Children

“Beware the Children. They are abominations, even among darkspawn...” ―Jukka

The Children are a unique variety of darkspawn birthed by the Mother.

Background

“When the Blight pushed the darkspawn to the surface, human expeditions were able to venture deep underground for the first time in centuries, meeting very little resistance apart from stragglers. Then people started disappearing. Men would make camp and wake to find one of their number missing. Scouts left on missions, never to return. Search parties found no trace of the lost men, not even their bones. Some saw movements in the darkness, a shifting of shadows that torchlight would reveal as nothing. When a single warrior survived from one squad, he spoke of nothing comprehensible except grinning worm monsters that devoured his companions. The expeditions made haste back to the city.^[1]”

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

The Children are mutated hurlocks born by the Mother, an unusually intelligent broodmother. Its believed that the ability of the Mother to use magic, that is unique among broodmothers, is what allows her to change the nature of her offspring.^[2]

Like the Mother, the Children are free of the Call of the Old Gods, but unlike her, they are not any more intelligent than other darkspawn. They only exist to serve and protect the Mother, and have no goals of their own beyond to destroy and feast on anything that comes near them. Other darkspawn, even the mighty ogres, tend to avoid them, since the Children are not particularly picky about their food and will eat other dead or even living darkspawn, if given the chance.^[3] The Children are also capable of disrupt blight magic.^[3]

The Children are born as childer grubs, worm-like darkspawn that hibernate in cocoons after they have been birthed. When they feel another living being nearby, be by sensing their movements or their body heat, they emerge from their cocoons and attack and devour their unfortunate prey. This is the only vulnerable stage of their development.

If a Children devours the flesh of a tainted creature, such as another darkspawn, them it transform into a more advanced form, the childer hatchling.^[2] As opposed to their worm-like larval state, the childer hatchling develop spindly feet and small claws, which make them more agile and stronger, even though their transformation is not yet complete. If a childer hatchling devours another tainted creature, they further mutate into the fully grown adult childer.^[4]

This final form of the Children is by far stronger and deadlier than all previous forms. Their claws have grown long and sharp, and they sprout additional insect-legs. Their body is encased by a protective carapace, making them much harder to kill than a childer grub or hatchling. They are also frighteningly fast; adult childers are capable of speed unmatched by every other type of darkspawn.

Types

Children are classified by the forms they take as they mature:

Childer grub
Childer hatchling
Adult childer

Abilities

All variations have:

Poison Spit - DoT is 4 seconds.

For the dog talent, see Overwhelm.

For the Spider/Bear Shape talent, see Overwhelm (ability).

For the bear (monster) ability, see Overwhelm (bear).

For the deepstalker ability, see Overwhelm (deepstalker).

For the dragon ability, see Overwhelm (dragon).

For the shriek ability, see Overwhelm (shriek).

For the spider (monster) ability, see Overwhelm (spider).

Information

Overwhelm (werewolf) — A werewolf leader using Overwhelm

This talent generates an auto-hit.
The target is incapacitated and hit several times, each for normal attack damage from the attacker.
It is generally activated by the AI when the target dips to 50% or less health, as this is the default tactic for creatures with Overwhelm of any type. In Awakening, enemies would use this ability even when the target is at full health.
Can be interrupted by effects that have higher animation priority, including knockdown, paralyze, root (Pinning Shot), draining (Crushing Prison), "heavy impact" (Mighty Blow), and fear.

Used by

Bears: Great Bear and Bereskarn
Deepstalkers: Deepstalker leader and Deepstalker matriarch
Children: All variations
Dragons: Dragons and Drakes
Dogs: Dogs and Alpha Dogs
Sand stalkers: Sand stalker leader
Spiders: All variations, except Spiderlings and Giant spiderlings
Werewolves: All variations, including Swiftrunner and Gatekeeper
Wolves: All variations, including Witherfang
Shrieks: All variations, including Shriek (thrall)

Notes

Overwhelm (deepstalker) — A deepstalker leader using Overwhelm

This ability can fail to execute properly in some cases due to obstructed line of sight.
Overwhelm only affects humans, elves, dwarves, Qunari, hurlocks, and genlocks. All classes with Overwhelm are immune to its effect. A shapeshifted mage, Shale, and Dog are immune to Overwhelm.
Several enemies in a group can easily chain-Overwhelm against a solo character, which may be lethal for units with little armor, and very annoying and time consuming for highly armored characters, as openings to counterattack are few, short-lived, and far between. This threat is greatest when facing a large group of Shadow werewolves, as they can Overwhelm a defenseless party member from Stealth, evading countermeasures.
This attack cannot be countered or mitigated by Misdirection Hex, as it does not need to confirm attack result.
Some abilities grant a target the "damage ward" effect which makes the target immune to damage. This effect completely negates Overwhelm. These abilities include Force Field, Strength of Stone, and Carapace after being upgraded by Bulwark of the Ages.
Some modal abilities apply on the character a special effect which has higher animation priority than Overwhelm. This means the character cannot be interrupted by Overwhelm when any of these abilities is active. These abilities include Captivating Song, Unending Flurry, and Reaving Storm.

Devour - Children gains health by eating its victim.

Metamorphosis - Grub and hatchling grow into advanced form while in combat phase.

Childer hatchling and adult childer gain:

Frenzy - "Pincer Flurry"

Adult childer gains: Leap may refer to:

Leap (ash wraith), the creature ability
Leap (shriek), the creature ability

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Virulent Burst