Playing As A Sorcerer Tav Is Great As A Gale Romancer, Because Of The Very Different Perspective And

Playing as a sorcerer tav is great as a gale romancer, because of the very different perspective and approach to magic your character would have as an innate spellcaster.

You’re not necessarily better at magic, and unless you multiclass as wizard (lol why?) it’s unlikely that you’d have a better understanding of the mechanics of magic. Sorcerers cast magic innately, yeah? You don’t have to understand how muscles move to be able to move your body, but you can still train. Same kinda deal. Sorcerers can practice and learn to mold their magic in different ways. Wizards study magic, and learn a spell inside and out to be able to cast it.

It’s a different perspective, and one I think is so juicy to explore.

My tav Cordelia thinks Gale is very impressive. He understands magic in a way she doesn’t. He can cast all kinds of spells that she can’t.And on the flip side of that, Gale is fascinated by her innate grasp of magic. Fascinated by what it must feel like to feel connected to the weave constantly, it’s in your veins, a very tangible and real presence always.

They bond instantly over their love of magic

Their dynamic is very much: yes, I’m good at what I do, but what you do is also very impressive, tell me more, please

Playing the Hakkon DLC rn and I am loving Avvarian animism.

They’re obviously based off norse aspects of culture, maybe even some ainu or slavic (though I’m not as knowledgeable on them), but I like that when the Inquisitor or Solas ask them something that sort of seems rude or makes them out to be “simple” they reply with good wit.

One of the Avvar was asked about making offerings to the gods and being gifted with feats, such as a burst of strength or speed. Solas tried to “dumb it down” to “Ah they call spirits and they get magically enhanced” and the Avvar replied “Isn’t that what I just said?” to which Solas actually apologized for.

Likewise, the fact they worship spirits animistically in addition to their main gods is so cool. The spirits are essentially landvættr, maybe there’s room to headcanon types of fylgja or hamingja that follow family lineages that may offer family specific blessings or omens. I wonder if their augurs perform some kind of útiseta or other trances. Theyre very practical so I wonder if they’d use spinning for some type of seiðr or spá, or similar physical crafts woven with spiritual influences.

With the context of dragon age they probably wouldn’t spin for the sake of altering the different fates (örlög, wyrd, luk) but maybe to weave enchantments into clothes, enchant weapons and armor differently from dwarves. Their connection to spirits is unique so I’m sure they’d have a unique magic system, not just for mages but like how dwarves have runes they could have other means of magical imbuement.

Love it so much. Good grounds to flesh out my new OCs too

What Avvar mage training tells us

Not enough people talk about the Avvar, which is a shame because they have some amazing history and practices. I find the way they handle mages to be especially enlightening and based as fuck.

So I made this post to summarise it!

In the above video, I captured two conversations with the Augur of Stone-Bear Hold, and Sigrid - the mage-in-training who went into a self-imposed exile. I'll summarise what mage training looks like for the Avvar, and then delve into the implications.

Augurs are the spiritual leaders of the Hold, but are not necessarily mages - though they often are.

Spirits are called 'gods' by the Avvar. The Avvar do also have named gods, and these appear to be particularly powerful spirits.

Mages among the Avvar bind themselves to a spirit in order to be trained - i.e., they become 'abominations' in the eyes of the chantry, which Dorian confirms in the video. This occurs at a young age, in Sigrid's case when she was a child.

The spirit becomes the mage's trainer. Years later, when the training is done, the mage releases the spirit in a ritual which requires only a small sacrifice (like a bird) and a vial of lyrium.

If a mage cannot release the spirit, then the situation is handled carefully. In Sigrid's case, she just didn't want to say goodbye to a good friend. She goes to the Augur after this, and he confirms that they are working on helping her overcome her loneliness.

If the reason is they are truly incapable of releasing the spirit (they are 'weak', though it's unclear what this means), then the Hold and spirits watches over them to prevent them from growing 'sick'. The Augur implies that if the mage does sicken and endangers themselves or the Hold, they are euthanised and pass away peacefully in their sleep. He says it is a very sad event.

What are the implications of this, then?

Reversing 'possession' can actually be really easy. We knew it was possible from DAO, but now we see that it need not require a massive amount of lyrium or blood magic. If the 'possession' does not happen in a state of extreme desperation/distress (which the Circle and Templars love to put mages in), then reversal is simple.

Mages who cannot release the spirit might 'sicken' - and I suspect that's what they tried to show with Anders. What 'sicken' means is not clarified by the Augur, but from our Anders experience we can piece together that the Augur means they grow mentally and physically unwell. But even this can be prevented or mitigated with proper care.

It appears to be very, very rare that mages among the Avvar turn into the types of abominations we fight in the games, because the Augur never even mentions it happening.

So, in conclusion: The Avvar treat their mages with the most humanity and compassion of everyone, resulting in very few instances of violent abominations.

(Note: tbh I have no idea wtf the Dalish mage training is like because the games contradict themselves even within the same clan, so I can't really draw comparisons to the Dalish, unfortunately.)

Song of rest

they make fun of the avvar all they want but their world and traditions are 5x more fascinating and exciting than the rest of inquisitions story

what i love about bard!tav/gale is what beauty means to them. for gale, magic is art. for bard!tav, art is magic. if you push a more evil route, one of the many things gale laments are his hands - that something that used to create beauty was transformed into tools for heinous acts. there's this intersection of how bard!tav and gale want to see the loveliness and good of the world, and how they continue believing in it is thru the act of creation. bard!tav thru song, poetry, and all forms of art, gale thru the wonders and dreams magic can make real