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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7619885" data-attributes="member: 58172">How do you guys feel about everyone getting a free feat at level 1? I suppose, a human gains two.I love 4e ‘themes’. It seems like Pathfinder2 now has something like this as well.A themes are a substantial set of thematic abilities, in addition to class and race. These are great for rounding out a character, connecting the character to persons or places in the setting, or if teammates take related themes, connecting the team to each other.Actually, 4e themes were non-core, showing up in Dragon Magazine issues, and in several spatbooks. Of course, 4e design philosophy made ‘everything core’. But the character advancement table itself allocates no place for themes. So the theme pretty much adds a substantial amount of power in addition to an already substantial level 1.In the ‘Advancement’ section in the original post, the table allocates space for ‘skills’ − including skill related features. This is the place to pick and develop a ‘profession’ − to represent a 4e ‘theme’ − with a 5e ‘background’ in mind too.I want this skill space to focus on noncombat capabilities. For example, Fighter is competent in skills outside of combat because the choice of profession is separate from the Fighter class. The profession grants skills and related skill features at ‘level zero’ along with race, and later at levels 2, 10, and 18. At level 10, the profession relates to being a head of an organization, such as a guild. At level 18, the profession relates to being the head of nation, or its equivalent. This helps invite old school involvement in noncombat politics at higher levels.The thing is, a 4e theme can be almost anything. Even a place to say that one is a werewolf, or a member of an Eberron house, or so on. Some of these ‘professions’ have combat implications. ... But I prefer the profession to be an area for noncombat.A solution is, everyone gets a free feat at level 1, and can use this feat in any way they wish − to boost an ability bonus, augment a race, augment a class − or choose a combat ability that bolsters a violent ‘profession’.</blockquote>

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