D&D General Have Some Class

[Theory of Games]

Hi En Worlders!

So I was reading through some AD&D material and noticed that "era" of D&D really starting bringing us a variety of new classes. My favorite comes to mind and we also had the "kits" (1e & 2e) that could be considered new sub-classes. It could be argued that the kits paved the way for the explosion of new classes with 3e, 3.5 and 3.75 (PF). It was especially the wealth of new 3PP PF1e classes that drew me to that edition since there were so many, which allowed a very wide range of roleplaying experiences. IME many GMs were pretty strict about what classes they allowed in a campaign, including myself - but I learned to embrace the broad diversity of class options because they could be far more entertaining than "the usual suspects". Some of the classes could be a little OP at times (Summoner FTW!), but IME it was fun GMing campaigns for players "experimenting with new builds" - 'cuz yeah that is and will always be a thing.

Confession Time: what is your Favorite D&D/PF class? WHY is your fav? Tell us about a fun session you had with your favorite class.

Some of you should know by now that the AD&D1e Assassin was very special to me. Totally OP and utterly ridiculous to play. No other class could literally "break the game" like an Assassin - not without that other class reaching higher levels. Assassins were drop-dead-deadly right out of the box. Due to 'DM contractual confidentiality', I can neither confirm nor deny my use of NPC Assassins in the past ...

 

[payn]

PF1 remains my favorite. I particularly liked the Bard, Witch, and Ranger. Bard and Witch becasue I tend to like support casters alot. Jacks of all trades, master of none has kinda been my jam. I like filling in the missing roles for adventuring parties and being backup in cases of emergency. The ranger is just a great package of both mechanical combat and exploration abilities. PF really took the class to next level.

However, some of my absolute favorites have been prestige class work ups. In the Serpent Skull AP I had a halfling rogue/barbarian/pathfinder delver. A character that had simple beginnings, but developed into a world class dungeon delver to secure things...for museums! Second was my recently finished War for the Crown AP In which my knifemaster rogue went into Taldan Lion's Blade prestige. This character was a shrewd operator on the political scene. Gathering info, positioning agendas, cutting hamstrings, all from behind the scenes.


Bonus bust out Traveller noble career. I'll let the core rulebook tell you about characters such as this...
"Dilettante: You are known for being known and
have absolutely no useful function in society."

 

[James Gasik]

1e: the Scout class from Dragon # 161. Way cooler than a Thief!

2e: Priest (of a specific Mythos). I can't pick a specific deity, there's a ton of cool options!

3e: Cloistered Cleric from Unearthed Arcana. All the useful options of the Cleric with actual skill points! Who needs that second-string melee fighter stuff anyways? Honorable mentions: Artificer, but requires too much bookkeeping. Warblade (White Raven Style!) for letting me play a tactical "Fighter". And Warlock- could use more skill points by far, but not having to worry about "spell slots" is incredible!

4e: Wizard, with Warlord as a fairly close second. I love tactical combat, and both classes were not only game changers, but really tied into roleplaying my characters as strategist and tacticians (I had a hybrid Warlord/Wizard in one game called "The Professor", that was a blast to play!).

PF1e: I'm going with the Oracle. Not a great replacement for a Cleric (limited spells known makes it really hard to cover all potential status ailments), but as it's own thing, you could do some really neat stuff.

5e: I think Rogue, actually. It's far from the strongest class, but it has the least baggage to worry about and you're not often useless. You make one big attack per round, it can be ranged no problem (just shoot at the guy your melee is fighting), high mobility and lots of skills. Expertise actually lets you feel like someone who knows what they are doing- I don't know how often my "so-called" genius Wizard flubs Arcana checks with a +8 bonus!

ToV: so far, it's the Mechanist, but I'm hoping the Vanguard gets cooler at higher levels.

 

[soviet]

4e fighters. They have a clear focus about what they do, they're good at that thing, they have interesting decisions to make about how and when they do that thing, and they are genuinely fun and challenging to play.

 

[sevenbastard]

2ed: Dual class fighter for a few levels to specialize in long sword and dual weapon fighting then thief to get stealth.

 

[Marc Radle]

Tales of the Valiant (ToV): so far, it's the Mechanist, but I'm hoping the Vanguard gets cooler at higher levels.

Oh, the Vanguard gets even cooler as it gains levels!

For Pathfinder, I really loved playing Oracles

 

[James Gasik]

Oh, the Vanguard gets even cooler as it gains levels!

I hope so- I only have the preview so I have no idea what the higher level abilities are like. I wasn't sure if PB per day Banners and Cha mod per day Stratagems would be enough to scratch my love of tactical combat (especially compared to the Weapon Master's bag of tricks!).

 

[Scribe]

For Pathfinder, I really loved playing Oracles

Oracles are cool for sure.

For me, I am a simple man.

Barbarian.

 

[Horwath]

3.5e. Druid with PHB2 shapeshift variant.

 

[Theory of Games]

Oracles were a problem for awhile there. Spontaneous-casting, foul-mouthed cursing anti-Clerics? I always saw the Cleric as the original Gish so Oracles just took that up a notch. I remember seeing GMs online even banning them