D&D 5E (2014) Basic Thoughts on All the PHB Classes

[cmad1977]

Mostly no.
A little yes.
Lots of 'meh'.

That's my summation of the OP.


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[MechaTarrasque]

I figure the berserker would be a lot less controversial if they put the following in big bold letters in the PHB: You are not supposed to frenzy every fight. Seriously. Save it for the big fight.

It wouldn't make it anymore popular, but it would save us the confused puppy dog looks. I will admit it is a thematic mismatch (for both the berserker and the sorcerer) that to get the most value out of them, you have to play them tactically.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Why only melee? Haste works just fine for a Sharpshooter, as well. I've had success Hasting any combination of the Paladin, Ranger archer, Monk, and Druid.

I’ve seen haste used more for the AC buff than the extra attack, so my first thought is who is going to get hit followed by who can use the movement.

I grant, it’s an oversight on my part.

Probably only 4, because you've probably traded out a lower level spell to have 2 3rd level spells. I tend to go defense and utility, relying on cantrips to supplement fireballs (I have a dragon sorcerer). Firebolt at level 6 is doing 2d10+Cha, and I can spend one spell point to twin it. Solid offense, I have shield and mirror image for defense. I don't have quite the versatility of a wizard, sure, but being able to haste two people at once is worth the trade off, to me. If you're not using twinned concentration spells to their fullest effect, you're not playing sorcerer right, to my mind.

Solid offense for six attacks, without burning slots. And that precludes the use of your other abilities.

And, while Twin is amazing, it represents a large investment of opportunity costs since you only get 2 metamagic options until level 10. With Quicken potentially also being just as powerful it means the vast majority of sorcerers are going to have Quicken and Twin and not much else.

Subtle is often talked about but seems to only be good in campaigns high in either politics or anti-caster abilities.

I just find it odd that to be an effective sorcerer you need to twin concentration buffs, but the new subclasses push you towards being closer to the front-line and no other full caster and even most other martial characters are so limited in their tricks that a single build is seen as so highly dominant.

Be an effective fighter with 3 or 4 different types of builds. Sentinel/Polearm, GWM, Shield and Defensive, Archer, Dex-Based Rapier, ect.
Be an effective sorcerer by twinning buff spells at mid-levels and heightening debuff spells at high levels.

- Ranger sucks. Favored enemy and natural explorer have a very limited utility. Primeval awareness wastes your spells slots (compare it with divine sense). TWF has a bad mechanic but it has the worst synergies for a ranger which is the class more associated with that fighting style. Foe slayer is completely underwhelming.
Hide in plain sight is a bit absurd when other classes get invisible, hide in shadows, etc. What's the purpose of a class with spells if you have to dedicate 10min to hide?
The beast master has horrible mechanics and instead of the beast being a follower of the ranger it ends the other way in combat.
Multiattack for hunters doesn't work well comparatively speaking with other class features at lvl 11. You need hordes, whirlwind attack is the worst case, you need at least 3 enemies at the same time to be comparable to an extra attack, but 1 attack to each is far worse that 3 attacks to one, and being surrounded by enemies is dangerous.

I’d recommend looking at the Revised Ranger UA. Quite a few of the things you are complaining about were addressed in that, for example, the new Hide in Plain Sight is a pretty awesome ability I think

 

[TwoSix]

I just find it odd that to be an effective sorcerer you need to twin concentration buffs, but the new subclasses push you towards being closer to the front-line and no other full caster and even most other martial characters are so limited in their tricks that a single build is seen as so highly dominant.

Be an effective fighter with 3 or 4 different types of builds. Sentinel/Polearm, GWM, Shield and Defensive, Archer, Dex-Based Rapier, ect.
Be an effective sorcerer by twinning buff spells at mid-levels and heightening debuff spells at high levels.

If the argument is that there aren't enough ways to be an effective sorcerer, sure, I'll give you that. But metamagic alone is pretty much worth the price of admission. Add on how well it combos with just two levels of warlock or sorcerer, and it's a worthy class in its own right.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

Be an effective fighter with 3 or 4 different types of builds. Sentinel/Polearm, GWM, Shield and Defensive, Archer, Dex-Based Rapier, ect.
Be an effective sorcerer by twinning buff spells at mid-levels and heightening debuff spells at high levels.

Or go blaster and be the best one in the game. It is absolutely absurd to say that a full caster with more than 150 spells on its list cannot compete for variety with the "3 or 4 different types of builds" which are effective for fighter.

 

[Zardnaar]

Quickening spells is also fun, the Sorlock is a bit silly as well or a cleric MC for a quickened bless.

Even without metamagic I like Sorcerers saving throws vs a wizard and a high charisma is generally more useful than a high intelligence. Being proficient in con saves is huge for a caster IMHO sure a wizard can take a feat but so can the sorcerer and pick up something like alert or warcaster.

I'm, not claiming the Sorcerer is better than the wizard. I like it better than a wizardand I think its better than most peoples opinion of it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

If the argument is that there aren't enough ways to be an effective sorcerer, sure, I'll give you that. But metamagic alone is pretty much worth the price of admission. Add on how well it combos with just two levels of warlock or sorcerer, and it's a worthy class in its own right.

I assume you meant 3 levels of sorcerer with something else? Otherwise a Sorcerer/Sorcerer is what you are building

And again, I’m struck with this weird obsessive point of multi-classing. “Sorcerers are great if you dip Warlock over top of them” doesn’t sound like a glowing recommendation for a class. Other than Warlock which seems to fix everything.

And I’ll never deny metamagic is an amazing set of abilities. I just don’t think the small amount of metamagic they get justifies that being almost the only thing they get.

Or go blaster and be the best one in the game. It is absolutely absurd to say that a full caster with more than 150 spells on its list cannot compete for variety with the "3 or 4 different types of builds" which are effective for fighter.

And yet, I’ve been told time and time again that trying to play a sorcerer as a blaster is a fool’s choice, because they aren’t designed to be effective at it. They don’t get enough choices in what actual spells a specific sorcerer will have. Most people say to take 1 or 2 damage spells and focus the rest on general utility or buffs. That a blaster does not make.

It’s like giving a kid 150 different flavors of ice cream, but only allowing them to combine 2 flavors. Just cause the pool of options is big doesn’t mean you’ve got a lot of combinations that actually taste amazing together.

 

[Cognomen's Cassowary]

And yet, I’ve been told time and time again that trying to play a sorcerer as a blaster is a fool’s choice, because they aren’t designed to be effective at it.

I'm glad I don't believe everything I'm told.

 

[TwoSix]

And yet, I’ve been told time and time again that trying to play a sorcerer as a blaster is a fool’s choice, because they aren’t designed to be effective at it. They don’t get enough choices in what actual spells a specific sorcerer will have. Most people say to take 1 or 2 damage spells and focus the rest on general utility or buffs. That a blaster does not make.

If you have fireball, a feature that gives you +4-5 damage to your fireball, and a feature that lets you reroll 4-5 of your lowest d6s on the fireball, you're a blaster to me. I mean, sure, it's nice to have options, but it's also nice to have the biggest fireball in the room.

 

[Tony Vargas]

...Sorcerer.. I think its better than most peoples opinion of it.

Well, then, it's succeeded in evoking the original Sorcerer.