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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riastlin" data-source="post: 5595664" data-attributes="member: 94022">Okay, so here are my ideas riffed purely off the top of my head: 1.  I agree that it would be nice to get around the "feat tax" if at all possible, whether through bonus feats, removal of tax feats, whatever.  As much as I like to think of myself as being "character" and "roleplay" driven its hard for me not to take Weapliment Expertise right out of the gate (unless its a Superior Weap Prof first).   2.  Perhaps a good middle ground that might appeal to both camps is to place the tax/combat feats into the feat pool and remove the non-combat feats.  The "non-combat" feats could then become a function of themes.   3.  This obviously means greatly expanding themes.  Take the noble example given earlier.  Noble Birth becomes not just a background, but also a theme.  Then, at certain levels, you get the option to select from a variety of optional choices within your theme.  So at level 8, the noble themed character could a) gain a steading which could serve as the party's base of operations while not adventuring, b) gain a bonus to diplomacy checks made to gain an audience with public and politcal figures, or c) become a member of a "social club" for the area's elite.   Obviously, this is not a great example as its coming off the top of my head, but it should help to satisfy both the guy who's interested in making his character as effective as possible in combat while also appealing to the person who really wants to develop his character's personality and "character" as much as possible. Doing this also allows certain characters to become more and more effective at certain skills.  The noble character for instance, can eventually become really skilled at diplomacy.  The idea being that all his training as a youth is finally paying off and as he takes a more and more public role, and uses his family's name, people are more and more receptive to him.  Of course, there can also be a give and take in this too.  As the PC starts using his family's name more and more, his family's rivals also take more and more notice of him, perhaps leading to penalties to certain skill checks and interactions in some areas or with some factions.  This should work for most themes as well.  Medics gain bonuses to Heal, Performers can bonuses to Bluff, etc. etc. 4.  At this point, I think it would be difficult to incorporate into 4ed.  Frankly, you are simply changing too much of the theory that went into the design.  Much as was pointed out in the recent Mearls article, every edition has had its own theory with regard to combat vs. exploration, etc.  However, I really like the idea of developing themes further.  I think they are one of the great successes of 4th Ed and its just a shame it took so long to bring them on board.  Themes become then the way to differentiate characters from each other, even differentiating one cleric from the next, etc. 5.  Not sure you'll ever see a dramatic reduction in the number of available feats.  WotC is in the business of making money and the easiest way for them to make money is to provide more content.  That means either new print books, or updates through DDi.  If DDi only had the CB, MB and VTT, it would still likely do well, but not nearly as well as it will do with access to Dungeon and Dragon.  For better or worse, feats are the great unifier.  Not everyone cares about the next Class Acts:  Warlord article, but feats that can be used by the majority of players will always get a look over, plus they require less design resources.  I have no problem with wanting fewer feats, after all it makes a lot easier to design a character, but I just don't see it happening.</blockquote>

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