PHB II in March?

[A Passing Maniac]

Well, popular or not, they've mentioned a Shaman class a couple times. They've also noted its involvement with nature spirits, meaning the class is almost certainly a primal one. If WotC puts out all the primal classes in PHBII, as it looks likely they will do, then the Shaman is a very good fit for the second "S" class.

 

[thundershot]

The Spirit Shaman in 3.5 was a GREAT class IMO. It had lots off flavor and crunch, all part of a delious nutritious breakfast.



Chris

 

[Tharkun]

I don't think I will purchase this book. I'm not too much into 4th Edition to get things other than the core books.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

It is a core book...

 

[The_Fan]

That leaves the I, T, and W as the new and unknown classes. There was a cryptic comment about witches, warlocks, and wizards before, so my guess for W is a Witch class. Despite the gender connotations, as Wikipedia says, "...in legends and popular culture the stereotype is female; however males were also often referred to as witches." Witch seems like a primal class to me, possibly a controller.

That leaves I and T, and no divine classes yet. But it says "divine" right there on the cover, so likely those two would be the divine classes, brand new. I've tried to come up with names that fit, and best I can manage is Inquisitor and Theurge. Inquisitor sounds like a Striker class, focusing on finding an slaying enemies of the god. Theurge sounds more controllerish to me.

So my list:
Bard (Arcane leader)
Barbarian (Primal Defender)
Druid (Primal Hybrid)
Inquisitor (Divine Striker)
Shaman (Primal Leader)
Sorcerer (Arcane Controller)
Theurge (Divine Controller)
Witch (Primal Controller)

Seems a bit controller-heavy, but then again the PHBI was controller-light and striker-heavy. Not sure what the Druid will be a hybrid of, but it could help balance things out.

 

[jamorea]

How about Templar for T? I like the name for a Divine type. Other than that, I really like your list The_Fan.

 

[Cyronax]

That leaves the I, T, and W as the new and unknown classes. There was a cryptic comment about witches, warlocks, and wizards before, so my guess for W is a Witch class. Despite the gender connotations, as Wikipedia says, "...in legends and popular culture the stereotype is female; however males were also often referred to as witches." Witch seems like a primal class to me, possibly a controller.

That leaves I and T, and no divine classes yet. But it says "divine" right there on the cover, so likely those two would be the divine classes, brand new. I've tried to come up with names that fit, and best I can manage is Inquisitor and Theurge. Inquisitor sounds like a Striker class, focusing on finding an slaying enemies of the god. Theurge sounds more controllerish to me.

So my list:
Bard (Arcane leader)
Barbarian (Primal Defender)
Druid (Primal Hybrid)
Inquisitor (Divine Striker)
Shaman (Primal Leader)
Sorcerer (Arcane Controller)
Theurge (Divine Controller)
Witch (Primal Controller)

Seems a bit controller-heavy, but then again the PHBI was controller-light and striker-heavy. Not sure what the Druid will be a hybrid of, but it could help balance things out.

I bet the Barbarian could be a hybrid. It seems pretty striker-ish, but some elements of it scream defender.

 

[doctorhook]

I bet the Barbarian could be a hybrid. It seems pretty striker-ish, but some elements of it scream defender.

I've heard this before, but I've never understood it; what's "striker-ish" about barbarians? They're not "glass cannons", they're big, m.f.in' front-line brutes with hit points to spare....

 

[Glak]

they can't use Templar because they need that name for Dark Sun. I think that their choices for classes and power sources were deliberately designed to support the new yearly core strategy. By including Arcane and Divine it extends what people already have. There will be people who if they saw three new power sources would say "cool, but everything is modular and I don't need that" by using preexisting power sources those people have their argument against buying it shot down. Likewise by including a new power source, but tying it to old classes such as the Barbarian and Druid people become willing to try new power sources. Thus a lot of objections are killed. Then there is the pull: favorite classes and races (bard, barbarian, druid, gnome). That is what actually gets you to buy the book. Well done WotC.

Psionics being pushed back a year gives me the idea that they need more time to work on it, and also that they will be doing Dark Sun as the third setting. If the new core books and the new setting match that year, well you can see how that would help sales. You don't want to release the DS books at a time when the source book containing Psionics is off of the shelves. Hmm... that would be a great book to put Elemental and possibly Shadow as the other power sources.

 

[Rechan]

I've heard this before, but I've never understood it; what's "striker-ish" about barbarians? They're not "glass cannons", they're big, m.f.in' front-line brutes with hit points to spare....

Because we've heard descriptions of barbarian powers that let them move x squares and make an attack on anyone adjacent to those squares, without incurring AoOs.

That's a striker ability if there ever was one.

Also, Barbs have always been characterized as fast. That's why they have the fast movement. Lots of movement = striker.