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2 years ago ::
Nov 14, 2011 - 11:20AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Feb 11, 2006
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Was flipping through the Neverwinter book yesterday at Barnes and Noble and noticed that the theme gives an encounter power from the start, but also a number of free powers up to level 10 (in addition to Utilities which can be chosen over your class power list).
My memory is a bit hazy on this topic, but I recall that the Dark Sun themes provided only a single encounter power, no additional goodies, aside from the list of powers to replace existing powers.
Are the Neverwinter themes the same as the Dark Sun themes from a game mechanic standpoint? Or are they something different entirely?
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2 years ago ::
Nov 14, 2011 - 11:25AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Sep 21, 2006
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The Neverwinter themes take the same 'slot' but are mechanically built differently as you noted. They also don't grant replacement options for your encounter/daily powers, nor open up feats or PPs.
Some of the Dark Sun themes, I think, remain well regarded for power level even given the competition. Neverwinter style themes are also in Dragon magazine with no particular setting tie, and the new Feywild book, and in general seem to be the standard now. The Dark Sun style themes didn't work so well with certain Essentials classes that broke the mold for building classes.
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2 years ago ::
Nov 14, 2011 - 11:26AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Oct 12, 2005
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You are correct - the Darksun themes were "weaker" in that they only gave you the initial power while the newer themes (both ones in Neverwinter and the ones on DDI) give you some type of benefit to start, a level 5 power, and a level 10 power.
Welcome to ZomboniLand - My D&D Blog http://zomboniland.blogspot.com/
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2 years ago ::
Nov 14, 2011 - 2:58PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2010
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Debatable - the DSCS ones gave you an encounter power free, and encounter, daily and utility swaps. Most of the new ones don't have the later power-swap options. The DSCS ones gave fewer goodies, and the design paradigms are still in development it seems. Some newer themes do offer attack power swaps, some don't, some offer class feature trades for specific classes, some offer no free powers at all, some free items, some discounts on purchases etc etc etc. There's no single setup for themes any more.
And to actually address the key question: several of the DSCS ones are still very much up with the newer ones in terms of power level - particularly Noble Adept. And several of the newer ones, even with all their goodies, suck hard even compared to the worst DSCS ones.
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2 years ago ::
Nov 14, 2011 - 3:01PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Aug 11, 2006
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The game moved to the "feature at 1/5/10, power swap at 2/6/10" model post-Dark Sun; Dragon introduced the new format before the NWCS came out, IIRC, and themes following this model have now appeared in several places.
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2 years ago ::
Nov 15, 2011 - 1:10PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Nov 17, 2009
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I feel it's important to mention that the Dark Sun themes also have some feat support. Some of these feats are good enough to be significant.
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2 years ago ::
Nov 16, 2011 - 3:40AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Jun 19, 2008
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I feel it's important to mention that the Dark Sun themes also have some feat support. Some of these feats are good enough to be significant.
In addition, they grant PP access, but those are quite world specific.
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