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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DracoSuave" data-source="post: 5446667" data-attributes="member: 71571">No that's a warlord!No that's an ardent!No that's a......oh wait, the entire Leader archtype when they aren't at range.It's kinda hard to make a member of a role with the job 'hit things and toss out buffs and debuffs' without them hitting things and tossing out buffs and debuffs. If only they had a unique mechanic that reflected a flavor that no other character had....Like some sort of emphasis on lasting buffs and the application of those to arms and armor.Bullocks.  The only thing that suggests 'Cleric' in the Runepriest description is the word 'Divine' there.If it had 'Martial' you'd say 'This is different Warlord!'  If it were arcane, you'd say 'This is just a different bard!  Runes even work like songs used to!'Rune Mastery itself is a mechanic that is absolutely unique to the runepriest.  Not the 'having runes' bit, but they (at the time) were the only leader that had a permanent aura around them that gave buffs to the party.  The closest mechanic you can find to Rune Mastery is the shaman's spirit boons, and the aura of buffing an Essential's Druid's pet gives off.No cleric build in the game, including essentials, has a mechanic like Rune Mastery.  That kinda makes runepriests very unique.  Then you move on... your build doesn't affect this buff.  Shamans and Druids get one buff, that's it, you're done, I hope you can use it.  Runepriests have two options and they can always choose the buff to fit the situation.You then have that mechanic mesh with every single thing a Runepriest does... that's frakking decent class design in my books.  Except for the fact they are in no way the same as any class.Except, of course, for the fact that their class mechanic that defines them is something unique to them, and the entire class is built around that mechanic.Buffing is not a niche.  It's a role.  Healing is a niche.  Like the hunter?Also, they avoid it by using unique mechanics and by making themselves stand out.  Fundamentally, there's no difference between a thief and a slayer, both are physical combatants that never use magic.  However, tossing in sneak attack onto the rogue while having flat damage increases on the slayer MAKE them unique.The difference is actually:  "I am invested with divine power so that I may bolster my flock and bring them succor" vs. "I am out there to destroy my enemies, and the Words of Creation bolster me and my allies."The difference between a runepriest and a cleric is as big as the difference between a cleric and an invoker flavor-wise.  The runepriest takes it a step further by being mechanically distinct.  Runepriest doesn't even have Channel Divinity; They're more unlike clerics than paladins or avengers or invokers are right there.The problem isn't that runepriests are samey... the problem is that the Divine power source is samey... looking at the entire power source, you'll notice runepriests are actually the most distinct from clerics, not the least.</blockquote>

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