I figure if I’m going to introduce themes as “what if you want to play a farmer?” pretty universally, it’s only proper for that to be the first theme I post. A few things to keep in mind throughout these examples:
- These are still an untested alpha. All mechanics are subject to change, expansion, or removal.
- Themes are mean to flavor a character, not make one work. Abilities are low-powered intentionally, and a character will only receive five or six of them over their career. So if you see an ability tree and think “I don’t see how this makes my wizard build better”, good.
- I am terrible at HTML formatting.
And with that:
FARMER
You grew up as many do, working the fields to provide food for your family and others. You know the job isn’t glamorous or easy, but it is necessary and rewarding. Whether you dealt with crops, livestock, or a more exotic commodity, you have an appreciation of hard work and a better understanding than most about how to sustain a nation.
Theme Skills: Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge (nature), Profession (farmer), Survival
Theme Feats: Animal Affinity, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Great Fortitude, Toughness
Theme Quests
Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.
- A swarm of insects is consuming crops almost ready for harvest. If nobody intervenes, they will eat entire farms’ worth of goods.
- Livestock is acting strangely, escaping their pens and wandering into precarious situations. Their owners suspect the local fey have something to do with it.
Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.
- A blighter is taking his revenge on a farming family who wronged him in the past. The blighter must be defeated or dissuaded from attacking their land, but the effects of his attacks linger long beyond he stops.
- Farmhands are disappearing for days at a time, coming back haggard and dangerously distracted. The only command thread among them, unknown to anybody, is that they all visited the same tavern the night before their disappearance, a tavern owned by the family who used to own most of the land in town.
Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.
- An army of treants is invading all of the farmland adjacent to a large forest, intent on reclaiming the land from civilization. Stopping them will be a long, dangerous endeavor, during which many people are going without food.
- A normally rare, valuable commodity is flooding the market, drastically affecting the local economy. Somebody needs to find the source of the influx, determine whether it is legitimate, and possibly halt it.
Legendary Quest: Hundreds of acres of farms are being devastated by inclement weather. Torrential rain and tornados are the most common sights, but even they don’t follow any known weather pattern. The source of the change must be found and stopped, and in the meantime an entire nation must be fed. Even after the treat has passed, the land is devastated and may no longer be viable without significant effort.
Theme Abilities
Animal Whisperer (Su): You understand beasts in a way few can without magic. You can make a Handle Animal check to improve the attitude of creatures with an Intelligence of 1 or 2. This otherwise works like a Diplomacy check. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
Early to Rise (Ex): You are used to waking at the crack of dawn. You only need to sleep for six hours to gain the benefits of a full night’s rest. You must still rest for eight hours to regain your spells and other abilities. In addition, you only take a -5 penalty to Perception checks while you are asleep.
Home Remedies (Ex): You know which herbs and plants combat certain bodily afflictions. You gain a +2 theme bonus on Heal checks to treat poison or disease, and if you succeed the character you treat gains a +6 competence bonus on his saving throw.
Improved Home Remedies (Ex): You’ve seen enough mundane sickness to know how to treat it. Your bonus to Heal checks to treat poison or disease increases to +4, and if you succeed the character you treat gains a +8 competence bonus on his saving throw. In addition, you gain a +2 theme bonus on saving throws against poison and disease. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the home remedies theme ability before selecting this ability.
Light Sleeper (Ex): You wake before the dawn. You only need to sleep for four hours to gain the benefits of a full night’s rest. You must still rest for eight hours to regain your spells and other abilities. In addition, you take no penalty to Perception checks while sleeping, and you gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against sleep effects. You must have the early to rise theme ability to select this theme ability.
Market Expert (Ex): You know how to make money at the market. You gain a bonus equal to your theme tier on Appraise and Knowledge checks when dealing with the crops or livestock you handle.
Never Burdened (Ex): No amount of weight can keep you from making your rounds. You are not encumbered by medium armor or a medium load. This does not effect class abilities based on your armor or load, such as a monk’s AC bonus or a wizard’s spellcasting. You must have the pack mule theme ability to select this theme ability.
Ounce of Prevention (Ex): Your everyday activities lend themselves to stopping sickness before it starts. Your theme bonus to saving throws against poison and disease increases to +4. In addition, once per day you can allow an ally within 30 feet to reroll a saving throw against poison or disease. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the improved home remedies theme ability before selecting this ability.
Pack Mule (Ex): Whether through clever positioning or sheer brute strength, you can carry more than it seems you can. You can add your theme tier to your Strength score when determining your carrying capacity.
Advancement Abilities
Adventuring Farmer (Ex): Your understanding of farm life colors your adventuring choices. At 4th tier, select either animals or plants. You gain a +2 theme bonus to Knowledge checks and weapon damage rolls against creatures of the type you chose. In addition, you gain Simple Weapon Proficiency as a bonus feat. If you already have it, you gain a +1 theme bonus to attack rolls with simple weapons.
Crop Master (Su): Your familiarity with nature borders on the magical. At 7th tier, you can spend eight hours tending to an area of fields or natural plants. This duplicates the enrichment effect of plant growth, except the target is a 10-ft radius per theme tier. In addition, you can tolerate hot and cold temperatures as though under the effects of a constant endure elements.
Golden Crops (Su): The animals and plants you produce are the stuff of legend. At 10th tier, once per day you can take one hour to create a meal for up to twelve creatures, using only food you have raised. Large creatures count as two creatures, Huge creatures as four, and Gargantuan creatures as eight. Any creature who eats this meal gains the benefit of one of the following spells, except that the duration is 24 hours: bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, eagle’s splendor, fox’s cunning, owl’s wisdom, or resist energy. You decide which spell to use, and any specifics like the energy type for resist energy, when you create the meal. Your caster level for this spell is equal to your character level.