Which Essentials class do you like the most?

[Neonchameleon]

I like the e-Thief a lot, and my current PC is a Thief. I like being able to reliably hit & dish out tons of precision damage, although he really sucks vs minions. Second would probably be the Knight, although I like the old 4e Fighter too. The old 4e Rogue was rather weak by comparison; as a melee Striker too squishy, as a ranged Striker unable to reliably get CA.

I'm considering taking that as a challenge. I would, however, need the Cunning Stalker build in MP2 that allows stealth with either cover or concealment rather than requiring total cover or concealment. And preferably the Hidden Sniper feat to allow me to stay hidden. That said, I much prefer skirmishing to pure ranged so would get bored fast.

 

[S'mon]

I'm considering taking that as a challenge. I would, however, need the Cunning Stalker build in MP2 that allows stealth with either cover or concealment rather than requiring total cover or concealment. And preferably the Hidden Sniper feat to allow me to stay hidden. That said, I much prefer skirmishing to pure ranged so would get bored fast.

Yeah, I don't normally consider splatbook options; so for Rogue just PHB with errata.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Yeah, I don't normally consider splatbook options; so for Rogue just PHB with errata.

Now that's harder. You need superior concealment or cover to really play a ranged rogue without Cunning Stalker. And then to use deft strike to jump out of cover and shoot. If you can hide in cover or concealment, that's almost always there and gives you a decent chance.

 

[samursus]

Loved my Eladrin Feyblade, teleporting pointy goodness!

Pyromancer Mage was a deadly striker-wizard, and super fun to RP.

Had a deadly Charge/Longspear based Slayer who was simple but fun to play.

I also really liked playing the Bow Hunter... kinda like a Seeker, just better

Had a Dragonborn Cavalier that was an amazing defender.

In general, I find the Essentials classes easier for me to RP. Especially at higher levels.

 

[Tony Vargas]

In general, I find the Essentials classes easier for me to RP. Especially at higher levels.

Yeah, that's one of those subjective things. Really, nothing a game does can keep you from RPing. But, what enspires us can vary wildly from player to player. For myself, the only time I find a system hindering RP is when it's imbalanced enough that a build-to-concept isn't viable. That is, when there are choices you have to make (just to be a meaningful contributor) when creating and advancing your character that are at odds with an otherwise reasonable character idea.

 

[Iosue]

Got my first chance to play an Essentials Knight tonight, and greatly enjoyed it. For me personally, it hit the Goldilocks space of just the right amount of options and variety. In Classic D&D/AD&D, I tended to avoid playing fighters because it seemed like other classes had more options. I enjoyed the greater variety of options in Core 4e, but also tended to suffer from analysis paralysis when considering my powers, especially as levels got higher. In the end, instead of finding the best power for a given situation, I would try to plan my moves so that I could basically run through my powers in some hierarchy I'd create, usually based on damage, or on to-hit if the enemies had high AC. Or just spam one non-AC attacking power if that was a weakness.

With my Knight, however, having basic attacks as my main power really freed me up to look at the battle from the perspective of what I wanted to accomplish, rather than what power I wanted to use. The Defender Aura and Battle Guardian powers provided some guidance, and then the stances and encounter powers provided variety and flexibility. This was all there in Core 4e as well, I think, but it just felt more streamlined with the Knight.

Also, the Knight really fit well with the character concept I wanted: an Anglo-Saxon thane (in Eberron!). I wanted a one-man shieldwall, standing between the monsters and squishy folk shouting "YOUUU SHALL NOT PAAASSSS!!!!" and the Knight gave it to me almost perfectly in the way I wanted. Of course, as Tony Vargas and Quickleaf indicate, part of this was the DM's unfamiliarity with the Knight. Essentials isn't coming out in Japan here until next year, and while many players have English versions of the Essentials books, this was the first time they saw the Knight in action. The DM did space out the bad guys in the optimal way to avoid me locking down more than one or two at a time, but he was sometimes perplexed when I set up next to the big bad guy, hit him with Glowering Threat, and Opportunity Attacked him every time he went after someone else. In the end, he'd end up focusing on me. Mission accomplished. We'll see how he adjusts in future games.

I also think playing the Knight has opened up the whole of the game to me. Previously, looking at options such as the charge, or the bull rush, I'd see "melee basic attack" and just forget about it. It always seemed the better bet to just utilize a power, even an at-will. But the Knight is like a love letter to the melee basic attack. Now rereading the rules, every time I saw "melee basic attack" the ideas started popping. Even when I'd used up my encounters, and with no dailies, I didn't feel like I'd shot my wad. My character, and his strategies and tactics, didn't really change from the beginning of the encounter to the end.

Great design. Great fun.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Githyanki Pyromancer. Really a lot of fun. Fireballs of doom + the occasional bamfing utility, and I was a happy spellcaster.

Would've been EXTRA happy had he been able to fill the "striker" role, but that's more a problem with the four-combat-roles design concept than with the class itself.

 

[Marshall]

Skald. Its the only e-style class that does the "add to MBA" in a way thats completely compatible with its pre-e parent.

Honorable mention to the Mage, but I don't consider it a true e-class, just a variant Wizard.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

The Blackguard's AWs don't inspire awesomeness to me, and again the daily issue. Otherwise, again awesome.

One thing I found when looking at it, is that while it doesn't seem impressive at first glance, the Blackguard can have a lot of stuff stack up and get up decently high.

Somewhat against expectation, because it gets so much damage from having CA, you're actually going to get good mileage out of a rapier, since you can use Light Blade Expertise. It feels very odd to have someone in heavy armor and shield use such a small weapon, but you really don't get much use out of the more macho axes and hammers.

A somewhat unexpected "bonus" is that you really dont have that many feats to work with for offense, so you can spend a lot more on defense...which is good, because the combat style encourages you to fling yourself into mobs of foes.

[sblock=Showing My Math]
Let's see...this is a 15th-level blackguard using Vengeance Strike with a +3 Radiant Rapier on a bloodied target with four or more adjacent opponents, Str of 22, Cha of 20:

Str +6
Enh +3 enhancement
Weapon Focus +2 feat
Light Blade Expertise +2 untyped due to CA
Radiant Weapon +3 item
Vengeance Strike (+2x opponents) +8 power
Dark Menace +5 due to CA
Spirit of Vice (Fury) +2 due to CA (+4 if also bloodied)
Gauntlets of Blood +2 untyped due to bloodied
Blood Thirst +2 untyped due to bloodied

So that's d8+37. Which is pretty good for a mid-paragon at-will, I think.

Even with Ferocious Strike, with CA and bloodied target that's d8+29. With a target with CA only (which you will want to invest in obtaining as often as you can) that's d8+23.

[/sblock]

I'm going to hopefully get to try this out in a while once we switch from Dark Sun to Forgotten Realms or w/e, unless I change my mind and find something else I want to play.

Brad

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I haven't played any eClasses yet (for a variety of reasons), but were I to do so, the Hexblade seems like it would fit my tastes the best, so far.