Upcoming Classes Speculation

[Sitnaltax]

Thinking about what some of the classes we can expect to see in the months after 4E becomes available... This is all crazy speculation.

Fairly Confident

Bard: Arcane Leader. Seems pretty clear; Arcane is the closest power source fit unless you want to invent an entirely new music-based power source, and the Leader role seems pretty clear.

Monk: Martial Controller. We know it's not Striker, and no class could be more martial. Give him lost of throws, grapples, stunning attacks, nerve strikes, trips, etc. and he's the guy in charge of who's doing what where on the battlefield.

Swordmage: Arcane Defender. I don't see how to make him a Striker without stepping all over the ranger and rogue. On the other hand, mixing magic in with melee prowess should make an excellent defender.

Barbarian: Primal Striker. Someone needs to be based off the same power source as Druids and Barbarians are a natural first choice. I can see this class getting a ton of HP and some kind of shrug-off-status-effects ability to compensate for poor defenses.

Minimally Confident

Druid: Primal Controller. Shapeshifting, summoning, healing, and utility nature magic is way too much to be all given to one class. With iconic spells like Entangle, Stone Shape, and carefully chosen summonings, the Druid would make a great controller--and perfect for an underrepresented role. Healing and major combat shapeshifting would probably have to go to another class.

Assassin: Never appearing as a core class. The lone figure who's deadly only when unseen doesn't fit into a party well at all. I can easily imagine a paragon/epic path granting shadowy hiddenness and massive bonuses on sneak attacks to rogues, though. If this ends up as a core class I would expect it to be based off of a new power source like "Shadow" or something.

Psion: Psionic Controller. You could also develop the class as a striker but I suspect there will be plenty of strikers. There's also a chance on "leader"; I can imagine a psion telepathically coordinating the battle, giving orders, telling the cleric to duck just in time, etc.

Psychic Warrior: Psionic Defender. The biggest problem will be differentiating it from the swordmage.

Illusionist/Enchanter/Beguiler: Arcane Controller. The demand for illusionists is going to be high and the beguiler class worked pretty well. Oddly enough, despite the same power source/role as the Wizard, this should be very easy to differentiate. The abilities would be focused on charm/compulsion/misdirection, thwarting enemy attacks through deception and trickery rather than physical barriers like the wizard throws down.

Wild Guesses

Shaman: Primal Leader. Think of the 3E druid as a pure spellcaster: healing, buffing, throwing down lightning and fire, maybe a summon or two. There have been no hints at the existence of this class but I think it would work well.

Favored Soul: Divine Striker. If the Favored Soul idea makes it to 4E you could do pretty much anything with those powers. But the Divine Striker is a niche waiting to be filled, and the Favored Soul could fill it with a combination of offensive magic and self-buffed melee combat.

Shugenja: Divine Striker. If they decide to go for an eastern flavor, this divine elementalist could work like a holy warlock.

Necromancer: Arcane Defender? You gotta have necromancers, but you could design this class in any direction you wanted--zombies as meat shields (defender), soul slayer extraordinaire (striker), drain your enemies' power and give it to your friends (leader), grasping hands from underneath the earth (controller).

Sorcerer: Arcane Striker? I have no idea how to differentiate this class from the wizard and warlock.

 

[Obscure]

I would move Druid and Sorcerer up to the first group and rename it "110% postive." The rest is about right, I think.

p.s. Congrats on de-lurking after 4.5 years.

 

[Shroomy]

I really don't see the point of a sorcerer anymore. The wizard and warlock have that covered pretty well.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well atleast thematically the Sorcerer is a whole new ball-game then before. Seeing how the Sorcerer is now:

The design team posited a class that has a more rudimentary, simplistic style of magic. Sorcerers use inborn talents, giving them a leg up on wizards when it comes to learning spells. The magic they use is more art then science, driven more by a feel for the ebb and flow of energy than by hours of study and practise.

To capture this flavor, the design team built mechanics that reflect a castor who barely controls the power he wields. A wizard creates magical effects by carefully reciting a magical formula. The sorcerer reaches into the magical energies that burn within him and lets them loose on the world with little real control.

The power wielded by a sorcerer is powerful enough that even after a spell is done, ambient energy swirls around him. A sorcerer who blasts you with a cold spell is protected by a small, swirling cloud of snow and ice for a short time. One who unleashes a freball bursts into flames that scorch enemies who try to attack. The sorcerer is one with his magic, and he (in some cases quite literally) wears it like a second skin.

The fact that the magic surrounds the Sorcerer and that it seems to ebb around them. Makes me have the feeling the Sorcerer in 4E will still be a Controller, but a more hands on kind, so a Sorcerer would run through a flock of enemies blasting them, and letting her magic swirl around her, harming the enemy.

The Definites Right now Are:

Bard: They have said they have finished making the Bard.

Sorcerer: If you consider all the classes in R&C definite.

Barbarian: If you consider all the classes in R&C definite.

Druid: If you consider all the classes in R&C definite.

Monk: If you consider all the classes in R&C definite.

Swordmage: It is going to first appear in the Forgottem Realms Players Guide.

 

[Falling Icicle]

One possibility is that some classes in the future may not be confined to a single role. Depending on their path/power selection, they may be able to chose their role. For example, I could imagine a Druid that could be either a defender/striker (by focusing on wild shape type powers) or controller (by focusing more on plant, elemental and storm powers). Likewise, I could see a Monk being able to be either a defender or striker, depending upon his "school." With a stretch, I could even see them as a martial controller. Some classes, like Necromancers, may not neatly fit into any role at all, but are jack-of-all-roles types.

This may be the reason that these classes were witheld from the PHB, they may have wanted to have only those classes that neatly fit one of the the 4 roles in the core book. Saving classes that don't fit into one of the roles, or that can chose their role, for future supplements makes sense to me.

 

[Obscure]

Sorcerers, along with Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Swordmages, and Monks, are mentioned in Races and Classes as being under development. There's even some nice art of a dragonborn sorcerer. To differentiate from the Wizard, a Sorcerer "barely controls the power he wields." "Even after a spell is done, ambient energy swirls around him."

Sounds like Sorcerers will use entirely different tactics and strategies on the battlefield than Wizards, and have the same sort of flavour difference that exists in 3e.

Edit: Ninja'd again.

 

[theria]

.

Swordmage: It is going to first appear in the Forgottem Realms Campaign Guide.

Looks like its showing up in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide from the product description on the WotC product release.

 

[Shroomy]

I don't know. A wild-mage sorcerer still seems like an arcane controller to me and I would like some variety with my 4e classes (at least at first). However, I wonder if you came up with powers that essentially create magical auras (a la R&C), ditch implements, and deny ritual casting, would it play significantly different than the wizard even if it was an arcane controller?

 

[Sitnaltax]

I like the idea of a Primal-powered sorcerer. That makes him very distinct from a wizard or lock.

I would be surprised to see a dual-role class any time in the near future. The designers have obviously taken a great number of lessons from MMORPGs. One of those lessons is that a hybrid-role class is hard to get right. Too good at either role and it eclipses the original users of that role, to their frustration. "Why be a fighter when I can be hybrid X and get all the fighting power and X-power as well?" On the other hand, if a class is half-effective at two things then it sucks at both. I'm not writing it off as impossible, but I think they'll tread carefully!

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Looks like its showing up in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide from the product description on the WotC product release.

Woops, meant to say Players Guide, thanks for catching that, shall edit.