The Theme is the Thing

Theme parties from the games where everyone is one race or one class at the start to parties based on other things, like the fairytale game I ran where everyone played a storybook character. A lot of times your party is just a mish mash of individuals with little in common other than a need for adventure but sometimes it’s fun to build to a broader theme.

I’m particularly fond of theme games and I’ve had great success with an all Halflings campaign, an all paladins campaign, all worshipers of the same god campaign and my aforementioned fairytale campaign. Although I understand these ideas may not work for everyone, at the very least they are a good thought exercise for a GM or player. To that effect today we are going to look at a party I’ve had in mind since D&D 3.5 when I was obsessed with the Faerun region called Calimshan.

To start with the party I had in mind had not one but two themes. The first is pretty obvious, being from Calimshan with its whole Middle Eastern analog thing going on we have an Arabian Nights theme. But since the party started with the idea of two brothers one an Air Genasi (Sylph in Pathfinder) and the other a Fire Genasi (Ifirit) I thought a four elements theme might make the party just a little more interesting.

The Party

First we need to switch the party over to pathfinder from 3.5. After each party members conversion will be a brief description of the party member and their place in the theme.

Air - Sylph Swashbuckler whirling Dervish Archetype

The original version was a fighter with Dervish Dancer PrC I think this fits the character best.

Nasim Nejem ibn Hudad one of a pair of twin sons born to the chief of the Asdeqa'a Raml tribe. Born with the blood of the great Djinn flowing through his veins Nasim grew up destine to join the ranks of the great dervishes of the tribe. Moving through the hot desert air like a whirlwind with blade flashing with the light of the beating sun. The young warrior is good natured if flighty. He always seems to be laughing and takes very little seriously. His mind has 1000 thoughts a second and the only time he seems to be able to concentrate is when he is lost in the dance of the dervish blade.

Fire - Ifirit Elemental (Fire) Bloodline Sorcerer

There weren’t bloodlines in 3.5 but this is the obvious choice. Although Ifirit have a race specific Sorcerer archetype this fits better.

Shihad Nejem ibn Hudad, brother to Nasim, born with the fiery blood of the ancient Efreet coursing through his body. Whereas his brother is wistful Shihad takes everything seriously. The fireborn mage takes everything as affront and his temper has been known to get the better of him, often. The fire in his heart has manifested itself by pushing out into the world around him. Although his brother is the combatant Nasim never looks to fight, but Shihad thinks everything is a battle that can be won in burning flames.

Earth – Human Ranger

Bare bones dunes rider eventually with a camel animal companion.

The desert wastes are hard on the nomad tribes, but among the people of the sands come hardy travelers. Some of these desert born even go so far as being able to track the smallest creatures over the windblown sands of Casamaron. Wajid El-Amin knows the truth of the desert and aids his tribe in picking the way among the dunes. The dune rider is known for his adeptness on the back of the camel and for fact that he has never spoken a lie. Wajid has rooted himself in the sands and as such has little time for falsehood, or apparently merriment either.

Water – Gnoll Hydrokineticist

This one was the hardest to change over. First off originally he was a Bhukas, a desert living Goblinoid from the 3.5 sandstorm book. The point was he was a monstrous race geared for the desert to that end Golarion has their Gnolls as desert dwellers.

Secondly he was also a druid going into the PrC Lord of Tides, which deals with water in the desert. None of the druid archetypes really fit this theme but the new occult adventures Kineitcist using Hydrokinetics really fits the bill.

Among the desert dwellers the Gnoll are known for their barbaric and cannibalistic ways. But not all Gnolls are created equally. Left for dead by his own people Water-Seeker had picked his way through the desert for five long years before being found among the wastes. The pathetic creature, nothing more than skin and bones at the time was spared by Nasim and Shihad’s father. The tribe has never regretted the decision as Water-Seeker has lived up to his name being able to find a source of fresh water from miles off.

I’m not going to really go into the mechanics of the characters. Once you get past the base race/class thing all you need is the story and the other mechanics can be added to your taste. But there you have it, a very Arabian Nights themed party with a secondary theme of the four western elements.

What themes have you always wanted to try?