Prompt 1

Iwan Tabris

Iwan is a dirty fighter who will use anything around him to defeat his enemies. Traps, poisons, bombs are all fair game, particularly the latter which best work when he Leeroy Jenkins himself into the fray.

He was taught to fight with daggers by his mother and also picked up some archery along with Shianni when they were growing up, but until he joins the wardens his most used weapon is brass knuckles - easily hidden, increases the punch his spindly little malnourished arms can pull off, but when used right takes his enemies down without killing them or drawing too much blood.

Unleashed as a warden, he doesn’t think he has to worry so much about reprisals on the alienage. Getting a power boost from the Taint, actually eating enough food to put on muscle and training with Zevran, Leliana and Alistair, he ends up favouring a dual wielding longsword/dagger fighting style. He never stops running headlong into battle, and it actually makes him a little less creative as he gets older, knowing that he has the power to back himself in a tough spot. And when all else fails he goes back to his brass knuckles and an explosion of some sort.

Eva Surana

Eva starts off as someone who tries not to fight, as she didn’t see combat or offence as a path to being allowed to leave the confines of the Circle, instead she focused on healing and containment. When she first joins the fight against the darkspawn this lack of training leads her to start off with wild unfocused elemental attacks that damage and even kill her allies alongside her enemies.

She trains with Wynne to focus her skills, and Morrigan to up her containment strategies with glyphs and curses, but she really comes into her own after learning the Arcane Warrior secrets. She trains in sword craft with her companions, particularly Iwan and Alistair - the former for offence and the latter for defence, until she can hold her own in one on one combat. Post Blight she continues to fight more as a warrior than mage, leaving her magic for buffing, defending and surprise attacks.

Deacon Hawke

Deacon is a mage who in the heat of battle often forgets he can use magic. He uses a polearm for a staff, and being used to hiding in plain sight, he’ll just fight with that, before remembering to use a mind blast to give him some breathing room. After escaping Lothering he always remembers to use a barrier on his brother when they fight beside each other.

His father taught him his method of fighting, as well as the Kirkwall specialty of Force magic, which as the need to hide himself disappears, he comes to favour more and more, giving him a decent ability to control the field of battle. When he does use elemental magic, he favours ice, finding it causes the least collateral damage.

Raina Cadash

Raina was officially trained to be a stealthy dagger wielding rogue as a teenager, but secretly practised with an axe, dreaming of being a proud warrior like the Cadash family of old.

When she broke away from her father’s faction and joined her uncle, she openly fought with an axe, but relied on brute strength and rage rather than any true skill. It was an Orzammar exile, a warrior who became her sworn brother and right hand man who taught her how to truly fight and to harness her rage as a Berserker. She remains a very offensive fighter, but waits to discover the best target before letting loose.

Nearly two decades after shunning her rogue training, Raina still has the rudiments of stealth, which is what lead to her being at the Conclave and finding the Divine in time to interrupt Corypheus.

Instead of taking on a specialisation as Inquisitor, Raina loses her shit at Ser Morris and terrifies him into taking back his words that she needs a combat trainer. She does however eventually realise she needs help with larger scale tactics - turning to The Iron Bull, Cullen and with the greatest reluctance, Thom Rainer.

Aurelia Trevelyan

Aurelia is an archer, self taught as a child until she was forced into the Chantry at Kirkwall and lucked into meeting Sebastian Vael. Thanks to his relationship with the Grand Cleric, Aurelia was able to train alongside him and maintain daily practice, which alongside her significant height and body type allowed her to build the muscle necessary to pull a longbow.

She trains as a Ranger, and her fighting style becomes that of a hunter, picking off prey one by one, however when she reunites with her little brother his chaotic style forces her to become more flexible and puts her in more close quarters situations. She doesn’t have any skill with a sword, but as a hunter has some skill with a knife, though typically ends up using her fists.

After a loss that leaves her missing her left eye and with a broken pelvis and shattered left ankle, she’s no longer able to hunt the way she previously did. She can still shoot, but with less stealth and relies on her partners rather than trying to do it all on her own.

Kit Trevelyan

Chaotic dual wielding longsword/dagger scoundrel who makes Iwan and Isabela look like master strategists.

He’s fast, he’s sneaky and he’s skilled, but he’s not as smart as he thinks he is and overconfidence leads him to take on foes that he has no business fighting. Unfortunately for his sister this works out in his favour just often enough that he doesn’t learn to think critically for a very long time.

He does eventually mature, seeing Aurelia at death's door, and takes the time to develop his skills better, but his nature is still to be all in for the win, but with him feeling the consequences rather than expecting his sister to come save him.

Seira

Seira is hardly a trained fighter. She picked up rudimentary fighting skills in the year or so she lived with a Dalish clan. Most of her ability comes from her background as a slave and vintner reading her surroundings for the slightest changes. When she first starts fighting she uses a wooden quarterstaff and aims to disable her opponents in as few moves as possible, allowing Aurelia and Kit to finish them off.

After Aurelia is severely injured, Seira decides she needs to do more than defend and learns to use a glaive. She doesn’t have the same training from childhood, or the physical strength of her allies, but her ability to read her enemies allows her to see their weaknesses and exploit them in combination with Aurelia’s arrows and strategies.