Final Character Theme Article Up: Heroes for Hire

[Aegeri]

So it's now up and we have all of the new themes. Having a quick read through there is nothing of the woeful level of Animal Master and nothing of the "Man Whut" factor of Order Adept. Fit quite nicely into the majority of these themes power levels and have some neat benefits. I still miss the fact they aren't like the Dark Sun themes I was expecting, but in saying that the majority of them are pretty interesting and add to a game.

I think the fact all of the bonuses provided tend to be power bonuses will give some indication of the errata the previous ones might get (as they are untyped right now). Overall at least most of them are of the same rough power level. Plus all of these don't have waffly mechanics (Seer, Guardian) either, which I see as a considerable plus.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

You mistakenly linked to the release thread instead of the article. The actual link should be:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Heroes for Hire)

 

[Neverfate]

I'm almost afraid to look at Explorer. I think between Animal Master and Noble being the themes I was most looking forward to in their respective articles, I rather just skip the hassle of themes and just call my character an explorer or a noble or an animal master.

Edit: Actually you are correct, Aegeri. I quite like it. Exploration is my favorite part of D&D and those are the kinds of features I really dig.

Edit 2: It seems while they were waiting for art to finish the article they took a lot more time to edit (and thus not need errata). Other than a small overlap between Mercenary and Outlaw (2 features of differing level are identical) most of the features are useful and well designed. None of that lazy "oh, you get a common item because you know someone" stuff. I look forward to the errata of the other 3 articles now that make everything power bonuses (though Animal Master needs more help that that).

 

[Aegeri]

That was odd, because I copied and pasted the link from the original thread. In any event, I have fixed it. Personally I am most curious to see what revisions these themes get before their inevitable insertion into the CB next month.

Edit: Never fear Neverfate, it doesn't suck! It's actually quite good! Huzzah!

 

[Locutus Zero]

I'll take Outlaw for my Dark Sun Hunter.

A controlly encounter power and ignore difficult terrain in the desert? Sure!

The level 10 buff and the utility powers aren't screaming out to me, but that's fine.

 

[interwyrm]

Guttersnipe is worrisome.

The encounter power is (in general) better for huge hulking heavily armed types, and the level 5 benefit screws with the intended wealth balance. Every party should have one guttersnipe to handle all of their finances.

 

[Kinneus]

Thoughts: Explorer is excellent. A powerful option, to be sure, with very useful features, but not in any way overpowered. I quite like it. I especially like the difficult-terrain dependent encounter power they get. I sometimes feel like difficult terrain isn't interesting, and turning it to your advantage fits the flavor of a ranger/explorer/India-Jones type quite well.

Guttersnipe looks a little questionable. Running Slash is a fun level 1 Encounter... good mobility, and a weapon attack vs. Reflex? That'll be useful well into Epic. I anticipate problems with the level 5, feature, though... mainly, everybody in the party giving the Guttersnipe their old gear to sell, and therefore increasing the overall wealth of the party. When you get to higher levels, 10% more for selling an item is a potentially a huge amount of gold. +5 to Streetwise is solid and flavorful, even if Streetwise isn't the most useful skill. I have no idea what the hell getting to roll it as a free action is supposed to do for you, though. I have trouble coming up with an instance where Streetwise wouldn't be a free action. Heck, I have trouble thinking up an example where you'd even want or be able to use Streetwise in combat.

Mercenary's a little bland, but mechanically sound. That level 1 Encounter is going to be a favorite for Strikers, for reasons that should be obvious. Hard to complain about something like that.

For Outlaw, Surprise Strike is sexy, and frankly blows the Wizard's Apprentice level 1 Encounter out of the water, but whatever. Level 5 feature is dubious value. Might be useless for many, many levels in a varied, Points of Light campaign, but if you know your DM is doing Dark Sun or a campaign based in a long trek out into the tundra, it could be potentially pretty useful. Mostly, though, I just don't like the flavor of it for an Outlaw. Something like this seems better-suited to an Explorer, or maybe a "Hermit" sort of Theme where somebody is clearly hunkering down in and adapting to one environment. I picture Outlaws moving all over, trying to evade authorities, so really I just don't see what it has to do with the Theme.

 

[Locutus Zero]

I have no idea what the hell getting to roll it as a free action is supposed to do for you, though. I have trouble coming up with an instance where Streetwise wouldn't be a free action. Heck, I have trouble thinking up an example where you'd even want or be able to use Streetwise in combat.

It's an odd way to put it but I assume they mean in place of spending an hour walking around town getting info, which I believe is how the typical Streetwise check works.

 

[Psikus]

Guttersnipe looks a little questionable (...) I anticipate problems with the level 5, feature, though... mainly, everybody in the party giving the Guttersnipe their old gear to sell, and therefore increasing the overall wealth of the party. When you get to higher levels, 10% more for selling an item is a potentially a huge amount of gold.

Is it? With items selling at 20% of market value, the amount of gold you get from selling gear, with or without guttersnipe, doesn't seem all that great to me. Relative to expected PC wealth (or item cost, for that matter), at least - in absolute terms, I'm sure it will be a ton of extra gold. The cost reduction for your purchases is more DM dependent, since some parties rely more in crafting than in magic supermarkets for investing their hard earned gold... but even then, crafting/shopping should only amount for a small fraction of acquired loot. I don't really think this should cause any major trouble.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Is it? With items selling at 20% of market value, the amount of gold you get from selling gear, with or without guttersnipe, doesn't seem all that great to me. Relative to expected PC wealth (or item cost, for that matter), at least - in absolute terms, I'm sure it will be a ton of extra gold. The cost reduction for your purchases is more DM dependent, since some parties rely more in crafting than in magic supermarkets for investing their hard earned gold... but even then, crafting/shopping should only amount for a small fraction of acquired loot. I don't really think this should cause any major trouble.

I have to wonder just how tight we have to be with gold and treasure... I mean heck if I throw in 2-3 consumable items for free every level and 5-6 rituals on top of th gold would that be ok? If so is a 10% anything?