EDIT: After another replay, I've updated the list and included some of the mods I liked mentioned below the original post and the new ones I've tried. I've also updated the links to the mods, as the Dragon Age Nexus has grown into Nexus Mods nowadays.
Been replaying DA:O with a few mods lately, and figured we could use a recommended mods topic. These are the ones I've liked so far.
MUST HAVE
A Year with Sten - Different Morphs for Sten incorporating the changes to Qunari looks made in DA2.
Adopted - lets you combine any origin with any class and race. Needs a small bit of manual confiuration before starting a new game.
Advanced Quickbar - Makes more quickbars available with easy access.
CharGenMorph Compiler - Automates the process of merging chargenmorphcfg.xml files, enabling simultaneous multiple cosmetic modifications.
Expanded Inventory - Automatically changes inventory capacity to the max 125 right from the beginning of the game.
Extra Dog Slot - Makes Dog able to tag along with the party as a summoned creature, but with all dialogue, special abilities, and banters involving him working as if he was a full party member. Probably my fave mod of the bunch, this really should've been a vanilla feature. Be aware that you'll have to deactivate this mod if you want to play 'Captured!' after rescuing Anora.
FtG UI Mod - More Readable Fonts and UI: rescales UI, makes fonts bigger, adds clickable Codex table of contents.
Gift Guide - Awakening - Adds a small (<COMPANION>) text to each gift so you can know ingame who it's supposed to be given to in the Awakenings expansion. Combine it with the Madd Gift Guide for full easy gift identification.
Madd Gift Guide - Same as above, but for the main DA:O campaign.
Less Tedious Fade - For a first playthorugh, the Fade is a mandatory experience, for your own benefit. However, on the Nth playthrough, all the back and forth required makes it TEDIOUS, and since you already know it all from before, its impact doesn't make up for it any longer. This mod places a "Mysterious Tome" near the start of the Fade portion of the "Broken Circle" quest, after the Sloth demon puts the player to sleep. Reading it grants all four shapeshifting forms immediately, so you don't have to backtrack every time you learn a new form. A much, much better solution than the Skip the Fade mod, this is a must for me now. Mod was actually hosted in the BSN and didn't make it to Nexus and I didn't find it anywhere on the net, so I'm mirroring it in case you don't have it.
Level 50 - Increases the level cap to 50 and modifies attribute/specialization maximums to make use of it (it also adds 25 Tactics slots to everyone, making the skill redundant).
Lock Bash - Enables bashing of chests and doors. No longer a "have a rogue or ELSE" situation (although I found that there are a few chests that you actually can't lock/bash, mainly the ones dealing with the Love Letters quest).
Make CONSOLE commands visible - Self-explanatory.
Misha The Hoarder - Similar to other storage mods, but with the benefit of item-sorting that merchants have.
More Detailed Tooltips - Modifies existing abilities, potions, traps, grenades and inspiration bonus tooltips to give more detailed information about what the various effects are. Compatible with Gift Guide & Madd Gift Guide.
No Helmet Hack - Adds an inventory item that allows toggling for helmets showing/not showing on character models. Make sure to remove headgear from your character before importing to another module to avoid issues.
Steal Cooldown Reduced - Reduces said cooldown to 1,5 seconds (I wouldn't bother with the skill otherwise, despite Slim Couldry's quests).
UDK (Universal Dye Kit) - Change the colour of armor and weapons to your liking (can operate as a portable rune enchanter as well).
The Winter Forge - Allows you to change the appearance and magic properties of your items.
FIXES
Dain's Fixes - Fixes, Tweaks, and QoL changes. Compatible with these other mods: Qwinn's, Law & Order, Silverite Mines, No Helmet Hack, More Detailed Tooltips, Joining Ritual, Dog Gift, Blackblade Drop, and Baroness Reward. Conditionally compatible with Lock/Bash if you don't install autoloot containers or party skill lockpick QoLs (or the extra counterpart).
Qwinn's Fixpack - Deprecates most of the others non-Awakening dialogue/quest fixes around.
Armor Rune Drop Fixes - Fixes some treasure tables.
Awakening Blackblade Armor Dragon Drop Fix - Fixes a bug with the Blackblade Gloves and Boots not appearing.
Awakening Endgame Cutscene Fixes - Resolves several outstanding issues with the cutscene at the end of Awakening.
Joining Ritual Fix for Awakening - Sigrun or Velanna can now undergo the Joining ritual if they are recruited as part of the third (and last) main quest.
Baroness' Reward Fix - Didn't work at all before if you sided with her.
Sigrun's Roguish Past & Law and Order fix - Fixes Mischa disappearing after accepting the Law and Order quest.
Silverite Mines Fix - This mod fixes the infamous Silverite Mines equipment glitch that causes your character to permanently lose some/all of the equipment on him/her. I almost went bonkers when this happened to me the first time. Note that this won't remedy your situation if your gear is already gone.
Uncapped Elemental Damage Bonus - Uncaps the +X% [Element] damage modifier (vanilla is set at 50% even though some items like the Soulbound ring provide more than that).
COSMETICS
Beautiful Hair People (there's another mod with a chargenmorph file for this)
Pineappletree's Vibrant Colors
Tucked Hair (there's another mod in Nexus that adds the chargenmorph to this)
WORTH TRYING OUT
Add Any Item Deluxe - Adds a command console line for spawning items, with different commands for vanilla and modded items. Probably best if you run the configuration program after you're done installing all other mods, so it includes any item they added.
Advanced Party - Disallows automatic skill assigning for the Hero and companions.
Alley of Murders - A new quest add-inn for the game. Decently done, fully voiced.
Armor of the Black Fox - New armor/weapons set for rogue characters.
Dog Gift Tweaks - Since Dog always has maximum approval, gifts for him are useless. This aims to rectify that by giving Dog permanent attribute bonus when receiving his preferred gifts.
Emissary - Short little romp where you play a darkspawn emissary, very nicely done.
Extended Dog Talents - Self-explanatory.
Extended Shale Talents - Self-explanatory.
Forced Deathblows - Changes the % of getting the special kill sequences (several options available).
Loincloth Fashion - Adds new robes and armors (need to use the console to spawn them).
Orator Vestments - New massive armor set.
Paladin Specialization - New specialization for Warriors.
Quick Shapeshifting - Shortens Shapeshifting delay to 1 second, though there's an instant version available as well (would be a MUST HAVE but I hardly ever bother with shapeshifting).
Shale Retextured - Self-explanatory.
The Chantry Wardrobe - Adds some nifty retextured chantry robes with different powers. Be aware that getting this to work is pretty wonky: first, you have to install the dazip, then disable it BEFORE creating a new Origins game, then enabling it. That's the only way to actually get the robes.
The Phoenix Armory - Adds two new armor/weapons sets (light & heavy) for female characters.
Tombs of the Undead - A new quest/dungeon crawl add in. Very nicely done, with pretty challenging difficulty. You won't be cruising through this one.
Universal Voices - Removes the racial restrictions on player voice sets, making every set available to your character regardless of race.
White Teeth - This mod changes the rotten yellowish teeth of all characters to a white color.
Feel free to post yours.
Edited by Daulmakan, 04 April 2023 - 04:53 PM.
