PHB3 cover!

[Rechan]

Yeah, I bet some of the classes that were meant for Ki are now Divine/Primal.

 

[drothgery]

More Primal? More Divine? What's left from those two?

I wouldn't be surprised if the subtitle's a temporary one hacked by modifying the PH2 subtitle with Psionic because they don't want to reveal everything that's in PH3 yet. Shadow would pretty much guarantee ninja or assassin and necromancer; elemental would pretty much guarantee shujenga and wu jen.

 

[ppaladin123]

Blizzard are on it: meet the Archivist (if you haven't already).

You know that was an April Fool's joke right?

Blizzard always seems to introduce classes from d&d as jokes. They did the same with the bard in WoW. It is a sly nod to the source material they are constantly ripping off (if the diablo III wizard casting magic missile and time stop wasn't enough).

 

[I'm A Banana]

That's some of the best cover artwork I've seen in 4e thus far.

Agreed. The Githyanki/Githzerai have been really lucky to have a dynamite illustrator drawing them so far in 4e, every time. The minotaur is whatever (though hints strongly at a certain campaign setting...), but I'm looking forward to the best rules for 'zerai since 2e, and also stoked because I don't think WotC has done a whole lot to beat the snot out of their core story from earlier editions.

Blizzard are on it: meet the Archivist (if you haven't already).

Honestly, I would play this guy much faster than I would play even the 3e archivist. The 3e archivist was all well and good, but the power of words and tomes is the wizard's schtick in D&D, and, sadly, they don't have a lot to reinforce that archetype in 4e.

 

[Shroomy]

I figured that the PHB3 would feature more primal content given the inclusion of the wildren, and the psionic power source seemed like a no-brainer but more divine classes was definitely a surprise. I wonder what divine classes they'll include; I guess we'll get a better idea of what archetypes remain after Divine Power is released?

I do love the cover; that artist (I forget his name) is one of my favorites.

 

[Nymrohd]

That comes off far too cartoonish for my tastes.

Hehe, Rechan that was Diablo III's April's fool joke Still I too am very interested on a light armored divine caster. We had the healer, the cloistered cleric and the archivist, as well as the AD&D mystic all covering this type of caster so 4E should make one for us as well.

I don't see the necromancer as a divine class, he has to be shadow since half the theme of shadow is death. I think PHB3 will probably be 5-6 psionic classes and the rest divine and primal, leaving martial as the power source with the least number of classes (unless the third setting has a martial class? would the next setting be before Martial Power 2?). I can easily think of 5 psionic classes (monk, soulknife, psychic warrior, psion (telepath/kineticist controller), empath (maybe like Keith's thoughtsinger which he intented for Eberron?)) and I could see yet a sixth class as well. Which leaves me wondering what the new primal class will be.

Also with new divine and primal classes on PHB3 this practically confirms Divine Power 2 and Primal Power 2.

 

[Mephistopheles]

You know that was an April Fool's joke right?

Blizzard always seems to introduce classes from d&d as jokes. They did the same with the bard in WoW. It is a sly nod to the source material they are constantly ripping off (if the diablo III wizard casting magic missile and time stop wasn't enough).

Yes.

I couldn't help myself because I agree with the sentiment behind the joke: you take a clerk and send him off to fight monsters.

 

[Nymrohd]

You know that was an April Fool's joke right?

Blizzard always seems to introduce classes from d&d as jokes. They did the same with the bard in WoW. It is a sly nod to the source material they are constantly ripping off (if the diablo III wizard casting magic missile and time stop wasn't enough).

Well the WoW Bard april's fool joke was more of a Guitar Hero joke (and it would have rocked as a WoW class far more than those pesky deathknights! I mean the three builts were metal, rock and punk).

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

A major step up with the artwork.

I've noted the work of this artist in the past, it's a much more pleasingly realistic look. They couldn't resist the female in a tank-top, but hey, it's a half step in the right direction.

Overall, well done WotC

 

[Fallen Seraph]

That cover is undoubtedly the best 4e cover yet (and it is the one with Psionics too so even better!) I hope they get the artist to do more book covers and art in general for 4e.

As for classes/races, etc. Well this hopefully means that with Psionics being the big focus that more races will be Psionic oriented, ie; Elan!

For Primal and Divine, I would like to see more experimentation perhaps divorcing them from one aspect to reinforce another. Such as a Primal class with no nature bent and entirely spirit oriented. Or Divine that can't/doesn't worship a god but something else entirely.

To do really random and entirely without any evidence of which speculation based on the cover. I could see a glyph/sigil based magic class given the glyphs on the Minotaur's armour and mace. Also for the Minotaur I would like to see alternative stats for it. So got DDI Minotaur and PHB3 Minotaur, though both can take their races feats, paragon paths, etc.

Edit: nvm, I was mistaken.