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DA: I Character Page: Inquisitor Lavellan

Tags: #Dragonborn1721  #Dragon Age  #DA:I 
  • October 22, 2018

    So, I wasn't sure what to call this. It isn't quite Gameplay focused enough to really be a build and not RP focused enough to be a Profile so...I was kind of left wanting to share my character but without a method for naming the article...so yeah just said "Fuck it" and created something new. It's more of a mixed bag sort of topic describing my first Dragon Age: Inquisition character.

    Combat:                                                                             

    Inquisitor Ellana Lavellan, an Elven Mage of a Dalish Clan that has been trained primarily in defensive magics, and the ability to control the Primal School of Storm. She is considered to be one of the most deadly mages of the modern era, and a powerful threat for any force to deal with. Above all this, is her training as a Knight-Enchanter, a powerful sub-set of Mages that are trained to wield what is referred to as a 'Spirit Blade' (Read Note  1)

    Because Knight-Enchanters wield these 'Spirit Blades' they are known for their prowess in martial combat as well as the more typical, ranged techniques of a normal Mage making them much, much more formidable when fought from close range (Read Note 2) than your typical Mages. Knight Enchanters are also capable of Healing, and bending the 'Veil' to allow them to create fields that hide themselves from the mortal realm (making them temporarily immune to physical damage) and creating aa 'slowing field' around themselves. This makes a normal Knight-Enchanter rather powerful, and also very applicable if a Mage is focused primarily on Defensive Casting rather than being a more typical mage.

    Furthermore, we have evidence of two artifacts of particular note that Ellana Lavellan makes use of to make her nearly unbeatable (and after aquiring both she was never beaten to our knowledge). The Ring of Doubt is the first artifact, and is particularly deadly because it allows the Inquisitor to turn herself invisibile as long as she isn't attacking someone. It is still technically possible to get the drop on her (through assassination) but it provides an insanely powerful boost to her combat potential. The second is known as Andraste's Sacrifice, and is...strange to say the least. The normal abilities are useful for Mages, generating Mana that a Mage can then access, but what makes it incredibly powerful for Ellana (but not normal Mages) is that it releases a burst of magic that 'Taunts' nearby enemies, drawing them in to fight Lavellan. 

    Note 1 - As far as we are concerned, this is a misnomer, and the Knight-Enchanter doesn't actually wield a SPIRIT of any sort, the Blade is more of an extension of a Knight-Enchanter's will and magic directed out of a hilt rather than anything more...FADE-oriented.

    Note 2 - This is somewhat similar in concept to the Mage known as Hawke. He was particularly deadly in close combat because he wielded a unique, bladed staff and trained himself to use it in a manner similar to a Spear, giving him a more than basic level of close-combat fighting that combined with his magical abilities for a very unique fighting style. Obviously the two are quite different, but it's a note to be made that the two most powerful Mages of recent times are both close-combat oriented).

    Dragonborn's Note: The awesome thing about this character is that she functions in a way similar to a traditional DnD Bard. She probably isn't the best Mage possible (though she was Tanky as all shit), but she has a bit of Stealth and a bit of Melee thrown in to make for a really fun, fluid playstyle. Because of Andraste's Sacrifice you generate Guard (so create weapons that generate Guard on hit for the additional boost), Knight-Enchanters generate Barrier when damaging enemies and Ring of Doubt and Fade Cloak makes taking damage actually kind of difficult. The slight problem with the character is that she can't dish out a lot of damage but Chain Lightning, Spirit Blade and Energy Barrage are a pretty potent combination...Oh and Fade Cloak.

    Offensively, Inquisitor Lavellan is somewhat weaker than other Mages. She only really seems to use a few offensive spells, and the ones she uses are very focused. Her most common spell is Chain Lightning, a simple spell that allows her to creating a blast of Lightning that jumps from target to target. It's fairly powerful against a group all huddled together but is incredibly ineffective against single targets. To counter this she used two spells called Energy Barrage and her Knight-Enchanter focus of Spirit Blades to deal heavy damage to singular opponents. It's not the most adaptable combination, nor the most powerful but it's functional enough to make her incredibly deadly.

    Party Members:                                                                

    Seeker Cassandra was one of (if not the) first people that the Inquisitor got to know upon waking up after the Break opened above the Temple of Sacred Ashes. The two had a fairly close friendship for the majority of the time leading up to the defeat of Corypheus, and were deadly when fighting together. As a Seeker, Cassandra was trained to fight Demons and Mages, giving her an excellent understanding on how to fight alongside a Mage, and when you combine their naturally defensive styles, they formed an effective wall that focused enemies towards them. Personally little is known about their friendship, though many report the two sharing jokes (which seems unlikely given the Seeker's general behaviour, but Inquisitor Lavellan was well known for her charisma), and behaving in a friendly manner, but the two never really discussed themselves in public.

    Varric Tethras, Surface Dwarf, Companion of Hawke, Criminal. These are all truths, and yet he is also one of the few individuals that is responsible for saving the world from complete destruction. He fought Corypheus (multiple times), or at least helped out to some unknown extent, and was generally known to be rather helpful due to his underworld contacts and general skill in battle. He was a perfect addition to the team of Allana and Cassandra, being able to launch powerful bolts from his unique Crossbow, Bianca, and attack from stealth or with dibiliating effects. Unlike the Seeker, Varric's relationship with the Inquisitor was heavily discussed (and probably dramatized) in "All This Shit is Weird" a comedic retelling of the events of the Inquisition, though these details are unlikely to be true.

    THE Iron Bull (and we were forced to write this out of fear for meeting the man) is a Qunari Warrior of some description. Details about him are rather scarce which is strange for a Qunari who followed the Inquisitor fairly devotely. What we do is that he's a terrific (and terrifying) fighter who was capable of fighting Dragons on a near equal level. If that isn't enough to scare people, then note that he was technically the Inquisitor's 'Heavy Hitter' and killed the majority of foes that stood in her way...We are going to stop asking questions, and hope that he doesn't try and talk to us.

    Dragonborn's Notes: So yeah, simple party with a simple premise. 1 Mage, 1 Rogue (for lock-picking) and 2 Warriors. Together they form 2 Tanks, a Rogue and a Wrecking Ball (that is on fire, covered in spikes and poisoned) on a chain. The party works well, though I'll admit that Varric really isn't that useful for the most part since he doesn't do quite enough damage to fill the role of a secondary DPS fighter. He can kill minions pretty well, but that's about it. Iron Bull is fucking crazy, I said that bit about fighting Dragons, and since I killed all 10, it was tried and tested. Agro the Dragon with Cassandra/Ellana, Barrier for Bull, kill with Reaver Bullshit Powers. More then that, I think there are so many fun conversations between the three. Varric and Cassandra obviously work together really well, and they bring out the best (and worst) in each other. Just look at the 'Swords and Shields' quest for Cassandra for details, great stuff there. Iron Bull flirting with Cassandra is hilarious, especially once she gets more comfortable with it and hits him back a bit for it, and he's just awesome. Qunari knowledge is great, beating people up is awesome, so on and so forth. Varric and Iron Bull are pretty interesting too, especially a conversation they had about the combat scenes in Varric's books, gave a really nice insight into Bull's mentality regarding fighting and why he enjoyed Varric's writing (like literally everyone in the world it seems).

    Roleplaying:                                                                             

    Dragonborn's Notes: Despite me writing a lot, there really wasn't a heavy amount of RP that went into this build. It was my first playthrough in ages so I just didn't get the opportunity to really express anything because I was so interested in playing. That said, I think my major decisions are two-fold. First was accepting the Mages into the Inqusition, and doing so in a way the left them free. It was tricky, because personally I'm somewhere in the middle of that debate, but I believe that Lavellan would be both practical and a bit emotional about it. She is a Mage afterall, so it was a topic that, while not directly important (afterall, she's always free with the Dalish or Inquisition), but something she could relate to...I just couldn't see her fighting with the Templars, especially considering we really don't see many great examples of them in Inquisition (to be fair, part of that is you letting them become Red Templars). Then there's the fact that some, if not many, willingly became Red Templars with a fair amount of knowledge on what that would do... The comparison with the Mages is really not that extreme, yes they allied with the Tevinter, but it felt a lot more forced than the Red Templars (Do note that I haven't played that arc in awhile so forgive me if I'm wrong here). 

    The second (of three, I lied earlier) was my decision to keep the Grey Wardens alive. It was purely practical. Not only do I get a weapon againt the Blight (and by then I understood what that meant against Corypheus), but I think there would be a huge issue with the idea of wiping out all Grey Wardens, or even letting them die out. You create a situation where the world, decades or even centuries down the line is doomed...Though to be honest, that might be a bit of meta-knowledge on my end because I understand the usefullness of a Warden more than Lavellan would. 

    The third, is the whole mess in Orlais. I picked siding with Celene for a few reasons. First she was the only one that I had no evidence of wrong-doing for. Both the others were trying to get her killed, and were pretty damn sketchy the whole time. Throw in the issue that I just didn't like the General (and he did try and start a Civil War, making him pretty untrustworthy, especially with his attempts to decieve me), and the Elf (who's name I also don't recall) just didn't feel like a realistic choice to me. There was no real way she was going to become anything really, not with what we'd seen of Human society, so I just didn't see a reason to support her (plus her negative intentions throughout the mission). To be fair I was kind of dissapointed that Celene exiled Elf-Lady for no great reason, but I suppose it was a pretty fine decision, just hate that I got played there. Not sure how I felt about the Epilogue ending, made Celene feel a lot weaker than I though she was, but still, felt in-character to support her. 

    Essentially those are the only 'major' decisions that I put much in-character thought towards. There are probably a few others, but I can't recall them so they don't count. Generally speaking the idea was 'Be Nice, but be a bit Practical at the same time'. It meant there were times when I might have been a bit nicer or hasher then I would've wanted, but the character is mostly right :P

    Closing Notes:                                                                             

    And that's all there is to it. Simple playthrough, simple character but I had a lot of fun with it and wanted to share something from my playthrough. Just had a lot of fun and didn't intend to create anything except a fun character to finish the game with, so here we are. It does mean that I don't talk as much as normal (probably a good thing) and I worked on this over a week or so, which means the tone and pacing and whatnot could be off at times, but eh...it fits the game I played :P 

    So yeah, drop a like, a comment a whatever. If you liked my stuff I've got a few Dragon Age pieces lying around in here (mostly Dragon Age 2, though hopefully I'll change that) and a host of other game content. If this inspired you to post some Dragon Age content, well then can't wait to see it and if not, well hope your interested in the group anyway...Feels lonesome in here sometimes :P

  • October 22, 2018

    I've always wished I could post my DA character profiles somewhere. They aren't this well-written though, just the normal Skyrim-like profiles. I'm totally loving this.

  • October 22, 2018

    Would definitely encourage you to post them, would be pretty great to see other characters for the game/s :D I was a bit worried this would turn out poorly so glad you liked it Thorien, it's how I used to write a lot of my builds so it was nice to get back to the general style.

  • October 22, 2018

    Well, maybe one day I'll muster the courage for that. I've posted some pics of my Brosca long long ago.

    It's nice, reads like a story. And the pics are cool.

  • October 23, 2018

    Well, maybe one day I'll muster the courage for that. I've posted some pics of my Brosca long long ago.

    It's nice, reads like a story. And the pics are cool.

    I'll look forward to it :D Just out of curiosity, what's your favourite Origin? I have a feeling your smart and it's one of the Dwarven ones, but figured I'd ask :P

     

  • October 23, 2018

    Well, it's the Casteless Dwarf, for some reason no other origin felt as natural and fitting to me as that one. I love its roleplaying potential. A Dwarf, who had seen nothing but poverty and crime in her life, had to steal aand work for a crime boss she hates so much, who had turned her gentle, kind sister into a whore. All her life is despair without a chance for anything better. And she suddenly gets a new purpose, a noble one, an honor beyond her wildest dreams. She is scared by the unknown, feels guilt for leaving her family behind, but also is excited for the new life unlike anything she'd ever imagined.

    I really love that scene when Brosca talks to Duncan in the first time, when she thinks he'll call guards so they arrest her just for talking to him, and then is surprised when he instead greets her like a real person. Also I love the idea of her being a Paragon. Not because she'd get everyone bowing to her, but because that way she can really do something for her own home, which was her dream always.

    Lol, I could talk about my Natia for ages, so I'd better stop before this turns into a word wall))))

  • October 23, 2018

    Well, it's the Casteless Dwarf, for some reason no other origin felt as natural and fitting to me as that one. I love its roleplaying potential. A Dwarf, who had seen nothing but poverty and crime in her life, had to steal aand work for a crime boss she hates so much, who had turned her gentle, kind sister into a whore. All her life is despair without a chance for anything better. And she suddenly gets a new purpose, a noble one, an honor beyond her wildest dreams. She is scared by the unknown, feels guilt for leaving her family behind, but also is excited for the new life unlike anything she'd ever imagined.

    I really love that scene when Brosca talks to Duncan in the first time, when she thinks he'll call guards so they arrest her just for talking to him, and then is surprised when he instead greets her like a real person. Also I love the idea of her being a Paragon. Not because she'd get everyone bowing to her, but because that way she can really do something for her own home, which was her dream always.

    Lol, I could talk about my Natia for ages, so I'd better stop before this turns into a word wall))))

    I've still never decided whether I prefer Dwarf Noble or Dwarf Commoner, but the two are by far my favourite Origins (I think the Human Noble is the only one that surpasses them in terms of integration in the greater story), I think Orzammar is just the most fascinating location and the Origins are both really well written, andd then when you head back...damn are the connections really polished. 

    But yeah, I definitely understand the love for Brosca, he/she is just a fascinating character and there are so many ways to play it which I think the others suffer from a bit. Dwarf Nobles are pretty much shoved into 'Kind and Trusting', 'Back-Stabbing Asshole', 'Dumb Warrior' and maybe a few others, but the Commoner just has so many different, entirely logical ways to play. Just so good, and it makes supporting Bhelen a lot more logical in a lot of ways (Rica for one). Yeah playing as a Brosca is pretty damn great, though I never finished that playthrough sadly...not sure why, think it might've been a pre-Steam playthrough and I lost the disc/got a new PC...

    Bah anyway, Natia sounds pretty great as a nice nobody to Hero sort of story, how'd she react to finding out about Rica and the whole Harrowmont/Bhelen debate?

  • October 24, 2018

    Heh, it's going to be a word wall.

    The Dwarf Noble origin left me with a disappointment because I had a feeling that something is off right from the start, but the game doesn't let you to act on it. The Dwarf Commoner though, feels just right. I loved every dialogue. Didn't feel that way with the Human Noble, even the involvement of Arl Howe didn't make up for the uncomfortable feeling, but that's just me I guess, I don't like playing humans. My second favorite origin is actually the City Elf.

    It's not as much of a nobody to hero as it is from darkness to light, from emptiness to purpose. For me, Natia's story was more about a finding a purpose. A person who had no hope for anything but a life of a criminal scum, who didn't even realize what exactly she was missing, gets a very big and noble cause to fight for. She embraces the path of a Grey Warden with all she has.

    To tell about Natia's part in the Bhelen vs. Harrowmont conflict, I'll need to tell about all what she went through before she got to that, lol. Since the time she left Orzammar with Duncan, she had to walk a long path, not only literally but also in the psychological aspect. At first, she sees Duncan as an example in her new life, a kind of icon Grey Warden she wants to become like, and she upholds that idea forever, but, unlike Alistair, she doesn't see Duncan as some saint. She knows that for a Grey Warden the end justifies the means, yet tries to be as honorable as possible.

    After Ostagar, she has to take the role of a leader when Alistair acts like a little girl. She does her best in an attempt to understand Morrigan, because she kinda feels for her. She also provides support for Alistair, and later their relationship develops into romance. A really love this particular trio, Natia is sort of in the middle between their opposite worldviews. And then it becomes even funnier with the addition of Sten. I retained this party for most of the game. 

    She has never dealt with humans and their Chantry before, so both Lothering and Redcliffe present a lot of new revelations and dilemmas. By the time she gets to Orzammar, she is nothing like the lost casteless girl she used to be, who was ready to do anything just so her family survives.

    She supports Bhelen, but it's not because of Rica, it's only because she believes that Orzammar needs a strong king even if he isn't very honorable. In her eyes, the survival of her people is more important than traditions and even than some lives, and that's also why she sides with Branka. In fact, she sides with her in much more than just one aspect. She even thinks that in Branka's position she maybe would do the same. She still believes in compromise, but with Darkspawn, there can be none. At that point the gap in the worldview between her and Alistair. By the time of the Landsmeet it becomes more and more prominent.

    I loved that playthrough all the way, and also through all the DLCs.