Templar (Origins)

Templars are a branch of the Chantry and a specialization of the warrior class. They are a military order of the Chantry that hunts apostates and maleficars and watches over the mages from the Circle of Magi. One of their most important tasks occurs during a mage's Harrowing. During this, a Templar watches over the body of the mage, ready to kill them if demonic possession occurs. To help them control mages, Templars have the ability to dispel magic and to inhibit spellcasting.

A group of Templars is led by a Templar Knight-Commander and each Circle Tower and the majority of Chantry's in Thedas are assigned one.

Templar armor is plate combined with a robe (or skirt). It has 'interesting properties' and it is only usable by those with the templar specialization.

Templars in Thedas
While mages often resent the templars as symbols of the Chantry’s control over magic, the people of Thedas see them as saviors and holy warriors, champions of all that is good armed with piety enough to protect the world from the ravages of foul magic. In reality, the Chantry’s militant arm looks first for skilled warriors with unshakable faith in the Maker, with a flawless moral center as a secondary concern. Templars must carry out their duty with an emotional distance, and the Order of templars would rather have soldiers with religious fervor and absolute loyalty than paragons of virtue who might question orders when it comes time to make difficult choices.

It is this sense of ruthless piety that most frightens mages when they get the templars’ attention: When the templars are sent to eliminate a possible blood mage, there is no reasoning with them, and if the templars are prepared the mage’s magic is often all but useless. Driven by their faith, the templars are one of the most feared and respected forces in Thedas.

All templars are addicted to lyrium, which is officially used to help develop their anti-mage skills and unofficially used as a control mechanism by the Chantry.

Templar: The Class
The class specific abilities of the templars are talents which give them great advantages against mages.

Specialization benefits for Templar: +2 magic, +3 mental resistance

Talent-RighteousStrike_icon.png Righteous Strike

 * Required Level: 7
 * Stamina Cost: Passive
 * Range: No
 * Cooldown (sec): 0
 * Area of Effect (ft): 0

The templars are enforcers specifically designed to control and slay mages. Each of the templar's melee hits against an enemy spellcaster drains its mana.

Talent-CleanseArea_icon.png Cleanse Area

 * Required Level: 9
 * Stamina Cost: 40
 * Range: No
 * Cooldown (sec): 30
 * Area of Effect (ft): 10

The templar purges the area of magic, removing all dispellable effects from those nearby. Friendly fire possible.

Talent-MentalFortress_icon.png Mental Fortress

 * Required Level: 12
 * Stamina Cost: Passive
 * Range: No
 * Cooldown (sec): 0
 * Area of Effect (ft): 0

The templar has learned to focus on duty, gaining a large bonus to mental resistance.

Talent-HolySmite_icon.png Holy Smite

 * Required Level: 15
 * Stamina Cost: 70
 * Range: Yes
 * Cooldown (sec): 40
 * Area of Effect (ft): 5
 * Spirit Damage (100.0 + Willpower) * 0.2 to all hostile targets in the area of effect
 * Drains Mana from target (100.0 + Willpower) * 0.4 and damages it with Spirit for (100.0 + Willpower) * 0.2
 * Stuns target if it fails physical resistance check against Templar's Willpower for 10.0 * (Target Rank Duration Modifier) sec
 * Knockbacks others in the area of effect that fail physical resistance check against Templar's Willpower

The templar strikes out with righteous fire, inflicting spirit damage on the target and other nearby enemies. If the target is a spellcaster, it must pass a mental resistance check or else loses mana and takes additional spirit damage proportional to the mana lost. All affected enemies are stunned or knocked back unless they pass physical resistance checks

Note: For a typical low-willpower fighter build stun and knockdown lands rarely.

Unlocking
There are two ways to unlock the templar specialization. Bodahn Feddic sells a templar manual or Alistair can teach the specialization if his approval is high enough.

Notable Templars

 * Alistair is a former Templar-in-training.
 * Cullen
 * Knight-Commander Greagoir
 * Knight-Commander Tavish
 * Knight-Commander Harrith
 * Ser Bryant
 * Ser Henric
 * Ser Otto

Resources
BioWare Templar Wiki