Best (and worse) new base classes from WotC

[Mouseferatu]

They don't have teleport, just dimension door (at about one tenth the usual range, too). And the eldritch blast does about half the damage that an average wizard's spell would do at the same level, and only to a single target. With an attack roll. Really, they look neat on paper, but I can't see them being in any way overpowered in practice.

--Impeesa--

Word. I've seen 'em played, at low and (moderately) high level.

A few of their invocations are pretty nasty, when usable at will. But these are:

A) Only available at higher levels, when things should be nasty, and

B) Only nasty under the right combination of conditions.

Warlocks are not, not, not (don't know how many more times it needs to be said) broken in a game played more or less under core rules and assumptions.

Ditto, BTW, for scouts. Skirmish winds up, over half the time, being less effective than sneak attack would be under similar circumstances. They're not as reliant on skirmis as rogues are on SA, so it's still a really fun class to play. But I challenge anyone who believes scouts are overpowered to back it up with numbers over the course of an entire campaign, as compared to other classes.

 

[Ace]

The Swashbuckler is pretty cool though I think its a tad underpowered

The Warlock needs a few new invocations to really shine but I do like this class. I have been considering going Warlock/Ranger for my next character. The ranger adds tracking and other cool things to the Warlocks powers

The Scout looks like a really fun class --

Warmage is cool but a little dull. I think a Warmage/Paladin might be kind of neat though if the DM allowed multiclassing

I like the Marshal from the minis handbook though I think maybe it should have a full BAB

The rest I haven't really thought much about

Most of these classes would rock in gestalt though --

 

[diaglo]

Now you're just stirring up trouble.
...

read the story hour in my sig.

Favored Soul--A group favorite around here. Flexible, easy to play, and doesn't get bogged down in ecclesiastical concerns. To me, the favored soul says "Joan of Arc" every bit as much as the paladin. Like Merric says, though, don't try to solo a hydra (or a warforged fighter, as the case was in my campaign). This is a great support class.
.

the power munchkin in our group tried multiclassing this class after we had reached lvl 7 or so right when the Minis handbook was released iirc. anyway, a few hours into the first session and he came to the same conclusion. very much a support class. he wanted to be the main guy.

i think the same can be said for the bard. a very, very, very good support class. but not a viable main one.

 

[IronWolf]

I haven't seen too many of them in use, but that is mainly due to the fact I only get to game once every other week. I have seen the Scout, Favored Soul, Hexblade and Warmage at work though. All of those seemed like good classes. The warmage died early 5th level just before he really started coming of power, I think that was looking like a fun class. The scout was doing pretty good, though I only got to see him up to about 4th or 5th level. The hexblade wasn't quite as impressive, but I think that's because he was still trying to hit his stride. The Favored Soul pretty much rocked when I saw it played in a Legacy of the Green Regent game.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Warmage is cool but a little dull. I think a Warmage/Paladin might be kind of neat though if the DM allowed multiclassing

Oh, yes. I play one in our al Qadim game.

Very, very fun. Sure, everything looks like a nail, but I have lots of hammers with which to hit them, esp. since the DM let me take Fire Brand when I got 5th level spells.

Marshals are nice; okay, their bonuses are nice. One of our players played a multiclass marshal/spirit shaman, which was sort of effective, and he was going for a Zhuge Liang type of character, but he died.

I like Favored Soul, Warlock, Warmage, Scout, and Swashbuckler. I *don't* like the Hexblade, CW Samurai, Ninja, or Spellthief. The former two I think are silly and not that useful. The latter two I don't quite grok, and I'm not sure that if I grokked them they'd fit my play style.

Brad

 

[Dragonhelm]

One of my players is playing a swashbuckler and having a blast. It just really fit the character concept she had in mind, and worked out mechanically as well.

I've played a psion a few times, and the 3.5 version is great.

I tried a warlock once and wasn't wowed with it at low levels. I'm not sure how much better it would be at higher levels.

I like the mystic from the Dragonlance Campaign Setting (WotC produced that one, so it still counts! ). They're the divine counterpart to sorcerers, and add the spells from their single domain to their spells known. They don't turn undead, either. A bit underpowered compared to the cleric, but the nice part is that the domain represents their inner spiritual self. Good roleplaying potential.

The shugenja is another of my favorite divine spellcasters. I love the elemental feel.

I used a healer as an NPC before, and I agree with the comments above about it being a good NPC class.

I think that's about all I can think of for now. I don't think I've tried the others in game play.

 

[Hairfoot]

I like:
1. Scout
2. Spellthief
3. Shugenja (needs more expansion)
4. Spirit shaman

I played a warlock up to lvl 13, and didn't enjoy it much at all. It's interesting to compare the uproar when it came out (Blast every round? Overpowered! Sorcerers will be redundant!), with opinion now (2-dimensional and mostly boring).

 

[Ry]

Who thinks they're boring? I loved my warlock - although I'd like more options for his powers, they wouldn't change how "dimensional" he is - just what points are available on his 2 dimensions.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

If I were playing a homebrew I'd throw in a Warlock NPC to give them a whirl in-game ... but I'm planning on running Age of Worms, so I'd have to rebuild an NPC somewhere, I imagine.

Every time I read it ... I dunno. You find that shapeable 1-per-round Sneak Attacks as a ranged touch aren't that powerful? It really seems like it would make the Sorc and the Rogue unhappy. Especially when you start tossing the double-mods on those blasts.

Which would, of course, make the class very one-sided ... so it would be less fun to play ... and would only be able to toss large amounts of damage downrange every round, which sort of means it strains the rest of the game down to its very essence: Killing the other guy before he kills you.

It's the REST of the abilities that I really like. But I don't foresee alot of people letting the blast go.

--fje

 

[Darkness]

The worst (AFAIC) are the CW Samurai and the 3.5 Soulknife, hands-down.

Good ones (IMNSHO) are Scout, Warlock, and Spirit Shaman.