Elemental Hero' Handbook

[Jhaelen]

Mancy means DIVINATION, and everytime I see it used to mean "magic" it kills one of the souls I keep in my bookcase.

Sooo, you're a necromancer then, right?

(seriously, I actually agree!)

 

[Mummolus]

None of them jump out at me as definite wizard builds, and I have to admit the idea of an elemental cleric appeals to me greatly for my Dark Sun game. In general, this pleases me because of the expansion it grants that setting.

 

[I'm A Banana]

My bets?

Elementalist: Wizard or Sorcerer
Shugenja: Druid or Shaman
Sha'ir: Wizard or Warlock

Hmmm...

Shugenja could be Shaman, and it would make a certain amount of flavorful sense with regards to the origins of the class. Druid seems less likely to me. Cleric is a possibility, but the fluff is pretty different, so it'd be smarter if they went with Shaman.

Sha'ir is tailor-made for Warlock. Instead of a pact with devils of the fey or the Far Realm, it's a pact with genies. If it's NOT warlock, I might have trouble accepting it.

Elementalist could be anything. If they're going legacy value, it might be a Wizard School (it was in 2e), but I see no reason they'd have to do that.

And I'd also guess that part of the reason that they're 'builds' instead of stand-alone classes is a combination of the overwhelming mass of feats and the way the demand for 'support' has become a self-sustaining, insatiable appetite that demands more feats, more powers and more options--all specific to a given race and class--almost as an end in itself.

Yar. I've said it before, I'll say it again: if the Runepriest and the Seeker were Cleric and Ranger builds, no one would be clamoring for "support." They'd just be ignoring it like they do the Beastmaster. Going with broad game elements that can apply to multiple characters is a smart design decision, and I hope they stay with it. Heck, that's part of why Themes are so widely praised: ANYONE can take ANYTHING. Feats, paragon paths, and epic destinies also fill that niche.

It's kind of a shame builds don't, since having a fighter swear a pact with a djinni or a shugenja that might be a Shaman, or might be a Cleric, or might be a Druid, would be great.

But I'm looking forward to them dipping into the non-eurocentric classes, here.

 

[Incenjucar]

So a very nice WotC person happened to be within range of my questions today. I inquired about the blurb on Amazon and they said that Amazon's information should not be trusted. So we can all at least relax about the suggestion of only 3 builds.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Even if the Amazon blurb reflected what someone was thinking about recently it is going to be a LONG while before this book hits the shelves. No doubt there are plenty of things which will change along the way.

I really have to agree with Kamikaze Midget, that banana has a good observation. There are simply enough (I'd say too many) classes. Wasn't the brilliance of the Binder enough of a hint there? The Seeker? I mean Vampire was a class for a specific reason, people might or might not agree with it but it was clearly a justifiable approach. Making a 'Shugenja' that is a whole new class of its own? Sorry, I'd not find that terribly compelling if the only logic is "we just felt like making a new class, sure it's almost like this other class..."

Character concept is all that matters. Keep your plethora of classes of dubious distinction, please.

I think an elemental E-Sorc would be nice personally. Not sure if that counts as a 'class' or not, but I always thought the Arcane sorcerer was a bit of a poor choice...

 

[WalterKovacs]

Making a 'Shugenja' that is a whole new class of its own? Sorry, I'd not find that terribly compelling if the only logic is "we just felt like making a new class, sure it's almost like this other class..."

I remember the 3.x class glut where there would be a bunch of spellcasters with their own spell lists that were mostly just specialized wizards or clerics, with some extra flavor stuff. At least with 4e and the 'each class has it's own spell list', they can make the distinction more flavorful. Stuff like the beguiler or warmage are basically stuff like an illusion/enchantment school mage or a pyromancer/evoker school mage respectively. Some of the more odd stuff could get their 'sub-class', if they warrant it (like say a leader wizard or a controller cleric, etc).

 

[Walking Dad]

My bets?

Elementalist: Wizard or Sorcerer
Shugenja: Druid or Shaman
Sha'ir: Wizard or Warlock

...

My bets?

Elementalist: Wizard or Sorcerer
Shugenja: Druid or Cleric
Sha'ir: Shaman or Warlock

Shugenja were elemental priests in D&D, I don't see them getting spirit companions.

Sha'ir on the other hand send their min-djinni to the planes to retrieve their daily magic. I could see them having him/her/it around and using their powers through it.

 

[Incenjucar]

I'd much rather there be more classes than more versions of the same class.

Now, after each announced power source has 4-6 true classes, I would certainly find it reasonable to rest on that for awhile and just focus on builds. Ultimately, though, so long as they avoid game-breaking things (which 4E's design is good for avoiding), and so long as they don't just leave lots of unsupported classes and builds lying around, more is fine.

I would definately far prefer we kept getting new classes instead of just constantly adding new spells like in 2E. Anyone else remember the Spell Compendiums?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Sha'ir: Shaman e build... Primal and elemental defender who has a Jin that serves him and most of his attacks go through...


Could be cool

 

[The Little Raven]

Shugenja seem to be oriental themed Clerics, so possibly a Warpriest build?

A new addition to Warpriest would be a domain.

the Elementalist pretty much has a good chance of ending up a Mage as well.

If it was for the Mage build, it would be called a school.

That indicates to me that these will be new subclasses.