Hallo! I am playing DA:O for the first time. I am playing the Ultimate Edition from gog.com.

I am playing a Human Noble Warrior, who will use 2H weapons. I will probably use Alistair, Leliana, and Morrigan.

When I play CRPGs, I try to see as much of the game as possible, because I never know if I'll play it again. Dialogue options, quests, etc.

(I'd like to use my Dog as a companion, as it's kinda unique and clever, but I assume I'd miss some story if I ditch one of the other "talking" companions?)

So with that said, my main question is about the Cunning attribute, and the Coercion skill.

As I understand it, I'll need a 16 Cunning to max Coercion to the fourth tier (Master Coercion, I think).

To see as much dialogue and quests as possible (or for any other reason), would there be any benefit to raising Cunning past 16?

Ah, ok, that helps to know: miss some dialogue options, but not too much. I want to see lots of dialogue options, but I also want my dude to kick butt too lol. I'll balance that with having just a 16 Cunning, but all four tiers of Coercion. Ah, ok, I was wondering if interchanging companions might be ok. (I haven't even got to a "companion camp" yet, I just did the Joining ritual.) When I played Baldur's Gate 1, I reached max XP waaaay before the end of the game. If I had to do that game over again, I would've switched out and tried other companions for a stretch, instead of sticking with the canon party the entire game. I will try to do that here with DA:O. Perhaps trigger their quest/story, then switch 'em. Dog too lol!

Thanks for taking the time to reply, olnorton! Really appreciate it, man. I will mark your reply as the Solution! Cheers!

With master coercion even a mage can pass intimidation checks with only 10 strength, but just because you know you will pass the check, it doesn't mean the persuade or intimidation route is always the best option.
There is a lot of good stuff there if you don't always take the easy option.
For example: The Templar Carroll, who won't take you across the lake can easily be persuaded or intimidated (I don't think you can fail.)
But if you instead say "can't we work something out" He'll agree to take you if you leave Morrigan with him for a few hours, or if she is not with you, Sten or Leliana have funny interactions, which are better than simply getting across the lake.

Sometimes if you take the easy persuade option, you will miss out on getting good loot you would have got if you ignore the persuade and simply fight.
If it's your first time through. you won't have unlocked all the overpowered DLC gear, so some on the rings and things that get dropped are very useful.

For a long time I missed out on one of Leliana's best lines because I always jumped into bed with her at the first possible chance, instead of taking the opportunity to write in my diary.

That's an interesting point. Baldur's Gate is my favorite game of all time, but I always thought it underused it's own dialogue system. There could've been dialogue options based on high-enough Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma (imagine those stats actually meaning something in an AD&D CRPG!), and lying and truthfulness could've dynamically affected Lawful and Chaotic alignment. (Planescape Torment would do this much better.)

Overall, I prefer BG to DA (so far), which is a bummer as DA was billed as BG's spiritual successor. But so far I'd say DA uses dialogue options better, with Coercion, persuade, Cunning, intimidate, etc., making a difference.

I also think that each companion having an individual Approval rating in DA is waaay better than BG NPCs reacting to a generic Reputation score.

Anyways, I digress. I'm glad to hear that the "bonus" dialogue options aren't necessarily the "best" dialogue options, which means that instead of following an answering formula, I can roleplay. Sounds great man!