Themes and Al-Qadim

Scribble · Jul 1, 2010

So, admittedly we haven't seen a whole lot about themes yet, but from what I've seen I think it would be a cool route to go if they wanted to redo Al-Qadim...

Thoughts?

Mentat55 · Jul 1, 2010

I know very little about Al-Qadim, but I think themes would work really well. Looking at the Wikipedia entry for Al-Qadim, most of the classes (or I guess they were probably kits) either map really well to an existing 4e class, or could map well with the help of a theme. For example, the Holy Slayer sounds a lot like an avenger, while the elemental mage could be just a theme, some feats, and focused power selection for a wizard, sorcerer, or even a warlock.

The sha'ir is the only one that looks like it might require a bit more work. I could see sha'irs as (mechanically) shamans, summoning wizards, or even warlocks, depending on how you tweak it.

RigaMortus2 · Jul 1, 2010

Aren't themes already built into the classes already though? There are feats that reward the use of specific powers or energy-based attacks. Even most builds are themed. Want to be a Fire Mage? Pick Wizard and choose Fire based powers and Fire complimentary feats.

Scribble · Jul 2, 2010

RigaMortus2 said:
Aren't themes already built into the classes already though? There are feats that reward the use of specific powers or energy-based attacks. Even most builds are themed. Want to be a Fire Mage? Pick Wizard and choose Fire based powers and Fire complimentary feats.

Well yeah kind of, but themes are an actual thing they're adding into the game with Dark Sun.

To make characters MORE themey.

KidSnide · Jul 3, 2010

Scribble said:
So, admittedly we haven't seen a whole lot about themes yet, but from what I've seen I think it would be a cool route to go if they wanted to redo Al-Qadim...

I agree. In Al-Qadim, they used the special kits to give a mechanical reason for the PCs to take a position in the world. Themes are a 4e-friendly way to produce the same effect. One of the strengths of both settings is that there is enough interesting going on, that you can have PCs who have interesting adventures without being "adventurers" as a profession.

-KS

(That said, my 4e al-Qadim game runs fine with core rules...)