Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 7098967" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Of course mine is, and I'm glad we've brought it up so we can get on the same page to start. ;-)Barbarian: Fairly unsophisticated muscle bound warrior. It can be stone age tribal, Viking Berserker, or Conan, but they use Strength and hit things hard with big weapons.Bard: An often roguish wielder of musical arcane magic. Often somewhat akin to a high-powered super minstrel, but can also be a wizardish sort of loremaster.Cleric: Clerics are priests and priests are clerics. They man the churches and temples. They use divine spells. Non casters are not priests of real religions, they are deceived cultists, charlatans, or posers. Clerics are not specifically "warrior priests" they are all priests. (Note that while no version of the PHB has agreed with my definition, pretty much every edition's (with the probable exception of 4e) printed settings and NPCs have followed basically exactly what I just described. Don't believe me? Grab an adventure or campaign setting and start looking for NPC priests. (I'm also including 2e specialty priests and some druids as "clerics" here.) So you can believe what D&D says, or believe what they do. I prefer believing what they do, because I like the idea that divine power is ubiquitous amongst the clergy, not something some crazy maverick adventures run around with in contrast to the actual leaders of the religion.)Druid: Druids are nature oriented priests who use divine (or naturey) spells. They are priests of an "Old Faith" sort of feel. Some of them can be more like nature mages than actual priests, but that's the exception rather than the rule. Shapeshifting and/or animal companions is something they can do, but isn't their defining trait. The best dressed druids wear robes and carry staves (just greener robes and gnarlier staves than wizards).Fighter: Fighters are the preeminent non-magical warriors. They win because they are just that good. They should outfight anyone else in a fair fight. It's fine for some fighters to dabble in other things, but the primary element of the class is mundane combat skills that rock. They are the elite version of your typical warrior or soldier encountered in the world.Monk: Monks are east Asian themed ki-channeling martial artists. The name "monk" is a misnomer as most people who would be called monks (whether European or Asian themed setting) would be clerics or something else similar. This class is not a mechanical chassis to throw any unarmed warrior on, and ki cannot be refluffed into grit and gumption. It is a spiritual force that empowers your combat skills and you gain from training under some probably annoying master.Paladin: Paladins are holy warriors of good and right. They cast divine spells eventually. They fight in heavy armor and wield weapons that use Strength--preferably longswords/bastard swords but they can get away with axes and hammers and others in a pinch. They don't waste time with ranged weapons or cowardly polearms.Ranger: Rangers are magically attuned nature warriors. They are to druids what paladins are to clerics. They tend to avoid heavy armor, but that isn't an absolute. They fight in melee or ranged, and they eventually cast divine/naturey spells. Animal companions are a common, but not required, option. They are not equivalent to squishy rogues, nature or otherwise, in any way. They have d10 HD just like fighters and paladins and can dish out and take punishment in a fair front line fight.Rogue: Rogues are criminals or those with similar skill sets (including tomb robbing adventuring types). They sneak around, open locks, and fight dirty. Of course, some of them focus more on social elements than physical elements, but they all have some of the basic thief-like abilities. Assassins are rogues with extra deadly combat capabilities, and maybe even some magic (I'm not a fan of the 5e assassin's "spy" rather than "hit man" focus.)Sorcerer: Sorcerers are arcane casters like wizards, but their magic is inherited and they use it with force of personality rather than intellect. They are one of the least defined concepts, though they theoretically have potential.Warlock: Warlocks are arcane casters who take shortcuts to power, stumble into it, or have it thrust upon them.Wizard: Wizards are the pre-eminant arcane casters by which all others are judged. They are the masters of magic, who use intelligence and study to master vast numbers of spells, and are the most likely to create new spells and magic items. They are the squishiest characters of all, and tend to avoid melee combat.And that's the way it is.</blockquote>

Verification