[4e] Let us have a poll: easiest class for newbies for each role?

[Gamerlord]

Out of curiosity, for each role, what is the easiest class for a newbie ? Let us have a poll!

Leaders:
Artificer (2)
Bard (3)
Cleric (13)
Warlord (4)
Ardent(1)
Shaman (1)

Strikers:
Ranger (13)
Avenger (1)
Barbarian(7)
Warlock(2)
Rogue(4)
Sorcerer(7)
Monk(1)
Assassin(1)

Defenders:
Fighter(16)
Warden (3)
Paladin (3)
Swordmage (2)

Controllers:
Wizard(7)
Invoker(6)
Druid(6)
Psion(2)
Seeker(2)

[The Glyphstone]

I'm a newbie, and I've had a blast with my Dragon Sorcerer. Literally, since every power I have except Acid Orb is a Close Blast or Close Burst, and my 'tactics' consist of finding the point on the map where (# of enemies covered by 3x3 grid is maximized and > # of allies covered by said grid).

So my vote's for Sorcerer, since being a Dragon Sorcerer means my survivability is almost Defender-level letting me focus on killing stuff. A Wild Sorcerer might not be newbie-friendly since it's so random, and I don't know about Storm or Cosmic.

[Thajocoth]

I vote for all of them as easiest except Cleric and Paladin.

[Gralamin]

Cleric, Ranger, Paladin, Wizard.

Cleric, because they are very straight forward with base builds.
Ranger, because they are nearly impossible to screw up.
Paladin, because their marking mechanic is easy to learn and see the use of.
Wizard, because they are in the PHB.

[Aron Times]

Defender: Fighter
Striker: Ranger
Leader: Cleric
Controller: None

All Player's Handbook 1 classes. Note that "easy to play" doesn't mean weak. Until the November errata, fighter outdamaged everyone in terms of DPR (damage per round), with rangers coming in a close second.

For the leader role, I choose the cleric because playing a warlord requires some system mastery to get it right. The cleric is basically the ultimate healbot in 4e, and doesn't have all the complicated battlefield rearranging powers that the warlord gets.

As for the controller role, playing a controller right requires a lot of system mastery. Most newbies dislike playing controls because they don't deal a lot of damage and they are very squishy. However, a good controller can grant the party virtual free turns due by inflicting debilitating status effects on his enemies. Thus, none of the controller classes are really easy for beginners to play.

[RebelRogue]

Generally, I think the PHB2 classes are a little more complex overall. I don't have access to DDI, so I know little about those classes. Not enough to make a judgement anyway. My picks would be:

Leader: Cleric (Healing and lazorz)
Defender: Fighter, I guess.
Striker: Ranger.
Controller: Druid (Wizard has to keep track of duplicate powers and stuff, so here my PHB1-theory breaks down a bit)

[Suleman]

It depends, a lot. One thing it really depends on is your team. For example, being an effective fighter is easy as pie if you have a good striker to take advantage of the openings you force the enemies to give, and a good leader to help keep you in shape and/or boost the striker even further.
If the team is good, the fighter can simply wade into battle and do his thing. If the team is not terribly good, the fighter is forced to be more tactical, not in the good way.

Another thing it depends on is your power selection. Each class has simpler and more complex powers. The fighter, for example, has simple powers like the various moves that do damage in an area around him. Then there are some stances and such that require a certain position in battle to be at their most effective, eg. stances that increase reach. Even that is pretty simple.

I haven't really played with enough characters yet to say anything in particular, but here's my opinions.

Defender: Fighter (some builds)
Striker: Rogue (find flanked enemy, get close, go wild)
Leader: Cleric (Healing and buffing is always good, hard to play badly)
Controller: Wizard (Big power selection, either hurt monsters in an area without hurting your buddies or lock down singular big baddies. Simple enough. Also, no additional mechanics like shapeshifting and the psionic's power points)


All of these are from PHB1, which tells something of either me or the state of the game right now.

[Gamerlord]

So, the status of the poll:

Wow, Ranger,fighter,cleric, and wizard are all at the top of their respective roles in terms of easy for newbies, and are all PHB 1 classes. Also, nobody has voted for any of the PHB3 and dragon classes, like ardent and assassin, could it be that nobody is making a character for these? :smallconfused: Or could they just be too complex for a newbie?

[Asbestos]

Also, nobody has voted for any of the PHB3 and dragon classes, like ardent and assassin, could it be that nobody is making a character for these? :smallconfused: Or could they just be too complex for a newbie?
They tend to introduce new mechanics. So, probably too complex.

My votes:
Leader: Cleric.
Striker: Barbarian (don't have to care about Quarry, Prime Shot, or CA, only care if you're raging or not)
Defender: Swordmage (Aegis is Fire and Forget unlike Combat Challenge, Divine Challenge, and the Warden's mark. Just put an Aegis on someone and forget about it until they trigger it, Shielding Swordmage is probably the easier build.)
Controller: Probably the hardest role to play out of all of them, but Wizard works pretty well, the general lack of features is partly why.

[Shardan]

Easiest: Strikers are the easier classes overall and 'hit thing with stick' the easiest for of that so Ranger and barbarian would be the easiest overall in my opinion.
Paladin and fighter are pretty easy since they are fairly 'single target' and direct in how they work.

For leader, I think cleric is the easiest of the leaders I've seen.

Controllers as a whole are more difficult.
As for the Dragon and PHB3 classes.. it could just be that fewer people have access to them (and newbies probably wouldn't either)

[Gamerlord]

Wow, cleric is leaving all the other leaders in the dust.

[Thajocoth]

For all roles, Divine characters are automatically out. Their Channel Divinity adds an extra layer to the character that it makes it become very slightly more to learn.

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A lot of people seem to think Cleric is the easiest Leader. Being MAD actually makes them more difficult to play than almost any other class, either that or you restrict yourself to half of what you can do.

I've never seen a Shaman or Ardent yet, so I can't really comment on those.

Artificers are probably the easiest Leader to play. All the others have a lot to keep track of and remember... Like the Warlord's ambient effects on their allies or the Bard being the party's face.

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For Striker, the Barbarian wins hands down. No curses, quarries, sneak attack or anything of the sort... Just straight up raw weapon damage.

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For Defender... Warden or Fighter. I've seen people say Paladin, and I just can't understand why on so many levels. They're MAD so they've got the same issues as the Cleric, and they add some Leaderish complications. Swordmage is certainly out as well. For both Warden & Fighter, they've got a few little things to remember, but no more than the other defenders.

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For Controller... Beast Form (Predator or Swarm) Druid. Your effects are quick and simple. Any other controller has a LOT to keep track of. Controllers in general are more difficult for a newbie player than any other role... With the exception of the Cleric imo.

[Asbestos]

For Defender... Warden or Fighter. I've seen people say Paladin, and I just can't understand why on so many levels. They're MAD so they've got the same issues as the Cleric, and they add some Leaderish complications. Swordmage is certainly out as well. For both Warden & Fighter, they've got a few little things to remember, but no more than the other defenders.

Why is Swordmage out? I think that Warden is a bit complex because of the two choices for the immediate, Mark Provoked action and the odd class features.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Hmm. Well...

Leader
Probably the Wisdom/Charisma Cleric, seeing as he's the one who runs around healing people. And that's pretty much it.

Striker
Ranger, for sure. Snipe, snipe, snipe...or run around dual-wielding. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Defender
Just as always, a Fighter is probably the easiest to learn here.

Controller
I agree that it's not a good idea to play a controller as a newbie, but...I'd actually think Invoker would be the easiest one for a newbie to do. It's pretty straightforward: zap the bad guys with your powers of light, and cause them to get slowed down.

[Thajocoth]

Why is Swordmage out? I think that Warden is a bit complex because of the two choices for the immediate, Mark Provoked action and the odd class features.

Swordmages are a little Controllery, and good tactics with them tend not to be obvious. A lot of powers have extra stuff to keep track of, and they're the only ones for which it's better to be further from their marked target.

For Warden, it's no more to keep track of than a Fighter's Combat Challenge and Combat Superiority or a Paladin's mark restrictions and radiant damage or a Swordmage's everything.

[Gamerlord]

Status of the poll:

Barbarian is starting to gain ground on the ranger, as is the druid against the wizard, but the cleric and fighter are still dominating their respective rolls.

[Zaydos]

My first 4e character was a warlord which did badly (still managed to contribute more than the fighter usually or the wizard), followed by a rogue. My next one was a ranged weapon ranger with a DM who was purposefully working to try and glorify the melee barbarian and thus setting us up in situations where he said, "the enemies are on high ground so you can't shoot them" or "you're hiding behind cover so you can't shoot".

My easiest was the rogue, and I made the rogue instead of the ranger then because I looked at them both and decided rogue was easier to play and win at (especially as a drow). So my vote for striker is rogue. Otherwise I'd say running them through simple combat encounters fighter was the most useful and playable defender, did best with warlord but cleric was simpler (so I don't know), and never could get the hang of druid but have to say Invoker was good and easy.

My votes are rogue, invoker, fighter, and cleric.

[Doomboy911]

I find its easy being a leader as the bard since most people look to me to continue the story and talk us through things and I'm pretty new.

[Duos Greanleef]

Leader: Cleric
Defender: Fighter
Striker: Sorcerer
Controller: none

I always have a Human Sorcerer laying around to give to a newbie.
They deal lots of damage just by being sorcerers, and dealing lots of damage is just what strikers are supposed to do.

[Deepblue706]

All-around, it seems strikers are the easiest to get the hang of because they revolve around a simple concept: Hitting That Guy. Sure, there are some subtle details here and there, but you've only got to really worry about yourself and your target.

I have a friend, new to D&D in-general, who can barely come up with a roleplaying concept yet has a completely badass Ranger (two-weapon). Based on that, I think it may be easiest. Barbarians - especially those of the Rageblood Vigor variety - also seem easy to get the hang of.

Sorcerers and Rogues seem a little more frail to me, so I would guess those are better in more-experienced hands.

I haven't really played many different characters, so I don't really have the perspective to compare much else. Especially considering how some of those characters were attempts at self-sabotage, such as my Dwarven Rogue and Half-Elf Fighter. I wanted to prove a point.

[Gamerlord]

Status of the poll: Striker and controller both are becoming tight competition, but the fighter in defenders has 10 votes! And the cleric in leaders 9!

[Kurald Galain]

Cleric, ranger, and fighter, respectively. That should be pretty obvious.

The answer to the easiest controller class is none of them. Controllers aren't made for newbies (but note that not every new player is a "newbie"). Not even wizards: we get frequent comments or threads on how 4E wizards are weak or unplayable. However, they're only weak in the hands of player that doesn't know how to play one.

[Gamerlord]

Are you sure? Invokers always seemed pretty simple to me.

[Artanis]

Question: is being easy a prerequisite, or does "easiest" just mean "least difficult"? If it just means "least difficult", then there's no point in voting for "none" on Controllers due to their complexity as a whole.


Striker: Ranger. That goes double for shooty ones.

Defender: Fighter.

Leader: Cleric. Pump WIS, take healing powers.

Controller: Can I vote for not-Wizard? I really hate prepping spells :smallfrown:

[Gamerlord]

Controller: Can I vote for not-Wizard? I really hate prepping spells :smallfrown:

As in, vote for something besides wizard? Or "Every controller but the wizard"? Both are okay.

The point of the poll is "For each role, what class would you recommend a newbie?"

[Artanis]

Kinda both. I haven't really played the other Controllers :smallredface:

[Cybren]

Of the controllers, invokers are probably "the easiest" as they have a lot of direct, hard control powers. But they also have to choose powers with drawbacks or whatnot, so they still aren't "easy" for most newbies, most likely

[AB]

Defender: Fighter. Good AC, good damage, simple mechanics. And of course there are many races for this class.
Striker: well... Ranger or Barbarian... probably Ranger after all, since Barbarian has quite some trouble with staying alive. Both classes have good racial support.
Leader: Bard. Charisma for the powers, and you`re good with skills. Overall, you`re an allrounder and don`t need to restrict yourself to one aspect of the class, as the STR/WIS-Cleric has to. Some good races for bards, too.
Controller: mh, Druid, since it`s easier to play than a Wizard. Wizard has more racial support though.

Generally spoken, a Ranger is probably the most simple charakter to play for a newbie at all, while Druid may be the easiest Controller, but still a quite complex class (and Controller being a complex role).

[Grynning]

I agree with the majority on Fighter and Cleric, but for striker I vote Barbarian (Rageblood, specifically) over Ranger for one simple reason: Every person I've ever seen play a Ranger has forgotten to Hunter's Quarry at least once or twice a session. I've only seen one person play a Barbarian, but they laid the smackdown without needing to remember anything at all, because they naturally fell into RP'ing the barb as wanting to charge every time they could, and hey, that works! Also I think that the multi-attack powers of TWF rangers can be a little confusing for some.

[Evard]

For myself i found the easiest roll to play was actually the wizard (of course I work better with a lot of options to choose from). I could stay away from most of the fighting and concentrate on what my character could do and what he couldn't do. Another class i enjoyed was my female warlord (DM hated her and killed her off first chance he got though -_-;;; )

The one thing i noticed is all classes are now essentially sorcerer/wizards from 3.5 you have a lot of power/spells to choose from... It bogs down the game when you run up and think "what should i do this round" ... Newbs and Non-Newbs now have to worry about immediate interrupt, when a character moves toward you, immediate reaction... and that can slow down the game sooo i say the best class would be any class that didn't have a lot of special triggers.

[Blas_de_Lezo]

This is not as 3rd edition when simple classes were at hand. However, I understand that for a rookie, a controller maybe a bit difficult so we could also stat what classes are easier to run, so here we go!

The Striker role is the easiest by itself. It's the only one that doesn't require to be aware also of your allies. You only focus on your enemy and that's all. So, within here, we could post the most direct and simple striker:

-Ranger (rogue requires more tactic and has more skills, but they don't exclude each other)
-Sorcerer: you blow up things. Any player, no matter how rooke he/she is, will want different types of energy attacks (excluding a thematic elment PC), so problem solved.

That's my 2 cents

[pasko77]

ranger is the easiest thing you can do.
And, for controllers, I think wizards, BECAUSE they have double powers, as in, when you realize you screwed up your power selection (and a noob will), you can have your backup power.

[Theodoric]

Well, for strikers, I too would go for Dragon Sorceror. Comparatively few rules, and does pure stat-based damage only; no Hunter's Quarry, Curse or Sneak Attack.

[Kurald Galain]

I think wizards, BECAUSE they have double powers, as in, when you realize you screwed up your power selection (and a noob will), you can have your backup power.
Yes, but the wizard has relatively many It's A Trap powers. The common beginner's mistake is to pick the powers that do the most damage; these are generally the least effective wizard powers.

[Danin]

Cleric (Use an ability), Sorcerer (Stand still, shoot), Invoker (Explode people and shift them) and Fighter (Stab stuff, don't die).

Possible inclusions are also the warden (Marking made simple) and the Barbarian (Hit stuff until it stops moving).

[pasko77]

Yes, but the wizard has relatively many It's A Trap powers. The common beginner's mistake is to pick the powers that do the most damage; these are generally the least effective wizard powers.

I think a smart newbye would take 2 powers very different. When they realize that their power of choice is "a trap" they may rely on the other without waiting for a level retraining. Or they may just luck out by choosing the second power at random.

[tcrudisi]

Striker is the easiest choice by far: Ranger, no contest. Ranger = Twin Strike it to death with an occasional interrupt. I've seen the worst player I know play a Sorcerer (which is currently in second place), and he has not managed to hit more than 2 targets at one time, ever, and he's level 22.

Defender is also an easy choice: the Fighter, if for no other reason than it's iconic and you walk up to something and beat it. Their mark is simple too: with a beginner you can just tell them, "We are assuming that all your attacks mark", which is harder to do with the classes that require an action to mark.

Leader is a fairly tough choice. I don't see any of them being "easy" to play (well), but I'll throw in my lot with the Warlord. Go forward, smack it, and give an ally a bonus. Sure. I give the Warlord the nod over the Cleric who has two main stats.

Controller is not a type that should be played by any beginner. In fact, it's definitely the one that the pro's should stick to, as it is the hardest without a doubt. Having said that, if there's one class that can sort of try to do everything just by accident and keep with the simplest controller tactics possible, it's the Druid.

[Gamerlord]

Wow, cleric and fighter still dominate their respective roles,I wonder how so...