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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Badwe" data-source="post: 5568169" data-attributes="member: 61762">The weakness sort of highlights why this didn't make it to print.  I don't think these could have worked in print, but they seem reasonable in dragon.  Admittedly, they feel more like an unearthed arcana article than actual new options.The themes that grant items definitely cements that themes live in the heroic tier and will slowly fade out in importance compared to paragon paths, which are much more mechanically robust.But yes, these are clearly not something easy and out of the box you can just plop in, which puts their potential for LFR in jeapordy.  Also, if these were available in 2008 when I first started DMing, I would have had no idea what to do with them.  They are very open-ended and the PCs would likely have been more ambitious with the flavor text than I would have been able to adjucate.  So I would say they are not very good for a DM just getting started out, who needs simple PCs and simple, hack and slash adventure.However, 3 years of DMing later, I am intrigued by the level of commitment these particular themes offer.  Now, this is highly situation, I'm at a point in the arc of my growth as a DM where I am trying to imagine rules and ideas that I can give to my PCs that will spur them to think outside of their character sheet, and the stuff written about, for example, the noble, is the kind of stuff that would fit well with that.  Perhaps, then, I'm a bit biased towards liking these when they are somewhat lacking in universal appeal.</blockquote>

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