D&D 5E The classes that nobody wants to play

[Werebat]

No one in the two groups I play with has played a barbarian in the last TWO EDITIONS of the game we've played (well, Pathfinder and 5E).

I've been trying to sell the idea of a grimlock barbarian to the players in my OotA game, but to no avail... Hm, maybe I'll replace one of the NPCs with one...

 

[ccs]

To date we've only had 1 Wizard played. And that was in a game where you're race, and class, along with a humorous snippit of background were randomly generated.
The result was an obese Drow wizard who spoke only his own language, enjoyed cooking (badly) & was trying to raise $ for the orphans....

 

[mrpopstar]

I rarely see rangers and wizards in organized play. At home, I have yet to see a wizard or a paladin.

Rangers: They don't seem to inspire the players who come through for pickup games.

Wizards: Perhaps it's a resource management thing? I find it surprising, but warlocks appear to be capturing all the arcane fans.

Paladins: They don't seem to serve the stories we tell at home. (At least not yet.)

 

[jgsugden]

In various groups I've been in or ran, I've seen at least 70 PCS made for 5E. Each class has appeared at least 3 times... more if we count multiclass sampling.There is not a class that people do not want to play or do not enjoy playing.

The question at hand assumes there is one or more classes people are not playing and it just isn't true for my groups - especially if people are making use of the UA articles.

 

[Zardnaar]

Wizards and single classed warlocks.
Wizards are a bit weak along with intelligence.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

All classes have been played by someone I play with. Counting only official 5e games (not D&D Next playtest), including both campaigns and shorter theme adventures, I believe the numbers of characters played of each class has been:

Barbarians: 2
Bards: 2
Clerics: 3
Druids: 1
Fighters: 5.5
Monks: 2
Paladins: 2
Rangers: 2
Rogues: 4
Sorcerers: 1
Warlocks: 1
Wizards: 1.5
Mystic: 1 (Unearthed Arcana playtest)

Total characters: 27

(Two characters were played more than once by choice, and I counted them each time. Multiclass characters were counted as 0.5 of each class.)

So fighter, rogue, and cleric have been the most played in this small sample size, but I've never gotten the feeling that there are any disfavored base classes.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Why is there not a "All the classes get played by somebody in my group" option?

I will probably redo this poll at some point in the future (maybe in about a year) and I will try to remember to include this. It was not a deliberate omission.

 

[Ogre Mage]

So in looking at the results so far from both the "Most Played Classes" and "The Classes that Nobody Wants" threads, some patterns have begun to emerge.

Right now the rogue is clearly the most popular class, as it leads the voting in the "Most Played Classes" and has the fewest votes in "The Classes that Nobody Wants."

The monk is probably the most unpopular class, as it has the fewest votes in the "Most Played Classes" and is a close second place in "The Classes that Nobody Wants." The ranger actually leads the "Nobody Wants" poll but it is polling much better than the monk in the "Most Played Classes" poll.

We could speculate as to why the rogue is popular. To begin with, I think cunning action is a shiny prize for character optimizers. It is also a relatively simple class which doesn't have to muck around with spell lists, so it is friendly for inexperienced players. The stealth/sneak attack aspect adds a bit of strategy which might appeal to some over the more generic fighter. Finally, the rogue perhaps more than any other class suggests an "edgy" and/or "anti-hero" type, which seems to appeal to a lot of people.

As for the monk's apparent unpopularity, to be blunt I have not seen one who contributed much to the party, even if they were roleplayed well. Some were a flat-out waste of space. I'm sure there are other reasons but frankly it has gotten to the point that I cringe slightly when I first see one at the table and wonder if it will be dead weight.

Rogues are indeed one of the most popular classes in my local gaming area. Monks appears at about an average rate (to my chagrin).

 

[Eltab]

My Tiamat group had only one Monk, when the previous DM came back for a visit.

Every other class showed up as a recurring character for a while, including me-as-a-PC Paladin.

 

[Eltab]

As for the monk's apparent unpopularity, to be blunt I have not seen one who contributed much to the party, even if they were roleplayed well. Some were a flat-out waste of space. I'm sure there are other reasons but frankly it has gotten to the point that I cringe slightly when I first see one at the table and wonder if it will be dead weight.

My AL Monk is most famous for being a Sneak/Spy (by design and optimization), and a pseudo-Ranger.

I had the only magic bow when we faced a bunch of ghosties (insubstantial undead), so I got full damage per hit.
I volunteered to go into dark places, scout ahead and collect intelligence, &c, trusting that my Stealth and Observant skills would get the job done.
I (as a player) have also been group leader when I was the only L4 in a group of L1s and L2s. Leading from the front, indeed.

P.S. I've also provided the comic relief: I tried to be all Jackie Chan and end up on top of a stack of crates; I actually rolled a '2' for Acrobatics and wound up flat on my back on the floor in front of a guard.