D&D (2024) How quickly should WOTC add new classes?

[Shardstone]

I chose it as my interpretation of ‘Something that draws on the modern Zeitgeist instead of taking a handful of steaming nostalgia’, feel free to suggest something else, I just wanted to not be so vague

Ah, I see!

I like ideas like the Scholar, an Elden Ring-style "Arcanist" or Occulist (uses weird stuff like poison, rot, frostbite, etc), a more high-flying anime-style Warrior class, a class that manipulates the environment, etc etc. Can we make these subclasses? Sure! But I think these few examples, and countless more I don't feel like gathering right now, would add some nice modern flare to the Fantasies inherent in D&D.

We can also look to things like the Sanderson-verse, such as Mistborn, or other Fantasy like Witcher to make a Mutant class, or even make the ever popular shapeshifter and so on. There's just SO MUCH to Fantasy now, so much creativity, so many character ideas, so many ways to recontexualize what magic is, that it feels like keeping to the same 12 from aeons ago is limiting!

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Mages have many class abilities as spells.

Mages special feature is causing carpal tunnel syndrome for the people playing them, as they have to repeatedly scroll across the entire document to find out what literally any part of the class does.

 

[mamba]

Which doesn't vibe well with thematic subclasses giving you dragon scales or tentacles or having demon blood. They want to be harry potter or rand al'thor, not an ithilid.

Mechanically that is still just a Wizard subclass, just a different theme

 

[Shardstone]

Mages special feature is causing carpal tunnel syndrome for the people playing them, as they have to repeatedly scroll across the entire document to find out what literally any part of the class does.

That's not a bad niche to have!

 

[MoonSong]

I prefer the concept of the sorcerer to the wizard. As long as that concept is a class defined by its power source and completely different depending on what bloodline is picked.

But most people seem to want sorcerer to just be a 'generic magic but innate' version of wizard. And that's not a class, it's just a wizard subclass. They don't like playing wizard due to the stereotype of a creepy old man with a huge dusty spellbook and a gnarled wooden staff. So they want to choose sorcerer as the 'naturally gifted, charming, young and good looking' caster.

Which doesn't vibe well with thematic subclasses giving you dragon scales or tentacles or having demon blood. They want to be harry potter or rand al'thor, not an ithilid.

No reason it can't be both -though granted I'd also favor a split-, with strong subclasses the same class can have some bloodlines that favor one or the other. To me sorcerer works best as an "anything" caster that can be flavored as anything according to the bloodline -and that includes your "wizard but hot"-.

And speaking of that, sorcerer is less specific and more thematically broad than wizard, it never makes any sense to me as a wizard subclass. If anything the opposite makes more sense to me, erase the wizard class, then make an "academic magic" subclass for sorcerer.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Mechanically that is still just a Wizard subclass, just a different theme

I mean, dnd next playtest sorcerer had a niche of basically turning into a monster as you spent will points.

A 'become the monster' class niche is barely touched on in 5e.

 

[MoonSong]

Mages have many class abilities as spells.

Haven't you seen the sorcerer features and how them being spells makes everything worse?

 

[Shardstone]

Haven't you seen the sorcerer features and how them being spells makes everything worse?

Agree to disagree I suppose. I think those being spells is super slick and it makes me like the Sorcerer a lot more! To me, spells as Class Features for mages means that you can do fun stuff like use metamagic on your class features, which I found hot, appealing, and fresh. Taste is taste at the end of the day though!

 

[MoonSong]

Agree to disagree I suppose. I think those being spells is super slick and it makes me like the Sorcerer a lot more! To me, spells as Class Features for mages means that you can do fun stuff like use metamagic on your class features, which I found hot, appealing, and fresh. Taste is taste at the end of the day though!

It also means that you have to waste a turn and your biggest spell slot doing nothing before you get to actually do anything with it. And that you can't do anythign fun with it because it wastes concentration.

 

[mamba]

There's just SO MUCH to Fantasy now, so much creativity, so many character ideas, so many ways to recontexualize what magic is, that it feels like keeping to the same 12 from aeons ago is limiting!

Aeons ago there were 4 classes

I am not sure why these all have to be separate classes instead of being subclasses under existing ones. Might come down to a case by case basis.

My main objection to more classes (rather than subclasses) is that once you figure out the power progression and overarching theme (arcane magic user), it is relatively easy to add a balanced subclass to fill in a theme.

If you always start from scratch that is more work and probably less balanced.