D&D 5E The classes that nobody wants to play

[Blue]

In another comment [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION] brought up about bard not showing up in either list. That's a good point - which classes showed up a lot (lots of love and hate) and which ones didn't rock the boat very much (not showing up in either list). So here it is same list, but sorted by how often they showed up either positive or negative.

Rogue	13.39%	100	24%
Ranger	-6.68%	22	24%
Cleric	-1.31%	43	24%
Warlock	-3.80%	33	23%
Monk	-12.25%	0	22%
Fighter	9.23%	84	22%
Wizard	5.56%	69	21%
Barb	6.19%	72	19%
Sorc	-6.80%	21	19%
Druid	-6.75%	21	18%
Paladin	4.86%	67	17%
Bard	-1.63%	41	15%

Bards showed up the least in either list, only 15% of the respondents said anything about them. Rogues, Rangers and Clerics showed up the most with about 24% of the people saying something about them, about 67% more voted for than the bard. It's interesting that you have classes like the cleric, who were median for seen/unseen and had both a lot of people seeing them and a lot of people saying they were never played, vs. Bard, the other part of the median, which much less people voted for either way.

 

[Zardnaar]

WoTC polls have told them that fighter has consistently rated as the most popular class--pretty much for the entire history of D&D, including 5e. This poll just indicates that forum goers who dislike the fighter truly are a (somewhat) vocal minority.

Depends what poll. Its usually one of the more popular classes but the big survey they had during D&D Next the wizard won the poll.

I think hte Wizards versatility may not stack up to well vs the raw power of the Sorcerer or the Lore Bard. THe invoker is not actually that good at blowing hings up nd the wizard still takes a while to come online but doesn't get much at lowe levels to compensate for it while clerics/bards/warlocks do.

Sorcerers also have similar problems but they can break the game in various ways that wizards can't. Being able to twin concentration spells is great in an edition where you can only have 1 concentration spell going at once. Bards can steal spells from the Ranger and Paladin list and get access to thing like destructive wave 7 levels before the paladin and its also a better spell than any similar spell on the wizard spell list.

The charisma based classes all have really kewl things to hang the class on, wizards not so much and intellignece kind of stinks both in saves, skills, and combat (unless you are a wizard).

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Depends what poll. Its usually one of the more popular classes but the big survey they had during D&D Next the wizard won the poll.

I could be wrong, but I thought that fighter eventually came out on top. There were multiple polls, so I don't remember for certain, but I believe Mike's comments on the popularity of fighters came after all the Next design work and polls was already done.

 

[joshinminn]

I find the disdain for the Ranger puzzling. I played one through 15th level (a one-eyed, sharpshooting Stout halfling who hated Dragons!) and I had an absolute blast. He was a pretty popular PC too.

Ditto. I love my UA ranger, beast conclave. Have played him to sixth level, and enjoy him immensely.

Sent from my SM-G935V using EN World mobile app

 

[Zardnaar]

I could be wrong, but I thought that fighter eventually came out on top. There were multiple polls, so I don't remember for certain, but I believe Mike's comments on the popularity of fighters came after all the Next design work and polls was already done.

It was one of the early polls, the classic 4 were the most popular classes and the wizard won, things like Monk, Druid, Warlord, maybe Bard were near the bottom. There may have been more polls afterwards IDK memory is a bit hazy and I stopped leaving feedback after about the 3rd or 4th packet. The big 4 were roughly as popular as all the rest put together I think the wizard got around 15% the least popular classes about 2% IIRC.

Rangers in 5E are really good BUT its conditional.

1. You play a hunter.
2. You use a bow.
3. You build it right (right class abilities, sharpshooter, use hunters quarry).

The only good melee ranger i have seen was one of the EN5ider ones and it was a tempest. Its thing was if 2 attacks hit the same target you got another attack to it was kind of like Hordebreaker but conditional on hitting a single target.

I have also written a ranger guide. Its fairly complicated though.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?522031-Best-PHB-Ranger-Guide-Ever

 

[Gladius Legis]

We could speculate as to why the rogue is popular. To begin with, I think cunning action is a shiny prize for character optimizers. It is also a relatively simple class which doesn't have to muck around with spell lists, so it is friendly for inexperienced players. The stealth/sneak attack aspect adds a bit of strategy which might appeal to some over the more generic fighter. Finally, the rogue perhaps more than any other class suggests an "edgy" and/or "anti-hero" type, which seems to appeal to a lot of people.

It's also got one of the most inspired and diverse array of archetypes of any class. All of the current official archetypes effectively fill a niche and are fun one way or another.

Now we just need a STR-based Thug archetype and we'll really be in business ...

 

[psychophipps]

No. He was a Paladin of Light, he shined, spoke 50 words when 5 were sufficient, was Lawful Good, was all godly and holy.

He was a 1E Paladin dropped into 5E.

(he was actually really well roleplayed, very true to his oath (a homebrewed one - gave up healing for light related powers)

I still hate them.

All of them.

And I can't get my bald old head around the fact that WotC changed them so they don't have to be human and lawful good. That makes me hate them even more.

The best Paladin I ever saw was played by my buddy. He was LG, played as the cliche, and the most racist character of all time. All demi-humans he referred to as "half-a-mans" and generally was the whole "I ain't got nothin' agin' you folk, but <insert crazy racist comment here>..." Absolute hilarity.

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[Sword of Spirit]

It's also got one of the most inspired and diverse array of archetypes of any class. All of the current official archetypes effectively fill a niche and are fun one way or another.

That's the sort of thing that ideally we'd be able to say about all classes. I guess it's just an example of design done right. (Though I have some issues with concept overlap between Mastermind and Assassin.)

Now we just need a STR-based Thug archetype and we'll really be in business ...

Definitely. Give them a reason to actually use those longswords they are uselessly proficient with.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

My first group was based on the basic rules so it included: Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard
My second group had complete free choice and the people who applied (didn't take all) wanted to play: Monk, Druid, Wizard, Warlock, Rogue, Bard, Paladin

So for me the jobs that never even came up are: Barbarian, Ranger and Sorcerer. Rogue and Wizard are the most popular.

 

[JonnyP71]

We could speculate as to why the rogue is popular. To begin with, I think cunning action is a shiny prize for character optimizers. It is also a relatively simple class which doesn't have to muck around with spell lists, so it is friendly for inexperienced players. The stealth/sneak attack aspect adds a bit of strategy which might appeal to some over the more generic fighter. Finally, the rogue perhaps more than any other class suggests an "edgy" and/or "anti-hero" type, which seems to appeal to a lot of people.

You are consistently considering classes mainly in terms of power/mechanics, I would argue that the Rogue popularity is likely to be more down to the image and flavour of the archetypes - for me that is much more important than how much damage they deal, or how likely it is we can make use of their 'special' powers.

- the Assassin - a hired murderer, a bounty hunter, or a spy for the crown, paid to stalk the night and track down victims - damn cool
- the Arcane Trickster - a swindler, a street entertainer, the roguish illusionist appeals to the imaginative player. Again, packed with distinct flavour and roleplaying potential.
- the Thief - harking back to the traditional 1E class, no lock too strong, no trap too devious, a reason to adventure and every dungeon delving group needs a good one. The simplest of the 3 and at the same time, extremely fulfilling as there are always ways in which those skills can be employed - think outside the box, and break open that toolkit.


It's a class with 3 diverse archetypes that clearly fit interesting and appealing playstyles and stories. The cunning action and sneak attack are the icing on the cake, not the meat and drink. I'm not saying the mechanics are meaningless - the simplicity of the Rogue is indeed appealing, as is its versatility and effectiveness in battles - rather that in my experience, everyone in the 3 groups I game with tends to start with a story/idea mapped out in their head. Only then do they actually select the class/race/archetype/skills/feats etc to fit that story.