Mabari

Mabari war hounds are a breed of dogs magically bred by the Formari.

Background

Each mabari chooses their master for life in a process called imprinting. Although fierce combatants, a mabari companion is shown to be a highly sociable animal, and though not capable of speech, they can clearly respond to speech with growls, whines, barks and several other actions that demonstrate intelligent comprehension.

Of all the dog breeds that the Fereldans have produced, none are so highly regarded or so widely famed as the Mabari. Justly renowned, the Mabari are intelligent war hounds fully capable of understanding speech and interpreting complex commands. The bulk of Mabari will bond with a single warrior, whom they will fight beside and follow until death takes them, for there are many stories of Mabari avenging a fallen master before lying down beside his corpse to join him.^[1]

Mabari are huge mastiffs with a touch of wolf blood that stand as tall as a dwarf and just as wide. Their masters (or “partners” as many of those paired with Mabari prefer) will often choose a distinct style of war paint to mark them with so that they can better pick them out from other Mabari at a distance in the midst of a combat. Correspondingly, many Fereldans that frequently fight alongside Mabari will scent themselves with distinctively pungent body paint called “kaddis” which allows the dogs to easily mark them as allies. Due to their great value “feral” Mabari are all but unheard of.^[1]

Involvement

In Dragon Age: Origins, the Warden may have a mabari dog join their party, either by virtue of being high-born, or by helping to care for a sick dog at Ostagar. After the battle, the dog will find the party on the road, slightly ahead of a horde of pursuing darkspawn.

Even if the dog is not accepted after Ostagar, the Return to Ostagar DLC affords the Warden another opportunity; the mabari will be revealed to have survived the darkspawn infestation and will be alive and willing to accompany the party.

Players who have The Black Emporium DLC for Dragon Age II will obtain a mabari war hound, named Dog in the default tradition of Dragon Age: Origins. This mabari can be summoned as a small fifth party member akin to a Ranger summoning animals.

File:Mabari Warhound Concept Art.JPG

Mabari skills

Charge

Dread Howl

Growl

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.

Shred may refer to:

Shred, a talent used by Dog, mabari, wolves and Witherfang.
Shred (dragon), a talent used by dragons.
Shred (monster), with the ability id 90039 actually isn't implemented.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title.
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Named

Adalla^[2]
Bisou^[3]
General Toxon^[3]
Nicodemus
Silvain

Trivia

Ostagar's Kennel Master states that mabari were bred by a mage to be intelligent enough to understand and perform complex commands.
Fenris claims that mabari were originally bred in Tevinter and when the magisters came to Ferelden during an invasion some of the dogs defected and joined local tribes.
In Act 3 of Dragon Age II, Hawke's mabari catches a burglar and scares him into an armoire during the quest Beware of Dog.
The Dalish tell their dogs to "take the Dread Wolf by the ear if he comes."^[4] As in human culture, dogs are seen as protectors against unwanted wild beasts.
Mabari are available in The Sims 3: Pets Limited Edition for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.