D&D General Which classes fill in this chart?

[jgsugden]

My shot, which is based not on the rules of any edition, but upon how I'd build it in a new edition.

Classes	Full Caster	Half-Caster	Non-Caster
Skilled Classes	Bard	Skald	Rogue
Devout Classes	Cleric	Paladin	Priest
Primal Classes	Druid	Ranger	Barbarian
Psionic Classes	Psion	Psychic Warrior	Monk
Endowed Classes	Sorcerer	Warlock	Bloodhunter
Studied Classes	Wizard	Artificer	Fighter

Skilled classes would be PCs that combine a lot of tricks, but sacrifice melee capability. They'd tend toward being able to do a lot of different things well, but haveing verynarrow focuses for the one thing they do incredibly well.

Devout classes are divine focused. Priests would be a concept that exists in my games (not as PCs, but could be converted to PCs). They Inspire and terrify others, using non-spells to deliver divine power. A lot of monsters have these types of abilities - It would essentally by an aura based PC class.

Primal classes would derive their power from life and deathitself (Positive Energy Plane, Negative Energy Plane) - aka the forces of nature.

Psionic classes generate their own power.

Endowed classes gain power from other sources.

Studied classes use intellect and training to hone themselves.

 

[HammerMan]

I find it funny that of all the "non casters" all have subclasses that give them atleast some spells and half of them have a subclass that makes them 1/3 casters

 

[Blue Orange]

I find it funny that of all the "non casters" all have subclasses that give them atleast some spells and half of them have a subclass that makes them 1/3 casters

I remember this discussion about barbarians having 'magical' powers a while back...there are only so many things you can do that don't involve spells, and the 'high combat stats with no abilities' [HP, AC, hit bonus] slot is taken by the fighter.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I remember this discussion about barbarians having 'magical' powers a while back...there are only so many things you can do that don't involve spells, and the 'high combat stats with no abilities' [HP, AC, hit bonus] slot is taken by the fighter.

There's room for not-explicitly-magical special abilities with things like superiority dice and sneak attack and high-level skill stuff, but you need to be willing to say "high-level fighters are dang near superhuman at least." You have to let Rambo be, technically, a guy with a gun and no special powers.

A lot of players don't want to do that, though: if it's above what a normal-ish person can do, it must be magic.

 

[Xeviat]

Monk is the half-caster to the psion.

 

[Aldarc]

Monk is the half-caster to the psion.

I would potentially make the monk/soulknife the "non-caster" counterpart to the psion that focuses on the body. The psionic warrior would then be the half-caster that's between both.

 

[jgsugden]

I find it funny that of all the "non casters" all have subclasses that give them atleast some spells and half of them have a subclass that makes them 1/3 casters

This is not a 5E post. There are no mechanics applied to these titles. Just concepts.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I would potentially make the monk/soulknife the "non-caster" counterpart to the psion that focuses on the body. The psionic warrior would then be the half-caster that's between both.

Agreed. A Psionic "Half-Caster" with Psi Die as a main class feature and options for which Psionic Abilities you want to take to modify your Martial weapon attacks would be a cool class idea.

 

[Xeviat]

I would potentially make the monk/soulknife the "non-caster" counterpart to the psion that focuses on the body. The psionic warrior would then be the half-caster that's between both.

See, here's my reasoning. If you take the spell point progression, divide by 3 for 2 short rests per 1 long rest, and slightly massage the numbers to make them smooth, it's close to a 2/level progression. The monk's 1 per level progression fits in as a half caster. The 4 elements monk's spell progression also fits in as a half-caster.

The whole monk design could have been done more versatilely from the beginning, with a power progression, allowing for players to make more mundane monks or more supernatural monks based on their power choice, instead of having so many baked into their class progression.

I was almost done on my redesign, and then I got to work on Level Up and the Adept went in a different direction.