Your Favorite "off-book" Class?

[malonkey1]

What's your favorite base class from outside core (including Dragon Magazine, but not 3rd-party sources)?

What makes it your favorite, and what kind of shenanigans (optimization or otherwise) did you get up to with it?

[Magic Myrmidon]

Couldn't possibly choose, sadly. I love Beguiler, for flavorful sneaky spellcasting, but the Binder's flavor and mechanics are so fun. And I could never get enough of the ToB classes. And scout is fun for the mobile fighter archetype I like so much. Swashbuckler is great for that Int to damage, which lends to being able to choose whatever my main stat is, which is nice (I love Legend largely for that reason.)

Frankly, after playing RPGs (especially 3.5) for so long, I find most core classes boring, barring the wizard.

[SinsI]

Totemist. Always nice to turn yourself into near-omnipotent Cthulhu.

[Waker]

Outside of core? I'd go with Incarnate. Not really one for shenanigans, but I do like the idea of being a magical character who doesn't break the game and can still contribute to the party.
I'm am quite partial to Warblade as well. Just nice being able to play a competent warrior type who doesn't have to cast spells to be relevant.

[Manly Man]

A tie between Warblade and Psychic Warrior. My favorite gestalt combo is PsyWar/Swordsage, though.

[Sir Chuckles]

I can't say I have a favorite, but there's plenty that I love.
Mostly Prestige Classes like Jade Pheonix Mage, Arcane Duelist, Warshaper, Legendary Tactician/Leader...

Though I want to love the Court Herald, but I can't figure how to work it into a build...

[HaikenEdge]

For me, it's a four-way tie between Factotum, Spell-to-Power Erudite, Warlock and Warblade; each fills a specific type of character I might want to play (skill monkey, utility caster, caster with no paperwork, and fighter-type, respectively), so I can't really decide on which class I like best.

I will say, however, that I generally don't like the core base classes anyways...

[The Trickster]

Hmmm I'd go with swordsage and beguiler. Swordsage fills my love of versitile skill monkeys/damage dealers, and I love illusions in general.

[Particle_Man]

Warlock or Crusader, though Beguiler and Incarnate also deserve some love.

[Magic Myrmidon]

Ahhh, I forgot about psionics. Poor psionics. I long for the day that I actually get to use a psion in anything more than a thought experiment or one-shot.

[Forrestfire]

Factotum and Warblade. I get endless enjoyment out of these classes, to the point where it was a running gag at one point that my suggestions for a build would always start with one of them. I just really like the versatility of the factotum, and I like the warblade's fightyness, I guess.

[Averis Vol]

for me its pretty close between warmage, binder or paladin. the former nor latter are all that strong, but they appeal to me and how I like to play.

[Hangwind]

Binder, Sha'ir, Artificer, or Dragonfire Adept.



...I may have a thing for CHA classes:smallbiggrin:

[Rakaydos]

Is Dragon Racial Hit dice considered core?

[HaikenEdge]

Ahhh, I forgot about psionics. Poor psionics. I long for the day that I actually get to use a psion in anything more than a thought experiment or one-shot.

I'm more curious how anybody even uses the spell slot system; to me, it's so unintuitive that I'd much rather just play psionics when I want to be a caster, or play an invoker, because the idea of managing spell slots feels like the complete opposite of magic to me, like I was waking up every morning and deciding what I wanted to put in my utility belt, and that just doesn't feel like magic to me; it feels like some guy loading up on magazines and grenades.

To be fair, though, I've always disliked spellcasters in D&D (not because their power level, but due to the spellcasting system) in general, so I'm probably just really super-biased.

[The Grue]

Stormcaster.

It's not great as far as OP shenanigans, I just love the flavour.

[(Un)Inspired]

Is Dragon Racial Hit dice considered core?

I'm right there with you buddy.

[Ansem]

Dread Necromancer for flavour and Artificer since I'm just good with them.

[docnessuno]

Toss up between Warblade, Beguiller and Duskblade.

[NoACWarrior]

My two favorite base classes are Binder and Dread Necromancer (tied).

Binder has a lot of flavor - but can be very restrictive as deemed by the DM to reign in the power. Dread Necromancer was one way to play necromancer without being evil (though I ended up evil a few times anyways).

Both have methods to obtain infinite healing, and due to my D&D experiences (having a character die every 1-2 sessions) I place that as high as good defenses. Part of the reason they are fun to play is to RP the party dynamic, especially when you have a Paladin in the party.

[Jeff the Green]

Wu Jen or Spirit Shaman. Wu Jen is a wizard but tier 2 and has some awesome unique spells. (Fling snake tattoos at your enemies! Bind murderjacks to your will!) Spirit Shaman has probably the coolest casting mechanic.

[malonkey1]

Is Dragon Racial Hit dice considered core?

I wanna say...Yes?

For me, among my favorites are the Factotum, and the ToB and Incarnum stuff. I know MoI wasn't very well-edited, and some of the classes make you wanna cry with how underpowered they can be, but I truly love the fluff for it. The ToB made fighting fun for me, and the Factotum is just a huge bag of tasty cheddar, and has some nice flavor even without the cheese.

EDIT: Plus, the Factotum's basically Pathfinder-ready out of the box.

[Annos]

Is Dragon Racial Hit dice considered core?

Even if they are, Dragon Magazine left all of the dragon lovers a little present in the form of Dragon Monster Classes :smallbiggrin:

[Kennisiou]

Master of Many Forms prestige class. It's a great class for just about any power level of game as long as you are careful enough to not select "win the game" forms when it's not really required.

[Zytil]

Factotum/Totemist. Possibly gestalted together. I'm also rather fond of the artificer.

[The-Mage-King]

Warblade or Factotum, definitely. Both are fun and have options, and fill the roles I like to take over.

Or Artificers.

[Amphetryon]

Crusader, Dread Necromancer, Psychic Warrior, Warlock, Wilder. Totemist and Swordsage are not far behind.

My favorite shtick is that of the "debuffing gish," and the above all do that to varying degrees. Crusader may be the least effective at it by itself, but is by far my favorite full-BAB option, thanks to useful in-combat options to help allies, and it pairs well with the DN, Warlock, or Wilder.

[(Un)Inspired]

If where counting Dragon racial hd as core the by far my favorite class is the wilder. It's exactly what I want a psychic character to be when you use the educated wilder variant.

I played in a campaign as a Wilder/ Psychokinetic Champion with a straight Factotum, a Fighter/swordsage/warblade/master of the nine, and a Favored Soul.

It was some of the most fun I've ever had at a table.

[TypoNinja]

I'm right their with you buddy.

thirded, and not core since the rules for Dragons as PC are in the Draconomicon. :P

Does Swifthunter count? Scout is nice, but given the choice I'd far rather do Swifthunter.

[HunterOfJello]

Archivist. It's everything I want from divine magic and I don't have to play a cleric or druid!

[ZamielVanWeber]

Spirit Shaman and Psion would probably be my tippy top, partly because they are the strongest casters I can tolerate. Big soft spot for low tier casters though.

[12owlbears]

It would be a tie between psy warriors and factotum their both better versions of the fighter and rogue without needing ToB.