What is your favorite class and why?

[JTDV]

I typically lean towards a simple fighter. Not because of the game mechanics or any type of advantage, but simply because it is most like me in real life—thus easy and natural to play.

[Kileanna]

Me in real life is a mad scientist alchemist. That's probably why I've never played an alchemist even though they are a really cool class. I have enough myself on my daylife, so I'd rather try new things ;-D

[Just your average clone]

Bloodragers, because of my amazing experience with Stiletto, the weaponless abyssal bloodrager from Numeria. Rest in peace, and may you forever charge fjord linnorms in Elysium. He even got a constellation made after him.

[Tim Emrick]

ohako wrote:

I'm loving my unchained summoner

a) play a demon. name another class that lets you do that
b) play a bonkers melee character. Who cares if you bite it, just come back tomorrow no harm no foul!
c) in addition to having a bonkers burger-truck demon lady melee sting-monster, I get a caster class that has a ton of mechanical oomph. Like, illusions? mind control? meh. just summon a whatsit and make it kill your problem.

I don't own Unchained, so am not familiar with all the changes to summoner there. But a friend of mine played the original class in my wife's recent mini-campaign. He modeled his eidolon after a marilith, who soon gained the nickname "Cuisinart." Half his gear went to giving her swords of as many different materials as possible, and the rest went to protective items for himself. His PC hung back and cast buff spells on her, and if she took too much damage, he dismissed her and just summoned other meat shields. At 7th, he took Leadership to gain yet another pseudo-PC to send into the fight instead of risking his own skin. Accounting for all the extra combatants frequently gave my wife headaches, but the player had a blast.

[SmiloDan]

Did he use Leadership to gain a druid or hunter? ;-)

[DungeonmasterCal]

I guess I would have to say Bladebound Magus because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite fantasy characters, Elric of Melnibone'. Also I modeled a character for the DC Heroes game that I played back in the late 80s and through the year 2000 based on Elric. So it just reminds me of some of my favorite books and another character I dearly loved playing.

[KahnyaGnorc]

Psychic Warrior. I love growing giant and rawr-smashing, so two-handed plus Expansion is my usual base for a character, but growing claws and bite via Claws of the Beast and Bite of the Wolf is a secondary option.

Egoist Psion - for similar reasons as Psychic Warrior, but this one can also shrink down and pew pew with ray powers (with high Ranged Attack due to being tiny and +Dex) . . . Giant multi-attacking natural weapons meleer AND tiny, flying fairy with pew pew lasers, all in one character!

Warder - For when I want full-on tank mode. I can do the traditional heavy armor/shield warder, or dervish defender archetype and be a dex-tank that dual-wields. With both, the Path of War maneuver system allows for greater variety on what to do during combat.

(I haven't played full-on first-party classes in a while)

[DungeonmasterCal]

Nothing wrong with that! I love Ultimate Psionics and Path of War.

[Magog]

DungeonmasterCal wrote:

I guess I would have to say Bladebound Magus because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite fantasy characters, Elric of Melnibone'. Also I modeled a character for the DC Heroes game that I played back in the late 80s and through the year 2000 based on Elric. So it just reminds me of some of my favorite books and another character I dearly loved playing.

I've been thinking of building an Elric type with the Battle Host occultist.

As far as favorite classes go, I'm currently playing an inquisitor of Asmodeus that's a ton of fun. And I like the oracle a lot (so customizable!). I'm really looking forward to playing the occultist though, seems very versatile and different.

Even though I just listed three casters, historically I've preferred fighters and rogues.

[DungeonmasterCal]

I tend to play fighters most of the time. Just like 'em. That's the best reason I have. But like I said earlier, the Bladebound Magus just speaks to me.. lol. I'll take a look at the Battle Host Occultist, too.

[Klorox]

DungeonmasterCal wrote:

I guess I would have to say Bladebound Magus because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite fantasy characters, Elric of Melnibone'. Also I modeled a character for the DC Heroes game that I played back in the late 80s and through the year 2000 based on Elric. So it just reminds me of some of my favorite books and another character I dearly loved playing.

Funny, that resemblance, and the fact it's only a surface likeness and their magic is not elric like to me is one of the reasons I'm not really tempted by the Bladebound Magus... and I forgot the psi classes, most notably the Telepath psion.

[DungeonmasterCal]

One of my players plays a Telepath Psion. His character is probably the most powerful character in the party, using his powers to control the minds of nearly every adversary they encounter. And the ones he can't control he just blows their heads apart with with psionic blasts.

[Klorox]

Classic... I have fantasies about a gestalt telpath psion/wizard to find again the feelings I had with my favorite AD&D character, who rose to 13th lvl magic user, and was a psionic of huge power.

[Madwand]

The ONLY class I enjoy playing is sythethesist summoner. In D&D 3.5, I really enjoyed playing gish classes, and there were a lot of options I enjoyed for doing so. In PF, only synthesist really scratches that itch. Every other option I've tried has been lackluster. Which kind of sucks, because it locks me out of PFS.

[JDPhipps]

I have a couple:

Rogues/Slayers: I love me some sneaky characters, and both of these largely fit the bill for the way I like to play them. I think slayers win out in the end, but rogues are still fun and have a few advantages with Unchained variants.

Inquisitors: They're so versatile! I can play a sneaky knife fighter, an archer, a knight in armor... all with the same class! Their domains/inquisitions make them capable of fulfilling a lot of different party roles.

Magus: The magus is just a fun class and fully combines my desire to play a magic wielder who also puts the beat down on people with a sword. This class can also go a lot of different ways, which is nice. They're a really fun class to play, especially with certain archetypes. Sadly, my favorite archetype for them (Cabalist) is 3rd party, but oh well.

[Luthorne]

My favorite Paizo classes are...

Bloodrager: My favorite full BAB class, the bloodrager is thematically very adaptable...a holy warrior granted the power of angels, but without the alignment or code restrictions of a paladin, someone whose blood burns with an unholy power, someone simply destined for great things, someone who made a deal with a devil for power, and a lot more...it's very fun, flavor-wise, in much the same way the sorcerer is, with the fun of being a more melee-focused character. That said, I wish they didn't get their bloodline spells so late...maybe it's just me, but since those spells are supposed to be manifestations of their source of magic, I feel like they should be gained first, not only after you have access to the next spell level...

Kineticist: While it still needs more wild talents to help round it out, as well as more feats, magic items, and perhaps traits oriented towards its unique abilities, I remain a pretty big fan of the kineticist. Its abilities are fun, flavorful, and being able to use your abilities all day long are quite fun. Optimizers might turn up their noses at it, but I still greatly enjoy it and hope Paizo will continue to provide more material for it...though third party additions have certainly been welcome. They do primarily just hit things with their blasts, but infusions help provide some welcome variety compared to many mundane characters, as well as their utility talents providing a lot of potentially fun options, such as flight, invisibility, going through objects, wrapping yourself in elemental matter, etc.

Mesmerist: Ah, I just love the mesmerist. I've never been able to dig bards, thematically, perhaps because I'm just not that musically-inclined, perhaps because of the general portrayal of bards as capering idiots...I mean, I know intellectually that bards don't have to be like that and really are more like sinister manipulators, but...I don't know, I don't mind other people playing them but I just am not interested. Mesmerists, now, they bring much of the fun of the bard without the baggage. Mechanically, I like them too, they can implant tricks to activate as a free action, swift action stare (and Intimidate with the right feat), and have a fun spell list to boot. And despite their sinister theme they make excellent allies, having a wide array of condition-removal spells available as well as touch treatment, buffing allies with tricks, and so on and so forth. I wish they had other options for their capstone, though, but it's still a fun class.

Oracle: Thematically, I'm not terribly fond of clerics, nor do I particularly enjoy prepared casting, so the oracle is generally my divine class of choice. Oracles, having their power thrust upon them, are interesting to me, and the wide array of mysteries allow for a fair bit customization with their revelation, whether you choose to pursue martial endeavors or aim for a more dedicated spellcaster.

Sorcerer: As you could probably guess from what I said about bloodragers, sorcerers are a lot of fun to me. The bloodlines provide a lot of flavor for how you acquired your power, unlike many other full casters, provide a few flavorful abilities, and have I mentioned I like spontaneous casting more than prepared casting? Because I do. Their spell list is quite fun as well, providing a wide array of spells to choose from to customize your sorcerer, whether you're a bewitching beauty or a freak of nature. That said, much like bloodragers, it does bother me that their bloodline spells come so late...

Summoner: Another favorite of mine, I love the many tales you can tell with this class, simply because it's all about the relationship between two people...an outsider and their summoner. Is one the slave of the other? Are they just friends? Using each other? Lovers? Corruptor and corrupted? An enthusiast trying to reignite a jaded partner's spirit? Relatives? Master and servant (or slave)? Guardian and charge? Countless possibilities. Their spell list is unfortunately narrow, and I do wish eidolons were more versatile - I still have hope that someday we'll gain some eidolon archetypes in the same way we have animal companion and familiar archetypes, with at least one that trades out physical improvements for mental ones - but I still enjoy them greatly.

Honorable Mention: Barbarian, Investigator, Monk (Unchained), Psychic, Vigilante

That said, I have high hopes that the shifter will displace the oracle on my top five...

[Garbage-Tier Waifu]

It's difficult to put it down to one, but I honestly really like Rangers a lot. The flavour and utility rangers bring is so wide, I like to think that they can do just about anything and do it well. They are great martials (they can even TWF with strength only!), they have spellcasting, they have really powerful combat buffs (particularly from Instant Enemy), out of combat uses, an animal companion, and great class skills. Everything I think makes a solid character. Bards do this as well, but I prefer the grit that comes with being a ranger, flavour-wise.

Also, whenever I play face characters it tends to go really badly because I have a tendency to make terrible decisions on impulse, which often backfires.

[UnArcaneElection]

Klorox wrote:

Classic... I have fantasies about a gestalt telpath psion/wizard to find again the feelings I had with my favorite AD&D character, who rose to 13th lvl magic user, and was a psionic of huge power.

Dreamscarred Press has the Cerebremancer for this, although it suffers from the same problems as Mystic Theurge, and you can only do the Equipment Trick (Sunrod) early entry cheese (which HASN'T gotten nerfed yet, last I heard) on the arcane side of it.

* * * * * * * *

For me, I haven't gotten to play Pathfinder yet, but MAYBE when I get back from traveling in a couple of weeks I can start creating some more characters and getting into some PbPs. I do already have a bunch of concepts in mind, though (in my profile), and I try to spread the classes around. So far, Oracle comes up the most often, because it is so customizable that you can use it to create many different concepts, and that's even before you get into archetypes. Vigilante (which I haven't yet developed a clear concept for) is also sort of like that, but you need the archetypes to get most of the different concepts, and each one is more limiting. Shaman is potentially also sort of like that, but the class needs not just a guide, but a user manual for it. Medium is potentially also sort of like that on a more on-the-fly basis, and the concept is cool (although I wish we had a Harrowed Medium archetype like a fleshed-out version of the playtest Medium), but the implementation looks really shaky unless you mainly stick with the Champion Spirit, which partially defeats the purpose of playing a Medium, and even then, you might be hosed if you are stuck in the wrong location to be able to call up the Champion Spirit. Apart from those, I like to make Gishes, for some of which Magus is good, but for which one can also find niches that need other classes.

[Catharsis]

I'd say I've had the most fun so far with my Beastmorph Vivisectionist, Laslo, the Ustulavian "scholar" of anatomy. :) Even if he was a bit overpowered...

I'm hoping my upcoming Kineticist might finally challenge that throne.

[Davia D]

Right now? I'm a big fan of the Vigilante. It's a good way to get a character who's good in multiple areas, without having to think much about multi-classes, and pretty much guaranteed to be social and I love social characters.

[abbamouse]

Wizard. I like the idea of studying things combined with the power to make things happen. Then again, I'm a professor IRL, so it appeals to my scholastic interests. I also love to collect things, and there are so many spells to try to track down. (Gotta scribe 'em all!)