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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Redbadge" data-source="post: 5886615" data-attributes="member: 61463">A couple of people have already mentioned how "pure" Themes and Backgrounds might pale to to customized sets of Feats and Skills when viewed at the same table, especially after a couple of years of splat. Obviously, it is impossible to speculate much more past this without more information about the system, but I don't see the problem in trying to envision any potential problems ahead of time.Consider the following hypothetical example in which 5e feats closely resemble 4e/3e feats (obviously they may not, which renders this thought experiment less useful). Assume that I want to offer full customization to those of my players that really enjoy it (my brother-in-law), while also entertaining a player who has a bit less system mastery, wants to limit complexity in character building, but is all about the flavor (my little brother). Also assume that numerous sources of new themes and feats have come out since the 5e release, and that I allow all of them (obviously, I can ban a subset if I choose, but in this case I don't). We're playing in the Eberron setting.My brother picks the Sage Theme at level 1. He gets the following feats:Linguist (Three new languages)Master Scholar (Roll twice on knowledge checks)Ritualist (Casts rituals faster and cheaper)My brother-in-law also decides to pick the Sage theme. However he decides to replace Ritualist and Linguist with 2 new feats:Mark of Scribing (4 new languages, casts rituals faster and cheaper, +2 to Arcana checks)Fire Lance (Gain Fire Lance at-will)Well, when and if my brother finds out that my brother-in-law gave up basically nothing compared to him to gain +2 to Arcana and an at-will, he's going to be disappointed with his choice to pick the pure Theme (note these types of scenarios are already common in prior editions; I just think that themes might be a tool to combat this disparity if they are given a minor mechanical advantage specific to that theme).I'm not saying that it will turn out this way, just that it is very possible. If themes don't have some minor mechanical advantage built in (in this case I might give my brother a free spellbook, which is normally 50 gold, plus maybe an extra ritual known at first level, so he can feel good about having taken a pure theme, rather than dissatisfied), then the feats will have to be very well balanced.In other words, you can't have a Berserker Theme containing a feat giving +1 to charge attacks (or a Dual Wielder theme giving +1  to offhand attacks, etc.), while still having a feat in the game like Weapon Expertise, which gives +1 to all weapon attacks. And this is just one example; there are numerous other comparisons that can be made in prior editions.</blockquote>

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