Favourite Classes through the Ages

I've always liked rangers. Or, rather... I've always really liked the idea of the ranger. I don't know that any specific ranger incarnation has quite gotten what I wanted, though.
 

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BECMI: Elf. I've always loved fighter/magic users as an archetype, and when I started playing I thought elves were the coolest guys in the world. I'm embarrassed to say that my first ever character was named Elrond Half-elven. :blush:

1e: Paladin. Kick-ass holy warriors with awesome powers. Especially when Unearthed Arcana came out. My other favorite 1e class was the Psionicist from Dragon magazine (I was a big Deryni buff).

2e: Fighter/Wizards or Specialty Priests.

3e: Wizards.

3.5E: Psions. I loved druids, and played several of them, but I think my favorite class was the Psion. The psionic rules offered a flexibility that I loved, allowing me to come up with creative solutions to problems.

Arcana Unearthed/Evolved: Magister, for the same reasons why I loved the 3.5 Psion.

4e: Fighter or Bard, probably. I don't really have a favorite class in 4e. But I like the fighter a lot, because it's the first purely mundane fighter that's been interesting to play, for me. I also really like the bard, because it's quite versatile, and has lots of powers that mess with opponents in interesting ways beyond just damaging them.

Overall, I like flexible, versatile characters. I don't like playing ultra-specialists, I like playing characters who are veritable swiss-army knives, able to do all sorts of things. I especially like being able to try creative, non-obvious solutions to difficult problems. That's the main reason why I liked playing spellcasters prior to 4e, though I also find supernatural power fun to play.
 
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1e: Favorite single class was Cleric, but I much preferred elven Fighter / Magic-Users.

2e: Specialty Priests. Good gravy, was that notion abusable as all get-out! (Priest of Isis? Can wear plate mail and function as a multi-class Cleric / Mage, despite being human? I couldn't take advantage of it, it was just too much cheese for me. I got blockage looking at it.) Various Kits made other classes fun as well (Sha'ir for Wizards in Al-Qadim, Totem-Sister for Druids in the Forgotten Realms).

3.0: Clerics. Domains rock. Being able to Rebuke / Command Undead, Plants, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Scalykind, Constructs, Cold creatures, Slimes/Oozes, etc. was too much fun.

AE: Witches. So much variety! Magisters and Warmains also rocked.

3.5: Druids with their Animal Companions suddenly rock as well. Still played more Clerics, 'though.

PF: Not sure yet. Clerics no longer Rebuke / Command worth a hoot. Druid's animal companions are not as sexy. Bards and Barbarians and Wizards and Fighters and (unbelievably) *Paladins* are now interesting me... Gah.

4e: Haven't tried it yet. Warlocks and Warlords sound interesting, 'though.
 

BECMI: DM'ed only

1E: Wizard

2E: didn't play

3/.5E: DM'ed only

4e: haven't played yet, but looking to make a Shaman for an upcoming game! (yay! haven't been a player for about 25 years!)
 

Basic: Fighter
1E: Ranger - two weapon, light armored melee fighter with sword and axe or pair of warhammers. Fighter w/ 2-handed sword also was fun.
2E: Ranger - Still nifty as all heck.
3E: Dervish - The international dance of butt-kicking. (rangers less fun)
4E: Swordmage - Pulling allies out of the fire with amazing versatility and mobility. (rangers now boring as heck)
 


Basic: Elf

1st Edition: Fighter/Magic-user; Half Elf preferably

2nd Edition: Curiously, my favorite character was a CG Fighter with mediocre stats

Baldur's Gate 2E: Dual Fighter/Mage

3rd Edition (really 3.5 only): Elf Archer Druid . . . It sounds odd but it was really fun. Sadly, my current group has house rules that make this impossible to play.

4th Edition: Haven't played yet. Warlocks look interesting as does the Ranger. Maybe a Sorcerer. If you haven't guesed, there seems to be a striker theme here . . .
 

Basic: I liked Elves. My imaginary character(never played Basic but owned the books) was an Elf

1E: Most of my 1E experience comes from playing the gold box AD&D video games, and from those I became a big fan of the Dwarven Fighter/Thief. Once you learn how to set up backstab by delaying initiatives, these guys are solid gold. I always loved the roleplaying concept of the Fighter/Thief, a roguish character who could fight. My second favorite 2E character was an Elf Fighter/Thief. Especially when combined with the fast leveling of the Thief class, the Fighter/Thief was a much more rewarding character to play in a game with regular combat than the straight Thief.

2E: Fighter. In 2E, the Fighter owns. Unless you played the game to very high levels, nothing really compared to the raw power of weapon specialization. It really was that good. Honorable mention goes to Bards combined with the Complete Bard's Handbook.

3E: I was always fond of the Warblade and Psychic Warrior. Physical Melee characters with a bag of tricks and strong enough to get the job done. I was saddened that the optimization arms race other players I gamed with provoked me to play Wizards and CoDzilla to keep up, instead of the classes I liked.

4E: Fighter, and the 4E Fighter is my favorite D&D class ever. Words can't describe my love for this class.
 


Basic, Expert: I liked the dwarf best. They were tough, heavily-armed, could see in the dark...they were like the Special Ops of D&D. Mine was named Ivann Ironforge, but everyone called him Lucky.

Companion, Masters: I was really excited about the weapon mastery rules, so I started playing a fighter named Eric Storm.

3.X: I didn't get to do much playing; I was nearly always the DM in our gaming group. But of all the NPCs I played, I gotta say I had the most fun with the rogue.

Pathfinder: Haven't had a chance to play a character in this system yet, NPC or otherwise. But I love, love, love what they have done with the sorcerer.
 
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