Dragon Age: Origins

Shale is supposed to be free with your copy of the game. Go to Sulcher's Pass on the left side of your map and accept the quest from the guy there. And then a new town will appear on your map and you go there. If you don't have Shale installed, check your game to see if there's a code you didn't enter. If you do not have a code, let me know. I have an extra Shale code that's going to waste (husband and I were originally sharing one CD so I paid for the separate download. Decided to buy my own CD later on and thus the code that came with the game is going to waste, atm.)


I read a really good tip on how to keep Ser Otto alive when I had trouble doing this at first. It's sorta mean to do this to a blind guy, but it's all in the name of keeping him alive. Turn off auto-follow and move your group individually. (Yes, this is a pain, but go with me.) Be sure to close the doors behind you so he can't follow you though them. If you are on autofollow mode and start fighting, he'll go through the doors and join you. So turn it off. Just leave him behind. He'll magically rejoin you when you trigger video confrontations with the demon.

And later on, when I got better at playing the game, I used my mage to cast force field on Ser Otto. This immobilized him, prevented him from attacking or getting any damage back, for the majority of the fight. And my healer would watch his health and heal him when necessary. But the force field was my way of making sure he wasn't running off on his own or getting too much aggro.

Thank you much for the links!

I am rather liking your idea, Beli, of starting over just for story purposes and for the expansion. On my first character, the mage, I was doing all sorts of crazy stuff because it was a new game to me. I may have to start anew for story/expansion.

As for Flemeth, I killed her. And I was like o_O oh crap when I saw her for the first time. lol

I'll update with a list of mods I'm using once I find the links that go with them.

And she's a dual wielding warrior. I already played a shield tank and liked it, but I felt that was really Alistair's role so I tried out the dual wielding tree and wore medium armor so I'd have more stamina for my moves. I find the dual wielding a lot more fun than the two-handed tree. I have seen "well, if you're gonna dual wield, might as well do it on a rogue" arguments on boards, but my warrior is dual wielding full size weapons (a pair of axes or swords, depending) rather than daggers, which is where rogues shine. I put 36 points in dexterity to unlock all the talents and the rest into strength (while rogues focus on cunning). I don't know if my damage output is as high as a rogue's would be, but I feel take down my opponents quickly enough and I like being able to wear heavier armor. The only thing that I miss from the shield/2 handed weapon trees are the abilities that prevent you from being knocked back. Loghain kept knocking me flat on my ass during the duel. I managed to beat him, but I marveled at how many times he could shield bash me down. Another perk to being a dual wielding warrior over rogue is that I have access to templar spells, which I found very handy.

I'm also keeping my options open because they've said that they're going to allow you to respec in the expansion as well as acquire new abilities. If I need to go back to being a sword and board tank, my warrior is ready for it. If I have a player in my group that can do the tanking job, I'm happy to downshift and be the dps tank instead. I just like the warrior class more than the rogue class.

The only tree I did not try out on the warrior was the archery one. That just seems better suited for ranger/bard, but I'd have to google and see what others say first.

So when is this expansion? I haven't planned any characters with that in mind.

Whether or not Alistair's personality is hardened can affect the game in a number of ways:

• In The Pearl in Denerim, there is a woman named Isabela who is acquainted with Zevran. If you are in a romance with Alistair and bring him to The Pearl, and you have hardened Alistair’s personality, he will join you in a threesome if you choose that in her conversation choices.


• If Alistair's personality is hardened and The Warden is not a human noble and is in a romance with him, then Alistair can be persuaded to remain their lover after becoming king at The Landsmeet (otherwise he will end the relationship after becoming king). This is the case even if Alistair is to marry Anora.


• Alistair's attitude towards becoming king will be more positive (or at least his attitude to Anora becoming queen will be more negative) if his personality is hardened.


• If The Warden is male, and a "hardened" Alistair is chosen as the champion to fight Loghain at The Landsmeet and has not agreed to marry Anora, then Alistair will assume the throne without further input from The Warden.


• Alistair will still marry Anora and become king if Loghain lives as long as they had previously agreed to marry and Alistair's personality has been hardened. Otherwise, Alistair will leave for good, if allowed to live. (Note that Alistair will still leave The Warden's party if Loghain lives, but if he becomes king will be around during the Epilogue.)

"Hardened" Leliana will no longer object to some of the morally ambiguous choices made by the Warden (such as defiling the Sacred Ashes), will be less judgmental of Morrigan, and will have different ending epilogues available.