Favorite Class and Why (Don't debate other's opinions!)

[Reprimand]

So to get the ball rolling I wanted to say the healer class from the miniatures handbook is my favorite class. It's not powerful and it sucks and is outdated something fierce but I love the flavor and everything about the class. if it had an updated spell list I'd play it every time.

Tell me your favorite class and why you like it so much. (3.5 or PF is fine)

[stack]

For sheer ability to fit any crazy theme, I can't top the incanter from the PF 3PP Spheres of Power (http://paizo.com/products/btpy96pr?Spheres-of-Power). Generalist wizard - check. Necromancer - check. Lord of Storms - check. Earth bender - check. Candy-mancer - check. Running out of magic - Nope!

The Vizier (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/variant-magic-rules/akashic-magic/veilweaving-classes/the-vizier)from akashic mysteries is right up there though, for similar reasons.

[Xervous]

From a DMing standpoint I'm quite fond of warblades, both for spicing up the beatsticks I toss in the PC's path and as a simple high skill floor option to hand out to newer players as opposed to some overly convoluted design that they can't quite wrap their heads around.

[LoyalPaladin]

Paladin is clearly my favorite, it's the holy warrior archetype that really gets me.

But I am very fond of Warblades as well. Classic master warrior.

Warlord from DSP is really neat. Charismatic, diverse, strong, what's not to like?

[J-H]

Psion - good power, enough options that no two psions are alike, and limited enough that it can't do everything
Warmage - kaboom

[RolkFlameraven]

In 3.5 it would be the Psion, not really sure why, besides being happy that Psionics were done well for once but it is.

In Pathfinder its DSP's Warder. The Warder is just so much fun to play with right now, and being able to 'Tank' similarly to a MMO is always fun. But mostly because once you chose an archetype their is so little similarities between, say, a Zweihander Sentinel and a Hawkguard that they might as well be two different classes.

[Jormengand]

Truenamer. Skill check magic that actually has a reasonable scaling with optimisation? Cool. While the curve starts low, I like that it increases rapidly from low to medium optimisation, and then levels off at higher amounts of optimisation. This is good game design (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EitZRLt2G3w). Whereas the wizard starts high, gets higher and gets highererererererer. That's not good design.

[OldTrees1]

Martial Rogue

3rd editions level by level multiclass system was inspired. The freedom it gives just amazes me. But not all classes get to enjoy it. Martial Rogue is one of the many that does enjoy this freedom.

I have always been impressed at the innovation of feats and the innovation of skill points. Despite their numerous flaws and poorly made content, they still shine bright as powerful design innovations. The Martial Rogue can be used to experience both of these innovations in their fullest. This is especially true when you are/have a DM that does not shy away from new content.

The rest is content specific and thus credit to the content not to the class so I will leave it there.

[Elkad]

The powergamer in me says wizard.
But what I really like is the Chaotic Good hero of the melee-with-magic-on-the-side sort. Paladin of Freedom, Ranger, etc. Me, with magic added on.

Nothing mechanics about it, just pure enjoyment.

[Geddy2112]

Bard all the way. I like skills, talking, and music. I base most of my character concepts on musicians, so bard is often the right fit. Also, pathfinder has some amazing archetypes for the bard.

[A Tad Insane]

Binder. It has incredible versitilaty, even with the same build, and has some pretty good unlimited resourses.
Also, in a world were evil gods, half fey, werewolves, powerful mages, demons and even otherworldly tentacle monsters are common, they can successfully pull off the "mysterious occultist" arch type for any alignment

[Nifft]

There are so many classes that I love.

Warlock / Dragonfire Adept - proving at-will / non-Vancian design viable.

Binder - capitalizing on the new at-will design space with a more flexible and very flavorful approach.

Crusader / Swordsage / Warblade - capitalizing on the new at-will design space for Martial characters.

Totemist / Incarnate - providing another neat design space.

[Molosse]

PF's Cavalier. Works like the Martial Fighter should have been.

[DMVerdandi]

The Erudite, Cleric, and Druid in that order.
I like the Erudite a lot, especially with Convert spell to power, mainly because of the way they gain new powers. The unique power per day mechanic is really cool too. It would be so much better if they got 3 bonus ones at level one and progressed as normal though. Even without STP, It still has a lot of variety and the limited amount of powers they have access to at any given time gives it a feeling of tight focus, yet one that has the ability to change every day.

Cleric is next because I like the divine warrior archetype that focuses on either a deity, or a concept and becomes so close to it that they become empowered by it. Full caster, armor, decent BAB, and shares with the druid the best casting mechanic in the game.

Druid is equal with cleric in my favorite list. It has really good ACF's that allow you to summon some really cool creatures. SNA with Undead, Fiendish, or aberrations. So many cool things. They have great spells, and wild shaping is amazing.

[Draco_Lord]

I've only played Pathfinder, and my favourite class from there has to be the Barbarian.

I love them so much! They are so fun to play in combat, and with enough skills to be useful outside of it. Not to mention playing one from a roleplaying stand point is actually quiet fun. Once even played one who was a bit of a "Hulk" type, and only fought when he got mad. Quiet interesting, trying to avoid combat until there is no other choice.

Not to mention rage powers are a blast!

[Brova]

Beguiler, probably. Great versatility, easy to play, and a lot of raw power.

[Kesnit]

Warlock. I love the fluff, and the various things you can do with the class. Also, there's some really cool PrCs that require Invocations.

[Winter_Wolf]

I like rangers (well more specifically the fighter/thief aspect) and berserkers, ehm I mean "barbarians". Actually no, I like berserkers from the 2e Viking campaign sourcebook. Because I like the whole wiley wilderness-warrior idea, and I love the whole fierce warrior thing.

Likewise I'm down with the skald kit for bards, because a warrior-poet is just plain awesome fun. But rangers are my number one, I just mostly ignore the fact that they could cast spells, because spells are more book keeping than I'm interested in.

[Vrakk]

Bard - because a bard can do anything (basically) I've never felt the need to eke out every bit of potential out of a specific build but really enjoy being able to do a bit of everything. Being the best fighter or caster gets boring, being able to do both is fun (to me.)

[NomGarret]

Totemist. The flavor is amazing in the fantasy setting. Why would our tribe revere panthers when we can revere displacer beasts?. Plus I vastly prefer Incarnum/Akasha to normal Vanceish casting.

[NeoPhoenix0]

Shadowcaster
It has tons of flavor. I like sorcerers and they act kinda like them (even if they are fluffed as a wizard spinoff). They aren't ridiculously powerful but can fill a number of different roles. I like how they can be a very sneaky and effective pickpocket/thief at range. I also love a lot of the extras in that "half" of ToM.

[Gracht Grabmaw]

I'm really high on the oracle, the entire class is just a walking plothook for the GM to tear deep into. Where do your mysterious powers come from, what do the visions you keep having actually mean, what plans does the universe have for you, why do the visions teach you this specific set of spells you have and what are you meant to use them for.

Although as a player, I like to keep it simple, rogue or barbarian, maybe one of the extremely specialized spellcasters in a pinch but it would depend on my mood and the tone of the game.

[Dunsparce]

I like Duskblade the best, most due to its combination of powers. It uses arcane spells at full caster level, and while it gains new spell levels and spells known pretty slowly, they get absurd amount of spells per day for what spell levels they do currently have. On top of that they have full BAB, the ability to cast without penalty with a shield and medium armor, and most importantly their spell-channeling ability. While Duskblades get surprisingly few touch spells, they get enough to make it work, and its ability to combine its casting with hitting stuff with a big stick without hurting either BAB or caster level is always nice.

[TheNivMizzet]

Wizard. You can play at all levels of power, and helping your party feel like gods with haste and mass buffs you can make friends easily and the enemies soon melt away beneath the hands of the enlarged barbarian.

[PsyBomb]

Vizier, Zweihander Warder, and Wilder in that order. DSP is rather obviously enabled in any table I run

[PaucaTerrorem]

I've always loved the swashbuckler but wished it was more of a fighter/rogue hybrid. Basically I want the gestalt without playing a gestalt game. Slow down the sneak attack progression. Give bonus feats at every 3rd level. Something to make the dex based fighter without going ToB.

[nyjastul69]

I'm going to give a somewhat cheesy/vague answer. I'm that guy that decides my class based upon what the other players have chosen. I never enter a new campaign with a concept. I build my concept based upon the other players choices. Once I choose class/concept, it is my new favorite class. I enjoy them all, from monk to wizard. I guess you could say whatever class I'm playing is my favorite, or my favorite class is all of them. However, there are classes I don't like and won't build around.

[Tiri]

Sorcerer. I like spontaneous casting and you don't have any class features so you can prestige out at the earliest opportunity.

[Hiro Quester]

I like versatility. Having many different options makes play interesting. That's why I have played a bard/sublime chord, and am now playing a Druid. Both have been serious fun.

But every time Swiftblade is mentioned in a forum I find myself again reading swiftblade handbooks and trying to figure out how to design a fun swiftblade. The roleplay of a swiftblade seems like it would be fun, playing him as a tweaker speed-freak, who is always impatient to get his next haste-high and feels like time spent unhasted is time being wasted.

A gishy Sorcerer swiftblade (or swiftbard) will probably be my next character.

[Oko and Qailee]

I love clerics, it feels like there's so much to do with them and they're so easily playable at any power level. I tend to play more squishy clerics though.

[Allianis]

I have to go with fighter, good old plain and ordinary fighter. I love the fact that all around them, people are bending reality, merging with shadows, transcending physics, or just turning into something scary. But them? They just pick up their sword, look at that Rakshasa Maharaja, and say "Here kitty kitty, I've got something for ya!"

There's something heart-touchingly heroic about someone who faces the odds like that just by hard work, quick wits, and resolve.

[Reprimand]

I love clerics, it feels like there's so much to do with them and they're so easily playable at any power level. I tend to play more squishy clerics though.

Tissue Paper wearing healers for eva!

[lonewolf1210]

Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Bard
many skill points + Spellcasting

Artificer also fits, but with him I have to restrain myself to not go overboard.

[Reprimand]

Artificer also fits, but with him I have to restrain myself to not go overboard.

I always end up playing one like a WoW engineer. Crazy inventions everywhere not even magic stuff either.

[Masakan]

Don't have one. I'm that guy who loves to multiclass and see what kind of concoctions I can come up with.

[Reprimand]

Don't have one. I'm that guy who loves to multiclass and see what kind of concoctions I can come up with.

You must love unseen seer and abjurant champion then. They seem like they would be good for multiclassers such as yourself.

Spellcasting rogue and spellcasting fighter with some nice bonuses.

[Masakan]

You must love unseen seer and abjurant champion then. They seem like they would be good for multiclassers such as yourself.

Spellcasting rogue and spellcasting fighter with some nice bonuses.

Oh Yeah My persona Character uses Abjurant Champion at mid levels and goes into Jade Phoenix Mage at later points in the game (Starts as Warblade/Sorcerer)

I'm Still working on an Unseen Seer, Granted the idea of her being an Infiltrator/Assassin works great and Tibbits are perfect for that...but the problem is her survivability. I want her to be able to take at least one hit.

[Reprimand]

My favorite build for that is wiz 1/rogue 4/unseen seer 10/abjurant champion 5

8th level spells, and +16 bab (assuming fractional base attack), +7d6 sneak attack.

[Masakan]

My favorite build for that is wiz 1/rogue 4/unseen seer 10/abjurant champion 5

8th level spells, and +16 bab (assuming fractional base attack), +7d6 sneak attack.

Actually thats not the problem, I was planning to go Rouge2/Diviner2/Swordsage1/Unseen Seer2/Swordsage1(For assassins stance) and back to Unseen seer and w/e I decide to go with at late levels. Gotta have those skill points brah.

But see...I also want her to be a throwing weapon user or at least be a ranged mobile combatant. Maybe I'm trying to give her too much?

[Reprimand]

I really hope that game is using fractional bab or that's gonna hurt you a lot late game.

[Masakan]

I really hope that game is using fractional bab or that's gonna hurt you a lot late game.

Uh Fractional BaB? What you don't just get the base attack bonus when you level in that class?

[Reprimand]

Adding base attack by decimals rather than by whole numbers so you don't get screwed over by multiclassing a lot by the base rules.

Base rules are you start at the bottom of the class bab every time you take a level in a new class which is a annoying for mid bab and poor bab dipping

So first level in every mid or poor bab class is +0

[Masakan]

Adding base attack by decimals rather than by whole numbers so you don't get screwed over by multiclassing a lot by the base rules.

Base rules are you start at the bottom of the class bab every time you take a level in a new class which is a annoying for mid bab and poor bab dipping

So first level in every mid or poor bab class is +0

Oh right I forgot to mention one thing though, She's also designed to have Dex out the Ass.

I usually use a 32 point buy when designing my characters, so I try to get a 16 if possible(18 if i can use PF Rules)
So it wouldn't be THAT bad.

[eggynack]

As always, I gotsta go with my man the druid, especially given that the handbook just hit 200k words a bit ago. Should probably give underlying reasoning though. The reason I like druids is that druids are frigging complex. On the surface, they almost seem too simple, folded in on themselves until they are nothing but a bear riding a bear while shooting bears, built on a chassis with no feats but natural spell and druid 20 all the way, but beneath that surface things get insane. There's a lot of stuff that goes into long term planning, but just from a moment to moment perspective, there's a million different things you can do in a round. You can become any monster from any book, you can summon any of dozens of monsters (which increases by a lot when you add in the multi-summoning options), or you can cast spells which, in and of themselves, are more complicated in their use than some entire classes.

More importantly though, the play style suits me well. I am a guy oft attracted to attrition based strategies, layering up an intricate web of BFC and debuff, and then slowly cluttering up the battlefield and draining away their resources, leaving them dead without ever really getting close to being threatened. Yeah, you can always bear out in a pinch, and that's appealing in and of itself, but the minutiae of tactics and the horror looming over opponents is great stuff. By my understanding, that play style doesn't appeal to everyone, because it grinds things to a halt by design, but it's great stuff as far as I'm concerned.

On top of all of that, there's still that long term planning stuff, and that's most of what I concern myself with if we're really getting down to brass tacks. That thing I mentioned, with all the different monsters you can become, or befriend, or summon, along with the massive variety of spells, as well as feats, prestige classes, and so on, means that there's a lot of unexplored territory with druids. Lots of great stuff is just sitting in the books, waiting to be found, and no one uses it because people tend to not search through books with that stuff in mind, and for everything that's possibly never been used, there's a bunch of stuff that has been used incredibly rarely, which never gets mentioned.

I feel like I'm slowly coming close to the end of what I'm capable of saying on the topic in a handbook format, but for awhile there, it felt like such an end was impossible, because the class is so ridiculously dense. I don't know of many other classes that can boast that level of complexity, especially baked into the class. Like, wizards can associate themselves with the ever-complicated form changing rules and ever-dense summoning spells, but those abilities aren't who they are. And form changing is frigging insane, especially when you connect it to that ridiculous monster book diversity. At some point, I'll probably look back and say, "Huh, I sure did an oddly large amount of druid related stuff back then," but for now, it's a lot of fun.

[Extra Anchovies]

Eggy, would you happen to have a link to the handbook?

[eggynack]

Eggy, would you happen to have a link to the handbook?
It's not quite done enough to be in existence, though I've been tossing it to folks who seek it.

[Reprimand]

Although honest in PF it's the gunslinger. So many DMs I play(ed) with ban the gunslinger because it doesn't fit their setting or it doesn't make sense or it's op and broken.

[manyslayer]

My answer is whatever class best fits my character concept. I generally prefer melee style characters but have had fun with wizards and rogues when it was best fitting (really liked my binder/dread necromancer - she was an aassimar with the devil bloodline - a bit crazy and fascinated by things between - vestiges and undead being things between one world and the next).

[Gabrosin]

I'm going to go with Warblade. You get a d12 HD, 4+Int skills, and full BAB. If you stick with it for a little while, you pick up some more cool things. But most importantly, it may be the best one-level dip in the game, rivaling and in some cases exceeding the Cleric. You can splash in one level in the midgame to pick up three maneuvers and a stance with a tremendous refresh mechanic. Want better saves? Grab some Diamond Mind. Need to resist anything? Iron Heart Surge. Like being the battle commander? White Raven Tactics. Want easy touch attacks? Emerald Razor. Need to reformat a dungeon? Mountain Hammer. Then, later in the game, you can use Martial Study to tack on more powerful maneuvers, like Shadow Blink; you can also use the Heroics spell to pick up whatever you need temporarily. I find myself wanting to tack in a Warblade dip to almost every character I build... even Crusaders and Swordsages.

Mechanically I love the flexibility that Bards provide, and the raw power of the Beguiler (especially when combined with Shadowcraft Mage or Rainbow Servant). But Warblade just has so much going for it.

[danzibr]

Totemist / Incarnate - providing another neat design space.

Totemist. The flavor is amazing in the fantasy setting. Why would our tribe revere panthers when we can revere displacer beasts?. Plus I vastly prefer Incarnum/Akasha to normal Vanceish casting.
These people have good taste (not that others don't).

I like the Totemist. Hence my handbook.

I also like Warblade (martial prowess like Guts), Psion (for AC), martial Rogue (Goliath Rogue, nobody sees it coming), Psionic Rogue (Tibbit, ultimate sneakiness), Dread Necromancer (not that I'd ever play a minionmancer), Samurai (flavorful underdog).

[PsyBomb]

Realized that I forgot to put my reasoning above. *ahem*

Vizier: I wrote the guide for this one, but there are so many ways to play it that it's really hard to even know where to start. Most of them share at least some of their feats or other non-alterable choices, such that you can change an extreme amount of your build literally as a full-round action. If you have downtime and a GM that allows custom items, then the Crafter Vizier is probably the best soloist I've ever played.

Zweihander Sentinel Warder: Getting an ability to let you strike in the normal blind spot without penalty is a godsend for the tankiest of tanks. Just massive amounts of NOPE here, and you stay more than dangerous enough to draw attention even while doing terrible, terrible things to your enemy option pool.

Wilder: My personal caster choice above all, though a part of this comes from making Elsa (seriously, it's doable in P6). Nothing says "resource management as a PhD" quite as well as a Wilder with Overchannel, and if you listen closely when you say it the echoes come back saying "Nova!". Add in the more recent Surge Crystals, and you have the Cadillac of "Solid character that can murder ALL THE THINGS if the party needs me to do it"

[Oko and Qailee]

Tissue Paper wearing healers for eva!

Tissue paper cleric is best cleric. I leave the Paladining to the Paladins (and Crusaders)



Artificer also fits, but with him I have to restrain myself to not go overboard.

I feel like I would LOVE artificer if I ever got a good chance to play it.

[Telonius]

Bard, with Beguiler as a very close second and Warlock barely edged out at third. I love charismatic characters, illusionists, skillmonkeys, and sneaky stuff.

[LoyalPaladin]

Tissue paper cleric is best cleric. I leave the Paladining to the Paladins (and Crusaders)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/achgen360/t/JTcjW7A8.png
Thank you for letting me do my job!

[NeoPhoenix0]

Thank you for letting me do my job!

You have a job? and here i was thinking all the worlds problems were all solved by people in bath robes, must be that wizard propaganda again. Good to know some people out there doing things have common sense when it comes to wardrobe.:smalltongue:

Also, I wanted to go into my second and third favorite classes a bit since i have some time.

The sorcerer. Not much to say, I just love them. Wizards don't have enough spell slots for my taste, Preparing spells limits your versatility within the day, and sorcerer's make better gishes and a lot of other types of characters in my opinion because there are so many options for shifting around charisma to every check, not nearly as many options for intelligence.

The incarnate, I love incarnum. I find it very interesting and neat. Even though the totemist is the best one of them mechanically and has my favorite soulmeld (blink shirt), I have a soft spot for squishies that specialize very hard. Also i like the soul chakra.

[NoseFeratu]

My favorite class in 3.5 would be the Prestige Bard. I enjoy the fact that it does what the original Bard was intended to do with the proper previous classes (I once played a Paladin of Freedom 2/Sorcerer 2/Prestige Bard 10 who could fill any role in the party, a much needed skill when there was always someone who didn't show up.)

In PF, it would be a tie between the Alchemist, the Magus, and the Arcanist. I like the Alchemist because it seems to me like a simpler version of the Artificer, the Magus because I like having a functional gish, and the Arcanist for the loophole allowing the Blade Adept archetype to use a scorpion whip as a Black Blade.

[erok0809]

I enjoy playing spontaneous caster types, sorcerers and psions mostly. I tend to play blasters, just because of the awesome. I just really like the picture of someone calling up the energy from within themselves and going to town on the surrounding area, almost in a DBZ manner. Warblades are fun too if I want to smack things with a metal stick in cool ways instead of smacking things with spells/powers.

[Eldonauran]

I like the class that can do a bit of everything.

In combat, the character has to be able to be flexible. Ability to use magic to harm, heal, help and hinder. Knowledge of his foes and their weaknesses. Mobility to dance around the reach of his enemies and position themselves to benefit their allies. Accuracy to hit his enemy and power to deal noticeable damage. Options to negate or significantly reduce the effects of the enemies abilities. Will be the last one standing to pull his parties bacon out of the fire should things go sour.

Out of combat, the character has to be able to contribute to social situations outside of just pure roleplay. Sweet talking, quick bluffing, hard intimidation and soothing performance. He should be able to climb, swim, ride and flip around with the best of them (not BE the best). Sharp eyes and nimble fingers eliminate the threat of traps and being able to squirm free from the best bonds. Music may or may not be his thing but his talents with it are indisputable.


... So, all that in mind, my favorite class is the pathfinder Bard. Specifically, the Archaeologist Bard. Season to your liking and bake until golden brown. I enjoy dipping a few levels to enhance the concept I am trying to go for. Most recently, it was a 4 level dip into the Investigator Sleuth and grabbing as much Panache/Grit/Luck as I could (Amateur Swashbuckler, Grit Investigator Talent). Combat Reflexes, Parry and Riposte, 22 Dex, Mirror Image and a High AC means I don't get hit very much.

[Jon_Dahl]

I have to go with fighter, good old plain and ordinary fighter. I love the fact that all around them, people are bending reality, merging with shadows, transcending physics, or just turning into something scary. But them? They just pick up their sword, look at that Rakshasa Maharaja, and say "Here kitty kitty, I've got something for ya!"

There's something heart-touchingly heroic about someone who faces the odds like that just by hard work, quick wits, and resolve.

Thank you, that was great! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've just said.

[SkipSandwich]

My favorite classes are the Soulknife and Psychic Warrior, I love the idea of the Soulknife even as I despair at how weak it is mechanically, while Psychic Warriors are both powerful and flexible enough that I've even used one to represent a fully "Mundane" warrior by only using powers without obvious visual effect or that could be re-fluffed as the result of exceptional focus and training, things like Vigor, Hustle, Lion's Charge, Danger Sense and so on.

[Curmudgeon]

I like Rogue for the flexibility it offers. You need at least a couple dozen books to access everything, but I think of it as an investment in fun.

[Ssalarn]

Favorite 3.5 classes:

Dragonfire Adept- Sure, it's just a dragon themed warlock, but it's a freaking dragon themed warlock. And while it might be relatively easily resisted at the level it comes online, there's few abilities anywhere that are as straight up awesome as the Five-fold Breath of Tiamat.

Incarnate- You get to custom pick your whole spread of magic items and can swap them out every day. I got to the point with this class where I just had quick-cards showing my essentia distributions and I'd just put the active one on the table facing the GM because I was swapping between offensive and defensive modes so frequently. It was better for gestalt, but fun no matter which way I played it.

Ardent- Sphere-based psionics just did something for me on a primal level. A little bit of healing, a little bit of time manipulation, a versatile cleric chassis.... I just really loved this class.


Favorite Pathfinder classes-

Cavalier- Teamwork feats + Tactician was pretty boss, even if there were a few issues in them not syncing the teamwork feat prereqs up well enough with the classes that actually got them. The cavalier had a few flaws here and there, but I feel like it came the closest from Paizo's materials of what I wanted out of a purely martial class, with a variety of abilities that do things normally reserved for magic. While there are a bunch of cool 3pp classes, and even some core archetypes for other classes, that do it better now, it was a pretty solid step towards what I wanted.

Vizier- To be fair, I wrote it, but DSP's first offering in the Akashic Mysteries series takes everything I loved about the Incarnate and amps it up to 11 in all the best ways. I've played around 4 different Viziers to date, and none of them have had even a little overlap with the others, which is just awesome. There's something great about a class that says "here's a whole bunch of options, a lot of them work together in awesome ways, go have fun and see what you can do".

Armorist- Drop Dead Studios' Armorist lets me play Erza Scarlett from Fairy Tail. That's pretty much enough to get it top billing all on its own. It's a magical fighter who always has the right tools for the job, and it's just fun as hell to play.

[Komatik]

Cleric/Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Druid.

Power, and esp. in the case of Beguiler and Druid, a very flavourful spell list to go with it. Druid especially so. Now if only we could get MTG Golgari style plant+necromancer mage-priests.

[ekarney]

I'm putting a vote down for Binder, it's just such an interesting class, and the binding system in general, a dip and a couple of feats can really add a lot of versatility to a lot of builds.

Artificer, not as a on stop crafting shop, but with Alchemist Savant it becomes part of a really interesting thrower build.

Renegade Mastermaker, yes, it's a PrC and yes it doesn't do much, but damn is it interesting.

Death Master, now when I first really played my first character was a Dread Necromancer, but it didn't feel how I wanted it to feel, the Death Master does. It's like a better version of the Dread Necro, despite being in Dragon Compendium for some reason. Either way, it's a brilliant class.

Geomancer. Because Geomancer.

[bobthehero]

Based on what I played.

Fighter, Cavalier, in that order from best to 2nd best.

I have an Antipaladin I am really looking forward to play.

[bekeleven]

Master of Many Forms is my favorite prestige class, and Druid for base class (although I most often enter MoMF through wild shape ranger for power concerns). Be anything. Options to solve every problem limited only by your knowledge = a class for me.

Chameleon is the second-best class, with Factotum as a common link. Do anything, limited only by your knowledge of the system and ability to cut corners. Again, perfect for me.

[Scheming Wizard]

If I had to pick one it would have to be Wizard. I like clerics so for a casual game or a one shot I would probably play a cleric instead. They have simpler spell selection and are harder to kill.

For moments that made me feel awesome though it is Wizard no contest. At epic levels they rule the game and get to design their own spells. They can craft magic items and build golems. They even get to play with the monster manual when they want to summon some help.

The best part about playing casters in general is that while everyone else is playing a board game with their pieces fighting the DM's pieces you are actually controlling the fight most of the time. A fighter decides who to stab next, but a Wizard decides if the party is going to fight on the ground or in the air, or if the fight is going to happen in the fog. At higher levels you get to decide who lives and who dies.

[Katana1515]

Its a tie for my top spot really.

The Wizard is my go to class in any 3.5 game, the scope of what you can do is awe inspiring. You can easily effect play on a tactical, strategic and eventually cosmic scale. In the kind of sandbox world my groups tend to favour, the Wizards flexibility is Godly. I have never had 'overshadowing' problems with a Wizard (though I am fully aware it can happen), because its so satisfying to be the parties utility tool. Darn the rogue isnt going to have a flankmate! Delay your turn while I summon one or Flat Foot the target. Surrounded on all sides you say? Let me throw down some walls to let the combat specialists deal with them piecemeal. The options never end, and you never have to do the same thing twice if you really don't want to.

The other contender is Pathfinders Magus. I can openly state I find the normal beatstick classes dreadfully dull in a long game, 'I Full Attack and hopefully trip' is great fun for around 3 sessions maximum to me. Magus on the other hand, kicks ass, yes you do damage, but you do it with style, you have a myriad of powerful options BEYOND empowered intensified shocking grasp. Just enough spellcasting and skills to be useful in every situation, and with some planning you will have the right tool for every job. I never get bored playing one of these, Its opened up melee characters as a real option for me.

Honourable Mentions:
The Warblade, my favourite of the TOB classes, and another example of Melee being made actually fun to me. I like the look of the Path of War, but havent had chance to play it yet.

Psion: All that flexibility on any given day! psionics rocks.