Dragon Age Origins: Collective knowledge thread

[Irridium]

Shale is part of the Stone Prisoner DLC that comes with every new copy of the game.

Anyway, I made the mistake of not having a mage in my party, I'm a lvl 15 warrior, and my companions, Alistar, the dwarf, and Shale are lvl 14. Alistar has a Bow, but no skills for it.

And she splits into 4 before I kill the other minions, I kill 1, get her health to below half, and she goes to the glowing stuff (lyrium I think its called) and splits. But by then my whole party is near death and I have no healing items.

I can't go back to my camp and get a mage because all of my saves are after I'm trapped in the Anvil area.

If I knew how to get the dev console to work I'd just swap out Alistar for Wynne and go from there, but sadly I don't know how to get the damn thing to work.

I see... Took a little fiddling around in Steam, but I found the code and downloaded my free DLC, Thanks!

As for the Anvil, I thought the game kept 4 auto-saves at all times... I know mine does. It can't possibly have overwritten them all, can it? I think all you'd have to redo is the part after

Spoiler

killing the Broodmother.

Still, if Shale can't damage the others, put him on Branka and get the rest to finish off everyone else, but having no way to heal is a big problem.

As a reference, my party consists of two mages, one ranger and one warrior (Myself, Morigan, Leliana and Alistair). Leliana is deadly with her bow and has the ranger specialization so she can summon a bear to help. I have Spirit healer so I can keep everyone's health up, but I also deal major damage as well as hinder the more annoying foes. Finally, Morrigan has a single heal spell that's useful and she can also master shapeshift which makes the party very versatile.

You need to decide which is more bothersome between redoing a part of the game to get in this fight properly prepared, or grinding it 'till you beat it.[/quote]

I guess I'll just have to redo the gauntlet then. Ah well, thanks for the help to, now I know to always keep a mage in my party.

And Shale is awsome. He's like HK-47, only made of stone.

Oh, and did you also get the Blood Dragon armor? It should be another free dlc you get from buying it.

Its really good armor, not the strongest, but really damn good. Looks cool to.

 

[Slycne]

I'd be interested in seeing the comparison to a full Dex/Cunning built dagger Assassin. I had originally intended to build an Assassin, but I didn't give enough consideration to Cunning that you get with Lethality and Expose Weakness.

Duelist seems to be okay, but I'm not sure what role a duelist is supposed to fill. Rogues are supposed to backstab. >:|

I'm actually running a Duelist style character as my main at the moment. With Dueling Stance, Momentum, Dual Striking, 2 full size weapons and a Str/Dex point distribution I'm pumping out consistently higher damage then what I was getting with backstabs and crits, and I don't have to baby sit the character to move him behind targets.

I'd be interested in seeing the comparison to a full Dex/Cunning built dagger Assassin. I had originally intended to build an Assassin, but I didn't give enough consideration to Cunning that you get with Lethality and Expose Weakness.

So I was playing around with some alternate party set ups last night, which allowed me to use some characters I wouldn't normally take with me. I hadn't touched Zevran really because my character was already fulfilling a melee dps role. ~20 attribute points, 2 skills, 5 talents, 2 Crow Daggers( + 15% backstab/crit damage each) and a set of gloves that offered another 10 or 20 % - I have to say it's a bit of a toss up and would be really hard to say that ones better than the other without a dps calculator, especially now that my main picked up the Duelist talent. My build hits harder, but holy crap dual daggers and momentum makes for an insanely high attack speed. I theory though with a lot of Dex/Cunning stacking and the right gear, you still might be able to make a one-shot kill assassin or at least be able to break 100 damage backstabs, maybe.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Just how do you unlock the specializations anyway?

 

[tom919]

you unlock specs in loads of ways like talking to your party about their specs then if their from your class you can see when you level up above you stats and thats how you choose some you unlock from the plot and some from random encounters/books

 

[DracoSuave]

Just how do you unlock the specializations anyway?

Reach level 7, and you get a specialization point:

Warrior:
Champion: You can get it after Urn of Sacred Ashes
Templar: Play nice with Alistair
Berserker: Play nice with Oghren
Reaver: Play nice with the head cultist in Urn of Sacred Ashes

Mage:
Arcane Warrior: Dalish Elf quest, do that.
Shapeshifter: Play nice with Morrigan.
Spirit Healer: Buy it in the capital city
Blood Mage: Make a deal with a devil in Redcliff

Rogue:
Bard: Play nice with Lilliana
Duelist: Catch a cheat at cards in the Pearl in the capital
Assassin: Play nice with Zevran
Ranger: Go buy it from the dwarf merchant in your camp.

Don't expect to have the one you necessarily want at level 7. My Two-handed DPS Warrior main didn't get Berserker until level 17.

 

[squid5580]

I am going to cry. 3 mages I have been through now. 3 mages. That is 3 times going through the ritual and the test. And my third mage was doing ok. I had make it through Lothering, did the Keep DLC quest and thought I had gotten blood mage specialization from it. The problem is I was not suited for the blood mage. It seemed like such a waste and I need spirit healer. So I made a rather bold decision and went into my memory and cleared it out. Not more than a minute later my fiance who was checking gamefaqs for me because of the blood mage thing discovers that hey that is just a couple skills not specialization. Fuck me gently with a chainsaw.

I will beat the game with mage #4 (and I won't have extra spaces in thier name this time that is annoying). I will!!!

Can you give your character a last name? (360 version, ya I know please don't rub it in). And if so how?

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

 

[sms_117b]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

As soon as it appears hit space and attack with everyone and make sure all you party has Health < 25% use strongest Health Poultron. Just keep at them, they go down eventually, they are bastards though.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

As soon as it appears hit space and attack with everyone and make sure all you party has Health < 25% use strongest Health Poultron. Just keep at them, they go down eventually, they are bastards though.

So I noticed. I'm at the one in Redcliff Castle Courtyard. ...wait you mean there's MORE of those damn things??? :0

 

[sms_117b]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

As soon as it appears hit space and attack with everyone and make sure all you party has Health < 25% use strongest Health Poultron. Just keep at them, they go down eventually, they are bastards though.

So I noticed. I'm at the one in Redcliff Castle Courtyard. ...wait you mean there's MORE of those damn things??? :0

I think there are 6 as described by your codex (notes I think) and 4 in the forest that hold the Juggernaut Armor (massive armor, looks awesome on Sten). Not sure what happens when you kill them all, I've only found 5...or 4

 

[Knight Templar]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

As soon as it appears hit space and attack with everyone and make sure all you party has Health < 25% use strongest Health Poultron. Just keep at them, they go down eventually, they are bastards though.

So I noticed. I'm at the one in Redcliff Castle Courtyard. ...wait you mean there's MORE of those damn things??? :0

Tip: if you find a small Vial with paper in it be careful. If you're going to try and pick it up be ready for a fight first.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Got i hate:

Spoiler

The Fade part of the Circle of Magi Quest

My current team for my second playthrough and what i'l probably have all through will be Me (Mage-Arcane Warrior and soon to be Spirit Healer), Shale, Morrigan and Wynne. Wynne on the heals and myself sometimes if Wynne goes down, Shale tanks and does frontline damage, Morrigan at the back with Aoe and magic damage. And finally myself up front and doing damage like heck.

 

[CmdrGoob]

Damn Revenant!! Fucking thing keeps killing me! How do you kill that damn thing?

As soon as it appears hit space and attack with everyone and make sure all you party has Health < 25% use strongest Health Poultron. Just keep at them, they go down eventually, they are bastards though.

So I noticed. I'm at the one in Redcliff Castle Courtyard. ...wait you mean there's MORE of those damn things??? :0

At Redcliff Castle courtyard you can run to the gate and let a bunch on knights in to help you with the fight.

 

[Sir Ollie]

Ok, I'm playing the PC version and I wanted to know for my third playthrough.

What class of mage should I go?. I'm thinking of Arcane warrior any advice?

 

[elricik]

While I'm here, could someone explain Alistar's back story to me. During a major explanation of his background, my little brother came into the room and started yelling at me for something so I missed it. I know it has something to do with him being the bastard son of some king, but could someone please explain it in more detail since his political position in the kingdom is becoming a major plot point for the story.

 

[Ixal]

While I'm here, could someone explain Alistar's back story to me. During a major explanation of his background, my little brother came into the room and started yelling at me for something so I missed it. I know it has something to do with him being the bastard son of some king, but could someone please explain it in more detail since his political position in the kingdom is becoming a major plot point for the story.

Spoiler

Allistar is the bastard son of king Maric and half brother to king Cailan. That means that he has a stronger claim for the throne as queen Anora.
That makes him another key to wrestle control of Ferelden away from Loghain. Thing is, he isn't really a leader type and doesn't want to be king.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

I have yet to find a good use for the warriors and the dog yet.

Dog is awesome. Set his top tactic slot to use Overwhelm on enemy mages. My party set up had me as a 2 handed warrior (main damage dealer), Shale tanking, Wynne healing and dog being fucking cool. Shale obviously drew most of the threat and I drew a little thanks to the damage I put out and massive armour. This meant that everyone ignored little Mallet (yes, I called my dog Mallet). Couple that with his faster movement speed and he can run straight through the enemy ranks without anyone noticing and pin the mage to the floor before they've gotten one spell off. Overwhelm will kill them, guaranteed.

I theory though with a lot of Dex/Cunning stacking and the right gear, you still might be able to make a one-shot kill assassin or at least be able to break 100 damage backstabs, maybe.

If it's one hit kills you're looking for, go into the archery tree and pick up Arrow of slaying. The description makes it sound like a simple auto-crit, but it's entirely possible to hit 800 damage with it. I'm not kidding.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

I'm still halfway through my first playthrough, finished the Dalish camp and almost done with the Dwarves. Main character was supposed to be a tank and is failing badly at it. A few questions:

1) So far, I've found Dexterity to not be quite as useful as it was in KOTOR or NWN as far as avoiding hits goes. I've put as much into Dex as Str for my main character, and at Level 12, its hanging around 28 or so. In NWN2 and KOTOR, boosting dexterity usually had a much greater effect. Is there a significant change here?

2) Can you re-use characters for second playthroughs like NWN and Mass Effect?

3) How do you initiate the romance plot-lines? I've gotten both Leliana's and Morrigan's approval thing nearly maxed out, but haven't gotten any new dialogue options.