Dragon Age: Origins gameplay and discussion thread.

[frogbeastegg]

Characters have different preferences for gifts. It ties in to their personality. I know that (minor spoilers about Morrigan's and Alistair's preferences)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Morrigan likes jewelry and Al likes those small statues you find.

[Zenicetus]

Character/party influence is proving to be a random feeling illogical headache. For each handful of points with a character I gain I seem to lose a larger amount with that same character plus a smattering with one or more others. That’s fine; I don’t mind it being hard to keep characters happy, and not being able to make everyone like me. The problem is that a around a third of those loses come from reasons which don’t quite make sense. I've seen (safely disguised from spoilers) "You agreed with me? I hate you!" "You disagreed with me? I hate you!" "You took my advice? I hate you!" "You asked me if I'm ok? I hate you!" "You tried to talk to me? I hate you!" "You did something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You didn't do something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You supported me in an argument? I hate you!" The dog's the only one who likes me, the rest are sulking around neutral and losing influence like a sieve loses water.

I'm having a little trouble with that too. Just talking to a party member and making choices based on what you think they want to hear, based on what you know of their personality, does seem to consistently result in approval. And yes (just saw your second post below), the downgrades are mainly through plot choices. Although I've blown a few conversations with the wrong choices.

What I don't like, is that I'll get downgraded (sometimes by as much as 10 points) for choosing an optional side quest that's a fairly major one, just because it's on the wrong side of a party member's preference. It seems to be roughly on an axis of "nice person helping out" vs. "ruthless, get on with it" axis. Not exactly good or evil. Reminds me a little of Mass Effect's "moral" choices, actually. But dammit, I want that quest because we need the XP (and the loot). I don't mind declining a very minor side quest to keep a party member happy, but it doesn't feel right to do it on a major one. At least offer me another quest with the same XP and loot potential, on the other side of acceptability for the majority of the party members. Maybe that does happen later, but I don't want to lose a party member in the meantime.

Headache the third, aka the large flaw, is the combat AI. My party AI coped very well in the early fights. Now I have gone to ... let's say a village and a castle, and the system has shattered. I'm a mage. Low HP, low damage resistance, spells which get interrupted if I'm hit, no melee capability. So I need tanks to hold up the hordes and protect me. I've got 2 melee characters and one who can swap between ranged and melee. Used to work great; they kept the goons away from me while I cast. Doesn't work any more, for some reason it's completely stopped working. Enemies run right past my party and start beating me to death every single battle, and it's not one or two strays that get through, it's the majority of the enemy party. My companions ignore the situation and go after the couple of goons who aren't killing me.

Headache the third part 3 is that for some inexplicable reason there's no way to set the AI tactics to do anything useful if you're under attack.

It's so bad I'm gradually respeccing my mage into a close combat mage; I've got light armour now and aim to get a sword so I can at least hit back without being two-shotted.

Don't give up the pure mage approach yet. I see in the later post you found some help. Here are a few more ideas that might be useful. I'm playing as a Mage with one other Mage in the party, a Warrior tank, and a Rogue. So, basically only two melee fighters to hold everyone off. I'm not afraid to admit that I've temporarily set the difficulty to Easy to get past one or two rough spots, and because I'm more interested in the plot and the RPG dynamics than the combat. But mostly I'm playing on Normal. Anyway, some tips:

• Having one extra mage in the party is a big help, if you're going the pure mage route. That means twice the magic-based damage, with only half the attracted aggro. I can briefly take over the other mage and direct ranged attacks on enemy archers or spellcasters, while I focus more on the closer enemies, and the two melee types take on the rest. If this game is like D&D where mages start out very weak and become uber-powerful later, I can always ditch the other mage (although it's an interesting character and potential love interest).
• You can burn one sustained spell while firing off others. I use Rock Armor or that other generic defense one (can't remember the name) if enemy fighters are near, and Spell Shield for enemy mages. It helps a little, and seems to be a better use of the mana burn than using a sustained spell that helps the rest of the party.
• There isn't the scripting I'd hope for, to protect squishy characters with stronger ones. Since there isn't, when my mage gets into melee trouble I'll often just take over my main tank and direct him to help out, then do the same with the Rogue. It at least pulls them back to where my mage is standing in the room.
• I use Winter's Grasp a lot, for delaying enemies near me.
• When it's mostly melee enemies and I'm not dealing with archers or casters, I'll sometimes use the Hold Position command to lock the other party members in one place. That lets me use them as a shield of sorts. The bad guys have to go through the party to reach me. Only drawback is I have to be careful with friendly fire effects with my spells.

And … um … well … the skills are boring. Each time I level up I struggle to find something that looks worth buying. The kind of effects I want I can’t buy (e.g. faster recharge time on my staple spells, or a healing spell which heals more than a tiny amount) or are limited to a single class (open locks!!!) or don’t seem to exist as discrete skills (locate and disarm traps)

I agree to an extent, although it's hard to ditch D&D preconceptions about what "should" be there. I had the same issues with The Witcher game, before I got used to the system and just decided to roll with it.

[Monk]

You can find out which character likes what sort of gifts by reading their Codex entries.

Sten, for instance.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Loves paintings and all kinds of art.

Blew through the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep DLC, must say that WK was much shorter than I expected but was very interesting nonetheless. Worth the price tag? Hard to say.

Shale, on the other hand, is an absolute treat. The rumors of his likeness to HK-47 were spot on, and while he won't call anyone a "meatbag" he is certainly a welcome addition to my party. He's a very versatile party member and one of the more durable damage dealers.

My suggestion is to get him early in the game, if you wait too long you miss out on something good and it's only hinted at later.

[Krusader]

Character/party influence is proving to be a random feeling illogical headache. For each handful of points with a character I gain I seem to lose a larger amount with that same character plus a smattering with one or more others. That’s fine; I don’t mind it being hard to keep characters happy, and not being able to make everyone like me. The problem is that a around a third of those loses come from reasons which don’t quite make sense. I've seen (safely disguised from spoilers) "You agreed with me? I hate you!" "You disagreed with me? I hate you!" "You took my advice? I hate you!" "You asked me if I'm ok? I hate you!" "You tried to talk to me? I hate you!" "You did something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You didn't do something I said I approve of? I hate you!" "You supported me in an argument? I hate you!" The dog's the only one who likes me, the rest are sulking around neutral and losing influence like a sieve loses water.

This is made worse by the conversations. Some of those lines of dialogue don't give the effect you'd expect from reading them and on multiple occasions things have gone a way I didn't want because I picked a line which meant something other than it appeared to.
"Would you like a drink?"
1. Yes please, I'm very thirsty. (Turns out to mean: Give me sixty bottles of your strongest because I'm going blotto and don't care if my entire party is disgusted by it :hiccough:!)
2. No, thank you. (Turns out to mean: I think everyone who touches alcohol is weak and feeble-minded and I don't care if I'm insulting the entire pub by saying it.)
The response I wanted would be closer to: “Give me a glass of whiskey and that’s all, thanks.”

Yeah, compared to previous RPGs you can end up with some eyebrow-raising approval increases or decreases and yes some conversations either have what I'd call "superflous" choices (although could be some hidden mechanics like approval for certain party members) or unintended outcome. And its also a bit harder at first to realize what party members like or dislike, but was also refreshing as it made you more focused.

And … um … well … the skills are boring. Each time I level up I struggle to find something that looks worth buying. The kind of effects I want I can’t buy (e.g. faster recharge time on my staple spells, or a healing spell which heals more than a tiny amount) or are limited to a single class (open locks!!!) or don’t seem to exist as discrete skills (locate and disarm traps)

Yeah noticed this too. Sword+Shield seems to have one or two sustained abilities that could have been merged into another. Magic so far doesn't have anything spectacular, but at least there is some small variety.

You can find out which character likes what sort of gifts by reading their Codex entries.

Blew through the Stone Prisoner and Warden's Keep DLC, must say that WK was much shorter than I expected but was very interesting nonetheless. Worth the price tag? Hard to say.

Shale, on the other hand, is an absolute treat. The rumors of his likeness to HK-47 were spot on, and while he won't call anyone a "meatbag" he is certainly a welcome addition to my party. He's a very versatile party member and one of the more durable damage dealers.

My suggestion is to get him early in the game, if you wait too long you miss out on something good and it's only hinted at later.

Just did Warden's Keep and its definetly NOT worth 15 $. Its 7 $ which is acceptable IMO.
And will do Stone Prisoner next. I will keep Morrigan & Leliana (dps/healer & rogue) and opted for Sten since I want to see how the quasari are, although might swap that sourpuss out for Shale. Although Alistair was a nice character so will keep him around when I play a mage later.

On a sidenote:
I got DDE of Steam and that gave me 3 rings, 1 helmet, 1 staff, 2 tomes and all DLCs available atm. The helmet, staff and blood dragon armour is stuff you need to be high up in the game to reach.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Bergan's Honour for example requires 42 Strength.
Blood Plate Armour requires 38 Strength.
Staff of something is 30 Magic.

For my human warrior I'll be lucky to reach 42 STR, since I'm also spending points on Constitution (need extra HP as my char is the tank), Cunning (for Persuasion checks, although might stop now as it seems 16 is the magic number for Coercion & Combat Tactic slots) and Dexterity (which many combat abilities need, like Shield Mastery).

Also, I was under the impression if you bought Combat Tactic Slots with your main character it unlocked one for all others...boy was I annoyed when I discovered it meant for my specific character only. Which just echoes frogbeastegg's mention that this game really could need a better manual.

A handy tip for people starting it up: Read the Codex entries...they are helpful and in Kocari Wilds you have to read them to solve two quests.

[Monk]

Just did Warden's Keep and its definetly NOT worth 15 $. Maybe 5-10 $, but not 15 $ for a quest-area that is shorter than most plot quests.
And will do Stone Prisoner next. I will keep Morrigan & Leliana (dps/healer & rogue) and opted for Sten since I want to see how the quasari are, although might swap that sourpuss out for Shale. Although Alistair was a nice character so will keep him around when I play a mage later.

YIKES! That was worth $15? I got the DDE off of Impulse with a coupon, so I really didn't pay much over the original edition's price for all my bonus content. I agree, there's no way WK is worth that sort of money. At the very most it should be priced at $5.

I've found Sten is a bit of a "glass cannon" he can hit pretty hard, especially after you do his companion quest, but he and the other damage focused warriors are surprisingly squishy. After i got Shale I swapped Sten for him and haven't looked back. A follower made out of stone is durable as it sounds.

[Krusader]

YIKES! That was worth $15? I got the DDE off of Impulse with a coupon, so I really didn't pay much over the original edition's price for all my bonus content. I agree, there's no way WK is worth that sort of money. At the very most it should be priced at $5.

I've found Sten is a bit of a "glass cannon" he can hit pretty hard, especially after you do his companion quest, but he and the other damage focused warriors are surprisingly squishy. After i got Shale I swapped Sten for him and haven't looked back. A follower made out of stone is durable as it sounds.

I bought the DDE of Steam so I got Warden's Keep But my bad, its actually 7 $. Stone Prisoner is 15 $. I'll edit my post and rectify that.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sten. I have exhausted my dialogue options with him and he's still grumpy. Don't know how to increase approval with him. And haven't gotten any companion quests yet.

[Monk]

Ah, i was about to say that's just plain robbery!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sten. I have exhausted my dialogue options with him and he's still grumpy. Don't know how to increase approval with him. And haven't gotten any companion quests yet.

Sten companion tips.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Keep Sten in your party during main plot quests. He favors justice, harsh or not, and abhors you wasting time on anything but fighting the Darkspawn. Even if what you're doing is a means to that end, he'll still get twitchy because you're not on the front-lines. If you have a decent cunning skill, you can sometimes persuade him into seeing things your way.

As i said in a previous post, he likes gifts that are art. If you find a painting odds are it was meant for him.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Even so. Sten will remain grumpy until you complete his companion quest.

27 hours into this game. I need a vacaion.

[FactionHeir]

Just finished the village, made extensive use of Lelianna's rogue skills

Regarding gifts, thanks for the pointers, I noticed those give like +9 rather than +5, so quite notable.
Companions convos are fine for the most part. I find Morrigan's the most difficult, but they change the most too (usually +-6 or 7), while others go for around 1-4 each time.

Just entered camp for the first time too. So far I haven't died in the origin story and ostagar. Died twice in this section but reloaded each time since I think main dying should be game over.

[Monk]

Figured out the problem of sustained "auras" in conversations. As FactionHeir pointed out is a tactics problem that can be easily remedied. Go to your tactics menu and set: Condition: Self-> Surrounded by no enemies. Then set the action to: Self-> Deactivate mode: (aura) and then save your preset. This will solve the problem of being sparkly in conversations but will take up a tactics slot.

Its hard to believe a game I enjoy this much can be so backwards in its design.

[frogbeastegg]

Weirdness. I played several more hours last night and my party AI and influence was working in a sane manner again. In fact I redid one conversation where I got negative influence, picked exactly the same choices, and this time got positive influence! With a smattering of gifts and some functional conversation I have Alistair deeply fond of me, and Morrigan and Leliana to slightly friendly. They didn't have much dialogue for me to work through, and Sten had none so he still hates me.

Leliana is spotting traps all over the place and they appear visually on the game world, and by walking near them I am given the option to disarm them.

Maybe dragon age is a night game? Play it in the morning and it's half asleep? Regardless of the reason I enjoyed my time immensely.

I haven't done the Shale DLC yet; the achievements are broken on it and I don't want to bork my profile. The wardens keep DLC costs 560 points and I admit I am tempted, if only for the item storage. My inventory fills up with runes and ingredients so quickly. Again, the achievements are broken so I can't play it without needing to recover my profile later.

Setting and plot wise I'm still not seeing the dark fantasy, and definitely not seeing any trace of the song of ice and fire inspiration that the developers were talking about. It's basically a standard fantasy novel, which means it's less twee than your usual fantasy game and isn't in technicolour graphics and that's about it. It's very Tad Williams with added blood so far.

[Beskar]

I own the DLC, but the problem is, can't even download it to play it.

It is quite annoying.

Even worse, I heard you cannot even play games with the DLC content, offline.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I think I found the "male love interest" for my male character. Morrigan is getting really upset with me, because I have a high approval rating with him.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I decided since I saved just before, to get the achievement... oh my... my eyes.. they are tainted.

[FactionHeir]

Weirdness. I played several more hours last night and my party AI and influence was working in a sane manner again. In fact I redid one conversation where I got negative influence, picked exactly the same choices, and this time got positive influence! With a smattering of gifts and some functional conversation I have Alistair deeply fond of me, and Morrigan and Leliana to slightly friendly. They didn't have much dialogue for me to work through, and Sten had none so he still hates me.

I thought that was only on my end. Did some convos to just look at what the henchie would reply with for giggles and then went back to pick a mod-high path that would fit with the RP. Thing is, sometimes a path seems to give you a boost once, but after a load, that path never gives anything, which is weird. I.e. the convo with Lelianna about the people in the convent and picking a certain option the first time got me +4 but each time thereafter 0.

Re Achieves, are they broken just for the xbox or also the PC?

Even worse, I heard you cannot even play games with the DLC content, offline.

That's true. My connection went down for a while yesterday and when I went to resume my game it told me that due to the DLC I can only play it logged into an account that has them.

[Xiahou]

That's true. My connection went down for a while yesterday and when I went to resume my game it told me that due to the DLC I can only play it logged into an account that has them.

Is this the PC version? I haven't logged in since I downloaded the DLC and I've had no problems using it.

[FactionHeir]

Yeah, PC version

[Krusader]

There was a patch for Dragon Age yesterday...maybe that fixed some stuff?

[Monk]

33.5 hours in. Thinking of taking my foot off the gas today and getting some real work done. This game can be very hard to put down at times.

Setting and plot wise I'm still not seeing the dark fantasy, and definitely not seeing any trace of the song of ice and fire inspiration that the developers were talking about. It's basically a standard fantasy novel, which means it's less twee than your usual fantasy game and isn't in technicolour graphics and that's about it. It's very Tad Williams with added blood so far.

I'm starting to wonder if Bioware has the "Big book of fantasy cliches" tucked away in their writers' office. The story isn't bad per say, it's just nothing special or revolutionary. Fun? Oh absolutely! Highly original? I really don't think so.

Is this the PC version? I haven't logged in since I downloaded the DLC and I've had no problems using it.

Yeah same here, I haven't had any trouble logged in or out in playing.

[Beskar]

Something is bugging me and there are no answers anywhere.

Do the allied supply crates do anything?

Edit: yes, I realised they are for donating, but does that result in anything tangible or affect anything in the game, other than make you poor?

[Krusader]

Just did Stone Prisoner...don't really know if it's worth 15 $. Then again, its there to torment the second-hand buyers most likely.
Entered Orzammar, but think I should head off to Denerim next. Seems to be lots of quests to do there.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And after playing some more, Sten actually likes me more than Leilana even though I've spent more time trying to get her approval

[Vladimir]

Arg! These camera controls! Death by 1,000 paper cuts.

[frogbeastegg]

Did anyone else notice that the sound effect for changing heavy armour is the same one used for moving plate armour about in your inventory in Baldur's Gate? I got some new gear for Alistair and Sten today and had to equip/remove the chest portion a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

I do like Alistair.

I thought that was only on my end. Did some convos to just look at what the henchie would reply with for giggles and then went back to pick a mod-high path that would fit with the RP. Thing is, sometimes a path seems to give you a boost once, but after a load, that path never gives anything, which is weird. I.e. the convo with Lelianna about the people in the convent and picking a certain option the first time got me +4 but each time thereafter 0.

No, I haven't seen a lack of points. I saw it hand out negative points for a conversation I did before quitting without saving yesterday, and then hand out positive points this morning when I chose exactly the same lines. To use your example, yesterday Lelianna would have given me -4 for the choice whereas today (and logically) she'd have given me +4.

Getting logical results based on what I'd chosen is a massive difference to my party and to my enjoyment of the game. Yesterday my party hated me, today I'm high enough in the esteem of all 3 romanceable characters that they're madly in love with me and the non-romanceable characters who have offered dialogue have recovered their opinion decently. Sten is stubbornly disliking me though; he's not offered any more conversation so I suspect bribery gifts are the only hope. Consequentally I'm half convinced he doesn't have a personality ...

Re Achieves, are they broken just for the xbox or also the PC?

Xbox only, and it was fixed this afternoon.

It's a semi common problem with DLC around release time, common enough that I always check to make sure they're working properly before I play new content. The central microsoft server hadn't been updated with them so obtaining the achievements added them to your profile list but did not award any points. The only way to fix that is to wait for the server to be updated, recover your profile to remove the problematic achievements and then go collect them again. If you're lucky then the achievement will pop correctly and all's well. If not it won't pop because the game thinks you already have it, at which point you're rather stuck.

I'm starting to wonder if Bioware has the "Big book of fantasy cliches" tucked away in their writers' office. The story isn't bad per say, it's just nothing special or revolutionary. Fun? Oh absolutely! Highly original? I really don't think so.

Definitely. It's what I'd call fluff fantasy, the sort of thing I'd read in 3 hours because there's nothing worth thinking or slowing down for. Dragon Age is only different if you compare it to the stereotypical Terry Brooks or Raymond Feist style stuff, and that's a style of fantasy that's been heavily out of fashion for a decade or more,, and which wasn't omnipresent in the genre even before that.

The lore and notes sections of the journal are good to read. The material in there is a bit stronger than what is handed out in the course of the story. One or two of Lelianna's bardic stories are good too.

Doesn't help that some of the cliches are gleefully turned on their heads in a predictable way, such as (spoilers for the bit after the beacon lighting near the beginning)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

the way the charismatic and reckless young king got picked up and pulped in the battle. Cliche says he should escape to eventually recover what's lost, and become wiser and more mature in the process. The only simple antidote to that is for him to die as it'd be hard for a game to depict him being dragged from the field half-dead and spending his remaining years in increasing obscurity as his bids to regain power failed.

[Beskar]

Arg! These camera controls! Death by 1,000 paper cuts.

What troubles? :P

I think we need to do two different threads, one for PC and other for Xbox version.

[FactionHeir]

Well I found something rather annoying (again).

Went to my player profile this morning and as I named my new character the same as my character creator one, the avatar didn't update while the stats did. So I deleted that character off my char page. Now its past midnight and the char isn't reappearing and the achieves I got through the day aren't either. No stats being reported and I am logged in.

Funny enough my profile avatar has changed to the look of the new one somehow. Weird.

In Orzammar now after doing the DLC quests today and getting killed rather easily (though avoidable if I let my party members take the brunt). Things seem to tear through my massive armor. I guess I should have gone to Redcliffe first? Figure when I get there everyone will be effortless?

Shale's tactics are also left wanting. His default tactics set him up for using stuff as needed, but without a separate slot for engaging in a specific mode, he doesn't actually do anything other than precise hit

[Vladimir]

Mom is H-O-T.

The camera controls for PC are horrible. I need to use my left hand for rotation, the mouse is only good for zoom. It basically means I need to pause the game to scan the room as I'm trying I use Tab+A to get a 360. It's very annoying. As annoying as the .org now because it's loading slow. This is a persistent problem that will bother me though the entire game.

I perfected my two-hand technique during high school. No, not that. I mean while playing Doom. This current setup is...annoying.

[Monk]

Edit: yes, I realised they are for donating, but does that result in anything tangible or affect anything in the game, other than make you poor?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

When you finally get to use your army, the donations you've made will give them bonuses. I believe the type of bonus depends on what they want, i didn't dabble with it very much.

Getting logical results based on what I'd chosen is a massive difference to my party and to my enjoyment of the game. Yesterday my party hated me, today I'm high enough in the esteem of all 3 romanceable characters that they're madly in love with me and the non-romanceable characters who have offered dialogue have recovered their opinion decently. Sten is stubbornly disliking me though; he's not offered any more conversation so I suspect bribery gifts are the only hope. Consequentally I'm half convinced he doesn't have a personality ...

Guess I'm quite the lucky one, then. I haven't noticed anything strange about the influence system. Now pathfinding? Oh sure, that is seriously buggy and needs a few patches.

The camera controls for PC are horrible. I need to use my left hand for rotation, the mouse is only good for zoom. It basically means I need to pause the game to scan the room as I'm trying I use Tab+A to get a 360. It's very annoying. As annoying as the .org now because it's loading slow. This is a persistent problem that will bother me though the entire game.

Mouse wheel can zoom and the right mouse button, when held down, rotates. I found it to be pretty easy to control.

[Vladimir]

I just cut some poor girl's head off! Blood went flying everywhere!

Currently playing on hard, still trying to fight free from the castle in the beginning. I'm only playing a rouge and it's still quite easy. I'm not sure what the fuss is about

Since the right button is also used to move to a location it is an encumbrance. Moving the curser to the edge of the screen should rotate the camera like in many other games.

[seireikhaan]

I wonder something:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How much its going to come back to bite me that I keep making deals with demons and sparing their lives.

[Beskar]

Since the right button is also used to move to a location it is an encumbrance. Moving the curser to the edge of the screen should rotate the camera like in many other games.

You press and hold, no problems at all. Mouse wheel for zoom.

[Monk]

37 hours and i've reached the finish line, completing the game as fast as humanly possible, i believe. Only plot quests and DLC was attempted as i purposefully skipped probably over three-fourths of the side-quests.

I have to say I am mentally exhausted from this, like reading a book all in one sitting - fun times but I couldn't do it again right away. Even so, I find myself... eager to start another character and go through it all again only this time dungeon crawling and picking up every extra i missed. Maybe not hit it so hard and stretch it out over more days.

The game only hits its stride about 6-8 hours in but once it does the story doesn't let go. It's predictable and cliche, but something about its charm makes me not care so much. I really enjoyed the ride and I'll be playing this for a long while to come. At least until Mass Effect 2!

Pathfinding needs a patch, and tactics behavior needs some tweaking but overall I really didn't find many issues in the game (bugs were pretty limited, and it only crashed once). There was one time when an enemy fell through the world and I had to reload a save but surprisingly I encountered very little in the way of glitches.

If anyone needs tips on the boss fights send me a PM and I can go into them. Can't help with origin stories, i've only done the one. (human noble)

[AggonyDuck]

Is anyone else finding Shale to be ridiculously powerful? I've been sending him alone against hordes of enemies in Stoneheart-mode, with mages supporting him from afar, and he can pretty much tank everything in the game.

About the Sacred Ashes:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

He even singlehandedly occupied the High Dragon's attention while the rest of the party killed it from afar.

[Sheogorath]

According to Kotaku, Dragon Age's devs just released an editing toolset for characters, campaigns, etc. etc.

...How long ago was it that CA promised editing tools for ETW, again? I seem to recall that was pre-release.