A little PHB 2 info

Bards will be leaders...Rob Heinsoo divulged this during the 4e Q&A...not too suprising. Additionally, they let us know that two of the classes will be controllers in PHB2.

Not a lot of info getting out in those seminars, they were pretty tight-lipped.

I thought they might overload a little on controllers to make up for having only one in the first PHB, but two more is still pretty good.

*crosses fingers for an awesome primal controller picking up where the shapeshift-oriented druid leaves off*

Gloombunny said:

*crosses fingers for an awesome primal controller picking up where the shapeshift-oriented druid leaves off*

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Yeah, I am hoping one of these new controllers will be primal sourced and do stuff like entangle... "The ground beneath the targets in the area seems to almost grow over their feet, holding them in place (be it plants/vines or even earth)."

Hmm, I wonder if the druid will have two build options, shapeshifting and what-used-to-be-spell casting ?

Anyway, that's another topic for another thread. I am very interested in the PHB2 but I have always been a fan of (among other things) the things that now fall under 'primal source'

Well one controller is apparently the Sorcerer. The other could be Divine or Primal and I suspect its one of the 2 classes they are calling "completely new", if so its complete guess work.

Looks like Arcane will have all the roles filled with 2 controllers.

Cailte said:

Well one controller is apparently the Sorcerer. The other could be Divine or Primal and I suspect its one of the 2 classes they are calling "completely new", if so its complete guess work.

Looks like Arcane will have all the roles filled with 2 controllers.

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And two leaders, with the Artificer.

I'm disappointed, though, that we're missing either a Primal or Divine Controller. No Divine Controller means that with two Divine classes they are doubling up at least one role. But no Primal Controller would be kind of sad...and it would mean they have to double up at least once, too. (Or possibly not, if Druid is truly a "Hybrid.")

No divine controller is a bit disappointing, but clerics get so many control powers already that it might be hard to avoid feeling like a bit of a retread.

That's assuming it's the divine controller that's missing. If they don't do a primal controller I shall be most displeased. (Though perhaps somewhat mollified if a nature-wielding striker with controller aspects, similar to a warlock, shows up instead.)

Here is what we know

I will quote the compiled info on Classes and Races (emphasis mine):

Mike Mearls discusses the PHB2 on Gamer Radio Zero here. Some highlights: "If there's stuff in the Player's Handbook that you're like, 'hey, where's this class', it's probably going to be in the Player's Handbook 2." Also new classes - a cleric that's a bit more on the spellcaster-y side, a striker that's a "deadly and dangerous" kind of guy. The druid (I think the 3.5 druid, but I'm not sure) is the main example of a primal character, and other primal classes do things that will remind you of the druid, but in their own unique way. He lists the first letters of each class in the PHB2 - D, B, B, W, I, T, S, S (after this correction). He also says "I think only three of those are classes that anyone has ever seen before. I think the other ones are all new classes, completely new to Dungeons & Dragons." However, when asked on his blog how many classes are new he says "Three are completely and utterly new. The rest are either classes or old concepts revisited." (source)

The Shaman is mentioned as a class that fills the Leader role (source). Rich Baker mentions it "includes some neat mechanisms for dealing with nature spirits". (source)

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There is also this blog post of the Druid:

• Call his role “hybrid.” But don’t assume that he can cover all roles. Just a couple of ‘em.
• If you like what the 3.5 Player’s Handbook II did to the 3.5 druid, then you’ll probably like this guy, too.
• He doesn’t do much with the classical Greek elements (air/fire/earth/wat er), but he’s got a lot of weather-related magic. Again, that’s the direction we were taking the class in latter-day 3.5 products.
• Not a lot of animal summoning. Plenty of wild shape.

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Rechan's speculation

The "Cleric that is more spellcaster-y" will be our divine controller.

The "deadly and dangerous" striker is either the barbarian, or the Shapeshifter druid's role. My money is on Barbarian.

The Druid is a "Hybrid role" class. My suspicion is that the Druid will have two builds. One build is a Defender or Striker. The other is a controller. Why not a Leader? Because the Shaman is a leader, and the Weather Magic doesn't lend itself to healing and buffing your buds. It implies (at least to me) more tornados, earthquakes, call lightning, freezing rain, etc.

(Edit: A thought occurs to me about the Hybrid role druid. Another way it could be handled is that each Build dances between two roles. For instance, taking the Shapechanger build, some powers would be Striker-ish, others are Defender-like. Therefore the Shapechanger druid would not be have a definite role, but bounce between the two. Same for the Weather Caster build, that might dance between Leader and Controller, depending on the power. I hope WotC doesn't take it in this direction.)

I'm expecting "Hybrid" to mean more like the Paladin and Cleric. The Paladin is a Defender/Leader and the Cleric is a Leader/Controller. Built the right way they still fill their main role mostly but will feel a lot like the secondary roll in play.

To my mind, and the way I have always envisioned the classes is the the Druid would be a primal controller, Barbarian a primal defender, and Monk a Divine Striker. That is what makes the most sense to me.

Which, of course means, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Sounds like the smart money is on us getting a Divine Striker...Inquisitor, perhaps? Very cool, there were some 3.5 PrCs along similar lines.

I hope Barbarian is a Defender and not a Striker, that makes much more sense to me. Of course, with four Primal classes it's likely there's a Primal Striker anyway. Seems WotC finds them easier to design than Controllers.