Favorite Class Type?

[ScrambledBrains]

I'm curious as to what everyone's favorite type of character is from among the-(Meatshield, Healbitch, Skillmonkey, Batman, Face, Swiss Army Knife) spread. Mostly because I'm trying to see if any others different from the one I have played would appeal to me. :smallsmile:

Me, I believe I have a skillmonkey preference. I have only played two characters to either death or campaign completion, a Rogue and a Swordsage respectively, and I love the usage of some skill letting me handle a scenario that had arose in style. I hid and snuck through the night like a shade and I jumped through windows with no fear of the consequences of falling, among other notable actions. :smallcool:

What is your fav?

EDIT-Added more types.

[Malachei]

Arcane caster. A term I prefer to Batman, by far.

[ScrambledBrains]

XD Fair enough. And why do you like them?

[Alleran]

Batman wizard.

Why?

Because I get to be the ******* Batman, that's why.

[Telonius]

I'm curious as to what everyone's favorite type of character is from among the-(Meatshield, Healbitch, Skillmonkey, Batman) spread. Mostly because I'm trying to see if any others different from the one I have played would appeal to me. :smallsmile:
...

What is your fav?

My favorite isn't listed: Face. High-charisma, scoundrelly Face.

Most of the time, a Face can't just be a Face, he'll bleed over into some other roles. Meatshield is the least common secondary focus for Faces, but it's still possible with something like a Paladin. Skillmonkey or Skillmonkey/Batman tend to be the easiest to visualize for me, with Clerics of trickster or travel gods following close behind.

I approach gaming as collaborative theater. Mechanics are fun, but it's much more fun for me to pull off some elaborate social ruse than it is to thwack somebody in the face, or rain arcane doom, or wield the power of gods, or be a master thief.

[Tokuhara]

I actually like being a "Swiss Army Knife" (Not to be confused with Batman) Druid, because I usually play with a small group (3-4 people max), so I cover Healing, Primary Melee, and Controller

[ScrambledBrains]

Batman wizard.

Why?

Because I get to be the ******* Batman, that's why.

I see. :smallamused: But is there some special feeling(besides the power, of course.) that you get from playing the Batman Wizard?

[ScrambledBrains]

My favorite isn't listed: Face. High-charisma, scoundrelly Face.

Most of the time, a Face can't just be a Face, he'll bleed over into some other roles. Meatshield is the least common secondary focus for Faces, but it's still possible with something like a Paladin. Skillmonkey or Skillmonkey/Batman tend to be the easiest to visualize for me, with Clerics of trickster or travel gods following close behind.

I approach gaming as collaborative theater. Mechanics are fun, but it's much more fun for me to pull off some elaborate social ruse than it is to thwack somebody in the face, or rain arcane doom, or wield the power of gods, or be a master thief.

Good point. A people person in a group can very much come in handy based on the scenario. :smallsmile: My skillmonkey Rogue actually sucked at being a Face...probably because he was gruff and cynical, and had a sucky Charisma. :smallbiggrin:


I actually like being a "Swiss Army Knife" (Not to be confused with Batman) Druid, because I usually play with a small group (3-4 people max), so I cover Healing, Primary Melee, and Controller

Versatility, nice. :smallcool:

[JohnDaBarr]

Well, I like to have a lot of skill point's and still be useful in combat so I prefer some sort of a arcane caster/rogue hybrid and there are some nice classes in that field. Why, because I like to have a lot of skill points so i don't depend on my spell's in doing stuff I could do with skill checks.

right now in next campaign I'm planing to play a rogue with 4 lvl fighter dip and TWF, and yeah I know that's not the way to go but I'll try, it's a longshot, need couple of good rolls to get nice attributes.

[TheRinni]

I have to say that I love being the party's face. I've never enjoyed playing low-charisma characters; I feel they limit my roleplaying.

My favorite archetype within that type is the charismatic scoundrel, with leadership. Jack Sparrow, Malcolm Reynolds, Robin Hood... right now I'm playing a pirate captain, and couldn't be happier.

That being said, I also enjoy playing Sorcerers and Favored Souls for more spell-casting-based-faces.

[Tokuhara]

Versatility, nice. :smallcool:

That, and once (with DM's permission), I used the Fey Druid (as posted by the Giant) and added Party Face to my laundry list. It was akward when the 99% Warforged Party had the Woodling Dragonwrought Kobold Child of Eberron Fey Druid speak on behalf of the party :smalltongue:

[DragonBaneDM]

I guess Healbitch is what I fall under. I like being the Divine Caster who's packing buffs and cure spells. I always feel like I'm doing something important!

I can live without the bonus XP from killing monsters, because my party is always going to say "Well the cleric saved our behinds the entire session" at the end, and that'll snag me extra.

[Yora]

I think I am mostly leaning towards skills. I'm neither a fan of melee combat specialists, nor of dealing with large numbers of spells.
Rangers and multiclass sorcerers are my usual choices of characters.

[Psyren]

I vary a lot; going from the silver-tongued face to the stoic bruiser to the raging berserker to the quiet medic with nerves of steel to the sharp-eyed scout to the insufferable know-it-all etc.

My main thing though is to be effective at what I choose to do. I hate playing somebody who is inept, even as a ruse. It's one thing if the dice screw me over, but quite another if I'm, say, a skillmonkey with 12 dex and int, or a normal person thrust into D&D-land with no powers or abilities etc.

[Tokuhara]

I guess Healbitch is what I fall under. I like being the Divine Caster who's packing buffs and cure spells. I always feel like I'm doing something important!

I can live without the bonus XP from killing monsters, because my party is always going to say "Well the cleric saved our behinds the entire session" at the end, and that'll snag me extra.

Best part about being the Healbot is that the party sometimes goes out of their way to make sure you have good gear. I remember as my first druid (Seelie Court Killoren Druid 20), I was about 1/2way gold-wise to a gear upgrade, and the party's wizard, who was going to buy a Spellbook of Boccob actually spent the gold to help me out. He knew that if I didn't get the gear upgrade, Healing wouldn't be worth much. And the Paladin was always happy to get a heal drop, even though he was basically Anti-Nature (WF Feat Paladin/Stoneblessed/Dwarven Defender/WF Juggernaut), he often begged me to heal him (Yes, we had a cleric, but he was a Clericzilla and NEVER healed anybody)

[Vemynal]

I generally play a Minionmancer type character, I don't necessarily think that fulfills the batman role though...

The other archtype I play a lot of is the party face, usually crossed with some other facet of the party (Heal bitch, Meat shield or skill monkey)

[Tokuhara]

This thread makes me want to play a druid again... But my group plays Pathfinder... I'm sad...

[Chronos]

I like characters who have a variety of nifty abilities that don't run out-- I've never been good at managing limited resources in games. Usually, this means skillmonkey, but it could also be something like a warlock or binder.

[Othesemo]

I usually play a face/skill monkey hybrid. I may not necessarily dominate combat, but I can still completely monopolize everything else. One thing that I particularly enjoy doing is rogue/exemplar. Apart from having maxed out diplomacy, intimidate, bluff and gather info, I can also get a +24 to UMD and use my exemplar levels to be able to take ten on all UMD checks. Voila-I now auto-succeed on checks to use ANY magic item- even century old artifacts that require a command word spoken in a dead language to activate.

[erikun]

The Holy Warrior: I may giveth, and may taketh away.

More clearly, I like a character can that stand up well in battle, and then patch himself up afterwards. This is one of the reasons I really like Clerics; they can get into combat with their okay weapon selection and good armor, and then heal themselves afterwards. Healing others is nice, too. Plus, the ability to buff for more efficient combat, or when the situation calls for it, is something I like as well.

I kind of like Rangers for much the same reason: they are very self-sufficient, capable in combat, and (in some games) able to heal themselves up afterwards.

[Hiro Protagonest]

This thread makes me want to play a druid again... But my group plays Pathfinder... I'm sad...

Druid is still good in PF. It's just 2-1/2 classes instead of 3.

...

Anthropomorphic dire tortoise druid. Wild Shape into a dire tortoise.

[Larpus]

It's also missing Pain Dealer, which is something that I find interestingly fun. Funny thing is, for whatever reason it only ticks as fun if it's in a close and personal method, archery is boring and so is blasting.

And then I like to couple that with Sneaky Bastard (also missing) or Meatshield, depending on class, scores and mood.

I also dislike with a passion to be the Face, but I do like to be a pathological liar, whenever I can (and it fits the concept), I'll grab Bluff and lie through my teeth (always goes hand to hand if I'm the Sneaky Bastard).

All that with a moderate dose of Skillmonkeyry if possible.

[Tokuhara]

Druid is still good in PF. It's just 2-1/2 classes instead of 3.

...

Anthropomorphic dire tortoise druid. Wild Shape into a dire tortoise.

Let's not give my DM a stroke...

[Diefje]

I like them all but sometimes... Just sometimes... I just want to hit stuff in the face.

Oh and I generally play the Baldrick "I have a cunning plan", usually followed by "what could possibly go wrong?" They usually don't trust me much.

[Eshi]

I like playing support roles, with a leaning towards buffing and healing. They feel like the glue that keeps a party together, and I love feeling like I made major contributions to victory even though it's in the background and not obvious. My current favorite class for it is PF Alchemist because there's so much crap they can do to fill that supportive flavor and a lot of it is quite unique.

[AmberVael]

Favorite class type? Hmmm...

The classes I tend to favor are as follows:

Warlock, Factotum, Swordsage, Sorcerer

I also have a fondness for Incarnum, and will sometimes go cleric (often spontaneous and cloistered).

The theme behind these is this- I like having options, I like having magic, or skills (or both), but I also like powers that don't run out. (Sorcerer is rather the exception on that part).

Homebrew invocation classes, or warlock fixes that get a higher number of invocations, are something I like a lot.

[Tyndmyr]

I am....the batman. I love flexible chars, and even before discovering the internet, routinely tried to make them.

[Coidzor]

Swiss Army Knife, aka T3 and up. Even if I'm not the best in the party at it, I don't want to be twiddling my thumbs while sitting on them for 30 minutes while the rest of the group's characters contribute meaningfully, and I want to make it as hard as possible for the DM or another player to engineer such a scenario.


Because, seriously, if all you can do is meatshield, then your character only has a reason to exist in combat and can't even interact on the level of a child with it outside of combat.

If all you can do is heal, then your role is, effectively, not being a player, you're a line of dialogue "and now we're healed to full" and 5 seconds of real world time and 5 minutes of in-game time. And can't even interact on the level of a child with it outside of that and being, generally, bad at your job in combat. A regenerating health bar & the ability for anyone to slap their friends to activate it if they get downed does the job better than your entire character.

Faces can do a bit more stuff since they're more limited by imagination than by hard mechanics like meatshields and beatsticks and beatstickshields, but they're basically the opposite side of the coin from them, basically being a type of skillmonkey focused on social interactions.

So you're either useless except in one tiny box/intentionally playing badly to fit into one tiny box or you're expanding into more than one sphere which is a step towards the other two categories you've mentioned.

Batman can do everything, and do it well to the point of making you wonder why you took aquaman along to talk to the sea animals on an aquatic adventure. So Batman has to play with kid gloves/badly or he'll remind people that they chose poorly.

Whereas the swiss army knife is either incompetent at everything and so thrown away and a new one bought or reasonably useful in several if not all areas and doesn't make the specialists feel like they fail at their jobs even if they really, really do.

[PersonMan]

Mine isn't really listed, either. I enjoy playing Support-type characters, often via debuffing enemies(you want to hit him with a save-or-lose? Let me reduce his Will save first...) and buffing allies. I like feeling like I'm really helping people, and seeing a bit fat +lots to everything my allies do gives me that feeling.

I sometimes go for Meatshields, but generally for specific concepts.

I also have a damage-dealer build that I like, primarily for the sheer nova-y-ness of it.

[Tokuhara]

Swiss Army Knife, aka T3 and up. Even if I'm not the best in the party at it, I don't want to be twiddling my thumbs while sitting on them for 30 minutes while the rest of the group's characters contribute meaningfully, and I want to make it as hard as possible for the DM or another player to engineer such a scenario.

I'm with you. Druid IMO is the best example of a Core-Only Swiss Army Knife. Melee, Primary Caster, Healbot, and Skillmonkey rolled into one

[DragonBaneDM]

Best part about being the Healbot is that the party sometimes goes out of their way to make sure you have good gear. I remember as my first druid (Seelie Court Killoren Druid 20), I was about 1/2way gold-wise to a gear upgrade, and the party's wizard, who was going to buy a Spellbook of Boccob actually spent the gold to help me out. He knew that if I didn't get the gear upgrade, Healing wouldn't be worth much. And the Paladin was always happy to get a heal drop, even though he was basically Anti-Nature (WF Feat Paladin/Stoneblessed/Dwarven Defender/WF Juggernaut), he often begged me to heal him (Yes, we had a cleric, but he was a Clericzilla and NEVER healed anybody)

I know what you mean! I missed a session last week, and when I got back to this week's they just went "Oh yeah, we found a +2 Wis enhancing item for you". It was awesome.

[kardar233]

I prefer versatility. I'm heavily biased towards Faces, but I like having the capability to apply a large amount of force very precisely. I always take social skills, but I like having some versatile and effective force behind me, which is why I'm currently playing a WarBardBladeLock.

I really like the idea of a PF Magus with social capabilities, who would be able to do most anything (and be able to act like my Oblivion character at the same time, so that's extra).

[gooddragon1]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/StormTrooper_Blaster.jpg

[Endarire]

I like people who do very big and important things!

At low levels, Warblades and Crusaders rock for their ability to take on large amounts of foes and live. (I was surprised how durable my first purpose-built martial adept was!)

Come level 4 spells, I call Wizard! Dimension door, black tentacles, solid fog, polymorph... All these are core and quite powerful. With the allure of level 5 spells (TELEPORT!), I need a compelling reason not to be a full caster.

[Kaje]

Gish is by far my preferred archetype. They may not be as powerful as others, but they are just pure awesome.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Gish is by far my preferred archetype. They may not be as powerful as others, but they are just pure awesome.

Not as powerful?

What gish have you been playing?

[kardar233]

Mmmyes, gishes are also a favourite of mine (though I haven't had a chance to fiddle with one yet) because they remind me of Elric.

[Tokuhara]

I know what you mean! I missed a session last week, and when I got back to this week's they just went "Oh yeah, we found a +2 Wis enhancing item for you". It was awesome.

It was especially cool when my character got captured by a demonic entity, and instead of following the main plot, they threw the MacGuffain in the trash (literally) and went on a suicide mission to save me from the 666th Layer of the Abyss

[Jeff the Green]

I like to play, well, not quite Swiss-army knives... let's call them "Leathermen (http://www.leatherman.com/)." Able to contribute in most, if not all, situations, but some situations require really stretching my imagination and/or the abilities of my character. For example: Wildshape Rangers, Beguilers, Warlocks, Dread Necromancers...

Being able to solve anything, à la Batman, gets boring without a good DM and can annoy the other players. On the other hand, having only one or two functions means sitting around doing nothing, which isn't much fun either.

[Stone Heart]

I usually don't play anything without some qualities of the Face, but I also play bruisers. I feel meatshield is not right when I am more on the melee damage dealer part. Usually brutish.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Genius Bruiser (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GeniusBruiser).

I can't play a character with below average mental stats. I've also never played a caster or skillmonkey, unless you count swordsage. I might play a cleric or druid at some point, but those are still melee.

[ScrambledBrains]

...Wow. Busy for the day after posting the thread and it really expanded. :smallamused: Cool. Well, good to hear everyone's favs, and I kinda wanna play a swiss army knife now. :smallbiggrin:

[flabort]

If I had to pick from that list, Meatshield. If I don't, Minion-spammer (stuff like Necromancer, or summoner), or the Runner/Scout (guy who goes ahead, checks stuff out, but has no/little combat capability. Usually the fastest team member).

@Jade Dragon: I felt TVTropes sucking away my life force the moment I opened this thread. Even before seeing your post. that's just cruel, and I'd like to know how to do that (So I can repeat it on more victims).

[Amphetryon]

Where does "Debuffing Gish" fit on the list?

[Hiro Protagonest]

@Jade Dragon: I felt TVTropes sucking away my life force the moment I opened this thread. Even before seeing your post. that's just cruel, and I'd like to know how to do that (So I can repeat it on more victims).

To use this skill, you must braver the hellish site and gain sufficient knowledge of what tropes there are. The more you know about, the more chance one will be relevant to a discussion.

[Belril Duskwalk]

To use this skill, you must braver the hellish site and gain sufficient knowledge of what tropes there are. The more you know about, the more chance one will be relevant to a discussion.

Unfortunately, the odds of it ruining your life (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife) also rise at a similar pace.

My favorite character has to be the skillmonkey. I started in 2nd ed. with my first character as a Rogue primarily because the party needed one. But they are so much fun, especially for dungeon crawls. This particular character also has the Con and Dex to back up some considerable durability, so he ends up doing a bit of dodge-tanking most days too.

[The-Mage-King]

Mine? Probably Swiss Army Knife- I like to play characters who are relevant.



Mostly, though, I find myself playing Lightning Bruisers (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LightningBruiser) with a splash of skillmonkey. I like me some Factotum/Warblades. It's either those, or gishes, usually.

[Tvtyrant]

My favorite is the swiss army knife. I hate feeling like a circumstance has rendered me useless.

[Lateral]

Favorite class type? Ooh, that's a toughie...

If I had to choose, I'd go with the psionic Swiss Army Knife. You know, Psion and Erudite and Psychic warrior. Depends on how much versatility I want and whether I feel like combat. The brainy tactician beatstick comes in a close second, though; I love me my INT 16 Warblades.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Unfortunately, the odds of it ruining your life (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife) also rise at a similar pace.
It's like taking knowledge (forbidden lore) when using Sanity rules. You have plenty of points, but don't spend too much.

Mine? Probably Swiss Army Knife- I like to play characters who are relevant.



Mostly, though, I find myself playing Lightning Bruisers (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LightningBruiser) with a splash of skillmonkey. I like me some Factotum/Warblades. It's either those, or gishes, usually.

Oh, yes, lightning bruiser. Guess I should've added that as well. One of my current characters is a level 2 whirling pouncebarian orc with 50 ft movement speed (homebrew fighter fix that let's me get Lion's Pounce and Fast Movement as fighter bonus feats, plus the Quick trait from UA, for +20 to speed and Pounce), and another is a warblade 4//factotum 2/spell reflection feat rogue 2 with 16 in all physical stats and intelligence, the Quick trait, and Sudden Leap.

[flumphy]

I like characters who have a variety of nifty abilities that don't run out-- I've never been good at managing limited resources in games.


This is me. In D&D, this usually boils down to being a martial damage dealer or invocation user. I'm not really fond of the flavor of binders, so I avoid them.

However, in games where resource management is less of an issue, I go for the support role. I care more about staying alive than dealing damage, but unfortunately, in 3.5 damage is all that's really available to me. :smallfrown:

[Lateral]

Oh, yes, lightning bruiser. Guess I should've added that as well. One of my current characters is a level 2 whirling pouncebarian orc with 50 ft movement speed (homebrew fighter fix that let's me get Lion's Pounce and Fast Movement as fighter bonus feats, plus the Quick trait from UA, for +20 to speed and Pounce), and another is a warblade 4//factotum 2/spell reflection feat rogue 2 with 16 in all physical stats and intelligence, the Quick trait, and Sudden Leap.

Nice. Of course, a couple of characters doesn't set what kinds you normally play; none of my currently active characters happen to be either psionic swiss army knives or intelligent beatsticks. (One's a lockdown skirmisher [Scout 3/Ranger 3 riding a Fleshraker, with Boomerang Daze, angling for Unseen Seer in two levels], another's a Wilder/Phrenic Slayer//Soulknife/Pyrokineticist [this one's a PF gestalt remake of my forum profile's namesake, for obvious reasons], and another's an Irish, Scottish, or English bear whose combat tactics are to get drunk and hit people in the bollocks with anvils and iron spikes while singing drinking songs. [Is he Irish, Scottish, or English, you ask? I'm not sure he knows the difference.]

[Little Brother]

Versatile Arcanists. Swiss-army knives with power tools inside. Magic is too fun, and being useless is never fun. Stuff like a fixed Savant, a Theurge, a Bard, all that stuff.

[MrRigger]

I prefer casters, of varying shapes and sizes. No matter what role I want to play in the group, I'll usually try to do it with a caster or pseudocaster (Warlock or Binder, though I've had a lot of fun with ToB in the past). I enjoy my wizards and sorcerers, but if I want to play tank/beatstick/melee beast, I'll probably go with a DMM Cleric, because even if I dedicate nearly all my spells toward hitting someone in the face with a sharp pointy object (and making sure I don't go down in the meantime), I still find it necessary to Control Weather or call down a Storm of Vengeance from time to time. Or I'll play a druid and be friends with all the animals of the forest (but mostly bears and dinosaurs). Though playing the know-it-all Archivist who can buff the rest of the party with his smartness.

MrRigger

[DemonRoach]

Warlock and Factotum, usually the party face, followed distantly by Sorcerer.

[DoctorGlock]

Wizard played as a swiss army knife
No matter what happens, I have what is needed. In the very rare occasion that I do not, I still have options, lots of them. In combat I have a few good tricks, generally good enough to flat out say "no". After playing a wizard, I doubt I could ever go back to another class, it's all about the freedom and never feeling useless, you never sit at the table for an hour or websurf because we are doing something "not your thing"

[Bladesinger]

I've played something in every role before, and I've enjoyed virtually every character I've played. In the end, though, I have to go with badass bookworm.

Now, this doesn't necessarily mean Batman, as I mean bookworm in terms of flavor, and not just class features. For instance, I once played a Paladin of Ehlonna who read and recited poetry about nature almost obsessively (kind of like an Emerson or Whitman thing). If anyone insulted the poetry or damaged nature, he basically turned into Captain Planet and started smiting. It was pretty word.

Basically, I really like playing intellectual types. That's why Wizard and Archivist are my favorite classes. Even if they were tier 5 and as poorly thought-out as the PHB Monk, that would still be the case.

[starwoof]

I like being the melee control face smasher. There's nothing quite as satisfying as smashing your enemies into the ground... except humiliating them first. Basically I like to be a melee/mounted type with improved trip/grapple/trample. Bonus points for being able to enforce the party charter in character, as in 'be a disruptive ****** and I will break you'. :smallbiggrin:

I also like being a blaster caster, like a hellfire warlock.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I go heavily for Healbitch/Face/Debuffer. I almost always go Bard/Chord.

[Malachei]

XD Fair enough. And why do you like them?

Even back in 1st edition and BECMI, when I started, I enjoyed the flexibility and the many tactical options an arcane caster has. They always offer you something new.

I like them because they're highly vulnerable, so if you're not playing them right, you're in grave danger. I like the roleplaying aspect, the archetype they present, which is central to our world's myths and legends. I like spell mechanics. I like spell research.

They reward the effort you put into them.

[CGforever!]

I like a very specific mix of things, and I can never get all of what I want in a single build. For me, the perfect character is a scout/swordsage/transmuter/ruathar/swiftblade, but I also like green star adepts, wilderness rogues, ninjas, warblades, tempests, thief-acrobats, harper agents, duskblades/bladesingers, and single class monks.

What I want is:

-stealth/perception/fieldcraft/acrobatics/athleticism/locks & traps
-high reflex & will saves, decent fort (battle fortitude), evasion, and special resistance to enchantment/illusion/fear/death attacks
-dual wielding weapon finesse AND decent throwing/archery
-divination/illusion/transmutation spells
-very high initiative/high speed/above average action economy
-d8
-unnerving calm

when I go full spellcaster, I want:
-double wand wielder
-quicken spell
-silent/still spell
-rays
-excellent counterspelling

...all in one class.

TL:DR http://i44.tinypic.com/2qk6sth.jpg

[Basket Burner]

Arcane caster. I like having options and the ability to contribute to a wide variety of situations. I like not being limited to only doing one thing. I like not having my entire thing be replaceable by any number of other things, and not being that good in any case.

Second would be divine casters, but I don't like the religion angle very much.

[Terazul]

I tend to like Gishes, usually of a Lighting Bruiser, Genius Bruiser, or Cultured Badass variety. The charming guy who pulls out a sword and then sets it on fire by yelling at it.

I love my Bardblade.

Also Kung Fu Wizards. Basically yeah, Gishes, or just anyone who blends martial and arcane/psionic/divine/otherwordly prowess.

[Venger]

(Meatshield, Healbitch, Skillmonkey, Batman, Face, Swiss Army Knife)

Interesting question...

the game I'm in right now has 5 other members, a psionic rogue, a dervish, a wizard, a bard, and a sorcerer

I am a chameleon

in combat, I am inevitably the only one who takes damage (deals it too, but that's another story) and am always the one who stands in front of the (halfling) wizard to protect her from harm. I am a meat shield

I am the only source of healing in the party via my opportunistic piety, so after combat (in-combat in emergencies, party member is in negatives) I am a healbitch

factoti have all skills as class skills and are int based. our bard dumped cha. I am a skillmonkey.

every (useful) spell the wizard has in her spellbook, I have in mine (and I can cast 60% of them at at least 1 level lower) everything that appears at the same level on a divine list, I take from there. I am batman

(with the exception of the psionic rogue) I am the only one who enjoys roleplaying. I am the face

Between factotum's cunning strike/arcane dilettante/opportunistic piety and chameleon's foci and emulate class feature, there is nothing that one of these archetypes can do that I can't.

serendipity dictates that at one time or another, I am all of these. they are each rewarding in their own way

[Calanon]

THE GODDAMN BATMAN! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgVX7HYIDME)

but in all seriousness I prefer Wizard or Archivist... I like the idea of having to learn my spells :smallbiggrin:

On a sidenote: the new prerequisites for becoming a Wizard is killing captain clown atleast once :smallbiggrin:

[Venger]

THE GODDAMN BATMAN! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgVX7HYIDME)

but in all seriousness I prefer Wizard or Archivist... I like the idea of having to learn my spells :smallbiggrin:

On a sidenote: the new prerequisites for becoming a Wizard is killing captain clown atleast once :smallbiggrin:

for a fun encounter for a batman wizard, search this thread for "joker bard" it's a very good read.

[RndmNumGen]

I like playing versatile characters. Be they skillmonkies, batman wizards or something else entirely, I want options. Perhaps that's why I'm infatuated with Theurges, even though they're typically underpowered unless you use early entry shenanigans. Gishes are fun, too. I don't mind building a character to be really good at one thing, but I want alternatives to fall back on when that one thing isn't applicable to the situation.

[Emperor Tippy]

Factotum skill monkeys, Swordsage assassin types, Psions, and Wizards are my favorite choices.

[Dr.Epic]

Tank. Easiest to make, one of the funniest to RP.

[noparlpf]

I like the Meatshield and Healbot, I guess. Lately I've usually played Barbarians going for charging, grappling, or bull rushing.
Skillmonkeys are neat but don't get too much use in one-shots, and the campaign I was in is on hiatus until the local bookstore finds somebody to replace the guy who just quit and the DM gets back to his normal hours. I'm playing a Ranger in that game, which is largely a wilderness-survival setting, so I'd been using skills almost more than anything else in that.