[D&D] 8 Classes you couldn't live without!

[Leeham]

If you could put any 8 base classes into a PHB, which would they be?

[Tyndmyr]

Factotum, Wizard, Warlock, Warblade, Crusader, Swordsage, Dread Necromancer, Artificer.

Yup, that's right. No healers at all.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Fighter
Cleric
Thief
Wizard

...um, and four more I guess?

Really, only those four are quintessentially D&D (IMHO, of course).

If I had to pick four more, it'd depend on the setting:
- swords & sandals (barbarian, warlock, shaman, ranger)
- knights & damsels (paladin, bard, ranger, druid)
- magitek (artificer, sorcerer, swordmage, ???*)

Out of curiousity, why do you ask?

*The above are all the D&D4-themed versions of the class. For Magitek I would probably use some version of a magical rogue; in 4E I'd just do a Wizard MC Rogue, which isn't really a new class.

[Ormur]

Bard, archivist, druid, wizard, factotum, warblade, swordsage, crusader.

Just my preferences, a properly balanced Player's Handbook both considering roles and power would be a bit different.

[arguskos]

Factotum, Wizard, Warlock, Warblade, Crusader, Swordsage, Dread Necromancer, Artificer.

Yup, that's right. Four healers.

Sorry, had to correct you there.

Also, my top 8:

1. Wizard. I like wizards dammit.
2. Archivist. I said... I LIKE WIZARDS DAMMIT!
3. Barbarian. Cause nothing says "I love you" like RAGE!!!.
4. Savant, with improvements. I don't personally like Factotum, but I need that "jack of all trades" character. I much prefer Savant for that role.
5. Fighter or Duskblade, I'm not picky.
6. Artificer. I like magic items.
7. Death Master, which I much prefer to Dread Necromancer.
8. I'd roll a die for the last slot. Maybe between the other half of Fighter/Duskblade, Rogue, Bard, Sorcerer, Cleric, and Psion. I dunno.

[SigCorps]

Fighter
Rogue
Cleric
Wizard
Scout
Warlock
Sorcerer
Druid

[Tyndmyr]

Fair enough...there are ways for them to heal...but I don't like the "your a healer" steriotype. Forcing the new guy to play the healbot cleric, etc...that doesn't make for fun gameplay. Better to have a coupla creative options to heal a little spread around, instead.

Sig, actually naming the class "rouge" would be hilarious.

[Zaydos]

Wizard
Druid
Cleric
Warblade
Duskblade
Crusader
Factotum
Psion

I like casters.

[Snake-Aes]

Psychic Warrior
Warblade
Swordsage
Psychic Warrior
Bard
Monk
Cleric
Psychic Warrior

[Dr.Epic]

barbarian
cleric
druid
sorcerer
wizard
bard
rogue
ranger

[arguskos]

Fair enough...there are ways for them to heal...but I don't like the "your a healer" steriotype. Forcing the new guy to play the healbot cleric, etc...that doesn't make for fun gameplay. Better to have a coupla creative options to heal a little spread around, instead.

See, that's not a figment of the system, but an issue with groups demanding healbots. If they really want a healbot, the DM should provide an appropriate NPC in-game. No player should ever be forced to play something they don't want to play.

[JellyPooga]

1)Rogue
2)Rogue
3)Rogue
4)Rogue
5)Rogue
6)Rogue
7)Rogue
8)Rogue

...

...

...what? I like Rogues.

Oh ok, if I must be sensible, I'd probably go for somehting like:

1)Barbarian
2)Bard
3)Fighter
4)Paladin
5)Ranger
6)Rogue
7)Scout
8)Warlock

To fill the "classic" niches, you have:

Beat-Stick: Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger
Skill Monkey: Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Scout
Healer: Bard, Paladin, Ranger
Arcanist: Bard, Warlock

No "top-tier" classes dominating high-level play, healing becomes somewhat rarer, making for a grittier game and although there is significant overlap, I think each class brings its own schtick to the table.

[SigCorps]

Fair enough...there are ways for them to heal...but I don't like the "your a healer" steriotype. Forcing the new guy to play the healbot cleric, etc...that doesn't make for fun gameplay. Better to have a coupla creative options to heal a little spread around, instead.

Sig, actually naming the class "rouge" would be hilarious.

Yeah I always seem to get that one wrong.

As for healing, my last campaign we had no healer at all. We did have a creative rogue and warlock using "Use magical device" skill though and a lot of potions. Made life and death very interesting.

[Kurald Galain]

Conjurer
Evoker
Transmuter
Diviner
Abjurer
Enchanter
Necromancer
Illusionist

...what?

[ghost_warlock]

@^: Heh.

3.5:
1) Egoist
2) Kineticist
3) Nomad
4) Seer
5) Shaper
6) Telepath
7) Psychic Warrior
8) Factotum


4:
1) Ardent
2) Bard
3) Battlemind
4) Druid
5) Monk
6) Psion
7) Warden
8) Warlock

Fighter
Cleric
Thief
Wizard

...um, and four more I guess?

Really, only those four are quintessentially D&D (IMHO, of course).

Personally, I'd add druid and mystic monk because they're in my Rules Cyclopedia and, therefore, are quintessentially D&D to me.

[Noodles2375]

Psychic Warrior
Ardent
Swordsage
Psion
Sorcerer
Warblade
Crusader
Wildshape Variant Ranger


We like a lot of combat, and we don't like preparing spell slots. Also has the advantage of being exclusively Tier 2/3 to keep the power level pretty uniform. I could see snipping some combination of the Psion Sorcerer for some combination of the Binder, Dread Necromancer, Factotum, and Wilder.

Edit: Cut the Favored Soul for the Ardent.

[FMArthur]

• Crusader
• Swordsage
• Warblade
• Erudite (table > text version)
• Ardent
• Dread Necromancer
• Factotum
• Totemist

I'd say this is pretty well-rounded, wouldn't you? Is there anything missing from here in terms of role and character concept that anyone feels is essential?

[Hzurr]

1) Rogue
2) Fighter
3) Wizard
4) Cleric
5) Paladin
6) Warlord (the best class to come out of 4E)
7) Druid
8) Warlock (or sorcerer)

[MarkusWolfe]

-Barbarian
-Bard
-Cleric
-Fighter
-Paladin
-Ranger
-Rogue
-Sorceror

[Eldariel]

1. Psion
8. Ardent
2. Psychic Warrior*
5. Warblade
7. Crusader
3. Swordsage
4. Factotum**
6. Sublime Way Ranger

*With maneuvers over combat feats.
**With powers or maneuvers (player's choice for either a martial or a magical "Rogue") over spells.

Though that really misses out on the Druid-type character and I like Druids, damnit. But there's no real psionic equivalent I've found including homebrew so I can't add any. Other archetypes I'd want covered but can't fight are a Martial Leader (á la Marshal but non-****ty) and a Magical Party Buff (á la Bard but not Vancian). Also, Binder would be hot though it could probably be melded to Psion/Ardent somehow.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Personally, I'd add druid and mystic monk because they're in my Rules Cyclopedia and, therefore, are quintessentially D&D to me.

Well, while they have been in D&D products for awhile I've never felt they fit the basic paradigm that D&D purported to work within.

Druids are just oddballs all around - they use divine magic but in a really funky way. And they're members of crazy secret orders. As a class goes, they seem so setting specific; specifically a setting where ancient orders devoted to particularly odd nature spirit-gods are hanging around. This does not necessarily suit every setting.

Monks are just out-of-place for an otherwise European game. Ditto with the "we don't need no stinkin' magic" in a setting where people are constantly questing for this-or-that magic sword.

This is also why I didn't include any psionics, even though psionics have been around for most (all?) of the editions.

[Leolo]

Wizard, Paladin, Bard, Rogue, Fighter, Druid, Ghish (Swordmage for example), Monk

[Zaydos]

If I was doing 4e it would be:
Fighter
Swordmage
Sorcerer
Rogue
Wizard
Invoker (or maybe Psion)
Cleric
Artificer

[Yora]

- Fighter
- Rogue
- Ranger
These ones have a place in virtually every setting imaginable.

- Sorcerer or Wizard
- Cloistered Cleric
- Druid
- Bard
- Barbarian

[Zore]

Warblade, Swordsage, Binder, Wildshape Ranger*, Factotum, Totemist, Dread Necromancer, Bard

*With full animal companion progression

Its all a bit niche, but each class has something it can do that no other class replicates and it gives a lot of mechanical variety. Plus all are tier 3ish.

[JoshuaZ]

If we're putting in classes that aren't modified there's actually a temptation to remove a lot of the core classes for balance, maybe take out the cleric, wizard and druid, but keep the tier 2 and three classes.

So I'd guess I'd go with

sorcerer, psion, psychic warrior, dread necromancer, favored soul, beguiler, swordsage, crusader.

Crusader gets refluffed as paladin and favored soul gets refluffed as cleric.

Edit: Thinking about this more, just remove the specialized casters and replace with binder and warblade, and replace psychic warrior with rogue so you have an ok trap finder/skill monkey

sorcerer, psion, rogue, binder, favored soul, , warblade, crusader, swordsage.

Ok. That's my list.

[Zeta Kai]

1. Beguiler
2. Dread Necromancer
3. Bard
4. Swordsage
5. Binder
6. Factotum
7. Warblade
8. Psionic Warrior

What? I like Tier 3 play.

[Telonius]

Rogue
Cleric
Sorcerer
Warblade
Warlock
Bard
Monk*
Paladin*

* - because it just wouldn't be D&D without the arguments

[Quellian-dyrae]

Warblade (give access to all disciplines, up maneuver progression to swordsage, bonus feats can be any fighter feat).

Sorcerer (use favored soul spell progression).

Favored Soul (give two domains, which they can also select spells from).

Psion (maybe let them get all powers from their discipline special list free, since I'm stepping up spells known for the other casters).

Druid (spontaneous casting version but with favored soul progression, must choose between animal companion and wild shape).

Factotum (let them choose a scaling class feature, such as Sneak Attack, Inspire Courage, or Bonus Feats as additional class feature, and use their spell slots to acquire maneuvers and non-arcane spells, up skill points to 8).

Beguiler (also may choose a scaling feature, but at 3/4 level).

Duskblade (give access to spells from additional chosen spell list, with maneuvers being an option, maybe slip 6th level spells in there).

Well I couldn't resist tinkering, but I think that would reasonably cover most concepts at around Tier 2/High Tier 3 power level. I'd probably expand the class skills some as well though (Survival for Warblades and Duskblades, for example, so ranger/barbarian/hunter types could be better emulated, etc).

[nyarlathotep]

Binder
Artificer
Sorcerer
Paladin
Cleric
Warblade
Dread Necromancer
Factotum