That's no Sorcerer, that's a Paladin (of Bahamut) kinda.. sorta

[Minigiant]

I am okay with most of the classes. Even the Warlock seemed to have mechanics that matched the story well in my eyes.

But something just felt... off about the sorcerer. I couldn't get what upset me at first so I dismissed it.

Then it hit me during a playtest. When the draconic sorcerer runs low on willpower and his or her heritage comes to view... it became a paladin.

"Hey D, that's Rakal. Your Dragonborn Paladin. Your sorcerer is Rakal. Look. You don't even heal or mark like Rakal and his offense as defense self."

"Those were my healing surges. Rakal protects the smallfolk by burning EVIL INTO ASH!"

Did I see what the paladin could be? Tempted I was to add CLW to the sorcerer's spell list but I needed to finished the playtest unaltered.

A generic warrior with a ton of interesting divine abilities draped on top of it.

The traditional paladin of Good could still be made with his Detect Evil at-will, Smite Evil attack, and healing. The paladin of the dragon deity could trade those for a Breath attack, hard skin, and extreme strength. And the paladin of the death deity heals with every slay, turn and destroy undead, and cling hardest to life.

With the right underlying mechanics, does anyone else see the sorcerer low on will power and with an adjusted spell list similar to a paladin?

 

[FireLance]

Yes.

 

[Yora]

It's a psychic warrior.

 

[MoonSong]

For the last time, paladins don't owe anything to the gods, their powers aren't granted by a deity, they come from the paladin's own and inexorable dedication to good and justice. The paladin need's not to follow a god, some do, but not even most. As a result there are no paladin's of bahamut or paladins of melora, or paladins of the raven queen, but rather paladins that follow a certain deity.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

For the last time, paladins don't owe anything to the gods, their powers aren't granted by a deity, they come from the paladin's own and inexorable dedication to good and justice. The paladin need's not to follow a god, some do, but not even most. As a result there are no paladin's of bahamut or paladins of melora, or paladins of the raven queen, but rather paladins that follow a certain deity.

It is a common approach in games to do so though. IMC a paladin is directly tied to a god. So Paladin of X is entirely appropriate.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Could it be... No. -Or could it? Could it be that Wizards are playtesting the new paladin under a false flag? That'd be so cool. If so, what class is the Warlock secretly in the guise of?

 

[Minigiant]

Paladins don't have to worship a deity specifically to gain their power. They can follow an ideal and gain strength accordingly. I fluffed up a paladin order, the Blades of the Golden Flame, who saw gold dragons as the epitome of goodness and adjusted their paladins abilities to match. They didn't not worship Bahamut but they saw him as one of their closest allies.

But I could see and prefer paladins as a "player creature" style character. They could have domains like clerics but get other things that spells.

 

[Jester David]

Heavy armour.
High hitpoints.
Weapons.
Changes shape.

It's a dragon disciple. Which were often sorcerers, but only one type. It feels more like mashing all sorcerers into the focused mold of one magical prestige class to differentiate them from wizards.
Although... the one time I saw a dragon disciple in play, it was a paladin/sorcerer.

It's okay, but not great. An okay idea for one bloodline but not the archetypal sorcerer. It'd make a good third build, an expansion that's very different and shows the range of the class.

 

[r0gershrubber]

I think it looks more like the D&D Dragon Disciple than a Paladin. (Many people mistakenly viewed the Dragon Disciple as a caster prestige class when it was a warrior prestige class.)

Even moreso, I think the D&DN Sorcerer looks like the Pathfinder Sorcerer with the Draconic Bloodline. The new elements are really the Willpower mechanic and casting in armor from level 1. I'm OK with the Willpower mechanic, but I don't like casting in armor for the Sorcerer.

 

[Blackwarder]

Heavy armour.
High hitpoints.
Weapons.
Changes shape.

It's a dragon disciple. Which were often sorcerers, but only one type. It feels more like mashing all sorcerers into the focused mold of one magical prestige class to differentiate them from wizards.
Although... the one time I saw a dragon disciple in play, it was a paladin/sorcerer.

It's okay, but not great. An okay idea for one bloodline but not the archetypal sorcerer. It'd make a good third build, an expansion that's very different and shows the range of the class.

I am 100% sure that this is only one aspect of the sorcerer and that by core we will have at least 3 such aspects to choose form.

Just like wizards will have several traditions, clerics will have several domains and rouges will have several schemes.

Warder
Warder