Wildlife

Ferelden and Orlais are both teeming with wildlife. Most of these creatures are docile and nonconfrontational—they’re likely to scatter as you and your party approach. These passive animals appear as blue dots on the compass. But some creatures are hostile and will attack when you intrude on their territory—they appear as red dots on the compass. Whether passive or aggressive, all creatures are integral parts of the crafting system. When you slay one of these creatures, it will usually drop at least one piece of crafting material, appearing on the ground as loot. The furs and hides supplied by these creatures allow you to craft better equipment for yourself and party members.

Armored Mabari

Locale: Crestwood, Storm Coast

Level Range: 4-11

Health Modifier: 1.5

Armor: High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects

Crafting Material:

• Canine Leather

“The mabari are an essential part of Fereldan military strategy. Trained hounds can easily pull knights from horseback or break lines of pikemen, and the sight and sound of a wave of wardogs, howling and snarling, has been known to cause panic among even the most hardened infantry soldiers.”

— From Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar

August Ram

Locale: Hissing Wastes, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion

Level Range: 12-15

Health Modifier: 0.25

Armor: Very Low

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• August Ram Leather

“The slender and sleek hide gives the animal the grace of a hart halla. Its curved horns spiral back over delicate ears twitching at the slightest rustle of grass. When startled, speed is the august ram’s only defense against the hunter. It is difficult to sneak up on these shy and wary creatures.”

— An excerpt from the diary of Tillendall Lemallen, noted painter of wildlife and portraits to the Orlesian Court

Bear

Locale: Emerald Graves, The Hinterlands, Storm Coast

Level Range: 8-12

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Bear Hide

“I would’ve liked to watch the little family playing in the stream all day, but the wind changed and the mama bear caught our scent, even with Eldwin working his magic. She leapt in our direction, stopped when she couldn’t see anything, then rose up on her hind legs and roared. What a sight that was! I estimate she was half again as tall as I. Quick as anything, she charged toward us, snapping branches as she went. I dove out of the way, but Eldwin, bless his heart, was too slow. A massive paw caught him right in the chest and he went down. Poor Eldwin. Nature is ruthless but magnificent.”

— An excerpt from the Wilds of Thedas: Volume Two, by Stephan D’Eroin

Black Wolf

Locale: Crestwood, Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion, Exalted Plains

Level Range: 4-19

Health Modifier: 1.5

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Canine Leather

“The scouts report activity uncharacteristic of lupine behavior. The Breach and resulting rifts have caused unprecedented disruptions in the Veil. Such alterations to the environment may account for the unnatural aggression. If this is indeed the case, I cannot yet say how widespread the impact. How many wolves does this environmental imbalance influence? What threat do they pose to resistant members of the pack? The local population? This warrants further investigation.”

— Report submitted to Seeker Pentaghast by Minaeve, mage apprentice and Inquisition researcher

Bronto

Locale: Crestwood, Emerald Graves

Level Range: 16-19

Health Modifier: 2

Armor: Very High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Bronto Hide

“The dwarven Shaperate originally bred this hulking beast as a beast of burden and food source, the rough equivalent of surface oxen and cows. Some versions of the bronto have even been developed as dwarven mounts, valued more for sure-footedness and stamina than speed. While present in Orzammar in large numbers, some brontos still exist in packs in the Deep Roads, having returned to a wild state after the fall of the dwarven kingdoms. They require remarkably little sustenance, absorbing nutrients from water, fungus, and even rocks (hence the “rock-licker” appellation many dwarves use to describe brontos), and exist primarily in a dormant state until provoked. An angry, charging bronto is considered a rather dangerous opponent.”

— From Tales from Beneath the Earth, by Brother Genitivi

Deepstalker

Locale: Crestwood, Storm Coast

Level Range: 8-15

Health Modifier: 0.5

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Deepstalker Hide

“One of the few natural, non-darkspawn creatures to live in the Deep Roads, the deepstalker is a reptilian cave-dweller known for burrowing into the stone paths of the Deep Roads and ambushing prey, usually nugs. They hunt in packs, attacking with round mouths of serrated teeth or spitting poisons from venom glands. Although a single deepstalker poses little threat to any experienced explorer, packs can be lethal.

— From Tales from Beneath the Earth, by Brother Genitivi

Dragonlings

Locale: Emprise du Lion, Hissing Wastes, Storm Coast

Level Range: 8-21

Health Modifier: 1

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Fire

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities:

• Physical Effects

Crafting Material:

• Dragon Blood
• Dragon’s Tooth
• Dragonling Scales

Newly hatched dragons are roughly the size of a deer and voraciously hungry. They live for a short time in their mother’s lair before venturing out on their own. The slender, wingless creatures are born in vast numbers, as only a few survive to adulthood.

Druffalo

Locale: Crestwood, Frostback Mountains, The Hinterlands

Level Range: 1-11

Health Modifier: 2

Armor: Very High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Druffalo Hide

“As I searched for my courage, I heard a crashing through the undergrowth. Bandits, I thought. Or a bear. But instead it was a giant beast, with pelt of blue-gray and gleaming black horns. And riding its muscled back was my Guy. The druffalo was enormous but gentle as a doe. The children called her Bluebell.”

— From a diary found in a refugee tent in the Hinterlands

Fennec

Locale: Crestwood, Hissing Wastes, Hinterlands, Forbidden Oasis, Western Approach

Level Range: 1-15

Health Modifier: 0.15

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Fennec Fur

“I want a fennec. Please, please, please get one for me. I saw a picture in a book that Brigid was carrying for Master Fergal, and it is the fluffiest and most delightful creature I have ever seen. The book says they live in the mountains and eat voles and repulsive things like that.”

— A note from Habren Bryland to her father, Leonas Bryland, arl of South Reach, written in 9:31 Dragon

Giant

Locale: Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion, Forbidden Oasis, Storm Coast, Western Approach

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: Very High

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Fear
• Paralyze
• Freeze
• Sleep
• Weakness
• Snare

Crafting Material: None

“I followed one specimen from the north, where they are somewhat more common (Tevinter breeding grounds? Warmth of the seasons? Corruption of Silent Plains?). It followed waterways, preferring to float its bulk, but never did I see any sense in its eye, and never did it appear to plan beyond its immediate surroundings. But I remain intrigued, for they wave hands, and that means potential to raise them in praise. Throughout creation, upright beings with hands have been a sign of greater purpose. What lesson, Maker, in these strange children? I will approach tomorrow, in your name.”

— Last entry in The Letters of Brother Estomahr

Giant Spider

Locale: Crestwood, Emerald Graves, Hissing Wastes, Hinterlands, Forbidden Oasis, Revenant Church, Storm Coast, Western Approach

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 1

Armor: Very Low

Resistances:

• Electricity

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Giant Spider Glands

“Maybe it’s meant to be that size, and the regular ones are miniatures. I mean, a just and caring Maker would create them big to start. Then they can’t hide. That’s what bothers you, isn’t it? The hiding? A big one like that, a good 12-footer, sure, it’s all fangs and such, but you know where it is: dark places where the Veil is weak. You’re never surprised by a giant one because you had to go to their “house.” They’re not on your face at night or in your boot in the morning...”

— From records of a Redcliffe guard, 14 Guardian 9:39

Great Bear

Locale: Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion

Level Range: 11-19

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Great Bear Hide

“The Orlesian great bear is so named because it is very large. Very large, indeed. Other names for it include the colorful “Old Man of the Forest” and the less-charming, but more clearly descriptive, “Woodsman Death.” I am told that not even the nobility is willing to hunt for them, which makes them unique among the rare, giant, deadly, exotic fauna of Thedas: the only thing the Orlesians are truly afraid of.”

— From In Pursuit of Knowledge: Travels of a Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

Gurgut

Locale: Exalted Plains

Level Range: 12-15

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Fire

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities:

• Physical Effects

Crafting Material:

• Craggy Skin

“I have seen the gurgut basking in a slanted shaft of sunlight in the penumbral canyon, its putrescent tongue scenting the rancid air of the nameless and unnameable swamp, swishing the uncaring grass of the plains with its passage. It is some cousin of the wyvern, but bereft of the savage ferocity for which the latter is praised and hunted by Orlesian nobles. Its thick-lidded eyes stare witlessly, and its jaw hangs agape; it is not befuddled or frustrated by its want of reason, but perfectly content, a drooling idiot. Its pallid belly stretches and distends, disdaining all reason, when it gorges itself upon its prey. I have seen such a lowly beast swallow a chevalier whole, the great and shining warrior taken by surprise in the tall grass, his silverite armor gleaming as the gurgut unhinged its jaw to draw the chevalier in. Across its belly, I saw the kicks and struggles grow frenzied and then still, and the idiot beast settled into a happy torpor. The ruined armor of the noble chevalier lay among the gurgut’s spoor several days later.”

— An excerpt from An Anatomie of Various Terrible Beasts, by Baron Havard-Pierre d’Amortisan

Gurn

Locale: Hissing Wastes, Western Approach

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 2

Armor: Very High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Gurn Hide
• Hardened Gurn Hide (Hardened Gurn)

“We woke to a herd from nowhere, just standing around the camp. And it wasn’t the first time. Getting water at an oasis, humming to myself, poof, there’s one behind me. Talk to another rider for a few minutes, and there’s two, just staring. I think they think talking is weird. Harmless, so long as you don’t treat them like cattle. Maybe farm-raised, but not wild. One time, we figured we’d saddle one. Maybe break it like a horse? Because that hump would bounce arrows real nice. Bad idea. Did not end well for Five-Toe. We used to call him Six-Toe, but not because of his feet. He got the horn something fierce.”

— Excerpts on the Gurn, Voices of Working Caravans, collected by Philliam, a bard

Halla

Locale: The Exalted Plains

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 0.25

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Halla Leather

“The first thing you must understand about the halla is that they are not our servants. They are not our pets. They are our brothers and sisters. Remember that Ghilan’nain, the first halla and mother of them all, was once a huntress of the people. Without the halla, there would be no Dalish. The second thing you must understand about the halla is that you cannot force a halla to do something against her will. I have heard tales of shemlen who come across herds and attempt to capture the halla, using ropes and bridles. Many shemlen have died impaled on horns as a result of this foolishness. Never forget that the halla once bore our knights into battle. The fierce blood of a warrior still runs through her veins and she would sooner fight to the death than demean herself. Like the Dalish, the halla are proud. A halla knows who she is, and will tolerate no being that tells her that she is less.”

— Adara, halla-tender of the Ralaferin clan, to her apprentice

High Dragon

Locale: Crestwood, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion, Exalted Plains, Hissing Wastes, Hinterlands, Storm Coast, Western Approach

Level Range: 13-23

Health Modifier: 36

Armor: Average

Resistances: Varies (see table)

Vulnerabilities: Varies (see table)

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Fear
• Paralyze
• Freeze
• Sleep
• Snare
• Confuse

Crafting Material:

• Intense Dragon Blood
• Dragon’s Tooth
• Dragon Webbing
• Dragon Scales
• Dragon Bone

A fully mature adult female dragon is a high dragon: the great monster of legend, the rarest of all dragonkind. These dragons hollow out massive lairs for themselves, for they need the space to house their harem of drakes as well as their eggs and dragonlings. High dragons are seldom seen. They spend most of their time sleeping and mating, living off prey their drakes bring back. But once every hundred years or so, the high dragon prepares for clutching by emerging from the lair and taking wing. She will fly far and wide, eating hundreds of animals—most often livestock—over the course of a few weeks, leaving smoldering devastation in her wake. She then returns to her lair to lay her eggs and will not again appear in the skies for another century.

Abilities

Armored: Allows a dragon to generate guard.

Berserk: A devastating 40-meter area-of-effect attack utilizing the dragon’s elemental ability.

Cold: The dragon inflicts cold elemental damage; it can be countered by fire.

Electricity: The dragon inflicts electrical elemental damage; it can be countered by spirit.

Fire: The dragon inflicts fire elemental damage; it can be countered by cold.

Matriarch: The dragon summons dragonlings to join the fight.

Red Lyrium: The dragon utilizes red lyrium-based attacks.

High Dragon Attributes

Hyena

Locale: Forbidden Oasis, Western Approach

Level Range: 8-11

Health Modifier: 2

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Canine Leather

“The common hyena is a remarkable predator, flourishing in the harshest of conditions. Packs working in concert have sometimes taken down prey as formidable as a great bear. It’s an incredible sight, but you should keep your distance because one of those beauties took down my bronto in under a minute.”

— From The Wilds of Thedas: Volume Two, by Stephan d’Eroin

Lurker

Locale: Hissing Wastes

Level Range: 16-19

Health Modifier: 1

Armor: High

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Craggy Skin

“You want to hunt lurkers? All right, then there’s a few things you should know. First, they don’t just live in caves. Some of the locals call them ‘cave lurkers,’ but I’ve seen them in the wastelands, in the marshes...really anywhere you think creatures shouldn’t be able to live. Why? Because they eat almost anything and they eat rarely. When they’re not hunting, they curl up in a sort of hibernation to conserve energy. If you can catch them in that state, consider yourself lucky. If not, you’ll need to be on your toes. They’re quiet when they want to be, you see. Hence the ‘lurk’ part of their name. They hunt in packs. They spit poison. In fact, I’ve lost more than one fellow because a group of lurkers descended upon him while he took a piss in the bushes. They surround him, paralyze him, and then tear him to pieces—all without the rest of the camp knowing a single thing was going on, not 20 feet away.”

— From The Most Dangerous Things to Eat, by Pol Ageire Phridee

Mabari

Locale: Hissing Wastes, Hinterlands, Storm Coast

Level Range: 8-11

Health Modifier: 1

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Canine Leather

“Dogs are an essential part of Fereldan culture, and no dog is more prized than the mabari. The breed is as old as myth, said to have been bred from the wolves who served Dane. Prized for their intelligence and loyalty, these dogs are more than mere weapons or status symbols: The hounds choose their masters, pairing with them for life. To be the master of a mabari anywhere in Ferelden is to be recognized instantly as a person of worth.”

— From Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry Scholar

Nug

Locale: Crestwood, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion, Exalted Plains, Frostback Mountains, Hinterlands, Forbidden Oasis, Storm Coast

Level Range: 1-15

Health Modifier: 0.05

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Nugskin

“I was sure before the Blight they were a whole lot more rare. Should ask a Warden about that, if killing archdemons leaves nugs all over. And the poor things don’t seem built for anywhere. I mean, they feed on anything, but they blister in the desert and freeze in the snow, and they’re easier to track than your own arse. Everything eats them (except me, the hands put me off), yet they thrive. Randy bastards outpace every tooth and claw.”

— Excerpt from the private letters of “Captain” Byrne, lap-nug dealer

Phoenix

Locale: The Western Approach

Level Range: 8-11

Health Modifier: 1.5

Armor: Average

Resistances:

• Fire

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Phoenix Scales

“Orlesians believe the phoenix to be a herald of woe, perhaps because the creatures frequent inhospitable places where sane travelers fear to tread. It may also be because they belch a sort of sulfurous gas that reeks of rotten eggs and ancient peat bog, and flocks of the beasts have a pervasive odor of death about them. Orlesians are not always so metaphorical as they like us to believe.”

— From In Pursuit of Knowledge: Travels of a Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi

Poison Spider

Locale: Crestwood, Hissing Wastes, Revenant Church, Western Approach

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 1

Armor: Very Low

Resistances:

• Electricity

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities:

• Poison

Crafting Material:

• Unknown

“A sound from above, then legs, fangs, and poison. I do not know the number—less than my nightmares bear, but still too many. Only quick fires from our Circle apprentice allowed us to retreat. But not all. Several of our numbers were paralyzed in the instant, as must have been the case for many before. When I close my eyes, I see them—new recruits to that silent army, frozen in “praise” of a moving ceiling, waiting to be hollowed.”

— Excepted from We Need Not Demons: Our Dangerous World, A Collection of Natural Horrors and Wonders, edited by Philliam, a bard

Quillback

Locale: Western Approach

Level Range: 8-11

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: High

Resistances:

• Cold

Vulnerabilities:

• Fire

Immunities:

• Physical Effects
• Paralyze
• Freeze

Crafting Material:

• Unknown

“Its hooked beak describes a smile that makes mock of the laws of man and Maker, and in the sagging folds of its rough and squamous hide lies no elegant simplicity. But look upon its dorsal ridge for the proof, if logic be your refuge, for in the ebon spines that jut uncaringly from its back, no man of learning can fail to see the cold and twisted spires of the Black City itself. What Maker would give mock to our ebullient transgressions by marking his domicile into the flesh of this repugnant eater of flesh, this scavenger of wastes and deserts?”

— From An Anatomie of Various Terrible Beasts, by Baron Havard-Pierre D’Amortisan

Ram

Locale: Crestwood, Frostback Mountains, Hinterlands, Skyhold, Storm Coast

Level Range: 1-7

Health Modifier: 0.25

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Ram Leather

“The ram is a marvelous creature. Its wool makes the best lining for winter coats this side of the mountains. The horns and bones can be crushed into powder and mixed with the soil for a healthy crop, or charred and ground into ink powder. The hide makes good cover in a window against the winds. You can burn the dung in a pinch. Melt down its fat for candles. I haven’t even mentioned the meat! With a full-grown ram, you could make stew big enough for a village and have enough left over for a week.”

— Letter from a Fereldan farmer to his son

Snoufleur

Locale: Emprise du Lion, Exalted Plains

Level Range: 8-15

Health Modifier: 0.05

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Snoufleur Fur

“And then going through the Dales, we see one of those long-nosed pigs with the stump legs. It’s just crossing the highway, dragging its stupid belly along the ground, as they do. Bless the Maker and all, but He was deep in His holy golden cups the day He made that thing. Anyway, I turn to Lockey, and I say, “Hey, it’s one of them snufflers.” Marchand starts in with his giggle. Lockey and me, we look at him. “Snuffler!” he says, like he just caught me naked with his lady mother. “Non—tu dois dire ‘snoufleur.’” Because “snuffler” just isn’t fancy enough for Orlee. So I say it like he does: snooooou-fleeeeur. Can’t keep a straight face. Marchand goes red like a virgin with skirts blown up. And good old Lockey, he just shoots the thing with an arrow while it’s snuffling its way across the road. “Now it’s dead, and we call it dead,” he says. That was that.

— From the hunting log of Kerr of West Hill, dated 17 Solace

Tusket

Locale: Forbidden Oasis, Storm Coast

Level Range: 12-15

Health Modifier: 0.05

Armor: Very Low

Resistances: None

Vulnerabilities: None

Immunities: None

Crafting Material:

• Unknown

“The curving tusks protruding from the snout are present in both males and females of the species. Rarely used in combat, the upper tusks play an important part in mate selection. It’s believed that tuskets choose prospective mates based not only on the size, but also on the curve and even slight color variation found in another’s tusks. Considering tuskets bond for life, careful mate selection is crucial to the continued success of the herd. Bonded tuskets have been seen gently clicking their tusks together as a sign of affection. The role of the tusket’s signature ornamentation in the mating process led to an unfortunate rumor that their tusks could increase virility in other species. Although usually docile, tuskets will defend themselves if cornered (or if someone attempts to saw off part of their anatomy). It’s said Baron Vandermine lost three servants this way.”

— From Observed Behaviors in the Common Tusket, by Tilda Adere

Varghest

Locale: The Western Approach

Level Range: 12-15

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Fire

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities:

• Physical Effects

Crafting Material:

• Varghest Scales

“The varghest is now known to be a distant relative of wyverns and dragons, but in ancient times, it was believed to be a spirit manifest in the world. Ciriane legend says that the varghest hunts those who have committed great wrongs against their own kin, and when the creature finds its quarry, it drags the guilty party to the Gods for judgment. This is perhaps due to the beasts’ hunting habit: Varghests prefer to bring prey still living to their nests to feed their young.”

— From A Study of the Southern Draconoids, by Frederic of Serault, published by the University of Orlais

Wyvern

Locale: Crestwood, Hissing Wastes

Level Range: 8-19

Health Modifier: 3

Armor: Low

Resistances:

• Fire

Vulnerabilities:

• Electricity

Immunities:

• Physical Effects

Crafting Material:

• Wyvern Scales

The wyvern—like its relative the dragon—has nearly been hunted to extinction. Wealthy Orlesians are particularly fond of the wyvern chase, although their servants and dogs take the risks while the noblemen merely accept the praise. It is the venom that makes the creature so valuable. It’s used in potion-making, alchemy, and the production of a rare and potent liquor called aquae lucidius. The minuscule quantity of the venom remaining in the aquae after distillation leads to a unique hallucinatory effect.