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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6077418" data-attributes="member: 463">You can certainly choose class and powers without any regard to the thematics. The beauty of 4e's class & power design is that the thematics are so baked into the mechanics that you act like a brave Paladin just by using the powers effectively. The only guy I can recall 'failing' was the Warlord player who for 3-4 sessions refused to turn over the page on his pregen PC sheet and only ever used the Basic Attack on page 1.  Obviously he did not seem very Warlordy. But all he had to do to play in a thematically appropriate manner was to turn the page. Absolute minimal effort required.IME players are 'pushed' by the system to play in a thematically appropriate manner, because it is mechanically optimal, but they never feel 'forced'. It's not like Paladin or Cavalier mandates in 1e where players benefit mechanically from 'working around' the restrictions. A player can consciously ignore all the thematics but they still come out in play. My player Stuart played his Wizard PCs completely as pawns, zero personality, but they certainly still acted in a thematically appropriate manner in combat. Whereas I recall 3e Wizard PCs who acted in very un-Wizardly ways that the players felt were promoted/rewarded by the system.It may be that Hybrids cause problems, I've never used the Hybrid rules. And a player willing to cripple his PC mechanically could deliberately go against the thematics of the powers he's chosen (Paladin who lurks at the back and throws daggers); but I don't know why he would want to waste his own time doing so, and I've never seen this in 4e.</blockquote>

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