Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
Living Worlds
Living 4th Edition
L4W Discussion Thread V
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="WEContact" data-source="post: 6018877" data-attributes="member: 69684"><p>Oh hey, I was just about to PM you about this. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> Backgrounds and Themes are both mechanical aspects of your character.</p><p></p><p>Backgrounds were introduced in the PHB2, I believe, and are pretty minor- they're just a little way to give your character backstory a little mechanical impact. For example, is your PC an ex-soldier? You can take the Occupation: Military background, which has two associated skills (Athletics and Endurance, I think). Since the background you chose has those two associated skills, you can do one of two things- you can add one of those skills to your class skills list (allowing you to be trained in a skill that a sorcerer normally wouldn't be able to train without spending a feat) OR you can gain a free +2 bonus to a skill. You can find backgrounds FRPG, PHB2, PHB3, other books, and various Dragon articles. Some of them do more interesting things (like gain a small amount of resist to a specific damage type, or use a stat other than CON to determine your hp) but those are not allowed here in L4W- skill bonus backgrounds only. You can also invent your own Background benefit, as long as it makes sense and conforms to the pattern established by the PHB2 backgrounds (2 associated skills, add one of them to class list or gain +2 to one of them).</p><p></p><p>Themes are more complicated and have greater mechanical impact. They're designed to give your character a little more mechanical variety- a Fighter with visions of the future would be difficult to do mechanically, except that you can simply take the Seer theme to give your Fighter a touch of prescience. Want to shape-shift or have an animal companion but you want to play a Wizard? There are themes for that. They were introduced in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting, but changed slightly after the Essentials line of books began. In the DSCS taking a theme gave your PC an extra encounter power, and access to powers that they could take instead of class powers at the appropriate level. Since then, themes have switched to giving you extra features at L1, L5, and L10, instead of the initial encounter power (or sometimes an initial encounter power and then features at L5 and 10). You can find themes in Dragon articles and in some of the newer books, like Heroes of the Feywild and Heroes of the Elemental Chaos.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WEContact, post: 6018877, member: 69684"] Oh hey, I was just about to PM you about this. :) Backgrounds and Themes are both mechanical aspects of your character. Backgrounds were introduced in the PHB2, I believe, and are pretty minor- they're just a little way to give your character backstory a little mechanical impact. For example, is your PC an ex-soldier? You can take the Occupation: Military background, which has two associated skills (Athletics and Endurance, I think). Since the background you chose has those two associated skills, you can do one of two things- you can add one of those skills to your class skills list (allowing you to be trained in a skill that a sorcerer normally wouldn't be able to train without spending a feat) OR you can gain a free +2 bonus to a skill. You can find backgrounds FRPG, PHB2, PHB3, other books, and various Dragon articles. Some of them do more interesting things (like gain a small amount of resist to a specific damage type, or use a stat other than CON to determine your hp) but those are not allowed here in L4W- skill bonus backgrounds only. You can also invent your own Background benefit, as long as it makes sense and conforms to the pattern established by the PHB2 backgrounds (2 associated skills, add one of them to class list or gain +2 to one of them). Themes are more complicated and have greater mechanical impact. They're designed to give your character a little more mechanical variety- a Fighter with visions of the future would be difficult to do mechanically, except that you can simply take the Seer theme to give your Fighter a touch of prescience. Want to shape-shift or have an animal companion but you want to play a Wizard? There are themes for that. They were introduced in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting, but changed slightly after the Essentials line of books began. In the DSCS taking a theme gave your PC an extra encounter power, and access to powers that they could take instead of class powers at the appropriate level. Since then, themes have switched to giving you extra features at L1, L5, and L10, instead of the initial encounter power (or sometimes an initial encounter power and then features at L5 and 10). You can find themes in Dragon articles and in some of the newer books, like Heroes of the Feywild and Heroes of the Elemental Chaos. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
Living Worlds
Living 4th Edition
L4W Discussion Thread V
Top