37 réponses à ce sujet

[Meeeps]

Hello, as I just started a new playthrough as mage, I wonder if it is possible to play a good mage but still become a blood mage. Please help to explain myself "not every blood mage is a bad or rather evil mage".

I know Merill does also blood mage stuff but not sure how much and I know Anders does not like it, without too much spoilers, how much does it infect relationships?

[Gervaise]

The game has been rather ambiguous about this. In DAO the use of blood magic was definitely tied to doing deals with demons. In DA2 it seems more to do with how you fuel your magic. Some characters assume it must necessarily involve demons but there is nothing definitive on this and you can constantly refuse to work with demons and yet still become a blood mage.

Your companions never respond to the fact you are a blood mage regardless of their own views on the matter. I've friendmanced Fenris as a mage and there was nothing to stop me taking the blood mage specialty other than my own prejudices. Ditto simply being on a friendship path with him. The same applied to Anders. Apparently, despite blood mage being a specialty in DOA, the writers never considered this as a possibility when formulating dialogue and relationship development. As far as I know there is only one place where they will comment on this but it is towards the end of the game when attitudes towards you are pretty much set and has no bearing on this.

I would suggest whether or not you become a blood mage should be governed by your own understanding of the matter (role playing it) and how extensively you are going to use the specialty. If you are not willing to use your companions health to fuel your spells and have fundamental objections to controlling other people's minds (even if they are your enemies), then you will be limiting your use of this specialty. However, if you do not or feel the other benefits outweigh having some parts of it that are "useless" to you, then go ahead.

[Meeeps]

Sorry, I missed the other thread about this topic, but anyway thanks so far.

I will see how I feel when I get the first specification point. My PCs never became a blood mage in Origins, except that Grey Wardens itself are made with it and the bottle from Wardens DLC. Not sure, if it doesn't make sense to use Blood Magic without sacrifice the Companios from time to time and not sure if I will be able to :-)

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

In Da:O, you had to sell a kid's soul to get the spec: it is stated in Warden's keep that this is because it involves sacrificing blood as a tribute to a demon. At the same time, Warden's Keep offers a chance to gain limited blood magic using the taint instead of the Fade. (Edit: I was already writing this bit while you posted about using that.)

Meanwhile, In Da:A, if you don't already have the spec from the deal, you could get the spec from a book, rather than having to actually do anything evil. (Thus meaning that a good mage could learn it.) Presumably, the same demonic involvement still applies. Da2, however, seems to go the opposite route: apparently blood magic doesn't require demons (or spirits, or the Fade) at all, just blood, thus leading some magi to consider it the only magic that is "free." And since Da2 doesn't make you learn specializations, there's no need to sell anyone out.

Modifié par Riverdaleswhiteflash, 11 juin 2012 - 11:39 .

[Meeeps]

I just made the quest where I met Merrill, I guess, she can learn me to use Blood Magic "the good way" :-)

[dragonflight288]

In Da:O, you had to sell a kid's soul to get the spec: it is stated in Warden's keep that this is because it involves sacrificing blood as a tribute to a demon. At the same time, Warden's Keep offers a chance to gain limited blood magic using the taint instead of the Fade. (Edit: I was already writing this bit while you posted about using that.)

And if you don't do that, you can either learn it from the tevinter mages or you can learn it from a book in Awakening.

[M0RD3CA1 VII]

Blood Magic isn't inherintly "Evil", but I does have the connotation of "Blood Mage = Demon Lover".

Here's a question to be posed. Did you think that Jowan was "Evil"?

I'm really looking forward to DA3 and specializations being recognized by NPC's.

[Meeeps]

Jowan wasn't evil, at least with the origin game I imported to this DA2 game, good point. (what was strange there is that he used poison instead magic to kill Eamon.)

Modifié par Meeeps, 11 juin 2012 - 01:34 .

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

dragonflight288 wrote...

In Da:O, you had to sell a kid's soul to get the spec: it is stated in Warden's keep that this is because it involves sacrificing blood as a tribute to a demon. At the same time, Warden's Keep offers a chance to gain limited blood magic using the taint instead of the Fade. (Edit: I was already writing this bit while you posted about using that.)

And if you don't do that, you can either learn it from the tevinter mages or you can learn it from a book in Awakening.

Yeah, I mentioned the Awakening option in the paragraph under that.

And what Tevinter mages?

[nightscrawl]

Meeeps wrote...

Hello, as I just started a new playthrough as mage, I wonder if it is possible to play a good mage but still become a blood mage. Please help to explain myself "not every blood mage is a bad or rather evil mage".

I know Merill does also blood mage stuff but not sure how much and I know Anders does not like it, without too much spoilers, how much does it infect relationships?

Since this might be helpful to you, here is what David Gaider said about Blood Magic and it's influence at PAX East...

Q: And just a slight lore question: with Jowan, and Merrill, and Hawke, and the Warden being able to be a Blood Mage as well, it seems to me that to be a Blood Mage you don't necessarily have to be corrupt. Is that true, or am I just imagining it? Like it seems like you could be a good person, yet still be a Blood Mage.

A David: It's not corruption in the way that the Blight is a corruption... A lot of it is opinion and fear, [of] the things that a Blood Mage is capable of. Which, as we're moving forward, we'd like to show that a little bit more, especially the mind control. And it is based on people who have that kind of power, the ability to influence other people's minds, the temptation to misuse it is a corruption. That kind of power is corrupting, right? That's the danger, not a physical "I suddenly turn to the dark side and my eyes have gone black" kind of corruption.

The short answer is basically "no", because your mage will eventually fall under the corrupting influence of Blood Magic. Abstinence is the best policy here ;D.

BUT, if you are asking in a purely game mechanic way of speccing into Blood Magic at level 7 or 14 and having people react based on that, well have no fear, there is nothing to worry about. They didn't really do much in the way of having followers or other NPCs react to your specializations, which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

nightscrawl wrote...

The short answer is basically "no", because your mage will eventually fall under the corrupting influence of Blood Magic. Abstinence is the best policy here ;D.

Theoretically, there doesn't seem to be any reason the Warden can't be the exception: nobody really seems to accuse them of being ordinary. (That said, that is not how I played my Blood Mage Warden.)

[nightscrawl]

Riverdaleswhiteflash wrote...

nightscrawl wrote...

The short answer is basically "no", because your mage will eventually fall under the corrupting influence of Blood Magic. Abstinence is the best policy here ;D.

Theoretically, there doesn't seem to be any reason the Warden can't be the exception: nobody really seems to accuse them of being ordinary. (That said, that is not how I played my Blood Mage Warden.)

Sure, the PC/hero is always the exception. However, I took the her question (at PAX East) to refer to mages in general, and not just our PC, and only citing known Blood Mages (including possible Warden and Hawke) as examples.

[M0RD3CA1 VII]

Meeeps wrote...

Jowan wasn't evil, at least with the origin game I imported to this DA2 game, good point. (what was strange there is that he used poison instead magic to kill Eamon.)

I quite enjoyed Jowan's character, even more so once I played though the Magi Origin Story. He's a lil too whiny to be a "Big Bad Blood Mage" lol ...

I mean, I do agree that a small number of the mages in Dragon Age 2 were actually "pushed" into Blood Magic, because it was either A) Give into the Demons, or Die.

Then again you have Blood Mages like Quentin, who is quite TWISTED, and people assume all mages are like that ...

It really does more than not come down to what type of person they are, and not whether or not they are Blood Mages ...

Now, Orsino, don't get me started on Orsino ...

[Dave of Canada]

Meeeps wrote...

Jowan wasn't evil, at least with the origin game I imported to this DA2 game, good point. (what was strange there is that he used poison instead magic to kill Eamon.)

He wasn't trying to kill Eamon, Loghain didn't want Eamon dead.

[EricHVela]

It becomes a matter of whether the risk is worth it.

IMHO, there's a substantial risk involved with being a mage but more by being a blood mage.

It's like playing with the Dark Side of the Force. It's a short-cut to power. Yet, can one maintain control over themselves once they gain such power?

Some can. Others think they can and can't. Still others don't care and were lost even before going down the road of Blood Magic.

[M0RD3CA1 VII]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Meeeps wrote...

Jowan wasn't evil, at least with the origin game I imported to this DA2 game, good point. (what was strange there is that he used poison instead magic to kill Eamon.)

He wasn't trying to kill Eamon, Loghain didn't want Eamon dead.

Source please?

All my info points to death being the intent of the poisoning, but the Demon in Connor keeping him alive ...

[wsandista]

Yes

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

M0RD3CA1 VII wrote...

Dave of Canada wrote...

Meeeps wrote...

Jowan wasn't evil, at least with the origin game I imported to this DA2 game, good point. (what was strange there is that he used poison instead magic to kill Eamon.)

He wasn't trying to kill Eamon, Loghain didn't want Eamon dead.

Source please?

All my info points to death being the intent of the poisoning, but the Demon in Connor keeping him alive ...

Jowan says he had Loghain's word that death was not the intent of the poisoning, not that a lot of the people on this forum would accept Loghain's word. I think I also remember Gaider saying something about how the poison was intended to be non-lethal (though Loghain was aware that something could go wrong and kill Eamon anyway), and the demon's interaction with said poison did weird things to its effect.

Modifié par Riverdaleswhiteflash, 12 juin 2012 - 03:51 .

[Kyneris]

Good is in the person, not in the tools the person uses.

[Samzo77]

In DA:2, Merrill's blood magic is inherently tied to a demon. You see this throughout her story arc and companion quests, and finally is seen to fruition in the third act.
When you first meet her, she uses blood magic to take out a barrier, and if you have Bethany she will say "You just summoned something." Hawke can say, it was a demon, but Merrill says demons are just different types of spirits, indicating she did summon a demon to remove the barrier.
You can try to be good with your blood magic, and it won't truly effect the outcome of the game, or your character. In an RP sense though, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and anyone using blood magic should be wary of demon possession.

[EricHVela]

Samzo77 wrote...

In DA:2, Merrill's blood magic is inherently tied to a demon. You see this throughout her story arc and companion quests, and finally is seen to fruition in the third act.
When you first meet her, she uses blood magic to take out a barrier, and if you have Bethany she will say "You just summoned something." Hawke can say, it was a demon, but Merrill says demons are just different types of spirits, indicating she did summon a demon to remove the barrier.
You can try to be good with your blood magic, and it won't truly effect the outcome of the game, or your character. In an RP sense though, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and anyone using blood magic should be wary of demon possession.

This brings to light an interesting point:
Is it okay to ally with an unrepentant war criminal to accomplish a common goal?

(I see little difference from blood-mage demons to an unrepentant war criminal.)

Modifié par ReggarBlane, 14 juin 2012 - 03:46 .

[Meeeps]

I guess, using blood magic on the team mates is like friendly fire, it might hurt a bit but it finally gets the victory.

Edit: the bad part is the interaction with deamons, but that can also be done without blood magic as Wyenne and Anders proved. The relation of this is just "bad done" with the DA lore.
Edit2: or well done?

Modifié par Meeeps, 14 juin 2012 - 04:37 .

[Silfren]

Bioware ate my post.  Not inclined to re-type it.  Bah.

Modifié par Silfren, 14 juin 2012 - 05:53 .

[CrimsonZephyr]

No.