Honestly, I thought the Cullen choice for the bard thing was the most sensible one.
It comes down to 'Someone was spreading rumors about us! Also, she used to pull my hair. I hate her.'
And Leianna wants to cut the person's tongue out? Seriously?
I don't mind Josie's 'Well, we'll have our allies talk nice about us in return' contribution, but I am perfectly alright with Cullen going 'Seriously, we have better things to do.'
Nothing is wrong with your realization, your just now discovering the great truth of life. Cullen is useless. I never use him, and berate him whenever he gives me his "advice." Never use him for War table stuff.
That mission was clearly important to my bard. And the bard is really important to the Inquisition. The fact that both Lels and Josie would go out of their way to help her...and Cullen would go "No. This is ridiculous." I don't understand. He would rather pick up herbs than help the bard? I can't see his logic there (and to be honest, this was the war table mission that prompted me to create this thread.)
Like, is he against bards? Does he not like music? He hangs out at the tavern at times. Does the bard not talk to him, or is she afraid of him? Why won't he want to help her? As mentioned, he has so many resources but he thinks the bard's fights are not important. It honestly bothers me.
Your herbs save lives. Your bard, while important, doesn't need to bring her childish schoolyard fights into the war table.
I also think he was sort of pigeon holed into his roll to be perfectly frank. Josephine is diplomacy, Leliana is subterfuge, what does that logically leave Cullen with? Not very much if I'm going to be honest. He doesn't have even half the diplomatic skills that Josephine has in her little pinky, nor the ability to be stealthy like Leliana and run a major spy network that can go behind enemy lines. All he has is his soldiers, and quite a few of them aren't very skilled given that many are former pilgrims or worshipers who dropped what they were doing for the cause. I get what you mean, he was pretty much my go to 'get these herbs for me' person on the war table, but he's sort of stuck as is - especially since there needed to be a 'no, throw swords at it' sort of response on the War Table so people could role-play accordingly.
I think pigeon holed is a good description of how Cullen was used. Which is a shame, because 'send more troops to stick 'em with swords' isn't the only way to use the manpower.
More than just 'military', Cullen seemed to be the thematic self-reliance advocate: the advisor who would use the brute strength of numbers to solve a variety of problems, including the engineering and public works. If there was a question about a broken bridge to cross a stream, then while Josephine would get some allies to fix the bridge and Leliana would send a few skilled scouts to find a fording site, Cullen would use the inquisition's own soldiers to rebuild it with no need for anyone else.
It's hard to always be creative about how to use numbers (just like all the other advisors could get repetitive), but I think Cullen could have been more flexible in his war table proposals.
Lol Cullen doesn't like playing games like that, he's direct and straightforward. If you need manpower or military strength, choose Cullen. If you need secrets discovered or someone assassinated or blackmailed, send Leliana. If you need to negotiate contracts or use favors or apply political pressure on someone, use Josephine.
Yepper, agree there. Also I've found that you really should read all of the descriptions and pick the best one that fits your outlook and goals as Inquisitor. Sometimes a show of military strength can be effective politically, and Cullen does have occasions where he suggests that.
As for his "This is ridiculous remark," I agree completely. I don't like playing The Game any more than he does, but as the Inquisitor I have to consider it to some degree, and I was happy to have Josephine and Leliana to handle those problems for me.
Sometimes, bludgeoning your way through democracy is the best option.
Okay, finally able to play and here are the results. It was total fail, but Cullen effectively said it was stupid, so he wasn't really going to do anything.
Mission Name: Stop the Rumors
Advisor: Cullen (of course!)
Result (typed in verbatim):
A soldier cares not for a poet's pain.
Just go fall upon your sword, you prat.
Maryden
No reward - other than laughter. And honestly, I don't mind because I agreed with Cullen about Maryden's little mission in this case.
I like that poet's reply. Made Cullen did it as well. What happens if Leliana do it?
My point is that both choices can be supported by decent arguments, so allying with either group is not inherently more or less plausible. It's all about your Inquisitor's personality and beliefs.
However there is no precedent of Templars interacting with the Veil in previous games. I know it is meta to use knowledge outside of the character, but I will argue that in all previous DA titles whenever the Veil needed to be sealed, strengthened or whatever it was always a mission involving demons and mages and never templars. If templars could do it then basically anyone could do it with a big enough supply of lyrium, because you know...magic.
But like he's just so blunt. Aside from the example with the bard he dismissed, what about Dagna's war mission about her dad? Josie was like, no we gonna do a parade type thing in honor of her. Leliana was like, no we're going to be very discreet we put in his house where he will not miss it.
Good ol' Cullen?
Nope. He won't like fanfare. We send it. If he likes it, he likes it.
That's...sorry to be slightly sexist...such a typical guy!
I like his bluntness, it's amusing. That being said, my Inquisitor romancing the guy so you get to see a completely different side to him just through that alone... which makes his bluntness the rest of the time even funnier, because he's a complete softy behind closed doors.
I've actually used him quite a bit, though I had to roll my eyes when he suggested, in the Dalish origin war table mission, that we send a platoon of soldiers to convince the clan that the Inquisitor is not, in fact, an unwilling captive. Because that'll send the right message, mate. :S
I've actually used him quite a bit, though I had to roll my eyes when he suggested, in the Dalish origin war table mission, that we send a platoon of soldiers to convince the clan that the Inquisitor is not, in fact, an unwilling captive. Because that'll send the right message, mate. :S
For the Trevelyan Inquisitor background missions I think Leliana is the worst choice. She basically advises to spread rumors of assassins after them so they'll be busy fretting about themselves instead of the PC. I was like : ''That's my family, you b**ch!''.
Lesson learned:
Trevelyan missions: send Josephine.
Lavellan missions: Send Leliana.
Aadar missions: Send Cullen. (Really. The results are both positive and hilarious)
No idea for Cadash. I would guess Leliana again.
Honestly I liked Cullen's take on a few missions. It's always "We can send soldiers" but he gets somewhat creative in the application of it a few times. Inviting nobles to witness training exercises to show them that they're trained professionals, not savage heretics. Sending a force of soldiers to protect a group of anti-inquisition Grand Clerics, both as a show of good will and intimidation. Things like that.
I've made some foolish mistakes by trying Josephine's route more often than I should have.
Tevinters did not like my "gift" for assisting them with their war against the Qunari. 
yeah, he is obsessed with soldiers, but he is a brilliantly well written character in my opinion, which is a big compliment comming from me, because I hated him in DA2!
I've made some foolish mistakes by trying Josephine's route more often than I should have.
Tevinters did not like my "gift" for assisting them with their war against the Qunari.
All the advisors are really good at what they do, but there are situations where they are hopelessly out of their depth. Asking Cullen to deal with a succession crisis? Ridiculous. Asking Josephine to do any of the Red Jenny quests? Silly. She disapproves of them. 
And Leliana... Well, there are cases where I really want to go 'woah! Take a chill pill, lady!'. But she's a good middle ground for most of the missions.
I use him when I need to bully someone or wave my d*ck around.
Brute force and shows of strength are pretty great if you want to make the Inquisition independent.
I'm usually finding myself less in agreement with Josephine.
Leliana sends spies, scouts, and sometimes mages. Like if it's a quest where a Mage can fix it, Leliana is your woman.What else is he supposed to suggest? Cullen isn't any more prone to sending soldiers than leli is to sending spies or Josie is to sending diplomats.
Leliana sends spies, scouts, and sometimes mages. Like if it's a quest where a Mage can fix it, Leliana is your woman.
The most nuance I've seen from Cullen is Kirkwall. He has a friend in the guard. Finally, not sending in footsoldiers!
So, Leliana is the woman with a specific tool for each job, where as Cullen is the guy with duct tape; one tool that he'll find a creative application for nearly any problem.
If you care, too, there's quite a few times when Cullen will go for the 'moral' choice.
Seb takes over Kirkwall? Josie and Leianna will try and curry favor with him; Cullen's like 'Yeah, I know Aveline, let's kick the ******* out.'
Your herbalist hates someone and is incredibly vague about why they need to be out of the way? Cullen's like 'if you really think it's a threat, we'll get rid of their herbss, but we're not hurting them without an idea why' while Josie will have them imprisoned and Leianna will randomly kill them.
Some jerk noble is angry about all these elves and apostates around dying on his lands? Josie wants nothing to do with it, Leianna will harass them till they go away, and Cullen will have his people send aid to the refugees.
And, yeah, he can be the only choice to save your Dalish Clan depending on how you go around it, so my Dalish inquisitor is certainly in debt to him.
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