What Classes are Missing?

[eamon]

I think it'd be nice to have some classes that aren't as straightjacketed by the "roles".

Sometimes it's almost like there are only 4 classes: defender, striker, leader & controller, and things like druid vs. wizard are minor distinctions.

So, I'd like to see some classes that really focus on being that class first and foremost, and their role only secondarily. To take the druid vs. wizard example, the class features are really non-distinctive. Wild Shape sounds cool, but it no longer has a mechanical component; it's almost purely fluff. No longer do you have a class that shifts into a bird to cross a chasm, a fish to swim in the river, and a horse to run away; shifting like that doesn't grant you any of the obvious physical differences, and that means it's just skin-deep. The wizard's famed flexibility (and fragility) is no more.

I'd like to see new classes that really ooze distinctive flavor, and in a way that permeates the class - not just one or two nice-sounding but effectless class features. So, there are a more than enough classes - but part of the reason there are more than enough is that new classes really work very similarly to existing ones. If you're playing a druid or wizard, most of your class-specific stuff will be powers, and most powers could easily be refluffed to fit another class. An area burst with some sliding, proning or dazing - that could be any controller; and quixotically, that means that adding (say) controllers makes the game less interesting: the existing controllers become less distinctive, and the new class doesn't really add much either.

So, the PHB classes are fine - but having wizard copy #4 or some cross between existing classes just doesn't add that much to those already fine choices. If there's something I'm missing, it's really new classes that don't play like a cross of two existing classes with some new fluff.

So, give me a class that doesn't have powers the way other classes do, or a "defender" without a mark, or a class that can fly or teleport or whatnot - something really different, whose abilities (powers) don't make much sense if refluffed and used by another class.

 

[Hadrian the Builder]

I'm still waiting for a mounted Paladin build

 

[babinro]

I'd like to see a class focus on things like Zones and Aura's. Something like the Marshal of 3.x. This could lend to either leader or controller very nicely, though striker wouldn't be far fetched either.

Encounter Powers could activate aura's that trigger when enemies start their turn within and end at the end of the players next turn.

Daily's could trigger aura's that last until end of encounter, and effectively stack with the other aura's in effect.

Effects that are too powerful to be mobile would fall into zone attacks.

 

[Ryujin]

Id like to see a different idea with defenders, rather than "im big and take hits" something more like "i decide who you attack on a regular basis" Something like a one person controller with a bow.

The first character I wanted to play in 3.5 was an artificer, but it just didnt seem useful enough. The current artificer is pretty much everything that didn't interest me about artificers in 3.5. Id really like to see a controller who used nets, pitfalls, and other items to his advantage in battle.

How about a bow defender who marks at range then gets something akin to a ranged opportunity attack (perhaps with a small push), if the opponent attacks a party member? Making it an interrupt might be too powerful, but as a reaction...?

 

[Zaran]

I'd like to see oriental style classes. Samurai, Ninja, Shugenja, etc.

I'm aware that these might be other classes but I'd like to see them with some oriental bent.

A Swashbuckler would be cool. I do not think a rogue works perfectly for that sort of thing.

 

[Turtlejay]

Mounted Paladin would be very cool.


A Necromancer with a Shaman-style spirit would be awesome. Instead of healing, you could use it for controlling. Detrimental auras and forced movement eminating from it. I agree with the sentiment that it should have summons, too, but nothing encounter based is really necissary.

Jay

 

[Jhaelen]

I think it'd be nice to have some classes that aren't as straightjacketed by the "roles".

That's precisely what I don't want to see. I can do without Mary-Sue characters...

With hybrid classes and multiclassing you can already create characters that have abilities from each of the four roles. There are also some paragon classes that help if you inclined to go in that direction. That's more than sufficient, imho.

What might work, though, is a 4e Factotum class that can decide daily what role it wants to fill on a particular day.

 

[Wonderland666]

You already have a martial/Melee controller: Swarm druid. (you have to concentrate on Beastform of course.)

 

[Flipguarder]

A guy who turns into a beast and then uses animal swarms to prevent enemy actions does not scream martial to me.

 

[Savevsdeath]

I'm still waiting for a mounted Paladin build

This. I would LOVE to see the Paladin Mount return, as a summonable creature like what 3.5 did. That was the best idea WotC ever came up with (Well, next to the Tome of Battle classes) and it made Paladins awesome and mounted combatants viable as adventurers without having to be saddled with a class feature and feats that are useless when you can't bring your mount (which is a lot of the time in most D&D games). I would also accept another class with a similar ability; i just want to see a class that can summon/create a mount again.