1st Edition it was Thief, easily. Soooo many things you could do that no one else could do. Picking pockets, easily climbing walls, finding traps, hiding, backstabbing. And you advanced levels way way way quicker than other classes.
Oh boy, I looked at 1e and 2e Thief. While that is true, most of it was also percentile based, early levels it was so unlikely. That didn't frustrate you?
There were Dex and racial bonuses to skills too. So Move Silently was a 15% at 1st level, but if you were an elf with a 17 Dex, it would be a 25, and a halfling with an 18 dex would be a 35. So, still not great. But consider that no one else (maybe elves as a race...checking, yeah, alone and unarmored) could even attempt to move silently :)
The real benefit though was those unique abilities combined with XP levels. Those were different for different classes. Compare Thief to Fighter, required XP to advance:
To advance to 2nd level--Thief: 1251. Fighter: 2001
3rd--Thief: 2501. Fighter: 4001
4th--Thief: 5001. Fighter: 8001
5th--Thief: 10,001. Fighter: 18001
6th--Thief: 20,001. Fighter: 35,001
7th--Thief: 42,501. Fighter: 70,001
8th--Thief: 70,001. Fighter: 125,001
9th--Thief: 110,001. Fighter: 250,001
To advance to 10th level--Thief: 160,001. Fighter: 500,001.
11th--Thief: 220,001. Fighter: 750,001
So by the time the fighter is 9th level, you're 11th, and you're in the 70's and 80's for those skill percentages. Compare that to the Magic-User (wizard), who is hitting 10th level at 250,0001. When they start out, 1st level, they get one spell. First level. You can cast that spell once per day. Day, not rest 8| When you're done with that spell, you can poke at em with a dagger for a while, but you almost can't hit anything anyway because THAC0. LOL. So I always thought Thief was the most fun to play because you just had more that you could do for many, many levels. And unique skills that others couldn't even attempt.
OMGosh, I remember those days, those mismatches would destroy 5e’s Tier system I expect.
My favorite is the fighter then the cleric. I have been playing D&D since 1980 and I start out as a dwarven fighter. When the unearthed arcana came out in 1985, my DM let me multi-class into a fighter/cleric and worshipping Clangeddin Silverbeard. That character has been transfer to 2nd edition, 3rd edition, and now 5th edition. Alot of good times with that character.
Cleric - especially Light Domain. They are great at the levels I usually play (1 to 9), they have a phenomenal balance of offence and defence and really great action economy. For defence they have solid AC. You only need to have high Wisdom and Constitution with 14 Dex so the most common saves are your strengths - especially after taking Resilient Constitution. Warding Flare is a good use of a reaction, kicks in at level 1 and as it puts disadvantage on an attack multiple times a day it makes you really hard to hit as long as you aren't being mobbed. For offence Radiance of the Dawn is excellent at level 2 and though it doesn't scale a lot, it stays a good use of an action when you already have Spirit Guardians up and your bonus action attack with Spiritual Weapon. If the fight looks like it isn't worth busting out the resources, Radiance of the Dawn recharges on a short rest so spam away - most small fights are finished in three rounds and you get 2 uses per short rest after level 6 so have at it. Fireball at level 5 is a jump in damage output. Spirit Guardians scales well so after fireball drops off due to poor scaling you still have great damage output for groups. Oh and healing word and useful combat ending spells like Banishment and role play hooks with your deity and strong perception skill and revivify and ritual casting and turn undead and full spell list options each day and pretty good cantrips and decent HP and no need to use weapons at all and Divine Intervention if you get to higher levels and no need for lots of feats to be effective...
Maybe a bit controversial.my favorite is warlock, but not for the flavor. I actually kinda find the whole evil patron thing to be kind of annoying. I just really love the abilities, specifically some of the invocations you get are really cool. I also really like pact magic. Not say I prefer it over regular but its somthing different. I just really like customizability.
Sorcerers are definitely my favorite, I’ve always enjoyed the story concept of an ordinary person suddenly discovering that they have this innate magical gift and have to learn to control and master it while learning more about their strange lineage.
I’m also a big fan of Artificers, Druids, Rangers, and Warlocks too.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
You.. do know that warlocks are required to be evil right or even have evil patrons. There a range of patrons from good and evil on most of the different subclass options
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Marvarax andSora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
I actually kinda find the whole evil patron thing to be kind of annoying.
I always want to scream when I hear about warlocks who's entire motivation is to escape their patron. I just find it contraindicative to decide to play a specific class and subclass and then make it your personal goal to no longer do that. I want to see more warlocks who are totally on board with their patron's ideology, goals, and aesthetic. Give me characters that make a pact with an Archfey do be pranksters and miscreants, Fiends because they're just evil bastards, Celestials because they want to become a saint, or a Great Old One because they just want to get really weird. That being said I have never played a warlock and don't really find the class attractive mechanically. But I do like the lore/character potential the class represents so I've given it a good deal of thought.
As far as my personal preference, god squad all the way, Clerics bring the divine power of awesomeness. Whenever I think about making a new character my first thought is "Cleric, or should I try to talk myself into something else just to try different stuff?" I really like the versatility they can have between the numerous domains and extremely wide array of spells available. With the right build choices you can make a Cleric at least competent if not great at just about any single thing all while still being good in a couple other roles at the same time. The Cleric I currently play is a healer, a tank, and a focused damage dealer while also helpful in social situations (though the Paladin has a +1 advantage on me for Cha mod) and usually having at least a couple of support and/or utility spells prepared.
And I also love the roleplaying aspect of a Cleric. A Cleric is somebody with strong beliefs about something. What those beliefs are and even what that "something" is can be very, very different between different Clerics of different deities, but that core set of beliefs and convictions gives you a great skeleton to build a solid and tangible personality around. There are all kinds of ways they could have come to follow their chosen path, ranging from seeking redemption for a past they regret, simply following their heart, or even having been born into their faith and just never having been given a reason to question it. And a good DM will eventually test your character's convictions, or at least mine sure likes to which results in my Life Cleric getting rather angsty about fighting in a war with some regularity but she keeps doing so because she sees what she's doing as the best course of action according to her morals (in a recent session a party mate actually said "Flush, do you want to say something here? Because I'm guessing Serena has strong opinions on this subject"). I've honestly found it more challenging to satisfyingly roleplay a Lawful Good character in a very imperfect world than any other, more tropish and stereotypically "edgy" archetype and it makes for a very fun and interesting experience. I don't need to make the character edgy, the DM has made that his job and my goal quickly became trying to keep her from becoming sad, bitter, and pissed off at everything. Oddly enough, I find it very satisfying to play a character who is frustrated by the injustices a world that's even more ****ed up than the real one because that character is actually capable of affecting real and tangible large scale positive change in that world because she knows for a fact that she's literally a spokesperson and functional avatar of a god whom she can actually speak with (at least in a limited fashion as permitted by the commune spell).
OMGosh, I remember those days, those mismatches would destroy 5e’s Tier system I expect.
Gracias,
Glenn
Marked with the sign of the Z!
started with White Box Original D&D
My favorite is the fighter then the cleric. I have been playing D&D since 1980 and I start out as a dwarven fighter. When the unearthed arcana came out in 1985, my DM let me multi-class into a fighter/cleric and worshipping Clangeddin Silverbeard. That character has been transfer to 2nd edition, 3rd edition, and now 5th edition. Alot of good times with that character.
Cleric - especially Light Domain. They are great at the levels I usually play (1 to 9), they have a phenomenal balance of offence and defence and really great action economy. For defence they have solid AC. You only need to have high Wisdom and Constitution with 14 Dex so the most common saves are your strengths - especially after taking Resilient Constitution. Warding Flare is a good use of a reaction, kicks in at level 1 and as it puts disadvantage on an attack multiple times a day it makes you really hard to hit as long as you aren't being mobbed. For offence Radiance of the Dawn is excellent at level 2 and though it doesn't scale a lot, it stays a good use of an action when you already have Spirit Guardians up and your bonus action attack with Spiritual Weapon. If the fight looks like it isn't worth busting out the resources, Radiance of the Dawn recharges on a short rest so spam away - most small fights are finished in three rounds and you get 2 uses per short rest after level 6 so have at it. Fireball at level 5 is a jump in damage output. Spirit Guardians scales well so after fireball drops off due to poor scaling you still have great damage output for groups. Oh and healing word and useful combat ending spells like Banishment and role play hooks with your deity and strong perception skill and revivify and ritual casting and turn undead and full spell list options each day and pretty good cantrips and decent HP and no need to use weapons at all and Divine Intervention if you get to higher levels and no need for lots of feats to be effective...
Maybe a bit controversial.my favorite is warlock, but not for the flavor. I actually kinda find the whole evil patron thing to be kind of annoying. I just really love the abilities, specifically some of the invocations you get are really cool. I also really like pact magic. Not say I prefer it over regular but its somthing different. I just really like customizability.
Sorcerers are definitely my favorite, I’ve always enjoyed the story concept of an ordinary person suddenly discovering that they have this innate magical gift and have to learn to control and master it while learning more about their strange lineage.
I’m also a big fan of Artificers, Druids, Rangers, and Warlocks too.
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
You.. do know that warlocks are required to be evil right or even have evil patrons. There a range of patrons from good and evil on most of the different subclass options
Marvarax and Sora (Dragonborn) The retired fighter and WIP scholar - Glory
Brythel(Dwarf), The dwarf with a gun - survival at sea
Jaylin(Human), Paladin of Lathander's Ancient ways - The Seven Saints (Azura Claw)
Urselles(Goblin), Cleric of Eldath- The Wizard's challenge
Viclas Tyrin(Half Elf), Student of the Elven arts- Indrafatmoko's Defiance in Phlan
I always want to scream when I hear about warlocks who's entire motivation is to escape their patron. I just find it contraindicative to decide to play a specific class and subclass and then make it your personal goal to no longer do that. I want to see more warlocks who are totally on board with their patron's ideology, goals, and aesthetic. Give me characters that make a pact with an Archfey do be pranksters and miscreants, Fiends because they're just evil bastards, Celestials because they want to become a saint, or a Great Old One because they just want to get really weird. That being said I have never played a warlock and don't really find the class attractive mechanically. But I do like the lore/character potential the class represents so I've given it a good deal of thought.
As far as my personal preference, god squad all the way, Clerics bring the divine power of awesomeness. Whenever I think about making a new character my first thought is "Cleric, or should I try to talk myself into something else just to try different stuff?" I really like the versatility they can have between the numerous domains and extremely wide array of spells available. With the right build choices you can make a Cleric at least competent if not great at just about any single thing all while still being good in a couple other roles at the same time. The Cleric I currently play is a healer, a tank, and a focused damage dealer while also helpful in social situations (though the Paladin has a +1 advantage on me for Cha mod) and usually having at least a couple of support and/or utility spells prepared.
And I also love the roleplaying aspect of a Cleric. A Cleric is somebody with strong beliefs about something. What those beliefs are and even what that "something" is can be very, very different between different Clerics of different deities, but that core set of beliefs and convictions gives you a great skeleton to build a solid and tangible personality around. There are all kinds of ways they could have come to follow their chosen path, ranging from seeking redemption for a past they regret, simply following their heart, or even having been born into their faith and just never having been given a reason to question it. And a good DM will eventually test your character's convictions, or at least mine sure likes to which results in my Life Cleric getting rather angsty about fighting in a war with some regularity but she keeps doing so because she sees what she's doing as the best course of action according to her morals (in a recent session a party mate actually said "Flush, do you want to say something here? Because I'm guessing Serena has strong opinions on this subject"). I've honestly found it more challenging to satisfyingly roleplay a Lawful Good character in a very imperfect world than any other, more tropish and stereotypically "edgy" archetype and it makes for a very fun and interesting experience. I don't need to make the character edgy, the DM has made that his job and my goal quickly became trying to keep her from becoming sad, bitter, and pissed off at everything. Oddly enough, I find it very satisfying to play a character who is frustrated by the injustices a world that's even more ****ed up than the real one because that character is actually capable of affecting real and tangible large scale positive change in that world because she knows for a fact that she's literally a spokesperson and functional avatar of a god whom she can actually speak with (at least in a limited fashion as permitted by the commune spell).
Cleric, I adore the flexibility of the class, there is so much you can do with it, and I really really love the RP that comes from being a cleric!
Who said Tieflings had to be so damn amazing?!