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I'm getting together with my (extremely casual) group of players to DM a game this weekend. It's the first time we're playing since PHB2 came out, so I wanted to give them the option of making a shiny new character with the new class and race options. Since I'm the only person in the group who owns PHB2 (or even PHB for that matter), I had to explain them quickly to the rest of the group so they'd be ready for gameday. So I wrote up this quick list over an e-mail. Let me know what you think, or if I missed any major points.
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CLASSES:
Avenger- Divine Striker. A cross between the paladin and a rogue, or kind of like that secret society of assassins from that crappy 'Wanted' movie we all saw. All about stealth, accuracy, and hunting down a single foe ruthlessly.
Barbarian- Primal Striker. Warriors that wield big-ass weapons and charge around in a blind rage. Melee fighters that do crazy high damage.
Bard- Arcane Leader. A D&D classic... guys that go into a dungeon and sing at ogres. Sing at them until they're dead. Can fight in melee or at range, and are good at healing and re-positioning allies on the battlefield.
Cleric- Divine Leader. These guys are the best healers in the game, and blast undead like nobody's business.
Druid- Primal Controller. They cast spells like a wizard, but have the ability to turn into an animal and fight at close-range if they so choose.
Fighter- Martial Defender. The classic warrior, with heavy armor and big scary weapons. Are very good at 'locking down' enemies, preventing them from attacking allies.
Invoker- Divine Controller. Almost exactly like a Wizard, except their spells have a distinctly 'holy' flavor.
Paladin- Divine Defender. Like a mix between a Fighter and a Cleric. Heavy armor, holy spells, healing.
Ranger- Martial Striker. Comes in two flavors; bow ranger and two-blade ranger. Both kick butt, and both do very good damage.
Rogue- Martial Striker. Sneaky buggers that do insanely high damage while flanking.
Shaman- Primal Leader. Probably the most complicated of the new classes, the Shaman has a 'spirit animal' that follows him around, and all his powers flow through that spirit animal. It's kind of like controlling two different characters at once. Fun, but really complex.
Sorcerer- Arcane Striker. Comes in two flavors; the wild sorcerer who attacks with raw chaos, and the dragon sorcerer, who is descended from dragons. I highly recommend the dragon sorcerer for Joe... it's a lot like the dragonborn warlock he's been playing, but even more awesome.
Warden- Primal Defender. Sort of like a mix between the Fighter and Druid. Good at defending allies, and for their Dailies, they can assume the form of certain animals or nature spirits.
Warlock- Arcane Striker. Creepy magickers that make Faustian deals with evil entities, and float around cursing people and blasting stuff.
Warlord- Martial Leader. Sort of like a Fighter, but specializes in healing, buffing, and assisting allies. Best known for giving up their own attacks to let allies make extra attacks.
Wizard- Arcane Controller. Gandalf. 'Nuff said.
RACES:
Deva- Half-angels with blue skin. Look kind of like Dr. Manhattan. Make good avengers, clerics, invokers, and wizards.
Dragonborn- Dragonmen. Make good paladins, barbarians, dragon sorcerers, and warlords.
Dwarf- Pretty much exactly as they are from LotR. Make good clerics, shaman, druids, wardens, and invokers.
Eladrin- Half-faerie, or you could think of them as 'high elves'. Make good wizards, rogues, and warlocks.
Elf- More outdoorsy than standard Tolkien elves. Make good rangers, avengers, shaman and druids.
Gnome- Like halflings, but more magic-oriented. Make good bards, warlocks, sorcerers and wizards.
Goliath- Like the Thing from the fantastic four (but not orange... unless you want him to be), but with a tribalistic culture. Make good barbarians, fighters, and warden.
Half-Elf- A human and an elf got jiggy with it, and crapped this out. Make good bards, warlocks, sorcerers, and paladins.
Halfling- Not quite as wussy as they were in LotR. Make good rogues, rangers, wild sorcerers and warlocks.
Half-Orc- Part human, part orc. Make good barbarians, fighters, rangers and rogues.
Human- Regular dudes. Make adequate everythings.
Shifter- The closest thing you get to a werewolf. Make good druids, fighters, rangers, wardens, paladins, shaman and clerics.
Tiefling- Half-demon. Make good bards, warlocks, warlords and sorcerers.
I wouldn't say a druid "casts like a wizard". although they broadly perform the same function, they feel and play very different. I'd say: they use the force of nature to control like a wizard.
Dwarves also make excellent fighters. A +2 to STR isn't everything.
I agree with this, myself. Guess I just caved to peer pressure in not including it.
I also had trouble figuring out what Eladrin are 'good' at, beyond Wizards. Swordmages, certainly, but we're not using FRPG, so I didn't mention that. Are there any Dex/Int classes I'm forgetting? Or classes that would find teleporting extra-useful?
As for the Druids, I'm just trying to give very broad strokes as to the flavor and mechanics. I think that 'force of nature' stuff is covered with the fact that they're primal. Can you give specific examples as to how the Druid seems drastically different in play, as compared to the Wizard?
Eladrin are decent archer rangers and rogues; the teleport gets them out of trouble (or in the melee rogue's case, into it). They can also be flexible avenger builds; with bonuses in both secondary stats they have a wide power selection. Eladrin tactical warlords with longspears are fun too.
Here are some single-race teams of 5. Except for the dragonborn they cover all 4 roles with classes that play to the races' strengths (and where feasible, their flavor).
The non-wizard controllers need better intros - on the druid you are basically saying its a better wizard. Say that the druid is more about control and the invoker is a mix leader/controller with small areas.
On the rogue, a bit of a not of how dangerous it is to be a rogue - particularly melee rogue - would be good.
On the ranger, a word about how basic, direct, and even simplistic they can be to play - especially archer rangers (aka the auto-turret).
__________________ Carl Cramér
Member of the Netbook of Feats review board.
Avenger- Divine Striker. A cross between the paladin and a rogue, or kind of like that secret society of assassins from that crappy 'Wanted' movie we all saw. All about stealth, accuracy, and hunting down a single foe ruthlessly.
The class is not necessarily about stealth. They do not have to surprise anyone to get the drop on them; their powers allow them to punish their chosen foe.
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Barbarian- Primal Striker. Warriors that wield big-ass weapons and charge around in a blind rage. Melee fighters that do crazy high damage.
Also can have some formerly tradiational bard-like intimidate and leadership type powers.
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Rogue- Martial Striker. Sneaky buggers that do insanely high damage while flanking.
They do not need to attack every round in order to do their job.
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Warden- Primal Defender. Sort of like a mix between the Fighter and Druid. Good at defending allies, and for their Dailies, they can assume the form of certain animals or nature spirits.
An awesome class, but I'm partial. They have some controller abilities at close range (pulling, pushing, slowing, knocking prone, difficult terrain).
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Warlock- Arcane Striker. Creepy magickers that make Faustian deals with evil entities, and float around cursing people and blasting stuff.
Not always evil.
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Deva- Half-angels with blue skin. Look kind of like Dr. Manhattan. Make good avengers, clerics, invokers, and wizards.
I'd change it to "earth-bound, perpetually reincarnating angels".
__________________ Dark God of Facetiousness and Vaguely Lobsterlike Things
Goliath- Like the Thing from the fantastic four (but not orange... unless you want him to be), but with a tribalistic culture. Make good barbarians, fighters, and warden.
Addendum: Like the Thing from the Fantastic Four but not even coming close to the epic levels of awesomeness that is possessed by the ever-loving blue-eyed thing. And not orange. Makes good barbarians, fighters, and warden.
I like the Goliaths, but they just can't compete when compared to the Thing.
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