What Does Each Class Do Well

[Uhtred von Mauer]

Simple subject I hope.

What do you each think each or any class does well.

Core RUle Book Classes seem pretty clear, but the additional classes from APG, G&G, SoM, etc..

[John R.]

LocalDisasterTourGuide just put out this video that helps give answers for some or most of the classes.

[Deriven Firelion]

Hahaha.

I'll try I guess:

Fighter: Hit stuff.

Barbarian: Destroy stuff.

Monk: Move and hit stuff.

Bard: Buff and debuff.

Druid: Lots of different things well except buffing.

Sorcerer: Versatile casting builds and focus spells.

Witch: Versatile casting builds, hexes, and familiars.

Oracle: Focus point abilities.

Summoner: Summon an eidolon.

Ranger: Versatile martial builds. Best switchhitter between ranged and melee.

Rogue: Hmmm. Martial precision damage and skills.

Wizard: Spell versatility within the arcane spell list. Cast a lot.

Magus: Alpha strike.

Champion: Defensive tank.

Cleric: Heal.

Swashbuckler: Most active combat styles.

Alchemist: Most versatile nonmagical damage and effects.

[lemeres]

Monk- doing many things in a single turn. They have a quite a few abilities that can let you get in multiple effects at once.

Also, they can be tanky, but that doesn't help much if you don't pick actions that are important enough for enemies to target you. It is a side benefit, rather than a goal.

[John R.]

Investigator: Skills and being the person to solve mysteries and keep the plot moving forward when the rest of the party just wants combat (not that there's anything wrong with that).

[Castilliano]

John R. wrote:

Investigator: Skills and being the person to solve mysteries and keep the plot moving forward when the rest of the party just wants combat (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Inspector's the "let's just fast forward through the thinky bits" class. It's like dropping Sherlock Holmes into one of the "5-minute mysteries" scenarios. Put alongside a face PC (or be a face PC, though that might tax the build's combat efficacy) and zoom right to the baddies.

[Eoran]

They all get obliterated by significantly higher level enemies rather effectively.

[Perpdepog]

Castilliano wrote:

John R. wrote:

Investigator: Skills and being the person to solve mysteries and keep the plot moving forward when the rest of the party just wants combat (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Inspector's the "let's just fast forward through the thinky bits" class. It's like dropping Sherlock Holmes into one of the "5-minute mysteries" scenarios. Put alongside a face PC (or be a face PC, though that might tax the build's combat efficacy) and zoom right to the baddies.

Ah, the ol' Columbo and Holmes approach.

[Salamileg]

Only basing off classes I've seen in play:

Alchemist: Guaranteed chip damage and on-demand utility. Will need to see it in play more to really have an opinion on it.

Barbarian: Consistent damage via flat damage modifiers. Can also be built to do AoE damage better than other martials.

Champion: Keeping themselves and their party alive.

Cleric: Tons of high-power, low-cost healing thanks to Divine Font. Haven't seen a harm cleric yet.

Fighter: Consistent damage via good accuracy. Can't do much else, but is very, very good at this.

Magus: Good at burst damage as well as getting around resistances and taking advantage of vulnerabilities.

Monk: Best action economy of any martial. Can do lots of things in a turn.

Oracle: I don't think oracles have a specific niche, but are probably the most versatile divine caster. The only oracle I've seen in play (aside from one I play in a new campaign) was a Cosmos oracle built for healing and single-target damage.

Sorcerers: Similar to oracles, I don't think Sorcerers have a particular niche but can be built into most caster roles effectively.

Witch: Depends on spell list, I ran for an occult witch, who was good at debuffing and utility magic. I'm not super happy with the class in general, though.

Wizard: Either king of blasting with Spell Blending or king of magic utility with Spell Substitution. The other theses are fine, but these two really show off the wizard's strengths.

[Squiggit]

Fighters have incredibly good damage and a really solid foundation. More flexible than they look because their foundation is so solid.

Barbarians hit things really hard.

Monks make good skirmishers with really solid action economy

Clerics have amazing in combat healing and buff/support well thanks to the Divine list.

Alchemists.

Druids have a nice blend of options between offensive magic and some support/healing. Thanks to wild shape support they're the best spellcaster at pretending to be a martial too.

Sorcerers are supremely flexible, what they're good at depends a lot on your spell list, but in general the spontaneous list imo makes for good offensive casters.

Champions are defensive kings.

Rogues have an incredibly broad set of skills they can invest in while also doing very nice damage at the same time and having some debuff options.

[Sanityfaerie]

Alchemists have useful buffs and okay chip damage and are awesome at having exactly the thing that you need to fix the pressing issue you have right now... if you have someone who's a natural alchemist player. In order to be that kind of player, you have to be the sort of person who looks at the "alchemical tools" list and gets kind of excited, and thinks that getting new recipes as rewards is awesome and remembers every single one of them and can think of which to deploy on the fly.

If you're not that kind of person (and most are not), then alchemist is rather on the weak side.

They're kind of like a caster, except that their spell list is completely different and shaped odd and with a few extra actions in combat they can pull out literally anything in their book. Alchemical tools and such include a lot of things that are weirdly situational (Major bonuses when fighting insect-type enemies!), and one of the alchemists real strengths is the ability to just decide that they want to have one of those right now and then have it.

[Lycar]

I see that Fighters not only are very competent at dealing consistent damage, their feat selection also allows them to be very good at setting up other party members (especially Rogues) for success.

Examples: Combat Grab and Improved Knockdown are Grapple and Trip attacks respectively, using their to-hit bonus rather then their Athletics bonus. A godsend for DEX-builds. Sure, Combat Grab has the Press trait, but considering what a critical hit does...

Also: Felling Strike. Down a Dragon with a rock if need be. Combine with Sudden Leap if you don't bother with bows.

Debilitating Shot to cast Slow without a save? Yes please!

Intimidating Strike casts Fear from lv. 2 onward. Add fearsome Brute for fun and profit.

So yeah, Fighters are not only competent damage dealers in their own right, if they are willing to forgo a bit of their own damage, they can boost the entire party. Talk about a team player.

[Gortle]

The Martials

Barbarian:
Giant - Damage. Can be strong at multitarget damage for a martial. A little more fragile.
Draconic - Damage. Can be strong at multitarget damage for a martial.
Animal - Damage and martial controller with grab, shove, trip etc. A little tougher.
Fury, Spirit, Superstitious - harldy every seen as the are clearly a step down from the other 3 but they are still good at damage.

Champion:
The best defensive tank, good at protecting those close to him. With Retributive stike can be an effective damage dealer.

Fighter:
Lots of options
Board and Sword - defensive tank
Two weapon - single target damage
Reach - damage plus some martial control
Archery - ranged striker.

Gunslinger:
Ranged striker

Investigator
Story oriented skill based martial with utility in alchemy, medicine, investigation. A fraction down on damage dealing but still OK.
The different methodologies are not much different

Monk:
Fast defensive tank. Can be a martial controller.

Ranger:
Flurry is about single target damage and is best for two weapon fighting
Precision is good if you want to be a switch hitter or have an animal companion
Outwit is not seen much, but technically if you want to be an intelligent huntsman

Rogue:
Skill monkey that can be a top rank striker you can pretty much do anything with this
Eldritch Trickster - a bit of magic utility
Mastermind - recall knowledge for flat footed, very good ranged striker
Ruffian - strength based rogue with some more weapon choice
Scoundrel - feint for flat footed (haven't seen this)
Thief - technically the best of these if you want to be a melee striker

Swashbuckler:
Martial with some control and debuffing options
Battledancer - for moving your enemy around the battle field. Good if positioning is important
Braggart - hands out frightened penalites which help everyone, the most common type.
Fencer - feinting
Gymnast - martial controller. Its weak till level 10 then its strong.
Wit - if you want to make jokes about your enemies. Only good if you have a caster who can attack versus will defenses.

The Casters

Note that Paizo consider all 4 spell lists to be equivalents in value. With which I 95% agree but Arcane is a smidgen ahead and Divine a little behind.

Bard:
Best cantrip buffer. Strong in a large party. Occult list which is good at single target debuffing . The different muses aren't that different.

Cleric:
Clostered Cleric: Lots of free heals (which are very good). Divine spell list which is best in healing and buffing but can do a bit of everything
Warpriest: As for cloistered but you sacrifice your ability to be offensive with your magic to be a little less sucky in melee. But you are still bad so its not well liked.

Druid:
Primal caster that can cover any role depending on your spell load out and your build. If your party wants a martial but you want to play a caster, or the need a healer but you want to do something else then look here. Strong focus spells you will use every combat. Healing, direct damage, even an AoO option. Not a lot of point to talk about the orders as most druids will have several but Storm is where you should start if you want to be a direct damage caster, Leaf for a healer caster,, Wild if its a martial

Magus:
Mixed arcane and melee with flexible options but less non cantrip magic

Oracle:
For players who like complex builds with disadvantages. Full divine casteers with odd deity rules. Battle/Cosmos/Fire/Life/Tempest have builds that can be good. haven't found any for Ancestors/Bones/Lore yet

Sorcerer:
If you want to be a pure spontaneous caster of any one tradition. Options to pick spell from other tradtions. Good focus spells.

Summoner:
Mixed martial/caster not quite as strong at either but flexible.

Witch:
If you want to be a pure prepared caster of any one tradition. Good replaceable familiar.

Wizard:
Prepared arcane caster. Best for counterspells, illusionists, or the most top level spells.

Other Classes

Alchemist:
Utility support character good mutagen boosts and splash damage

Inventor:
Utility character

[Secret Wizard]

I think "what does each spellcasting tradition do well" is an important follow up too.

[The Raven Black]

Secret Wizard wrote:

I think "what does each spellcasting tradition do well" is an important follow up too.

Especially if there is some warning about what it does not do well. Arcane and healing spells being the most obvious one.

[Deriven Firelion]

What does each spellcasting tradition do well?

Divine: Good at healing and buffing. Most versatile and useful summons. Good at condition removal. Best at doing positive, negative, and alignment damage.

Occult: Good at buffing and debuffing. Good at mental and force damage and effects. Lots of good shadow magic.

Arcane: Most versatile blast damage with energy, mental, force, and negative damage. Surprisingly not great at buffing. Does not have heroism. Has some decent emotion effects. Versatile utility effects for out of combat activities.

Primal: Good blasting versatility with lots of energy effects. Healing and condition removal good. Best shapechange effects. Decent summoning with Summon Giant and Fey.

As far as tradition ratings for roles I rate them as follows:

1. Divine: Best for a healer or hybrid healer/buffer.

2. Occult: Best all around list that can do a little of everything you'll likely need.

3. Arcane: Best for damage dealing and utility.

4. Primal: Best for a hybrid healer/damage caster.

[Gortle]

Arcane: Strong at everything bar numerical buffs and healing. Stand out options are illusions and metamagics

Divine: Weak at direct damage. Strong with healing and numercial buffs

Occult: Weak with area damage. Almost no elemental damage. Good with debuffs. Also has illusions and metamagic

Primal: Strong with elemental damage and area of effect damage. Good healing. Good buffs but no numerical buffs. Control options are mostly movement, walls and difficult terrain.

In this context metamagics are things like Globe of Invulnerability, Contingency, Spell Turning I'm not talking about the feats.
By numerical buffs I mean +X to attack or saves

A lot more detail in my response here

[NemoNoName]

Wizard: make you wish you played any other spellcasting class.

[Sanityfaerie]

NemoNoName wrote:

Wizard: make you wish you played any other spellcasting class.

Wow. You think quite highly of Witch, then.

[Eoran]

Sanityfaerie wrote:

NemoNoName wrote:

Wizard: make you wish you played any other spellcasting class.

Wow. You think quite highly of Witch, then.

Hah. Let's not start that competition up again.

[kryone]

Alchemist : make player quit the game
Barbarian : doing big damage
Bard : debuff, buff everything while being able to take hits and do damages
Champion : the good one protect their team and tank, the evil one are good at being bad
Cleric : healing and buffing while telling you about their lord
Druid : blast with focus, summoning things, changing form, hugging trees
Fighter : hitting thing, crit hitting things, hitting and doing manoeuvers on things
Gunslinger : using bad ranged weapon
Inventor : taking attack of opportunity and missing things
Investigator : breaking the 4th wall and using skills
Magus : doing that big one hit massive damage
Monk : running while doing wind with their arms, can cosplay a windmill
Oracle : trying to be a cleric with both hands cut
Ranger : walking in difficult terrain
Rogue : being better than ranger and using skills
Sorcerer : casting spells all the day
Summoner : dying when your best friend die
Swashbuckler : trying to run as fast as a monk and hitting like a rogue but once per round
Witch : petting their familiar
Wizard : MAGIC !

[The Raven Black]

kryone wrote:

Witch : petting their familiar

Never realized before that Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a Witch. Thank you for that.

I wonder now who his Patron is.

Who hides behind SPECTRE ?

[nick1wasd]

Core classes:

Alchemist: "These are my friends... And this is Zoidberg" "Hey..!" They can do literally everything..... kinda badly. Healing? Buffs? Debuffs? Damage? Utility? They have it all, just temper expectations to "student of all, master of none" syndrome when you see them in play.

Barbarian: GROG HIT THING HARD! They have decent AoE for a martial, insane survivability, lots of different specialties of "things I kill good" with the niche Instincts like Superstitious or Spirit. They're good at killing things fast, but struggle if the fight goes for too long.

Bard: BUFF CITY!!! A +1 for you, a +1 for you, a +2 for you wink. Decent healing, good at skill roles, just... not great at dealing damage or surviving a stray fireball.

Champion: "I FIGHT FOR MY FRIENDS!" They're the WoW raid boss class, who goes in first, draws aggro, and sits pretty while the Rogue kidney stabs the boss over and over. Alright healing, can remove status effects, but mostly just punishes the enemy for prioritizing the wrong target.

Cleric: "holyyyy... SMITE!" They're mostly a healbot, but they can scrap if you go Warpriest. Good buffs, good debuffs, but by Nethys they can't go damage outside of very special circumstances. Not wonderful for anything other than heeeaaallll and Heroism, but if you're fighting Fiends or Undead they're better than a Wizard at nuking foes.

Druid: RULES OF NATURE!!! A fireball here, a lightening bolt there, here a bear, there a fey, everything is insane! AoE elemental nonsense is their specialty, and debuffs are their forte when it comes to poisons and hostile terrain. Single target is lackluster and outside of Wildshape they don't scrap well, but when it's an army of little dudes you're fighting? Good luck out doing the Druid in cleanup potential

Fighter: Hit man with pointy stick, hit man with blunt stick, shoot pointy stick to hit man far away! When it comes to making an attack roll, the Fighter does it best. When you don't need to make an attack roll? Meh. Durable, king of scrap, huge bag of tricks of "how do I kill it faster?" and can deal with pretty much any encounter well, and have a wide array of how to go about it.

Monk: muuDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDAAAAA!!! Fast, lots of action economy cheese, good melee damage, not great ranged damage unless you go Wild Winds or shuriken/daikyu build. Durable but not overly so, consistent damage, but they shine most with mobility. Anime style wall/water running, short range teleportation, walking through walls, highest move speed EVER. Lots of potential with the Stances and mixing and switching and all that goodness, monk weapons and not needing special metals. Fantastically well rounded considering the "specialist" space they look like they fill as "Goku on a character sheet".

Ranger: "See that guy? Screw that guy!" Excellent single target disposal, good ranged and melee options, lots of exploration utility in tracking/finding out info before the fight. Animal companions can add a lot of utility by just being an extra body on the map, but also slow down the pace of the game a little.

Rogue: "Rogues do it, in the night. Rogues do it, from behind!" The Rogue is probably the most "like" class to other iterations of the Rogue across various editions and systems. It has sneak attack, it has a bunch of skills, it has tonnes of flavor through all the different Rackets. It has a syncopated weapon proficiency list that's had 2 or 3 separate forum posts complaining about it :P

Sorcerer: Boy howdy is this class special compared to over versions of itself! If the Rogue is the most "like", than Sorcerer is the least "like". You can pick betwix any of the 4 Traditions, you can be a blaster, a healer, buff, debuff, utility; AoE or single target; High octane bursts of power or a slow and steady barn burner of 10m+ duration spells. It half falls in the "student of all" camp, except it can really hone in on one thing and be quite exceptional at it. My main complaint is it can lack flavor at times, but you can easily carve that out yourself with backstory and visual fluff.

Lastly, Wizard: You're Batman: if you can prepare, you can win; if you can't, well... you're still probably good to go, it just won't be as one sided. Blaster Caster central, single target "you die now" mixed with terrain manipulation and some choice buffs and you can lead an unstoppable army through literal Hell! Or pick the wrong spells and sit there all sad because you prepared fireball against a Red Dragon and 3/4th of what you picked today is now rendered useless!

I'll probably make a separate list for the APG+ classes, but that'll be much later today or tomorrow ^.^

[Captain Morgan]

Rangers are indeed the best switch hitters. I also think rangers and investigators are really good at fights you see coming. I'm playing aj investigator and any time I get clue what I'll be fighting with more than minute to prepare for it, I make it my lead and can then use free action Devise a Strategem. If an investigator can spend time actively studying an enemy without cluing them off, they can wait for Devise a Strategem to roll a natural 20 as their opening shot.

Ranger can similarly save themselves actions on Hunt Prey, but can also use a heads up to attack from further than any other martial, and/or set some snares in the way. Snares are hard to use, but can do really absurd damage. Striking Snare is 9d8 damage at level 8, which averages more than 40 damage, and the enemy used their own actions to do it. If they are a large enemy they might simultaneously step in more than one of those at once. A smart enemy will then stop their movement and waste actions looking for more snares, and a dumb enemy will probably just charge through more. I've seen bosses get absolutely melted by them.

Alchemists and casters can also do fun things with prep time, and I'm pretty sure Inventors can as well but I haven't looked at gadgets as closely.

[Captain Morgan]

Witches are the only class which doesn't have to worry about their familiar dying unless you really lean on your focus spells. How good that is depends on a lot of table variance for how your GM runs minions out of combat, but at the right table it means you've got one helluva scout. Which is really nice if you've got a ranger or investigator or anyone else that can utilize the reporting.

[breithauptclan]

Witch: Lots of really good and freely chosen focus spells. Similar to a Wizard in that you need to prepare at the beginning of the day in order to win fights easily. Not as good of a blaster caster as a Wizard or Sorcerer because of the fewer spell slots. Tends to use long lasting spells instead. Sustained spells can get a bit of a boost with Cackle giving the effects of Effortless Concentration as early as level 1 for the cost of a focus point.

[Camata022]

Here's what I've gleaned from my experience (haven't seen means haven't seen in play)
Alchemist: nonmagic energy damage and support
Barbarian: reliable damage
Bard: Buffing
Champion: Tank
Cleric: Healing
Druid: Nature (espionage and damage)
Fighter: Hits
Gunslinger: Guns
Inventor: Versatility (haven't seen)
Investigator: Urban
Magus: Power strikes (haven't seen)
Monk: Action economy
Oracle: Defensive Spellcasting
Ranger: Wilderness
Rogue: Skills
Sorcerer: Versatility with magic (haven't seen)
Swashbuckler: Agility and mobility (haven't seen)
Summoner: Teamwork
Witch: Debuffs
Wizard: Focused Magic

[nick1wasd]

APG classes:

Investigator: "It's quite simple really... Elementary, My Dear." Honestly, I don't have much experience seeing this class. Like, I ran a 1-shot that had one, and I played in a short campaign alongside one, but I don't remember much of what they did other than being good at skill checks and Perception. What they're good at just got memory hole'd for me, so I'll just state the obvious and say they're really good at social stuff and okay-ish at combat; they have good martial CC, but damage is low compared to other martials.

Oracle: "Super move! Ultra Charge!" I haven't seen a fully fledged Oracle at a table before, only the playtest. I know they're exceptional healers and buffers, and Battle Oracles are good at the scrap game, but I know the least about them from the APG classes.

Swashbuckler: “The code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." I LOVE this class, played one, played alongside one, run a game with one, and all of them are great. Mobility, damage, utility, charm, swag, scrap, cleanup duty. Bad at range, but they can handle a bow decent enough, they just don't get extraneous support for ranged attacks. Extra skill stuff, move speed, burst damage, clap back and chip damage earlier than anyone else. A good "fill" class if you have a non-caster hole in your party and don't know what to play.

Witch: “Remember this... and take it to heart: kindness sometimes leads to even greater tragedy.” Excellent utility caster, with a wide range of debuffs and area control abilities. Can scrap with things like Claws and Hair, it's not that good at it, but better than any other Full Caster (sans Warpriest). You need to be careful with what spells you pick since you have fewer slots than the Wiz, but you can squeeze a little extra out of each spell cast if you're clever with it.

SoM classes:

Magus: "Rejoice. For very bad things are about to happen." I fell in love with this class in 1E, and I like the 2E conversion. I've written one up but haven't played it yet, but it seems sorta like the Swash where it's super bursty and can sorta do most things okay. Wave casting was something I was hesitant about, but it got pulled off and the Magus is now one of the coolest classes we have. I'm excited to actually see one at a table, but in theory they ROCK!

Summoner: "DOOORA RA RA RA RA RA RA! DORAAAA!" It's a Stand User, what more do you need? /s It's got 2 bodies on the field like a Ranger/Druid can have; while they share an HP pool, both do considerable damage; and the flavor oozes like a slime monster. Their casting is weird from what I've seen, the auxiliary effects of the Eidolons are super cool, and the Eidolon can help with skill stuff if the party is down a Rogue/Inves.

G&G classes:

Gunslinger: "Should'a known better. You got a good heart, but you're about as sharp as a marble." Guns, guns, more guns, sometimes a knife... attached to a gun! They obviously specialize at range, but the different subclass are all super cool and interesting with what kind of gun you'll primarily use. Doomguy shotgun style? The quoted man's sword and pistol play? Simo Hayha wannabe? YOU CAN DO IT ALL! One at a time, mostly... Only blatant downside is inflexibility once you picked your subclass imo, but they're insanely strong in whatever field you picked.

Inventor: "Oh, I get it... who brought the marshmallows? 'Cause I'm bringin' the fire." They're the more smacky smacky sibling to the Investigator, doing less skill shenanigans and doing more blowing up of the badguys. The 3 different innovations are cool, the companion being the weirdest and most complicated, but they all pretty straightforward once you get past the initial wall of "wat?" they present with the sub-abilities they have. I'd recommend them as the second class for a new player to pick after something very simple like Fighter/Ranger/Monk.

[RaptorJesues]

BASE CLASSES:
-Alchemist: versatile moderate damage, moderate support and healing, crafting. Not as bad as people make it up to be but not a top dpr either
-Barbarian: huge damage per hit, choice between being a grappler/controller, reach hitter or an area damage/single target damage hybrid. Moderate tankyness.
-Bard: best support in the game, amazing focus cantrips, spontaneous occult caster.
-Champion: moderately smashy tank, paladins can be nice reach hitters, evil champions are power turtles with the best one being the tyrant. Will wreck opposite allignment outsiders.
-Cleric: best healer in the game with healing font, still good at it without. Prepared divine caster that knows every spell avaiable so very versatile. Warpriest is a bit tankier a slightly better in melee, cloistered becomes better with offensive spells.
-Druid: prepared primal caster that knows every spell avaiable. Incredibly versatile and can hit rather hard with combat forms.
-Fighter: best hitter in a vacuum but starts falling behind other martials with good teamwork. Can choose between tankyness, archery, reach and crit wfishing with two weapons. All rounder in combat, can be a good support for other martials too.
-Monk: best action economy in the game, great mobility, good damage martial. Can put out quite a bit of damage with some builds or be a excellent tank. Very versatile.
-Ranger: best recall knowledge potential in the game, high single target damage, best switch hitter in the game, great martial support.
-Rogue: highest single target damage in the game, best in the game at skills, potential for good debuffs. Good teamwork required to make it work.
-Sorcerer: any magical tradition spontaneous caster with loads of spells per day. Really depends on tradition for role.
-Wizard: arcane prepared caster with potential for the best offensive casting in the game.

APG CLASSES:
-Investigator: great recall knowledge potential, good action economy potential, moderate damage, great support. Second best at skills in the game. Requires some brain work from the player and good planning.
-Oracle: rather complex divine spontaneous caster, good healing/blasting potential, great selection of possible spells thanks to divine access. Requires good planning and a bit of system mastery.
-Swashbuckler: very mobile melee hitter with potential for very high damage from level 8. Very fun both conceptually and mechanically, can be the best at intimidation in the whole game.
-Witch: any tradition prepared caster, has a very cool familiar and very nice focus spells. Has less spell slots than a wizard though so probably a bit lower in pure power.

SoM CLASSES:
-Magus: High burst damage ghish striker/wave caster, a bit squishy compared to others but has potential for more tankyness, mobility or ranged. Quite glass cannony
-Summoner: Unconventional ghish wave caster, good damage potential, strongest "pet" in the game, interesting action economy. Can be a bit complex.

G&G CLASSES:
-Gunslinger: G U N ranged critfishing striker. High damage potential when supported and can be build up to fight in melee as well.
-Inventor: high damage multi target martial. Very good at crafting and very versatile with armor and construct builds.

MAGIC TRADITIONS:
Arcane: has a bit of everything except for healing. Good blasting and controlling, mediocre buffing potential.
Divine: support centred tradition with healing, buffing, and negative or allignment based blasting. Lethal against outsiders.
Occult: buff and debuff centred tradition with moderate healing and negative/mental blasting potential. Very versatile, lots of controll spells.
Primal: lots of element based blasting, good healing potential, has elements of controll. Lots of battle form polymorph spells.

[roquepo]

Alchemist: Good party support, highly adaptable. Can get really stupid at high levels.
Barbarian: Great damage per hit, synergizes really weel with bonuses to hit. Can cover multiple roles for a party depending on the Instinct you take (reach martial with AoO, CC with combat maneuvers, AoE, etc.)
Bard: Busted class. Best caster at buffing and debuffing, easy to pick up but has tons of things to optimize here and there. They can also get Spontaneous spellcasting + Book, which is really fun to play around.
Champion: Best defender in the game (if you are a good boy).
Cleric: Best class at raw healing. Can be converted into a single target glass cannon caster with Harm feats and Dangerous Sorcery.
Druid: Extremely versatile, very tanky for a caster and has really good focus spells.
Fighter: Best at hitting and criting. Lots of power feats. Can be made into almost anything with archetypes.
Gunslinger: Best class at using reload weapons (duh). Both Sniper and dual wielding Spellshot are among the best options for a ranged martial. Fake Out is kind of nuts.
Inventor: Has good utility. Compared to Alchemist it sacrifices a bit of utility for more combat prowess.
Investigator: Really good at Recall Knowledge. Competent skill monkey in general and has 0 problems to fit archetypes.
Magus: Good martial damage, can have utility spells and can be made into lots of things depending on the studies (Self sustain class, reach combatant, archer, etc.)
Monk: Best mobility overall. Also has the best focus spells on average. Flurry of blows is so good you will feel bad picking other strike feats. Also very sturdy if built for it.
Oracle: Mysteries pack so much you will feel as if playing a diferent class depending on which one you pick. Divine Access is one of the best feats in the system. Divine shines in conjunction with an spontaneous caster.
Ranger: Best class at switching between melee and ranged. Can be made into one of the best (if not the best) Recall Knowledge user in the system. Great support options (both Monster Hunter and Warden's Boon feat lines). Can been built both as a independent force or as a synergy multiplier. Better than normal at Survival and Stealth.
Rogue: Really good at skills. Consistent damage. Lots of intricacies so fun to optimize.
Sorcerer: Depending on the bloodline you get access to some really good Focus Spells. Can get spells from other traditions. Lots of spells in general.
Summoner: Very adaptable. Good mix of martial damage and casting. Eidolon can be used to scout ahead and can be dismissed if things go wrong.
Swashbuckler: One for all is very good and turns this class into a good support. Mobile and later on can have a good mix between decent damage and high survivability.
Witch: Gets a familiar with free extra abilities, some lessons give really good options.
Wizard: Spell Blending.