Three cheers for variety! (Class/Role/Source options, anyway)

jaw6

First Post
After D&D Gameday, I was thinking about the incredible mix of options available to player characters now, with the available class/role/source options. I mean, a party with a Rogue, Barbarian, Avenger, and Sorceror (throw in a Ranger if you need a fifth) is a party full of Strikers, each with a completely different "feel". And the whole thing feels very close to my sense of the "classic" party -- despite being, ostensibly, "all strikers".

I just think that's fantastic, anyway.
 

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1. I completely agree.

2. It's getting really difficult to keep playing the same character every week. I'm *dying* to try new class/race combos!
 

Speaking of Game Day, does anyone know if the character sheets have been posted somewhere? I'd like to check out the new features/prayers from the Divine Power paladin build.
 

A wide variety of choice is a must in DD4.

In 3E, you could build almost any concept you wanted out of a combination of classes. Many such builds did not become viable until around level 10, but it was possible. Not so in 4E. Want to play a holy assassin? In 3E, you built your own using a mix of divine and martial classes. In 4E, you play the Avenger. So far so good. But if the class you want to play isn't covered, there in no way to build it.

Say you want to play a Swashbuckler. Maybe not a very good example, because until Complete Warrior, such a build was hard to pull off in 3E. But in 4E, it can't really be done at all at the moment. Ranger needs two weapons and is Str-based. Rogue needs to sneak or outflank which is certainly not swashbuckler-ish. Fighter is Str-based. The avenger might be close, but its a religious nut and works best with a maul.

Now, 4E has a lot of classes and more in progress. It needs them, and they work pretty well. It is a good way to sell more rulebooks and promotes homebrews - because it needs them.
 

Say you want to play a Swashbuckler. Maybe not a very good example, because until Complete Warrior, such a build was hard to pull off in 3E. But in 4E, it can't really be done at all at the moment. Ranger needs two weapons and is Str-based. Rogue needs to sneak or outflank which is certainly not swashbuckler-ish. Fighter is Str-based. The avenger might be close, but its a religious nut and works best with a maul.

Oh, for crying out loud. I hate it when people don't really try.

Look... What's a swashbuckler? In the context of D&D, you need A) little or no armor, B) no shield, C) wields light blades, D) may or may wield two weapons (rapier and dagger is not uncommon), E) highly mobile, F) relies on a high Dexterity and a high Charisma.

In D&D 4E, that's a rogue, pure and simple. Choose Artful Dodger. Pick powers that keep him moving (like Deft Strike, King's Castle and Tumble), pick powers that have extra bonuses based on Charisma modifiers (like Sly Flourish, Posistioning Strike and Bait and Switch), and pick powers that inflict conditions that grant combat advantage (like Dazing Strike, Blinding Barrage or Easy Target) so that you have to rely on flanking less.

Roleplay him as a cocksure, sarcastic, loudmouthed swordsman who thinks he's the best in the world, and voila, you've got a swashbuckler.


Assassin is even easier... Anyone who kills for money, and is sneaky is an assassin. Period.

Be any class you like (but especially strikers). Take stealth as a skill. Choose skills that deal as much damage to a single target as you possibly can. Done. The Rogue class even has a Paragon Path called "Shadow Assassin".
 

Say you want to play a Swashbuckler.

Funny that you picked Swashbuckler, specifically, because when 4E came out, I was playing a level 10 Swashbuckler in a 3E Eberron campaign. I worked him up in 4th edition terms, as an exercise, to see what chargen was like for high-level characters in 4E.

Things went pretty much as Pbartender has suggested, though I took some multiclassing into Warlord, because my character had begun to take something of a leadership role in the party. Anyway, I was plenty happy with the options available - *happier*, really, despite a wealth of 3E sourcebooks available to me.
 


Assassin is even easier... Anyone who kills for money, and is sneaky is an assassin. Period.

Be any class you like (but especially strikers). Take stealth as a skill. Choose skills that deal as much damage to a single target as you possibly can. Done. The Rogue class even has a Paragon Path called "Shadow Assassin".
Actually, this month's dragon has an article on making assassin-type characters, and out of basically any class, not just rogues:
Dragon 373: Art of the Kill

Not sure if that's what you were thinking of, but it's another example to support your point.
 

A wide variety of choice is a must in DD4.

In 3E, you could build almost any concept you wanted out of a combination of classes. Many such builds did not become viable until around level 10, but it was possible.

Except for the many combinations that never became viable. Try building a divine assassin as a Rogue/Cleric: No relevant spellcasting ability for a tenth level character, insufficient skills to be a good rogue, low sneak attack and MAD to boot. I pity the player trying to make that character work.

I do not think one should consider all the false options provided by 3rd when describing its wealth of options. While the number of possible character builts in 3rd is high, the number of viable builts in 3rd is low and many of those builts are very similar.
 

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