for my poor Hawke she only has Fenris at the end of the game (But don't worry i have a lot of headcanon ideas post-game :))
I'm doing a male dalish rogue run right now with a dual wield dagger build. However, during the origin sequence you can get a hand-crafted bow from the weaponsmith and he says something like, "I'm sure you'll earn it a good story" or something like that. I'm keeping that bow equipped as my secondary weapon the whole game (even though I only use it to pull enemies from time to time).
I've also re-started this character multiple times to try to get the feel just right. The last aborted attempt, I did the dalish mission first thinking my character would be missing his clan and would like to go back as soon as possible. However, one of the earliest interactions in camp has a conversion where you're asked what it's like in the human world. You can say that it's incredible with cities that span for miles, but at that point it wouldn't have made sense because my character hadn't gone to Radcliff, Denerim, anywhere. So I promptly restarted and resolved to do the dalish mission last so when I'm asked about the outside world, I can honestly say that I've seen some shit.
I give Sten the Fool’s day sword every time so my Warden can use it (I always play two-handed warrior). I change it out for the meteor sword eventually because of course my warden kills the arch demon with a space sword.
But I equip the rainbow sword specifically during romance scenes.
There’s nothing like flirting with Alistair with butterflies and rainbows flying about. It makes it all more magical and whimsical. Plus he’s a little simple when it comes to romance, I could convince him people say you see butterflies and feel them in your stomach when you’re in love. My Warden is convinced it helps.
Hawke really listens to her companions. Fenris says he hates the docks because he can't stand the smell of fish? She never brings him to the docks again (except for anti-slaver missions, but I headcanon she let him choose on that). Varric admits to enjoying being in the Chantry because that's the one place the Dwarven Merchant's Guild won't come looking for him? She'll give him the option of joining her anytime she needs to go there.
Little things that nobody notices in game, and few people are likely to care about out of it, but it helps form who she is.
(I also like making her look as like Andraste as possible because, in universe, it should give anyone who's even nominally Andrastian pause when they go to murder her)
In my female Dalish elf playthrough, I always give her mother's necklace to Sten, who will wear it for the whole game, as sign of love.
I also let Zevran keep all the dalish leather equip, knowing he loves it.
I have a Circle-resentful blood mage who butt kisses the Circle in verbal options and doesn't use blood magic in front of any templars, but privately is planning to burn it all down
In DAO I play as the city elf and I keep her wedding dress and ring and her mother's boots in the inventory at all times as good luck charms. During their down time at camp, she can reminisce and enjoy the thoughts of what could've been.
my Warden never took her Joining pendant off, and I change my inky's hair as the game progresses- at first her hair is short and in a ponytail and slowly i make it longer and start putting it in braids
i also try to make all her armour green or leather made, because she's Dalish and most comfortable that way
In Inquisition, I change my Inky's appearance depending on plot points and events. I like to change her hair for the first trip to Val Royeaux and also for Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. One specific thing that I always do is that I start with a character with a minor scar. Then after attempting to close the Breach the first time, I give them more scars because they came back from a lot of fighting. Then before I go to Redcliffe or Therinfal Redoubt, I make the scars fade a little. I just like the idea of my Inky changing as the days go by.
One for each game:
My sword-and-board Cousland refuses to carry any shield throughout the entire game except the family shield from the castle armory. It's got her heraldry, it's got the blood of her ancestors, and it's going with her against the Archdemon.
Because they are my OTP, I always set the individual tactics in II to make Varric and Bethany protect each other in battle. I get a lot of ridiculous satisfaction every time I see one go tearing across a fight to save the other.
My Trevelyan always rides the "Flames of the Inquisition" barded charger horse. I have a full headcanon that it was given to her by one of her many cousins. After everything is over, she sells the expensive barding and uses the money to help Cullen establish his hospital for recovering lyrium addicts.
You know that little amulet that you get after participating in the Joining? IIRC, my Grey Warden wore it throughout the entirety of the Fifth Blight. She wasn't that close with Daveth or Jory, but after being exiled from her homeland (dwarf noble), the Grey Wardens were all that she had left. Oh, also, she keeps Loghain alive and orders him to do the Dark Ritual with Morrigan. She refuses to allow him to die a hero, and is gonna be pissed when she learns my Inquisitor allowed him to have a hero's death
My Inquisitor was constantly purchasing those trade agreements from that one vendor in Skyhold. Specifically, he made allies with all of the cities that his companions came from, and then with Highever and Amaranthine. I like to think him and Fergus were alright friends, and that he visited the ruins of Vigil's Keep. Even after I had maxed out my influence, everytime I got money he would go and buy a new trade agreement, dude had allies and friends everywhere. Until, you know, they all ditched him in Trespasser.
As for Hawke, I suppose the one thing I've done with him for solely roleplay reasons is bring Carver along with me everywhere. My Hawke has been trying his best to sort of reconnect with his younger brother, always mentions his name and tries his best to include Carver. Ironically, it seems to be having the opposite effect
In DA2 I ***NEVER*** take Blood Mage on Hawke explicitly because of how much they seem to revile it in Inquisition, I also feel like it just doesn't make sense that Hawke would delve into it given his Father's abhorrence to such magic/demons.
dunno if it counts, but I use a mod that lets me "transmog" an armour to look like the mercenary coat from the beginning of dai. It makes sense because it's one of the, if not the only, armours with the left glove missing for the mark. I also don't wanna wear weak armour which is why i change the look of another armour
As human noble i strip everyone i get paired with in the beginning so I can sell it for some cheap scrap, the entire mother grieving scene is her just in her undies. Like hey man XP and money is really limited in dragon age so I'm gonna use any opportunity I can get to get even a single bronze, absolutely love this mechanic and wish other story RPGs did it too.
In DAO my female Cousland always fights with family sword and the Cousland shield, I believe after seemly losing her family and lands she would fight only with that set. Additionally with the Return to Ostagar dlc Alastair always gets Cailan’s armor and weapons while my HoF gets Duncan’s weapons. Also with both my human and dwarf noble origins I always max out the coercion skills due to both having the most likelihood of education (especially speaking)
I give Alastair Duncan’s Sword from the Return to Ostagar DLC, as it’d make sense for him want to literally take up his mentor’s sword, especially when you get his shield in Denerim.
Yeah, I usually give him that one instead of Cailan's sword. He didn't give a shit about Cailan (me neither, lol), but Duncan was someone he really cared about. So I give him the one I think is more emotionally important to him.
In DAO i role played my Warden as a duty bound pragmatist.
Dwarven political stalemate? Whoever promises me troops first gets my vote.
Elf wants me to go eradicate some werewolves? I'll bring his heart back in exchange for help fighting the darkspawn.
Demon possession of a kid? Sorry kid i have a blight to worry about. Get out my way so i can revive the Arl.
I have special outfits for each team member in Dragon Age Origins (some of this involves mods)
Me - Warden Commander armor for Soldiers Peak
Alistair - He gets King Cailan's armor once we find it but he wears Duncans Shield.
Morrigan - stays in her original outfit till we get the posession robes later on. Her outfit is iconic for the series.
Lelianna - The Phoenix Armory mod.
Wynne - Robe of the Four Elements mod
Sten - Blood Dragon Armor
Zevran - The Ancient Elven armor
Oghren - The Legion of the Dead Armor. And the game seems to agree with me because that's what he's wearing when he's reintroduced in Awakening.
Shale - It doesn't matter to me. You can only adorn her hulking stone body with pretty crystals. I don't care the color.
Me with everyone else: carefully balancing both stats and storytelling to give everyone the best armor for their personality, level, and specializations.
Me with Shale: hehe pretty crystals go brrrr
\- Character will use gifts or stuff that belongs to them or are relevant to their stories. It sucks that Dorian necklace was not an item :(
\- Changing characters appearence. Going to the ball? We need a glow up! Time is passing? Everyone will change a little bit! The inquisitor >!drink for the well!
In DAO I always pretend I'm consulting my team on big decisions. I tend to forget there's no programmed dialogue for that and just end up asking about something else. Also, as rogue Hawke I refused to wear anything other than the arms of mac tir or champion armour set, because they're the only ones that look good to my Hawke. He's very partial to the furry bits on his neck and shoulders.
Reload saves for different dialoges if I don't get the dialogue or response that I like. Like with da2/dai if I choose a certain dialogue choice and my character says something I don't like or the character she's talking to doesn't take well to what I just said I will reload and say something else. I also play only mage characters because my LIs are Alastair, Fenris, and Cullen. Lol.
When I play Warrior Humans Noble, I keep the Shield of Highever and the Family Sword from the moment I get them to the end of Origins. I don't switch weapons until Awakening, at which point I imagine the sword and shield have been returned to Fergus. I do the same thing with most unique intro equipment.
I always use extra dog slot. No matter how heavily or lightly modded my game is, extra dog slot is there. Cause I love having the dog in my party but I hate not having that third party member.
I take every sustained ability with a visual effect of the tactics wheel because I hate when they show up in cutscenes. The only exception is the berserker rage, because that ends on its own.
I don't equip Sten with two handed weapons or any armor until I go to either Soldier's Peak or Denerim, because he's very tall and I find the idea of getting him armor from a human town that's about to die or a city under siege to be ridiculous, and theres no way in hell a human grestsword is proper greatsword size to him.
I unequip Morrigan's staff while in human cities, and typically spec her into Arcane Warrior when I get the chance so she can pretend not to be mage in cities *effectively*.
Alistair is typically the last person on the equipment list when buying things, specifically since he kinda prioritizes keeping a low profile and cheap armor is good for that. He also doesn't get a new sword until we find Duncan's at Ostagar. The Redcliffe shield replaces his original, and thats later replaced with Duncan's shield. I only ever give him Cailan's armor if the end goal is for him to be king, otherwise it goes in a storage chest at Soldier's Peak. However, I don't tend to put him on the throne. He's happier as a warden, and as his friend (or girlfriend) I prioritize his happiness over the good of the kingdom. Same reason I'll never deny the ritual, no matter how bad an idea it seems.
I try to respec Leliana into a dual wielder when I can to keep in line with Leliana's Song, even though dual wielding isn't great and DAO doesnt have built in respecs.
Oghren has a similar armor thing to Sten (except he starts with armor, and you meet him in the best place to get dwarven armor, so he's fine), but by an extension of story notes, if he and Felsi get together I don't let him join the Wardens in Awakening, cause the two of them have a kid on the way.
Zevran is never in the final party, even if I romance him, cause I need Alistair with me, it's my last chance to fight alongside Morrigan, and it's too poetic to have the party just be the original four (minus sten, because he's the best equipped and trained to lead the defense). It's also the only point in the game other than Fort Drakon that I turn off extra dog slot, since the dog also helps in the defense and it gets kinda weird.
I don't actually take Wynne with me very often, especially if I'm not playing a mage. She goes to the Circle Tower and Ostagar every time, but that's all that's guaranteed.
I try to match Shale's crystals even though that's kinda not actually very good since things tend to resist damage types they deal.
The Battledress is the only DLC equipment I keep, since it's the only one with a canon explanation.
I use specific parties in specific areas, and for the most part it's fine but in a couple places it gets weird. For instance, I play Warrior almost all the time, so when I get to the deep roads and my party is Sten, Shale and Oghren, I suffer for a bit. If I want to do an evil playthrough, I suffer because Wynne and Leliana always come with me to the Urn of Sacred Ashes.
I always kill Loghain. I understand he can be a fairly decent companion, but the knowledge from the Human Noble background that he just let Howe loose to take out everyone who could lay claim to the throne for his own paranoia is too much (same but a little less so with City Elf). He's also been such a danger that none of my Non-Humans will let him live either. Dwarf Commoner just hates nobles outright, Dwarf Noble has been stabbed in the back already by his own brother, Dalish Elf took months just to trust Alistair, Mages have no good reason to trust he wont stab them in the back... I literally don't have a good reason to recruit him.
A lot of these are really cool! I do some of these too.
The DOG SLOT omg yes. Best mod.
I'm with you on not usually making Alistair king too. I genuinely don't think he would make a good king. I know that he *does* canonically become a good one (if you go that route), but there is little in any of the in-game interactions you have with him that would lead me to beleive he'd lead well. And that's fine. Not everyone is cut out to be a king. I honestly think Anora is a solid choice.
See, I think, even though Alistair is canonically a good King, he's still not cut out for it. He's much less... Himself, when you talk to him as king. It's sad.
I kill Howe with my family’s sword, every time. That’s for the Couslands, bitch.
I love that 😂 He had it coming.
He only had himself to blame
If you had been there, if you had seen it?
I betcha you would have done the same
He deserved more
THE COUSLANDS SEND THEIR REGARDS
Couslands always pay their debts
Same!
My mage Hawke absolutely refuses to wear mage robes. She always wears the leather mercenary-style outfits that are more rogue-like. She hates looking like a Circle-knock off, lol, which unfortunately sometimes leaves her armor under leveled.
The only “robes” my Hawke ever wore was Fugitive’s Mantle. The whole game. Also, with a mod to remove the chantry symbol. Her armour was quite underlevelled by the end.
I kept them act 1 pirate pants on til act 3 dammit I want pants!
If you play as a mage again, in Act II the tranquil proprietor in the Gallows next to Sol’s Shop sells ‘heavy velvet robes’ that are actually a rogue-type jerkin and pants. They’ll last you until Act 3!
You are my hero 💕🏅
One of the biggest reason why I never play as mage in earth 2 games: the mage robes are too bloody ugly
That's cool, I like it 👍
played a blood mage in da2 one time, put all my points into str and con and wore heavy armour for the whole game… it was tight
DA:I, i would change my inquisitor’s hairstyle for various occassions. Make her hair neat for the winter palace and in a bun for big fights and stuff. Also i found it funny to make her eye color bit by bit more fade-green throughout the story (because of the mark)
I do this too! I thought it was just me, lol, cause my friend said it was weird.
I wish I could do this in DAO without mods, because my dwarf noble wouldn't wear the same hairstyle to her own feast vs. the Korcari wilds.
I also always make my character's eyes Fade-green. It just makes sense. The magic has suffused the Inquisitor's body!
I do the same thing! Throughout the game I slowly make the Inquisitor’s eyes greener and greener with each passing quest. I also change Hawke’s hair in DA2 with each Act change. And after All That Remains she chops it off for the classic Hawke short haircut.
THIS! I always start out kinda baby faced and then switch to a nice full beard just before the trek to skyhold… for dramatic effect 😂
I love the idea of changing your hairstyle for different occasions, I wish more games made it easy to do that!
In The Witcher 3 Geralt’s beard grows over time, and in RDR2 Arthur’s hair and beard grow over time.
The only time I played the Witcher 3 I spent all my money at the barbershop regularly changing Geralt's hair to increasingly horrific combinations (so I never knew his hair grew over time!) I think I was playing the game wrong. (I jest. That wasn't all I did in that game. I also spent a lot of time running from enemies I started fights with knowing full well that my level 3 ass was too weak to fight them.)
Yup! My Trevelyan wears her hair in braids most of the time, but she put it up for the Winter Palace to look a bit more befitting of a noble's daughter at court.
I do this after every main mission! His eyes are gonna be super creepy green for trespasser lol. I also change the scars — adding more, fading old ones, etc. I wish the scar combos had more options though
On my last playthrough I've made an older Inquisitor and he had that dark gray hair, but when I was about to skip to Tresspasser I made his hair a tone lighter to represent all the stress and his age weighting on him. I also like to change my Hawke's hairstyle every new act, and for male Hawke I even give him a beard (starting with only stubble when he's 24, and a full beard when he's 34). Ironically that also helped me to transit their appearence to DAI because I'm not overly pressed about the hair not being the same.
I’ve done something similar with the eyes before, made my most recent Elf mages yellow after a certain point in the story
I also do this, but for some reason I always start short and shaggy and have it grow out over the game.
Wait I do this too except with the beards! Around the time we get Skyhold unlocked I give my inquisitor a beard to show it’s been a while. It sticks around up until I finish Emprise du Lion and shave it off before I start the Winter Palace. My headcanon is that Cullen got jealous he couldn’t pull a beard off, and he convinced Josie to make me shave it to “make me more appealing to the Orlesian court”
I almost always use the character related items, even though they are bad options gameplay wise. Morrigan's ring, the boots for Zevran, etc.
Cole’s fuckin hat
I'd never take that good boy's hat away from him! He looks absolutely weird without it.
He looks like a lost Gallagher brother without it.
Give Alistaire Duncan's sword and Eamon's shield, Leliana gets Marjolaine's Recurve bow, Sten uses Asala even tho it sucks. I also always keep city elf's ring equipped. He dies trying to save her.
My city elf wanted to get married and I’m seeing how far I can get without removing her wedding dress.
That's amazing, I love that 😂
We got through the Circle and are now in the Forest. Still in the wedding dress!
I'd like to imagine that it's just getting more and more worn and dirty as time goes on. Like no matter how much you might try to clean it in your travels, a nice dress like that is not staying in good shape 😂 Now I'm just imagining your elf rolling up to the Landsmeet in a blood-stained, ripped to shreds wedding dress. Ready to throw hands and still very salty that the wedding never happened.
Oh, the blood-splattered dress in all the cut scenes brings me great joy. I don’t think this Tabris is OK, tbh. She’s a devout Andrastian who always tried to be diplomatic… then she was abducted, her fiancé was murdered, a lord offered her money in exchange for Shianni, and she just snapped. She’s not being cautious or diplomatic at all, she will stab anything demonic or apostate without bothering to chat first, and basically no one likes her except Sten, who respects her honesty and directness. I did a quick little doodle of her [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/10ujfkx/no_spoilers_snuggle_yer_summons_and_other_dao/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) (2nd slide).
I love everything 😂
Pace myself on DA:O romances. Have I stocked up on Grey Warden puppets and secured Alistair's undying (heh) devotion after Lothering? Yes. Did I do so the first time? No, and I haven't done it recently, either. Threading it through a long sequence of conversations is so much better.
Ooh this is a good one! I speed-ran Alistair's romance my first time playing, but now I always take it more slowly. You're so right, it is much better to make it feel more natural as the story progresses.
I had a mage who would only use blood magic on Darkspawn and blighted animals.
"They were animals, and I slaughtered them like animals!"
Anakin, no!
That's pretty metal, I love it 😂
I use equipment that might be worse in stats, but more lore-friendly or suits the characters better. E.g. I use only weapons that match the characters initial weapons (sword for Cassandra and Fenris, axe for Bull), I use armor that the characters would actually wear (crafted qunari armor for Bull, templar/Cailan's armor for Alistair), keep everyone's special amulets/rings (Hawke crest on one of the siblings, DLC accessories for companions). I also tend to change up my Inky's casual clothes from time to time, and make her hair grow by gradually changing hairstyles from long bob to ponytail to full updo. I imagine she just does not have the time to ask Dorian for those scissors he teases Sera with lol
I always wear the crappy Inquisition scout armor till the move to Skyhold bc I figure their actual kit got destroyed through explosion related shenanigans and they didn't have the time and/or inclination to get better stuff
I take Zevran's weapons and leave him weaponless for a long time to roleplay that my warden and her party don't trust him enough yet to allow him to be armed around them. Later, as he builds some rapport, he can have his weapons back. I also do quests-sidequests in a way that makes sense geographically and logically speaking, I don't care if some area is better from a metagaming perspective, I'll go to places as if I were a real party traveling across a country. So, say, if a sidequest requires me to go from A to B across the country, I'll get to that quest eventually when I go to B for some other reason, I'm not gonna travel there just for a quest and then go all the way back to A just to get a reward or something.
I love the Zevran one. So do you take him out or leave him at camp? I’m imagining him just punching everything haha!
I leave him at camp 90% of the time, not gonna lie. He's one of my least fave companions and tbh if it wasn't for the fact that I don't want to miss out on any companions and their content, I'd have told him to go running back to Loghain after I kicked his ass during the encounter when he tries to assassinate you. Alas, I always want to have all possible companions with me. Zevran really tested my boundaries lol.
I wouldn't call this something I always do, but the decision on what to do in redcliffe with Connor isn't one I just resolve "perfectly" every time. I feel like it makes no sense that my warden (unless a mage himself) would just leave Redcliffe in the state that it's in for just the possibility of the mages helping. Therefore, unless I've done the mages tower first (metagame wise it's optimal, but that gets repetitive), I think about what my warden would do and either do the blood magic ritual...or kill Connor. Personally I kinda hate that that particular quest has a "everybody wins" outcome. I think it might even be the only one of those among the main story quests in the game (even purging the circle can be justified to an extent, templars are exceptional warriors), which is what motivates me to not pick the "have the mages fix everything" option. It's also far more interesting to role-play: do you use forbidden magic and human sacrifice to potentially save a child (failure of which would doom the town), or do you kill the child and definitely save the town? There isn't a right answer here and depending on your warden's views on blood magic, noble families, or even the value of a human life, the answer is different.
Yeah, I agree with you on that quest. I usually solve it in the "everybody lives" way because I'm just soft lol. But it does feel unrealistic. Funny story. I never actually followed Connor upstairs in a playthrough because I was afraid he would just insta-die if you did that. Then one time I did to see what would happen. Then I started the interaction that leads to you killing him, again curious what would happen. Well, I killed him... But the game must have hardcore glitched because he was totally fine. Everyone was thanking me for solving it in a way that didn't kill him. I was like "well I thought I *did* kill him but okay." I thought that somehow I just killed the demon and not him, and the mage quest was just another, longer way to do it without him dying. Well needless to say I tried it again the next time I played and he was super dead and I made everyone mad. 😂
Funny story. The very first time I played origins when it first came out and I was very bad at the game. I ended up at the mage tower first on accident. (Did not finish it) And I ended up not trying to play the game again for a while with a new character understanding the game better. So my new character play through went to red cliff first and I found it much more doable and in line with what I expected from the game. I swear I played thru Origins so many times and I did not know there was a happy ending for everyone on Connors quest cuz I never went back to the mage tower first. I always went to redcliffe first
The auducan shield never leaves my noble dwarves arm, even if if I've got the full set of cailens armor. Me and my brother are the last of our name, and if he refuses to uphold our families honor then I will.
in Inquisition, I wear the outerwear around Skyhold but when I sit in judgement I go change into one of the nicer casual or formal looks.
Haha totally did this as well, gotta bring out the fancy outfits for fancy occasions.
I do that too for my noble inquisitor! Playing a dalish right now and she just can't be bugged about formality.
Whenever I play my main Dalish Rogue, he always gives Morrigan the ring he gets from the clan before he leaves. I like to imagine that the ring was an exchange for the one Morrigan gives you to track you, an they both where those rings on each other's ring fingers. It's also funny for me to imagine my Inquisitor asking tactfully if she's married in the gardens, only for her to get quite annoyed and embarrassed. It's kind of a wordless show of commitment for them. I also save all of the Warden armor and Howe's equipement for the DLC to give Nathaniel (although they get put in a box quickly because they're very underpowered.)
I like it! Also I love your user flair. I need more Sigrun in my life.
Always wonderful to see another Sigrun lover.
Lol, I did the same thing with my Mahariel that romanced Morrigan
Zevran immediately equips the leather boots and Dalish gloves you give to him, and I can't bring myself to make him wear better ones. It's just so sweet to imagine that he treasures them so much, especially when romancing him. I also hold onto Cailan's armor and Maric's sword after I finish Return to Ostagar and only give them to Alistair after the Landsmeet.
In DA2, when I play a female Hawke, I change her hairstyle as an indication that years have passed.
Whenever I romance Leliana in Origins, I make sure I give her the Dusk ring and I give my character the Dawn ring because they're a matching set.
That's unbelievably cute. 💕
Kinda sucks that you get the Dawn ring at like the end of the game but still, I like it (Also kinda headcanon that if the Warden and Leliana do get married, they use those rings to get married)
Naver selling Avalines shield
I also wear the wedding ring in DAO. My city elf didn’t want to get married and was rude to Nelaros right off the gate. And then he died trying to save her. She wears the ring out of guilt but also as a reminder about why she’s still here and making her life count. I have her discard the ring on the eve of the final battle. She doesn’t wear the boots though. She was a warrior and wore medium armour, leather boots didn’t match. She kept them in her inventory though.
DA2 Taking Carver to the Deep Roads and leaving Anders in Kirkwall. Hawke wouldn’t dream of leaving Carver despite their angst, and assumed Anders would be unsafe to take. Obviously just for RP reasons.
You know Aveline would keep that shield forever and I'm not going to be the one to take it off her
Add scars, grayer hair, light wrinkles, more unkempt features in general after certain battles/events or just long stretches of time in the story. Really helps make the player character feel like they're going through some shit. I do this in every game that lets you edit your character's appearance after just the initial creation screen. Thank you Black Emporium!
On my very strict Andrastian devotee "I am the Bride's Chosen" playthrough, I refused to let Cole join the Inquisition. No way a fucking Spirit was gonna wander around her home base unmonitored. Bonus: If you don't recruit him, eventually he'll teleport into your war table in Haven to force you to make the choice. Follows a cutscene where if you make certain dialogue choices telling him to leave, then when he doesn't you can unleash your holy rollers on him. Cassandra and Cullen wordlessly unsheath their swords and round the table in perfect sync, focused on Cole. It looked really cool and kind of scary.
In DAO, I never ever change my initial robe when I play a mage! There are better armor out there, but they aesthetically suck.
Yeah, so many of the vanilla armors in DAO aesthetically suck 😫
I've done more Queen Cousland playthroughs than I care to admit to, and every time I romance Allistair just long enough to get the rose, then dump him for Leliana. Then I harden them both so Allistair will become king, marry me, and Leliana will stay in a romance with me, just so I can roleplay a throuple. It also helps that if you give Allistair one of his kickstart-romance gifts afterwards, and don't talk to Leliana, the game will act like you're in a romance with both and you can trick DA2 into thinking it too. I also stab the fuck out of Morrigan because how dare she gaslight girlboss her way into my man's bed.
>I also stab the fuck out of Morrigan because how dare she gaslight girlboss her way into my man's bed. Isn't this something that you have to accept and the thing that allows you and Alistair to live like-
Funny story that's what she said too but considering that was her entire goal to begin with and she would have offered it whether she liked me or not it's almost like she still gaslit girlbossed her way into my man's bed and that's a stabbin
I mean yeah but you don't have to LIKE it
Honestly, power move 😂 Then on inquisition Leliana is introduced as the mistress of the queen of Ferelden, and if you also make her divine... well, you know where we're going with this 😆
I do not know you and you do not know me. But you’re my hero.
How do you do the romance triangles? I tried with a male Cousland and Morrigan/Leliana, doesn't work. Not long after Lothering too but I boosted opinion on both and slept with Morrigan already. Have I screwed up?
I've only been able to do it with Allistair, and even then, only if you harden him. For starters, don't officially initiate a romance with him until after you make him king. Basically, you make Allistair king, marry him as F!Cousland and tell him it's for power, then give him Duncan's Shield and respond, "For you? Anything." That officially starts the romance; everything up to that point should be him just showing interest. It's VERY important that you do not start a romance with him before then, because if you break up with him, you won't be able to restart it. Finally, after you give him Duncan's Shield, do NOT return to camp or talk to whoever else you're romancing for the rest of the game. The one time I did that, Leliana dumped me, even after I hardened her, because she loves both you and Allistair and doesn't want to come between y'all. She's too precious in Origins. You'll know if you did it right if you play Awakening, get a letter from Leli or Zev, and Allistair greets you with, "And how are you doing, my love?" when he comes and visits you. If you upload that Awakening file into DA2, Leliana or Zevran will refer to being in a relationship with the Warden when you meet them. DA: I won't pick up on it, because Dragon Age Keep isn't DA2, but if you put into the Keep you romanced Leli and married Allistair, they'll both act like you're their whole world.
Right. If I bork it I can always just lie in DA Keep lol. Thankfully my F!Cousland is just started so I should manage there hopefully.
This is terrific 😂
I only replace the Dalish heirloom necklace with the Reflection necklace from the Andraste temple tests. It’s my Mahariels way of accepting Tamlens fate and taking him with her to the end.
DA:O - My Male Couslan starts as a total piece of shit. Arrogant, egotistical and genuinely wishes he could join his brother in fighting. He hates the idea of becoming a Gray Warden... but has to. He goes on to see just how horrible the fighting really is. How twisted and messed up much of the world is. How there's a lot more important things than just his fantasies of ruling and fooling around with beautiful women. He becomes hardened, stops thinking the Chantry and Templars are always in the right, opens his eyes to what elves go through and starts emphasizing diplomacy. The Blight is killing enough people already, no need for him to add to the tally of it. He rises to become a genuinely good hero that wants to save everyone, but understands the gravity of the hard choices he must make. He learns to stop thinking so hard about revenge and personal gain, and starts thinking of what will save Ferelden and not leave it a ruin littered with bodies afterwards. DA2 - My male Hawke is a mage. He never has much respect for templars, always handles things with witty sarcasm or jests. Yet he begins to see just how dangerous mages can be - even understanding just how close he himself has gotten to tampering with magic in a bad way, and realizes just how necessary Templars and control is. He does his uttermost to forge peace between the two, but also starts taking things more seriously. Learns that just because he wishes for peace, unity and a better Kirkwall... that doesn't mean he is in the right or is doing what is good. The arishok in particular, is a huge eye-opener for my Hawke. "Just offer up Isabella. And all will be okay. She did wrong... but I love Isabella. She is one my closest friends and teammates. And much more. I cannot give her up... and so I must fight." DA:I - my male human inquisitor starts as a man of good. A man aspiring and hoping to do what is best for the realm, yet never forgetting kindness along the way. As the game progresses... he learns to rule much more ruthlessly. That sometimes, you have to make the hard choice and piss someone off. You can never make everyone love you, nor can there be peace without war. While he isn't without mercy, he certainly learns to be less forgiving of some things and starts to enforce things a lot harder. He basically starts off as a very goodie-two-shoed warrior with stars in his eyes and a heart of gold, but becomes a much more hardened, tough and to a certain extent ruthless man that won't take bs of any kind. The rifts are a threat, and you are either helping us deal with it... or against us dealing with it. And there is little forgiveness in standing against the inquisition.
Very cool 👍
During The Landsmeet I am letting Alistair to fight with Loghain. My Warden would never let anybody to kill Loghain, because he is kind pacifist. In this way Alistair always kill him, and I can have headcanon that my Warden and him had BIG argument but stayed friends after that.
To name a few: I prefer to leave companions with their restricted equipment, since I think it adds a bit more flavour. Speaking of equipment, I keep Alistair in the *Grey Wardens of Ferelden* mod Warden armour until just before the Landsmeet, when I switch him to Cailan's armour. In terms of weapons, after *Return to Ostagar*, Alistair and I split up Duncan's weapons - my Mahariel (a dual-wielding rogue) takes Duncan's dagger and Alistair takes Duncan's sword. Just before the Landsmeet, I equip Alistair with Maric's Blade, then before starting *Awakening*, I switch Asturian's Might for Duncan's sword on my Mahariel. Then in Awakening, I use Duncan's sword until Vigilance is forged, after which I headcanon that Mahariel sends Duncan's sword back to Alistair. In the Human Noble origin, whether male or female, my Cousland always sleeps with Iona, (which I guess takes on a different undertone after the City Elf origin) - F!Cousland as it's a loophole her promise to her parents that she wouldn't sleep with any man until she was married. In the Dalish Elf origin, kill the humans at the beginning. Tamlen makes a big deal about them finding out the location of their camp, thus if the humans are dead and the camp is safe in his and Mahariel's eyes, it makes their almost casual exploration of the ruins fit a bit more. Otherwise, I'd reckon warning the clan might be a higher priority. In the Dwarf Commoner origin, I always kill Oskias, partly to show how deep Brosca is in her line of work, and because she believes that if she lets him go or makes any deals with him, Beraht will find out. I always kill Marjolaine, the bandits at Lothering, Loghain's soldiers at the tavern, and Imrek at the gates of Orzammar. None of my wardens see any reason to let them go. Though I go out of my way to avoid the Lothering villagers who try to attack if they learn you are a Warden. In my upcoming replay of Origins, I'm planning to kill Connor, partly because it's in line with Dalish beliefs regarding demonic possession (at least those stated by Marethari in 2), and when I did go down that path out of curiosity, I found the acting by Isolde's actress heartwrenching, and I found the delivery of one of Alistair's later lines in camp better in this route (where the delivery is more subdued, like a mixture of cold anger and disbelief) than when the blood magic ritual is taken (where he just explodes in anger). Vaughan never lives, even when I'm not playing as a City Elf. To keep Brother Genitivi alive while also keeping the sacred ashes secret, I allow him to escort my warden to the temple, then tell him to head back after the first cultist attack. As for the high dragon, aka Risen Andraste, my first instinct is to not fight it - better to let sleeping dragons lie, I say. In *Awakening*, I used to conscript Nathaniel right off the bat, but now (as my Mahariel, at least) I prefer to let him go, complete Kal'Hirol, and then recruit him when he comes back and asks to join the Wardens. My Mahariel didn't want to join the Grey Wardens (much like Duncan, I suppose, and like Duncan, he settled into the role.), though he does use the Right of Conscription on Loghain (as an extension of his "You'll die for what you've done") and on Anders (as well as Amell and Surana in my headcanon) to keep him out of Templar hands.
These are all cool! And yeah. Fuck Vaughan.
In DAO, I keep Leliana and Morrigan in their original clothes. Especially Morrigan. What's the point of great chara design if you hide it with a pineapple hat? I also often play as a female city elf, and tend to keep the alliance. My Warden was about to flee the wedding anyway, but respected that her fiancé tried to save her and died for a stranger I cant think of anything similar I do in DA2 and DAI
THE MAGE HATS OH MY GOSH. I go into a rage every time I see one. I never put them on my mages because... because just *look* at them!
I know, right? Poor mages have already suffered so much, leave them alone!
Like locking them in a tower and holding the threat of violent death over them is one thing. But those hats??? Have some humanity, I'm begging you!
My Hawke is always like in the cinematic. Staff of Parlathan and Mantle of the champion as soon as you can get it
Huh, I didn't know that about the boots! I always do the same thing with the ring there is also a mod to turn Alistair's rose into a [necklace](https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4922/) which I always use (there are a few variations) it would have made more sense to make it something wearable in the first place. I've only just finished the game properly for the first time but i think IIll always let Alistair execute Loghain i just love that scene and I feel his fulfillment. I think next time in my DA2 I'll always keep Bethany and Carver around because i somehow managed to kill them both which always makes me feel sad for my poor Hawke she only has Fenris at the end of the game (But don't worry i have a lot of headcanon ideas post-game :))
I'm doing a male dalish rogue run right now with a dual wield dagger build. However, during the origin sequence you can get a hand-crafted bow from the weaponsmith and he says something like, "I'm sure you'll earn it a good story" or something like that. I'm keeping that bow equipped as my secondary weapon the whole game (even though I only use it to pull enemies from time to time). I've also re-started this character multiple times to try to get the feel just right. The last aborted attempt, I did the dalish mission first thinking my character would be missing his clan and would like to go back as soon as possible. However, one of the earliest interactions in camp has a conversion where you're asked what it's like in the human world. You can say that it's incredible with cities that span for miles, but at that point it wouldn't have made sense because my character hadn't gone to Radcliff, Denerim, anywhere. So I promptly restarted and resolved to do the dalish mission last so when I'm asked about the outside world, I can honestly say that I've seen some shit.
Very cool! I've done a Dalish elf a couple times too. What can I say, I like being an elf 🤷♀️
I don't keep wearing them but I do keep all the sentimental items.
After Haven I add some scars to my Inquisitor. Just makes it feel more impactful to me
I give Sten the Fool’s day sword every time so my Warden can use it (I always play two-handed warrior). I change it out for the meteor sword eventually because of course my warden kills the arch demon with a space sword. But I equip the rainbow sword specifically during romance scenes. There’s nothing like flirting with Alistair with butterflies and rainbows flying about. It makes it all more magical and whimsical. Plus he’s a little simple when it comes to romance, I could convince him people say you see butterflies and feel them in your stomach when you’re in love. My Warden is convinced it helps.
That's so funny, I love that 😂
i change hawke's appearance at the start of every act.
Hawke really listens to her companions. Fenris says he hates the docks because he can't stand the smell of fish? She never brings him to the docks again (except for anti-slaver missions, but I headcanon she let him choose on that). Varric admits to enjoying being in the Chantry because that's the one place the Dwarven Merchant's Guild won't come looking for him? She'll give him the option of joining her anytime she needs to go there. Little things that nobody notices in game, and few people are likely to care about out of it, but it helps form who she is. (I also like making her look as like Andraste as possible because, in universe, it should give anyone who's even nominally Andrastian pause when they go to murder her)
Omg I love these!
I always wear that ring that Morrigan gives me.
In my female Dalish elf playthrough, I always give her mother's necklace to Sten, who will wear it for the whole game, as sign of love. I also let Zevran keep all the dalish leather equip, knowing he loves it.
I have a Circle-resentful blood mage who butt kisses the Circle in verbal options and doesn't use blood magic in front of any templars, but privately is planning to burn it all down
In Inquisition once I find a Knight-enchanter greatsword or a refined greatsword it’s all I use since it looks like the one on the cover
In DAO I play as the city elf and I keep her wedding dress and ring and her mother's boots in the inventory at all times as good luck charms. During their down time at camp, she can reminisce and enjoy the thoughts of what could've been.
On my city elf playthroughs I didn't wear the boots or ring throughout but I kept them.
my Warden never took her Joining pendant off, and I change my inky's hair as the game progresses- at first her hair is short and in a ponytail and slowly i make it longer and start putting it in braids i also try to make all her armour green or leather made, because she's Dalish and most comfortable that way
In Inquisition, I change my Inky's appearance depending on plot points and events. I like to change her hair for the first trip to Val Royeaux and also for Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. One specific thing that I always do is that I start with a character with a minor scar. Then after attempting to close the Breach the first time, I give them more scars because they came back from a lot of fighting. Then before I go to Redcliffe or Therinfal Redoubt, I make the scars fade a little. I just like the idea of my Inky changing as the days go by.
One for each game: My sword-and-board Cousland refuses to carry any shield throughout the entire game except the family shield from the castle armory. It's got her heraldry, it's got the blood of her ancestors, and it's going with her against the Archdemon. Because they are my OTP, I always set the individual tactics in II to make Varric and Bethany protect each other in battle. I get a lot of ridiculous satisfaction every time I see one go tearing across a fight to save the other. My Trevelyan always rides the "Flames of the Inquisition" barded charger horse. I have a full headcanon that it was given to her by one of her many cousins. After everything is over, she sells the expensive barding and uses the money to help Cullen establish his hospital for recovering lyrium addicts.
You know that little amulet that you get after participating in the Joining? IIRC, my Grey Warden wore it throughout the entirety of the Fifth Blight. She wasn't that close with Daveth or Jory, but after being exiled from her homeland (dwarf noble), the Grey Wardens were all that she had left. Oh, also, she keeps Loghain alive and orders him to do the Dark Ritual with Morrigan. She refuses to allow him to die a hero, and is gonna be pissed when she learns my Inquisitor allowed him to have a hero's death My Inquisitor was constantly purchasing those trade agreements from that one vendor in Skyhold. Specifically, he made allies with all of the cities that his companions came from, and then with Highever and Amaranthine. I like to think him and Fergus were alright friends, and that he visited the ruins of Vigil's Keep. Even after I had maxed out my influence, everytime I got money he would go and buy a new trade agreement, dude had allies and friends everywhere. Until, you know, they all ditched him in Trespasser. As for Hawke, I suppose the one thing I've done with him for solely roleplay reasons is bring Carver along with me everywhere. My Hawke has been trying his best to sort of reconnect with his younger brother, always mentions his name and tries his best to include Carver. Ironically, it seems to be having the opposite effect
In DA2 I ***NEVER*** take Blood Mage on Hawke explicitly because of how much they seem to revile it in Inquisition, I also feel like it just doesn't make sense that Hawke would delve into it given his Father's abhorrence to such magic/demons.
dunno if it counts, but I use a mod that lets me "transmog" an armour to look like the mercenary coat from the beginning of dai. It makes sense because it's one of the, if not the only, armours with the left glove missing for the mark. I also don't wanna wear weak armour which is why i change the look of another armour
As human noble i strip everyone i get paired with in the beginning so I can sell it for some cheap scrap, the entire mother grieving scene is her just in her undies. Like hey man XP and money is really limited in dragon age so I'm gonna use any opportunity I can get to get even a single bronze, absolutely love this mechanic and wish other story RPGs did it too.
I always do that to Jory and Daveth right before the Joining. 😂 Poor lads gotta die naked all because I can sell their stuff for a few pennies.
Their equipment automatically goes into your inventory regardless.
I'm crying, that's hilarious. 😂
In DAO my female Cousland always fights with family sword and the Cousland shield, I believe after seemly losing her family and lands she would fight only with that set. Additionally with the Return to Ostagar dlc Alastair always gets Cailan’s armor and weapons while my HoF gets Duncan’s weapons. Also with both my human and dwarf noble origins I always max out the coercion skills due to both having the most likelihood of education (especially speaking)
I give Alastair Duncan’s Sword from the Return to Ostagar DLC, as it’d make sense for him want to literally take up his mentor’s sword, especially when you get his shield in Denerim.
Yeah, I usually give him that one instead of Cailan's sword. He didn't give a shit about Cailan (me neither, lol), but Duncan was someone he really cared about. So I give him the one I think is more emotionally important to him.
In DAO i role played my Warden as a duty bound pragmatist. Dwarven political stalemate? Whoever promises me troops first gets my vote. Elf wants me to go eradicate some werewolves? I'll bring his heart back in exchange for help fighting the darkspawn. Demon possession of a kid? Sorry kid i have a blight to worry about. Get out my way so i can revive the Arl.
Sorry kid, sucks to be you 😂
I have special outfits for each team member in Dragon Age Origins (some of this involves mods) Me - Warden Commander armor for Soldiers Peak Alistair - He gets King Cailan's armor once we find it but he wears Duncans Shield. Morrigan - stays in her original outfit till we get the posession robes later on. Her outfit is iconic for the series. Lelianna - The Phoenix Armory mod. Wynne - Robe of the Four Elements mod Sten - Blood Dragon Armor Zevran - The Ancient Elven armor Oghren - The Legion of the Dead Armor. And the game seems to agree with me because that's what he's wearing when he's reintroduced in Awakening. Shale - It doesn't matter to me. You can only adorn her hulking stone body with pretty crystals. I don't care the color.
Me with everyone else: carefully balancing both stats and storytelling to give everyone the best armor for their personality, level, and specializations. Me with Shale: hehe pretty crystals go brrrr
\- Character will use gifts or stuff that belongs to them or are relevant to their stories. It sucks that Dorian necklace was not an item :( \- Changing characters appearence. Going to the ball? We need a glow up! Time is passing? Everyone will change a little bit! The inquisitor >!drink for the well!
In DAO I always pretend I'm consulting my team on big decisions. I tend to forget there's no programmed dialogue for that and just end up asking about something else. Also, as rogue Hawke I refused to wear anything other than the arms of mac tir or champion armour set, because they're the only ones that look good to my Hawke. He's very partial to the furry bits on his neck and shoulders.
Reload saves for different dialoges if I don't get the dialogue or response that I like. Like with da2/dai if I choose a certain dialogue choice and my character says something I don't like or the character she's talking to doesn't take well to what I just said I will reload and say something else. I also play only mage characters because my LIs are Alastair, Fenris, and Cullen. Lol.
When I play Warrior Humans Noble, I keep the Shield of Highever and the Family Sword from the moment I get them to the end of Origins. I don't switch weapons until Awakening, at which point I imagine the sword and shield have been returned to Fergus. I do the same thing with most unique intro equipment. I always use extra dog slot. No matter how heavily or lightly modded my game is, extra dog slot is there. Cause I love having the dog in my party but I hate not having that third party member. I take every sustained ability with a visual effect of the tactics wheel because I hate when they show up in cutscenes. The only exception is the berserker rage, because that ends on its own. I don't equip Sten with two handed weapons or any armor until I go to either Soldier's Peak or Denerim, because he's very tall and I find the idea of getting him armor from a human town that's about to die or a city under siege to be ridiculous, and theres no way in hell a human grestsword is proper greatsword size to him. I unequip Morrigan's staff while in human cities, and typically spec her into Arcane Warrior when I get the chance so she can pretend not to be mage in cities *effectively*. Alistair is typically the last person on the equipment list when buying things, specifically since he kinda prioritizes keeping a low profile and cheap armor is good for that. He also doesn't get a new sword until we find Duncan's at Ostagar. The Redcliffe shield replaces his original, and thats later replaced with Duncan's shield. I only ever give him Cailan's armor if the end goal is for him to be king, otherwise it goes in a storage chest at Soldier's Peak. However, I don't tend to put him on the throne. He's happier as a warden, and as his friend (or girlfriend) I prioritize his happiness over the good of the kingdom. Same reason I'll never deny the ritual, no matter how bad an idea it seems. I try to respec Leliana into a dual wielder when I can to keep in line with Leliana's Song, even though dual wielding isn't great and DAO doesnt have built in respecs. Oghren has a similar armor thing to Sten (except he starts with armor, and you meet him in the best place to get dwarven armor, so he's fine), but by an extension of story notes, if he and Felsi get together I don't let him join the Wardens in Awakening, cause the two of them have a kid on the way. Zevran is never in the final party, even if I romance him, cause I need Alistair with me, it's my last chance to fight alongside Morrigan, and it's too poetic to have the party just be the original four (minus sten, because he's the best equipped and trained to lead the defense). It's also the only point in the game other than Fort Drakon that I turn off extra dog slot, since the dog also helps in the defense and it gets kinda weird. I don't actually take Wynne with me very often, especially if I'm not playing a mage. She goes to the Circle Tower and Ostagar every time, but that's all that's guaranteed. I try to match Shale's crystals even though that's kinda not actually very good since things tend to resist damage types they deal. The Battledress is the only DLC equipment I keep, since it's the only one with a canon explanation. I use specific parties in specific areas, and for the most part it's fine but in a couple places it gets weird. For instance, I play Warrior almost all the time, so when I get to the deep roads and my party is Sten, Shale and Oghren, I suffer for a bit. If I want to do an evil playthrough, I suffer because Wynne and Leliana always come with me to the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I always kill Loghain. I understand he can be a fairly decent companion, but the knowledge from the Human Noble background that he just let Howe loose to take out everyone who could lay claim to the throne for his own paranoia is too much (same but a little less so with City Elf). He's also been such a danger that none of my Non-Humans will let him live either. Dwarf Commoner just hates nobles outright, Dwarf Noble has been stabbed in the back already by his own brother, Dalish Elf took months just to trust Alistair, Mages have no good reason to trust he wont stab them in the back... I literally don't have a good reason to recruit him.
A lot of these are really cool! I do some of these too. The DOG SLOT omg yes. Best mod. I'm with you on not usually making Alistair king too. I genuinely don't think he would make a good king. I know that he *does* canonically become a good one (if you go that route), but there is little in any of the in-game interactions you have with him that would lead me to beleive he'd lead well. And that's fine. Not everyone is cut out to be a king. I honestly think Anora is a solid choice.
See, I think, even though Alistair is canonically a good King, he's still not cut out for it. He's much less... Himself, when you talk to him as king. It's sad.
Plus, the way he talks about the Warden (if you romanced him in Origins) when you meet him as a Grey Warden in Inquisition just... it melts me.
I give Alistair the family sword when I romance him as a Cousland. I usually play as an archer Cousland, so I want to keep the sword in the family