Bes

Is magic treated with suspicion and ignorance in your setting? Are mages oppressed?

No, magic is pretty ubiquitous, and most folks can't function without it. Except Gremlins. Gremlins hate magic.

I hated this terrorist fuck the second he opened his mouth. I just instantly knew he's going to be trouble, and what do you know, I was right.
Choke on a templar dick, Anders.

For the most part no

I only sided with the Mages because it just seem like Hawke would be a hypocrite if his sisters and father were apostates and was completely cool with it.

No, that's stupid.

The only tastefull way to handle mages in any system is either make them politically powerfull and very rare individuals who are still viewed with distrust or make them utterly reviled individuals that are not accepted in the society .

Any other way is either unrealistic or bland.

Magic only exists in the form of profane rituals practiced by secluded witch covens and those foreigners "over there." True magic is so rare that almost all peasants can go their entire lives and never once witness it.

Mages were only oppressed in Dragon Age because it took place in a shitty feudal backwater.
IIRC the Roman Empire stand-in was a magocracy.

So, yeah; in civilized parts of the world mages are either in-charge or a vital part of society.
In shitty backwaters full of peasants they're hunted down as witches or tolerated as Clever Men/Women.

Magic is spread far and wide. And while education is pretty costly and needs some amount of talent it is, in theory, possible for anyone. Because magic is not only part of the the world but is one of its foundations. There never were any atoms or quantum particles - everything is magic.

Alteration, Apportation, Divination, Conjuration.

They are not only schools of magic but also basic forces of the universe. Though except for elder gods not many know about it - world is just nowhere that advanced.

Overall mages are treated as nerds, but of course with ability to throw fireballs. People can see magic with their eyes with no special training, it's just what they are. In fact wizards need to have a very high skill to cast spells while hiding their magic. Magic also doesn't get to willy nilly ignore rules of the universe and does interact with everything in it. So when you throw a fireball you should make sure your opponent isn't trying to detonate it half-way by throwing his shield.

Also, because of demons, you know...

The demons in Dragon Age represented such a comparatively minuscule threat compared to literally everything else.

I'd find it hard to really care about Demons in particular when your setting's whole premise is that your planet's crust is made up of an Orcish Horde trying to overrun the surface every few years.

>make them politically powerfull
That's shit. They should be leashed but still have sway.

>Orcish Horde trying to overrun the surface every few years.
Which is a thing because of Roman Empire Mages.

>Such a miniscule threat
>When a couple mages decide to force demons into some mages they wipe any in their path
>Including the people trained and meant to specifically deal with mages
It sounds like you didn't pay much attention, also it's possibly a disconnect between lore and game. Lore demons inhabiting a mage are terrifying but in game you're one of The Grey Wardens, so of course you're a badass who wipes the floor with them.

They had 5 blights, only 2 more to go.

in backward places it is but it's not very easy to oppress a mage of any real power and for the most part they wouldn't go there

Nah, wizards are a privileged upper class, The materials and time for research can only be funded by nobility, blood or money.

So that's why every king has 3 level 20 player character wizards with foresight of your actions greg, fuck you.

Witcher did it tastefully and it was realistic.
When you have a group of people capable of using magic phones, summoning hellfire, teleports behind you. They cant help but get political power.
Though people think you are a necessary evil most of the time.

IIRC the whole deal with the Circle only got out of hand because of the regional instability after Loghain pulled all the troops out of the country into the city.

Besides, the Templars are portrayed as utterly inept in-game anyway and the reason why the Tower maintained itself was because of the High-end mages were all indoctrinated into supporting it.

This

That's most of it really. People who can throw fireballs and cast storms on a whim would be seen as a really dangerous albeit potentially useful. No state would dare give them open political power.

They're not universally opressed, but yeah, the fommon folk largely don't understand how magic really works, just like most people IRL don't know how quantum physics really works. Various governments put strictures on types of magic or casting, but it's less "opress all magic" and more a power structure built on one magical tradition protecting itself against others.

Same, I kept hoping for an option to turn him over to the Templars the whole fucking game.

God that game sucked.

Its was okay outside the Templar-mage shit. The final act got fumbled hard.
>were not bloodmages
>do bloodmages
>lol i'm ancient evil all along
Fucking bioware.

>Implying the city wasn't Black when they got there

Can't make an Immortal omlete without breaking a few planes of reality.

Or, you know, don't have mages that are so powerful they bend the entire setting around themselves.

I remember pretty much everything sucking:
>party members nowhere as fun/interesting as in Origins
>story is horribly paced and incoherrent
>combat looking way too anime
>no customization on party
>everyone is bi and wants your dick/cooch
>half the assets are lidted from DA 1, including bosses
>that retarded serial killer subplot
>none ofyour choices have the least bit of effects

The only remotely interesting bit to me were the Qunari.

>have cosmic reality bending powers
>Are you oppressed?!

Loghain would have no control over the Templars or where they send troops or not, they are strictly a part of the Chantry that fall under the jurisdiction of the Divine and no one else but those she appoints to be above them. Since they are literally on an island they could batten down and weather the storm.

Also yes they do since if they were any good at the job you wouldn't have shit to do when you got there.

>High-end mages were all indoctrinated into supporting it
Did you even read the in-game texts? Circles were designed by mages and run by mages in order to create an environment where mages can train and live safely, and where cowards, idiots and edgemasters can be quietly weeded out. Templars are there as political representatives of the Chantry. Without Irving's assent Greagor would have no option but to resort to force to get his way in anything, no mage in the Circle actually answers to him.

>Which is a thing because of Roman Empire Mages.
No it isn't. It was outright stated by not one but TWO of the original mages who actually entered the city that it was black from the get go with one of them actually being confused/frustrated as to why the dragons they revered would trick them.

Until we find out that some of the ancient elf wizard/gods are still around and can shapeshift into dragons.

Literally everything in the DA-Setting can be traced down to Elves fucking everything up forever.

Death to all the cowardly nerd mages

>Literally everything in the DA-Setting can be traced down to
Bioware being beyond salvation. 'Lol super elfs dunit' is just a symptom of the disease.

>Love the Dragon Age setting
>It's wasted on fucking nu-Bioware

End my suffering.

You copied this from /v/?
Cause aside from DLC altar boy the whole cast is more interesting that Orgins, whom a third were just walking tropes.
Wish they gave it a bit more dev time, could have been the best.

>cosmic reality bending powers
are you retarded?

Mages either have wealthy patrons, or are cast out. Their craft is too dangerous for them to be accepted by the common folk. The six great cities each have their own court of a handful of mages who are looked upon jealously by the hedge-mages, necromancers, freedman sorcerers, stormbinders, and Djinnbreathers that have yet to find such acclaim.

>confused/frustrated as to why the dragons they revered would trick them.
It's almost like they were stooges who got tricked into doing something that fucked shit up. Elven gods may have done it as revenge for the whole "purge elven kingdom" and enslave them. So in the end, the Imperium mages are still to blame for being shit stains, then got tricked into unleashing the Blight as revenge against them.

Everything started go down the shitter when they made the whole Mages vs. Templars stick the focus and instead of being subtle about started literally pandering to retarded fan speculations.

You know I don't see how any of that contradicts the statement that all high-end mages are indoctrinated into supporting it.
>no mage in the Circle actually answers to him
Unless they, you know, try to leave like when Greagor is about to summarily execute your friend in the mage opening and then excommunicate his girlfriend from the faith

The concentration camp metaphors weren't exactly supposed to be subtle in the mage tower.

Well it is nuBioware so no real surprise there

Is this opinion copied from reddit?
Because if refuse to believe that someone on Veeky Forums would be willing to eat literal shit.

Everyone in the setting has a cantrip they acquired when they came of age and received their true name, so basic tricks are commonplace.

Actual spellcasting, with spell memorization and such, is hunted down by the religious authority of the land, and often equivocated with Warlock-style deals with darker powers.

Rituals are a different beast, though, because witches and druids are a lifeline in small villages and towns. The rural version of the religion is a lot more forgiving towards these types and stays well away from their practices in fear of angering the populace.

>The imperium elves are to blame!
>Not the elves

>Cause aside from DLC altar boy the whole >cast is more interesting that Orgins
>stoic paladin chic
>lecherous dwarf
>slutty pirate dressed like a hooker
>elf loli
>a final fantasy reject

Hahahahahahaha how the fuck are Blights real hahahahaha nigga just dont go underground like nigga fill in that hole in your yard haha

>More interesting than Origins
>Pirate captain who is promiscuous and betrays you at the end
>I'm super special and house the spirit of justice, but I'm a bitter man so it's just Vengeance now
>Dwarf who is a business man
>The strong woman who doesn't understand how to be feminine
>Either your brother is jealous of you
>Or your sister adores you
>Uncle is a dead beat who lost everything
How are none of these tropes and more interesting?

>leh fucking reddit
What got nothing else to copy paste?
Might wanna go back.

I have been here for nearly ten years. Try again, plebbit-tard.

>Arlathan the elven kingdom
>Around before the Imperium
>Imperium
Thanks for proving you know fuck all about what's going on in the games. The Imperium came after the elven kingdom and is now the Tevinter Imperium.

Those characters had depth surprisingly Heck even Animu elf had some good shit. More so that
>token drunk dwarf
>shy knight
>bard girl
>homo elf
Old mage, Morrigan, and Qun dude was the only ones interesting and weren't "damaged and quirky". I fucking hate those.

Ten years. 2 months a 4 hours reading 1d4chan does not constitute a decade user.

Get back on topic you faggots.

Go back to /v/

>2 months a 4 hours reading 1d4chan does not constitute a decade user.
Yes and that's why you should fuck off Veeky Forums forever. You drag down the quality even further.

>Thanks for proving you know fuck all about what's going on in the games.
Thanks for proving you are quite literally too dumb to read.

>The Imperium came after the elven kingdom and is now the Tevinter Imperium.
Where did I say it didn't? Are you arguing in your head with yourself?

D&D and modern fantasy Magic(TM) is so fucking boring and lame. I love the old, historical interpretation of magic being divinations, curses, rituals and deals with demons. Not gay fireballs and lightning bolts.

Pretty much why martials are infinitely more interesting than lame casters.

>You disagree with me
>Go back to (insert board that has similar opinion)
Fucking really, that's what you default to when someone shows how both games suffer from the same thing?

The only redeeming quality DA2 had is that its not DAI.

I still want to try that because I heard it's at least okay.

Party member ranking
1. Varric
2. Merril
3. Carver
4. Aveline
5. Bethany
6. Sebastion(Yes, a faggot, but at least a semi-interesting faggot)
7. Nu-Anders/Isabella/Anime-man

This is my third message on this thread, user. My first was a contribution to the topic. I want to talk about magic in fictional societies, not measure dicks. Fuck off

Thing is, the only one who left any sort of impact on me was Merril, and that's mostly because I wanted to bang her (which boiled down to her jumping around on your bed in her underwear).
I couldn't even match up half of these names to their characters.

It's a single player mmo more or less. Varric, Strong Female Jaw, and cunty elf mage are the only tolerable party members. The combat is boring but is least boring if you are a mage. Leave the Hinterlands as soon as possible, it's by far the worst area of the game. Don't try and be a completionist and do everything before leaving just leave as soon as you can. When you pirate it, and I sure as fucking hope you aren't paying for this, make sure you have the Tresspasser DLC because it's the actual ending for the game.

The Imperium is a human kingdom, the elves were turned into slaves once they conquered the elven kingdom. Mages were at a high station in society, but do you know who isn't? Slaves, so trying to claim elves were in any position of power is pants on head retarded. The Imperium was ruled by human mages so they'd be the ones who entered the Black City. So I'll reiterate thanks for providing you know fuck all about what's going on in the games or lore for that matter.

Rival romancing Merril is actually pretty satisfying. You can actually fuck the stupid out of her.

Except that in your jugheaded analogy the Jews came up with concentration camps, Jews run concentration camps, concentration camps are better than what they had to deal with before, and the game gives us plenty of explanations why concentration camps are necessary.
> like when Greagor is about to summarily execute your friend in the mage opening
For breaking into a highly restricted area in order to break his phylactery and then escape, while being suspected of practicing blood magic. Did you miss the part where mages are extremely dangerous and need to be handled as such, and the entire Circle is wreathed in paranoia, with everyone from novices to senior enchanters constantly being tested in some way because one single bad apple slipping through could end in a disaster? Circle of Ferelden was decimated because Uldred slipped through, and fumbled a single summoning.
And Greagor still had to consult with Irving before he could act.
>and then excommunicate his girlfriend from the faith
For breaking all her vows and helping a suspected blood mage enter a restricted area and break his phylactery. She's the sort of precious stupid that no one in a position of responsibility wants to have around. And she was a Chantry asset, not part of the Circle.

While you're right, you're also a huge faggot for phoneposting and using an irrelevant funneh meme image.

In that case they are nothing more than a portable trebuchet. Their effect on the setting woudl be minimal. SO why put them there in the first place?

he was just as bad in awakening...

>o trying to claim elves were in any position of power is pants on head retarded
We literally know some of the ancient elven mages are still around and can turn into dragons. Which you even confirmed you illiterate mouthbreather.

>The Imperium was ruled by human mages so they'd be the ones who entered the Black City.
Actually the Ancient Tevinter Mages were more akin to Clerics and revered the fucking Dragons as Gods.

>o I'll reiterate thanks for providing you know fuck all about what's going on in the games or lore for that matter.
No, its still just you being unable to fucking read. Thank you for trying to project your lack of reading comprehension on other people but maybe you should re-read what you wrote and what I wrote you niggerbaby.

you're not very imaginative if your only idea of mages is either godlike or useless

I Awakening worth playing?
I'been thinking about reinstalling Origins and doing bloodmage run.

user it's a fucking concentration camp where they forcefully drag children off to, where you can never leave without permission which is only given when the tower sends you out on work, where the guards have the authority to kill you summarily execute you, and all your teachers, who are your only parental figures, conveniently extol the virtues of said concentration camp.
What more do you want? For the mages to have a fucking Star of David sewn onto them?

The fucking elves and magical empire got on just fine with free mages.

No, you cannot.
None of your choices have any impact on her.
She still is a fuck-up who either gets kicked out and/or her people killed.

Just like none of the other choices in the game ever matter.

What? In my game, she admitted she was wrong, smashed the stupid mirror, and promised to stop with the demon shit.

That's like, a complete reversal of her entire character.

Origins and Awakening are still worth playing. Unfortunately the best girl in the series is un-romancable because Bioware is a shit who won't let you romance dwarves.

No, but making a setting where mages are numerous and have average power has been done to death and is uninteresting.
This stops creative thinking and good world building. Because your every problem will tend to be solved with magic and every question answered with lol its magic.

Go. Back. To. /v/.

This is setting stuff, so at least it can be construed as on-topic. Emulate this user.

Okay, Anders was a shitty mage.

But let's talk about the party mage who wasn't a romance option but should have been.

>What? In my game, she admitted she was wrong, smashed the stupid mirror, and promised to stop with the demon shit.

AFTER ALL THE SHIT HAPPENS THAT I HAVE JUST MENTIONED.
And even then you can literally change her mind with a single dialogue option.

Her whole character/plot can be summed up as:
>Elder: Dont do the thing merril
>i wil ldo the thing because muh elven history
>Other Elves: Dont do the thing merril
>I will do the thing because mu helven history I know what I am doing REEEEE
>Hawke: Dont do the thing merril
>I will do the thing why does no one trust me, muh elven history
>OH NO THE ELDER IS DEAD AND EVERYONE HATES ME NOW, WHY DID I DO THE THING

Thats it, thats literally fucking it and the game was so shit that you don't even remember the retarded shit with the elder elf and her tribe which should be telling you how shitty the writing is if you have forgotten about it.

No. One. Cares. About. Your. Reddit. Opinions. Fuck. Off. My. Veeky Forums. Forever.

>Choke on a templar dick, Anders.
/thread

>romancing Merril is actually pretty satisfying.
ofc she is best girl after all

>You can actually fuck the stupid out of her.
but user real men love their waifus all days of the month

Don't ever GM or think about writing fantasy.

>magical empire
Magisters who literally own everything they see from the position of unassailable power, and drain slaves of their blood by the thousands just to get their six-legged lyrium-laced pants on in the morning? Magisters who managed to fight the Blights off for centuries despite not knowing what they are or how to end one? Magisters who broke into the fucking Fade *physically*?
>elves
I'm not aware of where the lore went after Awakening but I'm sure ancient elves were fucked by their mages somehow. Also that Dalish elder who created the werewolves and kept the curse going for 200 years to god knows how much death and suffering because some brigands raped and killed his kids. He did that thing completely on his own, no one else knew anything.

Mages are walking nukes. One idiot, one weakling, one asshole is enough for a horrific disaster that can affect thousands across lands and generations. If you think these people should be left to frolic around without supervision you need to be locked away, too.

>I'm not aware of where the lore went after Awakening but I'm sure ancient elves were fucked by their mages somehow.
Pretty good guess. I haven't played much of Inquisition (couldn't really stand it, bit of a letdown) but as I understand it all their "Gods" were powerful ancient mages, and the dread wolf fucked things up for them, dooming their people in the process.

Weird, I instantly thought OP's photo was Anders Breivik lol

Nah.
The world is Elder Scrolls tier chock full of magic.
Everyone at least knows 3 or 4 cantrips and vigorously trainst to increase their magic capacity.

The power system is divided into:

>Bloodforce - Basically HP, STR and CON bundled into one package with a bit of monk flavour. Increases in stages through physical training and specially controlled blood circulation that grants speciall abilities lilke a skin like steel, minor shapeshifting, controlling own body growth, regenerative abillities etc. (Hence Vampires are fucking terrifying in ths setting)

>Spiritual force - Basically INT, MANA and WIS bundled into one. Increases in stages through meditation and inscribing spell runes into a virtual mental space (Each spell rune is a spell you fully mastered and costs you less Spiritual Force to cast. You can only inscribe a certain amount of runes tied to your Spiritual Force level and you must watch out how you structure them in case their attributes clash).

And Bodily Coordination or DEX which affects your manual skill levels and the level of controll you have over your Physical or Mental power...

Yes i made a Xianxia D&D clone. Sue me.

>I haven't played much of Inquisition (couldn't really stand it, bit of a letdown) but as I understand it all their "Gods" were powerful ancient mages, and the dread wolf fucked things up for them, dooming their people in the process.
Its so much worse than you can imagine.

Flemeth is actually Mythal and Solas is the Dread Wolf.
Also Andraste was a Mage possessed by a Spirit of Virtue like with Anders.

mages do the opressing

I decided to pretend DA:O had no sequels, good to see I was right.

This. Blights have a hard limit, no more old gods means no more arch demons, hence no more blights. Unless one of the Magisters starts one again, but they don't really have the strength to do it on a massive scale like an old God.

Only thing I liked about DA:I was Morrigan after my Warden gave her the D then chased her down and left with her. Was neat seeing where that went and how she became an actual loving mother who resented her own for the way Flemeth raised her. Even goes so far to outright say it when she confront her after Flemeth nabs her son.

Iirc aren't the Magisters far weaker than they used to be?

And they still haven't answered what the Taint is except in that single allusion to an elf god getting hit with it and being cleansed by Mythal before it was locked away.

I liked it for being a Bioware game where you can have fun with the filler combat and you're not railroaded into acting like a paladin.

At this point do you even want to know with the knowledge that bioware's explanation will just be unsatisfactory and frustrating?

I thought it had to do with the consciousness of Lyrium.

Red Lyrium has been demonstrated to be aware, right? And blue lyrium is "dead" or "inert" because it's been seperated from the red stuff that's been sealed deep below the earth.

I mean the original Seven. Corypheus was one, high priest of Dumat. The Architect in Awakening was another, former high priest of Urthemiel.

There's also the other five, who are mentioned as being spotted once or twice in the Deep Roads, and implied to have one of them at that lost Thaig.