Preview: The Sorcerer

[FireLance]

But Arcane, Primal, and Martial mostly just seem to be 'flavor', and basing it on what sort of weapons/implements they have, or the sort of damage they do.. In terms of other class features then equipment there's not much tying Artificer with Wizard, say, and not much differentiating Ranger with Warlock, as another example.

The primal classes seem to get more hit points than classes from other power sources in the same role. The druid (a controller) gets the same number of hit points as a striker or a leader from other power sources. The barbarian (a striker) gets the same number of hit points as a defender from other power sources, and the warden (a defender) gets more hit points than anyone.

 

[Rechan]

Divine, particularly, seems to have a very rigid thing: They get Channel Divinity. Non-divine classes don't.

Also all get up to scale mail armor, even the controller. Not to mention they get some sort of leadery-boosty powers. Even some of the Invoker's grant allies stuff in the blast.

But Arcane, Primal, and Martial mostly just seem to be 'flavor', and basing it on what sort of weapons/implements they have, or the sort of damage they do..

All primal characters get more HP than any other class of that role. Also, they appear to be getting a boost in armor if they're wearing light or no armor.

And, yes. All martial classes revolve around what weapon they use (except for warlords, at least). Because there's not a whole lot of ways to make "guys who attack with weapons and their skill" match beyond... their weapons and skill.

not much differentiating Ranger with Warlock, as another example.

Rangers revolve around attacking twice.

 

[Rechan]

In addition there are paragon paths that are restricted to power source if I remember correctly... perhaps epic destinies, too.

And feats/multi-class options. For instance, the Weapon-based multi-class options in the Gladiator article; I anticipate seeing more of those, and more things of that style (racial pre-req, power source, etc).

There are also two feats in Martial Power that are limited to martial characters only.