D&D 5E What single new class would you like to see?

[TheCosmicKid]

I've never played Pathfinder so I'm not familiar with the class, nor looking at the mechanics can I really tell much, but the description is spot on!

It's Pathfinder's version of the favored soul, i.e. the divine sorcerer.

Better name than "favored soul", anyway.

 

[Jediking]

I'm working on a poison-based assassin class myself, with a vague eye towards being a testbed for a more general alchemy system. Currently it prepares poisons (and other stuff like drugs and smoke bombs) with daily slots a la old-school magic users. The system works well for consumables, I think. But it might be a challenge to stretch that same system to cover more permanent items like the artificer makes. "You can keep this many Nth-level gadgets up and running at a time, and can swap them out when you do daily maintenance", perhaps? Almost reminds me of the incarnum mechanic from 3E, and it could get a lot more bookkeepy than 5E normally goes for.

Also reminds me a bit of the Dark Sun (Athasian) Bard.

 

[monkeyji]

I don't know if it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I'd like to see a Dancer class. Subclasses could push it in different directions (battle maneuvers or damage for martial types, or a buff/debuff type). You might be able to make something already as a Monk/Bard hybrid, but that's pretty MAD, and I feel like a dancer could explore different design space in terms of what its maneuvers could do.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I don't know if it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but I'd like to see a Dancer class. Subclasses could push it in different directions (battle maneuvers or damage for martial types, or a buff/debuff type). You might be able to make something already as a Monk/Bard hybrid, but that's pretty MAD, and I feel like a dancer could explore different design space in terms of what its maneuvers could do.

Swashbuckler Rogue with Defensive Duelist feat?

 

[Mathias Severin]

Not a class, but how about a spirit shaman subclass for the druid? Circle of Spirits? A character that can concentrate on several spells with the help of the spirit world. And rebuke spirits and so forth. Just like the 3.5 class of the same name.
Did a handbook for that class once and felt the multiple spell concentrations made it very unique while still basically being a druid.
Would love to see an alternative to wildshape in general. I think it's way too Disney for my grimey DnD world. Perhaps multiple concentrations could be the counterpart.

Blargh. Got a little off topic. Sorry

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

I've always wanted to see a sort of divine skill class, sort of a fighter is to rogue as paladin is to [this class].

Interesting. Yeah, I once (using PF) wrote down all the classes in kind of a 'grid' format using the four 'base' types - Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Priest.

Fighters and Barbarians are pure Warrior. So are Monks, really, though a very different kind.
Wizards and Sorcerers are pure Mage.
Clerics and Druids are pure Priest.
Rogues are pure Rogue.

Then the other classes are hybrids:
Bard (in older editions) is basically Rogue + Mage. In 5E, that's the Arcane Trickster subclass of Rogue.
In Pathfinder the Magus (the only non-core class I think was really worth having) is Warrior + Mage. In 5E, the Eldritch Knight subclass of Fighter fills that role.
Ranger and Paladin are both basically Warrior + Priest, though Ranger has a trace of Rogue in it IMO.

Which leaves Priest + Mage and Rogue + Priest unclaimed.

The other possibility I see 'open' is another Rogue-type. Fighter/Barbarian, Wizard/Sorcerer, and Cleric/Druid all have kind of a learned/civilized vs instinctive/natural dichotomy going. There's no pair like that for the Rogue.

Maybe the existing Rogue could be the 'instinctive' one and the new class could be the MacGyver/Gadgeteer/non-spellcasting Artificer other people have talked about on this thread? Not necessarily totally nonmagical though, it would use alchemy and stuff... is that 'magic' or fantasy-science?

 

[bedir than]

...

The other possibility I see 'open' is another Rogue-type. Fighter/Barbarian, Wizard/Sorcerer, and Cleric/Druid all have kind of a learned/civilized vs instinctive/natural dichotomy going. There's no pair like that for the Rogue.

Maybe the existing Rogue could be the 'instinctive' one and the new class could be the MacGyver/Gadgeteer/non-spellcasting Artificer other people have talked about on this thread? Not necessarily totally nonmagical though, it would use alchemy and stuff... is that 'magic' or fantasy-science?

A Rogue+Preist could be an Evangelist with subclasses of missionary, shepherd, pulpiteer building out of skill monkey, sleight-of-hand and persuassion type stuff

 

[Khisanth the Ancient]

It really is weird to think that every single adventuring part in the world is required to drag along a religious zealot to constantly give sermons on his/her deities superiority to all others.

Yet, somehow, the evangelical zealot has been a requisite party member since 1st edition and not nearly enough in terms of feasible alternatives has yet been presented.

Mmm, see, I think this is far too rigid a view of class flavor.

Not every Cleric has to be what you describe; in fact, in a polytheistic world, I don't think most Clerics would be.

A Cleric could be about preaching, but I think it's actually more likely that they are another sort of agent/representative of their deity, going out into the world and doing things that advance their deity's domain's "cause" - healing for a Life cleric, battle for a War cleric, uncovering secrets for a Knowledge cleric, etc.

In a polytheistic world, a cleric wouldn't even necessarily see their deity as being objectively superior to others, just the one that fits them personally.

In the game I DM, most preachers/clergy/priests aren't actual clerics and wouldn't have divine magic.

 

[pemerton]

A Cleric has formally studied his deity, and serves as a kind of representative, and identifies himself as such. It's a voluntary relationship.

I think this is one vision/conception of the cleric, but not the only one. From the Basic PDF (p 20):

Divine magic, as the name suggests, is the power of the gods, flowing from them into the world. Clerics are conduits for that power, manifesting it as miraculous effects. The gods don’t grant this power to everyone who seeks it, but only to those chosen to fulfill a high calling.

Harnessing divine magic doesn’t rely on study or training. A cleric might learn formulaic prayers and ancient rites, but the ability to cast cleric spells relies on devotion and an intuitive sense of a deity’s wishes.​

That doesn't mean I have anything against a warlock/short rest structure for a divine magic class. But I'm not sure that "touched by the gods" draws the right contrast with a cleric, who can equally be portrayed as having been chosen or touched by the gods.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

I'd enjoy seeing more 'monster' classes, as they were a few editions back, where level progression was used to introduce powers and abilities during play, in an attempt at keeping them in line with character classes.

For example, a player wishing to play a hydra would start play as a baby hydra and gain stats and abilities as they gained levels.