D&D 5E [poll] Which classes should be core

[TwoSix]

Every class is redundant. My proposal is to create a single class called "Adventurer" and then create a point buy system designed to allow anyone to build up any of the existing classes via point allocations...

[Sounds of individual getting pummeled by 4th edition Champions and Fantasy Hero rulebooks]

I'm sorry - what were we talking about?

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7MxaZV26WwHwzaP-eD

 

[Gradine]

As usual, the Fighter remains far-and-away the most popular, with 44 out of 36 respondents thinking it should be core. Yeah, ENMath.

I wonder if doesn't count you as a "voter" until you've finished selecting all 6?

 

[Tony Vargas]

I wonder if doesn't count you as a "voter" until you've finished selecting all 6?

So if - as people doubtless are - you only vote for the Big 4, you votes are counted, but you aren't counted as a voter?

 

[Stormonu]

I voted for the big four - fighter, cleric, Rogue and sorcerer (I think the sorcerer is the better option over wizard). Most of the others can be replicated via multiclassing or paths, with the exception of the monk and the warlock - so they’re my extra two choices.

And while monk has oriental connotations, I feel it’s still a good class for the game; it’s just pugilistic mystic doesn’t quite roll off the tongue...

 

[Kobold Stew]

Somehow Fighter has ended up with more votes (69) than voters (64).

In addition to the core four, I added Druid, Bard, and Paladin. But since that's 7, I didn't vote for fighter.

 

[Dausuul]

Interesting results so far, and turns some assumptions upside down. Barbarian has been there since 3e, but the warlord, artificer, and mystic are much higher. It would feel weird for me to be in a room with designers and saying that we'll omit the barbarian class for one of the other three because it feels....wrong somehow. But clearly the fanbase favors different things that "tradition".

The barbarian has absolutely no reason to exist other than tradition. It would be trivial to make it a fighter subclass. If it had not been a stand-alone class in previous editions, no one would ever have suggested making it one in 5E. Ditto paladins, rangers, sorcerers, druids, and bards.

Fighter, Warlord, Rogue, Mystic, Warlock, Wizard.
Wizard is magic driven by knowledge and esoteric techniques. Subsumes artificer and bard.
Warlock is magic provided and controlled by pacts with supernatural entities. Subsumes clerics and shaman types.
Mystic is internal, often psychic magic. Subsumes monk and sorcerer.

Fighter subsumes barbarian.
Rogue subsumes ranger.
Warlord subsumes paladin.

I originally had cleric in place of warlord, but you have convinced me to change my vote.

However, I would say the bard and the warlord should merge into a "herald" class, whose core is a "lazylord" design that focuses entirely on being the party face and on inspiring other PCs. That would give it a distinct identity not covered by any other class. The 4E warlord design is too close to fighter; it should be a herald subclass, not the core class. Likewise, the bard would be a herald subclass with partial spellcasting, eldritch knight-style.

As for paladin, the herald might slice off a few bits like the aura, but the rest should become a fighter subclass.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Somehow Fighter has ended up with more votes (69) than voters (64).

It's just THAT popular.

 

[Azzy]

I'd really love to know what the deal is wth ENWorld polls and their wacky numbers.

 

[Garthanos]

Ask and ye shall receive.

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-L7MxaZV26WwHwzaP-eD

Clap clap clap ...bravo

 

[Shiroiken]

Thematically, almost every class are variations on the Core 4. Barbarian, Monk, and Warlord are all types of Fighters. Druids are Nature Clerics. Sorcerers and Warlocks are variants on the Wizard (the original magic user). Bards, Paladins, and Rangers are variants of Rogue/Wizard, Fighter/Cleric, and Fighter/Rogue/Cleric. Pretty much only the Artificer and Mystic are actual new themes, and even those are tenuous (not to mention neither is really appropriate for all campaign worlds).