4E: Your Favorites

[Lord Ascapelion]

So now, I think with 4e having been out for a while, I think everyone probably has taken a shining to a certain entry for each game element.

So then, what, in 4e, is your favorite...

Class?
Race?
Power?
Monster?
Item?
Setting?
Bit of fluff?
Tier of play?

So for me, I'd have to say...

Class: Swarm Druid. The flavor is so awesome (I love bugs! :smallbiggrin:) and I love the pseudo-defender feel of the class, taking hit after hit and barely even shrugging and dousing foes in a cascade of biting insects is sweet.

Race: Tiefling. There's tons of feat support that provides a bunch of neat abilities.

Monster: Beholder. Ten different attacks, blasting almost every PC once a round? Wow, this is an awesome monster. Incorporates "Save or Die" effects in a manner that works without feeling lame (you get a chance to stave off the incoming "die" effect before it hits.) Just a really fun monster to fight- on either side of the DM screen.

Feel free to introduce any element I forgot. :smallsmile:

[Surrealistik]

Class: Enchanter Wizard, easily. Honourable mention goes to the original Assassin for being hands down one of the coolest and most thematic classes.
Race: Tiefling, straight up the best race for the class I love to play most, and the racial support/flavour is awesome.
Power: Hard to choose. Either Steal Time (with Royal Command of Asmodeus), or Visions of Wrath/False Reality (also with Royal Command of Asmodeus). Honourable mention goes to Stinking Cloud and Sleep for both being so broken in Heroic tier.
Monster: Meh, none have really stood out.
Item: Orb of Mental Dominion easily.
Setting: Homebrew.
Bit of Fluff: Not quite sure.
Tier of Play: Heroic, specifically mid-late Heroic.

[valadil]

Arcane Mutterings. It's just so perfectly flavorful.

[Christopher K.]

Class: I really like hybrids, but failing that, wizards have always had a special place for me.
Race: Shardminds. Especially with the vampire class coming out on my birthday! (I love weird combos) :smallbiggrin:
Power: Power source? Arcane. Specific power? Bless Weapon (It's a Paladin Utility, I believe)
Monster: That one thing that sits behind a large cardboard barrier- Oh, wait, that's the DM? I dunno, Kobolds and Goblins have special places in my heart.
Item: Hellfire Staff (On a crit you recharge an Encounter power with the Fire Keyword. If you're using the Staff anyway, as a minor you can create an area in which all your attacks with the Staff gain the Fire keyword. :smallbiggrin: )
Setting: Dark Sun. I'm not too keen on Eberron or Forgotten Realms
Bit of fluff: No clue.
Tier of play: Late Heroic/Early Paragon, when the characters' identities are starting to take solid form and things once beyond their grasp are now getting closer to something they can handle.

[Jaidu]

Class: I've had too much fun with too many classes to just pick one. Warlord, Wizard, and Monk stand out, but really pretty much every class I've played has been fun.

Race: I'm fond of Githzerai. I really love that every race is playable for every class. Some are subpar, but no combination is unplayable. Except perhaps gnomes in heavy armor.

Power: Spirit Infusion and Commander's Strike are great powers because they allow you to be an effective character by letting your allies shine. You can be awesome and they can feel awesome.

Monster: The Silt Horror in Dark Sun gave my players fits, but their sense of achievement from defeating it was very satisfying. The mechanics of it being a solo that has parts of it that are minions was fun, and the regenerating minions that were nasty if they kept targets grabbed meant the players couldn't totally ignore them or wipe them out in one turn. Plus the flavor of a giant monster who reaches a 200 foot diameter is pretty awesome.

Item: Wallrunners, which are both fluffy and effective on my monk. I don't remember the name, but there's a wondrous item that points you in the direction of the nearest alcoholic beverage.

Setting: Dark Sun for official settings. A friend of mine is running a game in a homebrewed Planescape setting that's a mashup of 2e and 4e cosmology, which has been awesome so far.

Bit of fluff: The Thief of Legend epic destiny allows you to steal something intangible from someone you kill. Also, the Wizard power Visions of Ruin makes the enemies think the world around them has suddenly been destroyed and they are standing on the last remaining chunk of reality.

Tier of play: Paragon. You have plenty of options without combat taking forever.

[Asklepian]

Class: I've only DMed for my group in 4E so far, so I haven't had a chance to get much experience beyond observation. I've been very impressed with our group's Wrathful Invoker, though. Just speaking personally I'd love to play a Psion or an Ardent.

Race: I have a soft spot for Githyanki and Gnolls in general.

Powers: Dawn's Blazing Fingers is a fun one, as is Bloody Termination.

Monster: I haven't gotten to run a Beholder yet, but I'm excited to. The party also had a very fun knock-down drag-out fight with a Thicket Dryad Lich.

Item: I have a soft spot for the seemingly random odds and ends that the party has to devise a use for. They did something very clever with a Darkskull once, so I'm fond of it.

Setting: Is it cheating/conceited to say 'my homebrew'? :smalltongue: From the official ones, I actually really like the basic Points of Light stuff, but I think Eberron is cool as well.

Bit of Fluff: This is tough because I refluff things so often, but I really like most of the stuff associated with the Star Pact warlock.

Tier of Play: Well, we've only made it to the very end of the Heroic tier so far, but all my players are very excited to get their PPs, so I have high hopes.

[KingFlameHawk]

Class: I like them all but my favorites would have to be the fighter, Warlord and the Monk. I like playing characters who are able to get up close to the enemy but still have a lot of tactical abilities as well.
Race: Humans bar none, easy to play any classs with, best racial abilities in my opinion-Heroic Effort pure gold, extra feat pure awesome and human feats mostly work with action points which I use a lot. Also when everyone else is playing a fantastic race me being the only human make me stand out.
Power: there would be two, Force the Battle- a level 29 fighter stance that increases the power of at-wills and encounters by 1 [W] and allows you to hit an enemy with an at-will at the start of their turn. Cleave- hit two enemies can't get better then that.
Monster: Can't say
Item: Master's Blade, get a bonus to attack rolls if you are in a stance and you can have two stances active at once.
Setting: Homebrew and Points of Light
Bit of fluff: The origin of the cosmology of Points of Light, the origins of the Tieflings.
Tier of play: Paragon, This is when I feel I really am playing DND

[Jaidu]

Race: Shardminds. Especially with the vampire class coming out on my birthday! (I love weird combos) :smallbiggrin:

Wait, but, how would they - what would they - you, sir, have just destroyed my mind.

[tcrudisi]

Class? I can't really list just one. I enjoy many different classes, so I find it's easier to list one per role. 1h Talent Fighter, Bard, Predator Druid, and Wild Sorcerer.

Race? Half-Elf. I love the versatility of being able to poach a power from out of class.

Power? Prestidigitation -- sooooo much fun to be had.

Item? Eternal Chalk -- for the same reason as Prestidigitation. (also of note: Hedge Wizard's Gloves.)

Tier of play? Paragon. Lots of options but it's still possible to die.

[DontEatRawHagis]

Class?
Monk, just like how he can inflict statuses upon enemies.
Race?
Thri-Kreen - I like seeing these guys around. Shardmind is a close second if I could allow my fluff origin to be allowed instead of the Living Gate storyline.
Power?
Dragon's Tail - kicks down enemies.
Monster?
Id Fiend - Lvl1 Solo monster that makes people go crazy
Setting?
Dark Sun - LIke low magic worlds
Bit of fluff?
Raven Queen as a diety.
Tier of play?
Heroic lvl one is actually fun

[Christopher K.]

Wait, but, how would they - what would they - you, sir, have just destroyed my mind.

Well, his crystals are stained blood-red, his Shard Swarm tends to look like tiny bats, and he bathes in blood because he theorizes that it somehow prevents the world from being further influenced by the Far Realm.

EDIT: Also, I felt that I HAD to sig this. :smallbiggrin:

[DragonBaneDM]

Class: Artificer and Cleric! I'm a big nut on reducing damage, and these two are just so much fun.

Race: Kalashtar!

Power: Simulacrum! I like how you can fluff it. It can be an old ally or family member that your character lost during the campaign, giving it a lot more sentimental meaning.

Monster: Lately...Gnoll War Fangs are up there. I really enjoy anything from Open Grave. Deadliest undead ever, and Calvary Creekrotter is at the top of the list. Two of these babies turn a 10 foot well into a graveyard.

Item: Githyanki Silver Sword! I love it so much.

Setting: Eberron! They did it really well in 4e!

Bit of fluff: Bane's fluff from Dragon Magazine.

Tier of play: Paragon fo sho. Your character starts to feel more unique, it's a challenge, and fun to DM.

[Kurald Galain]

Class? Wizard.
Race? Gnome, probably.
Power? Thunderwave.
Monster? The classics, like beholders and dragons.
Item? None; items simply aren't interesting in this edition.
Setting? Eberron.
Bit of fluff? None.
Tier of play? Heroic; I find the game too easy at higher tiers.

[Nu]

Class: The sentinel druid, or the fighter (all flavors, including knight and slayer). I've always been partial to animal companions, particuarly wolves, and well... the sentinel druid is basically perfect for my tastes (it even has summoning). But I'm also amazed by the fighter, who's come such a long way from third edition, with so many viable options and builds, all of them effective in unique and interesting ways.

Race: Tiefling. Gotta love playing with fire.

Power: Writhing Henge. Wait, I summon six individual monsters, can have all six of them attack as a minor action, AND I only lose a healing surge if all six die?

Monster: The new monster vault dragons. Instinctive actions are just lovely.

Item: Farbond Spellblade and Dwarven Thrower. Ranged basic attacks for melee-focused characters! Availible at low levels! These are golden.

Setting: I don't have a strong opinion here, but Dark Sun seems to have some interesting monsters.

Bit of fluff: I like how fully the primal power source is fleshed out.

Tier of play: I don't actually have any experience past heroic (yet), so I can't comment.

[WitchSlayer]

Class: Avenger, nothing like being a probably brainwashed church assassin whose duty is to hunt down rogue paladins

Race: Longtooth Shifter, just to go crazy when you get bloodied

Power: Form of Mountain's Thunder, I AM NOW A MOUNTAIN. DEAL WITH IT.

Monster: Tembo, the first monster I ever used that was of MM3/Monster Vault quality. And I'm still quite fond of it.

Item: Eternal Chalk. Because writing "The King is a butt" on every building in the city and him not being able to erase it for two weeks is priceless.

Setting: Apart from homebrew? Dark Sun. Although I am becoming somewhat fond of Points of Light.

Bit of Fluff: I was originally going to say the gods playing tf2 with their angels but I have to give my hat tip to GRUMMUSH CRASHING HIS PLANE INTO BANE'S AND HAVING AN ETERNAL WAR.

Tier of Play: I have no idea. Each thing has something I like. Heroic battles tend to be quick, concise and you don't have too much to do. Paragon you get your Paragon Path which helps a little with variety and you feel like you can do some cool stuff. Epic tier is a complete clusterfluff with powers BUT you GET YOUR EPIC DESTINY. And epic destinies are AWESOME.

[skaxophone]

Class - Hybrid Ranger/Rogue.
Race? - Changeling. It lets me roleplay 1 character roleplaying 3 characters
Setting? Eberron. All day every day

[rayne_dragon]

Class - Wizard. I think 4e is the best edition to play a wizard in. Sure you may not get the crazy "I can do anything" spells of earlier editions, but you also don't have to put up with being next to useless when you run out of spells, either.

Race - Eladrin. The fair folk are my kind of people and it's nice to see a better representation of them in D&D. Plus they can teleport.

Power - Flame shroud is really cool because it is low level, enemies only, covers a big area, has a save ends effect, and is an encounter power. Maybe it's been errataed since I last used it, but it was an awesome power as written originally.

Monster - any minion. They are squishy and I love them for it. :smallbiggrin:

Item - Robe of eyes. I like the creepiness of a piece of clothing watching you.

Setting - My DM's Dragonlance homebrew for 4e.

Bit of fluff - the origins of the psionics power source.

Tier of play - I haven't gotten to play an epic character yet, but late heroic and mid-paragon are quite fun.

[ImperiousLeader]

Class? Druid. Both the Shapeshifter in PH2, and the Sentinel in HoFK. Druids and Sorcerers were my preferred classes in 3.5 and earlier, and 4e Druids just rock.

Race? I like the balance of the races in 4e. Warforged and Changelings remain my favourite races for roleplaying reasons. Thri-Kreen and Wilden for being different. I like having more unique races.

Power? None specific, but I really like the mechanics of the Executioner's poisons, that they have both combat and non-combat utility. That's something I'd like to see spread to other classes.

Monster? I like the Catastrophic Dragons from MM3. They're Elite, so I'm already dreaming of dropping 2 of them on a party ... and I like their mechanics.

Item? Ki Focuses? I dunno, magic items are boring.

Setting? Eberron. Again, I've been a fan since 3.5, 4e's incarnation hasn't changed what I liked about it. Though I think the Artificer needs some love though. I'd like it to gain some day-long buffs like the new Druid got.

Tier of play? I'm really enjoying Paragon tier Bard. Upper Heroic tier was fun too. I haven't played Epic, though I DMed a short little campaign, and didn't enjoy it. PCs have too many responses to the monsters, making them look like sacks of hitpoints.

[Daftendirekt]

Class Only played rogue, psion, and ranger so far. Rogue was my first character, died at level 2? so I didn't have much experience actually playing it. I did a horrible job building the psion and got tired of it, and the ranger is A ****ING BEAST. It is ridiculous how much damage I do, especially considering I'm the only striker in the party (Rest are super-controller Wizard, Invoker with some decent damaging powers, and a cleric with a fullblade).

Race Half-elf, for one reason: it went from being easily the most useless core race in 3.5 to being the best in 4e.


Power Call me unoriginal, but Twin Strike so far. I have a bright pink die that I roll with right now, and it is unbelievable how many crits it rolls (especially since I use a Melegaunt's Darkblade, so I have a 19-20 crit range with a bastard sword.)

Monster I dunno, haven't been playing 4e for too long. Draconians are what we've faced most of the time, for storyline reasons.

Item Melegaunt's Darkblade. 19-20 crit, it's cheaper than Jagged Weapon, and its crit is better IMO (1d6 cold per plus, 1d0 against shadows, compared to 10 ongoing for Jagged). Also, Wallrunners, for turning one of my favorite feats from 3.5 into an item (Up the Walls). Combat Harness, for weapon switching cheese and initiative bonus. Rhythm Blade, especially when paired with a Parrying Dagger, for obvious reasons.

Setting Just played Points of Light so far.

Tier I like being epic, and Paragon does that better than Heroic. Haven't gotten to Epic Tier yet though.

[Belobog]

Class: Paladin has always been my favorite class in every edition, and that hasn't stopped. Runner-ups would be Bard and Starlock.

Race: Gnolls. They're not really a player race, but the fact they have some options is nice. I find myself playing a lot of Tieflings, though.

Power: Abominable Music of Caiphon. Even Hand of Justice is a close second.

Monster: Can I label Athas as a monster? Is that a thing we can do?

Item: I can't think of any one item that jumps out at me. Maybe a Sunblade? Iunno.

Setting: See the Monster entry (Dark Sun is the best setting).

Bit of fluff: The Thief of Legend. Steal the voice of a siren to sing for you, hold a demon's malice for ransom, swipe a spelljammer while it's taking off and even steal yourself from death. Radiant One (become a star of the Far Plane) and the ED where you lead an endless horde and your closest minion takes your place and your name when you die are also top-notch.

Tier of play: Epic. Haven't tried Paragon, though.

[Lord Raziere]

Class: Chaos Sorcerer
Race: thats a hard one....I'd say....dwarf. I've always been a fan of dwarves
Power: Vicious Mockery, the only power where you deal damage to somebody with an insult.
Monster: Succubus :smallamused:

.....what?
Item: Boons, getting some weird artifact? nah. getting cools powers handed to me directly? AWESOME
Setting: Eberron
Bit of fluff: psionic and primal power sources, I wish arcane was as fluffed out as they are.
Tier of play:Dunno.

[ninja_penguin]

So then, what, in 4e, is your favorite...

Class?
I kind lean toward Paladins, but that's mostly personal preference. For some reason I just love the various Channel Divinity powers, and end up trending toward divine classes because of that.

Race?
Dwarves, Kalashtar, and Warforged. Dwarf is what I play the most, because minor action second wind is awesome, and I'm now pegged as 'the dwarf guy' in he gaming group after my IMMOVEABLE OBJECT dwarven paladin of Bahamut.

Power?
Fey step is one of my favorites still, even though I don't play Eladrin very foten.

Monster?
Anything that dominates my players. They are, in fact, their own worst enemies.

Item?
No idea here.

Setting? I adore Eberron. I'm not too sure I'm actually good at running anything in it.

Bit of fluff? The plane setup, compared to the 3.5 version, in which it was more like various planes of hats.

Tier of play? Paragon. I don't have a good handle on Epic yet, and after playing in paragon for a while, heroic just starts to feel boring to me.

[Meta]

Class?
Avenger. An excellent blend of meteoric and consistent

Race?
I love love love the tiefling i've played for years now but I'm gonna say wilden have some underrated fluff.

Power?
Writhing Henge. For when you absolutely need to kill everyone

Monster?
Liricosa

Item?
Manshoon's Bloodmask

Setting?
Maybe FR

Bit of fluff?
Dancer

Tier of play?
Haven't gotten to epic yet. I bet it's epic though

[Sol]

Class: Avenger - all the paladin devotion without any of the stick-up-ass. Unless it's up the BBEG's ass. Because you put it there. It offers three completely distinct and yet exactly the same play options, each with unique ways to single out your decided foe and make it dead while discouraging or preventing other enemies from getting near your duel (or gank-fest, if you're unity).

Race: It's hard to beat the Deva fluff. Literally an angel sent to the mortal world for some purpose. For a divine class, especially an incarnation of divine fury like an avenger or invoker, it's extremely apt. Wisdom to init pre-essentials along with other excellent racial feats, bonuses, and one of the best epic destinies in the game (Soul of the World) make them a phenomenal pick.

Power: There's a lot of really awesome ones, but I think my favorite is the Immortal Curse from the Punisher of the Gods epic destiny, at 30th level. Even post-errata (you used to get it back once your target was dead) it's simply an amazing striker feature. All damage you deal against the target is maximized until it's dead...and if you crit it you get an extra standard action which you have to use to attack it. My avenger build did an extra ~300 damage any time I crit, largely because of this feature. It makes bosses dead.

Monster: Anything insubstantial. It's my anti-favorite, really, but I think that's almost more fitting for this thread than something easy.

Item: Boons are a lot cooler than random artifacts. I tend to prefer Bloodiron weapons.

Setting: Dark Sun. I realize this conflicts with my race and class choices, but it's just too badass.

Bit of fluff: I think it would have to be the seamless way the deva/avenger/ardent champion/punisher of the gods fluff all fits together seamlessly creating a wholly logical backstory. Neither deva's nor punishers limit their worship to a singular God, and Deva's don't have the time or desire to spend years training at a secret avenger academy, so ardent fits with the "personal connection to your god(s)" part. It was also fun to see what my DM came up with as a BBEG worthy of the entire pantheon good and evil agreeing on enlisting my aid against.

Tier of play: Epic is more, well, epic. But it's only fun when it's deserved. Starting at epic takes all of the fun away. I prefer to start at heroic, but my favorite part is probably early paragon, when you can first start to see your and your party's character's full potential and see where they're taking their builds.

[Vitruviansquid]

Class? Fighter, currently. All the sweat and little of the glory, it's a working class sort of class.

Race? Elf, because I HATE HATE HATE missing.

Power? The humble Brutal Strike. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and reliability.

Monster? Haven't found one I liked yet.

Item? The Magic Fullblade, thes .44 magnum of the fantasy world. It doesn't do anything crazy like blaze with fire or drink souls, it just kills things dead.

Setting? Homemade, always.

Bit of fluff? The rivalry between Bael Turath and Arkhosia.

Tier of play? Late heroic, for me.

[Duos Greanleef]

Class: Bard. Hands down. No questions asked. As soon as it was released in PH2, I fell in love with it, and have only played two other classes since then.
Race: I'm fond of half-elves. Their versatility is great and a feat to give them another at-will at 11th level is also pretty cool.
Power: Timely Distraction Bard Encounter 7 "Look! An Owlbear!" :smallamused:
Monster: All of the monsters you can build yourself. 4E made it easy for me to make my own bad guys. My favorite so far were the spider monkey minions that had a ranged attack called fling poo. :smallamused:
Item: Imposter's Armor. I built a changeling bard once that multiclassed into wizard and warlock while wearing this armor. At level 11, I was able to change my appearance, my personality, and my powers at-will.
Setting: Eberron. I don't DM it very well, but all of the backstory is just too good to let go of.
Bit of fluff: Probably Thunderspire Labyrinth. The crunch is pretty horrific, but the flavor is so darn tasty!
Tier of play: Late heroic. It's a good end of the road for beginning players, and there's usually enough closure to feel like we've really accomplished something, even though we're only 1/3rd of the way through the level progression.

[Daftendirekt]

Item: Imposter's Armor. I built a changeling bard once that multiclassed into wizard and warlock while wearing this armor. At level 11, I was able to change my appearance, my personality, and my powers at-will.


How were you changing powers exactly?

[evirus]

How were you changing powers exactly?

Changelings have a paragon path to mimic party members powers

[Duos Greanleef]

Taking the various power swap feats, I was able to get a healthy mix of warlock, wizard, and bard spells. I just didn't use certain spells when I was in one guise or the other. RP, yo. :smallsmile:
So No, it wasn't actually CHANGING the powers, but I was changing the powers I used.

[Jaidu]

Power? None specific, but I really like the mechanics of the Executioner's poisons, that they have both combat and non-combat utility. That's something I'd like to see spread to other classes.

I've always thought a Psion and an Executioner would make good friends.

Psion: I dominate him.
Executioner: I hand him a vial.
Psion (On the monster's turn): Bottom's up!

[ImperiousLeader]

Hee hee. Thanks for the idea, I'm a Bard with "Song of Discord" (one round Dominate) and we have an Executioner in the party.

[LOTRfan]

I love Shardminds (if we are only going with stuff original to 4e), and Banderhobb (http://howardlyon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Banderhobb.jpg)

[lordmarcoos]

I love Shamans, just for their versatility in flavoring. My friend was in a campaign where her shaman was a 9 year old girl, who the spirits had chosen as their vessel. Crunch-wise, she had no melee abilities, and fluff wise, she was a frightened child trying to help the spirits do what needed to be done.

Another friend of mine recently built a shaman as his backup character (I'm a DM who enjoys coup de gras) who's not flavored as a shaman at all; he's a necromancer, and his spirit companion is his once dead brother, a cleric, whom he's brought back from the dead as a ghost (protector spirit, crunch wise). All of his healing powers, flaor-wise, would be cast by his ghostly brother, while all attack powers, even the spirit companion melee ones, would be flavored as the necromancer shooting blasts at enemies adjacent to his brother, because he wants to make sure to protect his brother, unlike last time...

[Jaidu]

I love Shamans, just for their versatility in flavoring.

In a Dark Sun game, I was playing an Elementalist Shaman and we had to go through a pass between two hills to get to our destination. A family of wild crodlus who just had babies were living in the small pass, and the parents looked to be aggressive. My shaman pleaded with his companions to find another way around, but they didn't listen and attacked the crodlus. I asked them to not kill the animals, but they did lethal damage anyway. I helped in the fight but always used nonlethal damage, and at one point I dropped a minion baby crodlu. It turned out to be the only one the party didn't kill. I tried to nurse it back to health as we traveled, but it died in my arms. So, guess what my spirit companion was from then on?

Also, I played with a hybrid shaman/wizard who believed his spirit companion was his deceased wife (it wasn't) and would bicker with it despite getting no response from it.

[Renchard]

Class: Executioner Assassin, Sentinel Druid, Hexblades, Ardents.
Race: Kalashtar. Telepathy 5 is beast. Awesome Eberron fluff, and easily adaptable for other settings.
Power: I think it's Dark Wanderer, but the utility power that lets you pick any spot in the multiverse and get there in 24 hours.
Monster: Banderhobb. My favorite Monster Manual illustration since some of the 2e Planescape stuff.
Item: Boons. Items are one of my least favorite aspects of 4e.
Setting: Eberron is still my favorite, but boy, did they do a good job on 4e Dark Sun.
Bit of Fluff: Chernoggar and Tytherion. Those are places for epic dungeons!
Tier of Play: Heroic and Epic. Looking at 4e design with 3 years of hindsight, I would rather have seen Paragon Paths closer in design to how Themes ended up. Epic Destinies are still awesome, though.

[amaranth69]

Class: Avenger, I just love the flavor of a divine enforcer, mechanically I think the Oath of Emnity is awesome.

Race: I have to say that Dwarves have great score bonuses and racial powers, not to mention great feat support.

[Trog]

Class: Bard or Cleric. A Leader, anyway.
Race: Good old human, as always.
Power: That bardic singing ability that gives everyone a +1 to hit
Monster: For whatever reason I have a soft spot for the Spriggan. I just like their look and fluff. Otherwise dragons.
Item: Hero's Belt I think it's called? Something like that. Gives you a healing surge. Handy stuff.
Setting: Homebrew and Points of Light
Bit of Fluff: Bane as an unaligned deity. Really opens up the whole idea of war as something much more real world and grey. Also Erathis as a deity I love.
Tier of Play: My players like Paragon though I still have a soft spot for heroic.

[Mando Knight]

Class: ...They're like Lay's potato chips (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay%27s#Slogans). I can't just have one. Paladin, Swordmage, Warlord, Psion, Sorcerer, Battlemind, Avenger... Let's just put this down as "yes."

Race: Dragonborn are one of my perennial favorites, though most of the other player races are pretty cool, too... though I'm not particularly fond of playing short characters (unless it's a Fullmetal expy) since I've never been ecstatic about being just slightly shorter than average...

Power: Fist of Force is cool. So is Wrath of the Gods. And Dragon Breath. Actually, I could probably find at least one power of each class that I really like.

Monster: Dragons. Even though Blacks are jerks that should never be thrown against lower-level players. Beholders and Mindflayers are also cool in an awesome-alien-monster kind of way, but they're also jerks.

Item: Depends on the character. Ever play a teleporter swordmage with the Cloak of Translocation (+2 AC/Ref after teleporting)? I am. Classics like the Vorpal Sword and the Holy Avenger are also good, and I'm fond of the Masterwork armors and Superior Implements.

Setting: None in particular... though Eberron's silent gods and Dark Sun's lack of them are a little off-putting for me.

Bit of Fluff: The history of the default setting... and Bahamut as one of the two big LG deities. The Platinum Dragon really syncs with me (and is a freaking dragon), even though he's still a cold-breather (I'm a whole lot more partial to warmth). In the new FR, Amaunator is my preferred deity, since he's a god of JUSTICE and THE SUN.

Tier of Play: All of it. Except level 1. I've had too many failed campaigns that get stuck at that level, and I'm tired of it. I like to have enough cash for some cool stuff and access to the neat higher-level powers and feats.

[Daftendirekt]

Just put together my first Battlemind (haven't actually played it, as my Ranger is still alive), and I must say, on paper (well, on-screen in the CB) it looks pretty cool. I like the fluff of it too.

Related, Lightning Rush is a frakking awesome power.

[Surrealistik]

Yeah, of all the Defenders I've played, I find the Battlemind the most fun, and yes it is.

[Makiru]

Class: I've only ever played a wizard in one game of 4e, but I really like the flavor of the brawler fighter, swarm druid, executioner, and thunderborn barbarian. Brawler fighter is the first time I can think of that makes a grappling build not only viable, but actually easy to understand. The fact that the executioner is almost entirely mundane in nature makes the feats that it can pull off that much more impressive. The thought of a barbarian that yells at enemies to force them into bad positions while beating them up is an amusing one that tickles my fancy. Finally, the swarm druid just clicks with me for some reason (not sure)

Race: Warforged and shardmind, mostly for how you can justify them being any class due to weird skips in logic.

Power: Phantom Chasm is a pretty funny standout. Making people fall on their face and freak out about a hole that just opened under them has been pretty good the few times I used it.

Monster: Nothing stands out for me personally, but I do second the Silt Horror for conveying the feel of an enormous beast without breaking the game mechanics and actively encouraging teamwork

Item: Reading Spectacles. Dirt cheap and takes all the guesswork out of those ancient scrolls.

Setting: I was a big fan of Eberron in 3.5, but I've been warming up (heh) to Dark Sun quite a bit.

Fluff: The war of the gods and primordials and how that laid the groundwork for all the classes to come, as well as providing limitless endgame bosses.

Tier of Play: Heroic, since it's all I've ever played.

[Dust]

Class: The grappling Fighter variant from Martial Power 2. There's something enormously satisfying about grabbing a hydra in a headlock and dragging it around the battlefield.
Race: Everything is better with gnomes.
Power: Subjective Gravity, which is a level 10 utility power for the Battlemind in Psionic Power. It's a STANCE that lets you walk on walls and ceilings and whatnot.
Monster: Anything that causes disease. The rot grub swarms jump immediately to mind. Once you nail a PC with a disease, they look at every encounter differently, forever. Also, Lamias are neat.
Item: Adventurer's Vault 1, Dust of Creation. Toss the dust in the air, it turns into any mundane item up to a certain weight. Then transforms back whenever you want. Repeat daily.
Setting: Normally I'd say Dark Sun, but I really prefer homebrewed worlds over anything WoTC has come up with so far.
Bit of fluff: Every single one of the Equipment Sets listed in the second Adventurer's Vault. They reminded me of WoW gear sets until I actually sat down and read the fluff. Kudos to those writers, man - you can base entire chunks of story around that equipment.
Tier of play: High-level Heroic, low-level Paragon.

[VeliciaL]

Ooh, ooh, I have some...

Class: I think I'll have to go with Warlord as my first favorite class. I love how you don't have to play a magic class to be a healer any more, and I love the whole battle captain feel of the class.

Branching from that, I really love what they've done with all the martial classes this time around. Fighters especially.

After Warlord, though, I think I'd go with Swordmage. I love the idea of an arcane swordfighter.

Race: I'm a high elf at heart, so Eladrin is my 4e fave. And I love being able to teleport. :D

Besides that, though, I love how they've added some of the monster races as PC races. Always bothered my how there were hundreds of intelligent races in D&D, and about 99% of them were "monsters."

I'm still waiting for a proper writeup for Goblins and Kobolds, though.

Power: Wolf Pack Tactics, for the Warlord. I love positioning my allies and setting up flanking positions. At will, no less!

Monster: I love what they've done with some of the earlier newbie fodder races this time around. Kobolds are a special favorite; shifty makes them a very tactical to play. Goblins are pretty neat too this time around.

Item: I haven't gotten to do this, since the defenders in my group are ******* and I've found myself stuck in the mob's face most of the time, but I still want to build a warlord around a longspear. Especially with that weapon fighting style in MP2 that lets me shove enemies around.

[PhallicWarrior]

Class: All of the Martial ones. I love the way each class (especially the fighter) can be built so I could have a whole party of fighters, and each would fight differently. Also, Warlords shouting other party members back to health is pure gold for rp.
Race: I've always been a fan of Warforged, and they line up with playing a fighter or warlord perfectly.
Power: Weaponsoul Dance, the Kensei lvl 20 daily. It's great for multimarking, does nice damage, and has great lockdown effects. (Knocked down and immobilized!) Plus it has awesome flavor.
Monster: The good old gelatinous cube, especially when perfectly situated in a 10x10 ft corridor. Insidious!
Item: Delver's Armor. Saved my PCs lives at least once each. (Literally. One of my players convinced me to let him add it to his last death check that would have killed him.)
Setting: I loved Dark Sun in 3.5 and I love it even more now. Now that I'm making a free-roaming adventure game based on the Points of Light setting, it's starting to grow on me too.
Bit of Fluff: The Primal Power source being an expansion pack to the Dawn War, and the Primal Spirits forcing those involved to sit down, shut up, and listen to them. Plus, Barbarians and Shamans are cool.
Tier of Play: I'll take a rare stance and say mid heroic, from about 5th level up to 10th. Nice variety of monsters you can fight, everyone's repertoire of powers and items are a nice size but there aren't any paragon paths or epic destinies to worry about yet. The game can keep with the gritty "realistic" feel as well that works well with my love of martial characters.

[Eliort]

Class: I've always liked bards, myself, and the 4e bard is badass!

Race: I like that Tiefling's a PC class now, so let's go with that! I like the IDEA of half elfs with their Dilettante, but I can never find anything that fits exactly with my character.

Power: Hands down Prestidigitation. LOVE the RP value in and out of combat. Wish that wizards came up with more powers like this for other classes.

Monster: Meh.

Item: I am biased towards songblades :¬P

Setting: Homebrew and also I like the sound of Darksun.

Tier: I suppose late Heroic?

Anyone have favourite Epic Destinies? I find that reading through them's my favourite part of the handbooks, though my favourite is probably the homebrew I'm coming up with for my bard :¬)

[Cartigan]

Class: Invoker. Ardent close second.
Race: Dwarf. Everything is better with Dwarves
Power: I don't know enough powers
Monster: There is some monster our DM pulled out of his ass probably that copied the form of a character and then could offload damage taken to the character being copied on every hit (Of course, that is probably supposed to be once a round or something - our DM usually doesn't read very thoroughly)
Item: Looking through magic items the other day I saw a wondrous item that was "The Mug of Neverending Ale" or something - you can use it to find the location of the nearest source of alcohol or, once per day, can use it to find the location of the nearest INGREDIENTS to MAKE alcohol.
Setting: Aren't they all the same? Or same as they were previously except for Forgotten Realms
Bit of fluff: The ale item sounds fluffy
Tier of play: The mid range one is looking OK.

[Sipex]

Class: Artificer, hands down. I love the idea of spreading around healing surges and love the idea of the 'potion master/inventer' the Artificer can be.

Race: Tough, Humans are always a nice choice though, also half-elves. I think Dwarf wins it though, I'm just partial to Dwarves.

Power: Any utility power really, I love the idea behind utility powers.

Monster: Any of the gibbering beasts, nice little horrors which piss off players via control.

Item: Any wonderous items, I love these things.

Setting: Homebrew or Ebberron.

Tier: Mid-Late Heroic. Have yet to play beyond that.

[Mando Knight]

New one.
Favorite Tables: the ones on pages 9 & 10 of this Dragon article (http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dra/201104strangegods). Tables for randomly generating deities.

[hoff]

Deity

Choose Type of Deity roll a d100:
1-10: Dragon Split one of Tiatmats head (refer to table 3)
11-20: Emotion Based (refer to table 4.5)
21-30: Environment Based (refer to table 4.6)
31-40: Race Based (refer to table 4.7)
41-50: Son/daughter of Godess X (refer to table 5.1) and God Y (refer to table 5.2)
51-75: Insert Force of nature here (refer to table 6)
76-80: Ascended archmage
81-85: Ascended Champion
81-85: Ascended Cleric/Paladin
86-90: Ascended Devil (AKA Klingon Promotion)
91-99: Don't ask, don't tell
100: Clown Puppet

The odd thing is I wouldn't be surprised if it were exactly like this...

[Mando Knight]

The odd thing is I wouldn't be surprised if it were exactly like this...

Actually, it's a set of four tables: a 1d10 table with Alignment, Origins, Goals, and two columns each for Personality and Appearance (the latter allowing you to roll tentacles twice); a 1d5 (well, ½d10) table with degree of Bloodthirstiness (from Gentle to RIP THEM TO SHREDS), enemies (including similarly-aligned deities), attitude towards worshipers/the world in general, and sphere of worship (from a secret club to world religion); a 1d20 table with Significant/Odd interests (including innocent mortals, as either objects of purity or delicacies), Main Flaw (the classic Seven Deadly Sins, as well as things like senility or being theatrical), and a roll twice column for followers' odd behaviors/superstitions (avoid mirrors, talk to people who aren't there, play Three Dragon Ante to solve any disputes...); and finally a d66 (that is, 2d6, with one for each digit) table for domains (roll 2-3 times... more if you want to be silly).

Of course, the tables aren't complete (such a table would either break the spine of the internets or at least take a bucket of dice to resolve), so they're accompanied by the author saying that you should feel free to tweak the results a bit ("followers fear cats" could be changed to "worship cats" or "fear hippopotami" or something).

[MeeposFire]

Class-I like a lot of classes but my three favorites so far are thief (jack of all trades so many skills), lazy warlord, and my slayer. My slayer is just so much fun to use after a long day.
Race-Kobold but human is good when I can't use them
Power-Reorient the axis-so much changing the battlefield so little time. It always opens the tables eyes.
Monster-Dark SUn Dragon
Item-rhythm blade spiked shield for my lazy warlord. He needs the AC and free hand.
Setting Eberron
Bit of fluff-I want to read Heroes of Shadow more before I decide this one
Tier of play paragon. The paths make the game for me.

[WitchSlayer]

Actually, it's a set of four tables: a 1d10 table with Alignment, Origins, Goals, and two columns each for Personality and Appearance (the latter allowing you to roll tentacles twice); a 1d5 (well, ½d10) table with degree of Bloodthirstiness (from Gentle to RIP THEM TO SHREDS), enemies (including similarly-aligned deities), attitude towards worshipers/the world in general, and sphere of worship (from a secret club to world religion); a 1d20 table with Significant/Odd interests (including innocent mortals, as either objects of purity or delicacies), Main Flaw (the classic Seven Deadly Sins, as well as things like senility or being theatrical), and a roll twice column for followers' odd behaviors/superstitions (avoid mirrors, talk to people who aren't there, play Three Dragon Ante to solve any disputes...); and finally a d66 (that is, 2d6, with one for each digit) table for domains (roll 2-3 times... more if you want to be silly).

Of course, the tables aren't complete (such a table would either break the spine of the internets or at least take a bucket of dice to resolve), so they're accompanied by the author saying that you should feel free to tweak the results a bit ("followers fear cats" could be changed to "worship cats" or "fear hippopotami" or something).

I saw those tables and I had to put them in .jpg format. Those are the best tables.

[Lord Vampyre]

Class? The original Assassin
Race? Changelings (they make the perfect assassins)
Power? Shadow Step (mobility is probably the most important thing when I play)
Monster? Dragons (always Dragons)
Setting? Dark Sun
Bit of fluff? The Raven Queen (perfect diety for assassins)
Tier of play? I still haven't gotten past Heroic, although I really want to play Epic.

[Gralamin]

Class? Warlords, Invokers, Avengers, and Wardens.
Race? Shardminds are the best new race.
Power? Invoke Obedience
Monster? Zombie Cactus
Setting? Dark Sun
Bit of fluff? Too much to choose, maybe Ioun.
Tier of play? Paragon
Table? Random God generation

[Reverent-One]

Table? Random God generation

Wait, what?

[Mando Knight]

Table? Random God generation

Wait, what?
He means this.

New one.
Favorite Tables: the ones on pages 9 & 10 of this Dragon article (http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dra/201104strangegods). Tables for randomly generating deities.

[Darth Stabber]

Race - Human or Dwarf. The extra feat doesn't go as far in 4e as it does in 3.5, but the extra encounter is great for certain classes (especially fighters after martial power came out), and I just really like having skills. Dwarf is also good, the feats are great, and second wind as a minor is awesome.

Class - Fighter, but that is true in nearly every rpg. Its also the only defender I like in this edition. I love the simplicity of marking while doing what you were going to do anyway, really intuitive that way. Battlerage vigor or 1h would be the prefered specialties.

Power - footwork lure, simple, does what you need it to, as many times as you need.

Monster - Illithids, as always.

Setting - I want greyhawk back, so until then eberron, just for giving us warforged.

[Sception]

So then, what, in 4e, is your favorite...

Class: Gosh, that's hard. There are several great ones. I guess Warlord (lazy tac or brave lords in particular), but it's a tough call.

Race: Again, there are several I like. I guess I'll go with Shadar-Kai

Power: Twin Strike. What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Monster: Yeah, beholder. Just about the only solo they got right in the monster manual. Iconic, challenging, threatening yet silly. Good times.

Item: Frost Weapon. What? What is it? You're giving me that funny look again.

Setting: Eberron. It's where the fun's at.

Bit of fluff: the Juiblex article from dungeon a while back. That was great.

Tier of play: Paragon. You've got a full set of toys, but the game hasn't gone all ridiculous yet.


Honorable mention:

Classes: Shaman, Paladin, Hexblade, Blackguard, Mage. Ossassin, despite its crippling flaws, also has a place close to my heart.

Races: Revenant, Drow, Tiefling, Human, half elf, changeling