D&D 4E 4e Classes

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, from the seminar I went to, I know the following to be true:

1) There are fewer classes in the 4E PHB than there were in the 3E one. (This is because many of them take up more space, what with the new maneuvers and abilities.)

2) Every class that was in the 3E PHB will appear somewhere in 4E. So those that don't make the PHB will be presented in later supplements.

3) Sorcerers and wizards both exist, but they're substantially more different from each other than they were in 3E.

Andy used barbarians in passing when discussing PrCs in 4E. While that doesn't prove that they're in the 4E PHB--he might've just been pulling a class name from the air for illustration purposes--it certainly heavily implies it.

Rich Baker mentioned that the ranger "killed the scout and took his stuff," so the ranger is in.

Between that and other sources I've seen online, I know the following classes are in the PHB (unless there are changes between now and publication, which is always possible):

1. Fighter
2. Rogue
3. Ranger
4. Paladin
5. Cleric
6. Wizard
7. Sorcerer

Between the seminar and other sources I've seen online, I've seen the following classes mentioned, so I believe, but am not 100% certain, they're in the PHB:

1. Barbarian
2. Druid
3. Warlord(?)

I would be surprised if there were any others, since we're already coming up on nearly as many as were in the 3E PHB. I expect the monk, and the bard, to be presented in future supplements (possibly PHB2).

I do not personally expect to see the warlock. After all, since all casters now have some at-will abilities, the warlock seems rather redundant. I expect to see that the sorcerer "killed him and took his stuff." But that's just a guess, and I've certainly been wrong before.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I do not personally expect to see the warlock. After all, since all casters now have some at-will abilities, the warlock seems rather redundant. I expect to see that the sorcerer "killed him and took his stuff." But that's just a guess, and I've certainly been wrong before.

Is it possible that the Sorcerer is becoming more like the Warlock? That could explain what's being done to make Wiz/Sor significantly different.

 

[Snapdragyn]

What I would like to see (allowing for the most-confirmed classes) is the following:

Defender: Fighter (including a berserker tree & an unarmed combat tree), Paladin
Leader: Cleric (including a priest of nature tree), Warlord
Controller: Wizard, Sorceror (in whatever form)
Striker: Rogue, Ranger

'Untyped': Bard (includes some abilities from each role, with specializations focusing more on any one of them)

9 classes = 2 for each role + 1 hybrid.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Re: the sorceror.

I'm not sure that the sorcerer will be the class that killed the warlock & took his stuff; I rather expect that the wizard & sorcerer are both standing over the corpse divvying up the spoils.

I predict instead that the sorcerer will kill the warmage & take his stuff. Thus, the main difference between wizard & sorc will be the breadth of arcane abilities (anything for wizard, tightly focused for sorc) vs. extent of combat ability (extremely poor for wizard, modest for sorc).

 

[Szatany]

Is it possible that the Sorcerer is becoming more like the Warlock? That could explain what's being done to make Wiz/Sor significantly different.

We already know that there will be both sorc and wiz. And we know that the designers try their best to move those classes apart. What better way to do this than to assign them different roles?
Wizard is a controller class.
What is the sorcerer?

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

If anyone saw the video interview with James Wyatt, there was just something in the way he discussed classes that made me think we've got something wrong. When he mentioned ENWorld and how we'd claimed there was a Warlord class from the video, I don't know, he looked a bit like he knew something we didn't. Could it be a PrC or similar construct?

Video is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAw490qUAjs

 

[FlameFrost]

warlord

In one of the interviews, when talking about the barbarian, they said something about becoming a frenzied berserker or bear warrior , but still progressing as a barbarian.

Maybe this means that warlord is like the frenzied berserker or bear warrior they talked about , but for fighters instead. ( meaning no 1st lvl warlords).

So it's probably something like a prestige class, but more like a template to your base class , modifying your options or "talent trees" instead of being a seperate class.

As a concrete example , you're not a fighter7/warlord2 you're a warlord9 ( and also a fighter9 )

They will probably still have prerequisites though, an hopefully it will be takeable by all classes if you qualify ( like a PrC ), instead of being fighter only , barbarian only ...

 

[Snapdragyn]

My take on his reaction in the interview was that Warlord was not supposed to have been revealed yet. Because of the screencaps leak, he was able to mention it in a roundabout 'I've heard about this Warlord thing on the internet' way without directly violating his instructions - hence (IMO) the note of humor in his voice.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

If anyone saw the video interview with James Wyatt, there was just something in the way he discussed classes that made me think we've got something wrong. When he mentioned ENWorld and how we'd claimed there was a Warlord class from the video, I don't know, he looked a bit like he knew something we didn't. Could it be a PrC or similar construct?

That's the impression I got too. Maybe it's a prestige class, maybe it was once in the game but has been removed or renamed by now.

I hope that if it is in the game, that they rename it. Warlord is too strong and specific a name for a 1st level character. Marshal is much better.

 

[Glyfair]

If anyone saw the video interview with James Wyatt, there was just something in the way he discussed classes that made me think we've got something wrong. When he mentioned ENWorld and how we'd claimed there was a Warlord class from the video, I don't know, he looked a bit like he knew something we didn't. Could it be a PrC or similar construct?

When I saw it in the screenshot I was willing to believe it might be "something else." When I saw it mentioned in the video, I got the impression that their reactions were "It's amazing how they can track down this stuff we hadn't planned on releasing yet."

On the other hand, I'm still willing to believe that it's "something else." It is a 9th level character, so "warlord" could conceivably be a prestige class of sorts. Once you gain the prestige class you "become it."

For reference: