D&D General Best Class per edition?

[LordEntrails]

Kender.
I know some of you might try to argue they are a race and not a class. But you are wrong.

 

[TarionzCousin]

0E - I recently played a 2.5 year campaign of White Box DnD and couldn't say which class was best. Everyone doing d6 damage evened things out. Wizard was definitely better than the Thief. Wizard had reach and 1d6 quarterstaff damage. Thief did 1d3 damage.
1E - We rolled 3d6 in order. Nearly every PC was a fighter or a thief. Of those, fighter was better/more likely to survive.
2E - I ran a long campaign and never played. Of my players, Cleric had the most class fun.
3E - Going out on a limb here with the Psionic Wilder. I love playing wizards and the psionic "wizards" were much more versatile.
4E - Avenger, baby. Roll two d20's for most attacks.
5E - Bladesinger. Full wizard spells and the occasional melee attack. It makes you decide in every combat "What am I going to do here?"

 

[Zardnaar]

I'm gonna rate them mostly for the sweet spot level 3-7 Roughly level 10+ mostly theoretical but wizard at very high level.

OD&D Can't comment.

BECMI. Elf.

1E. Druid. Check out it's xp table and spell pattern.

2E. Specialty priest or build your own cleric skills and powers.

3E CoDzilla. 3.0 cleric, 3.5 Druid.

4E. No idea. Probably ranger.

5E. Twilight Cleric.

 

[Weiley31]

Kender.
I know some of you might try to argue they are a race and not a class. But you are wrong.

Old School Essentials Kender class when?

 

[the Jester]

Inspired by this awesome podcast.

Edition Wars Christmas 2022 Day 1: Favorite Class through the Editions (Edition Wars 086) | The Tome Show

Welcome to the 12 days of Edition Wars, in this year's series we will be taking a deep dive into the things we love about this game and why we love them. On the First Day of edition wars, Brandes and Sam talk about their favorite class in each edition! Questions, Comments, or Suggestions? Email...

www.thetomeshow.com

In your opinion, what is the best class per edition and why?

odnd?
becmi?
1st edition?
2nd edition?
3rd edition?
4th edition?
5th edition?

Best as in most powerful, or best as in most fun to play?

 

[James Gasik]

1e- this is pretty tough, but I would say Paladin, esp. the Cavalier subclass version. The rp requirements were obnoxious (though not quite as bad as the Barbarian's), but you got a lot of goodies to make up for that.

2e- Specialty Priests if you have access to Legends & Lore, Faiths & Avatars, Powers & Pantheons, or Monstrous Mythology. Not all are great, but some are just off the hook, swiping the special abilities of other classes and granting free spells.

3e- Cleric, esp. with Divine Metamagic. Even if you try not to break it, and focus on buffing your allies instead of trying to become Clericzilla, the DM is going to lose their sanity or engage in the Dispel Magic arms race before long.

4e- this is a toughie, but I'm going to have to go with either Cleric or Wizard- they got the most support of any other classes; not only did they have the advantage of being released in the PHB, which guaranteed them great support, but they were compatible with the Essentials line, in a way other classes generally weren't. Special shout-out to Hybrid characters; I saw a few played that had amazing synergy, though it wasn't until the NEXT playtest that I actually made a Warlord/Wizard that had an answer to just about every situation.

5e- the answer varies on your tier of play, as Clerics are generally quite strong, being full spellcasters with great AC. Moon Druids can be balance wrecking in the early game. Paladins have arguably the best chassis of any class, combining burst damage with a powerful defensive package. Though I haven't seen one played to higher levels, I think the Bladesinger Wizard might have the most potential, however, since Wizards have a lot of power even without a subclass, and their subclass gives them great potential to conserve spell slots early on by mimicking a melee class. Certainly they gain a lot more out of their subclass than the Eldritch Knight does.

 

[see]

AD&D 1e - Cleric.
AD&D 2e - Cleric.
D&D 3e - Cleric.
D&D 3.5 - Cleric.
Pathfinder 1e - Cleric.
D&D 5e - Cleric.

Hmm. It might be that I just like the combination of good armor, decent hit points, good ability to hit things, maaaagic, and a high concept to anchor my roleplaying on.

On the other hand, liking all those things is just obviously objectively correct, so.

 

[Voadam]

Then there were ones which were "mostly helpful" like the Fighter, Wizard, and Thief ones. Wizard was another big one - we still use some spells from that - Chromatic Orb and Ice Knife particularly - and it really helped fill out a lot of stuff about Wizards in a very cool way.

Just FYI but those both originated in 1e. Chromatic Orb is in Unearthed Arcana (in a more broken version of the spell) and Ice Knife is from Oriental Adventures.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Going out on a limb here with the Psionic Wilder. I love playing wizards and the psionic "wizards" were much more versatile.

What you want then is the Spell-to-Power Erudite.

All the benefits of Psionics...and you can turn spells into psionic powers. There are limits (your progression is delayed, no "recall/recast spells" spells), but boy howdy does it give you incredible versatility. Especially because you aren't limited to a single class list. ANY class with an arcane casting progression qualifies. Meaning you can mix Wizard, Wu Jen, Bard, and a host of other options all together.

Convert Spell to Power Erudite is probably the single most versatile "spellcaster" in the game.

 

[TarionzCousin]

1e- this is pretty tough, but I would say Paladin, esp. the Cavalier subclass version. The rp requirements were obnoxious (though not quite as bad as the Barbarian's), but you got a lot of goodies to make up for that.

I almost said "1E - Cavalier." But as I had only allowed one NPC to be a cavalier in my campaign, I didn't. It was a great subclass--especially on horseback.