Themes article up

[UngeheuerLich]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page

And it is excactly what I hoped for:

Look at the alchemist. One free item per short rest. I guess we get something similar for ritual casters and martial practices.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

I'm pretty happy with this, but I think it could have had better features for the Order Adept and Wizard's Apprentice at 5 and 10. A +4 untyped bonus to Arcana? Great, now my party's wizard will make Arcana checks even more ridiculously (He already has boosts from background and items).

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I liked it and look forward to seeing more of them.

Interestingly, these themes lack levelled encounter and daily attack powers, but instead have bonus Features that resemble weak class features. I suppose this is to make them Essentials-compatible. I was wondering how that would be handled.

It does represent some power creep, but I have no problem with it, as the flavour boosts are welcome.

 

[JustKim]

The only thing I don't like is that animal minions are going to be fodder. Adventuring is dangerous and animal minions will die, and when they do there's no mechanic to revive them. I don't really get why that is when other companions can all be revived. It doesn't really allow the sort of relationship I'd like a character to have with an animal companion.

Would it break anything to render animal minions unconscious, or allow them to be revived after an extended rest? I don't think so.

I love the alchemist, every character I play is going to be an alchemist from now on. Or at least until the next batch of themes next week.

 

[Matt James]

I'm glad to see themes starting to come back

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

I think the intent with the animal minions was to say to DM's, don't target the animal minions. The comment in the article about animal minions hanging at the edge of the battle until needed was, IMHO, a clue that they're not really valid targets.

 

[mneme]

There's at least one errors -- the Order Adept gets to learn wizard utilities "of a certain level" (pretty clearly this lacuna was intended to be set before printing).

Also, while it's not an error, exactly, the Order Adept utility is arguably more useful for characters multiclassing into arcane classes than for actual arcane characters.

A wizard will get his 1st, then 3rd, then 7th level power back, has to be deep into the fight, and won't get his 11th level power back until he's in epic levels, and will never get anything higher than an 11th level power. Wheras a multiclass Artificer/Battle Engineer can get back Greater Magic Weapon, starting at level 11, and can use it, if he likes, to use GMW two rounds in a row.

 

[WalterKovacs]

The only thing I don't like is that animal minions are going to be fodder. Adventuring is dangerous and animal minions will die, and when they do there's no mechanic to revive them. I don't really get why that is when other companions can all be revived. It doesn't really allow the sort of relationship I'd like a character to have with an animal companion.

Would it break anything to render animal minions unconscious, or allow them to be revived after an extended rest? I don't think so.

I love the alchemist, every character I play is going to be an alchemist from now on. Or at least until the next batch of themes next week.

The basic assumption is that the animal will only really get involved for the few powers shown, and would generally avoid the fight (and not present much of a credible threat anyway). Mechanically speaking, once level 5 hits, they could just as easily refluff the "can get a new companion after each rest" to "can revive your existing companion at each extended rest".

Regardless, the animal companion one seems to be a bit weak compared to the other themes (there are probably some good out of combat uses for animals that can, I guess, be commanded to disable a trap or unlock a door, etc ... but the other classes get an actual attack power).

I really like the alchemist (it reminds me of a prestige class for a d20 World of Warcraft book that basically allowed you to create a certain amount of free potions, that basically worked as an altered spell caster). I always wanted to use alchemy items, but the cost seemed a bit prohibitive. This way you get to pick one and it becomes an encounter power basically ... definitely worth the cost to buy some extra recipes since most with automatically level up with you ... and if you end up in an adventurer with recurring monsters with a vulnerability, you can stock up the rest of the party with alchemy items made the old fashioned way.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

Great article. I'm not sure how useful Beast master is. I certainly know that I would never get a theme that is so relient on a minion animal companion, that goesn't get better defences, and is so likely to be taken out early in the combat. Sure it's great that it "hangs out in the back", except some of the powers require the companion to be adjacent to you. One area attack and the animal is dead. It should maybe get better defences as the beast master increased level?

 

[Aegeri]

No attack powers beyond level 1 to swap :/ Guess they had to fit in with essentials somehow. I really don't know how to feel about this. I can't help but be disappointed they don't offer the same options as the DS themes do. I am wondering if these themes will get paragon paths and some feats as well. Probably not.

As to the themes themselves: Alchemist will be useless until we can create the vast majority of uncommon alchemy items (alchemy has 1 common item now, it's in the article IIRC). It's relatively nice though and I think isn't a bad choice.

Animal Master is just rubbish. That was a huge disappointment, I was hoping for something that worked well with sentinel druid or beastmaster ranger in some way.

Order Adept is absolutely off the wall insane. Any character can get shield without needing to PMC! That's just frigging amazing! Not to mention it's got a solid controller power built into it as well! This one definitely needs some clarification: Do I get my normal fighter utility (or whatever) AND can get my wizard utility? Or do I have to powerswap a fighter utility for the wizard utility (it's not 100% clear from the article). Either way anyone has to appreciate just how damn good it will be for a defender to have access to shield. It's by far the strongest theme in the article.

Wizards Apprentice is really good as well and comes with a level 1 ranged daze power as well. The common item thing will be better once more are added into the game. Given commons tend to be IMO some of the better items, it's not a bad deal at all.

Overall a really mixed bag for me. I can't help but feel a bit disappointed as Animal Master is rubbish... again. What is with Wizards and making classes with Animal Companions specifically gimped? I'm not happy with gutting out the encounter and daily attack power swap choices, but whatever, essentials probably demanded that. The themes are pretty neat and flavorful though, but one could use a whack already with the nerf stick and a few others could use a distinct boost.