Best non-WotC Base Classes?

[EditorBFG]

There may have been a similar discussion a while ago, but new things have come out since then, so I was wondering, what do people think are the best new base classes to come out of non-WotC products?

This includes Green Ronin's Handbook series, Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, everything. Of course, I'm hoping people will come up with some lesser-known new base classes I haven't heard of, but even hearing others' opinions on what the best and most useful ones are from books I already have will be helpful (not all the AE classes are created equal, for example).

I'm asking because I may be running D&D soon. People talk about classes like WotC's Warlock as being realy great add-ons, but I prefer to support smaller publishers, so I am looking for non-WotC alternatives to offer my players.

What are the great non-WotC base classes, and why?

 

[Nifft]

Mine! The free ones in my sig, and the Psychic Ninja on my wiki.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Slife]

Aramek's Blue mage. Really cool non-standard spellcaster.

 

[Deekin]

The Society Mind, by Dreamscarred Press, is a great and innovative class. You can find it in free preview on the sight, and in the book Untapped Potential.

 

[smootrk]

If you want really interesting class concepts while still filling certain roles in the party makeup, check out TheLe's Unorthodox Classes of all the various types.

http://www.thelegames.com/

You can find something for anyone there.

 

[EditorBFG]

If you want really interesting class concepts while still filling certain roles in the party makeup, check out TheLe's Unorthodox Classes of all the various types.

Yeah, but that's a whole bunch of books with a whole bunch of classes. What I want to know is, what are the "Best Of" for all these 3rd party base classes? Did something from, say, Unorthodox Bards really stick out to you?

Or, perhaps, as an "and/or" to this question, what are you actually using? Which AE classes have wandered into peoples' games, or which GR classes?

 

[Odhanan]

I really love the Unfettered from Arcana Evolved. It's the perfect fighter/rogue blend. It fits the Core rules extremely well.

The Gutter Mage from the Book of Roguish Luck (Malhavoc) is really cool (as the other two base classes included really).

Also, the Yogi from the Complete Guide to Rakshasas (Goodman Games), reprinted in the Year's Best d20, vol.1 (Malhavoc) is just... different in a very cool way.

Lord Nightbringer's Gunmage is absolutely awesome. It exist as an AE version with simple conversion notes for a 3.5 version. Here's the link.

 

[Wik]

Non wotc, eh?

I like the Man-At-Arms from Iron Heroes, although you couldn't really port it into D&D without making some large changes. The Wild Card feats are amazing.

 

[Odhanan]

Yes, all the Iron Heroes classes really, but they aren't portable in straight 3.5 as they stand, so I didn't talk about them.

 

[3catcircus]

Pretty much anything from SSS's Advanced Player's Guide (Handbook? - not the Green Ronin one).