#and specifically the ones with a projectile like arcane bolt and stone fist

[crossdressingdeath]

Someone explain to me why trying to play DAO at max graphics settings makes all projectile-based spells lag out so badly they basically stop working. What sense does this make, Bioware.

[electricghoti]

On the Viability of Unarmed Combat in Dragon Age

In the RPG genre, the skill of unarmed fighting (also known as hand-to-hand) is very common in game settings representing a fantasy medieval universe. Unarmed combat is most often represented without weapons of any kind, however in some games such as the DnD based Neverwinter Nights, unarmed combat is also represented by close combat weapons such as clubs, kamas, and daggers. While in reality, an unarmed combatant has such a disadvantage against an armed opponent that there is no contest of the outcome. Fantasy magic settings such as DnD, Elderscrolls and Warcraft allow for unarmed combat to equal armed combat by way of magic. 

DnD monks use an internal form of magic energy called ki which allows them to power attacks with the equivalent strength of a sword, or block with the strength of a shield without breaking bones. Ki allows a monk to be "centered" as long as they do not hold weapons other than close combat weapons, and this balance also increases their overall movement speed and allows them to heal themselves a limited number of times per DnD "day."

While Dragon Age is not directly related to DnD, I believe the magic in the Dragon Age universe allows for very similar types of abilities that can be applied from the DnD monk to make it a reasonable addition to the existing mage specializations. Unarmed fighting does not simply mean punching and kicking an opponent. Traditional unarmed combat also focuses on wrestling, grappling, and redirecting movement to disable a person. Spells already exist to disable opponents from a distance. In fact, many existing Circle spells exist that can be applied in close combat and would enhance an unarmed fighter's chances to win against armed opponents.

Passive Spells

Telekinetic Weapons - While this mode is active, the caster enchants the party's melee weapons with telekinetic energy that increases armor penetration.

Found in the Spirit tree of Dragon Age Origins, telekinetic weapons essentially add extra force to a weapon or fist strike. A glove with metal or lyrium laced knuckle protection or even a simple dagger would have enhanced power to potentially dent heavy armor at the joints to limit mobility, punch through leather armor, or knock off helmets to leave a person's head exposed.

Flaming/Frost Weapons - The caster enchants the party's melee weapons with frost or fire energy to deal extra elemental damage with each attack.

These spells are also found in Dragon Age Origins, and also Dragon Age 2 as a combined Elemental Weapons sustained spell. Cold and fire damage in an RPG means frostburns, flash freezing, burns, and clothing being set on fire in a more "realistic" capacity. A mage monk grappling an opponent with Frost Weapons active can cool someone down to hypothermia. A mage monk grappling with Flaming Weapons will cook a person inside a suit of armor, or overheat them to the point of heat stroke.

Rock Armor - The caster's skin becomes as hard as stone, granting a bonus to armor for as long as this mode is active.

Fade Shield - You draw back the energy released by your enemies in your attacks against them. Any successful attack strengthens your barrier.

Arcane Shield/Barrier - The caster generates protective sheath that helps divert incoming attacks, gaining a bonus to defense while this mode is active.

These three spells are the primary damage diverting skills available in the games, with Arcane Shield changing to Barrier in Inquisition. Rock armor directly modifies the skin of a person, while Barrier is a tangible field of energy that surrounds an entire person. For a street fight Rock Armor would be the most stealthy of the two, whereas a Barrier helps more in multi-opponent or potential friendly fire situations. 

With the addition of the Fade Shield passive, a Barrier could protect a mage monk from harm as long as they put in the energy to continuously attack. This particular passive is one of the biggest reasons a Knight Enchanter is seen as "easy mode" or overpowered in Inquisition. A person that continuously attacks, even if the attack does very little damage, prevents total harm via magic Fade energy.

Haste - While this mode is active, the caster imbues the party with speed, allowing them to move and attack significantly faster, although the spell also imposes a small penalty to attack.

This spell (also seen in DA2 and Inquisition) gives an advantage to both the true unarmed, and the dagger fighter by using speed to potentially bypass the reach of a pole weapon, and the arming time of a bow user. As this appears as a high level spell in all three games (requiring Focus and a specialization in Inquisition), only those with a high enough willpower or strong connection to the Fade have the ability to use Haste. This means despite its great advantage, a mage monk presented in the game will most likely rely on barriers or Rock Armor for protection until they are able to train enough to focus on a Haste spell in combat.

These are only a few notable examples of spells that would be available to a Circle trained mage wanting to put into practice close combat magic. The Primal and Spirit schools (which are the most popular) house most of the spells, while the Knight Enchanter class from Inquisition has many passives that benefit a close combat fighter. The latter is with good reason, as Knight Enchanters are meant to be melee and support fighters and are the closest representative Dragon Age currently has to the mage monk.

Active Spells

While all existing mage spells can be cast at range, several spells can be extremely useful in close combat due to their range, short preparation time, and/or overall effects.

Winter's Grasp - You lock a target in ice, freezing it in place. // The caster envelops the target in frost, freezing lower-level targets solid. Those that resist suffer a penalty to movement speed.

Fade Step - You let invisible waves of magic carry you forward, blurring ahead a short distance.

Lightning - You summon a bolt of lightning that blasts and paralyzes a single target. // The caster fires a bolt of lightning at a target, dealing electricity damage.

Flashfire - You ignire an enemy in searing pain and send them fleeing in panic.

Flame Blast - The caster's hands erupt with a cone of flame, inflicting fire damage on all targets in the area for a short time.

Cone of Cold - The caster's hands erupt with a cone of frost, freezing targets solid unless they pass a physical resistance check, and slowing their movement otherwise.

Shock - The caster's hands erupt, emitting a cone of lightning, damaging all targets in the area.

All of the above spells are available in the Primal school of magic. The cone spells specifically are only able to hit enemies within a short range as they are emitted directly from the caster's hands. In a close quarters situation such as an ally or other choke point, cone spells are best for disabling or slowing down several opponents at once. Winter's Grasp and Lightning primarily hit a single target, although anyone standing close by can also suffer additional effects such as slowed movement speed or paralysis. 

Along with traditional martial art and unarmed techniques, these spells can disable or slow enemies to level the playing field for an unarmed person. The Primal school of magic is the most popular school for Circle students to specialize in, and is the easiest one to master. For a Circle trained mage, these spells would be easiest to adapt into a melee unarmed fighting style.

Mind Blast - The caster projects a wave of telekinetic force that stuns enemies caught in the sphere.

Dispel Magic - The caster removes all dispellable effects from the target.

Mana Clash - The caster expels a large amount of mana in direct opposition to enemy spellcasters, who are completely drained of mana and suffer spirit damage proportional to the amount of mana they lost.

These spells appear in the Spirit tree in Origins, though are spread out to other classes in Inquisition. The school of Spirit focuses on the manipulation of the Fade, and therefore has the most affect against enemy mages. A mage monk who is in combat with another mage should seek to counter by either interrupting their spellcasting with physical force, or first disabling them with specific spells. Mind Blast can obviously be used  against non-mage enemies. 

Mana Clash is a high tier spell that would require high levels of willpower and skill to cast, especially if the end of a fight is not in sight. While Mana Clash mechanically is very effective on its own, when combined with a proper grapple or physical interruption, it can be used to subdue or outright kill other mages that would otherwise give a huge advantage to an enemy faction.

Fist of the Maker/ Veilstrike - The mage slams enemies into the ground with incredible power, against which armor is no protection. // You recreate your own fist from the essence of the Fade and smash nearby foes to the ground.

Telekinetic Burst - The mage summons a wave of telekinetic force that hurtles enemies away from the core of the blast.

Stonefist - You summon a boulder from the Fade and smash it into your target, sending them flying. // The caster hurls a stone projectile that knocks down the target.

The first two spells were introduced in DA2 with the Force Mage specialization. Stonefist was first in the Primal tree of Origins, and later moved to the Rift Mage specialization in Inquisition. All three spells manipulate magic presented in a physical way as telekinesis, or a rock in the case of Stonefist. Waves of force similar to Mind Blast, but much more focused and disciplined than other schools or specializations. While DA2 didn't have the Arcane Warrior, Force Mages were the closest melee specialization the game had. Force Mages (a Kirkwall specialty) have the capability to become nearly immune to knockdown effects from physical or elemental forces. 

Combined with their kinetic prowess, these spells would allow a mage monk to control the battlefield more directly than elemental spells. Larger groups of enemies can be flung around or knocked down with these spells than other types of close combat spells, which means that for a short time a single mage monk could distract or hurt many enemies at once. 

Unique Spell

Spirit Blade - You create a blade of solid magic to make melee attacks against nearby enemies, bypassing their guard and barriers.

That's it. That's the unique spell. I mention this particular spell because it can be adapted for many styles of combat other than straight up swording. While our characters are limited specifically to the sword, the blade itself is a manifestation of a spirit that has agreed to fight for our mage characters. The required crafted item before learning Knight Enchanter skills is a hilt that will house the spirit. 

From the Way of the Knight Enchanter text: Knight-Enchanters learn to manifest their will as a physical blade, but first they craft a hilt. It must be as sturdy and powerful, for within is bound a willing spirit that will weave mana into a blade that can wink in and out of existence and never break.

This text implies that a mage could manifest this spirit as whatever weapon they choose as long as there is an appropriate physical piece for the spirit to be bound in. A hilt for a sword, handle for a shield, a length of wood for a club, or even a glove for brass knuckles if you want to get really inventive. The spirit is willing and the shape of the weapon is a manifestation of the mage's willpower. 

A mage monk still has the ability to fight well even if disarmed of a physical weapon. This also presents unique opportunities for mage monks to use an opponents confidence against them after being disarmed. Mage monks could also have the capability to be passable assassins due to not needing to rely on concealing a physical dagger, or a bard for similar reasons.

The spirit blade also has the unique ability to bypass most armor, even plate due to its very nature. Spirit damage bypasses 50% of an enemy's armor value in Inquisition, and very few creatures are resistant to spirit damage. Unlike flame and frost, it is more difficult to create enchantments to resist spirit. Barriers are also ineffective against a spirit blade.

Spellcasting in Thedas

Casting spells in the Dragon Age universe requires a certain amount of personal willpower and a strong connection to the Fade. Some mages do not have a very strong connection to the Fade, and even will strong willpower cannot cast anything stronger than sparks (such as Minaeve from Inquisition). Some mages have a very strong connection to the Fade and are able to cast very demanding spells, or many spells in a short amount of time (potentially mage Wardens, Hawkes, and Inquisitors).

Wynne and other NPCs imply that spellcasting is a delicate art that requires precise hand movements or words of power to manipulate magic and any deviation could have dangerous results. Circle mage spellcasting seems to heavily rely on mnemonic movements or phrases that are learned as apprentices training to become full mages in order to reliably and safely harness the desired magical effect. 

Mnemonics in the real world are mostly phrases or acronyms to assist in memorization of a concept, e.g. PEMDAS in elementary mathematics. Muscle memory is a physical mnemonic device. Learning the timing of a specific boss attack in a WoW raid, or learning the proper way to shoot a basketball into a hoop. A spellcasting mnemonic can theoretically be applied to physical movements more related to combat, or limited to small and quick hand gestures that can be done in a very small space. 

While using the mnemonic isn't strictly necessary to spellcasting once a mage is used to the feel of the magic "pathways" they use, it can still be usefully applied to physical combat techniques in a similar way to Benders in the Avatar universe. A Fire Bender can simply summon fire in their hand, but in combat there is additional strength to be gained in fighting with the particular martial art style that compliments the element used. In the same way, an apprentice mage is taught methods and mnemonics to assist in summoning magic in a controllable way that will make it easier and more familiar the more experience an apprentice gains. Over time the apprentice gains the experience and knowledge to just concentrate and summon a ball of flame in their hand because they don't need to go through the entire PEMDAS method, they can simply skip to AS in that situation.

Hedge Mages

Hedge mages are mages that learn to harness magic outside of Circle teachings. They are similar to apostates in that they live outside Chantry law due to not being in a Circle, however unlike mages escaping from a Circle, they have never learned Circle magic. Hedge mages include Avvar shamans such as the one from the Jaws of Hakkon DLC, Morrigan, Saarebas, and Rivaini Seers.

Hedge magic is potentially wild and dangerous, but also very powerful because magic can be harnessed and used in unexpected ways. Shapeshifting, in fact, is based on hedge magic used by some barbarian tribes. Hedge mages are especially unique in that they do not have the ability to perform spells that Circle mages can. They learn to use and call on magic in such a specific way that the ability to learn to perform Circle magic is stunted to impossibility. 

I mention hedge mages because it is possible for them to perform magic that is similar to Circle magic, yet has different effects than expected. I also mention hedge magic because it is also likely that a mage who has never been to the Circle and lives as a thug or mercenary could inadvertently learn to channel magic through force of will and physical action rather than the more esoteric study of Circles. Barbarian tribes such as the Avvar do not cloister their mages and it could be possible for a person of the Clayne or Chasind to learn to supplement physical fighting with magic. 

While Bioware has chosen to forego the monk class in the Dragon Age games, I believe there can be the possibility for the mage monk to exist in fanfiction as a legitimate fork to the existing mage class and specializations due to the existence of magic in and of itself. The Dragon Age universe presents magic much more simply than other settings, yet there is still a great deal of flexibility that could allow for a mage to be trained in lethal and non-lethal combat techniques and incorporate existing in-game spells to supplement the physical aspect the combat. The Arcane Warrior and Knight Enchanter are already melee oriented mages, which sets a precedent for unarmed mages to follow with the use of both hand to hand weapons such as a dagger or club, or even completely unarmed fighting if heavily supplemented with proper spellcasting to minimize or remove the advantage an armed fighter has. 

I appreciate any additional insight or questions that could both add credibility to this meta theory or prove that it is too unrealistic or lore-unfriendly for this setting.

Primary information collected from the Dragon Age Wiki:

Creation Spells

Primal Spells

Spirit Spells

School of Magic: Spirit

School of Magic: Primal

Way of the Knight Enchanter

Spirit Blade

Force Mage

Hedge Magic

Mages and Magic

Inquisition Abilities

Arcane Warrior

Knight-Enchanter

Shapeshifter

Mana and the Use of Magic

Cardinal Rules of Magic