I would guess with all the rogue hate on these forums, the rogue...
My group cavalier, witch, pally have never been played. Everything else at least once.
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I would guess with all the rogue hate on these forums, the rogue...
Least played among people on the forums, maybe. Plenty of people love the idea of the rogue no matter how weak the class is.
I'd probably say cavalier, because of the number of campaigns that restrict mounts (except for small characters). Also gunslingers seem to be banned in half the games out there.
The core rulebook classes, particularly the 'big four' are the most commonly played. The least played would be from another book.
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With my group, we played (cohorts included) :
- 2 Druids
- 3 Clerics
- 2 Barbarians/Fighters
- 1 Spell-less Ranger/Paladin
- 2 Paladins (incl 1 Cohort)
- 1 Fighter/Rogue
- 1 Inquisitor/Rogue
- 1 Sorcerer
- 1 Cavalier (Cohort)
- 1 Alchemist
- 1 Witch
- 1 Magus
- 1 Wizard
- 1 Barbarian/Oracle
- 1 Ninja/Fighter
- 2 Bards
So, we are missing Monk, Samourai, Summoner and Gunslinger.
I would say Gunslinger judging from the gamers I know.
In my group the least common are Cavalier, Samurai, Ranger and Bard.
The following have only come up rarely: Rogue, Gunslinger, Witch and Magus.
firefly the great wrote:
Least played among people on the forums, maybe. Plenty of people love the idea of the rogue no matter how weak the class is.
Yup, I personally love rogues. I don't judge the class by combat potential alone, shrug.
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For my group gunslinger it just hasnt been appropriate for campaign yet. One day I imagine it will come up but probably not for some time. The summoner is probably in second place. A combo of it being a "pet" class and "overpowered brokenness" has killed much enthusiasm for it.
Rogues get played all time in my group. I think only the most optimized minded find them unplayable.
My current group hasn't been playing Pathfinder that long, just two campaigns, and has six people in it. So far we've seen...
Group 1:
Rogue
Ranger/Wizard/Arcane Archer
Magus (replacement character)
Fighter/Rogue/Shadowdancer
Cleric
Witch
Barbarian/Druid
Paladin (replacement character)
Group 2:
Inquisitor
Alchemist
Magus
Paladin
Summoner
Oracle
So, no bards, monks, sorcerers, cavaliers, gunslingers, ninja, or samurai.
I'm guessing you're going to find that cavaliers, gunslingers, and samurai are not played very often. Cavaliers and samurai don't fit well in an adventuring/dungeon environment, and lots of people don't want guns in their fantasy games, nixing the gunsligner.
To the best of my memory, the totaled roster of the groups in my gaming career so far have been...
2 Barbarians
1 Bard
4 Clerics
3 Fighters
1 Inquisitor
2 Monks
1 Oracle
3 Paladins
4 Rangers
3 Rogues
1 Sorcerer
2 Wizards
Like others have noted, even though the rogue garners a lot of disappointment on the boards, people still play it. There's something about it that resonates with some folks.
My party are funny on that; possibly the least played classes are the 4 basic ones; cleric (plenty of oracles and inquisitors), wizard (many sorcerers), rogue (but many bards and ninjas) and fighter (paladin and barbarian took the place). Not many alchemists, too. Too many summoners for my taste.
Cavalier, Samurai, Gunslinger. I see lots and lots of Rogues.
Cavaliers and Samurai's are really weak in dungeon adventures. As for Gunslinger most people don't unersand how to make a good one so they don't try. Others don't like the Gunslinger concept.
Since we started playing Pathfinder, these are the classes that were chosen for characters.
Fighter x7
Rogue x6
Wizard x5
Cleric x5
Ranger x4
Sorcerer x4
Monk x2
Paladin x2
Bard x1
Druid x1
Barbarian x1
Oracle x1
Alchemist x1
Ninja x1
Witch x1
Summoner x1
Gunslinger x0
Cavalier x0
Samurai x0
Inquisitor x0
Magus x0
However, not all of those classes have been available to play in every campaign we've run.
Between my current "core classes only" PFRPG game, and the three previous D&D 3.5 campaigns I played in (spanning nine years of real-world time), no one has ever played a monk or a sorcerer.
We've had exactly one paladin, one barbarian, and one druid in this timespan. Two PCs have been bards.
The most common PCs in my gaming circles have been wizards, fighters, rangers, rogues, and clerics, roughly in that order.
Cavalier/Samurai don't get much play because of the mount. Bards don't get much play either because most of the people I play with never really read the Pathfinder Bard and remember it from 3.X.
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Definately Cavalier I'd say. They are quite fun but the emphasis on the mount really hamstrings them. Besides they are not different enough from the Fighter or Paladin to have their own niche.
That's really the issue. All the other classes have their own distinct selling point but the Cavalier pretty much falls into the no mans land between the Fighter and Paladin, without their own identity.
I'm hoping for an archetype that replaces the mount, then I'd play one in a second.
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Probably the cavalier and samurai. Mounted combat is just problematic in lots of campaigns, and without your mount you miss out on alot of the cool stuff you get from the class.
I would guess with all the rogue hate on these forums, the rogue...
I see the rogue played a lot. Everyone seem to love the rogue. As GM though I see the same complaints about the rogue when we hit about level 12. They can't hit and skills are irrelevant as the rest of the party combined is a good as the rogue at most of them.
So not a least played class at all. Just one that gets a lot of complaints due to being played so often.
For me I find the Cavalier the least played class. My group has at thing against animal companion mounts. Then Gun Slinger is odd ball, I don't think it fits well in most games but I'm glad it exists even though rarely played.
yep id echo the cavalier sadly, it's on the top of my "Some Day" list but that mount is trouble.
One thing i really liked about 4e, and there wasnt much, was the Warlord class. i would love to see a archetype from paizo that replaces mount with some of these types of powers. i know rite publishing has one called Inspiring Commander but as it is 3pp it isnt legal for pfs or paizo only games.
I think the Bard doesn't get played as often for a couple reasons.
1) Many people just don't dig the flavor of the class. Either they find the premise of a music-based character too fringe, or not "serious" enough.
2) Many people prefer playing a "direct" class rather than playing a support class.
3) Getting the most out of your bard is sort of dependent on your teammates, which is out of your control for the most part. A bard with a poorly disciplined party tends to be "meh," but a bard with a well-disciplined party is awesome.
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I have probably seen more Bards and Rangers in play than anything else.
My group plays a lot of differen campaigns, so everything has been played at least once, not including alternates like Samurai, Ninja and Antipaladin (though an Antipaladin is planned for when we start Way of the Wicked). In 10 or so campaigns the Cavalier and the Alchemist have each only been played once. Only one Summoner so far too, but two more planned for when we restart our Shackled City campaign in Pathfinder (Synthesist summoners seem to be good for recreating wierd 3.5 races that no longer exist like the Neogi and also to recreate the old soulblades that had the psychic skin like Venom from Marvel Comics). Seems like Cleric (8), Fighter (6 pure, 1 multi) and druid (4) are our most played classes.
Never play a paladin no interest, pretty much even when playing LG no one plays a paladin in my crew.
We're not that into the Inquisitor class either
I've seen them all played. It's probably either the summoner, alchemist, gunslinger, bard, monk, or oracle.
As for least liked, I think it goes to my witch for ruining encounters (and I don't even use Slumber.)
Interesting thread and responses. Our group of nine players currently has five campaigns going with the following classes in play:
#1 (Serpent's Skull)
Cleric
Cavalier/Hellknight
Druid
Wizard/Ranger
Rogue
Ranger/Druid
Sorcerer
#2 (Homebrew world)
Fighter/Gunslinger
Cleric
Wizard
Rogue
Ranger
#3 (different Homebrew world)
Wizard
Cleric
Paladin
Bard/Archaeologist
Witch
Fighter
Ranger
Rogue
#4 (Skull & Shackles)
Fighter
Cleric
Magus
Barbarian
Corsair
Saurian Shaman
#5 (homebrew in Golarion, up Varisia way)
Fighter
Rogue
Barbarian
Swashbuckler
Cleric
War Mage
Game #5 has been on hiatus for awhile, so the War Mage may actually be an Elementalist Wizard (not sure - not my character. ;) )
As you can see, we almost always have a Rogue in our parties, so no "hatred" for the class in this crowd. No one in our group has yet tried the more exotic classes like Samurai, Ninja, Inquisitor, Oracle, or Summoner, mainly because we just haven't gotten around to it. One player in Game #3 was thinking about running a Summoner, but went with Bard/Archaeologist instead. That was the first time anyone in this group had ever run a Bard in 10+ years of gaming, so I guess "Bard" would be our least-played class out of the more "basic" classes.
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...and this brings me to my next point.
Meth is bad for you.
Here's a rundown of how many characters of every class are/have been played in PF campaigns I took part in, either as GM or player (PFS not included).
Fighter x8
Ranger x4
Bard x3
Sorcerer x3
Alchemist x2
Cleric x2
Oracle x2 (Life, Flame)
Rogue x2
Witch x2
Cavalier x1
Druid x1
Gunslinger x1
Magus x1
Paladin x1
Summoner x1 (albeit for two sessions only)
Wizard x1
Cohorts aren't included in the list above (Oracle of Life x1, Ranger/Fighter x1)
So, who are the losers? Inquisitor and Monk! The first one hasn't managed to interest one of my players so far, whereas I don't allow Monks in my campaigns (unless I choose to GM Jade Regent later).
It's very interesting to see that in every campaign I took part in, there was at least one melee fighter (or melee fighter/ranger multiclass), whereas the healer role is more widely spread between Cleric, Witch, Oracle or even Alchemist.
...and this brings me to my next point.Meth is bad for you.
Cruel.
FUNNY, but cruel. ;D
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Cavalier and Gunslinger are probably tied for the least common.
Cavalier is perceived as way too niche (mounted combat), its niche is not popular to begin with, and it is not even the best within that niche thanks to Summoners and RAGELANCEPOUNCE.
Gunslinger simply because the majority of fantasy players don't like guns in their fantasy for some reason.
We have the following in three groups:
3 bards (one is a thundercaller)
3 oracle
2 sorc
2 paladins
1 each =Ftr, cleric, rogue, magus, summoner, witch, wizard, Inquisitor,
Dead = 1 each ranger, monk (zen) Witch, Inquisitor. cleric.
There’s a fairly powerful alchemist Cohort.
Guns aren’t allowed. Summoner will be banned.
No BBn or Cavaliers.
Ninja & Samurai are archetype IMHO, but none of those. No melee monks. Social gaming is fairly important, thus the two regular bards (the Thundercaller is a blaster).
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Let's see.
Curse of the Crimson Trone
half orc fighter
dwarf melee fighter
half-drow life oracle
human wizard (dropped)
dwarf ranged fighter -> elf wizard (me)
dwarf cleric (dropped)
human cleric -> human cavalier
human cleric
human summoner
gnome sorcerer
human rogue (died) -> ef wizard
Second Darkness
half-orc alchemist -> aasimar cleric (me)
dwarf cleric (dropped) <-- reason I switched to cleric
aasimar witch
elf druid
half-orc barbarian
sylph sorcerer
human fighter
human cavalier (dropped)
Rise of the Runelords I think this game died
human life oracle (me)
gnome alchemist -> fetchling ninja
summoner
ranger
fighter
My homebrew that I DM
monk
rogue
magus
life oracle
cleric -> fighter (dropped)
Homebrew
gnoll wizard (me)
minotaur necromancer (cleric? or wizard? not sure)
half-orc inquisitor
hobgoblin fighter
aasimar oracle
So, looks like gunslinger, bard, samurai, paladin, antipaladin are the least played in the games I have been in. Been nice seeing a number of dwarves, which had been a huge rarity in my 3.5 years (everyone wanting to be human)
For my group (currently having 4 campaigns underway, with one sorta finished) It seems like Witch, Bard, Inquisitor, Magus, and Monk get no love. I've seen one witch and one monk, but those were short-lived (literally and figuratively). Gunslingers are a favorite among the group, though that is mostly due to a liking for the "man with no name" kind of character. Cavaliers are somewhat represented in the group, as well, though that is due mostly to one player with a major fetish for mounted combat.
Cleric for my normal group -- we always have paladins, rogues, rangers, cavaliers, wizards, sorcerers, barbarians, gunslingers, monks, fighters, druids, witches, oracles, summoners, inquisitors, magi, alchemist, and tons of bards.
But clerics are something we just don't play much.
In a game I've played in, I have yet to see a Pathfinder PC:
-cavalier
-gunslinger
-ninja
-samurai
