I'm curious to find out which of the core classes and races see the most(and least) gametime in your experience. Is there a way to conduct a poll on this website to generate a breakdown based on feedback to this post? I'm not asking about the most bad-a** combos...just the most/least played for whatever reason. Thanks for the replies.
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As PC races, the least played I have seen are, by far, 1/2-orc (3rd edition ; I remember 1/2 orc assassin back in 1st ed.) and gnome.
The most played, besides human, is elf. I even remember when we went through the "slavelords" adventure, the group of 8 PCs was 4 humans, 4 elves.
On classes, the least played I've seen is druid (1st, 2nd and 3rd editions). It's more difficult about most played classes, since I've hardly never seen an adventuring group without a wizard, a rogue and a cleric.
Since 3rd edition, between my groups that I have DMed at home, with my friends, and played in myself, and not going back to 1st or 2nd edition because I am old and my memory fails me . . .
Human male paladin (x2)
Human male sorcerer (x2)
Aasimar female fighter (x1)
Astral deva monster class (x1)
Minotaur male monster class (x1)
Half-ogre female monk (x1)
Lythari male sorcerer (x1)
Dwarven male fighter (x1)
Human male barbarian (x1)
Human male druid/rogue/daggerspell shaper (x1)
Human male cleric (x1)
Halfling male rogue (x1)
Human male fighter (x1)
Human male diviner (x1)
Human male wizard/cleric (x1)
Human male rogue (x1)
Dwarven male ranger (x1)
Elf male rogue/duelist (x1)
Human male sorcerer/cleric/mystic theurge (x1)
Human female psychic warrior (x1)
Drow male fighter (x1)
So in the campaigns I have been a part of in 3rd edition, the tallies are as follows:
Races
Humans: 13
Dwarves: 2
Aasimar: 1
Astral Deva: 1
Minotaur: 1
Half-ogre: 1
Lythari: 1
Halfling: 1
Elf: 1
Drow: 1
Classes
Paladin: 2
Sorcerer: 4
Fighter: 3
Astral Deva Monster Class: 1
Minotaur Monster Class: 1
Monk: 1
Barbarian: 1
Druid: 1
Rogue: 4
Cleric: 3
Wizard (including specialists): 2
Ranger: 1
Psychic Warrior: 1
Prestige Classes
Daggerspell shaper: 1
Duelist: 1
Mystic Theurge: 1
Off the top of my head:
Most common races: humans, elves
Least common: half-elves
Most common classes: sorcerer, druid
Least common: paladin
In the campaigns I've been involved with since 3rd edition, counting only race/class components that were in the PHB, it looks like this:
Races
Elves: 17
Humans: 7
Half-Elves: 3
Half-Orcs: 2
Dwarves: 2
Gnomes: 2
Halflings: 2
Classes
Clerics: 7
Wizards: 7
Fighters: 5
Rogues: 5
Monks: 3
Rangers: 3
Sorcerers: 3
Barbarians: 2
Druids: 2
Paladins: 2
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In my experience bards are the least played class floowed closely by paladins and druids.
The least played race was halflings.
Well, I find this strange. I understand about bards : you need a hell of a good roleplayer to have a bard in a gaming group, but a bard may give you lots of fun. However, I don't understand about halflings (they make the best thieves-rogues) ; or paladin : that's also tricky to play, but eh, since the PCs are heroes, paladin has a "hell" (funny, isn't it) of heroic deeds to commit in an adventuring party.
Currently, I am DMing this group (going to begin AoW) :
- 1/2-drow wizard
- human (orc blooded) fighter
- halfling rogue
- human rogue
- elf cleric of Corellon
- human barbarian
- human (orc blooded) favored soul of Mayaheine
I'm also playing in that group (SCAP ; I am not sure of all the classes) :
- human cleric of Selune
- human wizard
- tieflin wizard (1 level of cleric ?)
- human hexblade / fighter ? (and 1st lvl kensai PrC ?)
- aasimar paladin / ranger (heading for knight of the chalice)
- human scout 4 / ranger 3 (heading for order of the bow initiate) ->that's me
In those 2 groups : no gnome, no 1/2 elf, no 1/2 orc, no dwarf, no sorcerer, no monk, no druid, no bard...
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I'm curious to find out which of the core classes and races see the most(and least) gametime in your experience. Is there a way to conduct a poll on this website to generate a breakdown based on feedback to this post? I'm not asking about the most bad-a** combos...just the most/least played for whatever reason. Thanks for the replies.
This could just be me, but as a 3.0/3.5 DM, I don't think I've ever had a Bard or Druid PC. Paladins are extremely rare, and while I love playing a Ranger, none of my players seem to share this enthusiasm. This becomes extra strange as I DM lots of wilderness adventuring. Most common classes are Fighter and Cleric - generally, a 5-man party consists of a Fighter, a Rogue or Monk, 2 Clerics and an arcane spellcaster (evenly split between Sorcerer or Wizard).
As for races, nobody likes gnomes (least of all me...), and half-orcs are generally avoided, except for the odd novely half-orc Paladin. If anyone plays a halfling, which is quite rare, it is either the Rogue or the Sorcerer (but not, for some reason, the Wizard). The most common race by far is human, with half-elf finishing a distant second.
Hmmmm, most of my roleplaying experience has been with non-DnD games, however, in my current games I am playing I have one half-celestial character and one human paladin. Perhaps I'm a bit odd (less of a perhaps, more of a certainty really) but I have always liked the concept of the paladin, though now that I think about, I think I am almost the only person in our group who has played one recently. Most of my recent characters have either been fighter types or rogue types, with the occasional holy warrior or cleric type thrown in. Rangers and arcane spell users are also popular with my group.
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Since I only recently found a new group (after several years of no gaming) I haven't much to relate. In our first campaign we use Iron Heroes Rules, which only accounts for humans. Every class in that rules system is heavy on fighting, except the Arcanist, which our DM didn't want us using.
We did just start the AoW, but sadly, I am the only non human (Dwarf). In that campaign we decided on the optional Gestalt rule from Unearthed Arcanna. The classes combos are:
Fighter-Cleric (that's me)
two Fighter-Monks
Druid-Monk
Ranger-Rogue
All the 3E games I've played in or DMed (including multiclassed characters):
Aasimar 1
Air Genasi 1
Catgirl 1
Drow 1
Dwarf 7
Elf 2
Feytouched 1
Gnome 2
Human 18
Half-Elf 6
Halfling 2
Jozhal 1
Kobold 1
Mermaid 1
Minotaur 1
Mul 1
Rakshasa 1
Thri-Kreen 2
Tiefling 1
Aristocrat 1
Barbarian 1
Bard 4
Cleric 9
Druid 1
Fighter 13
Monk 3
Paladin 1
Psion 4
Psychic Warrior 2
Ranger 6
Rogue 12
Sorcerer 3
Templar 1
Wilder 1
Wizard 9
Rogue/Fighters and Cleric/Fighers are popular with my players. Elves and Gnomes and very unpopular.
My group consists of:
Elves - 3
Humans - 3
Gnome - 1
Classes are much more diverse:
Cleric
Wizard
Paladin
Bard/Druid
Rouge/Scout/Warmage
Monk x2
I think the reason I see alot of Humans and Elves in my party is because they give bonuses that appeal to my players. The humans get an extra feat, which is huge nowadays with so many to choose from. The elves get bonuses to spot, listen, finding secret doors, they get automatic weapon proficencies no matter what class they are.... the list goes on and on.
Because my campaign has been running for over a year now, its been tough show least popular things due to the fact that the players don't get killed often. I have also had a ranger, and another wizard and another rouge in the party that have been replaced. All humans.
-Rath
My group, one of them at least, is particularly big on powergaming, so they generally pick what they perceive to be the most powerful races and classes.
Human is the most popular race by far. You can buy ability score increases or darkvision with magic, but you can't buy feats and only get one every three levels. Occasionally, someone will play a nonhuman, either for novelty (kobolds are fun) or for the +2 to a prime requisite ability score.
Nobody in our games ever plays a half-elf, on the other hand.
Class-wise, there's a nice mix, because each class has its own niche role. However, nobody ever plays bards.
In the groups that I have run games for, I'd have to say that the least popular races are Dwarves, followed by Gnomes and Half-orcs. This could be skewed by the fact that I have mostly women for players (5 of my current group of 6 players are female). Make of that what you will.
As for classes, I have to say that we've run a pretty wide gammutt, but the classes I've most rarely seen chosen are the Druid and Monk. Most popular seem to be Ranger, Fighter, or Cleric.
Wow... not alot of Half-Orc/Orc love here, my main charator has been the Orc/Half-Orc Barbarian, ive played my fair share of others as well, even though i have never strayed far away from the world of melee combat. Human Cleric that was a main melee charactor for that group, a couple Human Fighters following a few different routs of play(2 weapon fighting, heavy armored tank, Human Rouge Assassin. Now that i think about it, Ive never played an elf, gnome, halfling, half elf, and much of my group stays with elf or human. I think Im the only one in my group the play the Half/Orc. Our most played classes would have to be Fighter and Ranger, while our least played is Wizard and Druid. I think i may run a new campaign and ask the players to play sumthing that they normaly wouldnt to diversitize our group.
Most common PC races in our game are, in decending order:
Lycanthropes
Dragons
Demons/ devils
elves
humans
goblinkin
misc.
halflings
gnomes
(I can't think of anything worse than playing a gnome)
Class:
Fighters (usually multiclassed)
thief/ assassin
mage
cleric
ranger
psionisist
stable hand
chamber pot emptier
paladin (I have only played a paladin once in my almost twenty years of playing, and the only reason I enjoy it is because he is a kobold.)
In the games I have played the most popular race has been Human and Elves. and the most popular classes have been wizards and fighters, go figure.
A Cleri has been close behind the others followed by a rogue and of course Paladin.
Most played class: Ranger
Most played race: human
Least played class: bard
Least played race: gnome
Most played class: Rogue
Most played race: Elf
Our guys HATE elves, though suprizingly I would say it's half-orcs who get the least play. Nothing against them, I just don't think they get the exposure of a lot of the rest of the races. That and they're way different, which sometimes makes them an odd fit. Most popular is still human by a longshot.
As far as classes I'd say the most popular one by far is the cleric. I think it's because of how much the religion thing adds to character, especially the domains and domain powers. Rangers get a lot of play too. I think largely because they have the hands down best list of class skills and their special abilities are so dang cool. The ones that never get the love seem to be the barbarian and the druid. Not sure why. I think because they tend to be fringers, living in the deep frontier regions they are just a titch more difficult to figure out why they'd be out where the game is happening. Likewise their agendas are so different that it's as likely that they'd try to kill and eat the party members as go adventuring with them.
Most played Race : Human
Most Played Class : Fighter
Least PLayed Race : Gnome
Least played Class : Druid
Ultradan
Most played Race : Human then elf
Most Played Class : Ranger then Paladin
Least PLayed Race : Half-orc then Halfling
Least played Class : Monk then Bard
Most Popular Class: Cleric, then Fighter
Least Popular Class: Barbarian and Druid, then Paladin
Most Popular Race: Human by far, then Elf
Least Popular Race: Half-orc, then Half-elf and Halfling
Here are my personal choices:
Most Popular Class: Wizard, followed by Paladins and Rangers
Most Popular Race: Human, followed by Elves
Least Popular Class: Monk, followed by Sorcerer
Least Popular Race: Gnomes, followed by Halflings
Most Played Race: Humans (and their Derivatives, ie azurin, elan etc.), followed by Elves (and their Subraces)
Most Played Class: Good variation actually, though fighter is multiclassed to a lot of the time and so is scout.
Least Played Race: Half-Elves (They have no good points that elves don't get), followed by Half-Orcs (if I want a +2 to strength I'll play an Wood Elf).
Least Played Class: Bards (They're actually quite good), followed by the Oriental classes less Ninja and Spirit Shaman (i.e. Samurai, Wu Jen and Shugenja) because they're basically just rehashed versions of Paladin/Fighter/Knight, Wizard/Sorcerer and Cleric/Favoured Soul.
Giving the Half-Human races either extra skill points or an extra feat to represent the human side of their heritage would probably even things out again, in fact it's what I've done in the BESM d20 game I DM for and it's worked out quite well.
As a point of interest the racial traits of the Half-elf and Half-Orc are as follows in my game:
Half-Elf:
+2 Dexterity
+2 to Listen, Search and Spot checks
Immune to magic sleep effects
Bonus Feat
Half-Orc:
+2 Strength
+2 Constitution
-2 Intelligence
Dark-vision 30 ft.
Bonus Feat
I have a few different groups, so I will list their races and classes seperately. Mostly because their tastes are so wildly different.
Group #1: elf fighter/wizard, elf rogue half-orc fighter gnome cleric/illusionist.
Group #2: human fighter, elf thief, elf monk, half-elf cleric, elf wizard, half-fiend ranger
Group #3: Human paladin, human ranger, human bard, elf druid, elf barbarian, warforged scout ranger/rogue.
I don't know what to make of these guys. I'll tell you how many guys from each group are left after the Tomb of Horrors adventure (heh heh heh).
Looking at the extent of the 3.5 career of 12 players (approx. 30 characters):
Most common race: Human
Most common class: Mage
Least common race: Dwarf/Halfling/Gnome tie (once each)
Least common class: Cleric (twice, both multi-classed)
Just looked thru the character sheets I still have on my computer and tallied things up since 2nd Edition.
RACES:
Elves x8
Half-Elves x3
Humans x3
Gnomes x1
Pixies x1
Kender x1
1/2 Dragons x1
Minotaurs x1
Dwarves x0
1/2 Orcs disallowed
CLASSES:
Rangers x4
Fighters x3
Clerics x3
Rogues x3
Barbarians x3
Ninja x2
Bards x2
Monks x2
Mages x2
Druids x1
Paladins x1
Psionicists disallowed
Note that the campaigns I run have a great focus on the martial arts and the divine/angelic. Elves (Tolkien's not std D&D), Pixies and even some Half-Elves (think of Tolkien's Númenoreans) all have varying degrees of innate spell-like abilities. Coupled with recharge magic, the importance (and longevity) of caster-only classes is diminished making for a setting in which martial skill is highly valued and incorporates the synergy of swordplay, unarmed combat, divine faith, arcane abilities and even ancient technology.
With that said, one of the single most effective characters I've seen in some time has been a Pixie Warmage. Damage reduction, tiny size, improved invisibility and flight all rolled into what we termed The Mobile Weapons Platform. She was pretty handy with her lance and a bow whose arrows she would enchant with pixie dust from her wings (touch attack disperses the dust in a single 5' square).
—Laithoron Aernelóth, aka Michael
Prince of Loch Thallen
Ambassador to the Atani
www.worldsunknown.com
Least played class: Paladin
Least played race: Gnome
Least popular race: half-elf (humans and elves get way more)
Least popular class: bard (does lots of stuff, but not very well)
Most popular race: human (everyone likes feats)
Most popular class: fighter (I see a good deal of multiclassing for the two levels of bonus feats)
1/2 Orcs disallowed
I would like to know why you have half orcs disallowed. They are my favorite race, and they dont have any big advantages.
My chosen race is Human.I can't stand "half.." races or gnomes.
My chosen class is Cleric. 'cos i get to take out the undead trash !!(Usually LG or LN.)Followed in no particular order by paladins,monks,fighters or druids with the occasional wizard.
I would like to know why you have half orcs disallowed. They are my favorite race, and they dont have any big advantages.
1/2 Orcs disallowed
I would be much more receptive to allowing an orc - rather than a half, thats pretty much true of a half anything. I don't get all that excited about it. The main thing for me is if the back story makes sense.
Its very Tolkien though to have half races -
Elrond Half Elven
The Uru Kai - orcs mixed wih men
The Dunedain with elven blood
But I don't care for half races in games - unless they fit a specific story.
Our group changes campaigns and characters pretty frequently and we generally have a pretty even spread of concepts, races and classes. The only exception I can think of is that whenever a paladin is mentioned the reat of the party groans at the thought of having to put up with the little tightwad. So we typically don't have many of them.
Fighters and humans dominate in the games I have been in.
I have yet to see a half elf since starting 3rd edition. Don't know why. Druids seem to be the least favored class followed by wizard in my group of gaming friends. Which is jfunny cause I love the wizard especially since the third edition revamp.
Bards are popular in my games who could of thunk it. If your cleaver it is a fun class
In my games, not one person has ever played a gnome or a half-elf. As for classes, not one monk or sorcerer yet.
Most popular race is human, followed by elf. Most popular class is home economics (because you get to eat the cupcakes after you make them). Seriously, I think ranger is the most played class in my games, which is odd as I tend to run urban adventures more than anything else. And then cleric after ranger.
From my combined 3.5/3.5 experience:
Racially, I will always have a group 80 percent human. Elves are the next most common, with a few dwarves and half-orcs thrown in. One guy usually plays gnomes and halfings, but played a goliath in the current game. Half elves are so mechanically weak that no one plays one, ever.
The least common class has been the ranger. Paladins are rare, but do show up. I've seen several druids, a number of bards. Sorcerer is very rare- mostly because I usually play arcane and I hate sorcerers. Barbarians and fighters are always popular, as are rogues and clerics.
For my group, Humans and Elves dominate, with Dwarves and Half-Elves getting at least occassional play. Other races are not played at all.
For classes, we've played all of the core 11 except Bard. The Monk player dropped quickly; it was too finicky for her. (She'd previously played a Ranger and expected to play her new character similarly... it didn't work well.)
As we continue to play, we're moving away from the flexibility/tedium of daily spell memorizing classes, towards spontaneous casters and non-casting classes.
Most-played core race: pretty much a tie between Human and Elf
least-played core race: never had a Gnome PC
Most-played core class: (not counting "themed" gestalt settings where everyone takes levels in one class...) Fighter and Rogue (the player who plays the spellcaster tries out different classes with each group)
least-played core class: Bard, Monk, and Paladin tie (the Pally, however, was a favorite character and could never be duplicated...)
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Most played race: human, elf, and half-orc
Most played class: barbarian, monk, cleric
Least played race: gnome, dwarf
Least played class: wizard, paladin
My gaming groups tend to diversify amongst the "outcast" races (currently, the one group consists of an elan, half-fiend, elf, celestial, and half-daelkyr; an oddity, the other group is 3 humans and a half-orc) and more unusual classes (psion, wilder, and warlock come up as often as druid or ranger). We tend to have a lot of supplement books available, and like to take new classes or races for a "test drive" when we can. Like Dungeon's adventures a few years back, we had a run of "I'm making a half-dragon" fad amongst a couple of gamers, but ECL=fewer hit points and it doesn't take long for people to clue in to that.
in my 3.5 experience as a DM I have seen:
(each is a seperate character)
2 human clerics
1 human cleric/stormlord
3 dwarf fighters
1 human thief
1 elf druid
1 half elf fighter
1 elf bard
1 halfling rogue
1 gnome rogue
1 elf ranger
1 elf wizard/argent svant
1 gnome favored soul/sorcerer/mystic thuerge
1 elf ranger/druid
1 dwarf fighter/sorcerer
1 human monk
1 elf fighter
1 human warlock
1 human paladin
1 human ranger/rogue
1 elf scout/fighter/order of the bow initiate
characters I have played in 3.5 games:
Gnome Paladin (Brebendorf Flewt, The Hammer of Justice)
Dwarf Sorcerer (Darnoc the Mysterious)
Halfing Barbarian (Baldo Bugerwell)
Human Abjurer (Horondoreth the Greeen)
Human fighter/Sorcerer/Spellsword (Alzhim Ibn Ahume)