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For me the problems with the themes are:

1. The starting feature really has to be errata'd to last until the next extended rest.  1 item, 1 hour, really?  That's way too short a time frame, even for Indiana Jones standards, don't you think?

2. Just like Linguist, Jack of All Trades and most other non-combat features of D&D 4E, the entire theme occupies a potential combat slot.  So choosing between a minor action attack (Sohei Flurry) and Treasure Hunter is... well, not a really difficult choice to make for most.

3.  Probably the biggest problem of all is in p.223 of the Player's Handbook:

Most of the time, you can determine the properties and powers of a magic item during a short rest. In the course of handling the item for a few minutes, you discover what the item is and what it does. You can identify one magic item per short rest.

Some magic items might be a bit harder to identify, such as cursed or nonstandard items, or powerful magical artifacts. Your DM might ask for an Arcana check to determine their properties, or you might even need to go on a special quest to find a ritual to identify or to unlock the powers of a unique item.

 

Not only does this section blatantly allow auto-identification of most items, but because most items are automatically identified -- yeah you can play this straight and say that players don't get to identify more than one magic item per short rest, but nothing really prevents PCs from taking multiple short rests if they have the time to spare for it -- I have yet to see a D&D 4E table that runs a game where acquired magic items aren't immediately identified.

For games that heavily utilize the second paragraph of the said page, the Treasure Sense power is [almost] a boon.  Almost, because of the fact that the daily utility is only worth 1 hour, which, when considering the distances you'd have to run in order to find/aquire materials even within the local districts of a regular-sized city.

Apr 26, 2012 -- 11:00AM, Style75 wrote:

Apr 26, 2012 -- 8:05AM, chaosfang wrote:

Not only does this section blatantly allow auto-identification of most items, but because most items are automatically identified -- yeah you can play this straight and say that players don't get to identify more than one magic item per short rest, but nothing really prevents PCs from taking multiple short rests if they have the time to spare for it -- I have yet to see a D&D 4E table that runs a game where acquired magic items aren't immediately identified.

You should play at my table. PC's can only immediately identify common items. Uncommon items require an arcana check to ID, while an unkown rare item can have a variety of effects. Sometimes they're so powerful they announce their presence while other times the players have to do extended research to figure things out. Sometimes they have to use it for a while to determine exactly how it works. It really depends on story which is the most important thing in my game.

Automatically knowing everything about every object you find? yawn.....

And remember, the players handbook says most of the time. Not all of the time. The rule as stated is not rock solid and is clearly left to the purview of the DM to determine. In the kind of game where players are choosing the treasure hunter theme (most likely because they know they will be hunting valuable treasure), I would argue the DM should feel free to make the players work a little harder to figure out those rare items they are finding.

That is certainly true, but again because
1. Rarity was only introduced shortly before Essentials came in
2. Majority obviously don't play the same way as on your table (otherwise the theme's initial power wouldn't have such had bad reception)

that's why it has far less value than most, if not all other themes.

Personally I would love to have that work that way -- removing the Identify Item spell and reducing it to an Arcana check for the most part is needless bookkeeping removed -- and I do have a similar plan for my games (except I would assume that the group would take 20 on their Arcana check, or pay someone to make an Arcana check, and given the world is set in Eberron, there's little need for me to go for "make an Arcana check" for most things).  But again, most groups blatantly ignore the second paragraph, which is why it is problematic.

And by the way, I don't know if you're taking me out of context, or what not, but for the benefit of the doubt I would like to point out to you that I did mention the following:

For games that heavily utilize the second paragraph of the said page, the Treasure Sense power is [almost] a boon.  Almost, because of the fact that the daily utility is only worth 1 hour, which, when considering the distances you'd have to run in order to find/aquire materials even within the local districts of a regular-sized city.

Yes on your table the Treasure Hunter theme is awesome.  But only if it takes 1 hour to go around and learn more about the item.  The way *I* see it is that even if you dedicate an entire hour running around a city and learning all that you can learn, it'd be no better than studying an entire year's lessons in 1 hour for an exam, except in this exam the consequences might include the destruction of your team, if not the entire universe as you know it (or maybe just being trolled by the DM or what not), just for equipping a cursed magic item or what not.

Again, if it runs well on your table, cool.  For most though...
1. It doesn't work outright
2. Assuming it does work, most of the time 1 hour in-game of inquiries isn't enough, because unless there is only one expert on the item, that one hour would certainly involve going around and talking to people, and unless you're the Flash or you use teleportation galore, we're looking at easily 30-45 minutes of walking, running or riding.   Like I said, it should be a whole day ability (until next extended rest), although as an encounter power it's good too.