He actually never levelled up for the entirety of da2, he just pretended he did when writing the story. He only actually started improving for real after he joined the inquisition.
You know I think that is actually kinda canon. I can’t remember who he’s talking to or the exact conversation but someone asks why he isn’t selling the concept and he says that the person who made it doesn’t want a crossbow someone can use effectively with no training to be widely available.
It's a banter bit between him and Solas! From the wiki:
>!**Solas:** That crossbow is remarkable, Varric. I am surprised the dwarves have not made more of them.!<
>!**Varric:** The woman who made Bianca would rather that not happen. Wars are bloody enough as it is.!<
>!**Varric:** A crossbow that fires this far and this quickly with so little training? Every battle would be a massacre.!<
>!**Solas:** Indeed. I am surprised, not disappointed.!<
Varric, being like: "Me and my ex would rather *not* give people a fully automatic, precision, sniper rifle. There's enough death and carnageas it is."
Hmm at first I saw this as a joke 😂😂
But the responses seems serious so I guess I'd give my opinion 😅 he has no less reason to level up any less than the other companions... especially that among them, he probably was the most present in Hawke's adventures
Because you're not leveling up Varric, you're leveling up Bianca. Varric's just the one who pulls her trigger. Bianca had to sit in a musty dungeon for who knows how long as Varric got interrogated, she hasn't had enough proper upkeep and he probably fled Kirkwall without all her upgrades. And the ten years after DAI probably haven't been kind to her.
Idk... He does have plenty of rogue's abilities. And being constantly threatened by assassins and other organizations sure did help him to develop very good abilities
My current headcanon is that Varric's (and other characters) level is actually your level of understanding of him / your level as a team. As you gain more experience together, you find out more of his signature moves, and the health pool increases as a way to show your teamwork is improving so relatively you're all more resilient due to teamwork
"Level 1" is relative. Dorian, Vivienne, Iron Bull and everyone aren't novices of their crafts, after all. So, it's more like whatever they were before + 1. I can't explain why their combat spells and skills are so initially terrible/not what they could otherwise do. Maybe the food and drink offered by the Inquisition are really poor quality initially, and they're too hangry/hungover on cheap booze to use higher-level spells and combat skills
>I can't explain why their combat spells and skills are so initially terrible/not what they could otherwise do.
Allow me to try!
Iron Bull is a spy, he's unwilling to show all his skill before you gain his loyalty.
Vivienne would rather not get her robes dirty. If Winters Grasp is enough then that's all you're getting.
And Dorian thinks basic 1 level spells are all southern mages are capable of. He is just being polite.
I’ll try my hand at the other companions:
Solas is still regaining his power from his big nap
Sera had all the other red Jenny’s level up for her
Blackwall was focusing on leveling up random townsfolk and recruiting wardens
Cole is more used to jumping around people’s heads + he’s traumatized and doesn’t know who or what he truly is
Cassandra was… shocked when a hole ripped through the sky and forgot her super seeker Templar powers temporarily I guess?
Cassandra's powers come from faith. After Justinia's death, she loses her faith; it's only when she starts to believe in the Inquisitor that she allows herself to believe in the Maker again.
Sera works as level 1 tbh. She's not a fighter per se. Before we recruit her, she was just a pain in nobles' asses. You don't exactly need fancy abilities for that.
Blackwall could totally just be getting his groove back after spending so much time teaching basic fighting skills.
Cole, similar to Sera. He's not exactly skilled. It's his unique nature doing the heavy lifting early on.
And Cass... yeah, I've got nothing either lol
Yeah but he thrives on lore, so being there while things happen is more satisfying than reliving memories in the fade/finding out “second hand” as it were
I'm thinking it's their effectiveness fighting with the Inquisitor + their strategy until they get more used to eachother and Inky gets used to leading effectively.
Everyone shares levels after all yeah?
It's part of Cassandra and Varric's banter. Cassandra asks him why he made it seem like he was barely involved in the Tale of the Champion. Varric replies he didn't think he was that interesting. Cassandra replies that she thinks he was trying to avoid incriminating himself. Varric neither confirms nor denies that.
That the events of all 3 games thus far aren’t real and are merely fragments of Varric’s broken mind. He thinks he’s a story teller but he’s locked away in an asylum and these adventures are merely a waking dream he lives in.
My headcanon is he didn't need to fight people much after becoming Viscount, he often sat in meetings all day and almost always had guards to protect him when attacked, Aveline made sure of it. So he just got really rusty over the years, he's still decent in a fight but lost a lot of his combat skills after almost 8 years of barely using them. And he's 51 so is really starting to feel his age.
First Cass dragged him around as a prisoner and he also had an awful time on that boat, getting seasick, so he was unable to eat properly and further weakened. Now he's spent too much time sitting at his desk, writing, he's lost muscle, gotten older and acquired carpal tunnel syndrome. ✌️
bianca switched from windows to mac, now she’s switching from mac to linux. varric has to go through corporate retraining each time and get signed off in peoplesoft.
Yes but Baldurs Gate 1 2 are direct sequels ( I don't remeber if you start from lvl 1 on new character ) where you can port your character to the next game...
To be fair that’s a direct sequel where the gap is like a few months in universe.
Most games at least give a reason for why a character is nerfed at the start of the game.
"they explained why Shepard went back to level 1 between the first and second games." They didn't. And if you are talking about the project Lazarus, it didn't make him weaker. If anything, it made Shepard a lot stronger.
The trauma fallout of a mage friend going crazy and fucking shit up. If he a Bianca for every time that’s happened, he’d have two Biancas. Which isn’t alot, but it’s weird that happened twice.
The truth is, your character can't go from level 1 to level 20 over the course of a year in the first place. In the story as opposed to the game, Varric isn't as weak at the start as the game mechanics portray him, and he doesn't get as much more powerful by the end either.
Nah, the Fade power-ups and the Avernus juice explain it all.
Plus you can demand a demon give you power, and learn ancient skills from an elven soul in a jar. And Alistair days undergoing the Joining during a Blight makes the resultant nightmares more intense. Why not accept it as an explanation for increasing their power, too?
Well, in DA2 he's a Marksman, plus it's a story *he's* telling so he's no doubt embellishing a bit.
In Inquisition, he picks up the Artificer specialization, so you could maybe assume that he's already a perfectly competent sniper and is just leveling up his trap and gadgetry skills!
And then in Veilguard we probably won't have him long enough for it to matter.
He gets new experience and every new Game IS lvl 0, because of Zero experience with Hawk or in the Inquisition. We Just See how He grows. Thats how I explain lvl 1 chars for me.
Varric actually hid the entire time of DA2 and he exaggerated his deeds in the story. Inquisition is the first time he’s actually had to get out and fight.
We see this in how we first meet him in that game.
He’s fighting demons with solas, but an archer would get to a vantage point, while varric is fighting them at close range. This shows his clear lack of fighting knowledge, as any experienced archer would know that a bow or crossbow in close quarters is not good.
Obviously, it's simply because they all have to be the same level. Varric would be SO overpowered if he kept his levels from previous games!
But if you are just asking how we headcannon it? I figure he's been lazing around making money during the last nine or ten years, with his crossbow Bianca hung up on a hook on his lounge wall. And yes, he's older. He wasn't a young man even when we first him: at least in his 40s in DA2. which would probably put him in his 60s in Veilguard. Is that old for a dwarf? I don't know that I ever read about the lifespan of dwarves... Must look it up...
So... Solas destroys his crossbow and effectively removes him from active service early in the game, without killing him off.
It's hard to account for why his ABILITIES reset, but as for going back to level 1, my headcanon is that his abilities don't scale. So DA2 was small, local threats. In Inquisition, he might've been level 20 for Kirkwall, but he's not as equipped for the much larger threats faced in Inquisition, so he's level 1 compared to the venatori and red templars. And then, since he's not a party member in Veilguard, he's basically whatever level he was in Inquisition because he's equipped for these threats now.
He lies about how deeply involved he was during events of previous games (Hawke/Inquisitor never took him out but he always be like “oh YEAH, me and hawke/inquisitor were bros” with the next hero)
To me, my headcanon is that the only people that their skills were always there. For martial characters, most of their skill is just through battle experience, aside from specializations that grant them some kind of supernatural power. But my duelist/assassin Warden just learned new tactics and battle experience and how to fight people as she adventured.
For characters that continued between games (Anders and Varrick), I'd headcanon that they never "lost levels" or experience. I kinda just kinda ignore the idea of that, as a consequence of gameplay-story segregation.
I would argue that the level scaling is different between games. Like a level 1 in Dragon Age 2 is not the same as a level 1 in Inquisition. So obviously there are major gameplay differences between games regardless, but you could say that whatever the average ending level is in Dragon Age 2 is where the characters of Inquisition start in terms of skill level.
The problem with this explanation is then you have to apply it retroactively too since Anders starts at a low level in DA2 but was a very high level in Awakening, which then has the effect of inflating the skill of every companion after Origins.
If you end Awakening at level 35, the absolute best you can be, but then Anders is a level 4 or whatever in 2 and then grows to level 25 before the end of the game and then Varric is a level 25 at the end of DA2 but then a level 1 at the beginning of Inquisition and then much higher by the end of the game then using this logic we must conclude that:
The Awakening team becomes much more skilled than the Origins team by the end of that story
The DA2 is much more skilled than the Awakening team by the end of the game
The Inquisition team is much more skilled than the DA2 team by the end of the game
Thus the Inquisition team is exponentially more powerful than the Warden and their allies were when they stopped the Blight and the Inquisition's enemies are exponentially more powerful than any of the threats that the various heroes of Thedas have faced before and you have a hilarious anime style power creep problem going on.
Better to just accept it as a silly gameplay necessity.
I think the answer is purely that it’s a game mechanic. Almost nobody should be level 1 - 10 when you meet them in any of the games, but those are the levels you probably do. In fact I would say canonically, in the time frame of most of the games, nobody should be improving there skills as fast as they are (same argument many make against EXP levelling vs Milestone levelling in D&D). Story wise it would make more sense for most characters to start anywhere between level 15-20. It feels like particularly Solas, Vivienne, Iron Bull, Anders (DA2), Fenris, Zevran, and Wynne should all be fairly high level characters based on their backstories. But again, an argument could be made for most characters to at least start at 10 canonically.
You can headcanon whatever you like though. Particularly anything in DA2 considering it’s a giant tale told by Varric, and there’s plenty of clues (if you want to see them) that he exaggerated or just lied about a lot.
Each game is actually a different possible timeline based upon a different series of events. As the player coming into contact with Varric or other characters in each game, you're essentially entering another world of ability scaling compared with the previous timeline.
Skills aren't permanent or boxers wouldn't train. You have to condition to prepare, in periods of relative peace they aren't running around firing arrows through a backflip. Then when some other drama starts up, they have to condition to fight that specific threat.
“So, you want to know why I can’t remember how to shoot Bianca, Inquisitor ? Well, it’s a really beautiful story. Real beautiful. See, me and Hawke were doing some elf dust out in the latrines at the Hanged Man when all of a sudden, I shit you not, Paragon Branka rolls up with her punk homies (a lovely quinari named Ray-Ray and his life partner Ted) and they challenge us to a drink off. Hawke and I, the upstanding citizens that we are, obliged. Chaos ensues. I wake up 72 hours later in a tevinter bath house, covered in elfroot and shame, and I’ll be damned if I couldn’t remember my own name. It took me Six months before I even found Bianca (don’t ask me where I found her, that’s a whole other story). Point being, Inquisitor, that if you get into a competition of substances with a Paragon, things get a little hairy.”
For Inquisition in particular I kind of suspend disbelief and pretend almost everyone is at least nearing "mid/end game" level by the time they join.
Unlike the previous titles, members of the inquisition are recruited because they're supposed to be extremely skilled people at their craft.
DA:2 was told from his perspective, and he was certainly lying about parts of it. He exaggerated his combat prowess in at least one instance, so it's possible he was never more than lvl-1 to start with. Inquisition is the first time he actually started gaining levels.
i mean to be fair they never really explain why tali, garrus or kaidan/ashley reset too
if anything they should've leveled up, considering what we are told they were doing between games
liara is the only i can understand, >!since she is focused on information broking rather than gun fights and the use of her biotics!<
Well in da2 it takes him the better part of a decade to get to max level. Then he spends a while probably sitting on his ass and running his business/writing the tale of the champion. Then gets conscripted by cassandra and has probably lost a bunch of his skills by that point. When you meet him in Inquisition he's like level 3 or something so he hasn't lost everything but he's pretty rusty. Then he probably gets to max level again in that since after meeting the inquisitor he's right in the thick of things probably even more frequently than when he was with hawke. Now come Veilguard, we don't actually know what level he is but he's also been Viscount of Kirkwall for a decade which generally doesn't involve that much action compared to administration. And it seems like he can still hold his own in a fight in veilguard so he may not have gone completely rusty.
Honestly, I don't need to head canon it because it's a game mechanic. So I don't think about it. When im DA2 enemies drop from the sky, it's not that wild anymore
I just figured the lvl 1 threshold in Inquisition is the max level threshold from 2, everyone is already maxed by 2 standards and inquisition is just them getting stronger from there
I figure that character level isn't meant to actually represent power on a world level, but rather on an individual game level. Like, you've got Rook fighting pride demons at level 1. And we treat that more as setting the bottom rung for this game, rather than level 1 being an absolute.
So Varric is level 1 in inquisition because the threats in inquisition from the very beginning stack up to some late game threats of 2.
I believe it has to do with the fact Varric was never in the party long enough to gain skill points.
It more likely has to do with him not needing to use his skills as a rogue when he was viscount of kirkwall, later when he is getting interrogated day and night about the whereabouts of the champion he becomes rusty.
I guess for Veilguard he will be slower with age and if he loses Bianca early on then it would make sense he has less skills.
Lack of practice. With the gap between DA2 and DAI I can fully believe that he's just rusty and with the gap between DAI and DAV, I'll accept that it's his age catching up with him, especially because I don't think he's going to be coming with us on missions anymore.
That's nothing, Geralt in Witcher games is so stupid in this regard. They played the amnesia card once, but he is hilariously underpowered in the third game. One of the best swordsmen on earth, really?
I just pretend that levelling system doesn't exist in games, because its just illogical? For example Dorian is a master of his craft already, Solas (phew...) and Cassandra is a +/-40 years old seeker with a great experience. It's the same situation like in the other games like Witcher or assassin's creed 2,3,4.
I think the Inquisition companions are just an order of magnitude more powerful than the DA2 companions. And he's not a companion in Veilguard so it doesn't matter what lever he is.
We could say the same about Cassandra and Solas, all 3 are struggling against random bandits and boars while they're supposed to be top tier.
Yes Solas lost most of his powers, but he has literally thousand years of experience, so he's a very dangerous mage, to say the least.
Cassandra is basically a templar on steroids (pun intended, ironically she isn't, that's the whole point of a Seeker). But she's basically among the finest, the elite.
The Demons had the same treatment as well since they're basically being beaten by people who couldn't do anything against a lone Druffalo.
They basically had the same treatment as Geralt in The Witcher 2 and the Witcher 3
DAI nerfed their power to be around the Inquisitor (beginner) level. I see this as a game mechanic plot hole but of course, it wouldn't be funny if we didn't have to justify it.
So what is my head canon for this ? Well 3 things:
1st (an easy one): all those who where present around the rift got their powers and abilities absorbed by the fade except the Inquisitor who was immune thanks to the anchor
2nd: They were still fairly powerful, but had to protect the inquisitor at all cost who (at first !!!) dragged them down. Of course, later on, the Inquisitor will become their greatest asset
3rd: They're stronger than they're portrayed to be... they won't actually get beaten by Druffalos in a 4vs1 (otherwise they'll get slaughtered by demons) so not everything is 100% lore accurate, especially in the Hinterlands (where everything takes forever lol).
I could justify this by making the enemies actually more numerous than portrayed in the game (after all, they were much more enemies coming at the same time in DA2) and considering the poor outposts and bases Red Templars and Bandits has, I think we could agree on that. And they're not supposed to hurt Druffalos (I mean, they're too cute to be harmed !! )
I mean if you want a legitimate answer, game balancing. Real answer? Leveling up technically isn't a thing. It's just a UI construct that keeps our brains busy as we progress through the game. in the eyes of the characters and those around them? Hawke is just the epitome of FAFO, level isn't a factor.
it's a gameplay mechanic, not a part of the narrative.
i like hte idea that experience is literal. he doesn't have experience doing what he does until the game happens
I played DAO for the first time in June, and to my surprise I found Varric in Origins. Couldn't speak to him or anything, he was just there, hanging out with the other dwarves. So cool
He actually never levelled up for the entirety of da2, he just pretended he did when writing the story. He only actually started improving for real after he joined the inquisition.
I think this is the most logical explanation.
Bianca is so OP he never needed to improve his skill
You know I think that is actually kinda canon. I can’t remember who he’s talking to or the exact conversation but someone asks why he isn’t selling the concept and he says that the person who made it doesn’t want a crossbow someone can use effectively with no training to be widely available.
It's a banter bit between him and Solas! From the wiki: >!**Solas:** That crossbow is remarkable, Varric. I am surprised the dwarves have not made more of them.!< >!**Varric:** The woman who made Bianca would rather that not happen. Wars are bloody enough as it is.!< >!**Varric:** A crossbow that fires this far and this quickly with so little training? Every battle would be a massacre.!< >!**Solas:** Indeed. I am surprised, not disappointed.!<
Varric, being like: "Me and my ex would rather *not* give people a fully automatic, precision, sniper rifle. There's enough death and carnageas it is."
>!The Sha'Brytol!< clearly displayed why auto crossbows is a bad idea
I was expecting something like “he never leveled up because I never brought him” and was gonna be like same lmao
I mean to be quite honest that too
Hmm at first I saw this as a joke 😂😂 But the responses seems serious so I guess I'd give my opinion 😅 he has no less reason to level up any less than the other companions... especially that among them, he probably was the most present in Hawke's adventures
Because you're not leveling up Varric, you're leveling up Bianca. Varric's just the one who pulls her trigger. Bianca had to sit in a musty dungeon for who knows how long as Varric got interrogated, she hasn't had enough proper upkeep and he probably fled Kirkwall without all her upgrades. And the ten years after DAI probably haven't been kind to her.
That 10th year definitely wasn’t 😭
Press F to pay respects
F
Reading the comment while picturing Bianca, the person, was amusing.
Idk... He does have plenty of rogue's abilities. And being constantly threatened by assassins and other organizations sure did help him to develop very good abilities
My current headcanon is that Varric's (and other characters) level is actually your level of understanding of him / your level as a team. As you gain more experience together, you find out more of his signature moves, and the health pool increases as a way to show your teamwork is improving so relatively you're all more resilient due to teamwork
Oh that’s a cool idea!
Whoa, this blew my mind a little bit.
Oh I love this. Lots of other good HCs here but I think I’m adopting this one since it’s super cross-applicable to any series games. A+ thank you!
"Level 1" is relative. Dorian, Vivienne, Iron Bull and everyone aren't novices of their crafts, after all. So, it's more like whatever they were before + 1. I can't explain why their combat spells and skills are so initially terrible/not what they could otherwise do. Maybe the food and drink offered by the Inquisition are really poor quality initially, and they're too hangry/hungover on cheap booze to use higher-level spells and combat skills
>I can't explain why their combat spells and skills are so initially terrible/not what they could otherwise do. Allow me to try! Iron Bull is a spy, he's unwilling to show all his skill before you gain his loyalty. Vivienne would rather not get her robes dirty. If Winters Grasp is enough then that's all you're getting. And Dorian thinks basic 1 level spells are all southern mages are capable of. He is just being polite.
I’ll try my hand at the other companions: Solas is still regaining his power from his big nap Sera had all the other red Jenny’s level up for her Blackwall was focusing on leveling up random townsfolk and recruiting wardens Cole is more used to jumping around people’s heads + he’s traumatized and doesn’t know who or what he truly is Cassandra was… shocked when a hole ripped through the sky and forgot her super seeker Templar powers temporarily I guess?
Cassandra's powers come from faith. After Justinia's death, she loses her faith; it's only when she starts to believe in the Inquisitor that she allows herself to believe in the Maker again.
Sera works as level 1 tbh. She's not a fighter per se. Before we recruit her, she was just a pain in nobles' asses. You don't exactly need fancy abilities for that. Blackwall could totally just be getting his groove back after spending so much time teaching basic fighting skills. Cole, similar to Sera. He's not exactly skilled. It's his unique nature doing the heavy lifting early on. And Cass... yeah, I've got nothing either lol
On the contrary, Cassandra is the most justified since she lost her purpose when Justinia died
Solas is more likely hiding his magical abilities. Iron Bull called him out on it during some party banter in my current playthrough.
If that were true he wouldn't need to risk his neck by being in the Inquisition at all.
Yeah but he thrives on lore, so being there while things happen is more satisfying than reliving memories in the fade/finding out “second hand” as it were
That Dorian explanation has made my day hahah
I'm thinking it's their effectiveness fighting with the Inquisitor + their strategy until they get more used to eachother and Inky gets used to leading effectively. Everyone shares levels after all yeah?
Because he never writes levels into his stories.
Or, since he was telling the tale of DA2, he exaggerated his abilities and contributions and was actually level 1 the entire time!
I'd agree, but we have it canonically from Cassandra that for most of the Tale of the Champion, he downplayed his involvement heavily.
Maybe he downplayed his involvement but exaggerated his skill.
That sounds like the most Varric thing to do tbh
Where in canon do we have that information? That sounds really interesting
It's part of Cassandra and Varric's banter. Cassandra asks him why he made it seem like he was barely involved in the Tale of the Champion. Varric replies he didn't think he was that interesting. Cassandra replies that she thinks he was trying to avoid incriminating himself. Varric neither confirms nor denies that.
Drinking at the Hanged Man between games killed all his leveling up brain cells
Varric became drunkard Alistair
That the events of all 3 games thus far aren’t real and are merely fragments of Varric’s broken mind. He thinks he’s a story teller but he’s locked away in an asylum and these adventures are merely a waking dream he lives in.
Was this the result of red lyrium driving him mad, or did he imagine everything?
Is "Red Lyrium" theory a thing or am I reading too much into this?
It certainly drove his brother batty, could plausibly do it to him too
Oh I get that. I was thinking along the lines of indoctrination theory from Mass effect
Ohhhh I’ll see myself out lol
All his skills' contained in the chest hair, everytime he loses it he drops a level.
When did he lose his chest hair?
...well, how do you think Cassandra got him to talk?
I’d say that’s horrible, but he had to have been somewhat into it for them to still have the level of friendship they have.
That’s worse than Tranquility
My headcanon is he didn't need to fight people much after becoming Viscount, he often sat in meetings all day and almost always had guards to protect him when attacked, Aveline made sure of it. So he just got really rusty over the years, he's still decent in a fight but lost a lot of his combat skills after almost 8 years of barely using them. And he's 51 so is really starting to feel his age.
Because*this shit is weird*.
First Cass dragged him around as a prisoner and he also had an awful time on that boat, getting seasick, so he was unable to eat properly and further weakened. Now he's spent too much time sitting at his desk, writing, he's lost muscle, gotten older and acquired carpal tunnel syndrome. ✌️
Oh no, not carpal tunnel. But that all tracks.
He gets really wasted between games and forgets literally every combat/skill related thing he has learned
bianca switched from windows to mac, now she’s switching from mac to linux. varric has to go through corporate retraining each time and get signed off in peoplesoft.
Video game logic
modern video game logic, BG games preserved levels
Yes but Baldurs Gate 1 2 are direct sequels ( I don't remeber if you start from lvl 1 on new character ) where you can port your character to the next game...
If you don’t import a character you still start at max level of the first game when you make a character for the second one.
Thank you
Halsin the *Archdruid* is level 5
That is part of the “modern games” they were referring to. When mentioning BG they were talking about the first two games not the 3rd one.
Maybe it's more that Tav can't sense his actual level because it's too high, so defaults to "level 5"
To be fair that’s a direct sequel where the gap is like a few months in universe. Most games at least give a reason for why a character is nerfed at the start of the game.
Too much fried nug meals, that will ruin your progression
Varric doesn't go back to level one. The big bad just keeps leveling higher each game.
Nah, he was too busy writing Swords & Shields for Cassandra!
He didn't get weaker, you and your companions are just more impressive in inquisition. So he spent da2 rising to their level.
Because bianca is out of tune
He doesnt practice:/
Because he goes on a huge bender between games and forgets everything about combat.
"they explained why Shepard went back to level 1 between the first and second games." They didn't. And if you are talking about the project Lazarus, it didn't make him weaker. If anything, it made Shepard a lot stronger.
I always interpreted it as Shepard basically had to relearn how to use their new/upgraded body.
And heal! Shep wakes up covered in scars, indicating that they're still healing from the major reconstruction.
Fair enough!
 "We can rebuild him/her. We can make him/her stronger, we have the technology."
The trauma fallout of a mage friend going crazy and fucking shit up. If he a Bianca for every time that’s happened, he’d have two Biancas. Which isn’t alot, but it’s weird that happened twice.
I laughed way too hard at this. Thank you.
The truth is, your character can't go from level 1 to level 20 over the course of a year in the first place. In the story as opposed to the game, Varric isn't as weak at the start as the game mechanics portray him, and he doesn't get as much more powerful by the end either.
Hero of Ferelden did it, why can’t Inky? If anything, Hawke is the outlier who took 7 years to do it.
I was talking about the Hero of Ferelden as well. That they do is ludonarrative dissonance.
Nah, the Fade power-ups and the Avernus juice explain it all. Plus you can demand a demon give you power, and learn ancient skills from an elven soul in a jar. And Alistair days undergoing the Joining during a Blight makes the resultant nightmares more intense. Why not accept it as an explanation for increasing their power, too?
newgame plus
He spent so much time doing nothing his muscles got atrophied
Well, in DA2 he's a Marksman, plus it's a story *he's* telling so he's no doubt embellishing a bit. In Inquisition, he picks up the Artificer specialization, so you could maybe assume that he's already a perfectly competent sniper and is just leveling up his trap and gadgetry skills! And then in Veilguard we probably won't have him long enough for it to matter.
He gets new experience and every new Game IS lvl 0, because of Zero experience with Hawk or in the Inquisition. We Just See how He grows. Thats how I explain lvl 1 chars for me.
Varric actually hid the entire time of DA2 and he exaggerated his deeds in the story. Inquisition is the first time he’s actually had to get out and fight. We see this in how we first meet him in that game. He’s fighting demons with solas, but an archer would get to a vantage point, while varric is fighting them at close range. This shows his clear lack of fighting knowledge, as any experienced archer would know that a bow or crossbow in close quarters is not good.
Good points!
He respeced from being a Bard in DA2 to a Machinist in Inquisition. Basically he did a class change and his levels are actually job levels.
Concussions.
Obviously, it's simply because they all have to be the same level. Varric would be SO overpowered if he kept his levels from previous games! But if you are just asking how we headcannon it? I figure he's been lazing around making money during the last nine or ten years, with his crossbow Bianca hung up on a hook on his lounge wall. And yes, he's older. He wasn't a young man even when we first him: at least in his 40s in DA2. which would probably put him in his 60s in Veilguard. Is that old for a dwarf? I don't know that I ever read about the lifespan of dwarves... Must look it up... So... Solas destroys his crossbow and effectively removes him from active service early in the game, without killing him off.
Bianca gets upgraded. The change to weight/balance/recoil throws off his aim until he's gotten used to the upgrade.
Don't worry, he's definitely getting leveled in Veilguard
He just became to drunk and fogot everything. He even forgot he was a blond/red head
It's hard to account for why his ABILITIES reset, but as for going back to level 1, my headcanon is that his abilities don't scale. So DA2 was small, local threats. In Inquisition, he might've been level 20 for Kirkwall, but he's not as equipped for the much larger threats faced in Inquisition, so he's level 1 compared to the venatori and red templars. And then, since he's not a party member in Veilguard, he's basically whatever level he was in Inquisition because he's equipped for these threats now.
He lies about how deeply involved he was during events of previous games (Hawke/Inquisitor never took him out but he always be like “oh YEAH, me and hawke/inquisitor were bros” with the next hero)
i just seperate the character from the gained power, its two different things.
Gameplay vs narrative
To me, my headcanon is that the only people that their skills were always there. For martial characters, most of their skill is just through battle experience, aside from specializations that grant them some kind of supernatural power. But my duelist/assassin Warden just learned new tactics and battle experience and how to fight people as she adventured. For characters that continued between games (Anders and Varrick), I'd headcanon that they never "lost levels" or experience. I kinda just kinda ignore the idea of that, as a consequence of gameplay-story segregation.
I would argue that the level scaling is different between games. Like a level 1 in Dragon Age 2 is not the same as a level 1 in Inquisition. So obviously there are major gameplay differences between games regardless, but you could say that whatever the average ending level is in Dragon Age 2 is where the characters of Inquisition start in terms of skill level. The problem with this explanation is then you have to apply it retroactively too since Anders starts at a low level in DA2 but was a very high level in Awakening, which then has the effect of inflating the skill of every companion after Origins. If you end Awakening at level 35, the absolute best you can be, but then Anders is a level 4 or whatever in 2 and then grows to level 25 before the end of the game and then Varric is a level 25 at the end of DA2 but then a level 1 at the beginning of Inquisition and then much higher by the end of the game then using this logic we must conclude that: The Awakening team becomes much more skilled than the Origins team by the end of that story The DA2 is much more skilled than the Awakening team by the end of the game The Inquisition team is much more skilled than the DA2 team by the end of the game Thus the Inquisition team is exponentially more powerful than the Warden and their allies were when they stopped the Blight and the Inquisition's enemies are exponentially more powerful than any of the threats that the various heroes of Thedas have faced before and you have a hilarious anime style power creep problem going on. Better to just accept it as a silly gameplay necessity.
I think the answer is purely that it’s a game mechanic. Almost nobody should be level 1 - 10 when you meet them in any of the games, but those are the levels you probably do. In fact I would say canonically, in the time frame of most of the games, nobody should be improving there skills as fast as they are (same argument many make against EXP levelling vs Milestone levelling in D&D). Story wise it would make more sense for most characters to start anywhere between level 15-20. It feels like particularly Solas, Vivienne, Iron Bull, Anders (DA2), Fenris, Zevran, and Wynne should all be fairly high level characters based on their backstories. But again, an argument could be made for most characters to at least start at 10 canonically. You can headcanon whatever you like though. Particularly anything in DA2 considering it’s a giant tale told by Varric, and there’s plenty of clues (if you want to see them) that he exaggerated or just lied about a lot.
Each game is actually a different possible timeline based upon a different series of events. As the player coming into contact with Varric or other characters in each game, you're essentially entering another world of ability scaling compared with the previous timeline.
He doesn't want to make the others look bad so he pretends to be level one but come on that chest hair makes it obvious it's over 9000
Debilitating alcoholism while trying to medicate PTSD from the previous game.
Ask Kratos He used them
Skills aren't permanent or boxers wouldn't train. You have to condition to prepare, in periods of relative peace they aren't running around firing arrows through a backflip. Then when some other drama starts up, they have to condition to fight that specific threat.
He drinks too much.
“So, you want to know why I can’t remember how to shoot Bianca, Inquisitor ? Well, it’s a really beautiful story. Real beautiful. See, me and Hawke were doing some elf dust out in the latrines at the Hanged Man when all of a sudden, I shit you not, Paragon Branka rolls up with her punk homies (a lovely quinari named Ray-Ray and his life partner Ted) and they challenge us to a drink off. Hawke and I, the upstanding citizens that we are, obliged. Chaos ensues. I wake up 72 hours later in a tevinter bath house, covered in elfroot and shame, and I’ll be damned if I couldn’t remember my own name. It took me Six months before I even found Bianca (don’t ask me where I found her, that’s a whole other story). Point being, Inquisitor, that if you get into a competition of substances with a Paragon, things get a little hairy.”
🤣 lmao
For Inquisition in particular I kind of suspend disbelief and pretend almost everyone is at least nearing "mid/end game" level by the time they join. Unlike the previous titles, members of the inquisition are recruited because they're supposed to be extremely skilled people at their craft.
DA:2 was told from his perspective, and he was certainly lying about parts of it. He exaggerated his combat prowess in at least one instance, so it's possible he was never more than lvl-1 to start with. Inquisition is the first time he actually started gaining levels.
Levels and stats aren't real in the lore as it's for gameplay. People don't have HP bars.
The enemies he fights just got tougher. Crisis of one City vs Crisis of the Continent. In Veilguard, he simply isn't a companion.
Level 1 is relative and everyone you party with is an order of magnitude more powerful than in the previous game.
i mean to be fair they never really explain why tali, garrus or kaidan/ashley reset too if anything they should've leveled up, considering what we are told they were doing between games liara is the only i can understand, >!since she is focused on information broking rather than gun fights and the use of her biotics!<
Well in da2 it takes him the better part of a decade to get to max level. Then he spends a while probably sitting on his ass and running his business/writing the tale of the champion. Then gets conscripted by cassandra and has probably lost a bunch of his skills by that point. When you meet him in Inquisition he's like level 3 or something so he hasn't lost everything but he's pretty rusty. Then he probably gets to max level again in that since after meeting the inquisitor he's right in the thick of things probably even more frequently than when he was with hawke. Now come Veilguard, we don't actually know what level he is but he's also been Viscount of Kirkwall for a decade which generally doesn't involve that much action compared to administration. And it seems like he can still hold his own in a fight in veilguard so he may not have gone completely rusty.
Honestly, I don't need to head canon it because it's a game mechanic. So I don't think about it. When im DA2 enemies drop from the sky, it's not that wild anymore
I thinks its relative. He might have been level 30 in DA2 but this level in comparison to Inquisition's threat is like level 1
I just figured the lvl 1 threshold in Inquisition is the max level threshold from 2, everyone is already maxed by 2 standards and inquisition is just them getting stronger from there
da2- inquisition He used his hero status to get a bunch of free beers, inquisition-veilguard he got owd
They broke Bianca so now he has to learn to use daggers.
I figure that character level isn't meant to actually represent power on a world level, but rather on an individual game level. Like, you've got Rook fighting pride demons at level 1. And we treat that more as setting the bottom rung for this game, rather than level 1 being an absolute. So Varric is level 1 in inquisition because the threats in inquisition from the very beginning stack up to some late game threats of 2.
How did they explain Shepard? Thanks
Shepard basically died and got a new body. So they were in recovery most of the second game.
I believe it has to do with the fact Varric was never in the party long enough to gain skill points. It more likely has to do with him not needing to use his skills as a rogue when he was viscount of kirkwall, later when he is getting interrogated day and night about the whereabouts of the champion he becomes rusty. I guess for Veilguard he will be slower with age and if he loses Bianca early on then it would make sense he has less skills.
Lack of practice. With the gap between DA2 and DAI I can fully believe that he's just rusty and with the gap between DAI and DAV, I'll accept that it's his age catching up with him, especially because I don't think he's going to be coming with us on missions anymore.
he tinkered with Bianca so much, each iteration feels like a skill reset
It's the experience points in that story arch. You get more knowledge about the story as you progress through it. Or at least is how I see it.
That's nothing, Geralt in Witcher games is so stupid in this regard. They played the amnesia card once, but he is hilariously underpowered in the third game. One of the best swordsmen on earth, really?
I just pretend that levelling system doesn't exist in games, because its just illogical? For example Dorian is a master of his craft already, Solas (phew...) and Cassandra is a +/-40 years old seeker with a great experience. It's the same situation like in the other games like Witcher or assassin's creed 2,3,4.
I think the Inquisition companions are just an order of magnitude more powerful than the DA2 companions. And he's not a companion in Veilguard so it doesn't matter what lever he is.
What about Garrus ? Poor guy forgot all his experience 2 time and maybe even 3 time if they make the 4th game !
Concussions?
We could say the same about Cassandra and Solas, all 3 are struggling against random bandits and boars while they're supposed to be top tier. Yes Solas lost most of his powers, but he has literally thousand years of experience, so he's a very dangerous mage, to say the least. Cassandra is basically a templar on steroids (pun intended, ironically she isn't, that's the whole point of a Seeker). But she's basically among the finest, the elite. The Demons had the same treatment as well since they're basically being beaten by people who couldn't do anything against a lone Druffalo. They basically had the same treatment as Geralt in The Witcher 2 and the Witcher 3 DAI nerfed their power to be around the Inquisitor (beginner) level. I see this as a game mechanic plot hole but of course, it wouldn't be funny if we didn't have to justify it. So what is my head canon for this ? Well 3 things: 1st (an easy one): all those who where present around the rift got their powers and abilities absorbed by the fade except the Inquisitor who was immune thanks to the anchor 2nd: They were still fairly powerful, but had to protect the inquisitor at all cost who (at first !!!) dragged them down. Of course, later on, the Inquisitor will become their greatest asset 3rd: They're stronger than they're portrayed to be... they won't actually get beaten by Druffalos in a 4vs1 (otherwise they'll get slaughtered by demons) so not everything is 100% lore accurate, especially in the Hinterlands (where everything takes forever lol). I could justify this by making the enemies actually more numerous than portrayed in the game (after all, they were much more enemies coming at the same time in DA2) and considering the poor outposts and bases Red Templars and Bandits has, I think we could agree on that. And they're not supposed to hurt Druffalos (I mean, they're too cute to be harmed !! )
Lyrium dust is a hell of a drug
No the question is is why does Bianca. We upgrade that gorgeous girl. She should be at peak performance. 😂
I mean if you want a legitimate answer, game balancing. Real answer? Leveling up technically isn't a thing. It's just a UI construct that keeps our brains busy as we progress through the game. in the eyes of the characters and those around them? Hawke is just the epitome of FAFO, level isn't a factor.
Maybe Bianca was just tired of carrying him
it's a gameplay mechanic, not a part of the narrative. i like hte idea that experience is literal. he doesn't have experience doing what he does until the game happens
I guess you missed the “Just for fun” in the title and the Silly tag…
I like to think that it’s a scaling issue. Like yeah he leveled up in DA2 but the threat in inquisition is larger so he starts from a new level 1.
Dragon Age has always had a really severe disconnect between story and mechanics.
I played DAO for the first time in June, and to my surprise I found Varric in Origins. Couldn't speak to him or anything, he was just there, hanging out with the other dwarves. So cool
Really? Where is he?
In the proving place in Orzammer. I spotted his name and was a little disappointed with no convo...
That isn't him the timelines don't match, just a guy with the same name
Oh, awww. Oh well! Gosh I loved my playthrough though. Finally a lot of the lore is making sense to me now :D
New game’s new 1 is last game’s 20 or whatever max is lol
Because it's a video game.