D&D General Which of these should be core classes for D&D?

[Lanefan]

The ranger's idea is being not a full on front-line fighter but more of a skirmisher. The full armor concept doesn't really fit with the idea of the ranger as presented by most people. I can't see Dritz rocking up in full plate for sure.

I'd rather see Drizz't wiped from the collective memory of everyone, so we can have our real Rangers back.

 

[Vaalingrade]

The tricky bit there is to make a "Teamwork" class functional while at the same time not having it become one (or both) of:

a) the Support class, whose primary role is to stand to the side and do nothing but help the other characters shine. Those have never been popular player choices - example: the 1e Cleric or the 3e buff-monkey.
b) the Tell-People-What-To-Do class, who becomes effective only when the other characters fall into line. Those have never been popular among other characters - example: Paladins (though they're more Tell-People-How-To-Behave) - and only serve to cause in-party fights.

Which is why the Warlord is the winner. They get support stuff as an 'offhand' that doesn't eat their actions and then they let everyone else do more of the things they want to do.

And to be fair to Paladins, they haven't been an intentionally designed source of inter-party conflict for almost two decades now.

 

[Mecheon]

I'd rather see Drizz't wiped from the collective memory of everyone, so we can have our real Rangers back.

Man moves books like no one else and is unquestionably the most well known pop-culture example of "The Dungeons and Dragons class, Ranger". He gave 'wanna-be Aragorn' more of an identity.

Regardless though, the skirmisher who learns about his targets, discovers their weak points and strikes them down, that concept which is absolutely the Ranger isn't one that clanks about in full plate armor

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Regardless though, the skirmisher who learns about his targets, discovers their weak points and strikes them down, that concept which is absolutely the Ranger isn't one that clanks about in full plate armor

Yes. So if one wanted to make ranger a subclass of some class, that class should not be fighter, it should be the rogue. I suspect it might even work better than the current iteration. The core class already provides sneak attack for sniping and "hunter's quarry," has high mobility, plenty of skills and expertise to cover the skill side of wilderness capabilities, and then you have the subclass budget to add some more flavour.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

If warlord has been in the 5e PHB, and another class (maybe sorcerer) hadn't been, I wonder how much this poll result would be different.

As in are those classes getting the most votes because they're actually the best choices, or are they getting the most votes simply because they're the currently existing classes?

 

[Reynard]

If warlord has been in the 5e PHB, and another class (maybe sorcerer) hadn't been, I wonder how much this poll result would be different.

The sorcerer has pretty weak support in the pol too.

As in are those classes getting the most votes because they're actually the best choices, or are they getting the most votes simply because they're the currently existing classes?

I think.the 4 core are core for a reason.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I think.the 4 core are core for a reason.

Honestly, if you're going for absolute minimum classes, I reckon cleric could be merged into magic user. Both are full casters with slightly different spell selections.

(I'm not advocating for this as I'm a 'more classes' person.)

 

[Vaalingrade]

I think.the 4 core are core for a reason.

Inertia.

 

[Scribe]

Yes. So if one wanted to make ranger a subclass of some class, that class should not be fighter, it should be the rogue. I suspect it might even work better than the current iteration. The core class already provides sneak attack for sniping and "hunter's quarry," has high mobility, plenty of skills and expertise to cover the skill side of wilderness capabilities, and then you have the subclass budget to add some more flavour.

I'm not one for removing classes, but I fall into this path naturally as well, as Ranger being a the Rogues Nature driven Subclass.

 

[Minigiant]

Inertia.

Basically.

You would think a game with 6 ability scores would have at least 6 base classes. But RPGs was a new thing back then.