D&D 5E Broad vs Narrow Classes

[Minigiant]

Broad, but I don’t think you need to reduce classes, just broaden what they are good at.


My point was that many fans of Broad want to reduce classes and the game accuracy become less customizable aas you try to uppackage things and try to put them back together in a balanced way.

Rage & Reckless Attack are a packaged deal along with LOH and Divine Smite for flavor and power.

If you break them apart, it's unbalanced.
If you pull them out and put them together, you didn't do anything. You went from Barbarian (Class) Berserker (Sublcass) to Warrior (Class) Barbarian (Subclass) Berserker (Subsublcass). Big Whoop.

Druids get wildshape. I have several concepts for druids that are ill-served by turning into animals . Funnily, so does D&D, but instead of replacing Wildshape, it just bolts something on.

Star Druids that replace Wildshape with their Constellation-shape. Muck Druids that replace their Wildshape with their Aura of Detritus.

The narrower a class is, the more likely my concept won’t fit in it.

That's how I'd like it.

Choose class features of similar power and flavor and offer options.

Druids have Wildshape. Moon Circle get Wildshape (Beast), Star Circle gets Wildshape (Constellation) Fire Circle gets Wildshape (Fire Elemental)

Create a new class for companions and aura: the shaman
Shaman gets Primal Companion. Land Shaman gets Primal Companion (Beast), Spore Shaman gets Primal Companion (Spore Swarm), Spirit Shaman gets Primal Companion (Ancestral Warrior)

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Just wanted to second that the Avenger and the Invoker were awesome.

I'm about 90% convinced that the Avenger happened specifically because of the popularity of Assassin's Creed. Given the longevity of the series, if it wasn't a direct inspiration, they absolutely struck gold by accident.

It's still a real shame you can't really make an Avenger in 5e.

 

[Ancalagon]

Kill the sacred cow. Remove classes completely.

Such systems already exists, and not having classes has consequences. So much so that you're essentially advocating not playing D&D but some other fantasy systems. Which is fine, but this is a thread about D&D 5e and about classes, so...

 

[Vaalingrade]

Such systems already exists, and not having classes has consequences. So much so that you're essentially advocating not playing D&D but some other fantasy systems. Which is fine, but this is a thread about D&D 5e and about classes, so...

Nope. If it's the D&D Brand, it's still D&D. None of us get to gatekeep or declare what is and isn't D&D and should stop pretending we do.

 

[Ancalagon]

Nope. If it's the D&D Brand, it's still D&D. None of us get to gatekeep or declare what is and isn't D&D and should stop pretending we do.

If coca cola decides tomorrow to sell pea soup and call it Coca Cola...

... nothing wrong with pea soup, but I am not calling it Coca Cola

 

[Vaalingrade]

If coca cola decides tomorrow to sell pea soup and call it Coca Cola...

... nothing wrong with pea soup, but I am not calling it Coca Cola

And you still aren't the one to get to decide if it's Coca Cola or not, only whether you say the words or not.

I can call the Sun 'Ol Burny Pants, that doesn't make it so.

The 'not D&D argument is not just a bad one, it's an active poison to the game.

 

[Reynard]

Such systems already exists, and not having classes has consequences. So much so that you're essentially advocating not playing D&D but some other fantasy systems. Which is fine, but this is a thread about D&D 5e and about classes, so...

I would go so far as to say classes are one of the strongest selling points of D&D for folks trying to get into the hobby.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I would go so far as to say classes are one of the strongest selling points of D&D for folks trying to get into the hobby.

That or...

Dungeons
Dragons
The Whole of the Fantasy Genre
Its pop cultural presence
Friends who play it
Fantasy races
Escapism
[list continues]

... Nashville Hot Chicken
Porridge
The Little Piggy Who Had None
then Classes.

 

[Minigiant]

Classes is a big selling point.

Removing classes from is a quick path everyone being either full caster wizard/clerics and fighter/rogue/wizard/clerics half-casters.

Which matches no one's fantasy.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Classes is a big selling point.

Removing classes from is a quick path everyone being either full caster wizard/clerics and fighter/rogue/wizard/clerics half-casters.

Which matches no one's fantasy.

Not if you make non-casting also good.

Which is also decried as 'not D&D' just like pretty much everything good.