Compiled info on upcoming classes & races

[Ondo]

So, with all the info we have now, here are my thoughts on PHBII classes.

Bard, Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, and Shaman all seem like obvious guesses. (Some might be wrong, but I don't see any reason to guess against them.)

This leaves I, T, and W classes. One guess would be Theurge (as the more spell-oriented cleric), Inquisitor (as the "deadly and dangerous" striker), and then W as another Primal class, to give us 4 Primal, 2 Arcane, and 2 Divine. Count the first 5 as old classes or concepts revived and the last three as entirely new, and everything seems to work out - except that there are no Psionics, which the Rouse seemed to imply were in.

If we assume Psionics are in, it seems fair to assume they'll have at least two classes representing them. So the I, T, and W need to cover a spell-oriented cleric type, a "deadly and dangerous" Psionic striker, and another Psionic class. Telepath seems like a possibility, though it might count as an old concept revived - maybe Shaman doesn't?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The line:

Like a few other classes, the 4E wizard has a narrower range of power options than the 3rd Edition wizard. Some of these powers are coming later (summoning and illusions, for example), while others simply aren’t appropriate for the character role.

Does not imply they will necessarily create new classes. It could imply they'll just add new powers to the wizard's selection.

 

[Ondo]

I reorganized the first post, and added some info about DDI. Specifically:

Dragon will reveal new classes in playtest mode before they appear in a future Player's Handbook (source).

There will be Barbarian previews on DDI later this year (source).

Wizards has plans to release an annual "Best of" compendium each year (source).

 

[Burr]

So, with all the info we have now, here are my thoughts on PHBII classes.

Bard, Barbarian, Druid, Sorcerer, and Shaman all seem like obvious guesses. (Some might be wrong, but I don't see any reason to guess against them.)

This leaves I, T, and W classes. One guess would be Theurge (as the more spell-oriented cleric), Inquisitor (as the "deadly and dangerous" striker), and then W as another Primal class, to give us 4 Primal, 2 Arcane, and 2 Divine. Count the first 5 as old classes or concepts revived and the last three as entirely new, and everything seems to work out - except that there are no Psionics, which the Rouse seemed to imply were in.

If we assume Psionics are in, it seems fair to assume they'll have at least two classes representing them. So the I, T, and W need to cover a spell-oriented cleric type, a "deadly and dangerous" Psionic striker, and another Psionic class. Telepath seems like a possibility, though it might count as an old concept revived - maybe Shaman doesn't?

'I' - Illusionist
'T' - Theurge
'W' - Wombat Master

 

[Zogmo]

In my heavily houseruled game, the Monk killed the Psychic Warrior and took his stuff, losing some monkish stuff in the process.

Wow, that sounds cool. I never thought of that kind of combo. Any chance of you posting your houseruled monk? If not that's cool. I'll have to make a go of it myself. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Ondo]

Edited the first post to add a mention that in spite of the Rouse's comments earlier, there doesn't seem to be any material from future products in the released SRD.

 

[Ondo]

Added info on upcoming races. Specifically, mentioned Drow and Genasi in the Forgotten Realm's players guide, and added:

The Manual of the Planes will include a playable race (source), done as a Monster Manual style writeup (source).

One race in the PHB2 starts with Gn. Others start with D, G, H, and S, and have second letters O, E, and H, and one has the final letter R (source, source).

 

[Ondo]

One race in the PHB2 starts with Gn. Others start with D, G, H, and S, and have second letters O, E, and H, and one has the final letter R (source, source).

I'm going to go ahead and share my guesses on these. First off, I'm assuming that there are, in fact, only five races, even though that's not stated. I'm not assuming the race with the final letter R is a different race from those with a given second letter. That would be reasonable, but I can't get it to work out as well.

Gnome, Half-Orc, Goblin, Doppleganger, Shifter. I expect there would be multiple types of Shifter detailed. If there were four, that would give the PHB2 the same number of races and classes as the original PHB.

Another possibility, if the final R is from a different races than the given second letters, is Gnome, Hobgoblin, Genasi, Doppleganger, Shifter. While Genasi is in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, it could easily not be a repeat - Genasi (at least in 3rd edition) isn't actually a single race, so they could easily divide the varieties between the two books. Also, since 4e moves away from the four classic elements, they could add new types.

 

[Ondo]

Gnome, Half-Orc, Goblin, Doppleganger, Shifter.

Except, of course, this doesn't work, as it leaves out the race with E as the second letter.

Genasi is the only one race I can think of that fits that. Anyone else have an idea for a race that starts De, Ge, or He?

 

[Zogmo]

I'm posting not to add stuff but to support what your doing and hope you keep going with it. I think your doing an excellent job representing the best these messageboards can be.