The Warden

"Right now, I know of only one living Warden assigned to all of Ferelden."

- Varel

The Warden is the player controlled protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins. The Warden can come from one of a wide spectrum of Ferelden's social strata, from the lowliest castes of dwarves and elves to the height of dwarven royalty and human nobility. After playing one of six unique origins, the Warden will join the Grey Wardens during the events of Dragon Age: Origins and eventually rise to the rank of Warden-Commander in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

Character Creation
The player begins by selecting the Warden's gender, race (human, elf or dwarf), and class (warrior, rogue or mage), though the mage class is not available to dwarves. The player then picks an origin, from whatever origins are available, before choosing a first name, customizing the character's appearance, taking the character’s portrait and choosing a voice set. Next, attributes and skills are selected. If playing as a warrior or rogue talents are selected next, while mages select spells instead. Finally, the player selects their preferred difficulty level and the story begins.

First Name
A default name is offered according to the Warden's gender and origin, but this can be changed to whatever the player chooses.

''Note: No one will call you by your first name, but it does show up in some dialogue choices.


 * Male
 * Human Noble: Aedan
 * Human Mage: Daylen
 * Elf Mage: Alim
 * City Elf: Darrian
 * Dalish Elf: Theron
 * Dwarf Noble: Duran
 * Dwarf Commoner: Faren


 * Female
 * Human Noble: Elissa
 * Human Mage: Solona
 * Elf Mage: Neria
 * City Elf: Kallian
 * Dalish Elf: Lyna
 * Dwarf Noble: Sereda
 * Dwarf Commoner: Natia

Last Name
While the player can select the first name of the character freely, each origin has a set surname:


 * Human Noble: Cousland
 * Human Mage: Amell
 * Elf Mage: Surana
 * City Elf: Tabris
 * Dalish Elf: Mahariel
 * Dwarf Noble: Aeducan
 * Dwarf Commoner: Brosca

Starting Abilities
Each character begins the adventure with two specific skills and one talent or spell already known. Additionally, one skill and two talents or spells are chosen at character creation. The free starting abilities depend on class and origin. On the Xbox 360, in addition to other skills, the Warden also gets one additional rank in Combat Training.

Story


After the origin story is played out, The Warden is sought out by Duncan, the leader of Ferelden's recently reformed Grey Wardens, to join them and aid King Cailan Theirin and his troops against an upcoming army of darkspawn in Ostagar. This is where the main plot of Dragon Age: Origins begins. The Warden's main task is to gather an army to defeat the Blight. However, they must also deal with political tensions threatening to distract the country from the impending Blight.

The actions of The Warden are entirely decided by the player. But unlike many other cRPGs, choices are not tracked by a single meter or bar, rather each of the companions have their own meter that reflects how they feel about The Warden's actions.

Level
As is typical for roleplaying games, a character's level will display the progress of the character's career and personal power. When the character levels up, certain things are automatically increased (health and stamina/mana), while other things (talents and attributes) must be manually increased, unless Autolevel is activated. There is currently a "hard" level cap of 25. However (since enemies do not re-spawn), there is only enough content in the game (including DLC) to reach between levels 17-24, depending on how many side quests and Codex entries are completed, while a well used rogue can gain the party significant experience over the course of their adventures by picking locks and disarming traps. Level 25 can be reached with some methods, such as donating profusely to the Allied Supply Crates in Camp.

In Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, the level cap was raised to level 35.

Equipment
Player characters have the following equipment slots:

Warden Specific Items
Dragon Age: Origins

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

Dialogue

 * Alistair: "One good thing about the blight is how it brings people together."
 * Warden: "You are a very strange man/human."


 * Alistair: "Maker's Breath! What are these darkspawn doing ahead of the rest of the horde? There wasn't supposed to be any resistance here!"
 * Warden: "You could try telling them they're in the wrong place."


 * Morrigan: "'Tis cold in my tent, all alone..."
 * Warden: "Then get a thicker blanket."


 * Leliana: "I think I'll retire to my tent."
 * Warden: "I think I'll stay up and write in my journal."


 * Warden: "That's a big door."
 * Templar Bran: "Yes, it is. Do you need something, or are you just here to state the obvious?"


 * Duncan: "Good day. I understand congratulations are in order for your impending wedding."
 * Warden: "Let's talk about your impending beating."


 * Paivel: "Children, hear of the fall of the Dales! Hear the tale of what makes you Dalish. Would you care to begin, da'len?"
 * Warden: "Well, children, it starts with a mommy and daddy elf..."


 * Leske: "You're just jealous because you want the majesty of Leske for yourself, you shameless hussy."
 * Warden: "When I saw your "majesty," the scepter was a little... soft."


 * Warden: "Don't I have enough armed lunatics following me already?"
 * Oghren: "Perfect. What's one more?"


 * Sten: "I like swords, and killing things."
 * Warden: "You like swords? I do too"
 * Sten: "I knew there was a reason I am still following you."


 * Leliana: "Because then...then they were forbidden, and forbidden fruit is the sweeter, no?"
 * Warden: "What about your fruit? Is it forbidden?"
 * Leliana: "My...fruit? I...uhh...."


 * Chantry Brother: "We are all sinners. The fire symbolizes our hope that forgiveness is possible. Thus, we all serve by feeding its flames."
 * Warden: "So if I sin, I should just set myself on fire?"


 * Sten: "Interesting strategy. Tell me: Do you intend to keep going north until it becomes south, and attack the archdemon from the rear?"
 * Warden: "It'll never see this coming."


 * Genitivi: "There was a passage in one of the books I read... how some of Andraste's followers gave their lives to the fire, to become Her eternal guardians. Isn't that beautiful?"
 * Warden: "You're a strange old man."


 * Queen Anora: "Ser Cauthrien! Praise the Maker you're here... This brigand tried to kidnap me!"
 * Warden: "You double-crossing bitch!"
 * Alternate: " Uh-Oh"


 * Warden: "A Chanter says, "What?""'
 * Chanter Devons: "What?"
 * Child: "Oh, you got him to talk!"
 * Chanter Devons: "Err...what hath man's sin wrought?"
 * Child: "Oh, he cheated!"


 * Warden: "You're sort of a ruthless bitch."
 * Queen Anora: "I prefer to think of it as having staunch determination. Was there a point you wanted to make?"
 * Warden: "No, I just wanted to say it."