Final Character Theme Article Up: Heroes for Hire

[webrunner]

Strange they never came out with one for like, enlisted officer or something.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Oh yes, the alsomighty wealth balance is screwed...

no really... that is just nonsense... really nonsense...

i like how this ability refers to the ritual book btw...

the outlaw level 1 is great, as is the mercenary level 2 utility. 3+1/2 level temp hp and not granting and instead gaining combat advantage including for the triggering attack... any rogue type enemy will hat the mercenary...

the explorer encounter is a bit too specific for my taste. I would call it less useful than the animal master´s encounter, as it is too closely tied to difficult terrain IMHO... it should really be useful in some other situations too...

 

[Klaus]

Strange they never came out with one for like, enlisted officer or something.

Use Chevalier, Mercenary or Bodyguard, depending on the type of officer you want to make.

 

[Neverfate]

the explorer encounter is a bit too specific for my taste. I would call it less useful than the animal master´s encounter, as it is too closely tied to difficult terrain IMHO... it should really be useful in some other situations too...

Unless your animal companion dies. Then you wait a whole month/end of adventure. Unless you're level 5. Keep in mind the DM still has to OK that you're in the right place to gain a new animal pet and only with an extended rest. And in later level it's still gonna be a level one minion that gets eaten by a blast/burst or straight up just targeted.

Difficult terrain is always gonna pop up for a whole career. Heck, most stairs often count as difficult terrain.

But sure, the Explorers encounter power is too specific. lol

 

[Mummolus]

None of these new themes have really jumped out at me, to be totally honest. I thought the Dark Sun themes were much more flavorful and broadly more useful as well. Strange how much difference the switch from an attack power swap to a utility power swap can make.

 

[phoffman]

I like that the Explorer's Benefit is not a power bonus, and think it should remain that way. The skill bonus is pretty limited and narrow. It is a +5 bonus to any skill check to avoid becoming lost, find your way to a specific location, or spot a distant landmark.

This should stack well with the Scout class and their benefits this way, as scouts tend to have a few power bonuses to skills regarding navigation. If they made this theme's skill bonus a power bonus it would make it a poor choice for scouts. [This should be a good choice for scouts not a poor one.]

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

A decent selection. I wasn't inspired to use any of these personally, but overall they appear to be quite utile. I look forward to more themes in the Neverwinter box (and hopefully Heroes of the Feywild, and really, all future character option releases).

 

[Dice4Hire]

I wonder what the odds are of the themes being edited, or will errata have to do the job?

I think errata.

 

[Mengu]

Looking at all 4 articles again, barring Order Adept and Guardian, I think they are pretty well balanced. Guttersnipe level 5 feature is kind of campaign dependent as to how powerful or weak it will be, and Animal Master requires some DM mercy, but in general I like all the themes both mechanically and for flavor.

Order Adept's features, and Guardian's Counter may need some attention to power them down to the level of other themes. Particularly Guardian's Counter seems too powerful to me, especially for heroic levels.

 

[Obryn]

I wonder what the odds are of the themes being edited, or will errata have to do the job?

I think errata.

The articles will be edited. Greg confirmed on the WotC boards that all skill bonuses should be Power bonuses, to keep stacking reasonable. I expect something to happen to Order Adept, too. I hope Animal Buddy gets bonuses to Defenses scaling with level, but that might be asking too much.

-O