PH2 compared to what's there

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

yukonhorror7373

Feb 20, 2009 17:32:46		I have seen a lot on what's going to be popular and such, but no comparison to what's already there. So I have two questions. How will the new races/classes compare to what's been published already, and which classes will dominate with respect to role

Personally,

1. Swordmage - I like defenders, and I love the concept
2. Warden - Again, big fan of defenders, but they mechanics of the daily powers are cool. Also, I like the controller secondary role, but it's not its dominant feature.
3. Barbarian - Even before I knew there was a barbarian in unearthed arcana, I always wanted to be a barbarian type character. From the playtest, I am not sure if I like some aspects of the class, but overall, I am excited.
4 Sorcerer and Warlock - kind of tied. I really like the wild magic aspect, but cursing is fun
6. Shaman - I think it is a nice hybrid between extra healing and tactics. Also, can be on the sidelines, but still contribute in melee.
7. Warlord - closely tied with shaman, but better tactics
8. Avenger - assassin for the church, sneaky paladin type
9. Fighter - again I like defenders and they have good armor, battlerager reminiscent of barbarian

Those are the ones I like

10. Invoker - Summoning angels seems cool, but controllers aren't my fav
11. druid - since 1st ed, I have loved this class, but it seems all fluff and no cool mechanics compared to wizard
12. Bard - undecided
13. Ranger - not my thing
14. Artificer - the playtest wasn't great, but had potential

I am neutral on these ones

15. Wizard - not a fan of the controllers, maybe in arcane power if he can summon elementals, he'll be cooler
16.Paladin - Can't shake the goody-two shoes stereotype
17. Rogue - I don't like how he got turned into a combat class instead of being a skilled class.
18. Cleric - Can't shake off that healing machine stereotype

probably will never play these ones

As for race, I don't have any opinion. I have a tough time wrapping my head around shady races like drow, half-orc, and tieflings. I like gnomes, but I miss their CON boost.

In each role I think the following achieve the best mechanics

Defender:
1)Swordmage - absorbing damage just works
2)Warden- can atk and hamper movement
3)Paladin - best armor
4)fighter - someone has to be last

Leader:
1) shaman - good balance on healing/tactics/boosts
2) Warlord - best tactics, not bad boosts
3) Cleric - best healing
4) artificer - seems to have good boosts
5) Bard - too jack-of-all trades for me

Striker:
1) warlock
2) barbarian - the rages do a ton of damage and he can stay in the fray for a long time
3) Avenger - doesn't seem to do a lot of extra dam, but the double hit is nice
4) Rogue - snk atk does lots of damage and they have the mobility of what a striker should have
5) Ranger
6) Sorcerer

Controller
1) Druid - can be in the fray and still manipulate the field, standing power
2) Invoker - summoning
3) wizard - cause I feel like it
#2

Johnny_Angel

Feb 20, 2009 18:14:16 		What I like:

1) Warlord - I'm really not sure what to say other than I like the class, and I seem to do very well with it. Particularly, I like inspiring warlords.
2) Bards - One of my favorite 3E classes, so I'm excited to have it back. I like inspiring warlords, so I think that I'll probably like bards.
3) Druid - I've always liked druids. They also have a lot of things to offer to other classes such as a Beast Ranger MCing into Druid to become more primal.
4) Barbarian - I'm a bit of a Conan fanatic, so I can't help but to like this class. I also have a lot of MCing ideas that I want to try out with this class.
5) Sorcerer - My favorite 3E class, but I'm not sure that the 4E version will fit what I wanted.
6) Ranger - a very solid class, and nearly every party can benefit from having a ranger somehow
7) Fighter - bashing stuff in the face is quick, easy, and generally enjoyable
8) Warden - It's similar to the druid from what I understand, so I think I'll like it.
9) Paladin - no strong feelings one way or the other
10) Invoker - no strong feelings one way or the other, but it will be nice to have another controller
11) Rogue - I have a lot of good ideas for rogue characters, but I never seem to play one when it comes time to roll up a new character. I think once the bard comes out that I may explore more Rogue options via MCing.
12) Shaman - somehow this class escaped the bottom of the list, but that's because I didn't think about it when I was trying to think of what classes appeal to me least, so I suppose that means it falls somewhere in the middle.
13) Wizard - I think this might actually fall behind the avenger on my list. The class doesn't appeal to me as much as the others, but, as the only controller currently available, it gets a few bonus points to bump it ahead of some of the others.
14) Avenger - I think it's overhyped, but it does have some interesting flavor. A lot of the flavor reminds me of the monk though, and that just makes me wish I was able to play a monk...or at least a character who could punch things, grapple things, and be viable.
15) Warlock - I like a lot of the concepts, but I just can't seem to get the class to work for me in actual play. In a party along with a rogue and a ranger I always felt as though I wasn't nearly as useful nor did I feel that I was as effective as the other PCs. I had a lot of fun with the characters I play, but the class just doesn't seem to go well for me in actual play.
16) Cleric - I just can't seem to get into playing a cleric. My current warlord character has MCed into cleric to pick up a few things to flesh out my concept, but the class really doesn't interest me otherwise.
17) Swordmage - I doubt I'll ever play one unless it is released in a book that I actually want to buy. Other than that, it just really doesn't appeal to me. Swordmage just barely beats out the artificer to escape being last place for me.
18) Artificer - didn't appeal to me in 3E; doesn't appeal to me now



Mechanics

Hmm, well, I'm no expert on game mechanics, but this is how my experiences have played out so far:

Defender
It's really a tie between Figher and Paladin for me, and it depends upon what the party needs. The fighter tends to have more stickiness, but the paladin can heal and buff the party which is always nice.

Leader
1. Warlord - The cleric can usually heal better, but it's my opinion that the warlord has more ways to contribute to the party than the cleric does.
2. Cleric - The cleric tends to have the best healing as I've said, but, in my experiences, the cleric has less ways to contribute to the party than the warlord does. There are a lot of things the warlord can do that the cleric can; the cleric can do many things better than the warlord, but the warlord can still at least do those things if need be...even if not as well.

Striker
1. Rogue - Rogue seems to have the best accuracy since it's one of the few martial classes which can regularly attack defenses other than AC. It beats out the ranger on my list only because it seems to be a little more flexible than the ranger.
2. Ranger - I think that for damage dealing the ranger is probably the best class. Ranged rangers can rain ruin on enemies without ever being near them, but in cramped quarters the rogue seems to do a little better. Ranger might take the number one spot if you asked me again later, but for now the rogue will take it.
3. Warlock - as I said before, it just hasn't seemed to work very well for myself nor for the other people I play with. Ranger and rogue are neck and neck, but I think that the warlock falls behind both of the other two.

Controller
So far I have found that the party can survive just fine without a wizard, so I really don't have much to offer here. I'm not familiar enough with the mechanics of the PHB2 classes to have an opinion.