I can't finish the game as anyone but a Mage.

Carver's attitude and inferiority issues also make marginally more sense if Hawke is a mage, as that would have made him the odd sibling out who got to spend his time working around the farm while the others had special private lessons with daddy. Especially if mage Hawke is a guy. That would really have stung.

My Bethany usually goes to the circle too. Unlike Carver she isn't in a perpetual identity crisis where she has to constantly prove herself, so leaving her behind on the expedition to the Deep Roads because mother says so would be less of a slap in the face. Especially if you're already taking Anders, and have the healing-wounds-before-they-get-infected-with-Taint front covered.

While Carver tends to end up as a Warden in my game for that reason, I actually like him better as a Templar. There's more respect and status there, and it leaves him the opportunity to start a family of his own. Which is lucky for the Hawke bloodline, because my Hawkes tend to die in the fade to keep Loghain alive. And it's an occupation that he chooses for himself and actually makes a success of rather than being forced into.

What sort of decisions are you more comfortable with as a non-mage Hawke, if you can remember any specifics?

Genderwise, I think I like mage Hawke best as a guy because the dynamic with Carver makes more sense - and would be more painful for the latter - if Hawke is his brother. Likewise I adore Hawke and Bethany as a working class mercenary adventuring sister team. Who you gonna call? The Hawke sisters.

That's what happens whenever Catilina is involved.

Me can no stand carver, and Bethany is a teeny bit annoying too, I could do without them as siblings tee bee aych, would rather be an only child, which would suck cus too much unwanted and exclusive attention from parents as an only child, I’d imagine. ANYWAYS I LOVE FIGHTING AS A ROGUE - oops - I love fighting as a rogue in da2, but I agree that mage makes for a better story, and I love playing a blood mage, HOWEVER, carver annoys me so much I avoid playing a mage just so I can watch him being crushed by an ogre I like to play as a warrior at times too though, don’t have to be a mage to be awesome, but it is hard for me to play a game without using magic... damn carver! Damn him to

I still feel as involved with the story whatever class I play as though

Well I mean, I never said I have hatred toward him, or that he doesn’t have a great arc or character, and it’s potatotes not inexplicable why he annoys me, I just really really really really... can’t stand him he annoys me much greatly, i mean I geddit carver, you think hawke is really really really awesome and you can’t stand it but no, hawke is actually pretty terrible, he/she has unintentionally caused quite a few problems in their attempt to solve them haha... but anyway that aside why should hawke have to hold themself back just cus otherwise it’s apparently more of an effort for carver to pull himself out of hawke’s shadow, I’d be quite happy for carver to step out and find his own path, “fly, be free liddle brudda!”, he bloody well annoys me, but I guess that’s siblings for ya  and also it’s a sign of a well written character,  if a character evokes any kind of emotion or feelings in me, positive or negative, then that means they’re well written, to me anyways, and I like the dynamic between hawke and carver, if it’s rivalry, I actually prefer the rivalry dynamics in the game   I know there’s more to carver, and why he is how he is and blah blah blah, he still annoys me though

I'm speechless. Never heard of someone who played NWN2 before who didn't immediately fall in love with Bishop. I certainly did.  

Another point for non-mages is that Carver dumbly standing his ground against a charging ogre is a lot more believable than Bethany doing the same thing.

I thought he was the coolest thing under the sun. A real badass who enjoyed calling people on their bullshit, while return insults and accusations just rolled off his back. A cunning and ruthless predator. I've played it through with female PCs just to romance him, with the aid of one of the restoration mods.

But really, his and Neeshka's respective quiet crushes on the Knight-Captain feel a lot more natural and authentic, even without mods, compared to Cas and Elanee. 

And yeah, Gannayev-of-Dreams is a charmer. I always thought he served as a nice palette-cleanser for a chaotic/evilish PC growing out of and trying to get over their childish infatuation with Bishop, seeing how that ended.

I thought she took Carver's death the hardest. But it's been a while since I let Bethany die.

That first conversation with him in the Sunken Flagon as a female PC is hilarious. Every single retort you can give says so much about your character, from being completely flabbergasted at his hostility to turning your nose up at his manners to angrily calling his mother a whore. Finally running into him a third of the way through the game is something I always look forward to. It's good to hear that you're paying proper homage these days. 

But yeah. Always thought understated and subtextual romance felt more organic than a perfectly fluffed and plumped love story awkwardly compressed into the few short weeks or months these characters actually tend to spend in each other's company. 

Don't be so hard on your mother when she's just lost a child.   Hawke is an adult. S/he can take Leandra being a bit hysterical without taking it personally.

I think the fastest Disney romance of all time is Simba/Nala.

"You're alive!"

"So nice to see you!" 

"Time to mate like animals."

My last playthroughs were mostly mages. Mostly because I like to have Varric and Isabella in the party and love spirit healer and force mage. I still do prefer the rogue class, but since my favorite companions got that covered and I don't do fighters, mage it is. For the sake of realism, I always equip my Hawke a staff with a blade that looks like a spear (I think, it's from a mod) and don't use spells when fighting alongside Cullen in act 1.