Blog: Background and Themes a closer look.

[Wednesday Boy]

I love the idea of group backgrounds. It helps establish a base competency that members of a group would have without having to spend character resources reaching that base.

Slap the tribe group background onto the Wizard, Priest, and Fighter and you have a party with the abilities that are expected for a barbarian tribe without having to be less wizardly, priestly, or fighterly.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I wouldn't be surprised if feats run the gamut from simple and easy to apply and ignore, to the complex - again feeding in to what different players want from their game. I expect we'll see some different things in feats that we're used to as well - Rob throws werewolf in there as a theme, which implies that it could be linked to some kind of feat. I really like the idea of feats being a bit more than they have been in the recent past and I'd love to see more specifics on those different kind of feats.

I can see this as necessary for skills, by their very nature (though maybe not there, either, if skills change enough). For theme/feats, though, it would be extremely nice if the write ups were done such that the theme was presented as a piece, and then listed in smaller print at the end which feats made that up, for those that want to tinker. A crude (lousy flavor) example:

Thog Smash theme: Get +1 to hit, +1 to damage with the big weapon of your choice. Can take a -2 to hit, to gain a +4 damage, with any weapon. Gain +2 damage on charges. (fluff goes in here somewhere, then at end, have one line with something like) Feats: weapon expertise, weapon focus, power attack, improved charge.

As opposed to some super-charged flavor, no mechanics, followed by a list of feats that you get, to record on your sheet. If themes are only (or even mainly) list of feats, then they are "super feat" blocks, and it would be nice to be able to treat them as such, without touching the internals.

 

[Gadget]

Sounds very intriguing, but...

I'm concerned that the need to have themes be made up easily broken out pieces (i.e. feats) that can be taken independently will result in them being somewhat bland and uninspired. One of the good things about Themes now is that they are balanced as a whole package and don't have to worry about someone just 'raiding' it for the good stuff and moving on. This gives one a lot of design leeway when creating a Theme that the purposed system will not have. I'm also concerned that feats will, as in past editions, bear to great a design burden: they will become the dumping ground or quick fix mechanical tool of choice to introduce new element of make up for perceived shortcomings of the system.

 

[BryonD]

Sounds good

 

[YRUSirius]

I mean, it sounds like themes and backgrounds don't do anything to reduce complexity--you still have to keep track of a bunch of skills and feats. You're just having your choices dictated for you. Players hate that.

Newbies love that. 5E feats seem to be nothing more than some kind of class features at the higher levels. It isn't that hard for a 3E rogue player to keep track of his class features, or is it? And if it is, just don't use feats and the DM will adjust his encounters accordingly

-YRUSirius

 

[Greg K]

One of the good things about Themes now is that they are balanced as a whole package and don't have to worry about someone just 'raiding' it for the good stuff and moving on.

It says that the DM can set limits by determining how swapping is handled. DMs that worry about players "raiding" should do their job and tell the offending player, "No!". It will be just like 3e where abuse of the multiclass system and PrCs was just as much an issue with the DM not taking responsible control of the game as described in the DMG as with the offending player(s).

 

[Daven]

It is more convenient to choose from a list of maybe 50 themes two years of publications after player's handbook 1, than to choose from 200 feats on the same year. The thing goes ever better after 4 years of publications.
My friends would certainly be less shocked than they appear now when they look at feat list on character builder. And they get shocked every even level!
Maybe Maurizio would read every theme and pick selected feats, but certainly Giuseppe would only choose Soldier, Better Soldier, Best Soldier Ever. Then Davide would look after the most better picture of a theme and choose that one.

 

[Greg K]

I am just hoping that advanced themes (Arcane Archer, Shadowdancer, etc. ) are not built in assumptions for playing the games at certain levels as was the case of Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies. I despised Paragon Paths and Epic destinies in 4e and most of WOTC's 3e PrCs, but PrCs were at least an optional mechanic.

 

[BryonD]

I am just hoping that advanced themes (Arcane Archer, Shadowdancer, etc. ) are not built in assumptions for playing the games at certain levels as was the case of Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies. I despised Paragon Paths and Epic destinies in 4e and most of WOTC's 3e PrCs, but PrCs were at least an optional mechanic.

This is the one part that also looked iffy to me as well.

 

[YRUSirius]

To my mind, this iteration of D&D should spend less time worrying about Chris (who can't be bothered to learn the rules or wants to play a forty year old version of D&D which he already has on his shelf) and more time worrying about Laura (who is sufficiently interested in the game to buy a book or two).

There are not enough Lauras out there to keep D&D viable as a business for Wizards of the Coast.

-YRUSirius

(And I apologize to each and every real Laura out there. )