Eight is Enough: How Many Classes?

[Scholar & Brutalman]

I'm a bit perplexed by Mike Mearls and Logan Bonner apparently contradicting each other on the number of classes in the PHB. Logan's statement was pretty exact about there being 8 classes. My kremlinology:


i) They were both correct when they made their respective statements. When Logan said eight, there were eight. Now the number is more "fluid".

ii) One or both of them was honestly mistaken.

iii) One of the always tells the truth, the other always lies! What question to you have to ask them to find out the correct number of classes?

iv) They are both filthy, dirty liars! There are no classes in 4th ed! Instead, it's now an unspecified point-buy system licensed from Steve Jackson Games. Also, combat has been removed from the game, since "that's so anime."

v) We are witnessing a battle within Wizards R&D over the number of classes in the PHB. Soon, one of them will the found floating face down in Puget Sound, and a press conference will be held where "the one, true number of classes in the PHB" will be revealed.



I don't suppose someone from Wizards would be able to clear this up at all? Seriously, I think the answer is i), that the number is changing, but conflicting statements are very confusing.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Here's my conspiracy-theory chronology:

1. Eight classes are planned, two of each "role," with warlock and wizard as the two controllers. Logan lets the word out.

2. Warlocks prove overpowered in early playtesting. In order to reign them in and help differentiate them from wizards, they're redefined as "strikers." (Thus the recent podcast.)

3. WotC doesn't want to ship with only one "controller" class, so they start considering bringing in one of the second-string classes from the sidelines, like maybe druid. Mearls fuzzifies the official class count to allow for this possibility.

 

[Black Knight Irios]

Here's my conspiracy-theory chronology:

1. Eight classes are planned, two of each "role," with warlock and wizard as the two controllers. Logan lets the word out.

2. Warlocks prove overpowered in early playtesting. In order to reign them in and help differentiate them from wizards, they're redefined as "strikers." (Thus the recent podcast.)

3. WotC doesn't want to ship with only one "controller" class, so they start considering bringing in one of the second-string classes from the sidelines, like maybe druid. Mearls fuzzifies the official class count to allow for this possibility.

Something along those lines.

More than 8 classes why not?

Possible solutions for the "problem":
1) Make Warlock a controller
2) Let him be a striker and hurl a new controller in the team, possibly druid (my choice), because one controller would be lame.

 

[M.L. Martin]

I'd like to note that it's not just Mearls--everyone from WotC who's talked about this, with the exception of Logan, has kept the class count fuzzy.

 

[JohnSnow]

Actually, Logan said there were 8 classes. He never said there were ONLY 8 classes.

Yes, it's semantic hair-splitting, but if they're saving some surprises, that's exactly the kind of thing they'd say.

 

[Intrope]

For that matter, when Logan said '8!' the PHB hadn't been finished, even for the playtest! They may have been aiming at 8, but if the pagecount worked out right they'd add more. Or perhaps some other section of the rules has been slimmed down enough to add a class. Who knows?

 

[WhatGravitas]

v) We are witnessing a battle within Wizards R&D over the number of classes in the PHB. Soon, one of them will the found floating face down in Puget Sound, and a press conference will be held where "the one, true number of classes in the PHB" will be revealed.

I guess that's the most probable solution. Then they'll do a Mearls-vs.-Logan deathmatch, which will be won by Mearls, because of his previous experience with shin kicks for $6.25. Then we'll get fuzzy videos on YouTube.


Okay, my real thing is: The number has simply changed. There were 8 for a time, but then they mixed up some stuff and changed it.

Cheers, LT.

 

[M.L. Martin]

For that matter, when Logan said '8!' the PHB hadn't been finished, even for the playtest! They may have been aiming at 8, but if the pagecount worked out right they'd add more. Or perhaps some other section of the rules has been slimmed down enough to add a class. Who knows?

Not only that, I believe that (according to Amazon) the PH page count went from 288 to 320 after Logan gave us that figure.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Actually, Logan said there were 8 classes. He never said there were ONLY 8 classes.

Yes, it's semantic hair-splitting, but if they're saving some surprises, that's exactly the kind of thing they'd say.

JohnSnow wins the thread!

I think the 8 classes thing is a big fat....

....In fact, IIRC, Logan didn't say there would be ONLY 8 classes, just that there would be 8 classes. I think even then, it was fluid, Logan was, at best, giving us an approximation (or perhaps even a minimum). And the Internet being what it is, rumor has more force than fact: "8 classes" became "only 8 classes" and WotC remains tight-lipped because I'm sure this whole exchange has them endlessly amused with that sort of "I know something you don't know!" excitement.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

Actually, Logan's statement was:

There are 8 classes in PH1, but more will come out later in other books and the magazines.

I really can't parse that as "8 or more in PH1." That's "8 now, more later."