A new Theme with power-swaps!

[TerraDave]

Some statted up NPCs would have been nice...but I am not complaining, just saying.

 

[Locutus Zero]

So the old themes were free encounter power and then options for every encounter and utility through level 10.

The newer ones traded out the encounter options for bonuses at levels 5 and 10.

This one gives you everything from the old themes PLUS the level 5 and level 10 bonuses.

That's odd.

 

[Riastlin]

So the old themes were free encounter power and then options for every encounter and utility through level 10.

The newer ones traded out the encounter options for bonuses at levels 5 and 10.

This one gives you everything from the old themes PLUS the level 5 and level 10 bonuses.

That's odd.

Good point. I think that they are still working on the theme concept and that we likely will continue to see variations in how themes are implemented. The concern I would have is making sure that the themes continue to be balanced against each other. In general, I think that themes themselves, while an obvious power boost, are still pretty well balanced, but you don't want a situation wherein suddenly only a few themes are ever picked because they are so clearly superior to every other theme.

 

[Incenjucar]

I'm hoping that, once they get themes locked down conceptually, they go back and revise the old outliers so that they fall into the same spread of mechanics. Add some level 5 and 10 tweaks to Dark Sun themes, add powers to that big batch of themes, and rebalance things that went too far or didn't go far enough, and everyone wins.

 

[Aegeri]

Some statted up NPCs would have been nice...but I am not complaining, just saying.

It's a player article: Let's not have Wizards get themselves any more confused as to what should be obviously in one magazine and not the other more than they already are.

At least the theme is decent. They definitely improved substantially since the first torrid theme article. I am eagerly awaiting this months errata to see what they do about the original themes (particularly the Order Adept and the Animal Master).

 

[Neverfate]

It's a player article: Let's not have Wizards get themselves any more confused as to what should be obviously in one magazine and not the other more than they already are.

At least the theme is decent. They definitely improved substantially since the first torrid theme article. I am eagerly awaiting this months errata to see what they do about the original themes (particularly the Order Adept and the Animal Master).

I get this feeling we'll see a change to the Order Adept, but not the Animal Master. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

And yeah, I remember a few months back they released those surveys that asked if the separation of DM and player resources into Dungeon and Dragon respectively, should be done away and I think everyone voted "no".

 

[Argyle King]

So the old themes were free encounter power and then options for every encounter and utility through level 10.

The newer ones traded out the encounter options for bonuses at levels 5 and 10.

This one gives you everything from the old themes PLUS the level 5 and level 10 bonuses.

That's odd.

Yeah, that sounds like the same problem that feats have making its way into themes.

PHB 1 - this feat gives you plus 1 when doing ____; PHB2 - this feat gives you plus 1 all the time with this weapon; PHB3 - this feat gives you plus 1 with this and this all the time; Essentials - this feat gives you everything the PHB3 one does *AND* you get this extra benefit.

I'm glad to see elements of the game being fine tuned. Themes are a good idea. However, like a lot of 4E ideas, I'm unsure how I feel about the implementation. I want to believe they'll go back and bring the older themes up to snuff, but I then look at some of the old feats. I'm not sure what to think.

[power]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtmtELlo6pk]YouTube - ‪TLC - Creep (1994)‬‏[/ame]
[/power]

 

[Locutus Zero]

Yeah, their approach would probably be to add more themes than fix old ones.

 

[TerraDave]

It's a player article: Let's not have Wizards get themselves any more confused as to what should be obviously in one magazine and not the other more than they already are.

At least the theme is decent. They definitely improved substantially since the first torrid theme article. I am eagerly awaiting this months errata to see what they do about the original themes (particularly the Order Adept and the Animal Master).

Its describing this region and tribe...very DMish. I mean, back in the day, there wasn't this hard line (In this same issue, Eric Mona reminises on how, when Dragon went player oriented in the print era, subscriptions collapsed, 'cause most subscribers were of course DMs, but I guess that is another thread.)

As for the erratta, its all just a playtest I tell you! (but again, another thread).

 

[Incenjucar]

Yeah, their approach would probably be to add more themes than fix old ones.

Themes at least are a large enough element, like paragon paths, that they may actually go back and tweak them upward.