Thinking about the sub-classes

[Scholar & Brutalman]

Both classes that we know enough of use this:

The Base attribute of the class: Rogue - Dex, Warlord - Str
Secondary attribute for build 1: Rogue - Str, Warlord - Int
Secondary attribute for build 2: Rogue - Cha, Warlord - Cha

These three attributes also cover the three defenses! I think that's important.
Most of the preview characters from XP also try to get a good score in one of each.

I'm not sure about that. These are the preview characters stats:

Cleric: Str:14 Con:12 Dex:10 Int:12 Wis:18 Cha:12
Fighter: Str:16 Con:18 Dex:12 Int:10 Wis:14 Cha:8
Paladin: Str:14 Con:12 Dex:12 Int:9 Wis:16 Cha:16
Ranger: Str:14 Con:11 Dex:18 Int:12 Wis:14 Cha:10
Warlock: Str:10 Con:16 Dex:11 Int:15 Wis:8 Cha:18
Wizard: Str:10 Con:10 Dex:14 Int:20 Wis:9 Cha:12

Only the Ranger and Warlock really match the pattern. The Cleric, Fighter and Paladin all have their Reflex-defence stats maxing at 12, and the Wizard's second best stat is in Dex!

Of course these characters may be badly optimized, but I can't see the Wis 16 + Cha 16 Paladin being an accident.

 

[hong]

That doesn't make much sense if you're playing a cleric of Bane, though. With Bane being pretty much the war god now, it should be possible to play one. I don't exactly see him granting radiant damage.

It looks like "radiant" now just means "sourced from the Astral dominions". It doesn't have any connotations of good, holy, saintly, etc, etc.

 

[fnwc]

I'm not sure how much it matters either , but making sure all the defenses are covered is a nice design constraint.

Order does matter, BTW for builds. A brawny rogue cares about dex then str, then cha. while a trickster rogue cares about dex then cha then str.
But, again assuming this is a real design constraint and that repetition should be avoided, this would imply 24 different classes each with 2 builds, or some other combination of classes to builds to reach 48.

4e designers have specifically mentioned that they're moving away from "bogus parallelism", so I don't think this is a consideration.

 

[Dunamin]

I think we know quite a lot in this area regarding the Fighter. Recall the old Class preview which "showcased" a talk between fighter players:

“Yeah. I thought about going high Con and using a hammer, but I wanted to start with the chance to make a couple of attacks, so I’m using rain of blows as my good weapon attack, and I went with high Wis so that I can switch to the better oppy powers later.”

Thus, I'd wager that Strength is primary attribute and there are builds for having secondary be either Constitution or Wisdom.

You'd expect Dex also to be tied in with the Fighter, but with the more narrow focus of making them heavy armor warriors I guess it may not be that emphasized. It may be Dex that's referred to in this part of the article:

“My elf fighter uses a spear. I like the speed and the option to go past AC. But you’ve got the fighter covered. I’ll play a halfling rogue.”

But then again, "speed" might be a reference to the elf's higher than average movement rate of 7.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

This is a key point; easier to balance different class/builds when their key attributes are defenses. Using this as a starting point, there are 8 different possible triads

Str, Dex, Cha
Str, Dex, Wis
Str, Int, Cha
Str, Int, Wis
Con, Dex, Cha
Con, Dex, Wis
Con, Int, Cha
Con, Int, Wis

Order matters of course, since 1 attribute is the primary attribute for a class, and the second is important for a particular build, there would be a total of 48 possible different build/class combos.

Hmm, but fighters almost surely need both Con and Strength, don't they? And it'd seem weird if clerics (and to a lesser degree paladins) don't have a use for both Wis and Cha.

 

[fnwc]

It looks like "radiant" now just means "sourced from the Astral dominions". It doesn't have any connotations of good, holy, saintly, etc, etc.

That, and I think it's diametrically opposed to "necrotic" (i.e., a monster that deals necrotic damage is more likely to be vulnerable to radiant damage).

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think we know quite a lot in this area regarding the Fighter. Recall the old Class preview which "showcased" a talk between fighter players:



Thus, I'd wager that Strength is primary attribute and there are builds for having secondary be either Constitution or Wisdom.

You'd expect Dex also to be tied in with the Fighter, but with the more narrow focus of making them heavy armor warriors I guess it may not be that emphasized. It may be Dex that's referred to in this part of the article:

But then again, "speed" might be a reference to the elf's higher than average movement rate of 7.

I may be off base, but that talk seemed to be about differentiating between different weapons which might be used (and there are a lot of options there!), rather than the more binary decision between "I'm a 2-hander" and "I'm a sword and boarder".

 

[Dunamin]

I may be off base, but that talk seemed to be about differentiating between different weapons which might be used (and there are a lot of options there!), rather than the more binary decision between "I'm a 2-hander" and "I'm a sword and boarder".

My impression is that the differentiation is within the class itself with each option more or less tied to a certain group of weapons, rather than an intrinsic mechanic about the weapons (if that was the case it would probably have been "Design & Development: Weapons" rather than "Design & Development: Class").

In other words, I don't think a Rogue can use high Con to gain advantage from using a hammer the same way a Fighter can.

Anyway, due to the design focus on avoiding needless symmetry, I'm not sure each class necessarily will be presented with only 2 builds or only mention 3 relevant abilities. The Fighter entry might say that Strength is most important, with second-highest ability chosen between Dex, Con, and Wis according to which of 3+ general builds is chosen.

 

[mach1.9pants]

This is it in a nutshell. For example, a high strength rogue could take positioning strike, which would allow him to slide an opponent one square. That's still pretty useful, just not as useful as a 16 charisma rogue who would move the guy 3 squares. So while your not forced to take certain powers, most of the time you will probably want powers to take full advantage of your stats.

The question that needs answering is what percentage of a class' powers are going to get a bonus based on the relevant class feature (that ties into a suggested build option).
We also need a term for these 'defining' class features, to avoid confusion with the optional class build. It would have been nice if WotC had included one for geek discussions! Your choice of the defining class feature is going to be pretty important and I hope an easy term becomes common

 

[Plane Sailing]

Your choice of the defining class feature is going to be pretty important and I hope an easy term becomes common

How about the DCF ?

So the Rogue DCF is brutal scoundrel or artful dodger

The Warlord DCF is inspiring presence or tactical presence