Purest classes your favorite

[Void Bovine]

Was wondering what peoples favorite purest class would be if you had to choose one class to take for 20 lvls(Includes all lvl 20 classes)?

[INoKnowNames]

So, a class that you don't want any Prestiges or Dips on...

In core, I'd say Druid. So much goodness that really doesn't need anything else added to it. It's just damn good.

Out of core, I'd go with Warblade. An awesome capstone on top of an already great set of features makes Warblade 20 more than battle ready.

All 9th level casters are most certainly viable without anything else added to them, even if they really like being able to be all that PLUS a bag of chips.

[Necroticplague]

Warblade. The level 20 class feature is excellent, the power at the beginning is good, and the levels in between aren't too bad.

[sakuuya]

Bard. It's not that powerful, but a well-built bard can contribute meaningfully to all sorts of encounters across the full range of levels.

[Karl Aegis]

I believe Rogue has the best capstone. +1 BAB and +1 Reflex Save is nothing to scoff at.

But, in all seriousness, most classes don't have enough features to make them more desirable than a prestige class. Some classes (the druid comes to mind) have few good prestige class options and take more levels of the base class.

[dascarletm]

Almost everything in pathfinder :smallbiggrin:

[Sam K]

Druid is likely the best - powerful and flexible at the start, and just stays that way for 20 levels. And ironically, while they probably benefit the most from PRCs, I actually think cleric is still good, simply because you can build so many viable concepts from the base class. You can be a pseudo-paladin (that's better at being a paladin than the paladin), you can be the traditional warrior-priest and hell, you could wear a dress, take some "blasty" domains and actually pretend you're a blaster wizard! I'm not saying that'd be a good idea, but it would still be more useful than a monk. Yeah, I know, says more about how OP the class is than anything else.

All initiators are good, obviously.

[Ravens_cry]

Tough choice between Pathfinder Ninja or Paladin. The former has this sweeeet capstone that makes everything worthwhile.
'Nope, can't see me. No, you still can't see me. Not even now.''
I'd love to gestalt them together sometime.

[Zaq]

Druid and Artificer are probably as strong as you're going to get, but I personally don't like the responsibility of playing a T1 character, so I wouldn't personally be very likely to play either of them.

Dragonfire Adept is great for 20 levels, more or less. Nothing outside of DFA makes a DFA better at being a DFA, and they actually do get interesting class features. They're hard to screw up, and it's hard to make them totally useless—they're a good solid T3 class.

Warblade, as has been mentioned, is probably the cream of the crop for single-class martial characters, though you really need a common-sense houserule to fix their stance progression, because it's not friendly to single-classed Warblades.

I'm not sure if you can get all the way to 20 with one and be happy, but you can take Totemist pretty darn far and have a lot of fun with it.

Factotum gets a pretty sweet class feature at 19, so if nothing else, Factotum 19 is interesting. They don't get anything earth-shaking between 8 and 19, though, even though more spells, more skills, and more inspiration is probably enough to keep you coming back.

[DMVerdandi]

Cleric, Druid, and Psion/erudite.

Druid simply isn't that friendly when it comes to multi classing, and cleric is is a bit better with some of it's PRC's. Psion/erudite in my opinion just so radically changes it's flavor that I don't find it necessary. Plus, it's pretty internally consistent.

[DEMON]

Duskblade, Warblade, Beguiler would be my main choices, probably in that order.

I'm not really a big fan of the Tier 1-2s, but especially the T1s can easily go 1-20, even if PrCing out would rake them even more benefits.

[Amphetryon]

Warblade, Druid, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer. . . .

That's a party I could see playing.

[Hiro Quester]

I'm curious. why has nobody said Wizard here?

I have never played one, by my fellow party members sure seem to have fun with it. It is because there are too many awesome PrCs that make straight Wizard 20 less appealing?

[INoKnowNames]

I'm curious. why has nobody said Wizard here?

I have never played one, by my fellow party members sure seem to have fun with it. It is because there are too many awesome PrCs that make straight Wizard 20 less appealing?

I didn't name drop it specifically, but it is a 9th level caster, and I did note that 9th level casters can do just fine without multiclassing... though yeah, unless you're a Druid, which actually has class features, Spell Casters have little reason to not snag Prestige Classes that still advance Spellcasting.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I have never played one, by my fellow party members sure seem to have fun with it. It is because there are too many awesome PrCs that make straight Wizard 20 less appealing?

Yes. That is exactly the reason.

I am gonna go with sha'ir. The odd way their spells works makes it nice it takes a pretty heavy complement of levels and I will often just end up taking all of the levels.

[Tragak]

Rogue with a Ring of Blinking, Bane (Undead and/or Construct) weapons, a ton of skill points, and the Crippling Strike class feature.

The Ring of Blinking would let me keep dealing SA even after the battle started, the Bane weapons would let me handle even enemies immune to SA, the skill points would let me keep contributing even if the situation doesn't call for violence, and the Crippling Strike would let me debuff my enemies in addition to dealing HP damage (which is generally considered less important than debuffs and save-or-die spells: "an enemy with 1 HP can hurt you just as badly as can an enemy with 100")

…that or Wizard, Cleric, Sorcerer or Druid :smalleek:

[Seruvius]

As noted above, any full caster as 9th level spells are pretty sexy and more 9th level spells even more so. ToB classes in general, with Warblade having an amazing capstone but I'd personally probably play a Crusader20 instead.
Or maybe try the Jack B Quick build on a Fighter20 to use all those feats. Sure only really useful in melee, but 6 attacks for every single enemy attack is pretty sweet.

[Der_DWSage]

Hm. I'd have to lean towards a Beguiler myself-it's just a fun class.

But as for one that keeps getting interesting toys to fiddle with, I'd actually have to lean towards the Factotum. It just keeps getting more flexible in interesting ways, to the point where if a Factotum can't contribute, it's because they're dead.

[Snowbluff]

Bard. It's not that powerful, but a well-built bard can contribute meaningfully to all sorts of encounters across the full range of levels.
I'll say bard, too. I really like Druid and Cleric, though.

[Zanos]

I'm curious. why has nobody said Wizard here?

I have never played one, by my fellow party members sure seem to have fun with it. It is because there are too many awesome PrCs that make straight Wizard 20 less appealing?
Probably that. In 3.5 there were so many good full progression PRCs, and base classes themselves, especially the earlier ones, typically had very few actual class features.

Wizard 20 is more attractive in pathfinder due to school powers and discoveries.

[Forrestfire]

For me, I'd say Factotum, Bard, and Cleric. The former two are great skillmonkeys that are also fun to play in combat, and never stop being relevant. The latter is one that can be built to be damn-near anything, of varying power levels, but most importantly can be built to be a gish straight out of the box (specifically, in a way that Duskblade cannot be - by having actual magic).

I like wizard as well, but I don't find Wizard 20 to be much fun. There are too many cool PrCs, of which most of them are a step down in power, but a huge leap in uniqueness and fun.

[Seharvepernfan]

That would be hard for me, because I love to gish, and therefor multiclass. However, if I had to be only one class, 1-20, it would be scout. To stay semi-relevant, I'd ask my DM to ignore the mounted skirmish errata, so I could pickup some sweet mount via leadership. If not, oh well, just two-hand courtblade skirmishing or archery. I'd be an elf. Goblin would be tempting if the errata is ignored.

[Suteinu]

Rogue.

My first character ever (circa 1991) was a half-elf Thief (AD&D 1st). I've had a lot of fun with him each time I've re-created him for a new edition (I skipped 4th and am just now looking into 5th). Whenever I've gone the Rogue route with Caddik in mind, I play him like a Thief; it always works, and it's always FUN.

[Blackhawk748]

Knight. Yes i said it. Knight. Because being able to scream "I WILL NOT DIE!!!" is to much fun.

Yes i am aware that the Druid can do that with a feat, and that pisses me off to no end.

[SangoProduction]

My personal favorite pure class to take? I'd go with Shadowsworn. Sure, it's spell casting is ****ty, and it's spell list is extremely limited compared to most any other spell caster, but it gets...features. Not great features, but they are features.
And plus, they are one of the most thematic classes I've ever found. Their entire deal is with shadows, theirs', others', magical, mundane, it doesn't matter! Just shadows. Also, stacking darkvision. You can literally see further in dark than you can in light, and I think they get a spell that makes it so that Darkness-type spells don't block your vision. Again, not powerful, but I just adore the idea. "Ahh! The light~ It Buuuuuuurnsssssss~"
If they eventually got a hide in plain sight, it would completely negate the shadow dancer prc....in fact, most things negate the SD prc, especially if you are allowed templates. Want to spend 2-3 useless feats, and a level for hide in plain sight, or no feats, and just a level (Dark creature template)? Yeah. not a hard choice.

Well, then again, I may be a bit biased, since I started a character as a rogue, who had developed Multiple Personality Disorder, and I decided? Know what? This is a low power campaign, let's get Shadowdancer. And then I found Shadowsworn. And then I eventually took a level of sorcerer on my latest level so I could get a Raven familiar and the Dark Familiar feat from the Expanded Familiars book (or Complete Familiars, or something like that). So, his personalities aren't just split, but have truly split from him - and I just find the character incredibly amusing. Too bad 2 of the 3 familiars I have (the non-shadowsworn ones) have massive, massive penalties if you try to use them anything resembling risky.
But, of the 4 classes I eventually had, I liked the idea of maxing Shadowsworn the most, and I like how it's thematic, and has actual class features while being a basic class

[Dr_Dinosaur]

3.5: Factotum hands down. Probably one of the few classes I'd even consider straight 20 for.

Pathfinder: Probably alchemist or occultist. I really like those classes as alternatives to casting and each level bring at least one fun thing to do, even if it's more bang for my bombs

[ILM]

Warlock, Warblade and Factotum were the first three that sprang to mind, but Druid and Bard are good choices too. While Wiz is all-powerful, in practice I prefer the simpler bookkeeping of spontaneous classes.

[OldTrees1]

Hmm. Tough question. I play 3 types of characters Warrior, Locksmith, and Mage.
Warrior:
None of the martial classes gets 1 worthy class feature per class level when taken to 10th level much less 20th. So to cut my losses I would go for a Martial Rogue for the reasonable number of skills and access to more neat combat feats.

Locksmith:
I usually want the ability to hide in plain sight and to disarm bombstraps from a safe distance. Normally I could do that with a Rogue/Prestige Class. However if kept to just 1 class I would have to go dive through Psychic Rogue powers.

Mage:
Beguiler or Dread Necromancer. Not for the class feature/level ratio but rather they both have good structure(# of skills and Int based / Rebuke Undead and Cha based) to complement their spells.

[Void Bovine]

I also like druid also surprised at not seeing wizard, though my favorite is probably beguiler cause of trapping trapping and abusive use of death blow with arcane disciple u could potentially expand spell list to applies to other arcane casters to duskblade, warmage ect.

Also should mention racial substitution could proably be allowed didn't think about that earlier in which case I like kobold ranger

[INoKnowNames]

also surprised at not seeing wizard

Wizard was mentioned in the very first response! Or does it not count as a 9th level caster?

[MrSinister]

Artificer comes to mind immediately. I know I wouldn't want to keep up with the bookkeeping this entails but that's just me.

Knight, Warblade, Fighter, and Martial Rogue all sound more my speed for sticking with until 20.

And I am going to cheat here, and say Beguiler 5/Mindbender1/Beguiler 14.... close enough right guys?

[thompur]

My favorite classes in 3.5 are Warlock, Binder and Warblade. In all the years I've played 3rd ed. I never prc'd so I just love those classes. Always something fun and interesting to do with them!

*Wait! I lied! I prc'd once, making a Hellfire Warlock*.
:smallbiggrin:

[Denver]

20 levels of Rogue, focusing on skill use and ranged combat.

[Void Bovine]

Wizard was mentioned in the very first response! Or does it not count as a 9th level caster?

Nah I just meant not seeing all that many people mention it didn't make that clear sorry

[Thurbane]

Dragonfire Adept - I have yet to play one outside of a PbP that got cancelled after about 2 weeks though...

[INoKnowNames]

Nah I just meant not seeing all that many people mention it didn't make that clear sorry

Okay... I was starting to feel ignored and get super offended that nobody liked me. :smallfrown:


20 levels of Rogue, focusing on skill use and ranged combat.

Don't you just love that Rogue Capstone? :smalltongue:

[Seharvepernfan]

Don't you just love that Rogue Capstone? :smalltongue:

I have a 20th level archery-based human rogue prebuilt in case I ever get to play a core 20th level game. I gotta say, if you really care about your skills, if you want your character to be the best at what they do, and be able to do it in any situation, no matter the circumstances, it is hard to let go of those last skill points. I considered giving him a level of shadowdancer for that hide in plain sight, but it just wasn't worth the feats/skills (to me).