Dragon Age: Origins’ Shale is a downloadable character. I’ve already finished the game twice and I didn’t actually get him on my party because I was too lazy to download, haha. Anyway, I’m currently on my third run and I decided to use characters that I didn’t use in my previous runs, which obviously includes Shale. Anyway, Shale is turning out to be one hell of a strong tank as well as a fun character. He’s literally like Alistair except he’s on steroids (he has a cool sense of humor too). Anyway, here’s a quick write-up of what you can expect from him if ever you decide to bring him along.
DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS SHALE
Combat Strategy and Roles
Shale can either be a massive melee damager or a sturdy tank. Other than his unique abilities, you can also get the basic Warrior talents. Right now I’m using him as a Tank and so far he’s doing an amazing job at it. To use his tanking talents, activate Stone Heart. Activating this ability automatically gives Shale defensive bonuses as well as an aura that attracts opponents (combined with Taunt this works really well). Here are other defensive abilities that you can use while in Tank mode:
Bellow: AOE stun and taunt skill. Very useful!
Stone Roar: Shale gets HP regen and automatically gets threat of one targeted opponent.
Regenerating Burst: AOE damage and possible stun. Chance to shatter if enemies are frozen. Increases Shales’ threat and Stamina regeneration.
As mentioned above, Shale can also deal pretty good damage. Just activate Pulverizing Blows and you get access to his offensive melee skills. Activating Pulverizing Blows gives Shale a defense penalty but he gains a lot of bonus melee damage. Here’s a rundown of his other melee skills:
Slam: Single target automatic critical and knockback. After learning this talent, Shale gets a permanent bonus to damage while Pulverizing Blow is active.
Quake: AOE damage that has chance to knockback/stun. While Pulverizing Blow is active, Shale gets increase armor penetration.
Killing Blow: Similar to the Berserker skill. One attack that’s an autocrit but drains the stamina of Shale. Gives bonus constant damage as well when Pulverizing Blows is active.
Shale has other abilities but I’ll discuss them some other time. I’ll spend some more hours trying to use this guy effectively. So far though I’m having a blast. 
PS: I just found out that Shale is actually a “she”. Can anyone confirm?
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Ray on December 6, 2009
Yes shale is a She a Dwarven female that was made into a golem. Its part of the story that u unravel.
Rob on December 7, 2009
If you take Shale into Orzammar and side with Branka and defeat Caridin you have to kill Shale.
kevin on December 7, 2009
yes shale is a woman and if u play ur cards right you can romance shale. it turns out to be a bloody scene i must warn ya
Rei on December 8, 2009
wait and ew…. you can romance a golem?! haha didn’t knew that! gotta research that one out!
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shadowphoenix82 on December 12, 2009
Heh heh, I enjoy Shale too, but I actually thought it was gay. Of course, I therefor readily believe that it is instead female. I better not look too much further into guides now because I’d want to find the details to that story on my own, heh.
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