Dragon Age in 5E?

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey y'all,

So my wife is absolute bananas for the Dragon Age series of video games by Bioware. This woman had custom art commissioned of her Inquisition character. So she's a big ol' Stan, y'all.

So when she started getting excited for a bunch of Dragon Age news this week, I (stupidly) offered to run a one-player game in that universe using 5E mechanics. I'm hoping this is a one-off, but I suspect she's going to want to keep playing. So I'm committed.

I don't know if there are any other big Dragon Age fans on this forum, but I figured I'd ask and see if there are problems I should be aware of.

Things I Already Know About:

Dragon Age magic is significantly less powerful vs 5E magic. My plan here is to limit casters' spells, specifically for full casters who can cast spells over 5th level. Fortunately, she's planning to play a rogue, so it's not going to ruin her fun.

There is a full-on Dragon Age RPG. Yes, I know. I'm definitely not going to be able to get a copy (with the special dice needed) in time, and I'm already committed to running this in 5E, which is the system we both know best anyway. If there are useful adventures, mechanics, or characters that can be ported between systems, please let me know! But please don't tell me, "Just use the Dragon Age system!" No bueno, mi amigo.

[Witty Username]

One-player and that player is a rogue?

Your probably fine with 5e as is in that case, just homebrew the monsters you need.
Goblin, Orc, and Ogre are probably a fair start for darkspawn statblocks. NPC mages, I think it is fair to just tailor spell lists to what you think feels right.

Oh, and Goliath is probably a good base for... Vashoth? I think that is the general for Quinari.

[Lavaeolus]

The PC going Rogue does help here. Magic is probably where Dragon Age differs the most. Partly in its capabilities, but most obviously in:

the fact mages are kept away from the general populace
things that Wizards might do, such as charming people, would probably be classed as blood magic
that demons regularly seek to tempt and possess mages

Otherwise, a lot of the world fits into some traditional D&D frameworks well enough. You might find things a bit barebones, though. Most people are either Fighters or Rogues, although I suppose the Avvar (https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Avvar) could be built as Barbarians and Rangers.

While mechanically every companion is sorted into either 'Warrior', 'Rogue' or 'Mage', it's not like the lore explicitly prohibits multiclassing. Still, most people are non-magical and unarmed fighting isn't really a thing outside of brawls (although some Silent Sisters (https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Silent_Sisters) might pick up Unarmed Fighting) -- so most other classes are out or need reflavouring. However, I will note that some Dalish mages are depicted using more Druidic-themed magic (https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Keeper) -- and shapeshifting is an ability some mages, like Morrigan, demonstrate.

We see four main races in Dragon Age, most of whom have obvious D&D equivalents: humans, elves, dwarves, and Qunari.


Humans are human. Each nation is fairly different and they've spread everywhere. The usual D&D human works, whether standard or variant.


Dwarves can be split up into the dwarves of Orzammar (Mountain Dwarves), traditionalists in desperate need of reform, and surface dwarves (Hill Dwarves), who've left Orzammar behind to make a life on the surface. If the subrace split isn't enough, consider making surface dwarves trade Darkvision and/or Stonecunning for something; surface dwarves start to lose their 'Stone sense' and ability to navigate underground after time on the surface.


Elves are divided into the Dalish (Wood Elves) who live independently in the forests, and the City Elves (consider refluffing Half-Elves) who have integrated with human society.


Qunari is a term that gets used to both refer to a religion based around the Qun, and a big race of horned giants who seem to have originated the religion. Although 'giant' is overdoing it, perhaps: still, they're noticeably taller and more muscley than average. The members of this race born outside the religion are known as "Vashoth". I agree Goliath works well enough, but if you want to stick to the PHB, you could also consider refluffing Half-Orc.

[Dork_Forge]

This works easily in 5E, especially because she wants to play a Rogue, it's basically just 5E.

For a full Dragon Age experience, use the Sidekick rules to built out her squad, depending on her proficiency with the game she can run her squad like in Dragon Age.

[kazaryu]

Hey y'all,

So my wife is absolute bananas for the Dragon Age series of video games by Bioware. This woman had custom art commissioned of her Inquisition character. So she's a big ol' Stan, y'all.

So when she started getting excited for a bunch of Dragon Age news this week, I (stupidly) offered to run a one-player game in that universe using 5E mechanics. I'm hoping this is a one-off, but I suspect she's going to want to keep playing. So I'm committed.

I don't know if there are any other big Dragon Age fans on this forum, but I figured I'd ask and see if there are problems I should be aware of.

Things I Already Know About:

Dragon Age magic is significantly less powerful vs 5E magic. My plan here is to limit casters' spells, specifically for full casters who can cast spells over 5th level. Fortunately, she's planning to play a rogue, so it's not going to ruin her fun.

There is a full-on Dragon Age RPG. Yes, I know. I'm definitely not going to be able to get a copy (with the special dice needed) in time, and I'm already committed to running this in 5E, which is the system we both know best anyway. If there are useful adventures, mechanics, or characters that can be ported between systems, please let me know! But please don't tell me, "Just use the Dragon Age system!" No bueno, mi amigo.

i don't know that its true that DA magic is weaker than 5e. most of the magic you see (the players use) in DA is just combat magic, and i'd say that its mostly comparable to 5e. storm of the century is easily on par with something like meteor swarm.

its just out of combat magic you don't see much of (again, as the player) in DA. but its certainly hinted at. spells that bind gods (i.e. how DA:O was resolved). interplanar travel is explicitly a thing. there's tons of extremely powerful magic hinted at that the player doesn't directly use. and i chalk that up mostly to the style of game, rather than it being impossible in universe.

i *will* say that magic is both more dangerous, and as a consequence, mages that will perform high level magic are rarer, but i don't buy that the theoretical limits aren't comparable to 5e....i'd say its more like a low magic setting.



that said, i don't see that it matters if your wife is planning to play a rogue. as others have mentioned toss in some sidekicks (per sidekick rules, or even full PC's since thats what they are in DA games) to form a squad. OFC if you do this, be careful of the DMPC trap.

[Sparky McDibben]

One-player and that player is a rogue?

Your probably fine with 5e as is in that case, just homebrew the monsters you need.
Goblin, Orc, and Ogre are probably a fair start for darkspawn statblocks. NPC mages, I think it is fair to just tailor spell lists to what you think feels right.

Oh, and Goliath is probably a good base for... Vashoth? I think that is the general for Quinari.

Those are all really good ideas! I was actually going to use the PC minotaur for the Vashoth, but you're quite right about the goliath! Most of the bad guys are a generic statblock plus a special ability - like the Shrieks' stunning cry.


The PC going Rogue does help here. Magic is probably where Dragon Age differs the most. Partly in its capabilities, but most obviously in:

the fact mages are kept away from the general populace
things that Wizards might do, such as charming people, would probably be classed as blood magic
that demons regularly seek to tempt and possess mages


Ooh...blood magic will be dicey. My guess is that I'd just say any enchantment and / or necromancy spells (for arcane casters) are blood magic. Each time you use it, we'd use a Catastrophe die to see if you get any closer to possession. Possession just gets run as a skill challenge with the mage battling the demon in the Fade, forcing it to retreat...or becoming a full-scale abomination.


This works easily in 5E, especially because she wants to play a Rogue, it's basically just 5E.

For a full Dragon Age experience, use the Sidekick rules to built out her squad, depending on her proficiency with the game she can run her squad like in Dragon Age.

Thanks!


i don't know that its true that DA magic is weaker than 5e. most of the magic you see (the players use) in DA is just combat magic, and i'd say that its mostly comparable to 5e. storm of the century is easily on par with something like meteor swarm.

its just out of combat magic you don't see much of (again, as the player) in DA. but its certainly hinted at. spells that bind gods (i.e. how DA:O was resolved). interplanar travel is explicitly a thing. there's tons of extremely powerful magic hinted at that the player doesn't directly use. and i chalk that up mostly to the style of game, rather than it being impossible in universe.

That is an interesting take. In short, what we see the characters doing in the games is just a sliver of what's possible, probably because there are no truly high-level casters left (nobody really has access to greater than 5th level magic). Hmm...that might be interesting to game out!

Thanks, y'all!

I'm thinking I'll start with a pointcrawl in the Korcari Wilds, set in the aftermath of the Fifth Blight (the one that gets busted up in Dragon Age: Origins). I figure they're dealing with:


Fleeing Darkspawn
Migrating Chasind
Land-Hungry Nobles
Dalish Trying To Put Down Roots
Bandit Gangs
And Many More!


Let me know if you have any ideas or adventures you think to add to this list.

[Psyren]

Note that not all enchantment would be blood magic, just the dominate-y stuff. For example, the actual Dragon Age RPG (I know you don't have access to this book yet but the info it has could still be useful) includes spells like Sleep, Weakness and Miasma in the "Entropy" school and Mind Blast / Dream Sending in the "Spirit" school, all of which would likely be Enchantment in D&D terms.

If you like, you could pull out some iconic Dragon Age spells that you're interested in translating or replicating over to D&D (e.g. Crushing Prison), and I can help you with either identifying a level-appropriate 5e equivalent, or migrating the Dragon Age RPG language over to D&D terms to get something relatively close.