Dragon #399 (4e).pdf

Developing your character into someone who has a

rich story can be a fun and rewarding process. You

likely have an idea of what race and what class you

want to play, but you might have only a general idea

of what your character’s life was like before you start

playing the character at the gaming table. A theme

can help you f lesh out your character and provide

some interesting options for developing his or her

background.

This article discusses how to use character themes

in both character creation and the makeup of a party,

and it goes on to detail four character themes: the

alchemist, the animal master, the order adept, and

the wizard’s apprentice.

Character Themes

Heroes of Nature

C haraCter t hemes

Your character’s theme is a career, calling, or iden-

tity that describes who he or she is in the world.

Just as race and class create basic definitions about

who your character is, theme adds a third character

component to help refine your story and identity. For

example, you might be a human wizard who chooses

the alchemist theme, but “human alchemist” might

mean many different things. You might live in a vil-

lage and sell useful items to the locals for use in their

everyday needs. Perhaps you live in a town among

other wizards and want to travel to see more of the

world. Or perhaps you roam the forest or swamp, pro-

tecting its creatures from external threats with your

items because you consider the natural balance of the

area to be sacred. Each theme can encompass several

unique stories within the same concept.

A theme can embrace characters of different

classes. For example, many alchemist characters

are wizards, but a rogue with a particular interest

in providing his or her own means of disappearing

quickly might pick up a few formulas and learn how

Ma y 2011 | Dragon 399

and Lore

By Richard Baker

Illustrations by RC Torres and Craig J. Spearing

Character Themes: Heroes of Nature and Lore

to make them. A wizard’s apprentice might work

with the arcane arts, but he or she doesn’t have to

be a wizard—a druid with this theme might have

started out learning from a wizard and instead

decided to follow a different path. A few themes are

narrow enough to be limited to certain classes or

races—for example, a theme intended for characters

who use the arcane power source, or a theme for

dwarf characters—but most themes are open to any

character.

Using Themes

to Create Characters

Themes offer a wide array of character creation tools.

You might choose a class that is identified strongly

with the theme already so that you can reinforce your

character’s role with the powers that are available.

For example, the wizard’s apprentice offers theme

powers that work well for controller characters, so

if you’re playing a wizard, the wizard’s apprentice

theme lets you put a new spin on your role.

You can also use a theme to take your character

in a new direction, adopting a story role your class

otherwise wouldn’t provide. For example, a fighter

who chooses the animal master theme can gain some

useful striker powers. This sort of combination is a

natural tool for building the story of your character:

Why would an animal master be a fighter? Is he or

she a follower of a deity that defends nature and so

he or she chooses to have an animal help achieve

specific goals? A warrior who loves to distract his or

her opponents in combat by using a creature? Taking

a theme that isn’t an obvious fit can offer all sorts

of interesting story-building possibilities for your

character.

Perhaps the best way to think of your charac-

ter’s theme is this: What were you immediately

before you became an adventurer? How would

you describe yourself to someone else in the game

world? Even a class name isn’t necessarily an obvi-

ous part of a character’s identity; after all, if you see

a highly skilled sword-wielder in leather armor,

that person might be a fighter, a rogue, a ranger,

or a paladin. A theme, on the other hand, can be

something that is obvious to the character and to

everyone else, too. If you create alchemical items,

you’re an alchemist. If you’re supporting the goals

of a specific order, you might be an order adept. In

other words, your class is the set of talents you bring

to your theme, and your theme is the story behind

your class.

Themes in the Party

Think about how your character’s theme might

interact with the themes that the other players chose.

Discuss this with them and the DM in the same way

that you might talk about what class or role each

person is playing in the party. The following ideas

might help to create a story of how your characters

come to know one another.

Similar Circles: Some themes can make

characters into natural allies—or at least

acquaintances—when the campaign starts. For

example, the wizard’s apprentice and order adept

themes can both be used for members of an arcane

guild, and such characters might well have known

one another before they started adventuring.

Similar Causes: Many character themes can have

similar goals—at least at first. The alchemist might

decide with the animal master that they need to seek

out a rare plant. Though characters with those themes

might not know each other before they started adven-

turing, they often have a similar outlook.

Different Desires: Characters who choose

themes with different goals can find common

purpose despite their divergent outlooks. These char-

acters can create a bond based on a bargain or an

oath to aid one another in their separate quests.

all for one: If more than one player likes the

same theme, having multiple characters choose it can

be a great deal of fun. Such characters might be old

friends, beloved family members, or rivals who have

Choosing a Theme

A character can have only one theme, which you can

choose when you create your character. The theme

you select grants the benefits described below. You

don’t have to select a character theme if you don’t

want to. Also, you can hold off on selecting a theme,

but most themes represent your unique background

or origin as an adventurer, and they work well for 1st-

level adventurers.

Starting Feature: Each theme includes a feature

that you gain when you select the theme during

character creation.

additional Features: Most themes offer addi-

tional features at levels 5 and 10. You gain an

additional feature automatically when you reach the

appropriate level—it doesn’t replace any of your class

features.

optional Powers: Most of these themes include

a number of powers that you add to the ones from

which you can choose from your class when you

reach the appropriate level. For example, if you’re a

6th-level fighter, you can choose a 6th-level fighter

utility power or a 6th-level utility power from your

theme.

Ma y 2011 | Dragon 399

Character Themes: Heroes of Nature and Lore

been thrown together against their will or knowledge.

The characters might have worked together as a team

before meeting up at the start of the campaign.

If you choose this approach, feel free to adjust the

details of a theme’s backstory. For example, it likely

makes sense for two characters of the order adept

theme to come from different orders.

Making Fun Choices

As you roleplay your character’s theme, avoid making

choices that you think might annoy other players or

make them uncomfortable. For example, your char-

acter might be a wizard’s apprentice who, because

of a sheltered upbringing in a small village, believes

tief lings to be a wholly evil race. However, if you use

that mindset as an excuse to attack your friend’s tief-

ling character, it’s not likely to make for a good play

session. If everyone else in the group seems okay with

a tief ling in their midst, your character is probably

perplexed by what it means. Even if your character

encountered your friend’s tief ling character alone,

choosing to watch and follow that tief ling seems a

wiser decision than attacking on sight. Then, after

you and your friend’s character get to know one

another, it will make sense that they become allies (if

not friends).

Regardless of what makes sense for roleplaying,

sometimes it should take a back seat to what would

be fun for everyone. When you’re confronted with a

situation in which you think your character should

do something that you know the other characters will

not like, think about how those characters’ players

might react. Sometimes the mischievous, improper,

or stupid thing you think your character should do

adds to the fun of everyone at the table. Sometimes

such an action only makes you the center of attention

at the expense of making the game less fun for every-

one else. Make sure you know the difference.

Changing Themes

Your character might discover a different calling at

some point in his or her career and wish to change

themes. For example, your character might begin a

career as a wizard ’s apprentice, but after a few levels,

your group succeeds in overthrowing the evil leader

of a group of wizards and warlocks. After your group

has dealt with the threat, your character is invited to

join an arcane order. You could keep your wizard’s

apprentice theme, ref lecting the start of your adven-

turing career, or you might choose to take order

adept as your new theme as you start learning more

about your chosen subject.

If you have no powers or feats that use your

theme as a prerequisite, you can retrain your theme

choice when you gain a level. If you have a feat or a

power that requires your existing theme, you must

first retrain those to choices that don’t have your

theme as a prerequisite. Then you can change your

theme by retraining at the next opportunity.

Ma y 2011 | Dragon 399

Character Themes: Heroes of Nature and Lore

a lChemist

Masters of a rare and ancient discipline, alchemists

study the properties of mundane and magical ele-

ments. They are keen observers of the physical

world, and many alchemists have extensive interests

in fields of knowledge ranging from astronomy to

zoology.

Although many wizards find the study of alchemy

rewarding, not all alchemists are wizards. Alchemy

does not require the casting of spells or the use of

arcane power; the reagents provide all the magic

that is necessary to create alchemical effects. Any-

body who has a reliable formula, the necessary

ingredients, and the specialized knowledge to follow

exacting instructions precisely can create alchemical

substances and devices. For example, fighters and

paladins sometimes study alchemy for its usefulness

in siegecraft and military engineering, and rogues

find many uses for smoke bombs, lock-eating acids,

and sleeping powders.

Experiment and experience are the alchemist’s

path to understanding, and the vast majority of

alchemists maintain a large laboratory stocked with

a huge variety of tools and reagents. Alchemical

laboratories are expensive, so most alchemists seek

out a wealthy sponsor, such as a royal patron, or a

civic commission. In some lands, sponsorship of a

famous alchemist is a point of great pride, and rival

cities or courts seek to entice alchemists of renown

to establish workshops in the realm. Alchemists

who have no royal patrons support their studies and

experiments by producing mixtures that are useful

to other artisans, or substances that have military

(or criminal) applications. Unsponsored alchemists

have less time or fewer resources available for pure

experimentation, but they’re also not hampered by

meddling or inconvenient requests from the lord or

lady holding the purse strings.

Creating an Alchemist

Adventuring alchemists have little opportunity

to establish large laboratories or conduct lengthy,

involved experiments. However, they have a great

advantage over alchemists who are settled in work-

shops: They frequently encounter rare and unusual

materials that more sedentary alchemists have a

hard time coming by, so they can create potent mix-

tures and substances with much smaller samples

and simpler processes than alchemists who rely on

more mundane materials. Armed with a “traveling

workshop”—a large case filled with small samples of

useful reagents, portable instruments, and working

notes—an adventuring alchemist can prepare almost

anything an ordinary alchemist might brew up in a

full-sized workshop. Adventuring alchemists natu-

rally keep their eyes open for interesting materials,

and they constantly restock their cases with quick

scrapings or samples from the things they see as they

go about their explorations.

AlCheMy CAse

Price: 40 gp

Weight: 20 lb.

This sturdy leather valise includes well-packed

glassware, a burner, a mortar and pestle, and

dozens of jars of common alchemical reagents.

You need an alchemy case, or access to an

alchemical workshop, to use alchemist powers.

Ma y 2011 | Dragon 399

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