What are themes?

[Plane Sailing]

I see mention of 'Themes' in dark sun, and in a forthcoming issue of the Dragon, but what are they?

What is the principle, how are they used?

Could someone give me an example?

Thanks

 

[malraux]

The equivalent of Paragon Paths or Epic Destinies for the heroic tier.

 

[Mummolus]

They're a third pillar of character creation.

The idea is that a theme is powers a character may have picked up over their life, transcending race and class. For example, gladiators could be of any race or class, but they would still have certain things in common - therefore gladiator is a perfect theme (and an excellent one, for the record).

Until now they've only been available in Dark Sun, and there were only 10. The upcoming issue of Dragon has 15 more, and apparently there are more in the Neverwinter Campaign Setting due out later this year.

Themes typically grant some sort of minor bonus as well as a weak encounter power. Whether WoTC sticks with that for these new themes remains to be seen, but I hope so. in addition, themes provide utility powers and attacks which can be chosen at higher levels instead of class or race powers.

 

[The Little Raven]

I see mention of 'Themes' in dark sun, and in a forthcoming issue of the Dragon, but what are they?

What is the principle, how are they used?

Could someone give me an example?

Thanks

Themes are like the Z-axis of characters (with Race being X and Class being Y). They have a power source, but are open to all characters (since they currently lack requirements). They provide you with a bonus encounter power/feature, and give you a list of powers from 2-10 that can be swapped with your class powers. They are all designed to function off your primary ability score, so you never need to worry that you're picking a theme whose power will be useless to you in terms of attack/damage bonuses (though you may run into issues with implement-using themes if you only use weapons).

An example is the Escaped Slave theme. You select it at 1st-level, and it gives you Bluff as a skill and the Hidden Strike power/feature (which is triggered by you hitting someone, and it makes it appear the attack came from someone else and makes you invisible to them temporarily). Then, you can select to swap any of your powers at 2-10 with the powers available to it. The powers are tied to the theme, so you'll find things concerning survival in the Escaped Slave list, but not things like knowledge or arcane power.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thanks for the information. It sounds like a good idea, one could almost wish that it had been part of 4e from the get-go, but I suppose they hadn't really though of it yet at that point.

 

[Aegeri]

Thanks for the information. It sounds like a good idea, one could almost wish that it had been part of 4e from the get-go, but I suppose they hadn't really though of it yet at that point.

If only I had a dollar for every time someone has said that. They really are a very natural feeling part of 4E and add to the heroic tier immensely. It really makes the first few levels feel a little less limited, while not dramatically affecting later tiers very much at all. It's one of the best "win-win" additions to 4E.

 

[DNH]

Does anyone else remember (and I may well get a reply with a url or a direct quote here; here's hoping), ooh, must be three years ago now, that Wizards were saying something about how race would be with you throughout your character's career? I mean, obviously, the character will always be the same race but they were talking about how the decision would have an effect beyond the cosmetic and the initial stats. I seem to recall something about racial powers that you could select in place of class powers, right through from 1st to 30th level.

Couldn't themes be used as a method of implementing that?

 

[Dice4Hire]

Does anyone else remember (and I may well get a reply with a url or a direct quote here; here's hoping), ooh, must be three years ago now, that Wizards were saying something about how race would be with you throughout your character's career? I mean, obviously, the character will always be the same race but they were talking about how the decision would have an effect beyond the cosmetic and the initial stats. I seem to recall something about racial powers that you could select in place of class powers, right through from 1st to 30th level.

Couldn't themes be used as a method of implementing that?

I think multi-classing and races would be better as themes.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Does anyone else remember (and I may well get a reply with a url or a direct quote here; here's hoping), ooh, must be three years ago now, that Wizards were saying something about how race would be with you throughout your character's career?

I'm sure I remember that from the previews.

 

[Zaran]

I'm sure I remember that from the previews.

I think they decided all the racial feats was good enough for that. We were also supposed to have builds that revolve around choice of weapon or shields and while the fighter has that sort of thing and we have feats I have felt that it wasn't what I was lead to believe.