The most powerful class?

[Testament]

Actually, in terms of power, Prestiging a cleric often isn't worth it. It depends largely on what sort of a Cleric you are, but the only Clerical PrC I've seen that screams TAKE THIS is Radiant Servant of Pelor, AKA Cleric Plus.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Wow. It seems like cleric is certainly getting the votes. When I first saw the title of the thread I thought about what classes people might take to twink out. If I were just trying to make an uber-powerful character, I think I would certainly throw in some levels of fighter (to get a few extra feats at first level) and to get some nice hit points but I guess I was also assuming that the character we were talking about would be around 7th level. Talking about 20th level characters or factoring in some of the PrCs definitely makes me rethink a few things.

 

[Thanee]

Depends on the level range, but overall with only PHB classes (so no Psion, otherwise that one would get the vote), I'm also quite certain, that the Cleric is best, followed by Druid, Wizard and Sorcerer.

At the lower levels, Barbarian and Fighter are both very good, also, while the arcane casters rule the higher levels.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Swiftbrook]

Cleric needs reigning in as per monte's cook's suggestions..

I'd really like to know where this is.

Here is an article by Sean K. Reynolds where he makes several suggestions including: "Clerics don't get Shield Proficiency or Armor Proficiency (Heavy). I'm strongly tempted to knock down one of their saves, too,..."

But I agree with the crowd, Cleric is the most powerful class. But I really think that the most powerful class for you, is the class you know best. I would be a more powerful ranger than a cleric because I don't know the cleric inside and out like I know the ranger.

-Swiftbrook

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Druid wins out, what it looses in overall strength to the cleric it more than makes up for in Tactical flexibility.

A properly twinked Monk is sort of the x-factor in this. I also think that my answer would vary based on specific levels and settings, but I'll stand by Druid as a response to the general question.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Where can I find Monte's suggestions for reigning in the Cleric, I'm interested.

And the Dragonscale Fullplate might be cheap, but I don't think Dragonscales from a Dragon big enough are just lying around. And that's not the issue, the Wild part is so you aren't AC <20 in combat.

Yeah, it's cheap in a rules sense, but you're going to pay through the nose. Or you could wish for it or something, but still.

 

[arscott]

I would be a more powerful ranger than a cleric because I don't know the cleric inside and out like I know the ranger.

Not a lot of people do. Because they can easily carry out several roles, and because they have access to every spell on their list, It's pretty damned difficult to know a cleric inside and out. The fact that they require a lot of knowledge to play well is one reason that they're more powerful that everybody else. The other reason, of course, is that nobody wants to be the team buffer/healer, and you've gotta find some way of coercing players into it.

 

[francisca]

None. Silly kids! Don't you know all of the classes are perfectly balanced? Isn't that supposed to be one of the cornerstones of 3e design? Keep repeating the mantra until you make it so.

 

[Bront]

Clerics were built that way from 3.0 on. In fact, they were the only class that dropped in power going to 3.5.

Actualy, wizards/sorcers took a big hit with the reduction in spell power. Almost all buffs that were hours long got reduced to minutes, and some spells got capped a bit lower than before.

I can see how a cleric can be one of the most powerful builds if done 100% corectly, but few people do. I do think that most of the classes are balanced enough that's it's not a huge problem, but yes some classes outshine others at different times, depending on the build. I still have problems trying to convince any player to play a cleric, and we often have them NPCed.

 

[youspoonybard]

I vote for my favorite class, the Druid.

I'm not speaking in a one-on-one combat situation, but as an adventurer as a whole. Druids can do so many things on the fly (Full spellcasting, Wild Shape(!!!), Spontaneous Nature's Ally spells) that they can handle more situations than any other class, without special preparation (a Wizard who knows EXACTLY what he's up against is a *very* formidable foe, for example). Their class stats (d8, 3/4 BAB, 2 good saves), low dependance on stats (Wisdom) also assist them in this regard.