How many core classes can we expected in 4th ed?

[Gentlegamer]

Amen to that. Three skills for "social engineering"? Two skills for "stealth"? Two skills for "Perception"?

No one would ever pump Hide without also adding Move Silently. Doesn't make sense. So if everyone takes them together, why not combine?

All three social skills are almost completely interchangable. "Look behind you" could be Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate, depending on inflection. Three skills for the same result. Influencing attitudes should be one skill, with the combat effects of Bluff and Intimidate (feinting, making targets Shaken) being combat options accessible to anyone (much like Disarm, etc.).

Combining swim, jump, and climb into "Athletics" makes just as much sense. No one takes swim. No one. But for the 1 out of 50 adventures where it comes into play, it's cool to have characters who can swim. So why not make a generic athletics skill?

Iron Heroes has it right.

-z

I agree with this approach. More broadly based skills would streamline things. As you note, there are several great concepts in Iron Heroes that would also be great in core d20. Perhaps the "senses" entry in stat blocks foreshadows this (combining Spot and and Listen, modified by special sensory abilities like darkvision, true seeing, and so on).

 

[Nomad4life]

None.

You will have to buy each class separately, along with the corresponding mini.

 

[the Jester]

Base classes?

Priest (more customizable a la 2e, includes druids, favored souls, etc.)
Fighter (more customizable into swashbuckler, archer, etc)
Ranger (customize into barbarian, scout, etc)
Mage (more customizable into wizard, sorcerer, warmage, etc)
Monk (more mind-based; customize into psion, psychic warrior, grappler, etc)
Rogue (customize into scout, thief, assassin, etc)
Bard (customize into jester, riddlemaster, etc)

7.

 

[Remathilis]

Fighter (renamed Warrior)
Rogue (renamed Thief)
Monk
Wizard (renamed Blackmage)
Cleric (renamed Whitemage)
Duskblade (Renamed Redmage)

 

[satori01]

Less is not more in my opinion when it comes to classes.

Keep the base, and add as regular classes:
Warmage
Begulier
Dread Necromancer
Knight or Warmain from AE
Unfettered from AE
Mageblade from AE

 

[Nyaricus]

10, hopefully

Battlemage: a magic-using/fighting class
Crusader: holy warrior
Cut-throat: martial sneaky dude
Duelist: light-armed warrior
Priest: holy man or woman
Scout: outdoorsy, skilled fighter
Shaman: nature priest
Thief: common ne'er-do-well
Warrior: straight-up fighter
Wizard: magic-user

and maybe a Noble core class

 

[jmucchiello]

I would guess 10 or 11 as is traditional with 1e, 2e, and 3e. Classes aren't a sacred cow in D&D. They are D&D. If class-based role-playing wasn't the best design for indoctrinating noobs, then some other RPG would have taken the reigns from D&D years ago. Class-based is easiest to teach and easiest to grok. Point based systems like HERO or GURPS require that you know the system in order to figure what is feasible at the starting power level. Knowing this requires experience with gaming as well experience with the system. It's just not noob-friendly.

You provide a managable list of classes to jumpstart character creation. Then provide rules for additional classes for the hardcore players. But the core book should provide enough variety to seem "boundless" to the noob without actually being so numerous as to create indecision.

 

[shilsen]

Them's fightin' words Shilsen...

I like to live dangerously.

Look - another 4e thread!

*runs like hell while Vorput is distracted*

 

[Sejs]

The classes will be:

Fighter.
Magic-User.
Cleric.
Elf, which is a hybrid of Fighter and Magic-User.
Dwarf, which is like Fighter, but more beardy.
Halfling, which is like Fighter, but shorter, and somewhat more sneaky.

 

[blargney the second]

A classless system with skill groups would be *brilliant*. I'd also love to see a more granular levelling system where you spend experience to buy up smaller parts of a level at a time.