Statistical Analysis of the Classes - popularity vs. power

[der_kluge]

Culled from research done on this very site.

Class Popularity (based on the group makeup of many who post here)

CLASS..........# played.. % ranking
------------------------------------------
Fighter............1038.... 16.6%
Rogue.............. 840.... 13.5%
Cleric................ 831.... 13.3%
Wizard............. 815.... 13.1%
Sorcerer........... 529.... 8.5%
Ranger............. 437.... 7.0%
Monk................ 403.... 6.5%
Paladin............. 374.... 6.0%
Barbarian......... 303.... 4.9%
Bard................. 275.... 4.4%
Druid................ 208.... 3.3%
Psion................ 138.... 2.2%
Psychic Warrior... 50.... 0.8%


Next, a ranking of all the core clases in order of most powerful to least powerful (based on an average of user responses of their own personal rankings) - covers all class levels.

CLASS...........Rank..(average score)
------------------------------------------------------------
Cleric..............1......2.588235294
Fighter............2......3.411764706
Wizard............3......4.647058824
Rogue.............4......5.411764706
Sorcerer..........5......5.470588235
Paladin............6......6.000000000
Druid...............7......6.235294118
Barbarian........8......6.352941176
Monk...............9......7.411764706
Ranger..........10......8.352941176
Bard..............11.....10.00000000


Analysis:
The core classes (cleric, fighter, wizard, rogue) are in the top four in both categories. Most agree that cleric is the most powerful class, but fighter is the most popular. Rogue eeks out cleric by a narrow margin in the popularity category, but falls behind in the power category. There is statistically no difference between the power level of the rogue and the sorcerer. Sorcerer has a solid foothold as the 5th most powerful and 5th most popular class.

A full 65% of gamers are playing the most common classes (cleric, fighter, wizard, rogue, and sorcerer). the last 6 classes make up the remaining 35%, with Psion and Psychic warrior making up only 3% of the gaming population. Psion and Psychic warrior weren't included in the second category as only PHB-classes were considered.

Druid and Barbarian are closely tied on the bottom half. Bard is the second least popular among the core classes, but is solidly considered to be the weakest. The other class, Ranger is considered not quite as weak as the Bard, yet comes in second the weakest category. Ranger is more popular than monk, or Paladin, however.

Draw your own conclusions
----------------------------------
The questions remain - are some classes perceived as being weak because they are not as popular, or are some classes not as popular because they are weak?

MY own perception is the latter, as I changed a Bard to a rog/sor because the class was too weak, and in my current game, one of my friends made a cleric with plant and travel as his domains, and is basically no different than a druid from a role-playing standpoint. My friend admits to being a min-maxer, and thus chose cleric rather than druid because of the many reasons why cleric ranks #1 in the power category, yet druid comes in at a paltry 8th.

Discuss.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Interesting, but the objective part of your data was subjectively gathered.

Example: People "feel" the ranger is weak. I've been saying for a long time now that the ranger is only weak when you play one like a fighter. So is the ranger truly weak?

If you judge by damage-per-round, do you count things like animal companions or warhorses? How does the bard's fascination ability figure in (the task of fighting two monsters at once can be changed into fighting one monster while the bard keeps the other one fascinated, pretty darn nice. Of course, the circumstances would have to be carefully set up).

I'd love to see a way that could hoestly compare "effectiveness". But there's a lot to consider. Is Swim a better skill than Spot? Depends if you just got thrown overboard or not.

Just some food for thought.

 

[der_kluge]

Yes, that's the failing; the second list is purely subjective. But, I figured that given enough responses, if everyone truly thought that all the classes were balanced, then the average scores for all the classes would come out to be 6.0 (the average of 1 to 11). In theory, a 6.0 for a class (which the Paladin got) is a perfectly balanced class. Anything above that is powerful, and anything below that is weak.

Given that, statistically speaking, cleric, fighter, wizard are all too powerful, and monk, ranger, and bard are all too weak. And, apparently, Bard is as weak as a cleric is strong (both are ~4 off from midpoint).

What does it all mean? I need more data.

 

[Vymair]

The following opinion is from a man whose core 3e characters (not counting OA) are a ranger and a druid, so keep that in mind
.

It is my opinion that most people play the core four because everyone "knows" that you have to have those 4 classes to be successful. I don't agree, but that seems to be popular opinion.

My personal opinion is that many people undervalue the classes with 4+ skills and don't look at class skill lists enough. IMC, where the characters are closing in on highlevels, we have come to realize that +20 in a skill is a POWERFUL ability especially if it is in one of the key skills (spot, listen, hide, silent, concentration, diplomacy, sense motive, search, tumble, etc). The classes near the bottom of the power list are almost all high skill classes.

As for you and your friends choices of cleric over druid and Rog/Sor over Bard, I'm unclear on why you think those are preferable. The Bard will have more hps, higher level spells and his perform abilities. While, he will not have the direct damage spells the sorceror has, he will have slow, charm monster, etc 4 full levels before an evenly split rog/sor.

While their seems to be a belief on these boards that druids are much weaker than clerics, I respectfully disagree. I didn't respond to the poll posted, but if I had I think I would have put Druids at the very top of the list. Second best healer, 3rd best nukers and the ability to wildshape into to creatures with 25+ strengths at 8th level make the druid the most flexible character in the game system.

 

[der_kluge]

So, here are the classes:
Barbarian
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Rogue
Sorcerer
Wizard

Rank them in order from 1 to 11. Theoretically, if enough people rank them all, if the classes TRULY are balanced, then they should all average out to be 6.0.

 

[Crothian]

Rank them in order from 1 to 11. Theoretically, if enough people rank them all, if the classes TRULY are balanced, then they should all average out to be 6.0.

In a perfect world maybe. But from what I've seen many people don't know how to play a bard or a monk. People hinder the Ranger by not allowing it to shine. People rank the cleric high becasue all they do is cast buff spells so they can fight well.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, I'm neither a statistician nor a mathematician--heck, I still have to remind myself that 1-in-20 = 5% --but even I can see there's a problem with the basic premise here.

Ranking the classes numerically, from 1 to 11--whether you're asking people to rank by balance or popularity--requires an assumption that, I feel, is false from the get-go.

Many people--myself included--can't rank all the classes. I have several that I like equally (or dislike equally). I have multiple classes that I feel are equally balanced with one another, and equally powerful. And what I "really" like in the mood I'm in for one campaign may drastically change for the next. I really like playing druids, except when I feel like playing a fighter, except when I feel like playing a wizard, and so forth...

I realize that this would be far less precise, but what about simply a poll saying "List the classes you feel are mostly balanced (or unbalanced)" and "List the classes you enjoy playing (or don't enjoy playing)"? You'll get less precise results, but they'll be a lot more accurate, and you'll have a wider base of people willing (and able) to respond.

 

[Bragg Battleaxe]

I am convinced that one must run a campaign that is balanced before the classes can be balanced. One has to have equal amounts of combat, dungeon delving, city settings, social gatherings, intrigue, wilderness travel/exploration, etc, etc. Very few of the classes excel at ALL of these things, and most shine best in only one or two of them. Sometimes a player picks a class, say a Paladin or Ranger, because they enjoy the concept. One must look at the PCs in a party and as a DM provide them all equal chances to do their thing.

 

[der_kluge]

In a perfect world maybe. But from what I've seen many people don't know how to play a bard or a monk. People hinder the Ranger by not allowing it to shine. People rank the cleric high becasue all they do is cast buff spells so they can fight well.

I'll grant you that playing a bard is hard. I've tried; I'm not good at it. No desire to play a monk.

--BUT-- you shouldn't have to be a good role-player to get the power out of a class. I could just as easily play a rog1/sor3 versus a brd4 and get just as much bang for my buck, and have a ton more skills and spells to boot.

 

[der_kluge]

I realize that this would be far less precise, but what about simply a poll saying "List the classes you feel are mostly balanced (or unbalanced)" and "List the classes you enjoy playing (or don't enjoy playing)"? You'll get less precise results, but they'll be a lot more accurate, and you'll have a wider base of people willing (and able) to respond.

I don't know, Mouseferatu, I'd probably get just as many people claiming that *none* of the classes were unbalanced, and that it was a stupid poll.