Gifts (Origins)

Gifts can be sold to merchants or given to certain companions to influence their approval ratings. The party members appreciate their gifts, more or less, depending on each gift's value and their personal motivations. There is a limited number of gifts in the game. Additionally, if the same gift is given to a character more than once, the approval bonus you get from each subsequent gift decreases to a minimum of +1 per gift, excluding plot-specific ones.

Gift Mechanics
The approval from gifts works as follows:


 * 1) Any gift at all gives a +5 approval bonus when given.
 * 2) The minimum you can get per gift is 1 point. Even specific gifts (excluding plot ones) eventually become just 1 point.
 * 3) Each gift given imposes an increasing penalty upon subsequent gifts. So the first gift would give +5, the second would generally give +4 etc.
 * 4) The bonus is halved when you are at negative approval.
 * 5) Once you have reached the highest possible approval rating with a companion (i.e. 100), you will no longer receive approval points for gifts.

Specific Gifts
These gifts give a +5 bonus approval when given to the proper character, with the exception of the plot-specific gifts. If a gift is specific to a certain character, attempts to give it to anyone else will be met with refusal.

Gifts for Alistair
Alistair has a preference for strange rune-stones and figural studies of arcane creatures.

Gifts for Dog
Dog has a preference for foods and bones, but his approval rating will always be 100% so you can boost one of your other companions' ratings with gifts originally meant for Dog. Shale generally responds better to Dog's gifts than the other companions.

Gifts for Leliana
Leliana has a preference for holy symbols of Andraste, as well as shoes.

Gifts for Morrigan
Morrigan has a preference for gifts of jewelry and those items relating to her own appearance.

Gifts for Oghren
Oghren has a preference for alcoholic beverages.

Gifts for Shale
Shale has a preference for the nine “remarkable” gemstones that can be found in Ferelden. However if you have given Shale 2 of Dogs gifts he doesn't respond as well to receiving the remainder of the remarkable gems saying only "So I'm to keep this am I? Fine." with only +1 approval.

Gifts for Sten
Sten has a preference for paintings.

Gifts for Wynne
Wynne has a preference for books and scrolls.

Gifts for Zevran
Zevran has a preference for leather items and bars of precious metals.

Gifts for the secret companion
The secret companion has a preference for maps of Thedas.

Generic Gifts
These gifts give the base approval and are not specific to any one person.

Alcohol

 * Ale: A mug of watered-down ale.
 * : a bottle of wine.

Jewelry

 * Shiny Gold Ring: A simple gold band, polished to a mirror-like shine.


 * Silver Bracelet: A heavy silver bracelet inscribed with Dwarven runes.

Duplicates of plot gifts
It is possible to get two of the Golden Mirror's for Morrigan, as well as three Andraste's Graces for Leliana. Morrigan will give you the same conversational response the second time you give it to her as the first and you will get the same amount of approval points, while Leliana treats subsequent gifts as +5 gifts without the cinematic conversation.

Lookup table


This table is not definitive, various factors affect how difficult a companion is to impress, but should be able to provide general direction.

Each time you give a particular companion a gift, the approval amount decreases by 1. So it is possible to get 5 or less approval from a gift they would normally love, if you have already given them many gifts.


 * Refuses = #


 * Indifferent (+1 - +2) = ≈


 * Likes (+3 - +5) = ☺


 * Loves (+5 and higher) = ♥
 * Plot Gift (Triggers conversation) = !