Exploits (Origins)

An exploit is a vulnerability that can be triggered within a game that allows the player to use a bug or loophole to give the player an advantage. Exploits are not always available across all platforms or all software versions.

Because they are often the result of programming errors, exploits can become obsolete as the developer patches the game. Some exploits can cause saved game corruption or instability in some cases; players who use these do so at their own risk.

= Vendor exploits =

These are issues with the sales interface through which a player can duplicate items and/or increase income.

Pre/Post-Camp Bodahn

 * 1) When you first arrive in the Party Camp (after leaving Lothering), purchase any desired items from Bodahn Feddic.
 * 2) Leave the camp.
 * 3) The next time you return, his inventory will be completely reset, allowing you to purchase multiple copies of the same items.

Infinite Dragon Scale Armor from Wade

 * 1) Kill a high dragon and at least three drakes, collecting their scales. The quest for Dragon Scale Armor should appear as they are picked up.
 * 2) Go to Wade's Emporium in the Denerim Market District.
 * 3) Commission the first set of Wade's Superior Drakeskin Armor. It will also work if you commission Wade's Drakeskin Armor Set, but you will not get the best quality dragon scale armor later.
 * 4) Sell the dragon scale, preferably to Herren because he is the closest
 * 5) Commission the Dragon Scale Armor, first making sure that the dragon scale is no longer in your inventory.
 * 6) Buy the dragon scale back, and you will receive the quest again.
 * 7) Repeat as needed from step 4.

Unlimited Money
This works best by buying the most expensive item that you can afford from a vendor, then performing the exploit on that item. Due to item buyback, you will receive twice the full value of the item rather than the vendor price, after which you will be able to buy the item back for the vendor price. Using this method, you can quickly step up even from an inexpensive item to items such as The Veshialle (about 21), The Rose's Thorn (over 28), or Chasind Great Maul (about 31), quickly netting huge profits. But by far, the most profiting item would be to sell The Reaper's Cudgel for near 340.

and :
 * 1) Add any item (preferably an expensive one) to your Junk and visit any merchant.
 * 2) When selling the item hit the "Sell All Junk" button and 'immediately' after hit the "Sell" button. You will need to hit the buttons nearly simultaneously, so it might take it bit of practice. If done correctly, you will receive twice the selling price, potentially providing you with sovereigns in the thousands in a short amount of time.
 * 3) Simply buy the item back from the merchant and repeat for more cash.
 * 4) Make sure the highlight is always on the right side of the screen under "Party Inventory". After you sell the item for double the selling price, buy the item back from the left side and move your highlight back to the right side.




 * 1) Move your mouse over the item in your inventory with the highest price.
 * 2) Hold down the Left and Right Mouse buttons together, drag the item to the Shop Inventory and release both buttons at the same time.
 * 3) Switch to the Buyback screen and right-click on the item to buy it back; the click-and-drag method will cost you full price.

Once sold, the value of most "exploited" items will drop significantly from the original price, (e.g. a 4 item will drop in price to 75). In some cases, the "exploited" item will be sold for the original price plus the new, depreciated price, rather than double the original selling price. This still leads to a net profit, but is less useful in the case of cheaper items.

It has been confirmed that the following items do not depreciate:


 * Evon the Great's Mail (2070)
 * The Veshialle (219250)
 * Blood Dragon Plate
 * Smuggled Lyrium, obtained during a side quest beginning in Dust Town
 * The Reaper's Cudgel: Don't leave the conversation with the vendor when selling it in the shop, or the price to buy it back will rise to about 2,000.
 * If you have completed The Golems of Amgarrak and have The High Regard of House Dace, it will normally sell for 2122. If you leave the vendor window and re-enter, you can buy this back at 10188 and resell for the same amount; however, it resets to the previously-mentioned amount upon the first successful exploit-sellback, making this method a somewhat faster way to accumulate cash (provided you don't mind leaving/entering the window each time you wish to do this).
 * There is no depreciation for items bought/sold in this manner on the PC.

Notes:
 * If you sell the Smuggled Lyrium for this exploit, you may not be able to successfully complete Precious Metals. It will be marked completed with a "Failed to deliver the shipment to the Mages Circle."
 * : Even if the journal says you failed to deliver the shipment, if you buy it back you can finish the quest normally by talking to Godwin.)
 * : To counter the depreciation effect of this exploit on most items, simply exit the store with said items in the vendor junk section and enter again; their value will reset in most cases. {not verified with all items}
 * : To counter the depreciation effect of this exploit on most items, simply exit the store with said items in the vendor junk section and enter again; their value will reset in most cases. {not verified with all items}

Duplicate Items
This glitch is similar to the infinite money exploit above. This will only work if the icon for the item says "x", such as "x3" or "x4" denoting the number of that item you have. This will not work with less than three ("x3") items in a stack. Some items are shown as "(3)" or "(4)", such as enchantment runes or certain gifts. These items cannot be duplicated, but can be used to generate money using Infinite Money.


 * 1) You must have at least TWO (2) of the item you wish to duplicate.
 * 2) Move all copies of the item to your Junk.
 * 3) Sell all of them to any merchant, then Buyback all but one of the items.
 * 4) Select the item(s) now back in your inventory. Hit "Sell All Junk" and immediately afterwards hit "Sell." If done correctly, the merchant will receive twice the number of items you actually sold to them, and these can then be bought back.

Take precautions when attempting to duplicate certain usable items and save your game beforehand. Specifically, skill tomes such as Arcane/Physical Technique, Mortal Vessel and Skill & Sundry tomes may present a problem. If you duplicate any particular tome and reintroduce the lot of them back into your usable items inventory list AND have a set of any other tomes, the duplicated lot of tomes will NOT function and cannot be used at all. When attempting the duplication, make sure you have one and only one set of tomes available to your inventory. For this, the duplication effort has highest results if you have Warden's Keep DLC and have access to the Party Storage Chest at Soldier's Peak, for safety. Moving the other tomes into your junk list temporarily should work as well. As long as your duplicated tomes are the only sort of tome in your usable inventory list, it should be fine.

OR if you have access to the party chest at Soldier's Peak, you can duplicate 99 with the vendor using the instructions listed above. Stash 98 or whatever amount you don't need to use to duplicate (it's suggested that you stash 79, that way it duplicates faster starting with 20 instead of 2), duplicate until that new stack is 99, stash. Continue the process until you have the desired amount of duplicated tomes. You MUST duplicate the tomes using the vendor, if you try and duplicate them using the chest instead, they will glitch out and disappear once you leave the chest.

A better way to use your duplicated tomes is to set them to a quick slot button (X, Y or B) and simply button smash until you've used the desired amount. CAUTION: Only use the Tome of the Mortal Vessel maximum 100 times, then go to the level up screen, add your points, then you can use more. The attribute point adder maxes out at 100 for some reason. (150 on the For clarification: If you used 154 Tomes of the Mortal Vessel that you've duplicated, ONLY 100 of those points will actually be spendable, the other 54 will have disappeared and not be usable.

It is also important to note that you can get carried away when it comes to using duplicated tomes. If you use more duplicated tomes than you have space to add talents (or leave no room to add talents via leveling) it makes it impossible to level because you need to put a point in a talent to level. Be cautious!

Double Backpacks
This glitch is similar to the item duplicating glitch above. When you encounter a vendor who sells a backpack, click with both left and right mouse buttons simultaneously, and then drag it over to your inventory. The game will deduct twice the required amount of money from your inventory, but you will have gained 20 item slots.

Note that your inventory size is still capped at 125 or 120 items; this exploit merely allows you to reach that limit more quickly and efficiently.

Potent Lyrium Potions
This is not exactly an exploit, but at extreme repetition one should heed the "CAUTION" below. This tactic involves crafting Potent Lyrium Potions on a large scale because they can be sold to vendors at a profit, effectively allowing enough cash flow to buy everything you want.
 * 1) Promote one character to master level herbalism.
 * 2) Buy the Potent Lyrium Potion Recipe from the tranquil proprietor of Wonders of Thedas in the Denerim Market District for US$111750.
 * 3) Decide how many potions to craft, presumably, but not necessarily to make a profit from.  Note: At a certain time, one could only afford to make as many potions as the integer floor of the quotient of Money Owned divided by Cost of ingredients for one potion (US$10310.)  However, one can still plan to make more than this amount in one trip, should enough potions be meant for profit, by acquiring the amount needed of the first ingredient and then using the rest of the money owned for ingredients you needed for the first of the potions.  The profit from those first potions will allow a second crafting.  One could mistake by not leaving sufficient gold to buy the ingredients to even a single potion, so Beware!
 * 4) Decide how many units of the first ingredient, lyrium dust, to buy.  The more one purchases, the fewer trips one needs to make.  Though, should one have bought more lyrium than needed for the amount that can be afforded, more vendor screen and crafting screen openings will need to be made.  That is to say if one put all the money into lyrium, or nearly all of it, one would need to then see the vendor about getting the rest of the ingredients after crafting only 1 potion, repeatedly.  Might be better to just buy the amount of lyrium needed to make the potions one can afford the ingredients for, rather than paying with time.
 * 5) Buy the decided amount of lyrium dust from the Quartermaster in The Circle Tower, the only vendor selling an unlimited supply in the game.
 * 6) Calculate the amount of potions one can now purchase ingredients to complete as the integer floor of the quotient of Money owned divided by US$9350.
 * 7) At the Gnawed Noble Tavern, buy one flask for every potion calculated to be able to be made and double that amount of concentrator and distillation agents.  The tavern offers unlimited amounts of these ingredients at the lowest price one can get from a vendor selling unlimited amounts with one exception.  Flasks are cheapest in Orzammar if you have handled Figor's situation appropriately, but that is really just more travel time (and the 10 improvement in profit per unit is a negligible 0.5% at best.)
 * 8) Create potions.
 * 9) Sell to the Gnawed Noble bartender (best prices).
 * 10) * Dwarf Nobles should sell to Gorim in Denerim, who offers even better prices.
 * 11) * Parties that helped Lord Anwer Dace during A Paragon of Her Kind might also receive better prices from Gorim.
 * 12) Repeat steps 3 to 9.

= Item exploits =

These item exploits often involve DLC bugs and can recreate DLC items, and allow item statistic manipulation by forcing an item to increase in level when normally it's level has been set based upon the level of the player character at the time the object was initially discovered.

Item Tier Bug
The Item Tier bug can be exploited in two ways:
 * 1) Storing items in the Party Chest from Warden's Keep and returning later causes many non-fixed-tier items to raise to the tier they would be found at, if discovered at the character's current level. This method does not work on the.
 * 2) The same effect can be achieved by selling items to any merchant except Old Tegrin, exiting the trade menu, saving, reloading, opening it again and repurchasing the items. (This may still require Warden's Keep - see below)

Templar Boots
Now I assume these drop in both awakening, and origins as a rare drop via the rare drop system mentioned on the previously linked page, however these can be obtained via rare drops from the named templar Rylock (presumably her buddies, but I only got them off her) during Anders' short loyalty mission in the abandoned warehouse. I would also assume they drop from the various templars the character can face during the Broken Circle quest in origins. These boots however, have no graphic, and as long as they are worn by anyone not wearing a templar armor (or knight commander's plate) or a robe/clothing style armor, they make your character's feet literally disappear. This serves no real function, aside from comedy, and potentially confusing cut scene animations. The wearer appears to be walking on air with amputated knees. (this is only confirmed on 360, but as it's a missing mesh/model I assume it applies to all systems, please confirm anyone with these boots on ps3 or pc (if you have the toolset for pc this is a quick check).


 * The previously mentioned exceptions are only because those chest graphics include foot graphics (and potentially glove graphics).

Equipping Items that are out of Stat Range
If you have a character that is close to reaching a stat requirement (such as needing 20 strength to equip Drakeskin light armor), it is possible to equip the items by artificially raising your stats with items that boost stats, like the Helm of Honnleath. Just equip the stat boosting item and then proceed to equip the items that you wanted, after you are done you can remove the stat boosting item with no consequence. It is also possible to use a stat boosting item to equip for the same slot, so you can use the Helm of Honnleath to equip another helmet.

DLC Reappearing items
When DLC-items are sold, they reappear after deactivating / activating the DLC enabling the user to sell them again. Also is great for adding attribute slots with the book you get from DLC.

Origins' to Awakening DLC Item Bug
When using an imported character, some of the DLC (promotional & Warden's Keep) items will not be transferred (excluding Memory Band, Return to Ostagar and The Stone Prisoner). However, if you have these items equipped on your character, even though the items themselves disappear, their bonuses and fatigue modifications will be merged into the character's base attributes. (You can end up having character with 30% or more starting fatigue, or +25% Cold Damage & Resistance while naked). This is especially handy if you acquired the DLC items from Dragon Age: Journeys.

= Level and experience =

Level up
In Ostagar during the mission Tainted Blood you are asked to collect three vials of darkspawn blood and the Grey Warden Treaties.


 * 1) Collect the three vials of darkspawn blood, but do not get the treaties
 * 2) Return to the main camp at Ostagar where you will talk to Duncan
 * 3) Choose the choice option "We have the blood, but not the scrolls." On exiting the conversation you will collect experience for the mission
 * 4) Repeat steps 2 and 3, collecting experience each time you talk to Duncan.

Once you collect the treaties you can no longer exploit this bug for experience. This is an easy way to level up early if you need to. Using this exploit will skew the leveling/experience of future recruited companions. Although the future party members will be of a comparable level to the Warden, they will not have any attributes to accompany that level.

Method 1

 * 1) Buy 99x stacks of Deathroot (1 60) or Elfroot (1 18) from Varathorn at the Dalish Camp
 * 2) Put them into the Elven Allied Supply Crates at the Party Camp for 880xp per stack, a very cheap and easy way to reach the Levelcap.

Method 2
Here is a faster, easier way to take advantage of this:
 * 1)  Clear your inventory as much as possible.
 * 2)  Buy as many as you can fit of the Elfroots and Deathroots from Varathorn.
 * 3)  Go back to your Party Camp and go directly to Bodahn Feddic. Sell all of your roots except for 88 of each.
 * 4)  Head over to the Allied Supply Crates to hand in the roots. Once done, head back to Bodahn and pick up two new bunches of 88 from his inventory and repeat until you run out.
 * The benefits? There is no travel time between areas, so no loading screen. Packs of 88 eliminates the 11 wasted items. Also, if you do not have your stacks separate, you will hand in all stacks at once, but only receive a total of one stack. (You give one stack at a time on )


 * You can also use the Party Storage Chest at Soldier's Peak. This takes more time, but considerably less money.

Method 3
there is an even quicker way (a detailed version of the one above)

1    recruit the knights of Redcliffe

2    Use the unlimited money exploit to get roughly 1000 gold

3    donate 30 gold at a time for 750 exp apiece

Shade Exp

 * 1) In Blackmarsh accept a mission called Tears in the Veil.
 * 2) After killing the three sets of desire demons and returning to the real world there will be three Fade portals that appear where the tears were (a fourth one if you activated the summoning circle).
 * 3) Killing each portal gains about 170xp but the shades it spawns generate 79xp. If you have the time and patience you can sit there and kill the shades as they continuously spawn.
 * 4) Set tactics for the party to only attack the Warden's target to prevent accidentally destroying a portal before you are done.

Unlimited Experience (Mountain Top)
As you Enter onto the Mountain Top area from either the Ruined Temple or The Gauntlet, each party member gains 750xp. All that is required is to transition onto the mountain top area so:
 * 1) Enter the Mountain Top, gain 750xp.
 * 2) Turn around and exit to Ruined Temple or The Gauntlet.
 * 3) Repeat as desired

= Approval exploits =

If you have the feast day combo pack add-on, it is possible to buy the items from Bodahn Feddic and then sell them to another vendor other than Bodahn, or even destroy them and the next time you show up in camp they will be back on Bodahn. They can be given to your companions again allowing you to max out their approval with two gifts. It's presumed that the second gift deduction applies which would make the second one a maximum of 49 approval if it is only the second gift you have given.

Unlimited Leliana Approval in Village of Haven
Once you find Brother Genitivi inside Haven Chantry, you will have a lot of option for discussion, make sure to choose the "Is this the medallion you were talking about?" option to trigger the exploit then ask him if he is sure he can make the journey (option 2), he will insist that he can make it and would endure any pain for the Urn. Then choose (option 3) No, I think you should return to Denerim.

Method 1
At this point, he will insist further and Leliana will join the discussion. Choose "I'm trying to keep him alive", and Leliana will insist that Brother Genitivi comes along and will offer to watch over him. Agree to Leliana's statement (option 1) then choose (option 4) Could you answer some questions for me first? Then choose any options you wish to discuss as long as you do not choose the option to leave just yet. No matter what you choose Brother Genitivi will say to run along and get the medallion and choose (option 4) I'll be back soon. You will earn each time. Then start the whole process again; just make sure not to say you're leaving until you're satisfied with Leliana's approval rating.

Method 2
It is even more efficient to repeat a loop within a single conversation: After you agree with Leliana (1. Oh, very well....), rather than ending the conversation as noted above, choose a repeat of option 3 ("No, I think you should return to Denerim"). Leliana rejoins the conversation...

Choose options: 2. I'm trying... 1. Oh very well... 3. No, I think you should...

Repeat these three until you are ready to leave the conversation.

Method 1

 * 1) In Lothering, tell Sten you will try to get the Revered Mother to release him.
 * 2) Enter the Lothering chantry accompanied by Morrigan. (Dog may tag along); Alistair shouldn't if you care about his approval rating, because it will take a hit every time Morrigan's rises; and Leliana will take an approval hit and then intervene, which will end the conversation and resolve the quest, preventing the exploit.)
 * 3) Speak to the Revered Mother about releasing Sten. When the first (Intimidate) option appears, choose it. As long as it fails, she will refuse to release him and demand that you leave. ( from Morrigan)
 * 4) Repeat step 3. Morrigan will repeat her amusement and approval gain, and the Revered Mother will repeat her refusal.

Method 2
In the Dalish Camp, Athras can be persuaded to tell you why he is unhappy. Choose "I really don't have time to be a search party." This ends the conversation, and if present. Repeat.

Unlimited Oghren Approval from Personal Quest
When Oghren has reached Minor Inspiration, he will automatically start his personal quest with the warden the next time they talk. The conversation is very involved and loops/jumps around frequently. Using this to avoid using gifts is especially useful when importing a Warden to Awakening (Despite Oghren's approval being reset in Awakening, the diminishing returns from gifts given in Origins will still carry over).

For infinite approval, proceed as follows:

'''Oghren: There you are. Wanted to talk to you.'''
 * What about?
 * Oh, by the Maker, we don't have time for this. (Loop Start)
 * Fine, Oghren, what is it? (Returns to Loop Start)

A female warden can also add "I love you, too, Oghren." as the start of the loop for a total of per loop.

Unlimited Sten Approval while in Lothering
After you free Sten while in Lothering, speak with him and complete the dialogue that starts with "I think we should talk for a moment.". After this dialogue is completed, the next time you speak to him, you should have the "I have a question." option.

Proceed as follows:
 * I have a question.
 * Why did you come to Ferelden?
 * What was the question?
 * Why would the Qunari care about the Blight? (Loop Start)
 * I'm a Grey Warden. It's my job.
 * Did you find the answer to his question. (Returns to Loop Start)

Each time you complete the loop, it adds more to the conversation as a whole.

Unlimited Zevran Approval from romance
While in a romance with Zevran you will have the dialogue option to invite him to join you in your tent. If the first such conversation ends without triggering the cutscene, dialogue for a second invitation can be repeated with a +7 Approval gain each time. The exploit will stop working if the love-making cutscene is ever triggered.

Proceed as follows. First invitation:
 * I want to discuss something personal.
 * Care to join me in my tent?
 * I was only joking, really. Just forget it.
 * Fine. Get in my tent.  No more questions.
 * That's… not what I had in mind. (Ends conversation)

Second invitation, can be repeated as many times as desired:
 * I want to discuss something personal.
 * Care to join me in my tent?
 * Enough with the coy bit. Get in the tent.
 * That's… not what I had in mind. (Ends conversation)

Each time you complete the loop, it adds.

Unlimited approval from any companion
You can also carry multiples of the same item to give as soon as you meet the appropriate character.
 * 1)  Take the appropriate gift and give it to the chosen character, e.g. with Morrigan the 'Alistair Doll'.  You gain
 * 2)  Travel to Soldier's Peak and put the item in the Party Chest.
 * 3)  Travel back to camp where the gift will have respawned
 * 4)  Repeat as many times as you wish for  until the maximum.

= Encounter and map exploits =

Forcing Random Encounters
You can experience random encounters without actually going anywhere: simply select a map access location as if you were going to travel, move the cursor to select another region (it should start out highlighting the region you are in), then go back to the region you're at and select it. If you spam this it will trigger a random encounter approximately once for every ten attempts. This is typically either an alternative to level-grinding, or attempts to get Rare loot, particularly from the elven leader and the Fen Witch. (exploit is unconfirmed for Origins)


 *  Note: This exploit will not give specific random encounters from between certain regions; they almost always take place in the Forest Clearing setting - exceptions being when the exploit involves Old Stark's Farm, Turnoble Estate, and/or Mother's Lair, which result in farm settings, usually overrun by bandits, drakes, or darkspawn.

The Architect's Best Trap Yet! - Bugged Lever - Silverite Mines (Awakening)
After triggering the sleep rune and following the cutscene that shows the Warden awakening in the Architects custody, if you progress shortly after this cutscene towards his lab, to the North East you find a room with some quest codexs, a pile of books, two levers, and two chests, one of which appears to be out of reach.

If the player carefully walks up (yes, climbs) the lever on the right side, the player falls off the edge and into the secret area with the chest. Bear in mind this is not a solution to obtain this chest, as the trick door remains still magically locked and the player is stuck unless he/she masters the range activation bug also mentioned on this page. Bear in mind

Range/ In-Combat Activation and Looting
This glitch may result in looting of rare or multiple items, and potentially achieving 100% completion regardless of which factions you side with in Amaranthine, if successful. The glitch is not guaranteed to work, as it relies mostly on an over taxed system causing the game to lag. It is not recommended that players overheat PC or game systems purely for the purpose of attempting this exploit.

The most viable use found for this is to get the mater archer which is normally only attainable if the Warden sides with the smugglers of Amaranthine. It can also be exploited to obtain the ever elusive dagger The Withered wields at the beginning of the game (which by the way, is kind of funny when you DO get it).

The optimal circumstances to trigger the glitch are described, but:
 * It's easier on slower computers with less memory or more programs running; system lag is very useful.
 * It only works when the item is within targetable range, meaning when you use your radial window, and turn to see it within view, the action image next to it is visible. Just the name/text normally will NOT work. This image by default of the Xbox 360 is usually a little eye, with a green box next to it, or something similar based on the type of object (box, chest, quest object, etc.)
 * This glitch has been reported to sometimes cause a game-breaking error.

To use this exploit:


 * 1) While keeping the radial menu up, move the target crosshair (center circle) over the objects window, as if you were going to cast a spell on it with a caster character (this should bring up the green box i referred to)
 * 2) While dropping the radial menu, hit your button to interact with the object. Timing has to be precise, similar to the merchant item duplication cheat, and it is very difficult to explain what is the "correct" timing, so it may require trial and error.

In-combat looting/interacting is far easier to successfully accomplish than range activation/looting, but can be done. For example, it is possible to trigger the lever encountered when first entering Vigil's Keep by only stepping up on the stairs nearby to get a clear action shot.

This glitch can be combined with the Reaver ability to use Devour which can often make corpses that were unlootable, lootable. Sometimes this will allow the player to loot corpses not intended to be looted as their battles are almost immediately followed but a cutscene, after which it is not possible to return to the area.

Walkthrough to perform the glitch on the Withered:


 * 1) A warrior with the Reaver Devour ability must be in the party (Oghren via a glitch method works, or a warden commander Reaver with the Devour skill).
 * 2) Save the game before entering battle on the roof of the Vigil. Repeated attempts may be necessary as the Withered's rare dagger and shield have a low drop rates.
 * 3) Set the game to the highest manageable difficulty level (the higher the difficulty, the better the chance of triggering the glitch)
 * 4) Set all non-controlled characters' tactics so they focus on the Withered, not his companions.
 * 5) When he dies, wait about 5 seconds, and halt the attacks on this darkspawn allies either via sue of the forcefield spell with anders, or the hold position command with some intuitive character control.
 * 6) After about 5–6 seconds (depending on your systems heat, memory, etc.) use the devour ability. This can potentially make his corpse lootable.

The end result is a darkspawn dagger, with slightly better stats, though not really significant, with the graphic from the top section of the Lamppost in Winter, a named legendary staff obtained from The Herald. The shield is just a basic darkspawn shield with a different graphic.

Unlimited Enhancement Crystals
This bug will give unlimited enhancement crystals for Shale. If Bella is made to own the tavern in Redcliffe, it is possible to get unlimited crystals for free. Sell them at the smith and return to Bella.

Avoid Some Denerim Encounters ("go to camp")
This is a minor exploit, or possibly a feature, which can help the PC avoid Denerim random encounters. After opening the Denerim city map to leave a location outside the Market, select the world map and go directly to the party campsite to avoid any immediate Denerim random encounters. This appears to work even for "non random" random encounters such as the Mercenaries attack after they've been convinced to leave the Pearl—however, this does not prevent the encounters from happening at all but simply postpones the opportunity for an encounter.

Out of area bounds
Using the same mechanism described above, when attacked or simply cornered by NPCs near a certain area's gameplay bounds, it is possible to fade/slip through the bounds and be freely allowed to roam that whole area like a ghost, though this is quite difficult to achieve out of combat.

Mugging
A quick way for beginner players to get some nicer armor and weapons is to simply take them from temporary party members. Most, if not all, origin stories will have a temporary companion who, after the origin, will never join you again.

These steps are only necessary if a temporary party member leaves the group, alive. If they are killed, their possessions appear in the player's inventory automatically.

Prior to their departure, go to inventory and unequip all of their gear. Weapons, armor, accessories, even clothing can be taken without refusal or any notice at all from the companion. Doing so produces no negative effects, aside from making the companion less useful in a fight (especially if it isn't a mage).

It is not recommended you use this trick on normal companions, unless they are about to leave or betray you. While completely disarming your companion will make that sort of fight easier, for any confrontation that ends in death, it's unnecessary. If the companion will leave, such as Alistair might depending on your choices at the Landsmeet, it is recommended you "mug" them  before  the confrontation.

Grey Warden Vault
After gaining access to the Warehouse (easiest by accepting the first quest Solving Problems from the Favors for Certain Interested Parties board, you can gain free access to the Warden's Vault. Simply climb up on the weapons rack near the hidden entrance and move your camera around until you see the weapon rack with the loot icon. Once you see that simply click on the loot icon for the weapon rack and you will run into the Warden's Vault. This makes Duncan's Shield obtainable from your first time in Denerim.

The PC version of this (since you can not target items off the screen) is to keep climbing around on the weapon racks next to the bookshelves with multiple party members until one of your party members falls through the wall. This seems easier with Shale because her size makes her more likely to get moved farther.

Skip The Joining
It's possible to use the Ostagar map hole to move outside the map and then return to the map in the area right outside the Tower of Ishal. The area can be accessed day or night, but the door to Ishal is absent from the Ostagar day map. Ishal can only be accessed after returning from the Korcari Wilds with their missions completed. Move to the outside edge of the Ishal area and then simply right-click inside the map area. You may need to zoom out and move the camera to do this. The character should appear within bounds. From here the player can enter the tower and start the quest to light the beacon. This exploit can also make Daveth and Ser Jory skip the Joining, thus allowing the player to take them into following levels of the game.

Both Daveth and Ser Jory are immortal following the sequence in the Wilds in which Morrigan joins the party. Their health can drop to 1, but they will not fall in battle. This effectively makes it so that you cannot get a game over screen. Additional exploits such as Tome Duplication will be needed to increase their skills and attribute points, as they do not level up. As a result, they cannot learn any specializations or talents past their current levels. Daveth and Ser Jory will stay as playable characters in the party even after Ishal, and Morrigan and Dog (if playing as a non-noble) will be fifth and sixth characters behind Alistair, though their abilities will not be usable except through the use of the Tactics slots. If playing as a noble then Dog will be the fourth member and Alistair will be the fifth.

This six member party can be used all the way up through the exit of Lothering. The six member squad exploit is ended by the in-camp scene of the main character's nightmare about the Archdemon, but Daveth and Ser Jory will remain in the party. When accepting Leliana and Sten's help in Lothering it will not allow you to add them to the current party unless you remove Alistair, Morrigan, and Dog first; at which point you can only have the regular four member party.

Warning: Removing Daveth or Ser Jory from the party at any time will result in them being lost forever along with anything equipped to them. Their phrases for being removed from the party are "Ahw f- ...frogs!" for Daveth (catching himself before swearing), and "By Andraste's sword!" for Ser Jory.

Daveth and Ser Jory do not show up on the character select screen, and both of them act as if they have yet to meet back up with Duncan. They have no interactive dialogue in any of the post-Ostagar quests other than what they are programed with for the Korcari Wilds. They do not have Fade side-quests, as they will follow the main character in his or her quests through the Fade.

If you wish to complete the Joining after reaching the Ishal area prematurely, simply speak to the guard at the gate to be brought to the proper side.

= Attribute exploits =

Essences/Fonts (Fade)
While in the Fade at Circle Tower, it is possible to get two +1 attribute bonuses per Essence/Font.

On PC,
 * 1) Save the game before this is attempted on each Essence, as if done incorrectly there is no way to repeat it
 * 2) Right-click the Essence to move towards it.
 * 3) Right click it again, immediately (almost at the same time) as the player reaches it. If done correctly, two +1 Bonuses will be shown on screen, one after the other.

If this exploit is successfully used for every single Essence and Font available in the Fade, the player can gain not 21, but 42 +attribute bonuses. This is equivalent to 14 level-up bonuses.

Alternate PC method: Depending on your computer, the game will lag for a very quick moment, less than a second (this generally happens around 1–3 seconds after loading the game). By cramming as many clicks as possible in this lag, it's possible to achieve more than two or three +1 attributes. To be sure of when the lag occurs in your game, reload your game, and immediately initiate some sort of continuous animation such as rotating the camera angle or walking around. While paying attention to the amount of time that has passed since the game loaded, watch for a very subtle and very brief freeze in the game.

Then:
 * 1) Reload the game again
 * 2) Spam-click the font exactly as the freeze happens. You may be able to cram several clicks into the lag time, and when the lag disappears, multiple permanent +1 to attribute messages will queue up above the player.

Because this glitch exploits the lag time after loading a game, in theory it might be easier to pull off on a slower computer, or if ram is minimal. Therefore one would logically take away as much memory as possible before loading the game (running other apps and whatnot) to do the glitch, so in that sense, the lag time would ideally retain itself for a longer period of time.

Alternate PC method for v1.04+: It's still possible to do this on the PC v1.05 if you can use some kind of scripting to spam right clicks very fast. I've successfully gained two +1 attributes by programming a key to repeat right clicks at 15 or 25 ms intervals (I use a Logitech G15 keyboard). Make sure you stand close to the font or essence, but not so close that you don't have to walk anymore. Target the font or essence and use the script to spam right clicks and make sure your cursor stays on target. You will start walking very slowly and if done right will gain the bonus twice. It may also help to be in a slow form such as golem or spirit and you may have to reload a couple times to get it to work.

Free Attribute Points
In the PC version, it is possible to get free character attribute points (statistics) during a level up. To do this, first allocate all 3 points to an attribute you do not need. Now select "Reset". The attributes will all return to their original values, with 3 points available, however, you can now deduct 3 more points from the attribute that you previously modified, giving you 6 available points to spend (although no net gain of points yet). Allocate all 6 points to the attribute, select "Reset", and now you will be able to deduct 6 additional points from that attribute. Repeat this process, and when you can deduct more points than the attribute contains, the attribute will stop at zero (or -1 or -2, depending on the character), but the number of available points will continue to increase as you attempt to remove points from the attribute. Now each time you repeat the process, you will net 3 additional attribute points to spend. Note: You do not have to remove the points from the attribute until the end (Just allocate, reset, allocate, reset, etc., until you are satisfied, then press the down arrow repeatedly until the number of available points stops increasing). Then allocate the points to other attributes.

= Ability exploits =

Stealth without using stealth
Many stationary enemies can be simply avoided instead of fought if the character walks sharply along the very edge of whatever corridor/alley/roadway the enemies are standing on (somewhat like avoiding tripwire traps). Enemies will not detect the player and thus will not engage in combat. This is useful for example if one wishes to purchase the Knight Commander's Plate at an early level like 7 or 8, as otherwise the group of mercenaries standing near the bridge will attack the player on sight and can prove to be quite a challenging fight. The same mechanism works for the thugs at the entrance in Dust Town, bandits in the alleys of Denerim, and so on.

After avoiding enemies with this maneuver, normally approaching them afterwards will sometimes reveal that they are completely unaware of the player's presence, acting as non interactive neutral NPCs. This effect lasts until the player furthers himself enough from the enemies so that they disappear from sight, and return, after which they will behave normally and attack the player on sight unless the above exploit is used.