D&D General What is your favorite class(es), and what about makes them so fun?

rgoodbb

Adventurer
I enjoy playing Classes/Subclasses that have features/spells that get party members out of a bad situation. So for 5e it would be features like cutting words, benign transposition, sentinel at death's door, mantle of inspiration etc. Added to healing word, sanctuary, vortex warp

Throw in an eladrin spring model or halfling with bountiful luck feat for extra emergency help.

So Cleric, Bard, Druid, Divine Soul really.
 

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EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
Paladin: I'm big on knightly virtues, the Gentle Giant archetype that Paladins lean toward, and high-Cha archetypes (because I always prefer to persuade first, with violence only as a lamentable fallback.) I love the idea of Lay on Hands, especially as implemented in 4e, where it is actually self-sacrifice to aid another.

Sorcerer: This was my first love, before Paladin. The idea of magic power coursing through your veins appeals to me, and as above, it's a high-Cha archetype (this will become a running theme.) Even better, the "classic" Sorcerer concept is Draconic, and dragons are one of my favorite things in all of fiction.

Warlord: Leader-of-men, so it's a high-Cha archetype. It's also the class that manifests one of the great distinctions I've always valued, the difference between Athena and Ares: strategy vs. slaughter, brilliant skill vs brute strength, mental combat as opposed to physical combat. Warlords have all that, and diplomacy.

Summoner: Not found in every game, but when it's present, I love it. I'm especially partial to the "Synthesist" concept from Pathfinder, where your buddy acts as a magical-spiritual "shell" surrounding your actual body. High-Cha, dealing with the planes, and full of esoteric knowledge and weirdness--that's my jam.

Avenger: The odd man out, but I've always loved this concept from 4e. It pairs the Divine-flavored stuff I enjoy quite a bit with some unusual elements and an idea of only striking once, but striking with all your might (ultra-accurate and using big weapons, frex.) Plus, Assassin's Creed style, without Assassin's Creed writing.

Now for the "I like them, but not as much as the above" ones. Usually, I'll be drawn in by some kind of other thing, either a cool mechanical interaction or a subclass-/variant-specific descriptive element that excites me.

Druid: Mostly, the thing here is shapeshifting, which has notes of the Synthesist above, but there are others; the 5e circles of Wildfire and Stars appeal quite a bit, and I once, relatively briefly, played a gestalt Int-based Druid/Wizard/Geomancer that was a heck of a lot of fun (and eventually became Space Dragon Pope, only half-joking.)

Monk: I absolutely adore the mechanical implementation of the Monk in 13th Age, and even as a general idea, I find the concept of martial arts pretty cool in a game. Being able to dish out the pain with just your own body, and doing so through patience, discipline, and enlightenment? Yeah, that's cool.

Swordmage: I love finding synergy in seeming contradiction, which runs through several of the above concepts. Swordmages marry together two disciplines usually considered at odds--and I love it when that concept is truly supported to the hilt (hah, punny), making something greater than either part alone.

Warlock: Normally this is outside my wheelhouse, because of the association with corruption and/or "bad" power. But some flavors of Warlock--e.g. Hexblade, or in 5e specifically the Celestial+Tome option--are pretty cool, and I could see them growing into something really interesting and different.

There's also a concept D&D has rarely implemented well, that I wish it would implement better: Runes. I've always wanted a "Runecaster" class that felt distinct and impactful, something that could go toe-to-toe with a regular spellcaster, but in a completely different way, much as how psionics is generally expected to work differently. I take some degree of pride in my command of language, so there's a natural desire to see that control-of-words represented as an actually supernatural power; this is part, albeit only one part, of why I love the Myst games so much.
 

Tonguez

A suffusion of yellow
Barbarian - rage is such an easy ability and it allows a straight forward tank to survive close up pummelling

Druid - shapeshifting and druid spells gives both fun frontline and utility

Pyschic Warrior - because its a better monk that hone their bodies and minds with awesome superpowers
 

Shiroiken

Legend
My favorite class is magic-user/mage/wizard. I've always liked the concept of a powerful caster that has to work extra hard to reach great power. While this hasn't really held true after AD&D, I still find it to be the most enjoyable class.

My second favorite class is also my first: the paladin. Holy warrior and classic knight in shining armor. An iconic hero. Unlike the wizard, this version has gotten better over the editions, becoming more and more playable.

Honorable Mention: Duskblade. Probably the only thing I really liked from 4E, I wish a version of it could have made it into 5E. The Eldritch Knight and Bladesinger just aren't quite the same.
 


EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way
I am the only guy who loved mystic
I actually thought the mystic was a very interesting design, it just needed another 2-3 passes through the iterative game design process before it fully worked.

One of the problems with "it must be COMPLETELY popular before we go with it" approach is that you're basically depending on lucking out and presenting something with few to no bugs on the first try. It's like trying to only ever do two drafts, a rough draft and a final polish, and never EVER doing ANY revision in-between. Sometimes, yes, you'll end up failing even after 2-3 more passes. But, as we've seen with psionics...it's not like they haven't been throwing good money after bad at this point with the method they ARE using!
 

DEFCON 1

Legend
Supporter
One of the problems with "it must be COMPLETELY popular before we go with it" approach is that you're basically depending on lucking out and presenting something with few to no bugs on the first try. It's like trying to only ever do two drafts, a rough draft and a final polish, and never EVER doing ANY revision in-between. Sometimes, yes, you'll end up failing even after 2-3 more passes. But, as we've seen with psionics...it's not like they haven't been throwing good money after bad at this point with the method they ARE using!
At least in this case though, the Mystic did get a second pass before it got shelved-- and in fact it actually got 3 full playtest packets. 0.1 gave five levels of the new Mystic with two subclasses, 0.2 bumped it out to 10 levels, and 0.3 went the full 20 levels plus went all the way up to 6 subclasses.

No one can say WotC didn't give it a fair shot. They did what they could with it and iterated several times... but in the end it apparently just didn't float enough people's boats. But I've had players use 0.3 successfully in a full campaign, so it's out there in the ether as an option for those who really want psionics.
 

The homebrewed Magus class by Laser Llama. The Magus Class by laserllama The author IMO basically fused the Fighter's Eldritch Knight and the Wizard's Bladesinger subclasses into one class.

A5e's Fighter. They get to master 3 of the 11 combat traditions in the Adventurer's Guide. Plus you gain more class features outside of the subclass. Then there are the social interaction features, which the 5e Fighter lacked. 5e Fighters were good at combat and exploration, but they didn't have anything going for them outside of those two areas. Until now. ;)

Everyman Games' Unchained Fighter for PF1. This version of the Fighter used stamina points for combat tricks, which allowed the class to do a little extra with whatever feat they happened to have. They gained proficiency in not just simple and martial weapons, but any exotic weapon that was a part of their chosen weapon group. So you didn't need to pick up the exotic weapon proficiency feat for any exotic weapon in your chosen weapon group. They were also advanced weapon and armor options too.

Kobold Press' Elemental Exarch archetype for the Druid class in PF1. This Druid archetype allowed you to focus on one of the four elements. You started out play with an elemental companion that would grow more powerful over time, and you gained early access to elemental wildshaping.
 

Sacrosanct

Legend
There's also a concept D&D has rarely implemented well, that I wish it would implement better: Runes. I've always wanted a "Runecaster" class that felt distinct and impactful, something that could go toe-to-toe with a regular spellcaster, but in a completely different way, much as how psionics is generally expected to work differently. I take some degree of pride in my command of language, so there's a natural desire to see that control-of-words represented as an actually supernatural power; this is part, albeit only one part, of why I love the Myst games so much.
I guess you could say I agree with you.... ;)

rune caster example.jpg
 

payn

He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
3.5/PF1 Bard, Witch, and Ranger.

They allowed the most versatile characters that fit into any party naturally. A good amount of feat, archetype, and prestige class synergy as well.
 

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