Neverwinter Theme Previews

Mengu · Aug 2, 2011

Linkydink.

Quick highlights:

Two shape change themes. You can turn into a rat, or a wolf. At-will.

Harper gives you Harper pin, a rare item that adds d6 to an attack you miss, once per encounter. You're a part time deva.

Some are mildly humorous. Devil's Pawn, you cut the cheese and light it up. I know a half-orc who might want that.

Spellscarred is pretty awesome, gives you one of three options, and all handy. The way spellscarred probably should have been from the get go.

IanB · Aug 2, 2011

That's... not how I would have described the Devil's Pawn. But I expect at some tables it will indeed be played that way.

Dice4Hire · Aug 2, 2011

Excellent themes overall. Some are highly limited to race, and that is probably a good thing. With the dragon themes that came out a while ago, the selection is not bad at all, even if not using the far stronger and more involved Dark Sun themes.

Saracenus · Aug 3, 2011

Sigh,

I have been sitting on these for about 5 days as a WPN Coordinator. I guess if you are a gaming blog scanning in the material and releasing it to the public is, ok.

Welp, now I can link it for my players and DMs and I don't have to take the heat if WotC gets it's corporate panties in a twist...

Xris Robin · Aug 3, 2011

There's also a mention that one of the new divine domains is Oghma.

S'mon · Aug 3, 2011

Very interesting, thanks.

BTW re the picture here - is there officially any home/origin area for black humans in the FR setting?

Mengu · Aug 3, 2011

S'mon said:
Very interesting, thanks.

BTW re the picture here - is there officially any home/origin area for black humans in the FR setting?

Dark skin (of varying tones from olive to mahogany to black) are all over Faerun, Chult, Calimshan, Turmish (Vilhon Reach), Anauroch, Mulhorand, etc.

TwoSix · Aug 3, 2011

I really hope the Neverwinter book uses a similar art and layout. One place 4e really takes a hit from Pathfinder is in how much prettier the PF books are, especially in use of background art.

Kinneus · Aug 3, 2011

Hmm. If I'm playing something wacky, like a Dragonborn Battlemind or something, it seems my only options for Neverwinter themes are Harper Agent, Devil's Pawn, Oghma's Faithful, and Spellscarred Harbinger. 4 options isn't terrible, but still, I feel like they may've gone overboard with the restrictions.

Renegade Red Wizard is very disappointing for me, personally. How many mages are actually going to use that ability? When was the last time you saw a wizard (successfully) go hidden without invisibility involved? Also, I'm not sure why they decided to restrict it strictly to Mages, when Arcanists seem to fit the flavor just fine. I can only guess that [tin foil hat] this is Wizards continuing the "play Essentials please, nothing to see in the original PHB, continue along" tactic [/tin foil hat].

I kind of like the one that lets you turn into a wolf. It's not clear, though, if you can still use powers in your wolf form. Could a Slayer or Thief use that Bite as a melee basic and still pull off all their crazy damage stuff? Could be a fun character.

Oghma's Faithful strikes me as a little useless, since their Encounter power has almost no combat utility. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but when literally every other Theme out there is focused around some aspect of combat, well... it just doesn't stack up. Also, Encounter powers that should be Dailies are a pet peeve of mine. Why is this an Encounter power? Are you really going to be running into an unfamiliar language every five minutes? In my opinion, this should be a Daily power, and then this Theme should get a little something extra to help its combat ability.

Scion of Shadow made me chuckle. Oh, I can play a Shade with the DM's permission? That's good, because you just know everybody's going to be begging to play a Shade... I do kind of like the Daily power, though.

Spellplague Harbinger strikes me as the most powerful. Turning invisible as a minor action is useful and powerful for literally any class.

Yay themes, though. I love themes. Always good to see new ones, and these ones (with the exception of Oghma and the Red Wizard) are pretty good!

WillOH · Aug 3, 2011

Just wish the authors were thinking beyond Essentials. Why not allow a long tooth shifter to adopt a wolf shape, etc.

Perhaps LFR will be adding themes as an option in the future?

I disagree about Oghma's faithful, it may not be a combat benefit, but for rping in a campaign, or even some modules, or in a skill challenge, being able to question prisoners or listen to what the demons/angels are saying could have a lot of potential for moving a story along.