Upcoming Classes Speculation

[Shroomy]

A different power source may do the trick, but I'm not sure if Primal is it and Arcane is just so fitting. Given that we know that the swordmage and bard are coming out very soon, it certainly looks like the arcane power source has all of its roles filled out:

Wizard - Arcane Controller
Warlock - Arcane Striker
Swordmage - Arcane Defender
Bard - Arcane Leader (pure speculation here folks!)

That said, there are already two martial strikers and they seem on paper to be very different.

 

[Falling Icicle]

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!

It seems to me like there's already alot of overlap between the roles. Look at the Paladin, for example. He has several leader-ish abilities, yet he is a defender. Warriors can dish out quite a bit of punishment to a target, yet they are not strikers. A Wizard with Bigby's Grasping Hands can do quite a bit of repeated damage to 2 targets, a very striker-ish thing to do, yet he is a controller. I don't think the roles are really meant to be that rigid. If anything, it seems as though everyone is a "hybrid" to some degree.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

I mostly agree. I'm only quoting the ones I'm more doubtful about.

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.

How do we know it's not striker? IIRC, the races & classes book, or one of the designers, said that with the monk's emphasis on fast movement it's an archetypal striker.

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.

My money's on Primal Defender. Strikers are supposed to be fragile, relying on movement to stay safe, and they deal damage to single targets. Barbarians, archetypally, wade into the fray, attacking hordes of opponents as easily as a single tough opponent.

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.

The races & classes book said that 4e druid powers will focus on shapeshifting. I have no idea what role they will be. The problem is that 3e druids are controllers, leaders, and defenders all in one. My guess is that they'll either be

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.

Someone said somewhere that the illusionist and necromancer will be of the Shadow power source. Or maybe it was in the worlds book that that was written.

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.

I would love that, as long as they created some new interesting, spirit-related flavor for it. The OA shaman was a tweaked cleric, and the spirit shaman was a tweaked druid.

Favored Soul: Divine Striker.

I don't think this should be its own class. IMO it's crying out to be a paragon path.

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

Could be. It could also be a primal leader, or even a controller.

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

I wouldn't be surprised if it was another arcane controller, or a primal controller. The races & classes book had some interesting ideas about how to make it distinctive.

 

[InShambles]

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.

 

[fafhrd]

Divine Striker. Oh how the hordes will howl.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

My money's on Primal Defender. Strikers are supposed to be fragile, relying on movement to stay safe, and they deal damage to single targets. Barbarians, archetypally, wade into the fray, attacking hordes of opponents as easily as a single tough opponent.

I actually would put my money on a Primal Striker but of a different variety.

Instead of being a Striker oriented towards a single-target, a Barbarian is oriented towards groups of targets generally. He will also have more HP then a normal Striker but have less skills and such.

Also with HP, while yes he will have a high HP, he will probably be restricted to light armour. So it will be up to his Con score and his Save Defences to aid his HP.

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.

I dunno, while I bet it most likely will be another power source. I would REALLY, REALLY like to see a Monk that isn't based off Eastern-ideas and just has the ability (through Paragon Path) to go that route, but starts off simply a unarmed combatant/brawler.

 

[jsaving]

Bard has been confirmed as an arcane leader, and the designers said at D&D Experience that the class has been completed. Pencil him in for the PH2 next year.

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.

Swordmage has been confirmed as an arcane defender who will make his 4e debut in the FR Player's Guide.

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.

 

[Imban]

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!

This is true, except for one thing - in tabletop games, we don't have nearly the freedom of party selection that works against "hybrid-role" and "switch-hitter" characters in MMORPGs. Basically, if you've got a guy who can pull almost as well as the best pulling class, and also is a pretty good tank, that's honestly pretty good from a tabletop perspective - sometimes his pulling ability isn't good enough, but most of the time it is, and he's contributing to other things your party is doing as well. In MMORPGs, if the hybrid puller can't do this encounter, he doesn't get to play, because the party goes and just takes the character who is hands-down best.

Basically, tabletop allows for characters who are good at enough things to be constantly useful over a long time, but yet not the absolute best at any of these things, to shine, whereas MMORPGs tend to emphasize complete optimization towards one role because you don't have to stick with your party choices.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

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.

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

Well guess that screws over my theory/what I would like to see

 

[fafhrd]

Swordmage has been confirmed as an arcane defender who will make his 4e debut in the FR Player's Guide.

My hat of this upsell strategy know no limit.