D&D 3.x [3.5e] Favorite non-Core Base Classes

[hunterofjello]

What are some of your favorite Base Classes in 3.5e that don't come from the Player's Guide? Most of the time when I hear people talk about the best base classes they'll mention druids, wizards and clerics. Do you have any favorite base classes that you enjoyed playing or have seen someone else play well that come from materials outside of the Player's Guide?

 

[Runestar]

Warblade. Not the most powerful, but easily the most fun to play, IMO.

With all the boosts, counters and strikes, I felt like I was playing a mini-game of M:TG (one of my all time favourite games) in dnd.

 

[Starbuck_II]

I have three
1) Binder
2) Psion
3) Warlock

 

[cheshire_grin]

Archivists (Heroes of Horror) are pretty nifty and can either be completely overpowered (if you cheese the heck out of them) or fit right into an average-level party (if you don't). I love the flavor.

All of the ToB base classes are fun.

If we include homebrew, the Sagittarius is something I'm looking forward to trying out; it looks like a fun archer class.

 

[Shin Okada]

It is a hard choice. But I vote for Duskblade as it is one of the most well-designed standard class which is enjoyable from 1st-level to 20th-level without multi-classing.

Followed by Scout, Warmage & Warlock.

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

I'm a fan of all the various subsystems, so the classes in XPH, ToB, ToM, and MoI (minus the Truenamer and Soulborn, of course) are among my favorites. Also, the duskblade and beguiler are quite nice because (A) they give you a reason to go all 20 levels and (B) they let me most easily recreate older-edition characters for some of my players who had fighter/magic-users and illusionists, respectively.

 

[Vykarius]

I prefer the Hexblade personally. I like the personality type and they get some great abilities (Mettle, Arcane Resistance & Dark Companion) to go with the Hex ability, Fighter HD, Fighter Weapon Proficiencies, light armor & Wizard saving throws. A good angst PC that can be maximized as a Hexblade/Rogue if built properly IMHO.

 

[Dragonwriter]

I can't pick one...
Binder, Totemist, Dragon Shaman and Shadowcaster would have to be my favorite base classes. None of them hugely strong, stat-wise, but just too much flavor and fun.

 

[Voadam]

I like Warlocks (Complete Arcane), Dragonfire Adepts (Dragon Magic), Techonological Savants (E.N. Publishing Fantastic Science). All three have at will non vancian magic which suits my playstyle preferences (Reduce resource tracking).

Soulknives are a lot of fun too, magical physical combatantants with powers that recharge with a move action (psychic strike) or are always on but can be changed daily (mindblade enhancements).

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Hard to narrow it down, I have a lot of favorites.

All of the Tome of Battle classes are fun, though I'd have to rank them Swordsage, Warblade, and Crusader, in that order. Crusader's most powerful, but just a hassle to manage. Warblade I use the most often because it's the simplest, but I enjoy Swordsage the most.

I also like the Scout, Swashbuckler (with C.Arcane variant, though it's still kinda weak...), Hexblade (again, despite being underpowered badly), Warlock, Psion, and Factotem. Spellthief always looked interesting, but I've yet to try it out.