Balance 4 Core Classes

[ren1999]

Have 4 Core Classes in 5th Edition and have all custom classes fall under one of the 4 main classes.

Fighter
Class Bonus: +1 Strength
Class Penalty: -1 Charisma
Hit Points: Constitution score+12
Hit Points Per Level-Up: +12 hit points
Healing Surges: 12
Armor: Any
Weapon: Any
Casting: No
Powers Per Level-Up: 5+Intelligence Modifier
Power Types: Martial Feat Powers
Theme Variant Classes:Barbarian, Ranger(fighter/wizard), etc.

Rogue
Class Bonus: +1 Dexterity
Class Penalty: -1 Constitution
Hit Points: Constitution score+10
Hit Points Per Level-Up: +10 hit points
Healing Surges: 10
Armor: Armor Class Bonus up to Studded Leather
Weapon: Any weapon doing up to 1d6 damage
Casting: No
Powers Per Level-Up: 5+Intelligence Modifier
Power Types: Rogue Only Skills
Theme Variant Classes:Ninja(rogue/wizard), etc.

Cleric
Class Bonus: +1 Wisdom
Class Penalty: -1 Intelligence
Hit Points: Constitution score+8
Hit Points Per Level-Up: +8 hit points
Healing Surges: 8
Armor: nothing greater than chain
Weapon: the weapon of the cleric's god
Spells: Prayer powers
Powers Per Level-Up 5+Intelligence Modifier
Power Types: Healing/Cursing and Commanding No Burst Prayer Powers
Theme Variant Classes: Druid, Paladin(fighter/cleric), etc.

Wizard
Class Bonus: +1 Intelligence
Class Penalty: -1 Strength
Hit Points: Constitution score+6
Level-Up: +6 hit points
Healing Surges: 6
Armor: No armor save jewelry and magic
Weapon: wooden staff, dagger, dart, sling
Spells: yes
Powers Per Level-Up 5+Intelligence Modifier
Power Types: Spell Casting Powers, with Burst
Theme Variant Classes:Witch, Monk(wizard/cleric), etc.

 

[amerigoV]

While the idea is fine, I gotta say the stat adjustments for 3 of the classes baffle me

Have 4 Core Classes in 5th Edition and have all custom classes fall under one of the 4 main classes.

Fighter
Class Bonus: +1 Strength
Class Penalty: -1 Charisma

So you are just pushing the traditional fighter dump stat even lower? A min-maxer will take that in a heartbeat. Plus, it fails the reality test - its a well known fact that women dig scars and men in uniform.

Rogue
Class Bonus: +1 Dexterity
Class Penalty: -1 Constitution

So rogues are quick but sickly? Given HP is a representation of luck and skill, I am not sure why you want to take HP away from a class that basically is defined as luck and skill.

Cleric
Class Bonus: +1 Wisdom
Class Penalty: -1 Intelligence

The new debate: Does one have to be dumb to channel the power of the gods? Or does channeling the power of the gods make one dumb?

Wizard
Class Bonus: +1 Intelligence
Class Penalty: -1 Strength

That makes some sense -- on the other hand, have you seen the size of some of the ancient books that people tend to base a wizard's spellbook on?

 

[SLOTHmaster]

And this also gives characters healing surges. Not everyone's favorite mechanic to say the least.

 

[MoonSong]

First, you are asuming powers and healing surges are going to be core, which remains to be seen and isn't going to get any goodwill.

Now the "have just 4 classes then use themes/whatever to get the rest" has been repeated over and over at nauseum, and it keeps provoking the same answers. AFAIK not a single edition has had only four classes and extra layers of difficulty to get more classes - no not even 2e-. (Perhaps the only exception would be basic where the Paladin was an advanced version of the fighter, but even there it wasn't just another layer of class mechanics and it wasn't just four classes, racial classes were there too) And have them now would really drive away lots of players. The main point of Next is to have the option to play simplre and complex versions of the same class on the same table. Having the simple Barbarian being a complex version of the fighter hurts the player wanting a simple Barbarian -"lots of work just to get a generic barbarian, I wanted it simple dammit!"- and the one wanting a complex Barbarian -"great I'm stuck playing a cliché and can't make it suit my tastes because I've burnt all of my customizing options just to get a run of the mill Barbarian!". Not only that, it also hurts the player wanting to play a fighter, because the support for the fighter gets watered down in order to put the "Barbarian Kit" "Ranger Kit" "Paladin kit", etc.

And worse some of the complex classes (Bard, Monk) just deffy this classification system, and forcing them to fit one slot would be an oversimplification. What is a Bard? a magic user/rogue? if so why does he have proficiency with shields both classes lack? Why is he more social than both? And why 4e decided they were more of a cleric analogue? The simplest answer is Bards are their own beast, they cannot be satisfactorily folded into another class, the only way to create satisfactory bards is for them to be their own class. And once you open the door to archetypes being their own class, is only fair the Paladins, Barbarians, Monks and Sorcerers be full-classes too.

 

[patrick y.]

Ugh. No thanks.

The fighter gets a penalty to Charisma for what reason?

The rogue gets a penalty to Constitution, but the wizard doesn't. So the stereo typically cerebral class is on average healthier than the acrobatic skirmisher? What, is a mandatory 1st level rogue power Pack a Day Habit, or maybe Childhood bout with Whooping Cough?

As has been been already pointed out, the iconic cleric is arbitrarily tilted towards the Gump side, and given powers per level are based off Intelligence, he going to come out on the short side there.

Which also means, of course, that the wizard is likely to absolutely crush the other classes in this system, since it's the only one whose prime requisite directly influences the number of powers received.

Speaking of which, I really don't want to play a game that gives me a minimum of 5 "powers" per level up. Even in a system with a fairly low ceiling for stat bonuses, that's going to get ugly. A 10th level wizard with a +2 bonus from intelligence has 70 powers. That's just way, way too much stuff.

 

[Drowbane]

No thanks, for reasons already explained above.

 

[CM]

I can't support giving ability score penalties to any class. I don't like racial ability score penalties coming back either, for the record.

Sorry but you're just making way too many assumptions on what a 5e character will look like for this to be a useful subject at this time. This might be a good topic for a theoretical Paizo 4.5e though.

 

[Serendipity]

Class based ability score bonuses I can kind of get behind, I've suggested such before but ability penalties? No. Just no.

 

[Baumi]

Also where is the balance? According to this, the Fighter is simply better then everyone else and the Wizard sucks.

 

[ren1999]

I'm listening. Nobody likes class penalties. That can be easily removed.

Having 70 wizard powers is ridiculous. I was thinking more about a total limit of 30 powers for 30th level characters.

I'm liking the idea about the "kits". Tell me more about that.

I don't want to drop any other classes, I just want to emphasize the most important classes.