I just picked up dargon #323 today (live halfway around the world), and while the new format of more, shorter articles and more familiars were interesting, there was one thing that I found missing that seems like it truly should be there: core classes. With winning races and Gaining prestige a new race and new prestige class is added each month, but for some reason there's no article that presents a single - levels 1 through 20, core class. Why not? The only core classes that seem to come out of dragon are tweaksof existing ones, and it would be nice to see an original class eahcm onth along with the others. Personally, I would find that much more useful than a race or prestige class.
Contributor
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This is something we had considered, but ultimately we decided that trying to find 12 good, balanced base classes every year would be daunting, to say the least.
We might present new base classes as feature articles occasionally if we get a good one, but there's a reason we don't run them very often.
::coughcoughhinthintcough::
We already have eleven perfectly usable core classes.
(And that's seven too many, in my opinion!)
Rather than a new core class each issue, I wouldn't mind seeing what has already been demonstrated in a few of the Class Acts features --> variant cores (whether mechanics-based or flavor-based). For example:
Fighter: Captain of the Guard
Wizard: The Utilitarian
Cleric: The fanatic
Rogue: The Bodyguard
Paladin: The Zealot
Ranger: The Robin Hood
Sorcerer: The Thematic
Druid: The Ecoterrorist
Barbarian: The Urban Brute
Bard: The Herald
Monk: The Defensive Master
I'm a big fan of variant classes as well. I've run a delver, a variant rogue from Path of Shadow, and in my last campaign, on of the players was a Kensai, a variant fighter from Dragon #310.
I would love to see some more here and there in the class acts. Mine might not be as good as above, but here's some more ideas:
Barbarian: The Righteous Rager (access to divine spells while raging)
Bard: The Mime (makes Perform mime checks to make sneak attacks and cast spells)
Cleric: The Judiciary (devoted to upholding the law of the land instead of a diety)
Druid: The Beastman (merges his body with that of his animal companion vice wild shaping)
Fighter: Duh Jock (I ran one from Best of Dragon #2, I'd love to see it for 3.5)
Monk: The Psionic Monk (I've seen some, but I'm always looking for different takes)
Paladin: The Forsaken (Paladins that have been forced out of their order, but not abandoned by their diety)
Ranger: The Nomad (replace favored enemies with racial or regional allegiances)
Rogue: The Bungler (sets off traps, drops weapon in melee and grants a sneak attack to an ally)
Sorcerer: The Improviser (can use objects to change a spell's shape, target, or damage)
Wizard: The Apprentice (improved hit die and skills, fewer spells and spell levels)
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And, if you're a fan of alternate classes, check out the Unlikely Heroes PDFs (from Plot Device), available at the RPGnow.com website. I'm running an Eberron campaign using these classes, and they are a great change from the normal ideas of character classes.
Interesting approaches, lemme see what I can think of off the top of my head:
Barbarian: Illiterate Enforcer
Bard: Herald-Courier
Cleric: Field Medic
Druid: Hermit
Fighter: Man at Arms
Paladin: King's Champion
Monk: Pugilistic Gladiator
Ranger: Royal Hunsman
Rogue: Secret Police
Sorcerror: Court Entertainer
Wizard: Tinker
I wouldn't mind seeing a non-magical monk. Forget leaping around, healing yourself and turning into a magical creature: Just let me PUNCH AND KICK stuff that many times harder! :)
"Rogue: The Bungler (sets off traps, drops weapon in melee and grants a sneak attack to an ally)"
This is one of the best ideas in a long time: A character so naturally lucky that he doesn't need skill and succeeds in spite of himself in the most unlikely ways. In esence, his successes are just the unintentional consequences of his failures! The better the roll, the worse the screw-up that causes him to succeed. He can trip and fall and the spare dagger that flies out of his backpack just happens to pitch though the air at just the right angle to nail the charging dragon in the eye and score a crit. Priceless.