Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
So what races and classes do we consider core?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Kalontas" data-source="post: 5771635" data-attributes="member: 6686378"><p>Discussion on official boards made me realise one question - what do we, RPG players in general, consider to be "core"? What races, and classes, are to us iconic enough to warrant a "MUST BE" stamp on such race's or class's inclusion in the original PHB for next "iteration"? Which concepts are for us strong enough to warrant them the place among core?</p><p></p><p>Copying my list of races from Wizards' boards:</p><p>- Humans (doh)</p><p>- Elves and Eladrin - keep them split up, to keep the flavour differences between the "wood" and "high" elf variety.</p><p>- Dwarves - It's no fantasy without dwarves.</p><p>- Gnomes and Halflings - we all need the short dudes. But just makes gnomes the crazy tinkerers again - that's what makes them gnomes, as opposed to "generic small fey". Give the prankster-ish background to Halflings.</p><p>- Goliaths - I definitely think they fit the mold of classic races. They are essentially big humans, with primal connections.</p><p>- Dragonborn and Kobolds - Dragonborn definitely found their own niche during 4E, and D&D is not itself without Kobolds.</p><p>- Devas and Tieflings - I think those are very popular races. Maybe Tieflings more than Devas, but Devas have a very Gandalf-like flavour (an incarnated angel and divine wizard) - meaning they should satisfy even the Tolkien-starved folk. </p><p></p><p>That's rather a lot of races for the first PHB but I was always of the "gotta catch 'em all" mentality - always wanted to have a lot of unique options right from the start. And I think all those fulfill certain concepts that make them strong enough to feel core.</p><p></p><p>As for classes...</p><p>Martial: warlord, fighter, rogue, ranger. The latter three are a no-brainer, while I think warlord managed to earn its place among the classics during 4E's run. Its martial leadership was very unique and still working.</p><p>Divine: cleric, paladin. While I love invoker personally, I agree it might not be the best candidate for the original core option. Clerics and paladins are both strong enough to hold on their own. (Also, poor runepriests).</p><p>Arcane: bard, swordmage, wizard, sorcerer. Out of those only the swordmage is new, and that's because I feel it filled a unique niche that might work very well - if you work on its fluff other than "wizard with a sword, who's a defender".</p><p>Primal: Shaman, Druid, Barbarian. Again, two old classics and one new option that IMO differentiated itself enough to make its place among the core classes.</p><p>Psionic: Monk, Psion. Sadly, no powerful newcomers here - but I do think 5E should feature psionics (even if in a state as limited as this) right off the bat.</p><p></p><p>And again - yes, that's a lot of options, but I believe each of those is strong enough on its own and I always say - there is never too much options (feats don't count <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue :P" data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />)</p><p></p><p>So, what is core for you? I'm looking forward to seeing both short and long lists - hopefully not too much people limiting themselves to Tolkien.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kalontas, post: 5771635, member: 6686378"] Discussion on official boards made me realise one question - what do we, RPG players in general, consider to be "core"? What races, and classes, are to us iconic enough to warrant a "MUST BE" stamp on such race's or class's inclusion in the original PHB for next "iteration"? Which concepts are for us strong enough to warrant them the place among core? Copying my list of races from Wizards' boards: - Humans (doh) - Elves and Eladrin - keep them split up, to keep the flavour differences between the "wood" and "high" elf variety. - Dwarves - It's no fantasy without dwarves. - Gnomes and Halflings - we all need the short dudes. But just makes gnomes the crazy tinkerers again - that's what makes them gnomes, as opposed to "generic small fey". Give the prankster-ish background to Halflings. - Goliaths - I definitely think they fit the mold of classic races. They are essentially big humans, with primal connections. - Dragonborn and Kobolds - Dragonborn definitely found their own niche during 4E, and D&D is not itself without Kobolds. - Devas and Tieflings - I think those are very popular races. Maybe Tieflings more than Devas, but Devas have a very Gandalf-like flavour (an incarnated angel and divine wizard) - meaning they should satisfy even the Tolkien-starved folk. That's rather a lot of races for the first PHB but I was always of the "gotta catch 'em all" mentality - always wanted to have a lot of unique options right from the start. And I think all those fulfill certain concepts that make them strong enough to feel core. As for classes... Martial: warlord, fighter, rogue, ranger. The latter three are a no-brainer, while I think warlord managed to earn its place among the classics during 4E's run. Its martial leadership was very unique and still working. Divine: cleric, paladin. While I love invoker personally, I agree it might not be the best candidate for the original core option. Clerics and paladins are both strong enough to hold on their own. (Also, poor runepriests). Arcane: bard, swordmage, wizard, sorcerer. Out of those only the swordmage is new, and that's because I feel it filled a unique niche that might work very well - if you work on its fluff other than "wizard with a sword, who's a defender". Primal: Shaman, Druid, Barbarian. Again, two old classics and one new option that IMO differentiated itself enough to make its place among the core classes. Psionic: Monk, Psion. Sadly, no powerful newcomers here - but I do think 5E should feature psionics (even if in a state as limited as this) right off the bat. And again - yes, that's a lot of options, but I believe each of those is strong enough on its own and I always say - there is never too much options (feats don't count :P) So, what is core for you? I'm looking forward to seeing both short and long lists - hopefully not too much people limiting themselves to Tolkien. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
So what races and classes do we consider core?
Top