Im sure someone will come around to make a comprehensive mod guide, but i though I'd share the mods I feel are must haves to start with and work for even new players.

1. The mod manager
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/277/?tab=3&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fdragonage%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D277%26gid%3D140

A lot of mods for DAO are in .dazip format, and this is the manager that handles them, making it required for easy installs.

2. Extra Dog slot
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/664/?tab=3&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fdragonage%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D664%26gid%3D140

Normally, the dog will take up a party slot, with this, the dog can be your faithful companion and not take up a valuable slot in your party and will just be with you all the time. For a dog lover, this is really a must have.

3. Dragon Age Redesigned
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/686/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fdragonage%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D686%26preview%3D&pUp=1

This mod makes all the characters look much better. There are a lot of options, but for new players I'd recommend sticking to the enhanced Lore versions, to keep the feel of how bioware intended them to look.

4. Improved Atmosphere
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/577/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fdragonage%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D577%26preview%3D&pUp=1

This is a great mod, and adds life to the game by making npcs actually doing things in the towns, and restores cut content and fixes things bioware never did, also increases party banter. Its separated into modules so you can pick and choose which features you want. One of the best for DAO IMHO.

5. Tommy's faction armor mods
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/users/1876739/?tb=mods&pUp=1

These are must haves for the simple reason that, in the later Dragon Age games, factions got beautiful and distinctive armor, and robes that werent created back in DAO even though the lore retroactively states the factions looked like this in DAO. These fix that over sight. I would stick with just the Grey Warden, Templar, Chantry and Mages packs. Of course if you have played DA 2 and DAI, I'd suggest the Hawke pack too.

Bonus. Ser Gilmore
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/851/?tab=3&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fdragonage%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D851%26gid%3D140

This is just a great, fully voiced companion mod and romance for female characters that seamlessly integrates into the game and the main expansion awakening. He'll even banter with other party members.


So there you have it, my list of starter mods to make a fun play though, until someone comes along with a better guide then this. If I've gotten any outdated mods listed, let me know, its been awhile since i've played DAO.

There is one mod that everyone should have, first playthrough or not:
No Automatic Deactivation
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/355/?
There are some sustained skills, eg. Blood Magic that automatically deactivate when the battle is over. Or when you open a menu. Or when you save your game. It keeps on automatically deactivating, and since it has a cooldown on it until you can activate it again, this annoying as hell bug makes Blood Mages literally unplayeable. Because Blood Mages NEED this sutanied skill to be able to do.... anything.
The "blood magic automatically deactivates when the battle is over" thing was a feature and not a bug. Somehow the testers managed to kill themselves outside combat with it, so they requested the devs to make this skill deactivate automatically when the battle is over. Appearantly these testers had NO IDEA how to play a blood mage, and people who DO know how to play a blood mage properly now can't because of this annoyig as hell """feature""".
This mod gets rid of it. You can finally enjoy your unholy blood magic without waiting 1 minutes after every enemy encounter to activate your Blood Magic skill again. The skill also deactivated automatically when you saved your game, or opened the inventory. "Feature" yeah sure.

ZDF is also recommended even for first time players because it fixes a good number of dialogue bugs
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/928/?

However, I can NOT recommend using any other mods than bugfixes on FIRST playthrough. Bugfixes are a thing, but extra content is another....

Talking about extra content, the Morrigan Restoration Patch restores some cut content
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1120/? I really love this mod, BUT people must know that it breaks the "rescue" quest later in the game, when The Warden is captured, and two party members must rescue him/her.
Three ways to avoid this:
- Win the very hard combat to avoid getting captured in the first place
- Rescue yourslef
- Temporairly deactivate the mod until the rescue is complete

Edit to fix some terrible typos :)

I personally prefer to play vanilla the first few times with a game, specially one as annoying to mod as the Dragon Ages. However, in case someone really wants to start modding, there are a few small ones I could recommend for new players.

ThetaHD: Improves a few extremely low-res textures for carts, doors statues and others that always seemed like Bioware forgot a placeholder.
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/3869/?

Neutral Female Armor: I never liked the look of some armors on women and this is the only fix I've found so far
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/4462/?

Realistic Teeth: The teeth of DA Origins never really bothered me personally but I know some who hated them. This one has compatibility issues with some mods that change the heads, like one to make elves look like in DAII, so if you try other mods later and their teeth look odd try deactivating this one.
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1532/?

That's all I can think of now that doesn't change too much or add new content, I'll update if I remember more.

For those of you who like hunting down for unique armor sets: Get the ancient elven boots fix

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/3380/?

To the best of my knowledge this a bug exclusive to the PC version and was never fixed.

The point is, there are some mods that fix, and/or enhance the vanilla experience without changing the game, and definitely good to play with for a more complete experience. Just like with bethesda games there are a set of mods that bring the vanilla game to a 'playable' level.

These mods I and others recommend, are ones that dont change the vanilla gameplay beyond what the developers intended. Its why i explained what they are and why they are good for a first playthrough, so people can decide if its too much for them or not.

But i suppose if your a total purist, any kind of mods are bad for a first playthrough, which is valid but not everyone is a purist.

Many of us have played it through on consoles many many times, so a list of mods is useful. When I had it on Origin I even made my own armor and weapons with the toolset.

The only mod I'd recommend is FtG UI mod. If you are playing on 2560x1440 and higher resolutions, even at 27" monitors, the font sizes are very small, and quite annoying. The game doesn't have options to scale the fonts with the resolution. FtG UI mod solves the problem completely, in dialog selection, inventory item and journal text and even during cutscenes.

In fact, I usually play on 4k resolutions with AMD's VSR (1440p -> 4k, and which gives pretty good AA too) on a 27" panel, and with FtG UI mod, text is still easily readable.

The Morrigan Restoration patch which helps restores crucial cutscenes of the charcrter.