How would you advance Class, Race, and Themes?

[Jack7]

Let's say, for sake of theoretical conjecture, that Class, Race, and Themes all exist in 5E. And that it is possible to advance them all, in some way or fashion.

My assumption, based on the history of the game is that Class will be advanced by "Leveling-Up."

Should Race and Themes be similarly advanced?

And if so how would you advance or develop them?

Would you have Races Level-Up? Would you have Themes advance or develop in the same way? Should they advance in the same way?

How would you advance Races and Themes? Would you have them Level-up or take a different approach?

I have my own opinion and ideas, but let's see what yours are. How would you handle the advancement or development of Race and Themes? What would be your techniques, methods, approaches?

What are your insights or clever ideas?

 

[Jack7]

By the way if you want to posit a different way of advancing Class other than by Leveling-Up feel free to discuss that as well.

 

[ferratus]

I'm pretty sure that races will have their own list of feats and classes will advance by leveling up. Themes will start with a background which will give the character a minor ability, possibly by trading in their first level feat. They will probably gain more thematic powers by using more feats.

 

[Jack7]

I'm pretty sure they'll advance by leveling up as well. But should they, and is this the method you prefer? If not, what are your ideas? (or, anyone else's for that matter?)

 

[Ahnehnois]

I'd like to see the effects of race included in advancement. The feat system is probably the best place to do this. Perhaps elves get extra benefits from taking an archery feat or half-orcs gain access to a better intimidation-related feat.

I have a hard time saying how themes should advance given how little is known at this point, but I will say that it should be feasible to change themes (or at least stop advancing in one and start in another).

 

[Gort]

Yeah, I'd like to see the choice each time you level between gaining a power from your theme, your race OR your class.

So if the defining aspect of your dwarf fighter noble is his noble bearing, you could get a ton of features from the "noble" theme, but still have enough fighterness to do your job in the party, and enough dwarfness to be short.

 

[jbear]

So ... when you level up you get to choose a talent/feat. You can choose to take a talent from your race, your class or your background/theme.

I'm hoping race can be advanced as per Monte's Arcana Evolved races. How to do this? Whatever it is that makes the race peculiar or special ... well you become more like that. So ... two extreme examples: A goliath would grow, and get bigger. And perhaps a pixie would begin larger would be reborn, not unlike a butterfly, perhaps smaller now with flight.

Advancement in theme or race would be more limited than advancement in class. E.g Race advancement in Arcana Evolved you could take 3 levels max in race if I recall correctly. Limits here most likely will help with option overload problems.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If we get to "level up" races and themes then I want to mix them, too, like multi-classing. So my dwarf/elf fighter/wizard noble/blacksmith can be a viable character concept.

 

[LordArchaon]

Class Feats at 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th
Racial Feats at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th (also, "level swap" features -> in racial splatbooks)
Theme Feats at 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th (also, advantages/features at some levels)

The less competition you create, the more varied, complete the characters (and the more happy the players).

Now, they could always lower the total amount. The point is not making the three feat types compete for each other.

EDIT: Variant with less feat-> no feats when you gain stat bonus (4th, 8th and so on) - this would take out 4 class feats. Also take out 9th level Theme feat since you're gonna earn your stronghold feature at this level. Now you have 7 class feats, 6 theme feats and 5 racial feats. Or remove just 1st level class feat (humans only ones getting it), and the 10th level class feat that would be taken at the same time as the racial feat and maybe something else. You'd end up with 9 class, 7 theme, 5 racial.

 

[Consonant Dude]

I'm pretty sure they'll advance by leveling up as well. But should they, and is this the method you prefer? If not, what are your ideas? (or, anyone else's for that matter?)

I'd rather they didn't.

Sure, in theory it's fun when your character is customizable in myriads of ways but in practice, it ends up being a nightmare. In the interviews I read, I'm getting the feeling the designers (and a lot of fans) want a simpler game. One where you can make a character quickly, even a higher level one. A game that's easy to DM, etc... Well, writing up NPCs in more recent iterations of the game takes a lot of time. More than I care for personally.

Ideally, I'd like a game where in 10 to 15 minutes, I can make a 9th level character and join a buddy's game I've been invited to last minute. And one where I don't have to flip in between the race section, the class section and the theme section to choose a bunch of feats. That's just me but I like it simple. I like the elegance of the d20 mechanic but the micro-management of PCs and NPCs that has crept up in recent editions are what make a lot of people yearn for the "old school" ways, I think.

How would I like those things to be handled? I'm still digesting what I know about themes so I can't say much about those. But I like the idea that races are front-loaded packages which, from the start give you a few minor things and influence your ability scores. Ideally, I want small stat blocks for NPCs. I'd like as a DM to have a pretty good grasp of who a guy is just by reading this:

***************************************************
Bob, Dwarven Ranger 7, Scribe
HP 51, AC 17, battle axe, shortbow, chainmail, purse with 27gp
STR 14, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 11, WIS 7, CHA 9
***************************************************

If I can get a sense of what this guy can do as a seventh level dwarven ranger with a scribe theme just by looking at a stat block like this, I am in business. If you have to add a laundry list of feats, skills, customized racial and theme traits... well, I need aspirin