Ideal list of classes

[clash]

I created a new system originally based on dnd 5e but it doesnt have experience or classes and instead characters are completely customizable. In an effort to lower the entry barrier into the game I am creating classes as pre-packaged customizations. So my question to the playground is what would your ideal list of classes be assuming anything was supported?

As an additional question, do people prefer less more general options or more specific options keeping in mind that at any point you can vary from the class plan and be any combination of them? Below I have kinda 2 ends of the scale as an example. Do people like one of these ends or something in between?
Classes

Beserker
Warrior
Thief
Mage
Priest
Magical Fighter

vs

Magic Users

Dominator
Elementalist
Illusionist
Protector
Enhancer
Healer
Strategist
Timelord
Harbringer
Charmer


Martial

Swordmaster
Sniper
Beserker
Tactician
Brawler
Battle master
Dervish
Thief
Martial Artist
Defender


Other

Spellsword
Arcane Archer
Mage
Mutant(not currently supported)
Shapeshifter
Psychic
Alchemist
Spy
Craftsman
Investigator
Beast Master
Trickster

[khadgar567]

I created a new system originally based on dnd 5e but it doesnt have experience or classes and instead characters are completely customizable. In an effort to lower the entry barrier into the game I am creating classes as pre-packaged customizations. So my question to the playground is what would your ideal list of classes be assuming anything was supported?
Fighter, sorcerer, thief and belly dancer thats all you need

[clash]

lol Would the belly dancer provide a similiar role to the current bard. More of a support type character?

[JBPuffin]

I created a new system originally based on dnd 5e but it doesnt have experience or classes and instead characters are completely customizable. In an effort to lower the entry barrier into the game I am creating classes as pre-packaged customizations. So my question to the playground is what would your ideal list of classes be assuming anything was supported?

Assuming anything is supported? Like, any setting?...

Priests who aren't "clerics" - divine wizards, essentially. I've gotten sick of the "Full Casting + Rogue Chassis++" that are clerics in every edition and 5e Bards (love bards, just...don't like their feature density).
Mutants/Supers/Psychics - even/especially if they use the same mechanics as spellcasters, what makes them distinct interests me.
Recreations of a single archetype from each class, albeit with whatever balance modifications you've got - Whichever ones you like best/show off the differences best.
Things impossible in 5e - A couple of things 5e simply cannot do for whatever reason; exact nature is up to you, but whatever spurred you to derive from 5e probably has a couple of things that the original couldn't do and the new one can.

Important sidenote - any plans on sharing said system with GitP or other outsiders?

[clash]

Priests who aren't "clerics" - divine wizards, essentially. I've gotten sick of the "Full Casting + Rogue Chassis++" that are clerics in every edition and 5e Bards (love bards, just...don't like their feature density).

Is the idea here like a cleric from most mmorpgs? Lightly armored healing and support divine type caster?


Mutants/Supers/Psychics - even/especially if they use the same mechanics as spellcasters, what makes them distinct interests me.

Do you think an invocation-like system would work well for this? Where they can select different "superpowers" as they go?


Recreations of a single archetype from each class, albeit with whatever balance modifications you've got - Whichever ones you like best/show off the differences best.

Do you think every current class should be represented or would you give some of them the axe?


Things impossible in 5e - A couple of things 5e simply cannot do for whatever reason; exact nature is up to you, but whatever spurred you to derive from 5e probably has a couple of things that the original couldn't do and the new one can.

1 such idea for this is a speedster like character. In my system movement is a stat that can be upgraded and improved upon to get some crazy movement.


Important sidenote - any plans on sharing said system with GitP or other outsiders?

There isnt exactly a nice way of sharing it. Right now I am at the state where I have created a first version of it spanning a bunch of documents in a git repo, and done some playtesting with a group. I am in the process of tweaking it based off said playtesting. Then I plan on creating a well organized document that has the system as a whole. Once I have that document it would be great to get feedback on it.

[JBPuffin]

Is the idea here like a cleric from most mmorpgs? Lightly armored healing and support divine type caster?
Doesn't have to be support; wizard chassis, uses divine spells, turn undead and/or domain powers (whichever there's room for). But definitely light on armor and weapon proficiencies.


Do you think an invocation-like system would work well for this? Where they can select different "superpowers" as they go?
It could, yeah.


Do you think every current class should be represented or would you give some of them the axe?
Well...in my head, it'd be a proof of concept to recreate each of the 5e classes (not exactly, but roughly). Bard and Cleric don't have to be the same (less casting for bard, less weapon/armor for cleric), but it'd demonstrate that your system is at least as functional as 5e to recreate archetypes from it, and I'd like to see something from each class demonstrated.


1 such idea for this is a speedster like character. In my system movement is a stat that can be upgraded and improved upon to get some crazy movement.
Yes, definitely make that then.


There isnt exactly a nice way of sharing it. Right now I am at the state where I have created a first version of it spanning a bunch of documents in a git repo, and done some playtesting with a group. I am in the process of tweaking it based off said playtesting. Then I plan on creating a well organized document that has the system as a whole. Once I have that document it would be great to get feedback on it.
Ahh. Yeah, if/when you get around to a final document, I'll gladly take a look and see if anything breaks badly that playtesting didn't show.

[clash]

Ya it's definitely hard to surface everything in playtesting when there are probably 1000s of combinations for what your character could be, so more exposure is definitely good.

[khadgar567]

lol Would the belly dancer provide a similiar role to the current bard. More of a support type character?
its more like excuse to have constant fanservice and a chick in party i think them as like bard but more enjoyable.

[jqavins]

Fighter, sorcerer, thief and belly dancer thats all you need


Assuming anything is supported? Like, any setting?...

Priests who aren't "clerics" - divine wizards, essentially. I've gotten sick of the "Full Casting + Rogue Chassis++" that are clerics in every edition and 5e Bards (love bards, just...don't like their feature density).

Combine these two, but different. Describe only three of the pseudo-classes and lay out lots of examples with different customizations. The three classes are Fighter, Caster, and Generalist. The variant examples include a caster with arcane spells (sor/wiz in 3e parlance or MU in A&DD parlance; sorry, I don't know 5e), a caster with divine spells (non-clerics as described by JBPuffin), a fighter with a little casting (paladin or ranger), a generalist with a little casting (um... bard?), etc.

So why is this different? The classes would be your descriptions of how a character of a given type is structured, perhaps a template. The others are completed characters, so making them is an exercise in character creation (which many people find fun). Knock out as many as you want.

(It's always been my opinion that Bard and Barbarian are dumb classes. Bard is a job: singing for your supper and spreading news; if you want a special ability that lets someone sing spells instead of mumbling and finger wagging, fine, but that's just a caster variant. Or a generalist with a little casting and a variant. And a barbarian is a fighter with bad manners; bad manners shouldn't get you a bigger hit die and a "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" ability.)

[Knaight]

I created a new system originally based on dnd 5e but it doesnt have experience or classes and instead characters are completely customizable. In an effort to lower the entry barrier into the game I am creating classes as pre-packaged customizations. So my question to the playground is what would your ideal list of classes be assuming anything was supported?

This is obviously minimally detailed, but I'm assuming that you've got something along the lines of a point buy system (and it's worth looking at how other point buy systems have done this). Assuming that you also scrapped levels, a lot of the time what works is to have templates that spend most of a character's points, or spend them in vague categories. I'm also assuming that the D&D 5e base means that it's still specialized towards combat characters, and that a class like "Merchant" wouldn't really fit. Given that, here's a few major options that haven't been listed.

Ranger
Scout
Warcaster (generic term for armored caster)
Shapeshifter


I'd also keep the list pretty short - the entire point of these packages is so that players who don't want to deal with the complexities of the point buy system (or priority system, or slot filling system, or level splitting system, or whatever else it is) don't have to. Sticking a list of 50 classes in kind of defeats that purpose.

[clash]

So putting those suggestions together something like:
I think something like

Warrior
Caster
Scout
Shifter

Tactician

[JBPuffin]

So putting those suggestions together something like:
I think something like

Warrior
Caster
Scout
Shifter

Tactician

That could be an interesting party of five - caster, warrior, and scout have obvious jobs, but shifter and tactician...those could go a couple different ways.

[Knaight]

So putting those suggestions together something like:
I think something like

Warrior
Caster
Scout
Shifter

Tactician

It might be worth getting a hybrid archetype or two on here as well, but this seems fairly solid. Having the Shifter and Tactician as seperate groups is also a good idea, as those types of characters tend to be a bit trickier to build and a little counter intuitive.