1. Slayer - I love the lightly armored warrior without having to go swash and it has the ranger elements that I like without the spell and animal companion baggage.
2. Cavalier - Finally! A proper knight class.
3. Rogue - Whether it's a Locke Lamora con man or a Garrett burglar, I've always liked playing the rogue.
1. Magus - Mage knight, very flexible,
2. Druid - All around 2nd best at everything even favorite classes
3. Sorcerer - Give it summoning and then just do whatever with it. Only class that I have multiple builds that I like. After 2 feats and 9 spells, I feel free to throw on whatever seems mildly amusing.
1. Wizard - first class I ever played was a magic user in 1979. I laughed so hard that night I almost peed my pants. Playing the bumbling professor has always been appealing. My favorite characters in movies and books are always the wizards, too. I can't imagine anyone ever reading The Once and Future King without falling in love with the concept of Merlin.
2. Pre-FAQ magus (bladebound hexcrafter) was insanely fun while it lasted (made it to 9th, now I GM). Still the smart guy, but not so much a wimp.
3. Investigator. Smart guy again, but with a nice twist. I'm still figuring out the class, and I only play it as NPC support for my GS crew, so I haven't really tapped into it as I could.
Post-FAQ, I'd move witch to 3 and investigator to 2, dropping magus to 4. The witch can be deadly fun while filling the healer role, too. I'd rate witch higher if there was a better variety for party support/buff.
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Does a 3pp class that I designed count?
1. Occultist - this class can be built so many different ways depending on what archetypes, schools, talents, and spells you choose. Building a character with this class is always fun for me.
2. Investigator - This class adds a lot to any party needing a skill specialist while functioning just fine in combat (something the Rogue still struggles with). It's fun to make, has a bunch of options, and you can even shout "HOLD IT!" and "OBJECTION!" during RP for laughs. 10/10.
3. Bard - There is no question in my mind that the bard is amazing. They can be built for nearly any party role and excel, and they have one of the most thorough archetype libraries in the game. This class was great from the start and has only gotten better as new material is released.
If you couldn't tell, I really like 2/3 casters.
Out of the 4 classes I've actually played as my own character (and to max level 5 I think):
UnHonourable mention - Gunslinger - Did not enjoy this guy much...
3. Barbarian - crush you to goo
2. Cavalier (Huntmaster) - sic a whole flock of birds on someone
1. Alchemist - KABLAMO! Burn everything and everything.
0. GM - Play ALL the classes! - This tends to work better for me, leveling wise at least :P
1. Bards - Forever and always. Not only are they extremely well balanced and able to fill any party niche while helping their allies to succeed, but the style of roleplay that bards naturally tend to gravitate towards is incredibly healthy for the gaming table to include in moderation (which is nice since you rarely want two bards in a party anyway unless you're going full musical troupe).
2. Clerics - While mechanically I like oracles just a tiny bit more, having deific ties baked into the class (get your filthy cleric of philosophy away from my table) gives less experienced roleplayers a crutch to fall back on and more experienced roleplayers an additional tool to make their character shine even brighter. The high power ceiling doesn't hurt either.
3. Barbarians - The most mechanically solid and diverse of the non-casters without having to rely on items (although WMH may have made fighters more diverse when fully decked out), barbarians are great at pretty much all levels of play if you wanna play murderface.
Honorable mentions: Inquisitor (basically the divine bard), Vigilante (I like my RP, okay?) and Druid (great at everything and has that fantastic nature vibe - also my longest running character was a druid so I have a little bit of personal bias)
1. Occultist. Despite being incredibly restrictive, I love how versatile you can be. This is one of the few classes I feel can truly be totally different every time you choose a different thing to focus on.
2. Slayer. They're lacking a bit in flavour and iconicity, but he's an incredibly versatile fighter that combines the best aspects of Rangers and Rogues in one delicious package. Could use a little more pizzazz, though.
3. No idea. Probably Druid or Cleric. I really like prepared divine casters.
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1. Alchemist. Lots of options. Love the themes. Overall a solid class.
2. Kineticist. Lets me play blasters/elementalists that I've wanted to run for a long time. Appeals to me strongly on a thematic level.
3. Oracle. The most flavorful of the divine casters. Powerful and cutomizable. Love the mysteries, particularly in comparison to Cleric domains.
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I tallied up results to create a general list of which classes are in the lead.
Notes about how this was put together:
* I gave each first-place 3 points, each second 2, and each third 1.
* I didn't include ties on a list.
* If someone voted the same class into multiple spots on their list, I included it at its highest spot but not the others.
* I didn't include honorable mentions or picks past the top three.
* I only included Paizo classes.
* If someone picked an archetype, I grouped it under the base class it belongs to.
* I folded the Unchained and Alternate classes in with their base versions since not everyone would specify which version they intended on their list.
* Ties on my list are sorted alphabetically.
31 Bard
26 Alchemist
23 Inquisitor
21 Wizard
18 Magus
18 Oracle
17 Paladin / Antipaladin
15 Cleric
13 Occultist
12 Barbarian / Unchained Barbarian
12 Investigator
12 Kineticist
11 Summoner / Unchained Summoner
10 Ranger
10 Witch
9 Sorcerer
8 Arcanist
8 Druid
8 Monk / Unchained Monk
7 Fighter
7 Rogue / Ninja / Unchained Rogue
6 Hunter
6 Slayer
4 Cavalier / Samurai
3 Bloodrager
3 Brawler
3 Medium
3 Shaman
3 Vigilante
2 Mesmerist
2 Spiritualist
2 Swashbuckler
2 Warpriest
1 Skald
0 Adept
0 Aristocrat
0 Commoner
0 Expert
0 Gunslinger
0 Psychic
1. Alchemist: No matter what I do or where I go, I'm always going to enjoy the simple yet intelligent design of this class
True. It is one of the classes that try to be expansive and allow you to build for varying roles, without feeling like it loses focus or real flavor (cough vigilante cough- just personal opinion cough).
You can buff. You can debuff You can melee. You can range attack. You can battlefield control. You can Skill monkey. Plenty of options, and you can even be half decent at a grab bag of those after you main (a melee grendadier being the prime example; you don't even have to go that far for it).
It is always easy to find a spot and know how it would help in most campaigns. No matter what everyone else picks, there is almost always a way to fit an alchemist in there with at least some build.
Anyway
2. Druid- Goliath version, cause HUGE QUEST.
3. slayer. It WAS the 'answer to the rogue problem', but then unchained.
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1. Alchemist - I'll be playing my *third* back-to-back alchemist when our current campaign ends and we start on our next adventure path, and all three are so completely different that they may as well be different character classes. (And I must give a nod to N.Jolly, above - his incredible alchemist guide did quite a lot of the heavy lifting in helping me wrap my head around the class.)
(I second N. Jolly's guide to the Alchemists. Thanks)
2: Kineticist. So, I get my warlock, with a kicker. Another shout out to N. Jolly, whose KoP books have made this class a good time. Planning on building some nonsense out of this eventually.
Looks like I'm a bit influential in people's fave classes, always nice to see.
1. Inquisitor
2. Paladin
3. Witch
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I tallied up results to create a general list of which classes are in the lead.
31 Bard
26 Alchemist
23 Inquisitor
Yeah I figured 3/4 BAB classes with spell casting, lots of skill points, and the ability to buff attack and damage were going to be popular.
It's no wonder that Bard, Alchemist, and Inquisitor are leading the pack. They do everything well, even if they aren't necessarily the absolute best at any of them. However, you can meaningfully contribute in every type of situation.
Design Manager
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Yeah I figured 3/4 BAB classes with spell casting, lots of skill points, and the ability to buff attack and damage were going to be popular.
It's no wonder that Bard, Alchemist, and Inquisitor are leading the pack. They do everything well, even if they aren't necessarily the absolute best at any of them. However, you can meaningfully contribute in every type of situation.
I find that in most Pathfinder games I play, being able to competently contribute on multiple fronts is generally better for the party and more fun for the player than "spotlight" classes or builds who are only good at one thing. It's really not that hard for an Alchemist, Bard, or Inquisitor to be close enough to the Fighter in combat that it makes almost no difference in the way fights play out, but then they also get to help in patching up their friends, scouting out the dungeon, convincing the recalcitrant noble to vouch for them, etc.
It's purely anecdotal, but I've never had a Pathfinder group made up of those "Tier 3" type options that had issues with party members feeling left out or worthless, while I can't say the same about parties that included, for example, both a Cleric and a Fighter or a Wizard and a Rogue.
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Since I tend to find full casters very, very strong; I typically prefer 6th level spellcasters.
1. Bard: the class is so much fun to play and rp that I am not surprised at leading the charge.
2. Hunter: I have been really impressed at how much I have enjoyed the class. Finally, a class with a great animal companion and I can use teamwork feats.
3. Medium (spirit dancer archetype in particular): the versatility of the class is pretty amazing. However, the lack of endurance really hurts as well. The guardian and marshal spirits really could use some improvement thou.
1- Inquisitor
2- Bard
3- Barbarian
1. Bard. Best designed class, all classes should be compared to this.
2. Investigator. A runner up and I really like alchemy casting.
3. Oracle. The only full caster I'm ever gonna play again...because it's the only one I'm not gonna break the game or spotlight hog while playing it. Also HEALING!
Kineticist makes a solid 4th.
3. Mesmerist: surprisingly fun and complete, useful as both support and control.
2. Inquisitor: versatile 6th level caster who can do very well in a fight as well. What's not to like?
1. Fighter: because I like hard mode and besides I love martials and for me the fighter is the epitome of the martial character. No fancy magic, no pets, no unwashed savagery, just a man, his sword, his armor (Yes, I might be a "real man" trope posterchild... what about it? :P).
And yet somehow, I'm apparently the only one who likes skalds.
I think Skalds are pretty awesome.
I think they feel far too much like a variant Bard though and I am not a fan of how reliant the base Skald is on having a certain team.
But they're still awesome.
Inquisitor
Oracle
Cleric
I prefer to play divine casters. Honourable mention to witch--the only arcane caster I really dig.
And yet somehow, I'm apparently the only one who likes skalds.I think Skalds are pretty awesome.
I think they feel far too much like a variant Bard though and I am not a fan of how reliant the base Skald is on having a certain team.
But they're still awesome.
Yeah, I kinda just have skald mentally filed away as a variant bard or a bard archetype, so when I say bard, that includes skald.
1) Mesmerist - I was very ambivalent about the class at first, but the mix of spells, class abilities and class specific feats centered around debuffing appeals to me. Mesmerist tricks are also pretty fun to play around with.
2) Oracle - My go to full caster. I prefer spontaneous casting, and the oracle is flexible enough in its flavor that I can use the class for almost any magic-focused character I'd care to try.
3) Fighter - Specifically the lore warden and only post weapon master's handbook (my previous pick being Slayer). I like getting off the ground with my combat feats quickly when I'm playing martial characters and don't care for the added bookkeeping of martial flexibility.
1) Bard
2) Fighter
3) Wizard
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Great thread! Very interesting!
My top Paizo classes (in no particular order)
Oracle/Cleric: Kind of cheating here, I know, but I only get three! :) I love playing divine classes for the rich role-playing potential, and both of these classes are great
Paladin: Much like above, the paladin has so much role-playing potential, and it's a powerful class!
Ranger: The rugged, nature-oriented Aragorn archetype really appeals to me, especially when you throw in the archer angle, although I prefer my rangers to not be spellcasters ...
My top 3PP classes (in no particular order)
Trickster (Kobold Press, New Paths Compendium): A wizard/rogue hybrid class with plenty of versatility - very fun to play
Shaman (Kobold Press, New Paths Compendium) Spontaneous druid - what else do you need to say! ? :)
Theurge (Kobold Press, New Paths Compendium) A powerful arcane/divine spellcasting class that is all about spells, including cool ways to combine them.
What can I say - I know the author! :)
Ranger: The rugged, nature-oriented Aragorn archetype really appeals to me, especially when you throw in the archer angle, although I prefer my rangers to not be spellcasters ...
Well there's always the slayer, or a couple of archetypes that trade out spells. Or just roll with a 10 Wis.
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Ranger: The rugged, nature-oriented Aragorn archetype really appeals to me, especially when you throw in the archer angle, although I prefer my rangers to not be spellcasters ...Well there's always the slayer, or a couple of archetypes that trade out spells. Or just roll with a 10 Wis.
True! In my case, however, my go-to is almost always the Spell-less Ranger, also from the New Paths Compendium :)
1) Magus
2) Oracle
3) Warpriest
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Yay! My turn! I'm so excited, I hope I don't Smurf myself!
1. Occultist, let's see, I can start with grandpappy's lucky monocle, that I can then invest psychic powers and make magical. Sold!
2. Psychic, Tammy's a psychic.
3. Alchemist, Bombs, you say...
I will say, with how many classes are out this really should be a top five at least. I'd love a top ten list. :-)
Edit: D'oh!
1 - Cleric
2 - Monk
3 - Fighter
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And people wonder why publishers put out more material for casters then Fighters/Rogues/Monks ;)
I dunno, I think they have lots of options. :-)
I like all three of those classes. :-)
I rather like
1. Alchemist(my first character!)
2. Summoner(build your own monster and his pokemon trainer; so versatile)
3. Oracle (magic and fun while easy to build around a theme)
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1) Investigator. Without a doubt my favorite class. It has virtually limitless versatility without feeling like a "master of none" while playing. It's been getting a ton of love from Player Companions lately, too!
2) Unchained Monk. This class was needed desperately. Streamlined without cutting it down, and made better at what Monks are supposed to do best. All it needs is more first-party archetypes.
3) Occultist. I really respect this alternate take on casting. It has fresh mechanics that aren't overly complicated, and it makes highly specialized characters without feeling narrow in scope.
Least favorite classes:
98) Alchemist. I'm not a fan of alchemy. Also, these guys always seem to break something about the game, either accidentally or on purpose.
99) Gunslinger. Fantasy firearms are cool; their rules are dumb imo.
Mariana Trench) Witch. Played this through a super dungeon. Never again. Spell list sucks, super narrow focus, hexes range from useless to flat out overpowered depending on the situation.
And people wonder why publishers put out more material for casters then Fighters/Rogues/Monks ;)
To be fair... Paizo is really good at creating useful, balanced 6/9 casters... And really bad at creating useful non-casters and balanced full-casters. :P
Top 3:
#3: Vigilante. It can be a fighter with skills, or any of a number of casting or pseudo-casting options. The flexibility is great for representing a lot of different character concepts.
#2: Kineticist. It's a nice straightforward way to be decent at combat and get some utility mixed in. Plus, there's not much commitment on feats, and you have hitpoints for days.
#1: Psychic. Good class skills, lots of skill points to spend on them, just about all the spells I would want on any other casting class, and the Rebirth discipline is pure gold for flexibility on a spontaneous caster.
Bottom 3:
#98: Arcanist. Gets an archetype for a Sorcerer bloodline for only half its exploits. It doesn't even have to trade something out for the bloodline arcana. Balance! *thumbs up*
#99: Gunslinger. The full BAB resolving against touch AC is a balancing problem, and they have nothing to do but grab all of the broken ranged iterative shenanigans that are out there.
#100: Magus. Almost every time I see one, it's the same spell over and over, the same broken trait, and the same metamagic feat slapped on. I don't care much for metamagic, and the class seems to run on it.
#100: Magus. Almost every time I see one, it's the same spell over and over, the same broken trait, and the same metamagic feat slapped on. I don't care much for metamagic, and the class seems to run on it.
IMHO: If it's not a strength, high int magus it's wrong.
Spell combat is a utility tool not a damage tool. Oooh 10d6 elec damage + 1d6+15wep with an sr check and it gives a -2 to all attacks while removing 9 damage from each attack not being two handed.
Dex build also waste tons of feats not getting extra arcane pool. My 44 arcane points and a style that meshes well with polymorph is much preferred over a slight pre level 4 ac advantage. (Spam shield with your 11 arcane points and spell recall)
/rant against dex crit fishing meta