What is a class in Essentials?

[Klaus]

When it comes to e-classes, "class" is meaningless. A Knight is a Knight with no relation to the broader parent class and no ability to make choices from that class unless otherwise specified. The lazy e-design paradigm just creates separate classes that share power pools and to a limited extent feat pools.

Incorrect. The Knight can take Utility powers from the Weaponmaster without any additional investment.

 

[Obryn]

Incorrect. The Knight can take Utility powers from the Weaponmaster without any additional investment.

Feats, too.

-O

 

[Marshall]

Feats, too.

-O

"Unless otherwise specified" Even then, what good are FTR feats to a class that doesnt have FTR features?

 

[Obryn]

"Unless otherwise specified" Even then, what good are FTR feats to a class that doesnt have FTR features?

The default is that you can use them, not that you can't.

And the list is quite large for Fighter feats. Sure, you don't want to take anything about Combat Challenge. That still leaves some great ones. want a list?

-O

 

[Tony Vargas]

Officially, though it took a long time for it to shake out*, most Essentials and post-Essentials classes are 'subclasses.' They're distinct from classes and builds. Builds have probably been abandoned, though Warpriest Domains and Mage schools come awefully close.

A number of pre-Essentials classes have be re-cast as sub-classes, so the pre-Essentials Fighter is now the 'Weaponmaster' sub-class (yes, even the Brawler build), the pre-E Cleric is now the 'Templar,' and so forth. Not /every/ class has gotten this treatment, though, the Warlock somehow escaped, for instance, and, AFAIK, no PH2 or 3 classes have been demoted as yet.

In summary:

4e Heirarchy: Source > Role > Class > Build

Essentials+ Heirarchy: Class > Subclass > Source(s)|Role(s) > Domain|School|Build?


WotC finally bit the bullet in the 'Class Compendium,' that was ultimately cut up and published in Dragon. Subclass is defined here: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/CC_Feats.pdf

"Many classes encompass one or more subclasses to demonstrate different expressions of the class concept."

FWIW

 

[Marshall]

The default is that you can use them, not that you can't.

And the list is quite large for Fighter feats. Sure, you don't want to take anything about Combat Challenge. That still leaves some great ones. want a list?

-O

Yeah, you might wanna take a good look at that list and notice that nearly all the decent ones are Martial or Defender instead of FTR as prereq. To a Knight or Blackguard or... most of the non-AEDU classes, the associated class is irrelevant and should have just been omitted to prevent confusion.
Knights are Martial Defenders, Slayers are Martial Strikers, Hunter are Primal Controllers. None of the above have ANYTHING to do with FTR, FTR or RNG.

 

[zhouluyi]

But they do, a Hunter can choose Ranger feats from a Scout, the same for Slayer and Knight. They share some "common knowledge".