Class Ideas

[Xzoltar]

In our game we are currently designing new class for the 4th edition. 2 of each Power source and each role for a total of 48 classes (yeah certainly way too much, anyway)

We have a lot of stuff currently done, and when we will be ready we will start playtesting everything (including new rules, races, custom magic items...), but we still need some idea for new class that remain to be done. This is a list of the class we have so far.

ARCANE
- Controller: Wizard, Generator (New)
- Defender: Swordmage, Spellguard (New), Golem Master (New)
- Leader: Bard, Artificer, War Weaver (New)
- Striker: Warlock, Sorcerer, Spellthieft (New)

- Golem Master: Defend using miniature that he summon as Golem
- Generator: Mimic Magic Items and create them on the fly
- Spellthieft: Adaptation of that class to 4e, still a Arcane Slayer, mix between Rogue-Wizard
- Chirurgeon: I dont really like the name and if anyone have a idea for a Arcane Leader. Theyre no real core concept design yet for it. /// Change to War Weaver as per the suggestion below
- Spellguard: Similar to the Swordmage but focus on Ranged Arcane Attack, Deflecting and Counterspelling

DIVINE
- Controller: Invoker, Zodiac (New)
- Defender: Paladin, Valkyr (New)
- Leader: Cleric, Archon (New)
- Striker: Avenger

- Zodiac: Use Mythology and Astrology stuff, including Sumonning and Zone
- Valkyr: A cross between the famous Valkyrie and the Spartan. A divine defender using spear and holy power.
- Archon: A Healer that mimic the Power of Archangel. Little Summoning and Shapechanging involved

MARTIAL
- Controller: -
- Defender: Fighter
- Leader: Warlord, Noble (New)
- Striker: Ranger, Rogue, Marksman (New)

- Noble: Surround by henchmen (reflavored version of what a Necromance could look like, mix with a Warlord)
- Marksman: Ranged Firearms user

PRIMAL
- Controller: Druid, Seeker, Factotum (New)
- Defender: Warden, Dungeon Keeper (New)
- Leader: Shaman, Truenamer (New), Incarnate (New), Chloromancer (New)
- Striker: Barbarian, Totemist (New)

- Factotum: Adaptation of the Factotum, to play a Controller role when not doing is Jack-of-All-Trades things
- Dungeon Keeper: Defender that can alter the Battlefield, Summon Wall, Alter Terrains...
- Truenamer: Adaptation to 4e
- Soulweaver: The Spirit of all past Heroes give you your power (incarnum flavor) /// Split in Totemist and Incarnate as per the suggestion below, Might chance Truenamer to another role or even power source if too similar
- Chloromancer: Healer that use the power of plants (see Rift game) and Heal more with Heal Over Time (see WoW Resatoration Druid)

PSIONIC
- Controller: Psion, Mesmer (New)
- Defender: Battlemind, Nihilist (New)
- Leader: Ardent
- Striker: Monk, Soulknife (New)

- Mesmer: What a Enchanter look like in 4e
- Nihilist: A Divine Slayer Defender that despite Gods and those who use the Divine Power source
- Society Mind: Adaptation of a 3rd edition class we really loved
- Soulknife: Psionic Gish (adaptation from the Psychic Warrior and Soulknife from 3rd edition)

SHADOW
- Controller: Necromancer (New), Possessed (New)
- Defender: Hexblade (New)
- Leader: Shadow Priest (New)
- Striker: Nightcrawler (New)

- Possessed: Can Possess ennemy or become possessed by Creature from the Far Realm
- Necromancer: Surround with Undead Minions in all time and greater Undead using dailies
- Hexblade: Adaptation of the Hexblade with lot more Curse
- Shadow Priest: Heavy Adaptation of a WoW Class (dont like the name, more Healing than in WoW)
- Nightcrawler: Just like the X-men charater mix with Riftstalker (Rift RPG)

What you can do to help

- Suggestion: Give me name idea for new classes, or Core Concept of what you would love to play in a D&D 4th game.
- Source: Give me link to new Class you made, like or just a link to a source of material (if possible 4e)

I will check the Base Class challenge (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?257591-Base-Class-Challenge-Chat-Thread-III-Gotta-Brew-Em-All!) for idea later tonight.

[Xzoltar]

You can also suggest me Homebrew (or even Official), or Video and Movies class/character that dont exist in 4e and you think could be adapted to be playable.

[Cloud]

Well as you said that is a lot of classes, possibly too many, but good luck all the same. If you're sold on the number of classes, you can ignore most of this, but;

- Golem Master I think could be Wizard build...but the wizard already has a ton of support so the don't need more. If you think you can make this a unique concept, might be quite fun actually, playing an arcane caster with a shield golem is something you can't do in 4e.
- The generator seems to be heavily stepping on the artificers toes. I think there is much more worth in fleshing out the artificer so it has more support then making yet another magic item class.
- Spellthief is certainly not a class that 4e covers, and while you could hybrid a wizard and rogue or something, I think it's a popular enough concept that it could support a class, so I'll look forward to this.
- On arcane leaders in general, do we need another one when we have the bard and artificer? In any case instead of a chirurgeon you could go war weaver or something, basically focusing on buffing your allies with spells directly, instead of using music to inspire and beguile, or 'magic item hax'.
- Spellguard....eh, I don't know if this is an entire concept. If you think you can make a class of it go ahead, but it could be a different build of swordmage or even a paragon path.
- While you'd be hard-pressed to make it different from a Swordmage and Hexblade, a Duskblade could make an arcane striker, if you wanted to take on even more classes. Sometimes I want to be a bad ass arcane gish that doesn't use curses/pacts, and doesn't bother with marks. =P

- I think Zodiac could just expand on the Invoker, making them more comparable to the Wizard.
- Valkyr to me screams striker, if you think you can make it different enough to an Avenger (though instead of being the divine agent of a god, like an invoker an valkyr could just be part divine).
- Archon again I think could just expand the cleric, or even be a paragon path.
- If you were looking for another controller, pulling off a shugenja in 4e is hard, if you think a divine caster that influences the elements can still be a divine concept and not primal. Might also step on the Druid's or even Elementalists toes too much.

- Noble...just sounds like a background, not an entire class concept.
- ...Would marksman do anything that a ranger and it's sub-classes already can't do?
- Samurai and Swashbuckler are martial classes from 3.5 that don't exist, but should really, really be done as fighter builds and/or paragon paths.

- The Factotum if anything is martial, I believe. While he gets a limited number of spells and such I still think they'd be exploits given he's just faking it more or less. Certainly in any case not primal though.
- Dungeon Keeper could just be used to expand the Warden, I don't know if there is enough design space to make them completely separated classes.
- Truenamer already has a 4e adaption, it's the Runepriest.
- Soulweaver I actually like, but why not split it into Totemist (a striker) and then possibly an incarnate (a leader, probably). ...The Soulbourn isn't worth saving (and would be divine anyway).

- Instead of a Mesmer as a class you could make it a psion build.
- Nihilist, hmm...call me intrigued, though wouldn't this be divine then?
- Society Mind is..?
- 4e I feel is missing a psychic warrior/soulknife. Not something with those class names per say, but a psionic striker that actually uses powers. ...Similar problem like with the Duskblade actually, sometimes I want to flip out in melee as a psionic gish without a mark or being a leader, while still having powers.

- Possessed I'm not sure is a shadow concept, but then again I have no idea what else it would be. In any case call me intrigued.
- Necromancy can't really be pulled off that well with a wizard, and as dread necromancers will tell you necromancy isn't a school of magic, it's an art, so I like this.
- Hexblade as you point out is already a class, but it would be nice to see it being shadow and using curses, more like the 3.5 version.
- Shadow priest, I like the idea, just sorry I can't think of a name either. ^^"
- Nightcrawler...again, call me intrigued, this could be quite nice. Might work as a way to expand on the assassin though instead of a full class.

[Xzoltar]

I know its a lot of Classes, but my player want unique Class with the standard role that 4e give. So stepping on other class toes is not a problem as its a small group on everyone will play a different role. So even if some of the power of the Marksman look like a Ranger, the flavor is not the same and if someone play a Marksman, no other player will play a Ranger.

All of them are offered 3 basic build and often this choice affect your secondary role in the party.

Golem Master: Will not look at all like a Wizard, he will infact throw miniatures on the battlefield and they will animate and growth to medium golem size. They will served as Mark that can make reactive attack if someone dont attack the golem. Golems will not attack if they are attacked.

Generator: Could work very well as a build of the Artificer, this one is more a Controller that will Emulate Magic Item (what the Artificer dont do), it will use Gadget to alter and control the Battlefield. Its not a Support class that will provide buff or healing to the group.

Spellthieft: Think Arcane Trickster that steal spell effect and redirect Ongoing effect to other target.

Chirurgeon: War Weaver sound cooler and even if we already have 2 other Arcane Leader, in our campaign we will have 3 Role of each Power Source, so we will already have other class that step on others toes.

Spellguard: The class is already done, and this one have been playtested to level 6 already. It was inspired a lot on The Dweomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?194127-The-Dweomancer-4e-Base-Class-PEACH!)

Hexblade: This one was also already playtested to level 6 and based heavly on The Duskblade (http://shadow4e.wikidot.com/duskblade-b).

Zodiac: Yeah this one will look a lot like the Invoker, lot of reflavor, more Zone powers.

Valkyr: At first it was supposed to be a Striker, but as we didnt have idea on a Divine Defender and it was easier to think about a Divine Striker, And I can easly see Valkyrie in the Battlefront helping others and fit the Defender role too

Archon: As its also a Leader class, I guess that this one step a little more on the Cleric toes than other class. However this one change shape to become an Agel and Summon also Angel to is side to help in healing and to prevent damage.

Shugenja: Could work, but yeah I think its more Primal than divine.

Noble: Not sure this one will work very well, but its based on a Class from the Book of Classes for 4e and even if I dont hasve playtested it yet, it was looking good.

Marksman: Its more a Gunslinger than the Ranger, a little bit of Grammaton Cleric (see Equilibrium movie) use Pistols and Explositons.

Samurai & Swashbuckler: Yeah my frist idea was to put them as Class, but I dont see what I can do with them to dont look too much like a Figghter. The Samurai could use more Anime Power, but wont look really like a Martial class...

Factotum: At first it was using the Martial Power source, but the flavor we put in it was that you are actually emulating power you had in past life so thats why it was put as Primal.

Dungeon Keeper: This one will not look like any other class, its in fact a character thats is played as a Room (size growth with level), he can set trap, hinder terrain, summon obstacles to block incoming attack. Very close to a Controler but want to give it a more Defending role (the room working as a Zone Power) Its Primal Power source because it didnt fit Shadow, Arcane, Divine, Psionic or Martial. You are part of the terrain around you and your root to the world.

Truenamer: I will check again the Runepriest, but didnt feel they will look similar, will check again

Soulweaver: Split in Totemist and Incarnate is a good idea and provide at the same time one more class. Will just have to make sure they are not too similar in the end.

Mesmer: Could work as a Psion, will see in the end if its different enough to be worth a class

Nihilist: They can't stand Divine power user, so beeing themselves Divine in nature would make them hunt each other unless they are working for a Deity that want to slay all others... They are Psionic because they feel that eveyone can Transcend to become gods.

Society Mind: Its like a Telepath that have a Network Aura where when someone in the Network spend a Healing Surge, they can redirect part of that Healing to another member of the Network. Most of their power work better on Network member. This was one of the class our group really like in 3rd edition (from a 3rd party, you can see some of their power here (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/society-mind)) This one was also playtested to level 6.

Psychic Warrior/Soulknife: Psionic Striker Gish, sound good, forgot about those classes

Possessed: The Dark feel of the class beeing possessed by other creature sound more Shadow than any power source.

Necromancer: This one was also playtested to level 6 and was working great, you have one build to make your undead more tanky, another one for more Control and another one for more Damage (and corpse explosions)

Shadow Priest: That player always have played a Shadow Priest in Wow, and I realised that it was easy to convert WoW class to 4e. So for her we made it a class in 4e. Was also playtested to level 6.

Nightcrawler: This one was playtested as both a Striker and a Defender to level 6 and can fit one role or the other depending on choice of build and feats. This is the cclass our group like the most playing. Was playtested to level 6.

I will be hard to post all thoses class here as they are all written in French, so that would be a lot of work to translate them in English, when all my players speak french.

Class idea currently missing
- Divine Striker
- Martial Leader
- Shadow Leader
- Martial Defender
- Shadow Defender (Blackguard ?)
- Arcane Controller
- Martial Controller
- Shadow Controller

[Cloud]

On more ideas for things missing;

Divine Striker: There isn't really a class that uses radiant damage that is also a primary striker (well okay Avengers are divine strikers, but doing radiant damage or not use weapons mostly). ...So basically an implement using divine radiant class. ...I guess like a holy priest focusing on damage, not healing.

Martial Defender: Hrmm...there is the Knight from 3.5? Though I really don't know how you'd make that unique compared to the Fighter or Paladin.

Shadow Defender: We already have a Blackguard, though as a striker (though as a striker they have the tankiness of a paladin). You could modifier the exist one, otherwise another class would be needed.

Martial Controller: We already have the Hunter, I'm not sure what else could be added. ^^"

Shadow Controller: It might be too generic of an idea, but there is the Shadow Caster from Tome of Magic in 3.5 that might be able to be the basis of a class.


Sorry I can't provide more help, though it's nice to see some 4e homebrew. =)
On linking homebrew, found this class, which is basically the only complete class I've found that I've liked, that as a bonus is even a Shadow Defender.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?277063-4E-The-Death-Knight-A-WoW-inspired-Shadow-Defender-%28PEACH!%29

[Inevitability]

Okay, here's a shadow leader:

Shadeborn.
Through a mysterious pact, the Shadeborn has returned from the death. While little more than a shadow himself, he has the ability to possess his teammates, strengthening them.
Shadeborns will have lots of enabling, but little powers that let them attack at close range.
Maybe they'll even have a power that can let someone make a MBA as a no action. It'd fit with the 'posess' theme. Besides, what's cooler than momentarily taking over the body of your striker and let him strike again? Lots of room for utility powers too. Hide in someone else's body? Dominate someone for a long time, as long as no fights ensue? Gather some knowledge from someone's mind while you're possessing them?

[Adam1949]

Martial Controller Idea: The Trapsmith

No matter where the trapsmith goes, he's already planned for it and has made the immediate area around him a nightmare for enemies to traverse. His main tools are simple weapons (in case things get too close) and implements (which he has reverse-engineered into being essentially remote controls). His 'powers' are simply him activating a previously-laid trap at just the right time. "Oh, but of course I placed a stunshock trap right there, what do you take me for a lazy fool?" Obviously stretches the imagination a little in some cases, however.
Ability Scores: Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution

Martial Controller Idea: The Bombardier

This guy is essentially the mundane Artificer, who's decided to focus on bombs and throw-able things instead of spells. He gets Alchemy as a first-level feat (which he can NOT replace with Ritualism, or whatever those two are called) and uses special bombs to replicate the effects of his more magical allies. Tanglefoot, Alchemic Fire, Universal Solvent; if it can be made, he's probably gone and thrown it as the goblin across the field.
Ability Scores: Dexterity, Strength, Intelligence (which means a low Will save, unfortunately)