Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Bera Sep 20, 2010 9:24:31	Given that the theme is supposed to be the third pillar of character creation, does anyone feel like some of them are rather lackluster or downright useless? I ask because some of them seem rather loosely tied to their supposed roles, and some of the encounter powers just seem a bit, well, useless or at least hard to use. Gladiator seems to make a better striker with 2[w] damage and slowing than Wasteland Nomad or Athasian Minstrel, and Noble Adept hardly feels like a controller at all. Why does Noble Adept get a power point mechanic but not Wilder? The warlock in my group wants to switch to be a Dune Trader instead of in the Veiled Alliance because shifting 4 after an attack will get him out of melee better than a ranged-attack that makes him invisible to one creature. Clearly, we haven't been playing very long, and maybe the themes will start making more of an impact in the game soon. They just don't quite seem to be doing their job yet though.
#2 Nyarlathotep Sep 20, 2010 10:04:19	They all seem useful to me.  Do they all seem useful to every class and every concept?  No.  But can they all be useful to someone, I'd say yes.  I.e. two of the ones you singled out were the two most used and useful in my first game this weekend, Noble Adept and Veiled Alliance.  Our Veiled Allaince bard would use his theme power not to keep himself out of melee, but to allow other party members who were in trouble to slip away.  And our Noble Adept was getting a lot of milage out of setting up other players or herself for big attacks (though I will admit, the Noble Adpet feels more like a Leader than a Controller so far, because of that).  I think its all a matter of finding the right theme for the right player, personally.