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Inq. of the Week: 4th Edition Classes?

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We’re finally back on a regular schedule, and temperatures are beginning to drop into that lovely cool – comfortable range (for about a week, that’s how long fall lasts in Maryland), it’s becoming clear that summer is drawing to a close.  Last week Dave asked how many of you partake in the monk-like practice of blogging, 45% of you said that you are bloggers, 22% fell into the range of the ‘kinda-bloggers’, leaving 33% of you to fill out the much-loved range of gentle readers and commenters who do not blog.  There should be some kind of name for readers that are also bloggers, perhaps ‘breaders’ or ‘bleaders’.  Hm, both of those just sound wrong.  Scratch that.

Back in mid-April I asked the question of which 4th Edition class everyone was most excited to play.  The Warlord came out in front, possibly beacuse of being the most new and unique class, Warlock came in second seemingly appreciated for its bump to the corebooks.  Original Sultan commented on that post, “This vote is kinda quack since 4th edition hasn’t been officially released yet…” and I filed it away to bring back in a much less ‘kinda quack’ situation. Now that the edition has been out for a few months, I’m very curious to re-visit this question and see how the results differ.

[poll id=”93″]

Short descriptions of each class after the jump.

Cleric: The divine portion of the ‘Leader’ role, Clerics are arguably the best healers and are particularly effective against undead.  They serve their deity and seek to help others as their deity dictates.

Feeling: Still the linchpin of a party, but now with less lasers.

Fighter: What the hell where did all my sweet feats go?  The fighter is the mainstay martial Defender, using weapons and armor to deal out damage while shutting down the enemy’s tactics.

Feeling: Quite fun to play, assuming you’re not a mile away from the baddies.

Paladin: The divine Defender, uses holy power to do similar things to what the Fighter can, also loves alliteration.  Leans a bit towards the Leader roll, but not in “that way”.

Feeling: *holy chimes* Never fear, I am only here to smite you.

Ranger: The most ranged / shooty class, possibly making it the baseline of what makes a martial Striker.

Feeling: Try to kill the baddies before the Fighter can even get there.

Rogue: Also a martial Striker, but more in the maneuverability and cunning kind of way.  Probably the most situation-based class that doesn’t use spells.

Feeling: They don’t fly like ninjas do, but they stab just the same (sometimes).

Warlock: An arcane Striker, the Warlock is kind of like a Ranger who wants to be a Rogue but instead uses magic.  Specialized in the use of curses, hexes, and spells which involve lots of spiders, darkness, blood, etc.

Feeling: My powers have cooler names than yours.

Warlord: The martial Leader, an excellent counterpart to the Cleric because it accomplishes things in different ways.  His abilities often provide benefit to party members or help to unite the party’s actions in concert as an efficient team.

Feeling: Only enjoyable around Fighters or Rogues.

Wizard: The only class in the Controller role, using the arcane power source.  The Wizard uses magics (and lots of ‘em) to deal out damage and effects on a large scale to multiple enemies.

Feeling:  More pew pew, but still frustrations.

Comments

  2. First: I’d like to see a least favorite class poll.

    Secondly: I voted Rogue because it involves making tough choices every round. You’re too fragile to really take a huge monster beat down, but you need to ‘get in there’ to be effective. Close second was Fighter.

  3. Warlor is personal to me!
    I allways like the role of a Leader ( in my gruop im the only one that like to play with Paladin Class From 2nd Edition ) and the way the warlord heals, making their freind figth with a arrow in the eye, is just what i want!

    But i realy love all classes, really…and im sad that will take long to me to play with all ( to play after all, becouse im a full time slave DM )

    leandropug’s last post: Nóticias da Wizards – GenCon 2008 e Lista de Livros

  4. Warlock…definitely Warlock…the cool abilities make it enjoyable to play, but the thing that sells me is the flavor and the roleplaying opportunities it provides…I’m definitely in the mood to play an eladrin with the Infernal Pact who seems completely oblivious to the raw darkness powering his magics…

    Reverend Mike’s last post: I KNEW ABOUT THIS BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE!

  5. Fighter is definitely sooo much more fun to play in 4th than in 3rd. Every round you have to make tactical choices – just like the rogue. Which power do I use? Do I leave this enemy I’m engaged with, take an opportunity attack, just so I can move over here and mark this other enemy? Not only that, in almost every encounter the fighter will be dangling on the edge of unconsciousness at least some of the time. That rarely happened in 3rd, but it happens all of the time in 4th. That really serves to ratchet up the excitement and make every roll (and every decision) count.

  6. Agree with Sultan here (and not just because he’s in my game.) I’ve always liked Fighter characters, but finally they’re fun to play mechanically.

  7. I’m the DM–I get to play them all!

    Also, no Swordmage love? That’s might be the class I’m most interested in trying as a player.

    Part of it isn’t that I like a particular class, but that I have certain character concepts that seem to work well with that class. I’ve been messing with a Fighter concept and a Warlock concept recently, so those are probably my ‘favorites’ atm.

  11. I have to say that I like all the classes so far. I think my favorites are the Wizard and the Warlord – battlefield control is very challenging but very powerful if done correctly. Being able to render a foe immobile or give a +5 bonus to hit or shift an ally at just the right time can totally change the course of a battle.

    snuh’s last post: Notes from the Other Side (of the DM Screen) 2

  12. I actually voted for Wizard, because I honestly have a hard time looking at their power list and not wanting to take all of their powers. Combine this with the spellbook that allows them to take double daily & utility powers, and then choosing one out of two per day. I think they managed to recreate some of the classic feelings of playing a Wizard within the new system, it just doesn’t show up until later in the levels.

    I didn’t put Swordmage or Artificer on this list, because I wanted to compare to the original poll I did when we were just using (the then unconfirmed) core classes. Plus, those classes aren’t officially out yet, though swordmage will be in a matter of hours.

  14. I have to say that I love all the classes. This was a tough poll to take because there isn’t a single class that I find boring to play. The mechanics behind all of them work very nicely.

    The Cleric of old used to be powerful but I found my players not playing them because they got tired of watching everyone else kill things and then cleaning up the rest of the party.

    There is just so much more for all of the classes to do.

  15. Warlock is my favorite so far – lots of good RP flavor and some very interesting striker mobility options… which I’ve never had the chance to play with before, always having had melee-based or blaster characters in the past.

  16. Cleric is my favorite so far – lots of good RP flavor and some very interesting leader healing options… which I’ve never had the chance to play with before, always having had melee-based or blaster characters in the past.

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  21. I adore both the Warlock and the Rogue. They’re both *awesome* at what they do. I’m especially fond of the Eladrin Fey Pact ‘Lock. Mobility in the extreme. Super fun!

    I also think it’s great that you consider mid-70s to low-80s “fall.” Maybe it’s the fact that I’m transplanted from South Dakota to Maryland… but, damn, I still think it’s SO HOT! I can’t wait for November!

    d20Blonde’s last post: MD/DC/VA Gameday III: Signups Today at 8pm!

  22. It’s really interesting to see the Fighter, Rogue, and Warlock pull ahead. I’m really surprised that the Warlord is getting so many votes, but I’m happy because this makes me think that our group’s experience is the exception, and considering Warlord was my favorite class by far before release.

    70’s-80’s is the perfect fall weather in Maryland, but I can imagine being from South Dakota that’s quite a change.

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