4e Themes - need an update?

[gideonpepys]

Gunsmith - The ability to wield pistols as melee weapons; magically 'reload' firearms as a free action.

Technologist - Improvements to the construct summoned by their encounter power; a daily 'summons' of an improved construct.

Yerasol Veteran - THP equal to level granted when spending an action point; an additional action point at the start of each day.

Eschatologist Theme - Resistance or immunity to fear effects; bonus to damage against bloodied foes.

Spirit Medium - Spiritual advice in the form of a bonus to skills; daily summons of a spirit companion

Docker - +1 bonus to flanking and aid another; ability to share action points or other resources

Vekeshi Mystic - Teleport 1 as a move action; +1 bonus to attack against creatures who damage a bloodied ally

Skyseer - greater access to divination rituals; the ability to 'save' actions for use later in an encounter

Martial Scientist - the ability to reuse encounter powers of a lower level; the ability to inflict a critical hit once per day (or increase the damage potential or likelihood of a critical hit)

 

[RangerWickett]

Some of my ideas:

[FONT=&quot]Docker[/FONT]

Level 5. Riot! The first time you or any of your allies becomes bloodied by an attack during an encounter, you and your allies gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls against the creature that made that attack until the end of its next turn.

Level 10. The People in the Streets. Whenever you roll a 1 to 7 on a Bluff or Streetwise check, treat it as an 8.


[FONT=&quot]Eschatologist[/FONT]

Level 5. It Will All Turn to Dust. When you use your Icy Ends of the Earth power, creatures can move as if they had phasing through man-made objects and structures within the zone that are less than a thousand years old.

Level 10. Details of Our Endings. Whenever you roll a 1 to 7 on a Heal or History check, treat it as an 8.


[FONT=&quot]Gunsmith[/FONT]

Level 5. Tinker. You can declare a single weapon as your primary weapon. Each firearm you wield can benefit from your primary weapon’s enhancement bonuses to attack and damage.

Additionally, you have custom-built a firearm modification, which you can attach to a single musket or carbine, or to a pair of pistols. You only have one instance of this modification, and cannot mass-produce it. Choose one of the following attachments:

· Alchemical Launcher. You can load one alchemical item into this underslung launcher at a time, as a standard action. You can use the item as if it were in your hand. If the item normally requires an attack roll, it uses your gun’s attack bonus. If normally you’d make a ranged attack, it instead uses your gun’s range. If it normally makes an area attack, it uses your gun’s short range and its normal area.
· Ammunition Clip. Either a revolver cylinder or a traditional clip, this lets you fire six shots before you need to reload.
· Cover-Piercing Bullets. You’ve modified your barrel to fire heavier rounds. If you attack a target with cover and miss by 2 or less (5 or less if the target has superior cover), you deal half damage. You can also attack a creature with total cover; you take a -5 penalty to your attack roll, and if you hit you deal half damage. This usually only works through less than a foot of wood or dirt, a few inches of stone, or a half-inch of metal.
· Silencer. Your shots are very quiet. If you are hidden when you attack, you remain hidden from creatures more than 10 squares from you. A creature struck does, however, know the direction the shot came from.
· Sniper Scope. You can spend a move action to aim down this sight. If you do, quadruple your range on the first attack you make this turn. Until the start of your next turn, you are considered blind except against creatures in a direct line from you to your target.

Level 10. Bling. You develop a second attachment for you’re a single musket or carbine (or pair of pistols). You also develop one attachment for a secondary musket or carbine (or pair of pistols).


[FONT=&quot]Martial Scientist[/FONT]

No idea.

[FONT=&quot]Skyseer[/FONT]

Level 5. Follow Yonder Star. When you spend an action point, your enemies miss with their opportunity attacks until the end of your next turn.

Level 10. Heirophant’s Wisdom. Whenever you roll a 1 to 7 on a Nature or Religion check, treat it as an 8.


[FONT=&quot]Spirit Medium[/FONT]

No idea.
[FONT=&quot]Technologist[/FONT]

Level 5. The Pet it Always Should Have Been. Your contraption follows the rules of an animal companion, with your defenses, speed 6, Strength 4, and hit points equal to half your bloodied value. Instead of having its own attacks, it uses your chosen at-will power. If you have the Fantastic Contraption feat, you gain a bonus feat.

Level 10. Second Self. You can use any at-will or encounter power you know through your contraption, and can use a different one each round.


[FONT=&quot]Vekeshi Mystic[/FONT]

Level 5. Judging Gaze of the Goddess. If a creature lies or attempts to deceive you and you succeed your Insight check (or Passive Insight), you may have the creature take 5 fire and radiant damage. This increases to 10 damage at 11th level, and 15 damage at 21st level.

Level 10. Relentless Terror. Whenever you roll a 1 to 7 on an Endurance or Intimidate check, treat it as an 8.


[FONT=&quot]Yerasol Veteran[/FONT]

No idea.

 

[gideonpepys]

I like the 'minimum roll' abilities such as relentless terror. It will all turn to dust is very cool too.

 

[mcmillan]

I really like the gunsmith modification options, I'm not sure about the sharing enhancement bonus for firearms though. Mechanically it seems to be intended to limit the number of enchanted weapons you need to acquire, but storywise I have a hard time picturing why this would work.

I also like gideonpepys' suggestion that the Spriit Medium can summon some kind of spirit companion. Spirit Medium also seems like it would be a good theme to get the minimum 8 on a skill roll, maybe Streetwise or History?

For Martial Scientist, gideonpepys' idea of an expanded crit range seems nice to give the feel of studying an enemy to find their weakness, but seems likely to either be overpowered if you know it will be used, or too risky if you have to say you're using it before a roll. Maybe giving a brutal property to the weapon so you roll higher damage can have the same feel. Another idea for Martial Scientist is to use Int in place of some other stat for a skill roll.

 

[Morrus]

I hate itty bitty +1 bonuses. They're both fiddly and boring.

 

[gideonpepys]

I hate itty bitty +1 bonuses. They're both fiddly and boring.

I'm inclined to a agree with you there, actually. But players really love 'em. Bonuses to attack are always gratefully received, I find. Still, the whole point of themes is to be flavourful, so I'd always eschew such bonuses in favour of something more interesting.

Of all the suggestions I made - and I'm no game designer, so I make no claims to have provided any real solutions - the gunsmith one is most useful I think. It makes it possible for any class - a fighter, a warlord, a rogue - to make use of pistols for more than just the man with two guns... Otherwise, only very specific classes can utilise the theme.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ok, so no fiddly numerical bonuses. More flavorful things.

What elements of the existing themes don't work as well as they could? Like, the Gunsmith theme was intended both for people who wanted to be all guns all the time, and people who wanted an excuse to bust out some pistols occasionally, but otherwise use their normal class abilities. True, a cleric gunsmith won't be using guns all the time, but that's not what his class is built for.

 

[gideonpepys]

All of the themes work well, imho, and are very flavourful. They add a lot to a character and individualise them nicely. So our vanilla dwarf fighter is truly unique with the addition of the eschatologist theme (or, at least, unique to us!) and our executioner assassin technologist has more than just damage dealing to concern himself with during the course of a game. (Though he still hasn't worked out how to use his wee contraption to his advantage.)

 

[Morrus]

All of the themes work well, imho, and are very flavourful. They add a lot to a character and individualise them nicely.

I'm strongly of the opinion that if a theme power doesn't add a lot to a character and individualise them nicely it shouldn't be there.

Then again, I think the same about class powers - but I know I'm on a losing battle there!

 

[mcmillan]

What elements of the existing themes don't work as well as they could?

One theme that I think has a lot of unused potential is the Martial Scientist. I really like the flavor of it, but the mechanics seem to not really reflect a person who has spent years studying how to fight. Being a (non-martial) scientist myself, I see a tendency for us to hone in on the little area we know and try to use everything in the terms that we have been studying. If anything the Experimental Strike seems to go the opposite direction.

I really liked the suggestion of determining what a thesis project would have been for the character. This seems a good thing to build on, both as a way to make a character unique and also reflect that whatever they studied would be something that they're really an expert at. Unfortunately I'm a little stuck for a suggestion of how that would work beyond giving "fiddly numerical bonuses"