The Character Romance thread (Official)

A "magister" Divine? With mage-templar army? What a great idea! Every pious Andrastian biggest nightmare...

Well yeah, that's why it is rather progressive as far as how well mages will do. Vivienne is great at the Game (as is Leliana, which is why I think they both make good Divines in different ways) and can handle the public perception of herself. She portrays herself as conservative to placate people, and thus they don't fear her as they would a mage who advocates otherwise and you hear it in the dialogue of the rando NPCs everywhere. She keeps things as they are- there is a circle, and templars- but runs them differently behind the scenes, which is safer than a sudden public shift.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you dislike about Dragon Age's take on magic and mages?

How? 

DA2 shows the beauty of all-bi approach. It has flaws, but it is the only time in DA and ME games where the number of LI is equal in the base game.

1. The rebellion started. This was his goal, with survive or not, no matter.

2. 

I hate that we didn't have an option to completely deny the chantry.  Even if we say we don't believe we still have to be called the herald of Andraste like 9253209 times.  it's so lame how much the fake religion was shoved on us in that game.  I wanted it to burn too, so I can see the value of Divine Vicotria Of the Crazy pants.

You finally did it, you blew it all up.  Damn you, damn you all to hell!  <.< >.> Sorry I got caught up in that Planet of the apes moment.

But Fenris is a better husband...so I miss him more.  I still love Anders though and will defend him till my dying post. lol!

With all this Dragon Age talk,

doesn't the 'New IP's delay push Dragon Age 4 further back?

To Financial Year 19/20 maybe?

Actually realizing no matter what there is always a circle/college of enchanters makes the Divine choice stupid and pointless anyway since it is just there for the sake of making Big Decisions^tm lol, hell Leliana usually ends up as my Divine just because I never argue for Cassandra and Vivienne in the War Room because the choice seems weird for the Inquisitor to make (and Leliana just wins by the invisible point system).

It's similar to the councilor thing in Mass Effect, just reskin the aliens and write out Anderson so Udina is in no matter what.

1. Too lore ingrained, being a mage is almost political. Kind of forces you to have an opinion and pick a side. Brings some restrictions into roleplaying your character. I just want to be a mage, shoot magic and not be thrown into this whole world of mage politics because of the playstyle and class I choose.
2. Every mage is the same. Necromancers, druids, shapeshifters, elementalists (fire, water, lightning, ice mages), clerics, hemomancers, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, witch doctors, witches, healers, time mages, sound mages, light mages, they're all the same, just mages. Everyone is equally sucked into the problems mentioned above as well. There's no different cultures surrounding different subclasses of mages. 
3. This is the combination of the two above: there are no magic-y rogues (like arcane archers) or magic-y warriors (paladins/clerics). Sure there is something similar, but they are not magic in the sense that I want them to be. The way magic works in Dragon Age doesn't call for such classes. Like, you can't decide '' well I'd like to learn some magic to use in combat '' or anything. It's just meh, it's again a big restriction when it comes to gameplay and roleplaying.

In short, world building, gameplay and roleplaying suffers from DA's take on mage and magic.

Whereas many mage fans do not want to consider the alternative; far from portraying mages as evil, the DA writers are saying that underneath it all, mages really ARE just like everyone else. Magic does NOT make one homo superior-special snowflake of transcendent spirituality and inherent nobility. They are just as selfish, petty, vindictive, and downright stupid as the rest of us. The only real difference being that magic allows them much greater impact, for good or ill. I know many people see their own struggles in the plight of mages in Thedas, but being able to control or kill anyone with litle more than a thought is NOT the same as being a different skin color, religion, sexuality, and so forth. It's funny how many mage fans either actively ignore the effect of magic on normals ("who cares about mundanes, they're not special), or want to accelerate ("they're same kind of people that held me down, they deserve to pay!"). This whole circular justification seems to mostly come from mage fans latching on to the wish fulfillment aspects, while ignoring the dangers. One wonders what their tune would be if magic was real and *SURPRISE!* they still don't have it.

The biggest irony here for me at least, is that the entire Circle system was created by the very out and proud David Gaider. In interviews, Gaider revealed that the Mage/Templar plot was his response to the fact traditional Dungeons & Dragons mages could Charm and Curse normals with impunity, which he HATED. Also, I found it somewhat refreshing how Dorian's personal quest completely deconstructed the whole "mages are coded gay" assumption, and that no, being gay is being gay.