Faces of Thedas: Varric

Varric Tethras is many things—friendly rogue, quick wit, teller of tales—yet he’s no scattered, flighty fellow. Those who get to know this dwarf may discover heart behind his wit, a bit of roman-ticism within even his most sordid tales, and a surprising depth of loyalty in his friendship. Despite hardship and pain, Varric can find humor and joy even in the midst of grim combat and heartbreak. Look to him after a bloody battle and you’re likely to find him making a joke about his wounds. (“Dear Varric, please learn to parry. Love, your innards.”)Wherever he goes, Varric makes friends, learns the local stories, and gleans the choicest scuttlebutt. Wherever he goes, his prized and distinctive crossbow, called Bianca, is sure to be at hand. Wherever he goes, he seems to encounter trouble and treasures worth telling tales about later on.Whatever else Varric might seek in life, he is always seeking a new yarn to spin and cohorts worth drinking to. Surely your PCs are worth a toast or two, no?

Mary Kirby TalKs VarricMary Kirby has been writing for the Dragon Age world for six years. When Dragon Age games are being made, major characters like companion NPCs are assigned to specific in-house writers at BioWare whose job it is to create and maintain the voice and vision for those characters through the long development process. Various writers may write lines for characters other than their own during the design and development of plots, conversations, and banter but it is the job of each character’s dedicated shepherd to check over every line and make sure it is consistent with the character. Mary Kirby’s imagination has given voice to fan-favorite characters like Varric Tethras (Dragon Age II) and the Qunari warrior, Sten (Dragon Age: Origins)Kirby is an experienced pen-and-paper roleplaying-game player in addition to being an accomplished game writer. She ran a homebrewed D&D campaign right up until she started working at BioWare. Her first pen-and-paper RPG was Shadowrun. (“I still get a little choked up thinking about Trollish Street Samurai,” she said.)

Faces of Thedas: Varric

“I know everyone in this town worth knowing.”

— Varric, Dragon Age II

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

Thankfully, Kirby was happy to answer a few questions about writing and developing the character of Varric for Dragon Age II:

Green Ronin: What was your inspiration or aim for Varric as a fictional character? How did the Varric we know emerge during the design and production of Dragon Age II?

Mary Kirby: When I first met Varric, he consisted of nothing but the description, “Dwarf who narrates the game.” That was enough to hook me. I loved the meta-fictional angle of writing the guy who’s writing the game’s story. We knew he would be a surface dwarf and we knew he’d be a rogue because we wanted to immediately distinguish him from Oghren. Our lead concept artist, Matt Rhodes, did the initial concepts for Varric in the leather duster with the open shirt and that became the jumping-off point for me in finding his voice and personality. I based him a bit on Ed Bloom from Big Fish—if he’s not outright lying, he is at least telling the story the way it meant to have happened, but is none-theless sort of loveable despite everything.

GR: How much do you need to know about a char-acter before you’re ready to write their dialogue or behavior? Did you create a lot of background lore for Varric?

MK: I am terribly detail oriented and will construct a character’s entire life story up to and including their favorite foods before I write anything, even though absolutely none of that may ever come up in game. For Varric, I invented a whole messy, tragic family history for House Tethras and, of course, the untellable tale of how Bianca got her name…

GR: How did the existing lore of Thedas inform your writing of Varric? Was he built to reinforce or defy some existing ideas about dwarves or rogues?

MK: We had gone to Orzammar in Dragon Age: Origins, but we hadn’t seen much of the surface dwarves. Varric gave me a chance to explore what their culture would be like. He’s very much not a traditional dwarf and that’s sort of the point. From his perspective, tradition is a trap. A source of regret and frustration that’s ruined the lives of people he cares about. He’s a rogue more in the sense of being a con man than a pickpocket. Be careful if he tries to sell you a bridge anywhere.

GR: What does Varric want? Why might he join with (or oppose!) adventurers on quests throughout Thedas?

MK: Varric’s sense of responsibility is his Achilles heel. Everything he does is motivated by a desire to look out for his family or friends (and they all make this as difficult as possible). But he has friends everywhere, on all sides of just about any conflict. So it isn’t that hard for Varric to get roped into just about any adventure on the grounds that someone he plays Wicked Grace with asked him to participate, just this once, and it’s really important…

GR: Any advice for players and GMs trying to get into character as Varric? Any guidance on his style, methods, or demeanor?

MK: Varric doesn’t use very formal language. He’s always among friends, it’s just that sometimes they don’t know they’re his friends yet. He’s a showman. He’s always in control, charismatic, confident, even if he doesn’t feel it. Varric tends to avoid direct confronta-tion whenever he can. Hate the Merchants Guild? Hide from them. Family problems? Just stay at the Hanged Man and don’t go home. But his sense of responsi-bility will always drag him back to eventually deal with whatever he’s been ignoring or hiding from. He’ll always talk his way out of trouble given the chance and resort to Bianca only when necessary.

Spoiler Warning

Spoilers ahead! This Faces of Thedas entry doesn’t reveal every secret of Varric’s story—if you’ve played Dragon Age II and its DLC you’ll notice some instances where we’ve chosen to allude rather than define—but it does describe certain twists and revelations that come to light in other Dragon Age media. The Varric who appears in your Dragon Age RPG campaign may differ from the Varric we meet in, say, comics like The Silent Grove. Your RPG campaign’s Varric might make different choices during Dragon Age II’s period of history than you made in your most recent play through that game. We’ve chosen to minimize some spoilers by leaving some stories to be told in their own media but, still, beware of spoilers within.

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

bacKgroundHouse Tethras earned its exile from the great dwarf city of Orzammar by fixing the outcomes of otherwise honor-able Provings. Of course, it takes more than a rigged bet to ensure the outcome of a Proving—at least some combat-ants must have been in on the action for the fix to work—yet only the once-noble dwarves of House Tethras paid the price for the skullduggery. Some number of dwarven combatants who threw their bouts went undiscovered and unpunished. The theory among some of the nobility was that such combatants either could not truly betray the Proving, because the Ancestors see and influence all on the Proving Ground and so their combats only end as they should, or that crooked combatants would pay some other price, in time, when the Ances-tors decreed.In the meantime, the nobility of the great dwarf city of Orzammar made an example of House Tethras to warn anyone else who would meddle in the cherished tradi-tion of the Proving. The message was simple: Those who would undermine the Proving have no business being dwarves; out with them.Varric was born three years after the family’s exile, into the surface world of the Merchants Guild, where the Ancestors never spoke and the great Paragons of old were the heroes in tall tales told to young dwarves. Varric, then, was raised in the fallout of his family’s crimes, sharing in the punishment for a crime he had no part in. His kin were born as dwarves of the deep and wore their exile with shame but for Varric the world in sight of the sky was no strange outland; it was the normalcy he was born into.Varric’s father, Hallard, was a hard-drinking dwarf, full of vinegar and confidence, as quick to laugh as he was to lash out. His esteem for himself was tempered by his family’s exile but his pride for House Tethras’ wit and ingenuity seemed to never waver. “Living means risking,”

Hallard told his sons, “and setbacks only mean you took a jaunt down one wrong road, not that you’re done.”After Hallard died, Varric’s older brother, Bartrand, took on Hallard’s duties in the Merchants Guild. Bartrand ran the family merchant business, pushing House Tethras ever higher up the social ladder while, behind the scenes, Varric looked after the family and its retainers. Each seemed suited to his position.Lady Ilsa, mother to Bartrand and Varric, did not weather well the trauma of her family’s disgrace. She sought solace in liquor and smoke. Varric strove to curb the worst of her drunken rages, to keep her from becoming a public scandal. He cared for her when her excesses

made her ill. Varric and Bartrand were never exactly close—more like colleagues than brothers.

Varric has come to see the world differ-ently than his family does. The Deep Roads were never home for Varric, they were a legendary and ancient place of stiff nobles and forgotten treasures. They were a place

of risk and opportunity, worth the occa-sional venture, but home was where

the drinks were, where the laughter was, where his friends were.

Yet Varric holds no real grudge against the dwarves below. His

father made a mistake—either in committing the crime or in getting

caught—and the dwarves in power did what dwarves do as a result. Varric isn’t ashamed of who he is or where he is, and why should he be? Varric isn’t the one who did anything wrong.Known, now, throughout the Merchants Guild for the

stories he tells of adventurous exploits (some of them his own), Varric keeps tales of

his family and his history to himself. Varric is happy to earn

renown for telling other people’s stories well, yet he shies away from using his family’s connections for quick coin or favors. Varric earns his own favors, his own friends. Practi-cally everyone who has set foot in Kirkwall’s Hanged Man tavern has

bought Varric a drink at one time or another, to keep the stories

flowing.Varric’s own history is

marbled with stories. For example, he tells a slew of tales about

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

the origins of his famed and fabulous crossbow, called Bianca: He won her in a game of Wicked Grace against Paragon Branka; she was a gift from an old beggar who disappeared into thin air; he bought Bianca off a crooked merchant in Kirkwall’s Lowtown, the previous owner’s hand still wrapped around the trigger; she was delivered to him by a talking gryphon from a far-away land with a promise that she’d be needed one day. Sometimes asking about Bianca simply results in Varric grinning and walking away. The story probably most asked for, perhaps because Varric never tells it? That must be the one about how the beautiful Bianca got her name.

Varric & the Champion of KirkwallIf your campaign sticks to Dragon Age canon, Varric eventually comes to know the Champion of Kirkwall quite well. The dwarf’s fortunes and reputation change forever as a result of their time together. Varric and the Champion explore the Deep Roads together, face danger together, get rich together, and Varric comes to be known in some circles as the Champion’s de-facto biographer.After a falling out between Varric and his brother, Bartrand, during their dangerous expedition into the Deep Roads, Bartrand disappeared. Varric searched for him for a time, seeking some combination of revenge and closure, but with his brother gone, Varric had to take over control of the family’s stake in the local Merchants Guild—at least on paper. Varric seldom attends Guild meetings, is hardly ever seen in the guildhall’s cham-bers for House Tethras, and never answers his mail. He conducts his business from the Hanged Man tavern whenever he’s able.Should Varric ever commit to taking over for Bartrand officially (after Bartrand’s final fate is determined, during one of Varric’s adventures with the Champion of Kirkwall), he hardly embraces the role. Instead, offi-cial records for both Kirkwall and the Guild end up attributing Varric’s duties and decisions to nonexistent aunts, uncles, cousins, and household pets. Varric is busy doing other things.

adVenTures of Varric

“There’s power in stories. That’s all history is: the best tales. The ones that last. Might as well be mine.”

—Varric, Dragon Age II

Varric tells the Champion’s tale with practiced aplomb, yet many who have heard it come to wonder whether the dwarf’s memories—and motives—match the facts as they happened or the history written by organiza-tions like the Seekers or the Circle. Who all has heard Varric’s version of events? Does he tell your campaign’s heroes the same tale? Or does he tell their tales to some other audience of Seekers or mages or templars?Varric’s life can be easily divided into three key eras: before, during, and after the events of Dragon Age II. It can be fun to involve the established history and lore of Thedas into a campaign, weaving new tapestries from some of the same threads. If you and your players are striving to make your Dragon Age campaign reflect and react to the official canon, you can involve Varric in interesting ways. Your campaign can most easily involve Varric before or after the events of that game.Maybe, when your PCs meet him, the dwarf’s a minor figure in Kirkwall and it’s your PCs—experienced from their adventures during the recent Blight in Ferelden—who are telling stories to Varric in exchange for some piece of information he has that pushes your current adventure forward. Now Varric’s retelling the tale of your campaign to date, too, perhaps increasing the fame or notoriety of the PCs for better or worse.Or your PCs might encounter Varric after the final scenes of Dragon Age II, when the dwarf’s responsi-bilities and experience are greater, when the fate of his brother has been settled. Does he help the PCs defeat some foe in the Free Marches? Does he help smuggle some of the characters out of Kirkwall before powerful enemies can find them? Does he offer advice for an upcoming expedition into the Deep Roads and wish them well? Varric knows people; he could be a useful ally for your PCs to know, too.

Spoiler: Bianca’s Maker

Bianca’s true origin—though not the secret of her name—is revealed in Dragon Age II: Legacy. She was built by a clever dwarf craftsman named Gerav (ge-RAHV). Varric described him as a “greedy, brilliant, son-of-a-nug from the Carta.” Gerav’s talent was considerable but he didn’t take so much pride in his handiwork that he bothered to put his mark on the crossbow that would come to be known as Bianca. Though his primary ambi-tion at one time was wealth and he might have found true fortune making weapons, Gerav sadly got involved with an ill-fated Carta cult that drew him away from his work and, eventually, his true faculties. Thus, Gerav won’t be making any more weapons like Bianca.

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

In the 38th year of the Dragon Age (between the disappearance of the Champion of Kirkwall and Varric’s interrogation by the famed Seeker, Cassandra Pentaghast, depicted in Dragon Age II), Varric and the Rivaini pirate, Isabella, embark on a secret mission with King Alistair of Ferelden. That mission takes Varric into Antiva, to a variety of fabled locales, and even deeper into the history and lore of Thedas. (See the comic-book miniseries The Silent Grove for the whole account.) That quest demonstrates Varric’s willingness to face adven-ture and peril for the sake of prized allies—or a good story. He’s a valuable comrade.Alternately, Varric could be an antagonist in your campaign. House Tethras might be rivals for some lucrative dealing with the Merchants Guild in Kirkwall or Varric might know something about the PCs that they don’t want him to tell anyone—a forbidden story of their own. What if your PCs are tasked with getting Varric to tell some story he doesn’t want told? What if someone (like a PC!) wants to take Bianca away?All that said, an era of Varric’s life still remains: What if your story overlaps with that of Dragon Age II?

Rewriting His StoryVarric’s role as the narrator of Dragon Age II creates a potentially fascinating and peculiar relationship between the lore and the facts of Thedas. Whereas other NPCs are easy to integrate in ways that simply define your campaign as part of a playable but unofficial version of events, as described in The Guide to Faces of Thedas, Varric can participate in your stories in several distinctive ways.First, consider the most grandiose ways that your campaign might collide with the story of Dragon Age II. Varric’s role in your campaign might conflict directly with what we see on screen in that game. That’s fine. In your version of events, anything’s possible. Here are just a few ideas:• Varric leaves Kirkwall for another land when he

becomes the PCs’ biographer and follows them on their adventures.

• Varric runs off on some romance and leaves your PCs to fill out the ranks of Bartrand’s Deep Roads expedition.

• Varric embarks on an adventure with Tallis (who might be a PC in your campaign) and gets himself killed in battle against some Antivan Crows, spurring your PCs to get revenge.

• Varric rounds up a party of adventurers and returns to Orzammar, not to clear the Tethras name, but to get its treacherous cohorts in the fixing scandal exiled as well.

Alternately, your campaign might strive to adapt the Dragon Age II tale in a new way. Maybe your campaign’s

PCs take on the role of the Champions of Kirkwall and fulfill or change that story, with Varric still in place as their chronicler?The most complex ways to involve Varric in your campaign (and put your PCs into the action of Dragon Age II, in a fashion) may be the most intriguing. Take advantage of the unexplored years in Varric’s telling of the tale and craft stories of your own set therein. Between the years 9:30 Dragon and 9:40 Dragon, weeks, months, and whole years of adventure may unfold that involve Varric and your PCs but not the Champion (and so don’t come up when Varric recites the Champi-on’s tale to the Seeker, Cassandra Pentaghast, in Dragon Age II). Thus your characters are in step with Thedas lore, they’re just not on-topic during Varric’s retelling of Dragon Age II. Finally, consider this subtler option: Your PCs play some secret, vital role not only in Varric’s life but in the story of Dragon Age II—a role so secret, so controversial or dangerous, that Varric doesn’t dare include it in his retelling to the Seeker. Maybe Varric knows the PCs’ true role in the tale but doesn’t share it or maybe he’s not the authority he seems to be. (Could your PCs be in league with the Champion or the Chantry or the Circle or the Qunari without Varric knowing it?) If Varric is an unreliable narrator, and his whole version of the story of Dragon Age II is suspect, then your campaign’s players have lots of room to play without necessarily defying or rewriting the lore of the game world. You could interpret the scenes between Varric and Cassandra Pentaghast in Dragon Age II to be true for your campaign and leave everything else open to doubt. The PCs can embark on adventures throughout Kirkwall and just say Varric got it wrong… or claim he was protecting them from Seeker Pentaghast.

Varric & TheMeWhen involving Varric in your ongoing campaign, consider the themes he brings into play with him. If Varric appears in a simple cameo or background role, he might not make a thematic impact on your campaign. If he plays a more important part, however, you can help maximize his effect and make him feel more like Varric by drawing on his themes.Varric’s family is important to him, more important than he might admit. Depending on how much you want to tinker with his lore for your campaign, Varric’s relation-ship with Bartrand might be accounted for by Dragon Age II. But House Tethras consists of more than just Varric’s immediate family. A dwarf PC in your campaign could be a cousin, aunt, or uncle of Varric’s, either part of House Tethras itself or perhaps just removed from the house enough to escape exile. That creates a meaty rela-tionship with Varric that could be fun to play out. Alter-nately, dwarves among your PCs or established NPCs

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could have had their Provings fixed by House Tethras all those years ago and have their social standing ques-tioned by other dwarves as a result.The most prominent and effective theme of Varric’s must be about truth and tales. Wherever Varric goes, he is either gathering or telling stories. You could make one adventure in your campaign into Varric’s version of your PCs’ exploits, which he’s telling to someone (a nobody or a rival?) in the Hanged Man. How did he come by your characters’ story? How much do you and the other players decide it varies from what really happened? Is Varric telling this story to celebrate the PCs or to throw off a listener who might be chasing them?Along with any question of truth and narrative comes a dose of mystery. Varric knows very well that the story that’s held back is the story everyone most wants to hear. Maybe Varric knows a story that’ll reveal the location of a treasure the PCs seek and the only way to make him talk is to share stories from their own past—so each player gets to cook up and tell a tale (true or false) of their character’s history. The PCs are still the protagonists of your campaign, after all, so make it about them.

rPg gaMe sTaTsThe following versions of Varric were built using the character-creation rules for PCs. In this case, we gave him the surface dwarf background, though keep in mind that’s not the background shared by some of his kin. Varric’s history begins outside Orzammar, but some of his family remember that place clearly. A lot of what makes Varric distinct is his personal style, which doesn’t change much even as he grows more experi-enced. To that end, we include game stats for equip-ment that Varric is likely to use throughout his career: his distinctive overcoat, the tavern he calls home, and, of course, Bianca.

Home Courts & the Contacts TalentThe Contacts talent has great value whether your char-acter travels throughout Thedas or dwells in a single spot as a champion or defender of that place. The game rules for the Contacts talent work well for characters of both sorts, as written. To represent the difference between a character who is at home, surrounded by a network of familiar contacts, cohorts, and allies, the GM simply sets the target number to reflect circum-stances—lower for a friendlier or more familiar venue, higher for an unfamiliar or less welcoming place.Varric, for example, gets the most use out of his Contacts talent in the Free Marches. Likewise, he finds it easier to make connections in Kirkwall than elsewhere in the Free Marches and he finds it easiest of all to secure favors and friendship on his home turf in the Hanged Man tavern in Kirkwall. It’s not necessary to set default target numbers for these venues, though, since the specific NPC being approached and the favor being sought are such impor-tant factors, too, but the GM and a player can work together to define a character’s “home-court” advan-tages. Still, default target numbers do help create the sense of familiarity that a character might have at home. If your campaign is set largely in one place, consider making a list of venues with associated default target numbers so a PC with the Contacts talent feels the difference between his own home court and someone else’s home court.Here’s a simple option. Define three “strata” of famil-iarity: the national (TN 15), the local (TN 13), and the favored venue (TN 11). Select a character’s strata when the Contacts talent is first bought. For Varric, for example, the national stratum is the Free Marches. His local stratum is the city-state of Kirkwall. His favored venue is the Hanged Man tavern in Kirkwall.Each additional degree in the Contacts talent also lowers the default TN for one stratum of the player’s choice by one point. For example, when Varric earns the

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

Journeyman degree in Contacts, he lowers the default TN for the Hanged Man by one point, from TN 11 to TN 10. When he earns the Master degree in the talent, he could lower the default TN of the Hanged Man again (from TN 10 to TN 9) or he could lower the TN for all of Kirkwall or the Free Marches by one. The character thereby either cultivates a sprawling reputation or hones a local network.Modify the default TN for individual tests to reflect the unique relationship between the PC and the NPC based on what they each think or want. Varric, for example, might find it easy to discover that he and a dwarf of the Deep Roads have acquaintances in common (lowering the TN of the first Contacts roll) while also learning that the Deep Roads dwarf regards Varric as a disgraced nobody (increasing the TN of the second Contacts roll). Likewise, if the PC with Contacts shares certain focuses in common with an NPC—like Cultural Lore or Musical Lore, maybe—and that works into the conversation somehow, that might help the two characters discover mutual friends or colleagues. This is why Contacts require two rolls—

it’s one thing to be recognized and another thing to be trusted or liked.Even using these options, the specific details of each NPC can trump things like the home-court advantage. This is as it should be. On the one hand, bringing a little-known NPC to a favorite venue where the PC is trusted and popular can cast the PC in a good light. On the other hand, no number of bawdy tales and back patting may easily prepare certain NPCs to risk their lives, even for a persuasive PC with degrees in the Contacts talent.When setting the TN for a Communication (Persua-sion) test to earn favors, consider the NPC’s unique circumstances, personality, and ambitions. Asking a low-level rogue one hardly knows to risk his life may be more difficult than asking an experienced and well-equipped mercenary warrior to risk hers—the rogue may be skittish while the warrior might hardly blink

VaRRiC LeVeL 1 Rogue

Varric’s starting statistics.

abilities (Focuses)3 communication* (bargaining, Persuasion)1 constitution

3 cunning

3 Dexterity*0 magic

2 PercePtion*1 strength

1 WillPoWer

Combat Ratings

speed HealtH defense aRmoR Rating

11 30 13 3attaCks

Weapon attaCk Roll damage

crossboW (bianca) +4 2D6+3bayonet (bianca) +4 1D6+2

PoWers

favoRed stunts: Bon Mot and Lightning Attack. Class poWeRs: Backstab and Rogue’s Armor.talents: Contacts (Novice). Weapon gRoups: Bows, Brawling, Light Blades, and Staves.

equiPment

bianca anD light leather Duster

VaRRiC LeVeL 5 Rogue

Varric’s exPerienceD statistics.

abilities (Focuses)4 communication* (bargaining, DecePtion,

Persuasion)2 constitution (Drinking)3 cunning (eValuation)4 Dexterity* (boWs)0 magic

2 PercePtion*1 strength

2 WillPoWer

Combat Ratings

speed HealtH defense aRmoR Rating

12 50 14 4attaCks

Weapon attaCk Roll damage

crossboW (bianca) +7 2D6+4bayonet (bianca) +5 1D6+2

Dagger +4 1D6+2PoWers

favoRed stunts: Bon Mot, Lightning Attack, and Pierce Armor (1 SP)Class poWeRs: Backstab, Bluff, Rogue’s Armortalents: Archery Style (Journeyman with Bianca), Con-tacts (Journeyman) Weapon gRoups: Bows, Brawling, Light Blades, and Staves.

equiPment

bianca, Dagger, anD tailoreD leather Duster

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

at risking her life again. Alternately, a low-level rogue might think himself great and hardy, with the folly of youth, while the battle-worn warrior might pick her allies more carefully after years of combat. Individual circumstances are vital.For a quick guideline for determining the TN for favors, you might add an NPC’s Willpower (+2 for the Self-Discipline focus if the NPC is resistant to the favor) to the default target number to get an estimate for the final TN. Modify that TN up or down, then, based on the circumstances. Consider the NPC’s previous deal-ings with the PC. Maybe the PC has risked his life for the NPC in the past? Maybe this favor specifically hurts someone the NPC hates? Rather than assigning a bonus or penalty value for every possible detail, consider the TN scale as a whole. How do all the details interact, from the NPC’s motives to the PC’s home-court advan-tage on out.Finally, be flexible. Reward PCs that cultivate rela-tionships over multiple scenes or adventures. A failed Contacts roll might mean two characters have no common history, it might mean an NPC turns down a request for a favor, but circumstances can change. Remember, that Master degree of Contacts doesn’t call for a roll—it’s up to the NPC to decide when her opinion of the PC changes. Actions, sometimes, speak louder than Communication (Persuasion).

The Hanged Man: a Masterwork TavernAnything that can be made can be made masterfully, so why not a masterwork tavern? (Masterworks are described in detail starting on p. 34 of Set 2’s Game-master’s Guide.)The Hanged Man, in the Lowtown district of the port city of Kirkwall, is not a handsome place, it sports no superior craftsmanship or materials, and it is not well known beyond the region. What makes it a master-work is a delicate combination of happenstance and history. Enough of Kirkwall has been milling about in the Hanged Man for so long that it has been sharpened, in a sense, to a fine edge. Taverns, like fine wines, some-times get better with age.As it passed from one owner to another, over the years, the Hanged Man evolved into a place that serves a variety of clientele in a variety of ways. The scum and the villains who frequent the place in search of clandes-tine contacts and shady dealings are kept in check by the city watch who sometimes drink away their off-duty hours there. Travelers in search of stories can mingle by the bar while locals looking for privacy huddle around private tables. Whether it’s for illicit schemes, budding romance, or a brief bar fight, the Hanged Man brings people together.In game terms, the Hanged Man grants a +2 bonus to the first Communication test each PC makes in a scene set there, provided the character has at least a

Signature items For oTher Characters

As a GM, creating a signature item is easy. Instead of awarding the PCs with more masterwork or superior weaponry over time, “upgrade” their existing gear by replacing its game stats with similar but better stats while leaving the item cosmetically the same. This might happen on a predetermined schedule (which the GM isn’t obligated to reveal to a player), like Bianca’s, or it might happen whenever the GM would otherwise award a new item during play. The object doesn’t have to be a part of the character’s arsenal at the start of the campaign, either—players might grow attached to an item found during their journeys and want to see that upgraded rather than replaced. That’s fine.This process is most logical if the object in question begins play as a masterwork or superior item but that’s not your only option. Swords can be reforged by master craftspeople. Armor can be patched or reinforced with superior materials. Here are a few simple explanations for how or why an item might “upgrade” over time, rather than being replaced outright:• The item “always had” a threshold of benefit (see p. 35 of the Set 2 Gamemaster Guide) that the character

just didn’t meet before. As the character gets to know the item, she gets more and more adept at tapping its strengths.

• The item’s masterwork background is discovered or revealed when the item is recognized by a wise scholar or historian. (“Why, that’s the great Blade of Woe, wielded with honor during the Fourth Blight!”)

• The item touches a source of great magic, some thin part of the Veil, or is even briefly contacted by a spirit from the Fade, thereby leaving it “altered.”

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

threshold of 3 for the roll (see p. 35 of Set 2’s Game-master’s Guide). Characters who can’t carry them-selves well don’t know how to make the most of the tavern’s ambience.

Varric’s Leather DusterOne of Varric’s most distinctive features is his ward-robe. He and his fine leather duster with oversized belt are recognized throughout Kirkwall. Over time, even if Varric’s fortunes improve, he is unlikely to replace his coat and more likely to improve it. For other char-acters of a similar bent, here are game stats for the coat, including a couple of improvements made over time. Use these as models for similar character-specific items in your own campaign.The Light Leather Duster is a stylish expression of light leather armor.The Tailored Leather Duster is a masterwork of heavy leather armor, with shining silverite buckles, custom tailored for Varric by a master craftsperson. When worn by anyone except the character for whom it was

tailored, it has the usual Armor Penalty of –1. (Other tailored leather masterworks can be made by master craftspeople at the GM’s discretion at a cost of 150% or more of normal.)The addition of a custom-made Lining with Concealed Pockets costs about 25 sp (in Kirkwall) and grants the wearer a +1 bonus to Dexterity (Legerdemain) tests, since it grants a place to hide coins and cards and the like.

Bianca

“There was a girl, and I made a promise. Bianca is the only story I can never tell.”

—Varric, Dragon Age II

Varric’s crossbow is a marvel of dwarven craftsman-ship, clearly the work of a master. The device sports a spring-loaded bayonet that deploys with the touch of a switch and a multiple-bolt loading mechanism that prepares ammunition for firing with remarkable ease. However, she bears no smith’s mark. (Some say a dwarven smith that Varric once knew wanted to create

Varric’s Leather DusteraRmoR aRmoR Rating aRmoR penalty Cost effeCts

Light Leather Duster 3 0 15 sp –Tailored Leather Duster 4 0 +45 sp –

Lining with Concealed Pockets – – +25 sp +1 to Dexterity (Legerdemain) tests

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Faces of Thedas: Varric

Faces of Thedas: Varric is copyright © 2012 Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

Reference to other copyrighted material in no way constitutes a challenge to the respective

copyright holders of that material.

© 2011 Electronic Arts Inc. EA and EA logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. BioWare,

BioWare logo, and Dragon Age are trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Green Ronin, Adventure Game Engine, and their associated logos are trademarks of Green Ronin Publishing.

gReen Ronin publisHing

3815 S. Othello St. Suite 100, #304 Seattle, WA 98118Email: custserv@greenronin.com Web Site: greenronin.com

WRiting and devlopment: Will HindmaRCH editing: evan sass

gRapHiC design: Hal mangold

inteRioR aRt: matt RHodes, Ramil sunga, and niCk tHoRnboRRoW

dRagon age Rpg design: CHRis pRamas

publisHeR: CHRis pRamas

gReen Ronin staff: bill bodden, Joe CaRRikeR, Will HindmaRCH, steve kenson, Jon leitHeusseR, niCole lindRoos, Hal mangold, CHRis pRamas, evan sass, and maRC sCHmalz

speCial tHanks to maRy kiRby, mike laidlaW, and mattHeW goldman

a repeating crossbow design but only one of the devices functioned properly and Varric calls that device Bianca.)Bianca’s stats and various effects over time appear on the nearby table. Each level’s stats replaces those of the previous level. Notice, for example, that Bianca’s range and base damage increase over time, as does the bonus she grants to attack rolls. Level effects are based on the level of the character wielding Bianca; she does not

earn or require XP of her own. Treat Bianca’s bayonet as a dagger that gains the crossbow’s bonus to attack rolls and does not require an extra hand to wield.Reload Note: Bianca requires only a minor action to reload in anyone’s hands but in the hands of an Archery Style journeyman or better (including a wielder enjoying a bonus degree in the style from Bianca), reloading requires only a free action.

Credits

Bianca Level Progression and effectslevel damage sHoRt Range long Range min. stR Reload speCial effeCts

1 2d6+1 38 yards 75 yards 1 Minor action Attack +15 2d6+2 38 yards 75 yards 1 Minor action Bonus Archery Style degree,

attack +110 2d6+3 38 yards 75 yards 1 Minor action Bonus Archery Style degree,

attack +215 2d6+4 45 yards 85 yards 1 Minor action Bonus Archery Style degree,

attack +3

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