DMing with Charisma

I thought real hard about the posting order for these last two themes. Originally I was going to end the month with a bang, albeit one of resignation, and let the dragonkin close out the example themes. But I decided against it, and not just to keep dragons out of their traditional spotlight-stealing role. The whole point of themes is to play up the parts of a character that most adventurers ignore or discard when they get their first class level. It’s only proper that the last theme be just as mundane on the surface but meaningful under analysis as the first. We start with the farmer, and we end with the craftsman.

I went back and forth for a long time on the name of this theme too. “Craftsman” is a placeholder. I want “craft” in the name because this is about people who use the Craft skill, but I rejected “craftsperson” for being too clunky and “crafter” for being too simple (and “craftsfighter” is a very specific in-joke). I also rejected anything with “skill” because that’s a game term, anything with “art” because Artistry is different from Craft in Pathfinder, anything with “expert” because it’s both a class and the name of a theme tier (“expert expertise” is the worst name ever), and any number of other names whose contention wasn’t important enough to even mention. If there’s a word I’ve missed, let me know.

CRAFTSMAN
You know the value of working with your hands. You trained in crafting the sort of items the average adventurer takes for granted, whether they’re made of wood, metal, animal parts, or alchemical reagents. While your allies think of your creations as “the sort of things you buy”, you appreciate the effort and care that goes into every item, and it shows in the rest of your life.

Theme Skills: Appraise, Craft (any), Disable Device, Knowledge (engineering)
Theme Feats: Catch Off-Guard, Improved Sunder, Improvised Weapon Mastery, Throw Anything

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• The market for a popular manufactured good is being flooded with fairly well-made items at great prices, all from a single magician. This is a problem for every other person who makes the same good, and it’s threatening to put a huge hole in the local economy. If the magician doesn’t stop, or if the locals can’t find a way to compete, a lot of businesses are going to close.
• A patron requests a custom item from the craftsman. She’s willing to pay more than normal, though she has very specific requirements about what the item is, including some that set off some red flags. She intends to use the item in a ritual to bind a demon, kill a group of people, or otherwise perform some significant evil. If she succeeds, she is likely to succeed but captured or killed, and the item will put the craftsman in an uncomfortable spotlight.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• Craftsmen of all types are disappearing from a major city and the surrounding area. Their homes and workplaces show signs of kidnapping, and the city watch suspects somebody is killing off the competition somewhere they can’t find. They don’t know the craftsmen are still alive, enslaved to build a giant weapon that will level the city.
• A new guild is gathering skilled craftsmen, guaranteeing them a regular salary in exchange for a portion of their income. Their numbers are already fairly good, as people treat it as a sort of insurance for when times are lean. But as the guild’s cut grows higher and higher and mysterious accidents befall non-guild craftsmen, people suddenly learn the lengths to which the guild will go to prevent anybody from leaving.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• A high-ranking noble or member of a royal family is looking to commission a work from a craftsman. He wants has exacting standards, and though he does not explain exactly what he wants he is insistent that he’ll know it when he sees it. But anybody who offers him something he doesn’t like doesn’t make it home, so in order to get the payment and prestige from having such an influential patron, the craftsman must be certain to get it right the first time.
• Objects are spontaneously animating, seemingly without rhyme or reason. They lack intelligence, so while some can perform helpful tasks others are a danger to those around them. They’re actually gaining motion through a fledging planar portal, whose magic is touching items with a particular composition, maker, or other trait. But only a skilled craftsman can identify the trait the objects share and which objects will animate next.

Legendary Quest: The craftsman has an opportunity to work with a once-in-a-lifetime material, like the still-smoldering remains of a fallen star or the petrified body of an elder treant. It’s the sort of material from which artifacts are made. But the material seems to have a mind of its own and actively resists being molded into something else unless the craftsman somehow proves their worth. At the same time, malign forces are making their way to the material to use it for their own purposes.

Theme Abilities

Craftsense (Su):You can sense when objects in your wheelhouse are nearby. You can cast detect magic at will, except that instead of detecting magical auras you can detect objects for which you have the appropriate Craft skill. You cannot detect schools of magic, but you can determine the quality of an item by making an Appraise check. Objects detected with this ability have no aura, so you cannot detect schools of magic, lingering auras, or whether the objects are magical. You must be at least 7th tier before selecting this ability.
Improved Jury-rig (Ex):You can apply what you know to things you don’t. You no longer need an appropriate Craft skill to jury-rig an item. Instead you can use knowledge from a Craft skill you have. For example, a carpenter could make a wooden splint to hold a sword together, and a blacksmith could create a metal brace to support a wagon. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the jury-rig ability before selecting this ability.
Improved Weak Point (Ex):Your knack for finding flaws in objects extends beyond those you’ve made. You no longer need an appropriate Craft skill to deal bonus damage when attacking objects. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the weak point ability before selecting this ability.
Jury-rig (Ex):You can make repairs on the fly. You can take ten minutes to temporarily repair an object with the broken condition. The object must be one for which you have the appropriate Craft skill. The object loses the broken condition, but if it becomes broken again it is instead destroyed. You can repair the jury-rigged item as normal to return it to full working condition.
Magical Appraiser (Ex):You know how magic items work. By studying a magic item for one minute, you can automatically identify its properties and requirements. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
Reinforce (Ex):Your items are sturdier than they appear. You can make a Craft check to reinforce objects for which you have the appropriate Craft skill. Reinforcing an item takes eight hours. The DC for this check is 5 + the DC to make the original item. If you fail, the object gains the broken condition. If you succeed, the object’s hardness increases by one-half your theme tier (minimum 1). An object cannot be reinforced more than once, and an object loses this extra hardness if it is destroyed.
Speedy Crafter (Ex):Through trial and error you’ve learned exactly how fast you can work. When you use accelerated crafting, you can add any number to your DC.
Weak Point (Ex):You know where an object’s flaws are. When you attack an object for which you have the appropriate Craft skill, you deal bonus damage equal to half your theme tier.

Advancement Abilities

Magical Craftsman (Ex):You can imbue your items with limited magic. At 4th tier, you gain Master Craftsman as a bonus feat. In addition, you gain one item worth 5,000 gp. This item must be one you could make by taking 10 on a Craft check in which you are trained. This represents your efforts on making this item over time so you do not need to spend time or mundane material to make it, but you must have access to any unusual materials you need.
Trade Secrets (Ex):You have access to enough exotic materials that you can spoof some spellcasting when crafting. At 7th tier, you can ignore the increase to the Craft DC for any one prerequisite you do not meet when making a magical item. In addition, you gain one item worth 20,000 gp. This item must be one you could make by taking 10 on a Craft check in which you are trained. This represents your efforts on making this item over time so you do not need to spend time or mundane material to make it, but you must have access to any unusual materials you need.
True Forger (Ex):You are as capable at creating magic equipment as any spellcaster.. At 10th tier, you can craft magical items of any type. The items themselves must be items you could make with Craft skills in which you are trained, but they can function like any appropriate magical item. For example, a blacksmith could make an iron rod that functioned as a wand. You must still meet any prerequisites, except for this you ignore with trade secrets ability. In addition, you gain one item worth 50,000 gp. This item must be one you could make by taking 10 on a Craft check in which you are trained. This represents your efforts on making this item over time so you do not need to spend time or mundane material to make it, but you must have access to any unusual materials you need.

No matter how I may feel about dragons, I know they are people who will punch me in the neck if there aren’t any dragon-based themes. So, fine, here’s a dragon. It’s longer than the scholar because of course it is.

I’m going with -kin for heritage themes, like celestialkin and fiendkin. My spellcheck still hates it, but it’s shorter and has a fantasy vibe instead of a 90s comic hero vibe.

DRAGONKIN
Whether through heredity or magical experimentation, you have the blood of dragons in you. You may succumb to the fury of a chromatic dragon, deny the haughty arrogance of a metallic ancestor, or hide that your background includes a more exotic dragon still strange enough to be feared. But over time your nature will manifest whether you try to suppress it or not, and you must decide how to react when those around you fear and respect dragons in equal measure.

Theme Skills: Appraise, Climb, Intimidate, Knowledge (arcana), Sense Motive, Use Magic Device
Theme Feats: Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Lunge, Power Attack

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• A dragon wants to carve out a place for himself by making everybody in a village part of his family. By channeling energy from a magical site he has given draconic power and features to an entire village. The people of the village don’t know this and assume they are the victims of a curse, and they seek adventurers who understand their disease to correct it.
• The dragonkin is approached by another adventurer with draconic features, like a half-dragon or dragon disciple. She says that her powers have the same origin as the dragonkin’s, and she wants to dragonkin to accompany her on a quest to find the dragon from whom they came. But it soon becomes clear that she sees her features as a curse, and she’s not looking for understanding, she’s looking for revenge.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• Several dragons of different types have spent decades warring over a plot of land. They’ve decided to settle their spat once and for all with a no-holds-barred battle in which the last dragon standing gains control. But the site they chose is a populated city, and even if the dragons are careful to limit civilian casualties, the allies and foot soldiers they bring in may not be.
• A wizard is offering a potion that can change anybody into a dragon if taken over several weeks. Her demonstrations are convincing, and she has testimonials from people who pass every form of lie-detecting magic. That’s because the potions do work, and they can change anybody into a wyrmling. But they also tax the imbiber, allowing them to live as a dragon for only a few weeks before they burn out and die. Still, a few weeks is more than enough time to lay waste to a small village, a rival’s business, or any other place an unscrupulous person might want.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• After a kidnapping that ended with the death of his child and many good knights, a king has declared all dragons official enemies of the state. Dragons are reacting in one of three ways: some are leaving, acknowledging his decision with sorrow and leaving the kingdom without its traditional defenders; some are asserting their presence, daring the king to drive them out; and some are moving in, seeing the declaration as a challenge. He must reverse his decision before his kingdom becomes the target of more ire than it can withstand.
• A dragon is near death and has asked a group of draconic creatures, including the dragonkin, to battle for the right to his riches and knowledge. Each contestant is allowed to bring any allies they can to an isolated location where they will compete in either lethal or nonlethal combat. But some investigation suggests that the dragon has invited the bodyguards or allies of one of his bitter enemies, and the entire contest may be a ruse to leave that enemy unprotected.

Legendary Quest: Dragons are aging at a terrible rate. Wyrmlings are becoming adults in a matter of weeks, not decades, and great wyrms are succumbing to old age far before their time. Powerful dragons are battling for supremacy with the mindset of children and a real fear of death, too young mentally and too short-sighted to approach the people, creatures, and rivals around them with their normal wisdom. Soon the world will become one without dragons entirely, if there is even a world left ofter when the battles cease.

Theme Abilities

Breath Weapon (Su):You can mimic a dragon’s most iconic attack. You gain a breath weapon, usable once per day per two theme tiers. This is a 15-foot cone that deals 1d6 points of energy damage per three character levels (minimum 1d6). The energy type matches the type you took for draconic hide. Those caught in the area of the breath receive a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your theme tier + your Constitution modifier. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
Extended Lifespan (Ex):Your draconic blood staves off old age. Add 10% to the ages at which you reach each age category and to your maximum age.
Finishing Blow (Ex):Your claws and bite lead up to a single devastating blow. When you make a full attack, your last attack gains a theme bonus to the damage roll. This bonus is equal to the number of natural weapon attacks you used that round. Unarmed strikes do not count toward this total. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the natural fury theme ability before selecting this ability.
Improved Extended Lifespan (Ex):Like a dragon you retain your body and mind as you age. Add a further 10% to the ages at which you reach each age category and to your maximum age. In addition, when you reach a new age category you can forgo the bonus to your mental ability scores. If you do, reduce your penalties to physical ability scores from reaching that age category by 1.
Improved Might of Dragons (Su):You can draw power faster but at a higher cost. Once per day after you roll an ability check you can add your theme tier as a theme bonus to the check. You cannot apply this bonus to a Dexterity check. After making the ability check you become exhausted. This does not replace the bonus from the might of dragons ability, so you can modify two ability checks per day. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the might of dragons theme ability before selecting this ability.
Meditative Blindsense (Ex):You can sense enemies like a dragon, though it takes all of your attention. As a swift action you can enter a meditative state and gain blindsense 60 ft. You can maintain this state for one round per day per tier. While in this state you can only take free actions, though you are not considered helpless. You can divide the duration however you like, but it must be in one-round increments.
Might of Dragons (Su):You can draw power from your blood, though it weakens you. Once per day before you roll an ability check you can add your theme tier as a theme bonus to the check. You cannot apply this bonus to a Dexterity check. After making the ability check you become fatigued.
Natural Fury (Ex):You can attack with all your weapons in equal measure. At the beginning of each day you can change any feats you have that specify a single natural weapon so the feat applies to a different natural weapon. The feat must be able to apply to the new weapon. For example, you can exchange Weapon Focus (claw) for Weapon Focus (bite), but not for Improved Critical (claw), and you cannot use this ability to change a feat that applies only to slashing weapons of your only other natural weapon is a slam.
Night Vision (Ex):Your eyes have adjusted so you can see what dragons see. You gain low-light vision. If you already have low-light vision, you can see three times as far as a human in dim light.
Scaled Vitals (Ex):Your most important organs are protected like a dragon’s. You gain a +2 theme bonus to AC against critical confirmation rolls. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.

Advancement Abilities

Draconic Hide (Ex):Your body shows some of a dragon’s hardiness. At 4th tier, choose one type of true dragon. If you have a racial or class feature that requires you to choose a type of dragon, this type must match the type you selected for that feature. You gain resistance 5 to one energy type of that dragon’s breath weapon and a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against sleep effects.
Draconic Body (Ex):You can shrug off effects like a true dragon. At 7th tier, your energy resistance from the draconic resistances ability increases to 10, and your bonus to saving throws against sleep effects increases to +4. You also gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against paralysis. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the draconic resistances theme ability before selecting this ability.
Draconic Soul (Ex):You ascend to the highest level you can without being a dragon yourself. At 10th tier, you are treated as a dragon for the purpose of spells and magical effects. You gain immunity to sleep and paralysis effects.

Most of the “profession” themes are extensions of a Profession skill. Profession as a skill has always felt weird to me; I don’t understand how it takes as much time and effort to learn to jump as it does to learn how to run every aspect of an independent business, and I say this as a person who has done both business and jumping. Themes let a character extend their Profession skill to other aspects of their adventuring career. Even if a theme does have Profession as a theme skill, like the soldier, there’s still logic in having a Profession skill for almost every profession theme.

Almost.

ANIMAL HANDLER
You are as comfortable with animals as you are with people, perhaps more so. You may be a farmhand, a professional training, or a wilderness expert who befriended animals for survival. You don’t view them as a mean to an end, but as your companions or friends, and your relationship with all animals is one of mutual trust.

Theme Skills: Handle Animal, Knowledge (nature), Ride, Survival
Theme Feats: Animal Affinity, Lightning Reflexes, Mounted Combat, Run, Toughness
Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• An orcish warband is moving into a forest, capturing and killing animals as much for sport as necessity. Their sudden fervor is driven by an unknown motivation, and if left alone they’ll kill dozens of animals each day.
• An important animal trainer has gone missing. Without him, the animals under his care will not listen to anybody and tend to lash out at anybody who tries to interact with them. If he does not return many people could be hurt by his animals, and he had to return before the authorities decide to put them down.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• A large, dangerous animal is on the loose. Stories vary on whether it’s a brutal threat to everything around it or a gentle creature abused by its owners or handlers. Everybody does agree that it needs to be stopped, and it’s far too deadly a target to be handled by the local authorities.
• A sage approaches the animal handler asking for help finding and researching a particular animal. It’s very elusive, enough that most people don’t even believe it exists, and he needs help proving his theories so he is no longer a laughingstock. His drive may get him in far over his head.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• A disease is infecting animals, transforming them into dire versions of themselves. After a few brutal, violent days, the animals die as their bodies fail to handle their new physiology. So far it is believed that the disease has a mundane source, but it could just as easily be the workings of a druid in the final stages of his plan to build himself an army of perfect soldiers.
• Word has gotten out that a world-famous hunter is seeking her most daunting prey yet. Her target is a specific, extremely rare species of animal, one that lives in an inhospitable wilderness days from civilization. Not much is know about this creature except that it is in an incredibly dangerous ecosystem, and killing just a few could spell the end of the entire species.

Legendary Quest: A guild of magical researchers announces the creation of a new level of animal. As dire animal are to normal animals, these “legendary” animals were created through careful research and magical experimentation. But they prove a far greater threat then their creators could imagine, and the animals quickly escape their confinement. It soon becomes clear that they are capable of commanding others of their own kind, and the only thing on their mind is revenge against their captors.

Theme Abilities

Animal Speaker (Ex): Your gestures and commands strike a chord with all animals. You can make Handle Animal checks to improve a creature’s attitude in only 2 rounds, though you take a -10 penalty on your check. You must be at least 7th tier before selecting this ability.
Combat Focus (Ex): Animals raised by you are better suited for fighting. When you make a successful Handle Animal check to rear an animal, the animal gains Toughness as a bonus feat.
Harsh Trainer (Ex): You can more easily break wounded creatures. You gain a theme bonus to Handle Animal checks against wounded animals. The bonus equals half your theme tier, to a maximum of +1 for each 20 points of nonlethal damage the animal has taken. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the whip expert theme ability before selecting this ability.
Improved Companion (Ex): Your bond with your companion grows even when you do not focus on it. You can add one-third your theme tier (minimum 1) to your effective class level to determine the abilities of your animal companion, to a maximum of your Hit Dice. This only applies to animals you gain as companions from a class feature or similar ability.
Night Vision (Ex): Your eyes have adjusted so you can see what your friends see. You gain low-light vision. If you already have low-light vision, you can see three times as far as a human in dim light.
Trainer’s Grace (Ex): Your attitude inspires nearby creatures. Friendly and helpful animals adjacent to you gain a resistance bonus to saving throws equal to one-third tier. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
Whip Expert (Ex): Some animals need a firm hand. You gain proficiency in the whip and you ignore the attack penalty for dealing nonlethal damage with it. You can use a whip to damage creatures regardless of their armor bonus or natural armor bonus, but only when dealing nonlethal damage.
Work Focus (Ex): Animals raised by you are better suited for labor. When you make a successful Handle Animal check to rear an animal, the animal treats its Strength score as 2 higher when determining its carrying capacity.
Wild Motion (Su): You can run with beasts. When you start your turn adjacent to an animal with a climb or swim speed, you gain that movement type for one round. Your speed for this movement type is half the animal’s speed.

Advancement Abilities

Animal Whisperer (Ex): You understand beasts in a way few can without magic. At 4th tier, 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. In addition, you can use Handle Animal to push an animal as a standard action. It you can already push an animal as a move action, you gain a +2 theme bonus to your check.
Sudden Diplomacy (Ex): Your words and actions can soothe a beast before it attacks. At 7th tier, you can make a Handle Animal check to improve a creature’s attitude as a free action when you roll initiative. You can only make this check for one creature, and the check fails if you or your allies have dealt damage to the creature. Whether you succeed or fail on this check, you treat your initiative as though you rolled a natural 1.
Friend to All Creatures (Su): Animals who have never met you trust you inherently. At 10th tier, animals have a starting attitude of friendly toward you unless you or your allies have previously engaged them in combat.

The “other” category of themes stated as professions that weren’t really professions: urchin, royalty, and things like that. One of my players suggested adding things like philosophies and lifestyles, which is where we got the epicurean. Once I started looking at things that way I knew I wanted to make absolutely certain I had at least one theme that flew in the face of typical Pathfinder character design.

This theme borrows a little from the design space of my go at the healer class, but with a completely different power level. I also had to make sure the theme applied to multiple character concepts. It’s easy for a healer to fight without doing damage, but a magus or gunslinger doing the same is a lot more interesting.

PACIFIST
Adventuring is a dangerous profession, for both adventurers and their enemies. Innumerable people have lost their lives in dark dungeons at the hands of terrible monsters, and even more creatures have been slain by those same adventurers. You’ve dedicated your life to preventing this senseless slaughter. Whatever your reasons, you make sure everybody makes it home alive, even the things trying to kill you.

Theme Skills: Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Linguistics, Stealth
Theme Feats: Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Defensive Combat Training, Improved Counterspell, Mobility

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• A dwarf is looking for allies to join him on a wholesale slaughter of kobolds. He believes they have murdered his kin, and he wants a bloody revenge. Even if it costs him his life, he’s going to take as many with him as he can. He doesn’t know that the kobold tribe he wants to attack is not responsible for the killings, but a rampaging dwarf attacking them for imagined crimes is exactly the sort of catalyst that would justify them performing actual invasions of nearby villages.
• A group of young people has formed a party, but in reality they act more like a gang, making shows of force against anybody who crosses them. Why they’re doing it isn’t obvious because they won’t talk to anybody outside of their group. If they continue as they are they will soon get into trouble they cannot handle.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• The laws have changed recently in a large city. In an effort to deter crime, the death penalty is being used to punish smaller and smaller infractions. Not only is this leading to the deaths of various nonviolent criminals or wrongly-accused people, but it’s also driving the citizens to consider a violent revolution to end the practice.
• A once-belligerent warlord is looking for a security detail as he attends a meeting with other leaders of like mind. If the meeting is constructive, the leaders could agree on borders, rules of engagement, and various other things to enforce an era of peace. But there may be any number of people looking to undermine to meeting for their own purposes, including those who want to murder the warlord himself.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• Violence is on the rise. Tense situations are escalating into full-blown combat with alarming speed and regularity, over a large area that includes several settlements are various sizes. All of the combats are small-scale, no larger than a bar fight, but the sheer number of them is starting to affect the stability of government and social institutions. Nobody knows whether the problem has a monstrous, magical, or mundane cause, and anybody who tries to look into it quickly comes to blows with anybody looking at it in an even slightly different way.
• War has broken out between two neighboring nations. Hundreds of soldiers die in every battle, and the toll of noncombatants is rising rapidly. But it’s not clear why exactly the nations are fighting, only that they are. There may be a secret motive or magical compulsion driving the nations’ leaders against each other.

Legendary Quest: A horrifying monster is coming. It may be an abomination from the Far Realms, the judgment of a deity, or the long-slumbering subject of a prophecy, and it will not stop until there is nothing left of its target, even it that target is an entirely country. It cannot be reasoned with or dissuaded, and thousands are willing to lay down their lives to stop it. But if it is killed, an even greater threat is waiting in the wings. It must be stopped, and it must remain alive.

Theme Abilities

Expeditious Healer (Ex): You can make Heal checks as a move action. If you have the reactive stabilization ability, you can stabilize up to two adjacent creatures, and you lose a move action on the following turn for each creature you attempt to stabilize.
Greater Placation (Ex): Enemies avoid you as best they can. When you placate a creature, the target cannot attack you directly or indirectly. For example, it cannot include you in the area of a fireball, even if you are at the center of your allies. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the improved placation ability before selecting this ability.
Improved Placation (Ex): You can appeal to multiple enemies at once. When you placate a creature, the effect lasts for one round plus one round for every 5 points by which you beat the DC. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the placation ability before selecting this ability.
Placation (Ex): You can convince your enemies you’re not worth the trouble. Placating a creature takes a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and has a DC equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier. If you succeed, the target cannot target you with an attack on its next turn. It can still attack you indirectly, as with area effects. You cannot make this check against a creature that does not understand you or has an Intelligence score of 3 or lower. Any act by you that threatens the target ends the effect and prevents you from using this ability again for the rest of the encounter. This is a mind-affecting charm effect.
Quick Healer (Su): You can make Heal checks as a free action. If you have the reactive stabilization ability, you can stabilize any number of adjacent creatures and you do not lose any actions on the following turn. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the expeditious healer ability before selecting this ability.
Reactive Stabilization (Su): Nobody dies on your watch, not even enemies. When a creature adjacent to you falls unconscious, you can make a Heal check as an immediate action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The DC for this check is 10 + the target’s negative hit point total. If you succeed, you stabilize the target, and if the target’s negative hit point total is equal to or greater than their Constitution score, it is instead equal to their Constitution score – 1. Regardless of whether you succeed or fail you cannot use your standard action on your next turn. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
Subdual Expert (Ex): You can target noncritical areas with your attacks or force enemies to exhaust themselves. You take no penalty when dealing nonlethal damage with weapons that deal lethal damage.
Subdual Master (Ex): You excel at nonlethal combat. You gain a bonus to nonlethal damage rolls equal to half your theme tier (minimum 1). You must be at least 4th tier and possess the subdual expert before selecting this ability.
Technique Master (Ex): When combat must occur, you participate without dealing damage. You have a +2 theme bonus to your Combat Maneuver Bonus. If you deal damage to an enemy, you lose this bonus until the end of the encounter.

Advancement Abilities

Halt Combat (Sp): Even a joined battle doesn’t have to end in bloodshed. At 4th tier, you can cast calm emotions and sanctuary each once per day.
Stall Combat (Ex): You can fit an impassioned plea for prudence into a pre-combat lull. At 7th tier, enemies within 30 feet of you take a -4 penalty to initiative checks. You gain a +4 theme bonus to Charisma-based skill checks in the surprise round or the first round of combat.
Prevent Combat (Su): You can halt all activity in battle through sheer force of will. At 10th tier, as a full-round action you can create a 30-foot aura of pacifism. Creatures within the aura are immune to damage and spell effects and cannot take actions that damage or harm other creatures. Creatures can still cast spells with the harmless descriptor. At least half of a creature must be within the aura for it to be effected. You can create this aura for a number of rounds per day equal to half your character level (minimum 1).

If I’m going to namedrop the cook, I might as well post it on Thanksgiving, right? Though I’m probably not posting the pirate, so what do I know.

Profession (cook) and its ilk are probably the second most popular Profession skills I see, after Profession (gambler) which doens’t actually replace Bluff and Sense Motive in the way my characters seem to think it does. D&D has a lot of information about how monsters fight, some about how they live, but almost nothing about how they taste. Given what I know about food now that I didn’t know ten years ago, I figure a character based on eating their way through the Monster Manual could actually be really interesting.

Also I’ve been reading a lot of Toriko and Food Wars. So there’s that.

COOK
Almost everything needs to eat. Even in a world with great magic, fearsome monsters, and noble heroes, this universal constant holds. Whether you trained in a tavern, learned from a relative, or taught yourself, you know how to gather ingredients, separate the edible from the dangerous, and put together meals that not only keep people alive, but keep them healthy in ways they don’t even recognize.

Theme Skills: Appraise, Craft (alchemy), Heal, Knowledge (nature), Profession (cook), Survival
Theme Feats: Brew Potion, Great Fortitude, Master Craftsman Self-Sufficient, Throw Anything

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• A strange plant appears in the local market. It seller insists it had magical properties if prepared correctly, but nobody knows how to do that. Learning its secrets may require tailing the seller to the plant’s source and investigating its habitat and the fauna who consume it.
• The cook happens across an unusual recipe, one with steps like “roast the meat using no fire under the light of a full moon”. It reads more like a ritual than a recipe, but one that requires cooking knowledge and skill to complete. The recipe does not say, however, what the final result will be, or even whether it is desirable.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• A food-borne illness is affecting a city. It affects people regardless of their district or social standing, so it cannot be something restricted to a specific tavern or vendor. Somebody needs to trace the source of the illness before it infects every person.
• There is a legend of a blessed knife, one that can remove all poison and disease from animals preparing using it. Though tales vary, it may even suppress poison in monsters struck by it or heal disease with a cut. Such a tool would be an invaluable asset for any dedicated cook, if he or she can find it.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• A noble of great renown is demanding a meal prepared with the meat of an exotic, dangerous beast. Not only is the creature deadly to anybody who comes unprepared, but its takes great skill to prepare the meat in a way that makes it safe to eat, and doing so may require other unusual ingredients.
• A famous cook is in town. His dishes are world-famous and he makes them available to people of all social strata, but he is surly and almost impossible to work with due to his exacting demands. There are rumors that he is looking for an apprentice to teach some of his secrets, but a cook would have to greatly impress him for him to even give them the time of day.

Legendary Quest: A king, queen, high priest, or other powerful, public figure has fallen deathly ill with a very rare magical sickness. Its cure, lost to modern records, involves getting several herbs and ingredients from dangerous locations on the Outer Planes. Only a skilled, learned cook could gather them and create the cure before the public figure succumbs to the sickness.

Theme Abilities

Adamantine Stomach (Ex): Even when something in your system does affect you, your body can handle it. Whenever you take a penalty due to poison, disease, or an effect transmitted via smell or taste, you reduce to penalty by 1, to a minimum of 0. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the mithral stomach theme ability before selecting this ability.
Combat Cook (Ex): Your combat style reflects your kitchen experience. You gain a +1 theme bonus to damage rolls with knives and improvised weapons from a kitchen.
Esoteric Ingredients (Ex): You know how to get even exotic materials for your cooking. You gain a +4 theme bonus to Knowledge checks about cooking and ingredients and can make such checks untrained.
Failed Recipes (Ex): Though you can’t eat them, your worst dishes can still be useful. You can use Profession (cook) instead of Craft (alchemy) to make poison. If you do, the DC increases by 5, and rolling a natural 1 or 2 on the Profession check exposes you to the poison. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.
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.
Iron Stomach (Ex): Your body is resistant to harmful foods. You gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against poison.
Mithral Stomach (Ex): You’ve smelled and taste enough strange things to have built up a resistance. Your bonus to saving throws against poison increases to +4. In addition, you gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against any effect transmitted via smell or taste, such as a troglodyte’s stench. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the iron stomach theme ability before selecting this ability.
Trained Nose (Ex): You can pick up tastes from far away. You gain the scent special ability. You must be at least 7th tier before selecting this ability.

Advancement Abilities

Nourishing Meal (Su): Your cooking soothes the body more than most. At 4th tier, once per day you can spend one hour cooking a meal for up to one creature per theme tier. Large creatures count as two creatures, Huge creatures as four, and Gargantuan creatures as eight. Each creature must eat the meal within one hour of its preparation, and each creature can only benefit once from a single meal. When a creatures finishes its meal, it heals 2d8 hit points of damage +1 point per theme tier.
Nurturing Meal (Su): Your cooking can soothe both mind and body. At 7th tier, your nourishing meals heals 2d8 hit points of damage +1 point per theme tier. In addition, each creature who eats the meal can make a saving throw against any ongoing poison or disease effect and either heals 1 point of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage or 1 point of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage (creature’s choice).
Stimulating Meal (Su): Your cooking can literally heal the soul. At 7th tier, your nourishing meals heals 4d8 hit points of damage +1 point per theme tier and heals 2 points of either Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage or Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage. In addition, each creature may make a saving throw against either one permanent negative level or one curse.

I’m really iffy about the name of this theme. “Acolyte” means different things to different people, and it doesn’t help that the first thing I think when I read it is “professional wrestler”. But it’s the least religion-specific word I could find that wasn’t already an in-game term.

I almost included a series of abilities for being a lapsed member of a particular faith, but after further thought I think that would be better as a separate theme. Putting it here didn’t make sense to me. Imagine the character progression: “I am trained in Pelor’s weapon of choice.” “Pelor gives me the strength to stand strong in the face of enemy magic.” “Never mind, screw Pelor! I get bonuses to opposing him.” “I take that back! Pelor aids my magic. I’ll keep those bonuses to fighting him, though.” It felt weird.

ACOLYTE
You were raised as a follower of the gods, devoting your life to their study and service. Like many you may have joined a church or monastery and studied among those like you, or you may have just been a member of a particularly religious family. Whether your faith was the most popular in the country, an official religion begrudgingly accepted by its followers, or a secret cult constantly under threat of exposure, you held fast to your beliefs and use them as your guide to this day.

Theme Skills: Diplomacy, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), Sense Motive, Spellcraft
Theme Feats: Blind-Fight, Eschew Materials, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Spell Penetration

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• Ordinary people are starting to receive visions, purportedly from deities touching their followers’ lives directly. But the visions are instructing people to do things the deities in question normally would not support. Local priests and disciples are trying to instruct their flock on the proper ways to follow their deities’ teachings, but they cannot maintain order when they disagree with what seems like a god’s direct instruction.
• A small town has spontaneously converted to a faith opposed to the acolyte’s. It’s people seem unusually committed to the change, discussing their new faith in loud, awkward voices whenever they are in public. This may have something to do with the popular travelers who came into town right around the time of the conversion.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• The acolyte’s faith has been banned in a small area. This may be due to the political influence of the faith’s enemies, or because members of the faith have been causing problems. Normally this would be an upsetting but manageable problem, except this area contains a site important to the faith, and the ban is making life hard for pilgrims.
• Somebody is attacking places of worship, burning them to the ground in the night. Places that cannot be burned are collapsed, ransacked, or defaced. No one faith is affected more than any other, leading to widespread paranoia about what the aggressor’s goals are. Some say he or she wants to drive people away from worship entirely, while other suspect he or she is looking for something only found in places the gods are felt most strongly.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• Two branches of the acolyte’s faith are having a heated argument over specifics of their theology. What began as lively debates have progressed to shouting matches during the rare instances when the branches are not shunning each other. Physical clashes may not be imminent, but the rift is growing rapidly, far faster than seems possible. In short order the branches may split entirely, creating a schism that will damage the faith far and wide.
• Word is spreading of a god or goddess who only recently ascended to the pantheon. His or her teachings are popular with the masses, the services and feasts are easy to follow, and the representatives of the faith are always willing to teach and help. But there remains something slightly off about their teachings, something only an expert would notice, and it presents the possibility that this is a smokescreen to drive people to accidentally worship a powerful, destructive entity looking to ascend for real.

Legendary Quest: Divine magic is failing. At first it affected only those on the fringes, like those advocating drastic, almost heretical changes to their faiths. Over time it began to touch casters closer and closer to the wills of their gods, leaving only the incredibly devout capable of using divine magic at all. The gods remain as active as ever, but they remain completely silent on this matter, as do their messengers. Only an extremely powerful effect could block even divine power, unless this is part of a test of faith or a game to which the gods agrees centuries ago.

Theme Abilities

Cultist (Ex): You’ve grown used to hiding your faith from others. You gain a theme bonus to Bluff and Disguise checks when actively hiding your faith. The bonus equals half your theme tier (minimum 1).
Defender of the Faith (Su): Your religious upbringing included martial training. You gain proficiency in your deity’s favored weapon, or proficiency in a weapon based on your alignment if you have no deity, as per the spell spiritual weapon. If you are already proficient in this weapon, you gain Weapon Focus for it.
Enemies of the Faith (Su): Your deity guides your blade when it strikes your enemies. You gain a bonus to damage rolls against creatures whose alignment is the opposite of your deity’s or, if you have no deity, your own. This bonus is equal to one-half your theme tier (minimum 1). If your alignment or your deity’s is neutral, select any one extreme alignment (lawful good, lawful evil, chaotic good, or chaotic evil) and apply the bonus to creatures with that alignment. Once you select this alignment it cannot be changed. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the defender of the faith ability before selecting this ability.
Conviction (Ex): You remain strong in dire circumstances. Whenever you take a morale penalty, that penalty is decreased by 1.
Hardened Spirit (Ex): You are resistant to fear. You gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against fear effects.
Iron Spirit (Ex): Things that would terrify a normal person barely affect you. Fear effects on you are reduced by one step: if you would be panicked you are instead frightened, and if you would be frightened you are instead shaken. You take no penalties from being shaken. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the hardened spirit theme ability before selecting this ability.
Power in Words (Ex): Your speech has magical ramifications. When you cast a spell with no verbal components, including a spell modified by the Silent Spell feat, you can add a verbal component. If you do, increase the spell’s caster level by 1.
Sacred Scriptures (Ex): Holy books lend you power. You can use any book of scriptures, prayer, songs, or a similar religious aid as a holy or unholy symbol as long as it aligns with your deity or training.
Theologian (Ex): The gods touch all things, as do their teachings. You can make a Knowledge (religion) check in place of any other Knowledge skill, but you take a -10 penalty on the skill check. You must be at least 4th tier before selecting this ability.

Advancement Abilities

Steady Will (Su): No mundane effect can sway you when the gods are on your side. At 4th tier, once per day as a swift action you can become immune to mind-affecting spells and effects. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to your theme tier.
Divine Inspiration (Su):Your teaching applies at opportune times. At 7th tier, once per day when you make an untrained skill check, you can make the check as though you had training in the skill. You gain a theme bonus equal to your theme tier on this check.
Divine Intervention (Sp): Your deity has a vested interest in you. At 10th tier, once per day you can cast any spell of 3rd-level or lower that does not have expensive material components.

If I was a character in Pathfinder and I had a theme, there’s about a 50/50 chance it’s either this one or tomorrow’s.

A problem I keep having when working on themes is how Pathfinder handles certain language. The timely advice ability is one example. What I want to say is “Normally the aid another action only pertains to enemies adjacent to you, but now you can use aid another to affect your allies’ AC and attack rolls even when the relevant enemy is a greater distance away.” I don’t know how Pathfinder says that. The language I ended up with can be interpreted by a sufficiently pedantic player to mean “you threaten in a 40-foot radius as long as you give up your standard action”, which is nowhere near the intent. I’ll happily accept suggestions.

Trivia bit: As of today the scholar is the wordiest theme, clocking in at 1,533 words my my count, mostly because its quests are so wordy. If that’s not the most appropriate thing in the world I’m not sure what is. Number two is yesterday’s, the criminal, and number three is the pirate. The shortest, at 1,095 words? The cook.

SCHOLAR
You grew up believing knowledge is the greatest power. Information can slay dragons or make them your allies, builds kingdoms or topple them, and make even the most vicious enemy cower in fright. That information can be gleaned from musty tomes, a wise teacher, or your own observations, but the source of your knowledge isn’t important. It matters less how you know something than that you know something, and most important of all is how you use it.

Theme Skills: Appraise, Knowledge (any), Linguistics, Spellcraft
Theme Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Iron Will, Magical Aptitude, Skill Focus

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• Travelers are being attacked by a creature that fits no description of an existing monster, in looks or in abilities. It may be a previously unknown creature, or it could be that the travelers are subject to a hoax or being attacked by a creature who can disguise its powers. In any case, there is an opportunity to discover the truth and make it publicly known.
• A monastery is seeking help moving its vast collection of scrolls and books from an old, besieged temple to a newer, safer temple. They are willing to leave the temple entirely, sacrificing it to the invaders, but this would means losing the site and any secrets it holds. Whether the scholar chooses to help with the move or defend the temple, the invaders prove resilient enemies.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• Somebody is taking credit for something the scholar researched, published, or created. Worse, the plagiarist is gaining a significant amount of money and fame from their “discovery”. This could be something they’ve stolen, or it could be that they independently found the same information as the scholar and knew a way to market it.
• People are losing their intelligence overnight. Their friends and families notice nothing amiss about them, but come morning they are transformed into blithering idiots. They may be stalked and attacked by a creature that consumes their aptitude, or they may be leaking information in their dreams that leads jealous wizards to them. The exact cause is unknown, but the problem cannot be stopped until somebody learns what it is.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• A powerful patron contacts the scholar seeking the answer to a great mystery. Once the scholar starts looking into it, he or she learns that the mystery is difficult for a reason and the consequences of solving it are dire. The patron makes it clear that failure is not an option, and rapidly moves from encouragement to impatiences and threats.
• The scholar has been offered membership in an elite, reclusive society of sages. It is a great honor, but through investigation or happenstance the scholar comes to learn that the offer may not be as goos as it seems. Either the society is involved with malign forces, or they are sending hundreds of invitations to gather people to power a dangerous ritual, or something even darker is afoot. No matter the problem, if left unchecked the society will bring great suffering upon themselves and the world.

Legendary Quest: The scholar finds a set of instructions to a location of great intellectual merit, like an ancient library, but the instructions are part of a code. When the scholar decodes them, he or she finds out that the location is transient and about to disappear for a years-long dormancy. He or she must race against time to reach the location, competing with anybody else who has realized its importance, and gather as much information as possible before it disappears, imprisoning anybody inside.

Theme Abilities

Addling Mind (Ex): Trying to touch your mind is exhausting. Whenever you succeed on a saving throw against a mind-affecting ability, the creature who used that ability takes 1d6 nonlethal damage. In addition, whenever you take Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage, reduce the damage by 1. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the structured ability before selecting this ability.
Autopsy (Ex): You can learn a lot about a creature from its corpse. By performing an autopsy on a creature that died in the last 24 hours, you can discover information about that creature as though you rolled a 15 on the appropriate creature Knowledge check. This cannot give you information about an individual creature unless you could discover this information via an autopsy. For example, by performing an autopsy on a particular troll you can learn that trolls are vulnerable to fire and that the troll in question died from drowning, but not historical information about that troll’s family or tribe. Performing an autopsy takes one hour plus one hour for each size category the creature is larger than Medium. You can interrupt an autopsy as long as you finish it before the creature has been dead for 24 hours.
Defensive Studies (Ex): Your study of monsters focuses on their attacks. You gain a +1 theme bonus to AC and saving throws against against creatures you have identified with a Knowledge check. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the monster scholar theme ability before selecting this ability.
Labyrinthian Mind (Ex): Creatures who touch you mentally have a tendency to get lost in your mind. Whenever you succeed on a saving throw against a mind-affecting ability, the creature who used that ability must make a Will save or become confused for one round. This is a mind-affecting ability for which the DC is 10 + half your theme tier + your Intelligence modifier. In addition, your resistance to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma damage increases to 2. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the addling mind ability before selecting this ability.
Lecture (Sp): Your diatribes on scholarly topics are exceptionally boring. You can cast sleep at will, except that there are no somatic or material components, you can only affect targets who understand your language, the casting time is one minute, and the targets must hear you speak for then entire casting time. When you reach 6th tier you can cast deep slumber at will, subject to the same restrictions.
Magic Reader (Sp): Magical writing holds no mysteries for you. You can read magical inscriptions as though under a permanent read magic effect. If the effect is dispelled, you can reactivate it as a swift action.
Monster Scholar (Ex): You’ve studied the creatures of the world. You gain a +2 theme bonus to monster Knowledge checks.
Offensive Studies (Ex): Your study of monsters focuses on their weaknesses. You gain a bonus to damage rolls against creatures you have identified with a Knowledge check. The bonus is equal to half your theme tier. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the monster scholar theme ability before selecting this ability.
Spell Researcher (Ex): You have a knack for creating and researching spells. Subtract half your theme tier (minimum 1) from the DC when you make Knowledge and Spellcraft checks to research a spell.
Structured Mind (Ex): Your thoughts are too vast to be manipulated easily. You are immune to the fascinated and confused conditions.
Timely Advice (Ex): You can predict the flow of battle in time to help your allies. When you aid another, enemies within 5 ft. per theme tier are considered adjacent to you.

Advancement Abilities

Researcher (Ex): You can make the most of stores of knowledge. At 4th tier, it only takes you 1d3 hours to research when you have access to a library or similar repository of information. You can use this to reroll Knowledge checks you have failed, even checks you have failed by researching at the same library. This means you can take 10 or 20 in Knowledge checks; taking 20 requires the maximum amount of research time, or 60 hours. The DM may rule that a particular library can only assist with certain kinds of Knowledge checks or can only allow you to reach a certain DC.
Piece It Together (Sp): You have all the information you need to solve problems, even if you don’t know it. At 7th tier, once per day you can cast commune as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your character level. Instead of speaking with a deity, you check information in your own mind, so the answers you receive always align with your interests alone. In addition, the time it takes you to research in a library is reduced to 1 hour, and taking 20 only requires 20 hours.
Smarter Than Reality (Ex): Your mastery of information is so great, even physics second-guesses itself when you disagree with it. At 10th tier, once per day you can change one creature’s attack roll, saving throw, or skill check into a natural 20 or natural 1. You must have line of effect to the creature. You can use this ability after the creature makes its roll but before you know the result. In addition, the time it takes you to research in a library is reduced to 10 minutes, and taking 20 only requires 3 hours 20 minutes.

I realized that I’m short on month and I have a lot more themes to go. So, buckle up.

The criminal presented an interesting dilemma in the general application of a specific theme. That is, criminals can be all sorts. The theme needed to cover highway bandits, second-story artists, smugglers, money launderers, members of organized crime, people who run confidence games, and so on. I wanted abilities and quests that could cover much, if not all, of the sorts of criminals players could be. Only one or two abilities miss this mark too badly, but I don’t expect every ability to apply equally to every player. If I did, I’d have written the Paizo vigilante.

The only things that absolutely must apply to every type of criminal are the advancement benefits. You’ll notice they’re somewhat uninteresting to read, but I think their table applications outweigh that.

CRIMINAL
All your life you’ve been dodging the law. You may be a self-taught pickpocket, an heir to an organized “protection” guild, a con artist trained by an aging mentor, or a gentleman or lady thief whose targets deserve a bad turn. Your exact methods, goals, and reasons for living a life of crime are your own, and you may embrace your skills and history or keep it a secret as you now walk a more narrow path.

Theme Skills: Bluff, Disguise, Escape Artist, Perception, Sense Motive, Stealth
Theme Feats: Alertness, Deceitful, Fleet, Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Run

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• An old friend comes to the criminal, asking for his or her help for one last score. The target is out of the friend’s league and known to be unforgiving to trespassers, but he is insistent on going through with the attempt. He may have an ulterior motive for the crime, one beyond simple money.
• A new player is in town, committing the same crimes as the criminal in much the same way but in a much more public, noticeable way. The ensuing investigation comes dangerously close to home. The newcomer must be caught, silenced, or convinced to stop before the case of mistaken identity puts the criminal away, which may actually be the newcomer’s intent.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• A haggard man approaches the criminal asking for help hiding from the law. It may be an old acquaintance or just somebody with an excellent story, and he only needs to lay low for a couple of days. But the criminal hears rumors about how his crimes may be greater than he said. As the manhunt for him intensifies, the criminal must decide whether their fellow lawbreaker is worth saving.
• The city watch approach the criminal with an offer. They want his or her help investigating crimes similar to the criminal’s own, allowing some forgiveness of past misdeeds for assistance catching other criminals. Secretly they suspect the criminal of planning or committing a great crime, and they’re hoping this arrangement will give the criminal a change to slip and expose himself or herself. They’re so certain they have the right person that, in the absence of such evidence, they’re not above manufacturing it.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• A new guild of thieves, con men, or other lawbreakers has moved into town, and they offer the criminal or her a position in their organization. Whether the criminal accepts or refuses, it soon becomes clear that the guild has a startling reach, operating in multiple places under different names, and that their leadership is mysterious, powerful, and politically untouchable. But the biggest problem is that the crimes are only one phase of a plan capable of changing the world for the worse.
• An order of paladins is asking questions about the criminal. One of his or her past crimes has been tied to a far greater sin, and the paladins look to apprehend the criminal to interrogate him or her about the crime and have him or her face justice when they are done. The order’s action are borderline masochistic, relying on more forceful measures than others, and a full order with a church’s backing is very hard to stop.

Legendary Quest: A revolution is in its pupal stages, where the fighting is intense and the government is on the brink of collapse. In some places the anarchy is greater than others, and thugs commit all manner of crimes during the watch’s and military’s inability to stop them. It is up to each person how much they try to thrive at the expense of others, but in the end even criminals must create and uphold a form of law to keep people alive.

Theme Abilities

Always Have an Out (Ex): You constantly keep on the lookout for ways to flee if things get rough. When you take the withdraw action, the square you start out and the first square to which you move are not considered threatened by any opponent you can see.
Cover Identity (Ex): You have an alter-ego you can use when avoiding watchful eyes. Pick a single, specific identity. Once you choose this identity it cannot be changed, and you cannot choose a person who already exists. When you use this identity you gain a +2 theme bonus to Charisma-based skill checks relating to the identity. You lose this bonus when interacting with anybody who knows you and your identity are the same person. You also gain a +2 theme bonus to a single Craft or Profession skill relating to the identity. If you are not normally trained in the Craft or Profession skill you chose, you are trained while you are in your identity.
Floor Fighter (Ex): You’re more comfortable attacking from below. You take no penalty to AC or attack rolls for being prone. If you hit an enemy while you are prone, you can stand as a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the scrappy fighter ability before selecting this ability.
Greater Cover Identity (Su): Nobody can see through your identities. Your bonus to Charisma-based skill checks and to Craft and Profession checks increases to +6. Anybody who uses a divination spell or effect on you automatically receives information about you identity unless you allow them to receive information about you. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the improved cover identity ability before selecting this ability.
Improved Cover Identity (Su): Your alter-egos are especially good. You can have one cover identity plus one for every three theme tiers you have. Your bonus to Charisma-based skill checks and to Craft and Profession checks increases to +4. In addition, anybody who uses a divination spell or effect on you must succeed on a caster level check to discover information about you. If they fail, they instead receive information about your identity. The DC for this check is 10 + your theme tier + your Charisma modifier. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the cover identity ability before selecting this ability.
Innocent Face (Ex): You know when you’re dealing with the police and act appropriately. You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, Perception, and Sense Motive checks when dealing with officers of law.
Lawsense (Su): You have a sixth sense for when police are nearby. You can automatically detect the presence or absence of officers of law within 15 feet. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the innocent face ability before selecting this ability.
Play Possum (Ex): You’ve feigned death to get out of multiple fights. When an attack drops you to fewer hit points them your theme tier, you can fall prone and make a Bluff check to play dead as an immediate action. You make one Bluff check for all creatures who can see you, and the DC for each creature is 10 + the creature’s Hit Dice + the creature’s Wisdom score. You can play dead for as long as you want as long as you take no actions. When you act, for one round all creatures who believe you to be dead are flat-footed against your attacks. You cannot use this ability more than once per encounter.
Scrappy Fighter (Ex): You can fight even from disadvantageous positions. You only take a -2 penalty to AC and attack rolls for being prone.

Advancement Abilities

Skirting Law (Su): Good criminals are difficult to catch, even magically. At 4th tier, you gain spell resistance equal to 5 plus your character level against divination spells and effects. In addition, you gain one of the following spell-like abilities, usable once per day: expeditious retreat, invisibility, or obscuring mist. You can switch which spell-like ability you have at the beginning of each day. The caster level for these spells equals your theme tier.
Escaping Law (Sp): An experienced criminal is almost impossible to pin down. At 7th tier, your spell resistance against divination spells and effects increases by 5. In addition, you gain one of the following spell-like abilities, usable once per day: air walk, dimension door, or haste. You can switch which spell-like ability you have at the beginning of each day. The caster level for these spells equals your theme tier.
Disregarding Law (Sp): You can’t be caught unless you allow it. At 10th tier, your spell resistance against divination spells and effects again increases by 5. In addition, you gain one of the following spell-like abilities, usable once per day: mislead, phase door, teleport, or wind walk. You can switch which spell-like ability you have at the beginning of each day. The caster level for these spells equals your theme tier.

I really should give examples of themes that work with the big four classes: fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue. These themes aren’t specific to or even intended explicitly for those classes, but I figure they’re the first place a player will go.

The soldier is an example of something that seemed too obvious to me to state explicitly before: sometimes multiple themes have the same abilities. Here, the solider has the same early to rise and light sleeper abilities as a farmer, because it makes sense that a character could get the same ability from more than one background.

Most abilities are unique to a single theme with just a little overlap. The only places I lean heavily on this is where the themes should strongly relate to each other. For example, the fiend theme is almost identical to the celestial theme. I reversed anything that leverages alignment and changed the quests, of course. I also adjusted the skills and feats and made a few changes to represent abilities fiends have that celestials don’t (like summoning rather than auras). If I do law and chaos themes they’ll probably be similar. Themes like draconic, however, will be fairly unique.

On a related note, I realized halfway through the month that most theme names are nouns. So technically I need a new word for heritage themes to differentiate them from the original creatures, like “celestialblood”. My spellcheck hates that, though.

SOLDIER
Your formative years were spent in the military. You were part of a military household, or you were drafted or conscripted at a young age, or you ran away to become a soldier. Regardless of why you joined, your time in the service has taught you that attack can come from any direction but given you the skills you need to prepare for it.

Theme Skills: Climb, Perception, Ride, Sense Motive, Stealth, Swim
Theme Feats: Armor Proficiency (any), Athletic, Combat Reflexes, Defensive Combat Training, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus

Theme Quests

Novice Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 3rd tier.

• A town is organizing a team to kill or drive away a band of kobolds who have been harassing them. The team is willing, but young and inexperienced. They need a leader who can lead them to victory, but also train them to be ready in case the kobolds retaliate.
• The soldier’s former commanding officer appears, demanding the soldier’s help for a covert mission. The officer is vague about the details, but makes it clear that the missions but be kept secret, even from the soldier’s allies, and that refusing it will have dire consequences.

Expert Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 6th tier.

• A small group of soldiers has come into town, causing mayhem and damaging property. They use their status and shows of force to discourage anybody from standing against them. Somebody must set them straight before they do real harm, and without the situation escalating to armed conflict against a legitimate army.
• The soldier’s allies have formed an adventuring party, one whose methods do not align with the soldier’s own. This party has accepted a job that conflicts with one taken by the soldier’s party, and they try to use their shared history and an appeal to loyalty as leverage to convince the soldier to sabotage his or her own team.

Advanced Quests: These quests are appropriate for advancing through 9th tier.

• Entire squads of soldiers are disappearing from military outposts. Whenever a squad disappears, it happens in the middle of the night, and they seem to take their gear and provisions for a few days but leave no indication where they are going or why. The remaining soldiers cannot determine whether they are deserting en masse, or if there is something more sinister happening.
• The payment system for an army has failed. Either the money disappeared, is being withheld, or never existed in the first place, but it’s driving existing and former personnel into a frenzy. The best possible result is a heavily disgruntled force with low morale, and the worst is an insurrection led and staffed by the country’s best-trained, most well-equipped citizens.

Legendary Quest: A disastrous and ill-advised war has started, in which a normally peaceful country is trying to invade a vastly superior opponent. The army hopes to excuse its lack of trained personnel by using a draft to fill the ranks with untrained peasants, which is leading to high casualty rates. The reasons for the war are unknown, but if it continues it will devastate the country’s population and potentially lead to its collapse.

Theme Abilities

Armor Familiarity (Ex): You’re more comfortable in armor than most people. Your speed increases by 5 feet when you are wearing medium or heavy armor, to a maximum of your base speed. You may sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.
Combat-Ready (Ex): You know a fight can start at any time. You gain a +2 bonus to initiative checks, and you can draw a weapon as a free action during a surprise round or the first round of combat.
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.
Hardened Spirit (Ex): You are resistant to fear. You gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against fear effects.
Improved Armor Familiarity (Ex): You wear armor like a second skin. Your speed increases by an additional 5 feet when you are wearing medium or heavy armor, to a maximum of your base speed. You may sleep in any armor without becoming fatigued. You must be at least 4th tier and possess the armor familiarity theme ability before selecting this ability.
Iron Spirit (Ex): Things that would terrify a normal person barely effect you. Fear effects on you are reduced by one step: if you would be panicked you are instead frightened, and if you would be frightened you are instead shaken. You take no penalties from being shaken. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the hardened spirit 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.
No One Left Behind (Ex): The sight of a fallen friend spurs you to new heights. You gain a +2 theme bonus to attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, and AC when you are within 30 feet of an unconscious ally. This bonus increases to +4 if you are within 30 feet of a dead ally.
Perfect Loyalty (Ex): Nothing colors your actions unless you allow it. You gain the slippery mind ability as the rogue talent. If you also have slippery mind, you can only reroll your saving throw once but gain a +2 bonus on your reroll. You must be at least 7th tier and possess the undying loyalty theme ability before selecting this ability.
Undying Loyalty (Ex): You would never turn on your allies. You gain a +2 theme bonus to saving throws against charm and compulsion effects.

Advancement Abilities

Teamwork (Ex): You work better in concert with your team. At 4th tier, you gain a +1 theme bonus to AC and saving throws whenever you are adjacent to your allies. When you are flanking with an ally you gain a +3 bonus to attack rolls instead of a +2 bonus.
The Best Offense (Ex): You are well-trained in defensive combat. At 7th tier, you gain a +1 theme bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense. In addition, when you take the total defense standard action you can still make attacks of opportunity.
Battle Veteran (Ex): Your cool head in battle is an inspiration to your allies. At 10th tier, once per day each ally of yours may reroll a saving throw. They may use your saving throw modifier instead of theirs for this reroll. In addition, allies who can see or hear you gain a +4 bonus to saving throws against fear effects.