D&D 5E Challenge: Invent a PHB Class List with 6 Classes

[Blue Orange]

There's a bunch of these, so I can't imagine my entry will be final. Fantasy games have a huge number of tropes, but I'd go with these:

Fighter, Black Belt Monk, Thief, White Mage Cleric, Red Mage Bard, Black Mage.

Go ahead, fight me. I will knock you all down!

More seriously, if you go the 1e/2e route and allow multiclasses, you can simulate a paladin as a fighter/cleric, a ranger as a fighter/druid, and a bard as a fighter/rogue/wizard. Do sorcerer as a variant wizard and warlock as a fighter/wizard (everyone wants a gish class anyway).

So we have left barbarian, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, rogue, wizard. I'd treat the barbarian as a variant fighter, bringing us down to:
cleric, druid, fighter, monk, rogue, wizard.

 

[the Jester]

Tricky question. I think I'd go with:

Warrior (emphasizes skill at arms; includes fighter, monk)
Magic-User (emphasis on full and powerful casting; includes wizard, sorcerer)
Priest (emphasis on interacting with or drawing upon an outside patron or force; includes most clerics, druid, warlock)
Leader (emphasis on enabling allies and enhancing teamwork; includes the warlord)
Rogue (emphasis on skills and skill-based abilities; includes the thief, assassin, bard)
Artificer (emphasis on creation/crafting;includes the artificer)

I'd probably have subclasses come in at first level, and have some of them have different versions under different classes. For instance, a bard might be a leader or a rogue. A wizard could be an artificer, as could a fighter who focused on e.g. trapping or smithing special weapons, etc.

I'd probably put the berserker as a warrior archetype and move 'barbarian' to a potential background or culture feature.

Paladin and ranger would be like prestige classes for a warrior/cleric or warrior/druid, respectively, and I'd probably have similar prestige-class-like archetypes for other mixes that were sufficiently, well, archetypical, and I would have things like paragon paths to fill the same role for single classed pcs or multiclassed pcs who didn't want to lean into the multiclass so far.

 

[Marandahir]

Entirely hypothetical. I'm still not completely satisfied with the splitting of combat roles specifically for Fighter-types, but when I didn't split them, the martial subclasses were getting unwieldy.

Key:

• Class -- Choice of Key Ability (Subclasses can have secondary abilities) -- 4e Combat Roles
  • Subclass (5e source subclass(es), if name is distinct)
  • Subclass* = Has Psionics

List:

1. Warrior -- Strength, Dexterity -- Artillery, Brute, Leader, Skirmisher
   1. Arcane Archer
   2. Banneret (Purple Dragon Knight + Oath of the Crown)
   3. Battle Smith (Battle Smith + Forge Adept)
   4. Berserker (Barb. features + Path of the Berserker + Path of the Battlerager)
   5. Dragoon (Drakewarden + some Draconic Bloodline features)
   6. Gladiator (Champion + College of the Sword)
   7. Martial Artist (Way of the Open Hand + Unarmed Fighting Style Champion)
   8. Monster Hunter (Hunter + Monster Slayer + Blood Hunter)
   9. Phantom
   10. Ranger (Horizon Walker + Fey Wanderer + Horse-riding Beast Master)
   11. Scout (Scout + Spell-less Ranger)
   12. Skald (College of Valor + College of the Battle Singer)
   13. Soulknife*
   14. Swashbuckler (Swashbuckler + Oath of the Open Sea)
   15. Totem Warrior (Path of the Totem Warrior)
2. Guardian -- Strength, Constitution -- Brute, Soldier, Leader, Skirmisher
   1. Blackguard (Oathbreaker + Oath of Conquest)
   2. Champion (Champion + some "generic" Battle Master manoeuvres)
   3. Cavalier (Cavalier + Oath of the Crown + Horse-Riding Beast Master; No Spells but has smites, primal awareness, or manoeuvres)
   4. Fey Knight (Oath of the Ancients + Path of Wild Magic + Fey Wanderer)
   5. Hexblade (Pact of the Sword + Hexblade)
   6. Paladin (Oath of Devotion)
   7. Psi Knight* (Psi Warrior)
   8. Runeguard (Rune Knight)
   9. Ronin (Oathbreaker + Ranger + Samurai + Oath of the Crown + Banneret)
   10. Sentinel (Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
   11. Skinwalker (Path of the Beast + Circle of the Moon)
   12. Spellguard (some melee Artificer features + Eldritch Knight + Bladesinger)
   13. Warden (Oath of the Ancients + Path of the Storm Herald + Oath of the Watchers)
3. Expert -- Dexterity, Intelligence
   1. Alchemist
   2. Armourer
   3. Artillerist
   4. Assassin
   5. Inquisitor* (Inquisitive + Psionics)
   6. Kensei* (Way of the Kensei + Battle Master)
   7. Mariner (Swashbuckler + Rogue features + Unearthed arcana fighting style)
   8. Mastermind
   9. Maverick
   10. Merchant
   11. Nomad (Horizon Walker + Rogue)
   12. Ninja (Way of Shadow)
   13. Scholar (College of Lore)
   14. Thief
4. Cleric -- Wisdom, Charisma -- Brute
   1. Alienist (The Great Old One + Circle of the Stars)
   2. Avenger (Oath of Vengeance)
   3. Channeller (College of Spirits + Grave Domain + Diviner)
   4. Divine Soul
   5. Druid (Circle of the Land, Nature Domain)
   6. Dreamwalker (Circle of Dreams + Twilight Domain)
   7. Exorcist (Arcana Domain + Oath of the Watchers)
   8. Hospitaller (Life Domain + Grave Domain)
   9. Iluminator (Light Domain)
   10. Justicier (Oath of Order)
   11. Mendicant (Oath of Redemption + Peace Domain)
   12. Monk* (Way of the Sun Soul)
   13. Moonpriest (Twilight Domain + Lunar Magic + Moon Domain)
   14. Necrolyte (Death Domain + Way of the Long Death + The Undead + Circle of Spores + The Undying + Grave Domain + College of Spirits)
   15. Theurgist (Celestial Pact + Way of the Cobalt Soul)
   16. Warlock (The Fiend)
   17. Warpriest (War Domain)
   18. Witch (The Archfey + Lunar Magic + Twilight Domain+ Circle of the Stars)
   19. Zealot (Path of the Zealot)
5. Mage -- Intelligence, Wisdom
   1. Black Mage (School of Necromancy)
   2. Blue Mage (School of Illusion)
   3. Copper Mage (School of Conjuration)
   4. Gold Mage (School of Transmutation)
   5. Green Mage (School of Enchantment)
   6. Red Mage (School of Evocation)
   7. Silver Mage (School of Divination)
   8. White Mage (School of Abjuration)
   9. Archivist* (Pact of the Tome; Generalist)
   10. Beguiller* (Arcane Trickster; Enchantment + Illusion)
   11. Mystic* (Pact of the Talisman; Divination + Transmutation)
   12. Binder* (Pact of the Chains; Conjuration + Necromancy)
   13. Warmage* (Pact of the Blade + Warmage; Abjuration + Evocation)
6. Prodigy -- Charisma, Constitution
   1. Astrologer (Circle of the Stars + Lunar Magic + College of Spirits)
   2. Avatar* (Way of the Four Elements)
   3. Courtier (College of Eloquence)
   4. Bard (College of Creation + College of the Maestro)
   5. Psionicist* (Aberrant Mind)
   6. Sorcerer (various features from Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, & Wizard)
   7. Spellscale (Draconic Bloodline + Way of the Ascendant Dragon)
   8. Shadowcaster (Shadow Magic)
   9. Swarm Keeper
   10. Troubadour* (College of Glamour)
   11. Wilder* (Wild Magic)

Etc. Might expand this as I think of more classifications. I also don't like some of the names above (esp. Shaman, Witch, Troubadour) as they have connotations of stereotypes I don't intend to represent. These are more shorthand terms at the moment.

 

[Undrave]

Real easy:

Fighter (Includes some Paladin and some Barbarians and even some Bards)
Expert/Loremaster (includes Rogues and most Bards as well as Artificers)
Ranger (No spell casting in the base class, includes Scout, includes some Barbarians, some Paladins, Wardens)
Warlord (d'uh! Some Paladins, Bards, and even Barbarians are included)
Cleric (includes some Paladin and Druids)
Warlock.
If all those classes have a similar subclass progression levels Sorcerer can be a generic subclass anyone can lay on top of another class.

We don't need Wizards

 

[Amrûnril]

I think a lot of people are approaching this by focusing on what classes to omit or combine. This makes sense in some cases, but to me it feels like it's necessarily about removing possibilities rather than adding new ones. A more interesting approach might be to think of 6 new categories that could benefit from the level of differentiation that "extra attackers", "sneak attackers" and "full casters" have in the current game. For instance:

Warrior: A generally non-magical character able to excel in and out of combat by using talent in broad areas rather than specialized training.
Expert: A generally non-magical character focused on applying specialized knowledge and techniques.
Alterer: A character gaining their primary abilities through creation or transformation of themself or their belongings (or potentially those of their allies). This could include anything from weapon crafting to shapeshifting and could be accomplished magically or nonmagically.
Leader: A character focused on directing and supporting allies. This would include pet users and summoners, as well as characters focused on buffing fellow party members.
Loremaster: A magic user focused on versatility and the creation of unique effects.
Chaneller: A magic user focused on wielding raw power.

Some existing classes fall pretty cleanly into one of these categories. Most Rogues would be Experts, for instance, and most Artificers would be Alterers. In other cases, though there's a lot of reshuffling, which could be a good thing in terms of bringing new perspectives to character creation. A Paladin focused on smiting would probably be a Warrior, but one focused on supportive abilities could be a Leader. A Moon Druid would be an Alterer, while a Wildfire Druid would be a Channeler.

A notable distinction from the current class system is that these categories are mostly lore-agnostic. While class lore can certainly be a helpful source of inspiration, I think that with the smaller number of options, it's better for character diversity if most of the lore suggestions come into play at the subclass level. Similarly, the categories are intended to be independent of ability score distributions, which can be an additional axis for character customization.

 

[Blue Orange]

Serious question: what's the most recent poll on the most popular character classes? At least you could see what everyone likes to play. I've seen, for example, that 'evil' options like half-orcs and tieflings and warlocks ('evil' in quotes as the character of course may not be evil at all, but will be perceived to be) have become more popular. You can Google around and find a bunch, but I'm wondering if anyone has a sense of what the most recent one is.

 

[jmartkdr2]

While I disagree with the premise, I could see a six-class structure working for a dnd-like game:

Expert: the rogue analogue - you have skills, ways to gain Combat Advantage (tm) using your skills, and get a bonuses to attacks (mostly damage but there are options) when you have Combat Advantage (tm). Ideally should work with any skill, even stuff like History .

Fighter: the warrior class. You get a defense mode (are you armored, dodgy, warded with magic?), maneuvers, stances (like fighting styles), and combat feats. Fighting-focused monks should fit in here if you chose barehanded stances.

Gifted: magic-users who were granted their powers rather than learning them, combining ideas like paladin, sorcerer and warlock. Thematically clerics could fit, but mechanically they actually don't. You get a bunch of invocations, boons, and some power points to keep your stuff in line. Structurally you're like a 5e warlock but you can choose how much spellcasting you get.

Hybrid: an awkward class that lets you cherry-pick form different classes, but you get less overall stuff. Caster rangers go here.

Spellcaster: for all casters who learned how to use magic, as opped to having spell-like innate abilities, regardless of who you learned from. Wizards, bards, druids, witches of course - warlocks who were simply taught spellcasting by a devil, clerics who know how the prayers actually work because they went to seminary, and more. You learn Spells. Theoretically, you can learn any spell, even if you would never actually cast it.

Tinkerer: I'm not 100% sure this is necessary, but this is the artificer/alchemist/weapon-bonded rune knight class. You get a cool thing that you slowly improve as you gain levels, as well as the ability to make additional minor magic items.

Every class should also get periodic Talents, which can be used to build on existing class options or grab cross-class features. (eg a fighter could learn an extra stance or basic spellcasting or gain a Gift). Hybrids might only get Talents.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Or, for a totally different approach, do it by ability scores:

Strength: the fighter, although it's more like a barbarian except the limited-use Rage feature is optional and heavy armor is available.
Dexterity: the rogue (and swashbuckler)
Constitution: the Warlock (because the power wracks your body, so you need to be tough to survive it. The tougher you are, the more power you can draw)
Intelligence: the wizard
Wisdom: the monk uses their attunement and awareness to perfect themselves and impact the world (but see below)
Charisma: the bard. Sorcerers might use charisma, but the bard is built on charisma based concepts, like inspiration, enchantment, performance, and generally influencing people magically or otherwise
None of the above: the Cleric (because faith isn't an attribute, faith just *is) (also this means no matter how crappy your rolls are you still have a playable class. Might use level for a bunch of calculations.

This would need to allow for dual-classing, but that covers a lot of ground.

 

[see]

And yet, the final list of classes--Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Monk, Rogue, Wizard--feels odd from an a priori perspective. I would have never picked bard and monk for the final cut.

Yeah, I was surprised myself. But, of course, you wind up in very different places when you pick a destination ahead of time, versus pick a starting point and a rule for wandering from there. Evolution produces stranger results than intelligent design.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

of course you could use the MADEPPS power sources ( 4E )
Martial
Arcane
Divine
Elemental
Primal
Psionics
Shadow

I see Elemental as more a "flavor" added on top of others, usually Arcane or Primal. Which reduces things to my aforementioned six, MDPAS + Psionic. And that's more or less how it actually worked in 4e, since Elemental did not have any classes. Shadow at least had Assassin and Vampire.