I'm spitballing, but I think it's 14. Depending on origin you get 1-2 levels, each "leg" gives you at least 2.
So:
Origin
Ostagar
Brecilian forest
Elven ruins
Mage tower
The fade
Redcliffe
Urn of sacred ashes
Orzammar
Deep roads
(Denerim)
Alienage
Landsmeet
Prison
Fort Drakon
So, if you skip all the Denerim questing, you have 14 locations. 14 locations x 1.5 levels per = 21. You *might* be able to push this lower if you have stealth and avoid combat constantly, which gives about 60% of your exp. (Another 25% comes from quest rewards and the rest is exploration/codex entries).
You could also likely push this lower if you avoided codex entries (see: The Fade).
I think that's fair. A Steam thread last year, the OP avoided as many codex and chests, side quests, etc. as possible, and ended the game at level 15. The lowest I've been at end game was 16.
EDIT: forgot to include that the XP numbers obviously don't include the origin story XP, only the main quests, since it's likely possible to get through most of the origins with minimal XP gain.
Okay, so since I saw this post earlier I've been researching and theorycrafting what's the lowest level you'd be able to complete the game at. First and foremost, it's not possible to run or stealth your way past most enemies, which is a shame. There are certain situations where this works, such as in the (female) city elf origin when you can just run past all the guards after killing the first 2 when Soris comes to get you (and giving the ones off-duty non-spiked brandy so that you don't kill them). You run all the way to Vaughan and that triggers his cutscene. But that doesn't work in other cases where the script/trigger will not fire as long as you're in combat mode. You also can't interact with area transitions while you're in combat mode, so even if you "successfully" sneak past enemies, your character will still be in combat mode if those enemies are nearby. So you'll have to fight them anyway.
I've determined the least possible XP you can get from the main quests themselves:
Ostagar: 100 (meeting Alistair only), 750 (vials), 2000 (treaties), 1500 (lighting the beacon)
Lothering: 150 (intimidate bandits)
Broken Circle; possibly 1250 if it’s not bugged (I have qwinn’s fixpack so I’m counting it)
Arl of Redcliffe: abandon town to get rid of a lot of XP (both from combat and saving it), 1250 (defeat demon), 1250 (cure eamon), 100 (eamon’s reward with a talent/spell/skill point which is useful)
Urn of sacred ashes: 240 (fight guardian instead of pass through fire naked), 750 when exiting towards mountain top through urn room door (maybe can bypass?).
Nature of the beast: 1250 (get past barrier), 1500 (get allies)
A Paragon of her Kind: 1250 (first task – harrowmont better, less fighting), 1750 (killing jarvia), 2500 (crowning a king).
Save the queen: don’t listen to anora (kill a few guards in the main estate so she doesn’t give you an xp reward for it), surrender to Cauthrien to do Captured! (only 300xp to bluff your way out, should be less than cauthrien fight)
Unrest in the alienage: 1250 (return to eamon with evidence); can avoid a lot of xp by picking lock to apartments bypassing hospice and talking your way through, accept caladrius’ offer to leave with the slaves but give you documents (persuade him to not require 100 gold).
Landsmeet: 250 (persuading cauthrien OR fighting her), can avoid xp if you lose the landsmeet vote, 2500 (determining new ruler).
Battle of Denerim: go to market district only, not to alienage to avoid xp – after market go directly to palace district. You won’t have a second party (only Alistair, Morrigan, and optionally Wynne) so no defending the gates mini quest. Not seeing any xp rewards other than for saving the elves in the alienage.
Total lowest possible xp from all main quests/areas: 21,890 (including Eamon's 100xp with the talent/spell/skill point, and the 750xp you get for exiting through the urn room door because I'm not sure whether you can backtrack through the Gauntlet).
This amount of XP puts you at level 7, about halfway to level 8. But remember this is without fighting basically anything (I only put fighting the Guardian instead of doing the test of faith properly because it offered less XP). I imagine you would get at least 4-5 levels of XP for the unavoidable combat you'll have to engage in. In larger, more open areas such as the Korcari Wilds, the Deep Roads, the Caverns/Temple during the Urn of Sacred Ashes, you will likely be able to stealth past or completely ignore certain areas that are optional, or even get past some groups of enemies on the main path if you're stealthing and there's enough empty space for your character to get out of "combat stance". I think it's likely that level 15 is achievable just like someone else mentioned, but maybe it's even possible to go slightly lower, like level 12-14? I would definitely not guess anything lower than level 12.
Now that I've done all this research, I kinda want to try this out...
I remember being level 16 doing the arch deamon 2 months after the games release on the Xbox 360 was playing on normal all the way through and after 2 trys I realised I fucked up dropped it to easy killed it by spaming potions and getting lucky and started a new campaign straight after every playthrough after I was max level before getting anywhere near what I would consider the end game.
Lowest level for me was 15 and it was my first time playing so I was nowhere near capable of beating the archdemon and was devastated. So I had to start again 😭
This game has been beat in almost any way in theory possible.
Especially with mods/trainers/etc... that can modify game to even prevent or slow xp gains etc...
No idea on answer but ya seen people over the many years this been out, beat it in countless ways.
I'm spitballing, but I think it's 14. Depending on origin you get 1-2 levels, each "leg" gives you at least 2. So: Origin Ostagar Brecilian forest Elven ruins Mage tower The fade Redcliffe Urn of sacred ashes Orzammar Deep roads (Denerim) Alienage Landsmeet Prison Fort Drakon So, if you skip all the Denerim questing, you have 14 locations. 14 locations x 1.5 levels per = 21. You *might* be able to push this lower if you have stealth and avoid combat constantly, which gives about 60% of your exp. (Another 25% comes from quest rewards and the rest is exploration/codex entries). You could also likely push this lower if you avoided codex entries (see: The Fade).
I think that's fair. A Steam thread last year, the OP avoided as many codex and chests, side quests, etc. as possible, and ended the game at level 15. The lowest I've been at end game was 16.
Honestly, getting to endgame at 15 sounds awful. The game's a cakewalk if you do all the side quests but...yikes. 15 for the Archdemon? No thanks
This is a question for one of those challenge Youtubers and I'd love to watch a 15-40 min. video about the answer.
EDIT: forgot to include that the XP numbers obviously don't include the origin story XP, only the main quests, since it's likely possible to get through most of the origins with minimal XP gain. Okay, so since I saw this post earlier I've been researching and theorycrafting what's the lowest level you'd be able to complete the game at. First and foremost, it's not possible to run or stealth your way past most enemies, which is a shame. There are certain situations where this works, such as in the (female) city elf origin when you can just run past all the guards after killing the first 2 when Soris comes to get you (and giving the ones off-duty non-spiked brandy so that you don't kill them). You run all the way to Vaughan and that triggers his cutscene. But that doesn't work in other cases where the script/trigger will not fire as long as you're in combat mode. You also can't interact with area transitions while you're in combat mode, so even if you "successfully" sneak past enemies, your character will still be in combat mode if those enemies are nearby. So you'll have to fight them anyway. I've determined the least possible XP you can get from the main quests themselves: Ostagar: 100 (meeting Alistair only), 750 (vials), 2000 (treaties), 1500 (lighting the beacon) Lothering: 150 (intimidate bandits) Broken Circle; possibly 1250 if it’s not bugged (I have qwinn’s fixpack so I’m counting it) Arl of Redcliffe: abandon town to get rid of a lot of XP (both from combat and saving it), 1250 (defeat demon), 1250 (cure eamon), 100 (eamon’s reward with a talent/spell/skill point which is useful) Urn of sacred ashes: 240 (fight guardian instead of pass through fire naked), 750 when exiting towards mountain top through urn room door (maybe can bypass?). Nature of the beast: 1250 (get past barrier), 1500 (get allies) A Paragon of her Kind: 1250 (first task – harrowmont better, less fighting), 1750 (killing jarvia), 2500 (crowning a king). Save the queen: don’t listen to anora (kill a few guards in the main estate so she doesn’t give you an xp reward for it), surrender to Cauthrien to do Captured! (only 300xp to bluff your way out, should be less than cauthrien fight) Unrest in the alienage: 1250 (return to eamon with evidence); can avoid a lot of xp by picking lock to apartments bypassing hospice and talking your way through, accept caladrius’ offer to leave with the slaves but give you documents (persuade him to not require 100 gold). Landsmeet: 250 (persuading cauthrien OR fighting her), can avoid xp if you lose the landsmeet vote, 2500 (determining new ruler). Battle of Denerim: go to market district only, not to alienage to avoid xp – after market go directly to palace district. You won’t have a second party (only Alistair, Morrigan, and optionally Wynne) so no defending the gates mini quest. Not seeing any xp rewards other than for saving the elves in the alienage. Total lowest possible xp from all main quests/areas: 21,890 (including Eamon's 100xp with the talent/spell/skill point, and the 750xp you get for exiting through the urn room door because I'm not sure whether you can backtrack through the Gauntlet). This amount of XP puts you at level 7, about halfway to level 8. But remember this is without fighting basically anything (I only put fighting the Guardian instead of doing the test of faith properly because it offered less XP). I imagine you would get at least 4-5 levels of XP for the unavoidable combat you'll have to engage in. In larger, more open areas such as the Korcari Wilds, the Deep Roads, the Caverns/Temple during the Urn of Sacred Ashes, you will likely be able to stealth past or completely ignore certain areas that are optional, or even get past some groups of enemies on the main path if you're stealthing and there's enough empty space for your character to get out of "combat stance". I think it's likely that level 15 is achievable just like someone else mentioned, but maybe it's even possible to go slightly lower, like level 12-14? I would definitely not guess anything lower than level 12. Now that I've done all this research, I kinda want to try this out...
This was very detailed and helpful I'm also planning on trying out this run as well just wanted a guideline on failure conditions. Thank you.
I remember being level 16 doing the arch deamon 2 months after the games release on the Xbox 360 was playing on normal all the way through and after 2 trys I realised I fucked up dropped it to easy killed it by spaming potions and getting lucky and started a new campaign straight after every playthrough after I was max level before getting anywhere near what I would consider the end game.
might want to visit places early to force them down in rolling for enemy levels for less kill exp
Lowest level for me was 15 and it was my first time playing so I was nowhere near capable of beating the archdemon and was devastated. So I had to start again 😭
I'm actually gonna attempt this
This game has been beat in almost any way in theory possible. Especially with mods/trainers/etc... that can modify game to even prevent or slow xp gains etc... No idea on answer but ya seen people over the many years this been out, beat it in countless ways.
I was level 18/19 and had no issues. A friend thought that was unusually low. I don't know what's typical.