Money making guide (Dragon Age II)

For the Dragon Age: Origins guide, see Money making guide.

This is a guide to making gold in Dragon Age II.

Decisions Leading to More Coin

• Sell unnecessary potions. The less you have in your inventory, the more likely they are to drop.
• Once you cleared an area of Kirkwall (i.e. Hightown, lowtown or docks) from the street thugs and eradicated their bases, claim your reward from A Friend before clearing another area.

Chests/Corpses/Quests with Big Payoffs

Prologue

• 2 - During Athenril's task, accept the bribe from Cavril
• 2 - During Meeran's task, accept the bribe from Friedrich
• 5 - During Meeran's task, kill and loot Friedrich

Act 1

• 9 – chest at the end of Birthright
• 5 – Loot from Arcane Horror during Long Way Home
• 8 - Complete the ritual of the amulet during Long Way Home
• 3 - Reward for completing The Bone Pit (quest)
• 3 or 4 - Potential reward for Blackpowder Promise, for selecting "He still owes me" or "I was promised future profits", respectively, during dialogue with the Arishok
• 7 - Reward for completing Shepherding Wolves
• 2-3 - Looted from Danzig's corpse during Wayward Son
• 1 - Gift from Marethari for sending Feynriel to the Dalish during Wayward Son
• 2 - Reward for completing Act of Mercy
• 4 - Reward for completing Enemies Among Us
• 4 - Payment from Martin during Finders Keepers, for initially refusing to tell him where his poison is, then relenting "for a price"
• 5 - Reward for completing The Unbidden Rescue
• 3 - Reward for completing Herbalist's Tasks (Act 1)
• 1 - Reward for completing Magistrate's Orders (at minimum regardless of choice, with additional 1 or 2 for sparing Kelder Vanard)
• 3 - Reward for completing The First Sacrifice, + 1 more for bringing the ring to Ghyslain de Carrac

• Note: The most sovereigns one can gain from completing every main, secondary, companion, and side quest available in Act 1 prior to The Deep Roads Expedition, before factoring in quests and rewards from downloadable content, promotional bonuses, and Imported saves and pre-built histories, as well as enemy drops and selling loot, is 56. Pre-built histories grant access to quests that aren't available to every playthrough, and additional gold is awarded through downloadable content and promotional items only available through connecting to the Dragon Age servers. Making the "most" money requires:
  • Importing a save from Dragon Age: Origins in which the Warden:
    • Sided with the werewolves during Nature of the Beast (unlocks Changing One's Nature, 1)
    • Crowned Bhelen Aeducan during A Paragon of Her Kind (unlocks Last of His Line, 3 for betraying Renvil Harrowmont)
    • Preserved and revealed to the world The Urn of Sacred Ashes (unlocks Miracle Makers, 1)
    • Killed Avernus and released Sophia Dryden during the Warden's Keep DLC (unlocks Terror on the Coast, 8)
    • Saved Amaranthine during The Assault on Amaranthine during the Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening expansion (unlocks Secret Rendezvous, 3 for overhearing the full conversation)
  • Downloading The Exiled Prince DLC and completing Duty (quest) during Act 1 (4)
  • Downloading the promotional bonus The Far Cliffs of Kirkwall and retrieving the corresponding tome from the player's home (5)
  • Completing the prologue quest, The Destruction of Lothering, by accepting a bribe from Cavril, then killing Friedrich, joining the mercenaries and unlocking Meeran's version of Loose Ends (7 + 3 for killing Lord Harimann)
  • Completing all available quests in such a way that yields the greatest profit.

• 7 - Ancient Rock Wraith at the end of The Deep Roads Expedition. Same as with the Mature Dragon.

Act 3

• 1-2 - During Pride's End, from Marethari's corpse.
• 10+ - During No Rest for the Wicked, inside Castillon's Landing; open the door to the right (and disarm the trap) and open the first crate.
• 1-20 - Found in a chest off to the right of the Viscount's Way in Hightown at night.

Runes of Fortune

Rune of Fortune is added in The Black Emporium DLC. It increases the amount of gold yield from containers and corpses.

Crafting Runes of Fortune

Take the following steps immediately upon starting Act 1 to maximize the gold you get from each corpse or chest through Runes of fortune. Note: it is advised you do not loot any corpses or open any chests in Act 1 until these steps are completed (except those found in the Amell Family Cellar during Birthright and in the Bone Pit Mines during The Bone Pit (quest) since they will not be available later). Gold drops are determined upon looting, so returning to look later will result in more gold obtained.

• Visit Black Emporium and buy the Rune of Fortune and the Design: Rune of Fortune
• Visit Lowtown Apparel Shop and Buy Varric's Armor Upgrade
• Visit Sandal in Hightown and enchant Varric's armor with the Rune of Fortune (+10% coin drop)
• Visit Gamlen's House and talk to Mother to get the Birthright quest
• Visit Darktown and complete the Birthright quest (10g, unlocks The Bone Pit (quest))
• Visit Gamlen's House and read the letter to get the The Bone Pit (quest)
• Visit Hightown and talk to Hubert to update The Bone Pit (quest)
• Visit The Bone Pit and fight the first set of dragons to obtain Lyrium
• Visit Sundermount and complete Long Way Home, obtaining Silverite (unlocks Blackpowder Promise)
• Visit Sundermount to trigger Blackpowder Promise encounter (be sure to obtain Embrium)
• Visit The Wounded Coast and enter the Tal-Vashoth Cavern, Officer's Room
• Obtain Silverite in the Officer's Room and Lyrium down the stairs from it

Upon completion, you will have the 2 Lyrium and 2 Silverite required to craft a Rune of Fortune.

Coin Percentage Bonus

The bonus given by using a Rune of Fortune depends on the piece of armor it is equipped in. Below the bonus to coin drops based on equipment type is listed. Using Runes of Fortune in Companion Armor leads to the highest yields.

Item	Coin dropped (per rune)
Gloves	+1.2%
Boots	+1.8%
Helmet	+2%
Shield	+3.75%
Chestpiece	+5%
Companion Armor	+10%
Rings & Belts	+1.5%
Amulets	+2%

The effect is cumulative but companions out of the active party grant no effects.

For corpses, as long as they are left on the ground, equipping or removing an item with Rune of Fortune changes the amount of gold they yield. (You can confirm this by saving the game and testing different states.) However, once they are inspected, the amount of gold on them becomes fixed. Same applies to containers like chests but their base gold yield is always fixed.

Companion Rune Slots Available & Maximum Possible Coin Drop with Hawke Gear and Accessories

Act 1

• Varric: 1 Armor Rune Slot (+10% coin drop)
• Aveline: 3 Shield Rune Slots (+11.25% coin drop)
• Other Companions: Nothing
• Warrior Hawke (+31.3% coin drop)
  • Amulet of Influence (2% coin drop)
  • String of Pearls (1.5% coin drop)
  • Uncertainty Set (2 rings and amulet + set bonus) +6.5%

Total Maximum in Act 1: +62.5% max coin drop

Act 2

• Aveline: 1 Armor Rune Slot + 3 Shield Rune Slots (+21.25% coin drop)
• Fenris, Varric: 2 Armor Rune Slots (+20% coin drop)
• Isabela, Merrill, Sebastian: 1 Armor Rune Slot (+10% coin drop)
• Anders: Nothing

Act 3

• Fenris, Varric: 3 Armor Rune Slots (+30% coin drop)
• Aveline: 1 Armor Rune Slot + 3 Shield Rune Slots (+21.25% coin drop)
• Isabela, Merrill, Sebastian: 2 Armor Rune Slots (+20% coin drop)
• Anders: 1 Armor Rune Slot (+10% coin drop)
• Warrior Hawke (+36.25%)
  • Uncertainty Set (2 rings and amulet + set bonus) +6.5%
  • String of Pearls +1.5%
  • Highlords Belt +1.5%
  • Amulet of Influence 2%
  • Pretty Little Thing Ring 1.5%
  • Four-Fingered Eddie's Lucky Talisman 2%
  • Gem of Keroshek Necklace 2%

Total Maximum in Act 3: +134.5% max coin drop

Note: Warrior Hawke has the most rune slots because of the ability to wear a shield. So Rogue and Mage were not considered.