Upcoming Classes Speculation

[InShambles]

Monk has been confirmed as a striker, and the designers said at D&D experience that the label "martial striker" is at least 50% wrong for the monk, which means he isn't martial.

Cool. Maybe:
Monk - Ki Striker
Samurai - Ki Defender
Shugenja - Ki Leader or Controller

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Divine Striker. Oh how the hordes will howl.

Actually that could look really cool awesome.

I can just imagine a guy with no armour, charging through a crowd of monsters, slashing out with his longsword calling out the name of his god. Each wound glowing and burning the monster.

He fights with his eyes closed, letting the whisper of his god guide he feet and sword, allowing him to deftly dodge strikes against him.

At higher levels he could even gain say a per-encounter ability where ethereal wings seem to propel him along as he cuts his bloody-path through the enemies before dissipating into nothingness.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

The Monk is either a Martial <non-striker>
or <New Power Source> Striker.

I am leaning toward a new power source such as Ki or Chakra for the Monk.

The monk could be a psionic striker. There's been some speculation that the PH2 will have martial and psionic heroes, and the monk could fit right in.

I hope that the monk class works as well when armed as unarmed. Kill the swordsage and take its stuff. Maybe, as a rogue can choose between being an artful dodger or a brutal scoundrel, and fighters can choose between focusing on a 2H weapon or sword and shield, monks can choose between unarmed and armed.

 

[Celebrim]

Druid is a Primal Leader. I don't see how they can pull this off as a Striker, but that's the rumor.
Shaman is a Primal Controller.
Necromancer is an Arcane Leader. I believe that this later one was confirmed, but I don't remember where I saw that information.

 

[fafhrd]

No contention on that point. I was merely laughing wickedly at the thought that after years of players begging for a skilled, unarmed warrior that kicks people in the junk, WotC up and makes a new version of the ascetic guy with a grab bag of weird abilities and saddled with quasi religious overtones.

 

[Lackhand]

Druid is a Primal Leader. I don't see how they can pull this off as a Striker, but that's the rumor.
Shaman is a Primal Controller.
Necromancer is an Arcane Leader. I believe that this later one was confirmed, but I don't remember where I saw that information.

I've seen Necromancer as Arcane Leader a few times now, but I think it's fan speculation.

I think it's pretty good fan speculation, mind you!

 

[drothgery]

Druid has been all-but-confirmed as a primal striker, and the designers have explicitly said on several occasions he won't be a controller.

Barbarian has been confirmed to share a power source with the druid and has been called "nature's equivalent of the paladin" in 4e.

Since I don't recall seeing anything anywhere that would make the druid a striker (we know they can could cast spells, and focused on shapeshifting, as of R&C), isn't a lot more likely that it's ...
Barbarian - primal defender
Druid - primal leader
... which would, you know, actually give barbarian and druid the same relationship as paladin and cleric.

My major shout out to anyone trying to guess at new classes for new power sources is that there's absolutely no reason to believe WotC has any intention of 'filling out the grid' or in any way distributing classes evenly. PH1 features 3 strikers, 2 defenders, 2 leaders, and 1 controller, and features 4 martial classes, 2 divine classes, and 2 arcane classes. And while it looks very likely that future materials are going to 'fill out the grid' for the arcane power source (with the bard and swordmage), we haven't even seen a hint of a divine striker or controller from WotC, and they've said straight out that they think a martial controller is unlikley. So new power sources could easily double -- or triple -- up some roles and leave others uncovered.

 

[MaelStorm]

CONFIRMED FOR FORGOTTEN REALM PLAYER'S GUIDE
Swordmage (Arcane/Striker)

FAIRLY CONFIDENT CLASSES
Artificer (??/Controller)
Barbarian (Primal/Defender)
Bard (Arcane/Leader)
Druid (Primal/Striker)
Illusionist (Arcane/Controller)
Monk (Psionic/Striker)
Necromancer (Arcane/Controller)
Sorcerer (Primal/Controller)
Psion (Psionic/Controller)
Psychic Warrior (Psionic/Defender)

WILD GUESSES
Beguiler
Favoured Soul
Shaman
Shugenja

FAIRLY CONFIDENT RACES
Changeling
Gnome
Half-Orc
Warforged

 

[Falling Icicle]

Druid has been all-but-confirmed as a primal striker, and the designers have explicitly said on several occasions he won't be a controller.

I'm very disappointed by this. They might as well just call it the "Shifter" if all it can do is turn into animals and maul. I want a class that invokes the primal powers of nature to entangle his foes in vines, call down lighting from the sky, cause earthquakes and control animals. If WotC won't make a proper Druid, I guess I'll have to make one myself.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I think the psionic classes will be divided up as:
Psion (controller)
Psychic Warrior (defender)
Lurk/Soulknife (striker)
Ardent {looting the Divine Mind's auras} (leader)

Some powers are going to be called surges, vaguely based on the Wilder's Wild Surge. Psionic Focus will probably be the name of the Psychic Warrior's method of "marking" enemies to fill their defender role. Ego Whip, Id Insinuation, Psychic Crush, Mind Blast and the other former "attack modes" are probably the at will powers of the psion.

It's possible that the Monk also could be a psionic striker, since there's already 2 martial strikers.