Template Toolkit - P.43, Combined Challenges Table

[shkspr1048]

This table has me puzzled; could someone possibly explain its purpose to me?

[Kromm]

As p. 42 explains, the table is intended to assist in the design of template sets that associate each niche with more than one kind of challenge. The ability to meet the challenge in the first column frequently implies the ability to meet some of the challenges in the second column, making niches that address combinations of these things more logical than ones that toss things together at random. Taking the first line as an example: People good at dealing with animals are often adept at matters pertaining to exploration (because explorers use beasts of burden and encounter strange new beasts), the outdoors (because that's where wild animals live), plants (because "all living things" is a very common theme – think of fantasy druids), science (because biology is an important science, and deals with animals), and transportation (because dealing with animals is essential for handling carts, pack animals, riding beasts, wagons, etc.).

[dataweaver]

So, for example: if you’ve decided that you need a template that deals with Animals, but you don’t think that challenges involving animals will come up often enough to build an entire template around just this one thing, you can consult this table to come up with appropriate supplementary niches to flesh out the template further. Right?

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

So, for example: if you’ve decided that you need a template that deals with Animals, but you don’t think that challenges involving animals will come up often enough to build an entire template around just this one thing, you can consult this table to come up with appropriate supplementary niches to flesh out the template further. Right?

Pretty much! The table is hardly some amazing game-mechanical revelation . . . it's merely an aid to imagination for the GM stuck with the task of building umpteen character templates, and for players who get stuck for character concepts. Considerations like power level and the importance of a particular challenge will determine how many picks are needed for a competent PC. In a low-powered fantasy campaign where everybody rides horses and half the monsters are animals, a beastmaster with the ability to solve animal-related challenges is a strong niche of its own; in a high-powered one where the heroes jet around with Flight spells and most of the monsters are supernatural, it might make more sense to go for a generalized "druid" who's up to meeting challenges involving animals, plants, the outdoors in general, and exploration to boot; and in a modern-day campaign, merging animal, plant, and science challenges to create a biologist often works well.