D&D 4.5 Edition - Class preview

 Long story short (until I sit down and write up an explanation of my design goals and motives behind this project), I'm creating my own major revision of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, my preferred edition of the roleplaying game. Some elements from the later 4th Edition Essentials and 5th Edition are incorporated into my version by for the most part this is largely based on my own preferences and a system overhaul I've had in mind around 2010.

I'll start by showcasing the eight initial classes: Fighter, Wizard, Barbarian, Cleric, Ranger, Bard, Druid, and Paladin. 4E made the transparent effort to categorize classes as a combination of a combat role plus a source of the character's fantastical powers: essentially, all these classic archetypes are exemplified by their martial training, arcane magic, divine influence, or primal spiritualism, while their combat abilities primarily fill the role of either defender, striker, leader, or controller. 

I've thematically renamed the roles (Warrior, Raider, Champion, Agent) and taken the further steps towards separating Role and Power Source into steps of character creation, at least to the degree that Class mostly defines just a player character's special features and choices of powers, leaving a player to focus on three general questions for a new character: "what is my role in the party?", "what is the source of my powers?", and "what should my backstory consist of?

FIGHTER

Fighters are the Martial Warrior, the culmination of arms and armor proficiencies focused on dominating one-one-one combat with any enemy. As per the Warrior role, Fighters gain a class feature allowing them to Mark an enemy combatant, literally putting their target at a disadvantage if they don't focus their attacks on the Fighter. On top of that, the Fighter has more features hindering their target from doing anything but keep fighting the Fighter, which given the Fighter's weapon bonuses and high defenses is a losing strategy for most monsters.

One small change I'm making from original 4E is bundle all the later build options into 'sub-classes', which really just categorizes alternate feature options into distinct build bundles tied together with their ideal power options. In the Fighter's case, with all the potential for different armor and weapon techniques, I opted to let the Versatile Fighter gain both one and two-handed weapon bonuses; I figure you're probably going to be sticking to one or the other as you find your preferred equipment so why lock you in before the game begins?

If you've seen 4E in action before you'll notice a lack of powers in the Fighter's roster. A major change in 4.5E is each Power Source gets a unique mix of the standard At-Will / Encounter / Daily power options, helping classes feel more unique even if they share a combat Role. Martial characters use the more straight-forward Stances to apply to their basic attacks each turn, while they can unleash powerful attacks when they use one of their daily action points.

WIZARD

The Arcane Agent. Wizards have access to the widest array of powers; from the types of elemental damage and status effects applied, special defenses targeted, and automatic hits from Magic Missile, it's difficult to find a monster that isn't vulnerable to at least one of their spells. A Wizard also gains access to numerous non-combat utilities through Cantrips and Rituals.

Of course the amount of spells a Wizard has prepared at any given time still keeps them on par with the other classes' combat competency, but the sheer variety of options may be daunting for some and enticing for others.

BARBARIAN

Despite the tendency for most Primal classes to express subtlety and neutrality, the Barbarian leans heavily into the Raider role which results a powerhouse for damage delivered to the enemy. The Raider role typically provides a class feature that add bonus damage to a target, but in the Barbarian's case multiple features include some form of extra attack.

The Rage daily evocations are powers that let the Barbarian drop a ton of damage in a single hit and continue to add extra damage for the rest of the fight. Similar to Martial characters, Primal classes normally receive stances in lieu of overt at-will powers.

CLERIC

The Divine Champion. Champions are the go-to healers, the de facto party leaders and support role. Even with its emphasis on healing powers, the Cleric has a lot of options in combat. Its Healing Word can be used alongside a standard attack action. 

I'm showing off the Battle Cleric subclass here, but keep in mind the unarmored Priest subclass with even an greater healing focus is also written up. A last-minute change to Divine classes was to convert their Daily powers into Action Surges. This leaves Arcane with the original full power lineup, as Divine classes tend less towards magical casters with more combat-oriented options.

RANGER

Our second Martial class falls under the Raider role. Rangers largely eschew the heavy armor and a wide selection of weapons of most Martial classes for an emphasis on dealing extra hits, either with a bow or dual weapon strikes.

Like the Fighter it will have access to a lot of variant subclasses but for now many of their Stances, Encounter Exploits and Action Surges accommodate either melee, ranged or either kinds of attacks.

BARD

Often left in the dust in other Editions as a master-of-none class, 4E Bard really shined when given the specific power source and role of an Arcane Champion. Like the Cleric, Bards enable their party members to heal without using their standard action per turn. 

The Skill Versatility class feature has been filled up with bonus proficiencies to give them some Agent-like utility. But overall the Bard's intuition-based spell casting is focused on providing the party with positive enhancements.

DRUID

Druids express the most overt use of Primal spiritual power through their Agent role, their ability to switch between animal forms being the main example.

While not as game-breakingly versatile as in other editions (wherein you could simply cast your choice of bonuses and turn into a dinosaur to out-fight the fighter), beast forms still allow the Druid to rapidly switch from spell-caster to melee combatant and back to fill in immediate tactical gaps.

PALADIN

The Divine version of the Defender dons the best armor and some of the highest health stats available. Like the fighter, the Paladin is able to compel the enemy to face them instead of their allies, although in this case both the requirements and the penalties for not heeding the Paladin's challenge are stricter.

The Paladin also brings an emphasis on healing as a secondary Champion role, more so in its Charisma-based Cavalier subclass.

For now these are the classes in use with my revision on 4th Edition D&D. I am focusing on writing up instructions for creating Level 1 characters using these eight but I will be rapidly expanding their power options to enable additional subclasses all the way to Level 3. After that we should be seeing the next 8 to round out all combinations of the four roles over all four power sources (eventually five powers with Psionic). 

Until then you know where to reach me, if not I'm not sure how you found any of this... it's not exactly viral material.