Core Classes: What and how many

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

There's two things that haven't come up yet I'd like to see as their own core classes:

Cavalier or Knight (something that sets the knight-in-shiny-armour archetype apart from the run-of-the-mill foot soldier Fighter)
Battle Priest or War Cleric (works much like a Cleric except battle spells are augmented and curing is dialled way back)

With Feat Selection or simply Role-Playing I think the Knight / Cavalier can easily be emulated by Fighter without the need for a seperate class.

As for the Battle Priest, I think Cleric already is this.

Vampire is a Core 4E class (of course, everything is Core in 4E)

 

[Wormwood]

Lan-"and what in the nine hells is Vampire doing on that list?"-efan

Presumably to make my wife happy, since that's her favorite 4e class (well, that and the Executioner).

 

[Deadboy]

I'd love to see the 3.5 PHB class list plus the Warlord for 4e fans.

I doubt there's going to be a significant class consolidation because I seriously doubt WotC will be trying to slay any sacred cows in this edition. This will be the "all sacred cows shall live" edition, and we may even see some zombie sacred cows.

 

[drothgery]

Organization matters. Imagine a conversation with a new player:

"Do you want to play a Cleric, a Fighter, a Rogue or a Wizard?"
"Fighter."
"Ok, a Defender, a Slayer or a Warlord?"
"What's the difference?"

Compare to:

"Do you want to play an Ardent, an Artificer, an Assassin, an Avenger, a Barbarian, a.."
"Forget it, this game sucks."

You can filter by combat role or power source in your line of questioning too, y'know. So (sticking with my proposed 12 classes)

"Do you want to use no magic, wizard magic, or priest magic?"
"No magic.
"Do you want to be a fighter, rogue, ranger, or warlord?"
"What's the difference?"

or

"Do you want to be a tank, a guy who does a ton of damage, a guy who helps out his allies with healing and other stuff, or a guy who does damage to a lot of enemies and hurts them in ways other than doing damage?"
"A guy who does a ton of damage."
"Do you want to be a rogue, monk, or sorcerer?"
"What's the difference?"

 

[steeldragons]

And I'll throw this out there yet again: Barbarian should be a race; a sub-race of Human, not a class.

Lan-"and what in the nine hells is Vampire doing on that list?"-efan

Absolutely agree and how I've always handled them in my game world, "Barbarian" is a race (certain human tribes) and class. But I understand very few other people like having that limitation...so I'm including it in the list.

Also want to make the assertion that all of that "Controller, leader, defender, striker" nonsense can be left out/alone/behind/doesn't need to find its way into "5e".

As for the rest, feel like I just did this in the Legacy Discussion board...oh, that's cuz I did!

Here it is:

Cleric (Divine caster -Cleric spell list, "deity's domain" powers, any armor and limited weapons)
--Druid ("Natural" caster -Druid spell list, "natural world" powers, soft armor, limited weapons)
--Shaman ("Primal" caster -Shaman spell list spells duplicate Divine and Arcane effects, "spirit world" powers, soft armor, limited weapons)

Fighter (any armor, any weapons, weapon mastery/specialization, combat-based abilities/powers)
--Barbarian ("Primal" flavored marital class, light armor, any weapons, Primal-based abilities/powers +outdoor/tracking/survival skills)
--Paladin (Divine flavored martial class, any armor, any weapons, Divine-based "Paladinic" abilities/powers, no spell-use!)
--Ranger (Nature flavored martial class, any armor, any weapons, bow specialization, Nature-based abilities/powers +outdoor/tracking/survival skills, no spell use!)

Mage (Arcane spell caster -Mage Spell List, no armor, limited weapons)
--Specialist Mage (Arcane caster with increased spell ability in Specialty School, Speciality-based powers, no armor, limited weapons)
--Thaumaturge (Divine-flavored Mage, "dual casting"-access to Divine/Cleric and Arcane/Mage spell effects, "ceremonial magic" ritual casting/specialist, no armor, limited weapons)

Rogue (light armor, any weapon,"Thieves' Abilities"/skills)
--Bard (Nature-flavored Rogue, light armor, any weapon, certain Thieves' Abilities, Bard abilities/powers, "Nature"-based spell caster -Bardic Spell List combining certain Divine, Druid/Natural and Illusion spell effects)
--Monk (Divine-flavored Rogue, no armor, limited weapons, unarmed combat specialist, certain Thieves' Abilities, Monk abilities/powers)

Multi-classing exists between the Base 4 only....and may only combine 2 classes. No more "Barbarian/wizard/bard/druid/etc..."..."Fighter-Cleric, Fighter-Mage, Fighter-Thief, Cleric-Mage, Cleric-Thief, Mage-Thief" only...and bring back racial limitations to what classes are available...No level limits. But racial class restrictions.

--SD

 

[Aldarc]

And I'll throw this out there yet again: Barbarian should be a race; a sub-race of Human, not a class.

Or just renamed as the "Berserker" class.

All the classes will likely be considered "core," so I think the more pressing question is which classes will be considered "basic."

 

[Mallus]

Here's what I'd like to see:

Assassin
Barbarian (maybe)
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Magic-User
Illusionist
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Thief

(basically, the 1e & 2e classes combined)

While I realize rolling some of these together would make sense --especially the M-U and Illusionist-- keeping them separate preserves some of the quirky particularity that's an important part of D&D's traditional appeal/identity.

 

[avin]

Kensai: a fighter with a different skill tree.

lies! everybody knows kensais fly and blast laser from their eyes!

 

[avin]

As for Swordmage, that to me sounds like a class that wants to do everything - fight, cast, both at once - a one-man-band, in effect. Tricky to design so as not to overshadow the rest of the party, and to still need a party to run with.

I don't remember this working properly on former editions, but works perfectly on 4E.

 

[Sammael]

Interestingly enough, the poll shows that the only 4e-specific class that has any traction whatsoever is the Warlord.

And it's not 4e at all, since it's basically a reskinned 3.x Marshall.

I'll stick with my 8 core class archetypes:

Bard: Master of diplomacy, guile, and spontaneous sound-based magic

Champion: A warrior who draws strength from his beliefs rather than his martial training, affecting allies and enemies alike through sheer willpower

Cleric: A conduit for his god's power who works to promote his portfolios and interest in the mortal realm

Druid: Embodying the powers of nature, the Druid can invoke many elemental powers and change his form to emulate other natural creatures

Fighter: The perfect martial warrior; in his hands, any weapon becomes deadly

Mage: A student of the Arcane arts, whether by choice or by heritage - his magic can accomplish virtually anything, but comes with a price attached

Ranger: Swift and silent, the Ranger relies on his knowledge of terrain and guerrilla tactics to stalk his enemies and hunt them down

Rogue: Master of skills and improvisation, he can shine in every situation... unless he chooses to remain hidden in shadows, biding his time