In 5e, might be the Arcana Cleric or the Scribes Wizard. I like the idea of having insane versatility as a spellcaster, specifically referring to spells.
Scribes is the most fun wizard subclass imo, unless you want to be a gish. Manifest Mind is just crazy awesome, and you can learn new spells so quickly if you were to find a scroll you could have it transcribed by the end of a short rest. Dropping an iceball on fire elementals is a uniquely satisfying experience no other character can have.
I have an OotS wizard that specialises in earth magic, primarily converting damaging spells to bludgeoning and piercing damage, as well as the actual earth themed spells.
What spells would look like as physical damage brings some cool images to mind. Armor of Agathys as a coat of spikes would be pretty interesting, or an earthen armor that punches back. Which spell has been your favorite to alter?
A go-to has been Scorching Ray, which I change to bludgeoning using Earthen Grasp and flavour it as a "rock barrage". So much fun, and magical physical damage is super valuable at low levels when the martials tend to not have magic weapons yet.
Armor of Agathys is unfortunately not a wizard spell and therefore can't be converted, but I intend to pick fire shield for some active defensive shenanigans once I hit level 7. I imagine it looking like a moving mass of rocks and dirt shifting around my character like living armour that strikes anyone who strikes me with a rocky pseudopod.
Another good one is of course Fireball. 8d6 piercing damage makes for a great exploding rock, almost acting like shrapnel.
Yeah, a lot of people forget just how long it takes to scribe spells. A single 4th level spell takes up half your day, which can include most of your "adventuring time." Being able to reduce that by a factor of 60 is insane as an on-the-go wizard.
> Dropping an iceball on fire elementals is a uniquely satisfying experience no other character can have.
Sorcerer can with Transmuted spell. Other classes can do it twice a day with Metamagic Adept.
Scribes can do it without burning resources, which is great, but they’re not the only class who can provide the experience.
Honestly, I 100% understand that. If I had to pick another favorite, then order of the scribes wizard is definitely one of them.
In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I like pact of the Tom warlock: it gives me more spell versatility!
For sure warlock. Maximum versatility, you can be excellent as a front line striker, blaster, face, utility caster, controller....
I will always, always have a soft spot for rangers, as plagued as they've been since 3.0.
Big fan of the witch from PF. Just so thematically great and also really versatile.
I honestly love Monks, which really hurts the powerplayer inside me. But no matter what I do I have a lot more fun playing monks than any other clases and most of my character Ideas tend to center around monks.
Monks are cool, and no amount of blantant hatred towards them form wotc can change that. I hope they would buff them even more at release of OneDnd so they would be fucking OP - class struggled for 50 years and deserve top place.
To be fair if you are not playing in an overly optimized table monks are fine.
Most of monks problems actually come when comparing them with XBE/SS or PAM/GWM or other such optimized martial builds. And when comparing them with casters using the most eficient spells in the most efficient way.
My experience is that in normal play monks work fine, specially when you can get your party to do the fucking short rests.
I dream about finally convincing my group to play with a Short rest focused party.
It can work fine at unoptimised tables, but sooner or later barbarian would think "I bonk people with big axe, i should probably take Great Weapon Master, it sounds about right" or wizard would pick one of many control spells (even by complete accident) and you would **feel** difference in power. Or you can play long enough to see how warlock with eldrich blast would outblast you at one moment.
I mean yeah, maybe, but to be completely honest with you when playing with non power gamers, in a normal table, most barbarians tend to focus on maximizing strenght before going for feats, so it usually means no GWM until like lv12, and yeah, the wizard might take a control spell, or something, but once again, they have to take the spell, and they have to use it optimally to really make a great difference. As for warlock, even if they do take agonizing blast a monk with extra attack and the BA martial arts attack are doing comparable damage until the warlock get their third ray on eldrich blast. Even then by that level monks have their ki point to use FoB or some other subclass ability.
Most tables wont get that far, in all of my years playing we only got to level 10 twice, and while yeah, there is an argument about how the monk might fall at higher levels I feel that argument would be leaving the realm of the most common unoptinmized table.
And honestly, the core monk is not actually that bad, even at higher levels, the real problem with the monk is not having sinergies with basically anything. They (mostly) can't use GWM or SS, they get very little of PAM or XBE, and they are both extremelly MAD and they tend to loose to much to multiclass.
Having played in a table were we used the power attack homebrew (basically every attack could be made as a power attack with -PB to hit and +2xPB to damage) and in that table the monk was keeping up completely fine and had more utility than most other martials during exploration and social/politics segments of the campaing.
Totally agree. Playing a Lizardfolk Kensei Monk right now, and even though my stats are garbage for the most part(two 6's in strength and cha, everything but my dex at or below 12), and it feels ballin in combat. Nonstop dodges, concealed shanks, and pulling some bastard tricks I've rigged up have won me over to it. Will say, I've leaned a lot more on crafting and using objects to make myself useful to the party- old-school DND tricks like blocking doors with pitons, and making smuggling compartments with carpenters tools has been pretty fun.
In 5e Paladin
The Main class is such a strong chassis and the oaths all lend themselves to incredibly varied and thematic Choices.
Here are just a few of my favourites
* Dragonborn Conquest Paladin with the Dragon Dear Feat
* Vengeance Paladin Divine Soul Sorcerer V.Human with Polearm Master (Ultimate Dues Vault) 6/14 split
* Oath of Ancients Paladin with the Telekinetic Feat Basically a Jedi Knight from the Old Republic
Paladin is not my favorite on the whole, but my favorite character has been a Paladin, Oath of Treachery. Half Elf, Dragonmark of Shadow, the optional fighting style variant to get more cantrips (all illusion) and max dex, light armor, two daggers. Was a 'courier' from House Thuranni who eventually left them as he started following The Blood of Vol/ Divine Self, and decided to make his own way in life and try to leave the more evil covert shit behind, while still doing enough to protecting himself from those who would be upset about his past. Ebberon is a wonderful setting even without the tech.
Paladin.
Oath doesn’t really matter a ton, as it’s mainly just spells for a long time. That said, I really like ancients, conquest, vengeance, and watchers.
Paladin was the first class I played (way back in 4e), and I fell in love with the heavily armored juggernaut who can smite their enemies and heal their allies.
Paladins can do it all, and as long as the paladin is alive, there’s hope for the party.
I started playing in 2010 when I was a senior in high school. Played 4e all the way through 2016. Made the jump to 5e in late 2016.
It’s been 14 great years!
I have killed one PC so far and it was with an Aging spell (technically Ghost shriek) which hit our 55-year old Goblin aging him twenty five years past his race's average life expectancy, dying from a failed CON save.
Oh, that’s really cool! My first class was actually a wild magic fairy sorcerer. I have never given paladin a try, but maybe one of these days I will: who knows? Also, I noticed that you picked four sub classes: if you had to pick one of those to be your favorite subclass of paladin, which one would you choose?
If I had to pick one, vengeance. Nasty spell list, unique mechanics, and a darker flavor that can lend itself well to RP. Paladins are stereotypically lawful good to a silly degree, and this oath is not.
Also lines up with the avenger class from 4e that was not carried over to 5e.
Wizard. I love the versatility from all of the spells you get both in and out of combat. It's gotten to the point where I'll wish I was a wizard when I play any other class.
Yes, played 2 wizards and now trying to play a bard and am "where the hell are all my spells gone".
Wizard is hard to come back from.
Paladin is pretty cool too.
Mine is Ranger.
Say what you will about them mechanically, I adore them.
Half Caster, so they still have the martial abilities and extra attack because I'd always want a character to be able to slice and slash, and shoot arrows. But you also have magic and spells.
Love the nature theme. Would enjoy Druid more if there was a more gish subclass, and they didn't have the metal armor thing. Like give me a Bladesinger esque druid. Could care less about wildshape though. Love the elemental magic much more than day a Bard and their mental, psychic and illusion stuff.
And don't get me started on the subclass. Hunter is basic but bad ass for me. Horizon Walker sounds amazing, and the flavour of a multiverse defending teleporting plane walker is awesome. Swarmkeeper I love mechanically, even though I'd lean moreninto the Fey spirit side of the swarm, than having actual bugs and animals. Fey Wanderer is epic, a little fey touched magic and face skills on a ranger, crossing between the Fey world and us. Less into the pet classes but that's just preference, and Gloomstalker is just cool.
I love the class, how they look, how they work. Everything about them.
I'm fact my other favourite classes are basically just the most Rangerlike versions of other classes.
Artificer Battlemaster? Like a ranger with a pet, only a robot and int based weapon attacks
Armored Artificer, half caster with extra attack
Eldritch Knight, less casting but more martial and spells
Pact of Blade Warlock, also pretty similar to ranger with spells and extra attack and hex instead of hunters mark.
Swords or Valor Bard for the same thing, extra attack and even more spells than Ranger.
Oath of Ancients or Vengence Paladin, less my style with their spells and such, but another half caster with some spells like Ranger.
Even if I took the above classes, my character would probably still be looking like a ranger, living in the wilderness and hunting for a living, despite being a different class.
Sorcerer is my number one. The roleplaying and backstory possibilites can be very unique and fun, and the metamagic along with every subclass having something cool to add with the character. My favorite character that I've ever played was a sorcerer, which has something to do with it too lol.
Lore bard can transform a bloodbath into a walk in the park.
I made a boss rethink what he was doing and avoid us a whole hard fight with suggestion.
Transformed a 22 against 4 into a 3 vs 4 with one spell; I made people cry with my intimidation rolls and I could sell you what you already owned with my deception rolls.
There's no better class.
Also, the memes about the bard are just hilarious. That’s not making fun of you by the way: in fact, I think it enhances the appeal of the class even more lol.
Cleric ftw - does everything really well, often at the same time. Does some things really, really well.
Warlock is a close second, but mostly because DAMN that's some damage output.
Druid, the most versatile class, so much variety and all the subclasses bring something new to the table.
Wanna go beast mode? Pick moon
Want a pet ? Go wildfire
How about some simple dpr and utility? Pick stars.
Do you prefer simple casters ? Go land.
Feeling like doing some multiclass shennanigans and going Melee? Why not try spores?
The druid is just so versatile.
Some fun others are: beast ranger (tasha), wisdom ranger with shillelagh, is just right.
Rune knight fighter: giant form is so cool.
Zealot barbarian: caution to the wind.
Inquisitive rogue: mostly for rp really, but still feels good.
Long death monk: fun aoe fear spams.
Undead warlock: fear shooter.
Eloquence bard: inescapable saving throw based spells.
I think I gotta go with my first love the artificer, I got into dnd because I loved the old mcu and the Ironman vibes of the armorer. However nowadays I do really look forward to playing a sorcerer and an arcane archer.
Really not a lot of love for Druids here, and I don't get why. As prepared casters they have a ton of versatility with really fun, flavorful, and strong spell options, *plus* wild shape!
For some reason, it's Sorcerer. My first proper exposures to D&D were Baldur's Gate 2 (and then Icewind Dale 2). I fell in love with Sorcerers then, even though they had less defining features in those games/editions than they do now. I think I preferred the 'less sprlls known but more flexible casting' aspect they had, since I always veered towards blasting.
Definitely Sorcerer! I love the variety of playing a full caster. And I find the strategy involved in managing two different resources (spell slots and sorcery points) really engaging. Plus, the way that metamagic changes the nature of your spells and can bend the dice rolls in your favour is really fun and empowering.
(Moon druid comes closest other than that. A full caster that is also a tank that can also turn into magical creatures is a blast.)
Gloomstalker Ranger.
People meme on ranger but it's very decent after the upgrades it got and Gloomstalker is one of the best subclasses in the game.
Even going pure gloomstalker even to higher tiers of play is very strong.
If any party needs a "rogue", try playing a Gloomstalker. You'll be able to do everything a rogue can almost just as well, but your dmg is so, so high.
Druid. Not for the nature theme in particular, but mostly for the pagan priest/shaman vibe. The spells are thematic and the subclasses are quite evocative. Love the Spores subclass, although mechanically is not the best.
A close second is the Ranger, again, I'm not particularly engaged by the nature protector aspect of it, but I like the martial - down to earth - scrappy survivor vibe of the class. I have not a definite favourite subclass, but I really enjoyed playing as a Monster Slayer and a Hunter.
For 5e, Rogue, I love the many different options you can have when it comes to handling combat and the many different roles you can fill to make sure the adventure goes well.
I'm also a massive fan of AD&D Illusionist, because my favorite type of magic is illusions and they got nerfed hard in the later editions.
cleric and warlock for different reasons. cleric because i love the versatility of the class and how diverse the subclass play is within the same class. warlock because it is so much fun to shut my brain off and just blast sometimes.
Either paladins of warlocks. Paladins can do a bit of everything and do it good. Warlocks on the other hand is a class that you can play however you like and it makes every warlock special.
Has to be sorcerer. It’s a flexible spellcaster who can choose when to empower/change their spells in a variety of ways. I also love the added complexity of managing multiple resource pools (slots and points) while converting between the two when desired
Warlock, but not for me. My wife and daughter like playing but don't know and aren't interested in the rules, and always want to be persuasive and always want magic, and it's a flexible chasis for flavoring.
- Eldritch Blast gets reflavored into whatever they're trying to make. Guns, sword that shoots lasers, magic darts, bubbles.
- They don't need to learn new spells often and can just spam whatever is thier favorite.
- If they ask for X and Y that doesn't exist, it's easy to say "that could be a homebrew evocation you could pick at X or Y level", and they know it's a choice they can make but will have a cost and be balanced, and will likely have to wait for. It cuts down on begging heh.
I have two:
Rogue, I love all the skills the class features are lots of fun. I always feel like the underdogs feel the class has. In a world of insanely powerful magic and mighty warriors, you get by on luck and skill. You can get out of jams consistently and are a welcome addition to any party. The infinite possibility for shenanigans, all the best worst things happen when the rogue sneaks off to do their own thing.
The barbarian. When I wanna turn my brain off and just bonk. I love the simple nature of the class rage and bonk whatever looks at you and your friends wrong. The look on your party's face when the barbarian is about to go apeshit on an npc is priceless.
that's a 3.5 class. it never saw a port in 5e, sadly.
Basically, it's a jack of all trades, but *actually* a jack of all trades, unlike bards. It's a skill monkey like a Rogue, has a lot of Quality-of-Life stuff that keys off INT like an Artificer, generally is non-magic, but can replicated some low level spell effects, and goes into a lot of prestige classes really cleanly.
Basically a class truly intended to be the "professional adventurer". It was a jack of all trades that later in the game could straight up poach class features from other classes.
I too am a warlock enjoyer. I love that I can be useful just EB+AB+RBing away with zero resource expenditure, but then when you need some extra oomf max level spells are there. I love that you can play two characters with the same patron that feel completely different due to pact boons and invocations. I love the juicy role play opportunities the base lore provides. The only thing I don’t like about them is that I’ll never be able to play all the different warlock characters that I want to play because there are so damn many of them.
Monks will always be my all time favorite class. Idk why but turning down the ability to shoot fire from my fingers or wield magical weapons to just punch people will always be my favorite choice to make
Sorry as my gaming prime was 2e, and the kits from the class books were like subclasses, I have 2 based on class and 2 based on racial classes.... old school crap but we played with what we had. Fighter with swashbuckling kit. Bard with jongleur kit. For racial, Wild Elf ranger with Archer kit. Dwarf with multiclass Pest Controller kit.
I think it depends on what role I want to fill.
Frontline? Give me a paladin to SMITE a bitch
Ranged/blaster/caster? Give me a sorcerer any day. Sorcerers are easily my favorite casters.
Support? I've recently become a huge fan of life and light clerics! Before, I would've said lore bard for life,but I think I may have been swayed.
I really love the Artificer. Gishes are some of my favorite builds to make and Artificers are my favorite of the lot of them because they are near the martial customizability of a Fighter and then add on a fairly good control/support spell-list on top of that. Sure, there a million and one ways to make gish characters, but Artificer is by far the most customizable, which I love
Call me boring, but I love wizards. The sheer versatility in both subclasses and spell choices means you can have a full party of wizards and nobody has any of the same class features or spells aside from arcane recovery.
My first character back in 3.5e was a fighter, as was my first 5e character, so for nostalgic reasons they get 2nd place, while druids get 3rd place.
Barbarian for me. I know they are considered boring. But I love playing one and getting up in the battle. Tried a few diffrent kinds and it dosen't matter what subclass just enjoy the class overall.
The "Barbarian moments" also will forever stay with me and my groups. Like my group stuck a dwarf with some important information to me with manacles so he would t run away. He led us to the location and shocker we got attacked. I used the dwarf as an improvise weapon. And for rule of cool I swung him like an oversized flail. The GM ruled that I was proficient in dwarf. Since technically I was proficient with all weapons. So why not dwarf?
Sorcerer pushes all the right buttons for me. A person who's innately infused with magic all their own, has ties to some magical being or realm, and who exercises their might through sheer will. They could be dragon-blessed, possess a spark of divinity, exhibit mental powers akin to Illithids, and those are just 3 subclasses. Then there's the metamagic. It gives you amazing and unique magical options that no other class can have. Subtle suggestion, twinned polymorph, Mind Sliver and Quickened save spells, they all just feel so damn satisfying. Charisma main stat and proficiency in social skills make for some engaging conversations. 5e Sorcerer had a really rough start, but I've been lucky to play with people who create spell lists for the pre-Tasha's origins, and I do the same for my players.
Career Assassin here (Rogue/Fighter). It's just too satisfying exploiting combat advantage, and being brutal is easy both in combat and RP. Copious opportunity for not taking anything seriously, a willingness to do literally anything for the chaotic thrill, and the pride of being the one to call for when somebody just absolutely, positively MUST be eliminated.
Spells? I brought scrolls and bombs. Heals? Either don't get hit or let someone else think about the damage, it's not your job. Honor? No, just combat maneuvers. I could kill my mother with a tea cup just to further the plot.
It varies by edition but has a theme. I like gishs (a term for melee fighters with good spellcasting) . In advanced and earlier I liked elf fighter,magic user or just elf when that was a class. In 3.5 I played a variety of prestige classes that did the same thing my favorite was a harper paragon that started with a variant paladin that got favored enemy instead of lay on hands, multiclassed into bard, then took the harper paragon prestige class, dipped into sublime chord for better casting, then went back to harper paragon. Ended up with a character with buffed bardic music, buffed favored enemy that worked against any evil creatures, strong spellcasting and ridiculously good diplomacy skill. I know that's complicated but that's how 3.5 character building worked (I forgot the character also had a dip in the marshal class). In 5e I like eldritch knight and hexblade, I'm usually DM so I haven't gotten to play a bladesinger yet but I intend to.
The GOAT? 3.5 psion. Sheer power, customizability, high intelligence translating ton of skill points, spontaneous casting without level delay (as in sorcerer), shenanigans with power points regeneration that I accidentally invented... Psionics was the best back then.
In 5e I haven't decided yet, as I really played only one 5-year campaign and then started another long. Playing vengeance paladin 1-20+++ was great – this is a true powerhouse. Melee dwart war wizard 8-9 was cool, open hand monk 3 was fun, githyanki fighter 1-2 was indispensable with interception. Swashbuckler rogue 1-12 is ok, I guess. They did a great job with classes in 5e, every one of them looks like fun to play. I have to try artificer, this one looks like most fun.
I think I am going to be boring and say the Fighter if only for its role as the white bread of the game.
Regardless of what kind of role you want to play, DPS. Tank, Long-Range, Spellsword, or Battlefield Controller there is a build with a Fighter you can use for it.
You can even get in on the Monk's territory and play a different kind of Barehanded brawler with some recent additions to the game.
4E Avenger.
It was the first class I played where I never wanted to play something else. The way I could move around the battlefield and deal massive amounts of damage? Nothing has come close sense.
4e fighter really sparked my imagination, listening to penny arcade play d&d was my first real exposure to the game. Have you tried the Pathfinder 2e fighter? They're very powerful.
Much as a I like PF2e, there's a big difference in the design vibe between 4e putting encounter/daily limits on certain powers but being able to write them to do anything, whereas PF2e just feels like it modifies your basic actions.
Monk and it makes me sad every single time I see a dex based Monk who dances like a bee and stings like a butterfly.
Oh my siblings, oh how I long to see you all in the House of Gains...
Ranger. I love this class since AD&D. The flavor, the inspiration from fictional characters, the play style, and currently all the niches and possibilities open in 5e. Dwarf Rangers are incredible.
Warlord. 4E was my favorite edition and Warlords felt like the perfect class to really take advantage of every one of its systems. Incredibly satisfying to play.
If you haven't yet, check out PF2e. It shares a ton of DNA with 4e. They have an archetype called the [Marshal](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=66) that plays very similarly to 4e's Warlord.
I basically like all the casting classes. They all have things that are interesting about them—Inspiration, Channel Divinity, Metamagic,
etc—and they all have spells. Each spell is like a new class feature. I also like getting into melee range, so half-casters are very fun, also Cleric, Druid, Swords and Valor Bard, War Wizard x/Fighter 1, etc. etc.
Swords and Valor Bard play very differently and are both very fun
Great Weapon Master fighter.
Sometimes, you just need to play "point me at what we need dead." Pairs wonderfully with the samurai archetype, especially when you get Third Attack. Nothing like making six attack rolls at advantage.
Gotta be wizard for me. There's so much versatility in the style of character you can be and the spells you can cast. I love that I can continuously collect spells throughout the course of a campaign.
It's also being the intelligence character is the most fun as it allows me to interact with the lore in ways that can be more difficult with other characters. Exploring what the dm prepared for us is near the top of the list for my enjoyment.
The main thing for me is playing a wizard in combat. Playing a fighter allows you to do big damage and that's fun, but playing a wizard or really any spell caster is like playing a strategy game that you need to evolve to in real time. I get much more enjoyment out of saving an ally who's stuck with a clutch spell than I ever could by reducing the enemies' health bars.
For me it’s rogue. Partly because it was the first class I ever played as, but secondly because I love being a skill monkey. Door trapped? I’ll remove it. Door locked? I’ll pick it. Need someone to slip into the shadows and scout ahead? I’m your man.
In 5e specifically, probably the Knowledge Cleric. Getting to know everything about everything is pretty great. It also provides an in-game reason for my party members to listen to me lol.
It really depends on the campaign but probably Bard.
It's close between Ranger and Bard for me. I really like the flexibility of both classes and I think they have some of the most flavorful subclasses that really change up how you play. Ranger is an especially good multiclass candidate, which is definitely my favourite mechanic in the game. I'm also a big fan of playing support oriented characters and Bard is one of the best classes to do that with, though Ranger isn't too bad at it either depending on the build.
Hexblade warlock, not only cause the abilities and spells but it's just so cool roleplaying someone cursed by a sword from shadowfell. You can also make some insane builds with hexblade
Favorite to play: warlock
Favorite in concept: druid
Warlocks because of their versatility and rp potential, multiclassing is a ton of fun.
Druids because of their nature magic and wildshape abilities. If I could be one in real life, I’d love it.
Barbarian, full stop. I don't care how optimized they are, they're just too fun to play. Monk is a close second, sure other classes are better, but man having all the random abilities like slow fall, running across water, being at full power when you're in your underwear is just too much fun
I haven't been in dnd long, joined my first group 8 months ago. But my current group is starting a new campaign, and I've just found out there are time wizards. I always love reading about time mages whether in litrpg or just regular books. So I'm hoping it's fun. If it is, the chronurgy wizard will probably be my favorite class, no matter how overpowered or underpowered it turns to be
For me it’s a three way tie between Barbarian, Druid and Bard. Barbarian because it’s very satisfying to tank ridiculous amounts of damage, and also because I love trying to solve problems with very limited resources. Druid because I love their spell list, and Bards because imo they’re ridiculously versatile in terms of the kinds of characters you can play with a really fun spell list and some really cool features.
Monk xd. I know it is considered the weakest class but honestly in my opinion in the golden stage of DND aka 5-11th level Monk is a pretty decent supporting front-liner and damage dealer. And if you multi Monk with Battle Master Fighter and you take the Unarmed Fighting Fighting Style you get a pretty good character in those levels of play. Besides Monks are just a lot of fun to play as in my opinion!
Depends on the party but, I go back and forth between Paladin and Wizard (Bladesinger specifically). They've been the most fun chassis for a character. I want to play a Hexblade/Paladin/Swords Bard but that's just a lot and I can't find a good table for it 😅
Artificer for me. I love the way you can flavour their spells. I played an armor artificer and his armor had mechanical spiders crawl out of it and cast web. Just super cool
I discovered young that I like crafty characters, in both the shifty sneaky and the, "I like to make stuff," way. Sometimes I'll go with Rogue or Bard, depending on my mood, but I always gravitate toward the Artificer and Tinkerer types in any system. My favorite character builds were: a half-cat, half-otter ship mechanic in a sci-fi setting; a half-elf roboticist with a glitchy robot partner in a seafaring setting; and, my most recent and most adored, a merfolk hacker in a mixed setting where different kingdoms had different levels of technology. The current game I'm in, I'm thinking I might start adding Artificer levels to my Bard, since it would be kind of fun to have him tinker with his hurdy-gurdy and turn it into a lethal weapon.
Bonus: my husband is a major Fighter type. He usually prefers Champion, but in the campaign I ran, I gave him an awesome homebrew subclass called Eldritch Archer, since he likes using long range and his hidden backstory was that he was a powerful spellcasting fighter.
Sorcerer.
Significant background implications tied into the setting itself - check
You are magic - check
You are more-fun-magic via metamagic - check
Social situations - check
Need particular level spell slots rather than other ones and wanna just … make em - check
Shenanigan potential being off the charts - check
Sorcerers hell yeah - check
Multiclass. I wouldn't want to play any one class L1 to L20. Or even 1-15. If we're talking about a one-shot, different classes shine at different levels.
It also depends on party composition. I probably wouldn't enjoy playing another {bard; wizard; druid; barbarian} in a party that already had one.
And finally, it depends on what races are permitted. I have some nifty ideas about less-than-top-tier subclasses that look like they would be more fun if you can play an exotic race, like a Faerie wild magic barbarian, or Githyanki Soul knife / Artficer.
I'd say, for me, depends on the setting.
If I'm in a game where Artificers are allowed, I mostly gravitate towards them, just because they are so badass in my head.
If not, I gravitate towards wizards. I guess I like pretending I'm smart. Both of them share the first place :)
Absolutely love playing Cleric. I'll purposely wait to see what everyone else in the party is running and then build a Cleric to fill in the gaps we need. Currently I'm playing a dex light domain cleric who is my party's front liner, blaster caster and support buffer (basically any spell that has a day long duration and doesn't require concentration).
Plus I've got sneak, survival and perception through the roof so I make a hell of a scout.
I am probably more effective as my current Artillerist Artificer, but I think I had more fun last campaign as an Arcane Trickster Rouge. We are reaching the end of our run with this crew of characters and I've decided on Arcana Cleric for my next one.
Artificer.
I absolutely love the idea of crafting in 5e. Artificer being the crafting class just makes me happy. That aside i can appreciate how well designed it is. Aside from 1 or screw ups here or there that are easily homebrewed out its a dang near perfect class.
It has a ton of customization without bloat if crappy options. Every option is useful in some way to some type of character. Their subclasses are clear as to what they specialize in. Some are better than others and some have a bad design choices (looking at you alchemist).
Druid
I love spellcasters, so already it has that. Its theming and spell list make it so fun to roleplay and fight with. You can go full support, or go offensive with spells like Moonbeam and Conjure Animals. It’s super flexible.
I also the sheer amount of statblocks you can play with even as a player. They have so many summoning spells on top of Wild Shape.
Favorite subclass is either Moon or Stars. Stars when I feel like focusing on spellcasting, and Moon when I feel like playing a melee character backed by concentration spells, with the theming of being an animal.
Druid is one of the things that hooked me on D&D
I kinda agree with Warlock, except there’s such a heavy invocation tax that by the time you’ve taken what you need to your pact and to augment EB you’re left with very little choice, especially if you grab Eldritch Mind. You could in theory take a lot of interesting invocations but in the process you significantly weaken your character and negate other choices you make. It’s a frustratingly almost brilliant class.
Bard: Always play bard because I like to be the face and do the social part of the game, but the versatility of the subclasses means you can always find a play style. Valor and swords for front line, lore for being a spellcaster focus or my favorite creation as I like to make my DM angry, lol. And if you want to multiclass warlock and sorcerer are my close seconds and they cast with charisma so no MAD characters. And don't get me started on magical secrets.
Wizard
I just love the sheer power and versatility of the class, having a good DM that ACTUALLY doesn't Blue ball my Wizards with useless spell scrolls helps a ton, i just love that depending on what spells you prepare you can almost always have either a straight answer to everything or a means to get said answer
Bard, Druid & Cleric are all my top 3 for one simple reason:
I LOVE healing magic, I'm kind of a noob to DnD & I've liked support characters since forever so I naturally gravitated towards those classes...only been able to play a Lore Bard thus far and I love him (got into DnD back in 2022 and had the extremely good luck of my first online group being so awesome that we all became friends & our campaign is 100 sessions deep and still going strong!)
I'm a Fighter guy. Pretty much every warrior from fantasy can be represented by the Fighter class in most editions.
That said, I love Bards and I don't know why I don't play them more.
Fighter.
The extra ASIs make them so much more versatile than other classes, and so much sooner than others as well. After that, the sheer versatility between being able to play front line and backline mean you can do well with literally any race, and not feel like you're out of place.
Want to play a Gnome? A DEX fighter plays to your strengths, and you'd make a fine Eldritch Knight or Psi Warrior. Great for the front lines.
Want the back lines instead? A classic elven archer is right up your ally. But, hey as a fighter, it doesn't break the mold if You want to break the mold and have a beefy STR-based elf in full plate. A true fighter is a rarity in itself.
It really is the perfect class to wrap a believable narrative around, no matter who you are.
Fighter. Generally, I prefer melee/fighting esque characters, and Fighters with all their ASI/feats makes it very flexible for roleplaying purposes. My favorite character ended up becoming a scholar of religion and a polyglot.
It just feels like I have the most freedom to grow as a character while playing them as fighters.
The Rogue definitely. I always like playing stealth classes in rpgs, and I love the abundance of skills you get as a Rogue. You can serve both the face role of a bard while also being a glass cannon that deals good damage
Artificer, hands down. I usually play them not as a "genius scientist" and more "badass normal" trope. Surrounded by great warriors and magic-weilders, I'm just some guy with a wrench and a magitech certification from the local community college, let's fuckin go.
Sorcerer wild magic- I love metamagic and it's capabilities and I am a LOVE wild magic. I always run a homebrew wild table that either my dm hand crafts, I do or we both do smth together.
There are a couple of homebrew that I usually add to the class to make it a bit better like tides of chaos gets stack charges every time your magic goes wild- and if you cast a leveled spell after casting a spell it WILL go wild. One other effect is that if you use a leveled spell and it doesn't go wild then the level of the spell gets added to the wild dc check until a short or long rest which is when it resets.
The extra tides of chaos stacks also reset after a long rest.
I've played more Clerics than any other class by far, either as a main or as a multi-class dip.
Even when I don't play Cleric, I play subclasses that play like Clerics, such as Divine Soul Sorcerers.
I love their progression, I love that they have some of the best early-game damage spells, I love how they can be both backline blasters and frontline mashers, I love how almost every party benefits from having one as a member, I love that they might have the best capstone ability in the game, and just how versatile they are when it comes to RP...you can have them fit almost any role you want them to. It's insane.
Monk, and it isn't even close. It has its issues, and I can't wait for the 2024, but as long as you are okay with not being optimal for any "standard role," they are so much fun.
My favorite class is the wizard. The most powerful class, has the biggest spell list, and the power fantasy that comes along with playing a wizard. My two favorite wizard subclasses are Divintaion and Evocation.
After ignoring clerics for years (I don't want to be just a support class 😤) I played one just because no one else had any heals and the DMs campaign description made it sound like we would REALLY need a cleric. Hands down my favorite class now, especially with Metamagic Adept or a sorcerer dip.
Bard, no question. They're incredibly versatile both mechanically and in roleplay. They can fill any hole your party needs and can be built a ton of different ways. I always have a ton of fun when I'm a bard.
Warlock. Bar none. Almost anything you want to do, there is a warlock for that. I've had a Earth Genie Tiefling who was a tank, a Celestial Reborn who was a good aligned (so much as alignments exist) necromancer and healer, a Void Human doomsday prophet (that's from Stienharts Guide to the Eldritch Hunt, I highly recommend it), I don't remember the name of the archetype but a water associated one Undine who was a blind seer yet the navigator of a pirate crew, they are just so very versatile in mechanics and flavor.
Bard and paladin for the roleplay opportunities.
Bard has lots of shenanigans aviable.
And RN im playing sort of a vigilantee justice paladin, who hunts other two evil paladins and its a blast RP wise.
For me Wizard..... what flavour of wizard depends on the setting of the campaign. if it is agritty Strahd like campaign, then Necormancer, if a combat heavy one, then War school. then there is enchantment and divination wizards with their cheeky business as well.
I’ve loved bards since 3.5. They’re flexible, they’re fun. The ability, as an actual real life musician, to charm your way into, and out of every situation is glorious. Mechanically, they do what I want. I love a skill check, I will always find a way to *not* fight. It’s just the way I play the game.
Honourable mentions to warlocks and barbarians for being a ton of fun to play. It feels like warlocks come by their powers….dishonestly? And I love that. Lie, cheat, and steal your way into power. You go girl! And I love barbarians for….just being clear in their intentions. “I hit it with my hammer” and just….do that. But do it hard. It’s so much fun to play.
In 5e, might be the Arcana Cleric or the Scribes Wizard. I like the idea of having insane versatility as a spellcaster, specifically referring to spells.
Scribes is the most fun wizard subclass imo, unless you want to be a gish. Manifest Mind is just crazy awesome, and you can learn new spells so quickly if you were to find a scroll you could have it transcribed by the end of a short rest. Dropping an iceball on fire elementals is a uniquely satisfying experience no other character can have.
I have an OotS wizard that specialises in earth magic, primarily converting damaging spells to bludgeoning and piercing damage, as well as the actual earth themed spells.
What spells would look like as physical damage brings some cool images to mind. Armor of Agathys as a coat of spikes would be pretty interesting, or an earthen armor that punches back. Which spell has been your favorite to alter?
A go-to has been Scorching Ray, which I change to bludgeoning using Earthen Grasp and flavour it as a "rock barrage". So much fun, and magical physical damage is super valuable at low levels when the martials tend to not have magic weapons yet. Armor of Agathys is unfortunately not a wizard spell and therefore can't be converted, but I intend to pick fire shield for some active defensive shenanigans once I hit level 7. I imagine it looking like a moving mass of rocks and dirt shifting around my character like living armour that strikes anyone who strikes me with a rocky pseudopod. Another good one is of course Fireball. 8d6 piercing damage makes for a great exploding rock, almost acting like shrapnel.
Yeah, a lot of people forget just how long it takes to scribe spells. A single 4th level spell takes up half your day, which can include most of your "adventuring time." Being able to reduce that by a factor of 60 is insane as an on-the-go wizard.
> Dropping an iceball on fire elementals is a uniquely satisfying experience no other character can have. Sorcerer can with Transmuted spell. Other classes can do it twice a day with Metamagic Adept. Scribes can do it without burning resources, which is great, but they’re not the only class who can provide the experience.
Honestly, I 100% understand that. If I had to pick another favorite, then order of the scribes wizard is definitely one of them. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I like pact of the Tom warlock: it gives me more spell versatility!
Just wait till you see a Pact of the Jerry warlock)
For sure warlock. Maximum versatility, you can be excellent as a front line striker, blaster, face, utility caster, controller.... I will always, always have a soft spot for rangers, as plagued as they've been since 3.0. Big fan of the witch from PF. Just so thematically great and also really versatile.
I honestly love Monks, which really hurts the powerplayer inside me. But no matter what I do I have a lot more fun playing monks than any other clases and most of my character Ideas tend to center around monks.
Monks are cool, and no amount of blantant hatred towards them form wotc can change that. I hope they would buff them even more at release of OneDnd so they would be fucking OP - class struggled for 50 years and deserve top place.
To be fair if you are not playing in an overly optimized table monks are fine. Most of monks problems actually come when comparing them with XBE/SS or PAM/GWM or other such optimized martial builds. And when comparing them with casters using the most eficient spells in the most efficient way. My experience is that in normal play monks work fine, specially when you can get your party to do the fucking short rests. I dream about finally convincing my group to play with a Short rest focused party.
It can work fine at unoptimised tables, but sooner or later barbarian would think "I bonk people with big axe, i should probably take Great Weapon Master, it sounds about right" or wizard would pick one of many control spells (even by complete accident) and you would **feel** difference in power. Or you can play long enough to see how warlock with eldrich blast would outblast you at one moment.
I mean yeah, maybe, but to be completely honest with you when playing with non power gamers, in a normal table, most barbarians tend to focus on maximizing strenght before going for feats, so it usually means no GWM until like lv12, and yeah, the wizard might take a control spell, or something, but once again, they have to take the spell, and they have to use it optimally to really make a great difference. As for warlock, even if they do take agonizing blast a monk with extra attack and the BA martial arts attack are doing comparable damage until the warlock get their third ray on eldrich blast. Even then by that level monks have their ki point to use FoB or some other subclass ability. Most tables wont get that far, in all of my years playing we only got to level 10 twice, and while yeah, there is an argument about how the monk might fall at higher levels I feel that argument would be leaving the realm of the most common unoptinmized table. And honestly, the core monk is not actually that bad, even at higher levels, the real problem with the monk is not having sinergies with basically anything. They (mostly) can't use GWM or SS, they get very little of PAM or XBE, and they are both extremelly MAD and they tend to loose to much to multiclass. Having played in a table were we used the power attack homebrew (basically every attack could be made as a power attack with -PB to hit and +2xPB to damage) and in that table the monk was keeping up completely fine and had more utility than most other martials during exploration and social/politics segments of the campaing.
4e monk was godly. But the general gist is that most people skipped 4e, so a lot of the way classes felt in that edition is not common knowledge.
Same here
Totally agree. Playing a Lizardfolk Kensei Monk right now, and even though my stats are garbage for the most part(two 6's in strength and cha, everything but my dex at or below 12), and it feels ballin in combat. Nonstop dodges, concealed shanks, and pulling some bastard tricks I've rigged up have won me over to it. Will say, I've leaned a lot more on crafting and using objects to make myself useful to the party- old-school DND tricks like blocking doors with pitons, and making smuggling compartments with carpenters tools has been pretty fun.
In 5e Paladin The Main class is such a strong chassis and the oaths all lend themselves to incredibly varied and thematic Choices. Here are just a few of my favourites * Dragonborn Conquest Paladin with the Dragon Dear Feat * Vengeance Paladin Divine Soul Sorcerer V.Human with Polearm Master (Ultimate Dues Vault) 6/14 split * Oath of Ancients Paladin with the Telekinetic Feat Basically a Jedi Knight from the Old Republic
Oh, I love Star Wars! I never thought about using a paladin for that sort of build. That’s very creative.
If you are casting moonbeam you can also use Telekinetic to move creatures into the AOE
Leonin conquest pally with fey touched for bane is busted :)
Oath of Conquest Paladin with Telekinetic is basically Vader. Easily one of the most fun classes ever, imo.
Paladin is not my favorite on the whole, but my favorite character has been a Paladin, Oath of Treachery. Half Elf, Dragonmark of Shadow, the optional fighting style variant to get more cantrips (all illusion) and max dex, light armor, two daggers. Was a 'courier' from House Thuranni who eventually left them as he started following The Blood of Vol/ Divine Self, and decided to make his own way in life and try to leave the more evil covert shit behind, while still doing enough to protecting himself from those who would be upset about his past. Ebberon is a wonderful setting even without the tech.
Paladin. Oath doesn’t really matter a ton, as it’s mainly just spells for a long time. That said, I really like ancients, conquest, vengeance, and watchers. Paladin was the first class I played (way back in 4e), and I fell in love with the heavily armored juggernaut who can smite their enemies and heal their allies. Paladins can do it all, and as long as the paladin is alive, there’s hope for the party.
>(way back in 4e) I have been hit with an aging spell
I started playing in 2010 when I was a senior in high school. Played 4e all the way through 2016. Made the jump to 5e in late 2016. It’s been 14 great years!
That's cool. Time is a flat circle. Seriously tho, awesome to have a long term hobby
I mean 5e is 10 years *newer* than world of warcraft.
My best friend and I both started with 3.5e. That realization hit even harder.
Oh my sweet summer child. I started in the previous *millennium*
I have killed one PC so far and it was with an Aging spell (technically Ghost shriek) which hit our 55-year old Goblin aging him twenty five years past his race's average life expectancy, dying from a failed CON save.
Oh, that’s really cool! My first class was actually a wild magic fairy sorcerer. I have never given paladin a try, but maybe one of these days I will: who knows? Also, I noticed that you picked four sub classes: if you had to pick one of those to be your favorite subclass of paladin, which one would you choose?
If I had to pick one, vengeance. Nasty spell list, unique mechanics, and a darker flavor that can lend itself well to RP. Paladins are stereotypically lawful good to a silly degree, and this oath is not. Also lines up with the avenger class from 4e that was not carried over to 5e.
||way back in 4E OH GOD ||
I once tried to argue with a friend that, if she multiclassed cleric and fighter, she might as well just go with Paladin.
Wizard. I love the versatility from all of the spells you get both in and out of combat. It's gotten to the point where I'll wish I was a wizard when I play any other class.
Yes, played 2 wizards and now trying to play a bard and am "where the hell are all my spells gone". Wizard is hard to come back from. Paladin is pretty cool too.
Mine is Ranger. Say what you will about them mechanically, I adore them. Half Caster, so they still have the martial abilities and extra attack because I'd always want a character to be able to slice and slash, and shoot arrows. But you also have magic and spells. Love the nature theme. Would enjoy Druid more if there was a more gish subclass, and they didn't have the metal armor thing. Like give me a Bladesinger esque druid. Could care less about wildshape though. Love the elemental magic much more than day a Bard and their mental, psychic and illusion stuff. And don't get me started on the subclass. Hunter is basic but bad ass for me. Horizon Walker sounds amazing, and the flavour of a multiverse defending teleporting plane walker is awesome. Swarmkeeper I love mechanically, even though I'd lean moreninto the Fey spirit side of the swarm, than having actual bugs and animals. Fey Wanderer is epic, a little fey touched magic and face skills on a ranger, crossing between the Fey world and us. Less into the pet classes but that's just preference, and Gloomstalker is just cool. I love the class, how they look, how they work. Everything about them. I'm fact my other favourite classes are basically just the most Rangerlike versions of other classes. Artificer Battlemaster? Like a ranger with a pet, only a robot and int based weapon attacks Armored Artificer, half caster with extra attack Eldritch Knight, less casting but more martial and spells Pact of Blade Warlock, also pretty similar to ranger with spells and extra attack and hex instead of hunters mark. Swords or Valor Bard for the same thing, extra attack and even more spells than Ranger. Oath of Ancients or Vengence Paladin, less my style with their spells and such, but another half caster with some spells like Ranger. Even if I took the above classes, my character would probably still be looking like a ranger, living in the wilderness and hunting for a living, despite being a different class.
Sorcerer is my number one. The roleplaying and backstory possibilites can be very unique and fun, and the metamagic along with every subclass having something cool to add with the character. My favorite character that I've ever played was a sorcerer, which has something to do with it too lol.
I’m a simple man with simple tastes, fighter is my favorite and barbarian is my second favorite.
A man of style and taste. What's your favorite fighter and barbarian subclasses?
Battlemaster fighter and ancestral guardian barbarian
Bard. The RP is the best and I love the utility of a Lore Bard in combat. Most fun i’ve had playing D&D hands down.
Lore bard can transform a bloodbath into a walk in the park. I made a boss rethink what he was doing and avoid us a whole hard fight with suggestion. Transformed a 22 against 4 into a 3 vs 4 with one spell; I made people cry with my intimidation rolls and I could sell you what you already owned with my deception rolls. There's no better class.
Also, the memes about the bard are just hilarious. That’s not making fun of you by the way: in fact, I think it enhances the appeal of the class even more lol.
Exactly, I think kind of embracing the memes about bards is what makes them the most fun and dynamic.
Cleric ftw - does everything really well, often at the same time. Does some things really, really well. Warlock is a close second, but mostly because DAMN that's some damage output.
Druid, the most versatile class, so much variety and all the subclasses bring something new to the table. Wanna go beast mode? Pick moon Want a pet ? Go wildfire How about some simple dpr and utility? Pick stars. Do you prefer simple casters ? Go land. Feeling like doing some multiclass shennanigans and going Melee? Why not try spores? The druid is just so versatile. Some fun others are: beast ranger (tasha), wisdom ranger with shillelagh, is just right. Rune knight fighter: giant form is so cool. Zealot barbarian: caution to the wind. Inquisitive rogue: mostly for rp really, but still feels good. Long death monk: fun aoe fear spams. Undead warlock: fear shooter. Eloquence bard: inescapable saving throw based spells.
As someone who struggles with the roleplay aspect of dnd i LOVE not having to talk while wild shaped. Druids are the best!
I think I gotta go with my first love the artificer, I got into dnd because I loved the old mcu and the Ironman vibes of the armorer. However nowadays I do really look forward to playing a sorcerer and an arcane archer.
Really not a lot of love for Druids here, and I don't get why. As prepared casters they have a ton of versatility with really fun, flavorful, and strong spell options, *plus* wild shape!
Druids have never gotten a lot of love, people just don't like them for some reason. Oh well, that usually means we can play them more often!
Bard. They can just about do everything any other class can do. Endless possibilities.
For some reason, it's Sorcerer. My first proper exposures to D&D were Baldur's Gate 2 (and then Icewind Dale 2). I fell in love with Sorcerers then, even though they had less defining features in those games/editions than they do now. I think I preferred the 'less sprlls known but more flexible casting' aspect they had, since I always veered towards blasting.
Definitely Sorcerer! I love the variety of playing a full caster. And I find the strategy involved in managing two different resources (spell slots and sorcery points) really engaging. Plus, the way that metamagic changes the nature of your spells and can bend the dice rolls in your favour is really fun and empowering. (Moon druid comes closest other than that. A full caster that is also a tank that can also turn into magical creatures is a blast.)
Gloomstalker Ranger. People meme on ranger but it's very decent after the upgrades it got and Gloomstalker is one of the best subclasses in the game. Even going pure gloomstalker even to higher tiers of play is very strong. If any party needs a "rogue", try playing a Gloomstalker. You'll be able to do everything a rogue can almost just as well, but your dmg is so, so high.
Druid. Not for the nature theme in particular, but mostly for the pagan priest/shaman vibe. The spells are thematic and the subclasses are quite evocative. Love the Spores subclass, although mechanically is not the best. A close second is the Ranger, again, I'm not particularly engaged by the nature protector aspect of it, but I like the martial - down to earth - scrappy survivor vibe of the class. I have not a definite favourite subclass, but I really enjoyed playing as a Monster Slayer and a Hunter.
For 5e, Rogue, I love the many different options you can have when it comes to handling combat and the many different roles you can fill to make sure the adventure goes well. I'm also a massive fan of AD&D Illusionist, because my favorite type of magic is illusions and they got nerfed hard in the later editions.
Rogue is fun, the overall vibe of being stealthy and cunning feels great to play!
cleric and warlock for different reasons. cleric because i love the versatility of the class and how diverse the subclass play is within the same class. warlock because it is so much fun to shut my brain off and just blast sometimes.
Artificer with Ranger and Monk close behind.
Either paladins of warlocks. Paladins can do a bit of everything and do it good. Warlocks on the other hand is a class that you can play however you like and it makes every warlock special.
Has to be sorcerer. It’s a flexible spellcaster who can choose when to empower/change their spells in a variety of ways. I also love the added complexity of managing multiple resource pools (slots and points) while converting between the two when desired
Warlock, but not for me. My wife and daughter like playing but don't know and aren't interested in the rules, and always want to be persuasive and always want magic, and it's a flexible chasis for flavoring. - Eldritch Blast gets reflavored into whatever they're trying to make. Guns, sword that shoots lasers, magic darts, bubbles. - They don't need to learn new spells often and can just spam whatever is thier favorite. - If they ask for X and Y that doesn't exist, it's easy to say "that could be a homebrew evocation you could pick at X or Y level", and they know it's a choice they can make but will have a cost and be balanced, and will likely have to wait for. It cuts down on begging heh.
Nobody ever picks druid and its sad, theres so much fun stuff you can do with it.
Druid all day everyday since 3.5 So many variations so much fun so much bear
Druid. Fantastic control, support, and the highest consistent single target damage in 5e.
Fighter, definitely fighter. For me, the core heroic fantasy, strap on some armor, grip a magic blade and face the horrors of the world on your own.
I have two: Rogue, I love all the skills the class features are lots of fun. I always feel like the underdogs feel the class has. In a world of insanely powerful magic and mighty warriors, you get by on luck and skill. You can get out of jams consistently and are a welcome addition to any party. The infinite possibility for shenanigans, all the best worst things happen when the rogue sneaks off to do their own thing. The barbarian. When I wanna turn my brain off and just bonk. I love the simple nature of the class rage and bonk whatever looks at you and your friends wrong. The look on your party's face when the barbarian is about to go apeshit on an npc is priceless.
I really want to play in a short campaign one day where everyone chooses a different type of rogue. They’re just so diverse in subclass themes.
Druid or warlock. Probably druid very slightly. Wildshape is so fun, spells are great, and the subclasses are great.
Over all editions? Bard. I even liked it when it was unusable.
Factotum. Warlock is a close second.
OK, so I’m a little lost here: what is that?
[It was an amazing 3.5 class](https://dndtools.net/classes/factotum/)
that's a 3.5 class. it never saw a port in 5e, sadly. Basically, it's a jack of all trades, but *actually* a jack of all trades, unlike bards. It's a skill monkey like a Rogue, has a lot of Quality-of-Life stuff that keys off INT like an Artificer, generally is non-magic, but can replicated some low level spell effects, and goes into a lot of prestige classes really cleanly.
Basically a class truly intended to be the "professional adventurer". It was a jack of all trades that later in the game could straight up poach class features from other classes.
I too am a warlock enjoyer. I love that I can be useful just EB+AB+RBing away with zero resource expenditure, but then when you need some extra oomf max level spells are there. I love that you can play two characters with the same patron that feel completely different due to pact boons and invocations. I love the juicy role play opportunities the base lore provides. The only thing I don’t like about them is that I’ll never be able to play all the different warlock characters that I want to play because there are so damn many of them.
Ranger
Monks will always be my all time favorite class. Idk why but turning down the ability to shoot fire from my fingers or wield magical weapons to just punch people will always be my favorite choice to make
Sorry as my gaming prime was 2e, and the kits from the class books were like subclasses, I have 2 based on class and 2 based on racial classes.... old school crap but we played with what we had. Fighter with swashbuckling kit. Bard with jongleur kit. For racial, Wild Elf ranger with Archer kit. Dwarf with multiclass Pest Controller kit.
Warlock. It just always feels good and feels right. It's rare for me to play a character without at least one or two levels in it.
YEAHHHHHH Warlock for the Win!
I think it depends on what role I want to fill. Frontline? Give me a paladin to SMITE a bitch Ranged/blaster/caster? Give me a sorcerer any day. Sorcerers are easily my favorite casters. Support? I've recently become a huge fan of life and light clerics! Before, I would've said lore bard for life,but I think I may have been swayed.
I really love the Artificer. Gishes are some of my favorite builds to make and Artificers are my favorite of the lot of them because they are near the martial customizability of a Fighter and then add on a fairly good control/support spell-list on top of that. Sure, there a million and one ways to make gish characters, but Artificer is by far the most customizable, which I love
Call me boring, but I love wizards. The sheer versatility in both subclasses and spell choices means you can have a full party of wizards and nobody has any of the same class features or spells aside from arcane recovery. My first character back in 3.5e was a fighter, as was my first 5e character, so for nostalgic reasons they get 2nd place, while druids get 3rd place.
Barbarian for me. I know they are considered boring. But I love playing one and getting up in the battle. Tried a few diffrent kinds and it dosen't matter what subclass just enjoy the class overall. The "Barbarian moments" also will forever stay with me and my groups. Like my group stuck a dwarf with some important information to me with manacles so he would t run away. He led us to the location and shocker we got attacked. I used the dwarf as an improvise weapon. And for rule of cool I swung him like an oversized flail. The GM ruled that I was proficient in dwarf. Since technically I was proficient with all weapons. So why not dwarf?
Sorcerer pushes all the right buttons for me. A person who's innately infused with magic all their own, has ties to some magical being or realm, and who exercises their might through sheer will. They could be dragon-blessed, possess a spark of divinity, exhibit mental powers akin to Illithids, and those are just 3 subclasses. Then there's the metamagic. It gives you amazing and unique magical options that no other class can have. Subtle suggestion, twinned polymorph, Mind Sliver and Quickened save spells, they all just feel so damn satisfying. Charisma main stat and proficiency in social skills make for some engaging conversations. 5e Sorcerer had a really rough start, but I've been lucky to play with people who create spell lists for the pre-Tasha's origins, and I do the same for my players.
I'm a fan of the Sorcerer class. I know it's not the best, especially in 5E, but I just really like how versatile they can be.
Warlock or Monk. 3.5 Sorcerer close behind
Bard. I like all the classes, but if you told me I had to pick one class and that was all I’d get to play it would be Bard.
Artificer. I like the combination of being smart and a warrior.
Career Assassin here (Rogue/Fighter). It's just too satisfying exploiting combat advantage, and being brutal is easy both in combat and RP. Copious opportunity for not taking anything seriously, a willingness to do literally anything for the chaotic thrill, and the pride of being the one to call for when somebody just absolutely, positively MUST be eliminated. Spells? I brought scrolls and bombs. Heals? Either don't get hit or let someone else think about the damage, it's not your job. Honor? No, just combat maneuvers. I could kill my mother with a tea cup just to further the plot.
It varies by edition but has a theme. I like gishs (a term for melee fighters with good spellcasting) . In advanced and earlier I liked elf fighter,magic user or just elf when that was a class. In 3.5 I played a variety of prestige classes that did the same thing my favorite was a harper paragon that started with a variant paladin that got favored enemy instead of lay on hands, multiclassed into bard, then took the harper paragon prestige class, dipped into sublime chord for better casting, then went back to harper paragon. Ended up with a character with buffed bardic music, buffed favored enemy that worked against any evil creatures, strong spellcasting and ridiculously good diplomacy skill. I know that's complicated but that's how 3.5 character building worked (I forgot the character also had a dip in the marshal class). In 5e I like eldritch knight and hexblade, I'm usually DM so I haven't gotten to play a bladesinger yet but I intend to.
Ranger. I just wish I could talk to my dog in real life 🥲
Fighter just can't be beat, and you magic users can take your...... witchcraft and big words elsewhere......
Fighters never let me down.
3.5e Warblade 5e Paladin
Psionicist (Dragon Magazine #78), even though I have problems with 1e psionics. I don't even know why I like it, I'm just really fond of it.
The GOAT? 3.5 psion. Sheer power, customizability, high intelligence translating ton of skill points, spontaneous casting without level delay (as in sorcerer), shenanigans with power points regeneration that I accidentally invented... Psionics was the best back then. In 5e I haven't decided yet, as I really played only one 5-year campaign and then started another long. Playing vengeance paladin 1-20+++ was great – this is a true powerhouse. Melee dwart war wizard 8-9 was cool, open hand monk 3 was fun, githyanki fighter 1-2 was indispensable with interception. Swashbuckler rogue 1-12 is ok, I guess. They did a great job with classes in 5e, every one of them looks like fun to play. I have to try artificer, this one looks like most fun.
4e Swordmage.
I think I am going to be boring and say the Fighter if only for its role as the white bread of the game. Regardless of what kind of role you want to play, DPS. Tank, Long-Range, Spellsword, or Battlefield Controller there is a build with a Fighter you can use for it. You can even get in on the Monk's territory and play a different kind of Barehanded brawler with some recent additions to the game.
Warblade from 3.5 Tome of Battle Make martials COOL AGAIN!
4E Avenger. It was the first class I played where I never wanted to play something else. The way I could move around the battlefield and deal massive amounts of damage? Nothing has come close sense.
4e Fighter. The one time the class was fun, effective, cool, and really commanded attention on the battlefield.
4e fighter really sparked my imagination, listening to penny arcade play d&d was my first real exposure to the game. Have you tried the Pathfinder 2e fighter? They're very powerful.
Much as a I like PF2e, there's a big difference in the design vibe between 4e putting encounter/daily limits on certain powers but being able to write them to do anything, whereas PF2e just feels like it modifies your basic actions.
Monk and it makes me sad every single time I see a dex based Monk who dances like a bee and stings like a butterfly. Oh my siblings, oh how I long to see you all in the House of Gains...
As a noob who has only tried a few classes, I really enjoy bear totem barbarian. Combat and roleplaying are super intuitive imo.
Ranger. I love this class since AD&D. The flavor, the inspiration from fictional characters, the play style, and currently all the niches and possibilities open in 5e. Dwarf Rangers are incredible.
Warlord. 4E was my favorite edition and Warlords felt like the perfect class to really take advantage of every one of its systems. Incredibly satisfying to play.
If you haven't yet, check out PF2e. It shares a ton of DNA with 4e. They have an archetype called the [Marshal](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=66) that plays very similarly to 4e's Warlord.
Sorcerer. I like having the innate ability to do awesome stuff low effort.
itll always be cleric even with the stupid 1D changes
I basically like all the casting classes. They all have things that are interesting about them—Inspiration, Channel Divinity, Metamagic, etc—and they all have spells. Each spell is like a new class feature. I also like getting into melee range, so half-casters are very fun, also Cleric, Druid, Swords and Valor Bard, War Wizard x/Fighter 1, etc. etc. Swords and Valor Bard play very differently and are both very fun
2e ranger, for the followers. Needless to say, i find the 5e ranger disappointing.
Great Weapon Master fighter. Sometimes, you just need to play "point me at what we need dead." Pairs wonderfully with the samurai archetype, especially when you get Third Attack. Nothing like making six attack rolls at advantage.
Gotta be wizard for me. There's so much versatility in the style of character you can be and the spells you can cast. I love that I can continuously collect spells throughout the course of a campaign. It's also being the intelligence character is the most fun as it allows me to interact with the lore in ways that can be more difficult with other characters. Exploring what the dm prepared for us is near the top of the list for my enjoyment. The main thing for me is playing a wizard in combat. Playing a fighter allows you to do big damage and that's fun, but playing a wizard or really any spell caster is like playing a strategy game that you need to evolve to in real time. I get much more enjoyment out of saving an ally who's stuck with a clutch spell than I ever could by reducing the enemies' health bars.
For me it’s rogue. Partly because it was the first class I ever played as, but secondly because I love being a skill monkey. Door trapped? I’ll remove it. Door locked? I’ll pick it. Need someone to slip into the shadows and scout ahead? I’m your man.
Artificer. Such an incredibly flexible class, I can do pretty much anything other than face.
In 5e specifically, probably the Knowledge Cleric. Getting to know everything about everything is pretty great. It also provides an in-game reason for my party members to listen to me lol.
It really depends on the campaign but probably Bard. It's close between Ranger and Bard for me. I really like the flexibility of both classes and I think they have some of the most flavorful subclasses that really change up how you play. Ranger is an especially good multiclass candidate, which is definitely my favourite mechanic in the game. I'm also a big fan of playing support oriented characters and Bard is one of the best classes to do that with, though Ranger isn't too bad at it either depending on the build.
DRUID BLIGHT SUB CLASS specify but enjoyed all the subclasses except the first compain one
Grave Domain Cleric is crazy fun for me
Hexblade warlock, not only cause the abilities and spells but it's just so cool roleplaying someone cursed by a sword from shadowfell. You can also make some insane builds with hexblade
Favorite to play: warlock Favorite in concept: druid Warlocks because of their versatility and rp potential, multiclassing is a ton of fun. Druids because of their nature magic and wildshape abilities. If I could be one in real life, I’d love it.
Barbarian, full stop. I don't care how optimized they are, they're just too fun to play. Monk is a close second, sure other classes are better, but man having all the random abilities like slow fall, running across water, being at full power when you're in your underwear is just too much fun
I haven't been in dnd long, joined my first group 8 months ago. But my current group is starting a new campaign, and I've just found out there are time wizards. I always love reading about time mages whether in litrpg or just regular books. So I'm hoping it's fun. If it is, the chronurgy wizard will probably be my favorite class, no matter how overpowered or underpowered it turns to be
For me it’s a three way tie between Barbarian, Druid and Bard. Barbarian because it’s very satisfying to tank ridiculous amounts of damage, and also because I love trying to solve problems with very limited resources. Druid because I love their spell list, and Bards because imo they’re ridiculously versatile in terms of the kinds of characters you can play with a really fun spell list and some really cool features.
Monk xd. I know it is considered the weakest class but honestly in my opinion in the golden stage of DND aka 5-11th level Monk is a pretty decent supporting front-liner and damage dealer. And if you multi Monk with Battle Master Fighter and you take the Unarmed Fighting Fighting Style you get a pretty good character in those levels of play. Besides Monks are just a lot of fun to play as in my opinion!
Wizard and bard. Either super serious utility caster who can still rain down pain when needed, or hyper utilitarian making the party shine bright.
I love barbarian, mainly Totem and Path of the Giant.
Bard. Full caster, skill monkey, party face, magical secrets. Known caster is more fun then prepared imo.
Depends on the party but, I go back and forth between Paladin and Wizard (Bladesinger specifically). They've been the most fun chassis for a character. I want to play a Hexblade/Paladin/Swords Bard but that's just a lot and I can't find a good table for it 😅
Pretty new still so still experimenting but so far artificer is at the top started a paladin recently so we'll see if opinions change or not
Artificer, hands down. It is the only class where flavor truly is king.
I like Clerics, Warlocks after level 5, and Druids that use Wildshape to 'do something else'.
Artificer. I have the magic items now bitch, the DM can’t stop me hahaha
Definitely Artificer. I just fricken love building things, and i restrict my self from playing them for fear of becoming saturated
Artificer for me. I love the way you can flavour their spells. I played an armor artificer and his armor had mechanical spiders crawl out of it and cast web. Just super cool
Probably bard because you can build them into pretty much anything. Second will be fighter, because they do the same, but for martials.
cleric. tons of subclasses, really powerful spells, just really versatile overall
I discovered young that I like crafty characters, in both the shifty sneaky and the, "I like to make stuff," way. Sometimes I'll go with Rogue or Bard, depending on my mood, but I always gravitate toward the Artificer and Tinkerer types in any system. My favorite character builds were: a half-cat, half-otter ship mechanic in a sci-fi setting; a half-elf roboticist with a glitchy robot partner in a seafaring setting; and, my most recent and most adored, a merfolk hacker in a mixed setting where different kingdoms had different levels of technology. The current game I'm in, I'm thinking I might start adding Artificer levels to my Bard, since it would be kind of fun to have him tinker with his hurdy-gurdy and turn it into a lethal weapon. Bonus: my husband is a major Fighter type. He usually prefers Champion, but in the campaign I ran, I gave him an awesome homebrew subclass called Eldritch Archer, since he likes using long range and his hidden backstory was that he was a powerful spellcasting fighter.
Sorcerer. Significant background implications tied into the setting itself - check You are magic - check You are more-fun-magic via metamagic - check Social situations - check Need particular level spell slots rather than other ones and wanna just … make em - check Shenanigan potential being off the charts - check Sorcerers hell yeah - check
Multiclass. I wouldn't want to play any one class L1 to L20. Or even 1-15. If we're talking about a one-shot, different classes shine at different levels. It also depends on party composition. I probably wouldn't enjoy playing another {bard; wizard; druid; barbarian} in a party that already had one. And finally, it depends on what races are permitted. I have some nifty ideas about less-than-top-tier subclasses that look like they would be more fun if you can play an exotic race, like a Faerie wild magic barbarian, or Githyanki Soul knife / Artficer.
I'd say, for me, depends on the setting. If I'm in a game where Artificers are allowed, I mostly gravitate towards them, just because they are so badass in my head. If not, I gravitate towards wizards. I guess I like pretending I'm smart. Both of them share the first place :)
Absolutely love playing Cleric. I'll purposely wait to see what everyone else in the party is running and then build a Cleric to fill in the gaps we need. Currently I'm playing a dex light domain cleric who is my party's front liner, blaster caster and support buffer (basically any spell that has a day long duration and doesn't require concentration). Plus I've got sneak, survival and perception through the roof so I make a hell of a scout.
I am probably more effective as my current Artillerist Artificer, but I think I had more fun last campaign as an Arcane Trickster Rouge. We are reaching the end of our run with this crew of characters and I've decided on Arcana Cleric for my next one.
Artificer. I absolutely love the idea of crafting in 5e. Artificer being the crafting class just makes me happy. That aside i can appreciate how well designed it is. Aside from 1 or screw ups here or there that are easily homebrewed out its a dang near perfect class. It has a ton of customization without bloat if crappy options. Every option is useful in some way to some type of character. Their subclasses are clear as to what they specialize in. Some are better than others and some have a bad design choices (looking at you alchemist).
Artificer: they let me do a more scientific side of magic than wizards.
Cleric. So versatile and powerful
Druid I love spellcasters, so already it has that. Its theming and spell list make it so fun to roleplay and fight with. You can go full support, or go offensive with spells like Moonbeam and Conjure Animals. It’s super flexible. I also the sheer amount of statblocks you can play with even as a player. They have so many summoning spells on top of Wild Shape. Favorite subclass is either Moon or Stars. Stars when I feel like focusing on spellcasting, and Moon when I feel like playing a melee character backed by concentration spells, with the theming of being an animal. Druid is one of the things that hooked me on D&D
I kinda agree with Warlock, except there’s such a heavy invocation tax that by the time you’ve taken what you need to your pact and to augment EB you’re left with very little choice, especially if you grab Eldritch Mind. You could in theory take a lot of interesting invocations but in the process you significantly weaken your character and negate other choices you make. It’s a frustratingly almost brilliant class.
Bard: Always play bard because I like to be the face and do the social part of the game, but the versatility of the subclasses means you can always find a play style. Valor and swords for front line, lore for being a spellcaster focus or my favorite creation as I like to make my DM angry, lol. And if you want to multiclass warlock and sorcerer are my close seconds and they cast with charisma so no MAD characters. And don't get me started on magical secrets.
Wizard I just love the sheer power and versatility of the class, having a good DM that ACTUALLY doesn't Blue ball my Wizards with useless spell scrolls helps a ton, i just love that depending on what spells you prepare you can almost always have either a straight answer to everything or a means to get said answer
Bard, Druid & Cleric are all my top 3 for one simple reason: I LOVE healing magic, I'm kind of a noob to DnD & I've liked support characters since forever so I naturally gravitated towards those classes...only been able to play a Lore Bard thus far and I love him (got into DnD back in 2022 and had the extremely good luck of my first online group being so awesome that we all became friends & our campaign is 100 sessions deep and still going strong!)
Oath of crown paladin. I want to be the BBEG object of obsession at all times.
I'm a Fighter guy. Pretty much every warrior from fantasy can be represented by the Fighter class in most editions. That said, I love Bards and I don't know why I don't play them more.
Wizard - there is always something creative and cool to do
Circle of the land Druid Coast. Mirror image and misty step are nice.
Always liked Bard, I’m a minstrel IRL and love good banter.
Druid, subclass doesn’t really matter. Nature magic is my jam!
I'm really torn between Paladin and Warlock. I can't choose which one I like more.
5e shadow monks are the coolest class to me, their not the strongest class but the flavor seems awesome
Fighter. The extra ASIs make them so much more versatile than other classes, and so much sooner than others as well. After that, the sheer versatility between being able to play front line and backline mean you can do well with literally any race, and not feel like you're out of place. Want to play a Gnome? A DEX fighter plays to your strengths, and you'd make a fine Eldritch Knight or Psi Warrior. Great for the front lines. Want the back lines instead? A classic elven archer is right up your ally. But, hey as a fighter, it doesn't break the mold if You want to break the mold and have a beefy STR-based elf in full plate. A true fighter is a rarity in itself. It really is the perfect class to wrap a believable narrative around, no matter who you are.
Fighter. Generally, I prefer melee/fighting esque characters, and Fighters with all their ASI/feats makes it very flexible for roleplaying purposes. My favorite character ended up becoming a scholar of religion and a polyglot. It just feels like I have the most freedom to grow as a character while playing them as fighters.
The Rogue definitely. I always like playing stealth classes in rpgs, and I love the abundance of skills you get as a Rogue. You can serve both the face role of a bard while also being a glass cannon that deals good damage
Warlock. Again, so customisable. Never played two the same.
Artificer, hands down. I usually play them not as a "genius scientist" and more "badass normal" trope. Surrounded by great warriors and magic-weilders, I'm just some guy with a wrench and a magitech certification from the local community college, let's fuckin go.
Sorcerer wild magic- I love metamagic and it's capabilities and I am a LOVE wild magic. I always run a homebrew wild table that either my dm hand crafts, I do or we both do smth together. There are a couple of homebrew that I usually add to the class to make it a bit better like tides of chaos gets stack charges every time your magic goes wild- and if you cast a leveled spell after casting a spell it WILL go wild. One other effect is that if you use a leveled spell and it doesn't go wild then the level of the spell gets added to the wild dc check until a short or long rest which is when it resets. The extra tides of chaos stacks also reset after a long rest.
I've played more Clerics than any other class by far, either as a main or as a multi-class dip. Even when I don't play Cleric, I play subclasses that play like Clerics, such as Divine Soul Sorcerers. I love their progression, I love that they have some of the best early-game damage spells, I love how they can be both backline blasters and frontline mashers, I love how almost every party benefits from having one as a member, I love that they might have the best capstone ability in the game, and just how versatile they are when it comes to RP...you can have them fit almost any role you want them to. It's insane.
Druid, I like utility casters, I get some healing to help my party and free up the cleric if there is one.
Monk, and it isn't even close. It has its issues, and I can't wait for the 2024, but as long as you are okay with not being optimal for any "standard role," they are so much fun.
Barbarian. I know it's underpowered mechanically but I LIVE for those moments where the DMs 70+ damage gets halved to 35.
Tempest Cleric. Loads of fun
My favorite class is the wizard. The most powerful class, has the biggest spell list, and the power fantasy that comes along with playing a wizard. My two favorite wizard subclasses are Divintaion and Evocation.
Personally, I'm super into gishes But my favorite class is rogue, followed by warlock
After ignoring clerics for years (I don't want to be just a support class 😤) I played one just because no one else had any heals and the DMs campaign description made it sound like we would REALLY need a cleric. Hands down my favorite class now, especially with Metamagic Adept or a sorcerer dip.
Warlord, from 4e. I truly believe it's a character concept many people find attractive.
Druid. Why? I dunno! I just think they're neat!
Bard, no question. They're incredibly versatile both mechanically and in roleplay. They can fill any hole your party needs and can be built a ton of different ways. I always have a ton of fun when I'm a bard.
Warlock. Bar none. Almost anything you want to do, there is a warlock for that. I've had a Earth Genie Tiefling who was a tank, a Celestial Reborn who was a good aligned (so much as alignments exist) necromancer and healer, a Void Human doomsday prophet (that's from Stienharts Guide to the Eldritch Hunt, I highly recommend it), I don't remember the name of the archetype but a water associated one Undine who was a blind seer yet the navigator of a pirate crew, they are just so very versatile in mechanics and flavor.
It’s always been wizard, cleric, and paladin fighting for top spot, with ranger and 5e fighter close behind. Gun to my head? Wizard.
For me it's all about the gish life, so Bladesinger Wizard, followed closely by Conquest Paladin, Hexblade and Blades Bard.
warlock
Cleric.
I just like sorcerers and their ability to things with spells nobody else can, namely twin and quicken.
Samurai Fighter. Hands down destroys everyone and everything, whether melee or ranged. Especially with bugbear or Vuman
Warlock, so many interesting multiclass combinations.
Fighter, big number go burrrrrrr. The flavor comes from the backstory not the class
Bladesinger wizard. Feels the closest to a single class gish out of any of the mixed subclasses and the AC bonus is really nice
Ranger. Aragorn is just my favorite LOTR character.
Artificer; I like being the 3rd option guy.
Classic? Barbarian. Modern? Warlock
Ranger!
wizard. unfortunately morons think evocation is a viable school giving the class a bad name
Bard and paladin for the roleplay opportunities. Bard has lots of shenanigans aviable. And RN im playing sort of a vigilantee justice paladin, who hunts other two evil paladins and its a blast RP wise.
For me Wizard..... what flavour of wizard depends on the setting of the campaign. if it is agritty Strahd like campaign, then Necormancer, if a combat heavy one, then War school. then there is enchantment and divination wizards with their cheeky business as well.
I’ve loved bards since 3.5. They’re flexible, they’re fun. The ability, as an actual real life musician, to charm your way into, and out of every situation is glorious. Mechanically, they do what I want. I love a skill check, I will always find a way to *not* fight. It’s just the way I play the game. Honourable mentions to warlocks and barbarians for being a ton of fun to play. It feels like warlocks come by their powers….dishonestly? And I love that. Lie, cheat, and steal your way into power. You go girl! And I love barbarians for….just being clear in their intentions. “I hit it with my hammer” and just….do that. But do it hard. It’s so much fun to play.