Theme/background

[italianranma]

I just finished listening to the PA Dark Sun podcast (which was hilarious and inspiring) but I was curious about the Theme/background that was mentioned. Tycho says they're something like a paragon path you take at character creation, and I wonder is this something that was introduced in PHB3? or is it unique to the Dark Sun campaign?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Comes from Dark Sun apparently. People have done some reverse engineering based on pre-gen character sheets etc. Basically you get an encounter power and access to other powers/feats at level 1. Presumably we'll see non-DS themes as well at some point.

 

[Camelot]

I like that they're expanding on the mechanical options a background gives you. It makes it much easier to come up with interesting characters, at least for my players who just make treasure hunters with no previous connections or sometimes even personality.