Assuming we're talking about the Core 11 classes of 3.0/3.5/PFRPG D&D, has anybody seen any trends that overwhelmingly suggest one class to be more popular than the rest? I understand that the diversity of the classes is partly intended to appeal to all tastes, but surely there must be a class that EVERYBODY seems to want to play...

The entire Pathfinder community is in a deadlock on this subject. It is either the Kobold Barbarian or the Svirfneblin Sorcerer.

I noticed that there is an increase in the number of rangers, i had to deal with 6 pairs of rangers in the last year, most of which were inspired by either Drizz't or Legolas, all you had to do was look at thier similarities and ignore thier few cheap, minor, irrelevant, deviations that they only made to get accepted into the group. the pairs were just about any pairing, there were also a few solo rangers that joined.

Of the various games I've been in, I've seen no specific class that seems to show up overwhelmingly. (There's almost always a Cleric, but, since I play that class most often, it makes sense that most of the groups I'm in would have one...)

I have seen lesser amounts of Bards and Monks, 'though.

Further postings with a Raven avatar...

We almost always see a fighter and a wizard in our groups regardless of overall composition. We tend to see a lot of clerics from half of our group, druids and bards from the other half.

Overall, I see some player trends but not really anything favorite.

I noticed that there is an increase in the number of rangers, i had to deal with 6 pairs of rangers in the last year, most of which were inspired by either Drizz't or Legolas, all you had to do was look at thier similarities and ignore thier few cheap, minor, irrelevant, deviations that they only made to get accepted into the group. the pairs were just about any pairing, there were also a few solo rangers that joined.

Yeah, I originally posted becasue in my personal experience I've encountered an overwhelming amount of rangers. Interestingly, the men seem to favor two-weapon fighting and female players have prefered archery style rangers.

I wonder how common of a phenomenon that alone might be...!

In our group there's almost always a rogue in the party. I have one player who leans towards the Sorcerer. One likes to play fighter types. And myself enjoy playing bards or barbarians. Half of my characters are probably one of those two.

Further postings with a Raven avatar...

We'll have to start a Raven avatar only thread. :)

Regarding trends - I've never seen any significant trends over the years - but I've always played with small groups which maybe skews the data. Currently, I'm playing with two women. They seem to split the difference mentioned in other posts - one always amps her archery. The other is a die-hard hand-to-hand fighter who more often than not goes with a two-weapon fighting style. She likes to deliver the beat-down up close and personal.

Regarding casters - the only trend I've seen is strong personal preferences. There seem to be a lot of people who (when going arcane) will only play a Wizard or only play a Sorcerer over a number of campaigns. They don't seem to like venturing to the other side of the arcane fence.

I tend to play an arcanist of some sort most of the time. Generally because I'm the one that likes playing such.

Sorcerer gets used a lot locally for getting into prestige classes, and random bumps to other classes... if someone wants a bit of spellcasting around here they generally go with sorcerer.

Druids show up constantly... we'll be without a cleric fairly regularly but not having a druid is rare.

Studpuffin wrote:

Further postings with a Raven avatar...

We'll have to start a Raven avatar only thread. :)

Dude, go to OT and check out "Peck Peck Peck".

Regarding casters - the only trend I've seen is strong personal preferences. There seem to be a lot of people who (when going arcane) will only play a Wizard or only play a Sorcerer over a number of campaigns. They don't seem to like venturing to the other side of the arcane fence.

I see this quite a bit too, but I like to play as both classes. However, when the majority of persons in our group choose to play arcane they almost always do exactly this.

I tend to play an arcanist of some sort most of the time. Generally because I'm the one that likes playing such.

Sorcerer gets used a lot locally for getting into prestige classes, and random bumps to other classes... if someone wants a bit of spellcasting around here they generally go with sorcerer.

Druids show up constantly... we'll be without a cleric fairly regularly but not having a druid is rare.

i tend to swap between skill monkeys and spellcasters, on a 1 to 1 ratio. for spellcasters, i usually go for a spontaneous caster, unless the campaign is either core only, or i am seriously trying to qualify for some prestige class. such as unseen seer, radiant servant, or loremaster. the big benefit of loremaster levels is that it saves you thousands of gold pieces in pearls spent on casting identify, or even the cost of a wand of identify. the loremaster levels i beleive are better than spending resources to cast identify.

My last several characters in reverse order......
Cavalier (only PF character so far)
Crusader
Warblade (swashbuckler style build)
Sorcerer
Bard
Psychic Rogue
Paladin
Druid
Fighter
Ranger

Among other players at least half the group has tried a cleric, fighter, or ranger a least once, with paladins, monks, and sorcerers not far behind.

Assuming we're talking about the Core 11 classes of 3.0/3.5/PFRPG D&D, has anybody seen any trends that overwhelmingly suggest one class to be more popular than the rest? I understand that the diversity of the classes is partly intended to appeal to all tastes, but surely there must be a class that EVERYBODY seems to want to play...

Hero?

Current player group:

2 Fighters (One has a level in shadowdancer)
2 Rouge multis (One with a level in alchemist, one with a level in cavalier and fighter)
1 sorcerer/ranger
1 cleric/wizard
1 druid
1 bard (paladin's old character made it 2)
1 paladin
1 monk
1 fighter/ranger (4/2 split)

So overall no two players are alike. Every player is different. No player is not in danger of sudden death. Mysteriously only one wizard ever since I explained to the group the crap you have to go through just to get spells. Fortunately he has God scribing in some spells for his so it's all good.

I can't help but play rogues, i couldn't tell you why but i love the class. i play it so much that in the most recent campaign i'm playing in (i'm playing an alchemist for testing) the DM looked at me when we came to a trap, forgetting i wasn't playing the rogue.
i don't think there is a single class everyone likes to play, most the people i know and read have a favorite though, and who can argue with that.... it's just like a favorite pair of pants, you understand the pants and they fit you well.

Druids show up constantly... we'll be without a cleric fairly regularly but not having a druid is rare.

As one of the reasons druids show up constantly in game, I take half credit. Fire/Lightning Spells and Dire Bats for the win!

I hate that two-weapon fighting gets you termed as a Drizzt clone. Before I had even heard of him I like the idea of fighting with two weapons, so it's not something specific to Drizzt fans!

I Chaos Gnome druid two-weapon fighting with an axe and a mace should not be considered a clone just because he has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. Ever.

I can tell you what Google Analytics says about which class pages are requested most often. You can extrapolate from that whatever you like :)

Class/Unique Pageviews

Sorcerer 21760
Cleric 20340
Wizard 20161
Rogue 18593
Monk 15814
Ranger 15390
Fighter 17968
Druid 15203
Paladin 14991
Barbarian 14234
Bard 13129
Dragon Disciple 7555
Shadowdancer 6942
Pathfinder Chronicler 7627
Eldritch Knight 7436
Duelist 6545
Assassin 6184
Arcane Archer 6116
Mystic Theurge 5513
Arcane Trickster 4954
Loremaster 4567

In our group the class that people tend to "fight over" is the wizard and the class typically picked last is cleric. When I say fight over i mean more... hey you got to play the wizard last campaign i want to play it this time. Since our group of 6 players has agreed to break it down like 1 healer, 2 fighter types, 1 rogue, 1 Wizard and then the last is a floating one, but often is a sorc or another wiz, or this last game a Summoner.

Should i prove that the 6 short lived pairs of rangers each tried to push a Drizz't clone at least once.

here are some Drizz't clone criteria. each of the 6 player pairs tried to push it at some point. they left shortly after.

Drow

Chaotic Good

TWF ranger

Dual Wields scimitars

Has a panther animal companion

names thier companion Gwenwyver (or something like that)

names thier character something that sounds a lot like Drizz't.

a cliche 2 bit backstory that explains them being a fugitive on the run from some evil matriarch.

does this not scream Drizz't clone?

See, now that I know more about the clones, I agree with you. Skin them, turns the skin inside out, and reattach it so they are only dark on the inside...

My above post mainly dealt with the PBPs I've been in over the last year or so, which seem to be pretty well rounded.

Our home games always seem to have a Cleric *and* a Druid, and 'two other guys' who are whatever whacky thing someone wants to play that time (Barbarian, Ranger, Monk, Fighter, Wizard). We've gone *years* without a Rogue (and, when we had one, it was someone new to the group who quickly abandoned it), and never had a Bard, Paladin or Sorcerer. We did have one game with two Clerics, a Druid and a Ranger, and have talked about, but never actually done, an all Cleric or all Druid party.

(We play 'theme' groups in online games all the time, such as all Necromancer parties in EverQuest or all Robotics Mastermind groups in City of Villains or all Fire / Radiation Controller groups in City of Heroes or all Druid groups in World of Warcraft. Fun stuff. I wouldn't mind playing an all Necromancer group in D&D, perhaps using the Unearthed Arcana Skeletal Minion variant...)

When I am a player (which hasn't been in a long while), I gravitate towards a bard.

Even when I don't play a bard, I tend to play a character with some ranks in Perform.