wingsandsword
Legend
D&D 3.x gave us a wonderful proliferation of character classes for the game. Mostly prestige classes, but definitely a good number of new base classes.
Only one of the classes introduced became core in the later editions, the Warlock, originally from Complete Arcane. I always thought that was a curious choice, as at least in the gaming circles I ran with it was NOT a popular class, and its general concept seemed like just a Sorcerer with different roleplaying.
I would have loved to see the Noble class become standard, as a non-spellcasting class option (I don't like that it seems most classes have innately supernatural/spellcasting abilities and there's very limited support for a low-magic game) and an option for social-oriented characters. They weren't useless in a fight (medium armor, martial weapons, middle BAB, some leadership-themed buffing abilities similar to bard songs), but they really could shine in a social or political adventure.
I would have liked the Mystic (or Favored Soul) to become a core class. I liked the idea of a spontaneous divine caster, and I really never liked that the default standard for a divine caster in a D&D world is a heavily armored combat cleric. I know Favored Soul was more popular, but I liked the "flavor" of the Mystic better, and Favored Soul literally sprouting wings at high level seemed rather wacky and out-of-nowhere.
I would have liked the Archivist to become a core class. For much the same reason as Mystic, I like alternative divine casters, and the Archivist has been one of my "go to" solutions for a priest character that's more studious and ministerial and less "running around smacking people with a mace".
I would have liked the Knight to become a core class. I know the concept of the Knight and Marshal classes, as a warrior-leader on the battlefield, became core with 4e in the Warlord Class, and the Marshal was a variant of that, but the concept didn't continue into the core of 5th edition, it didn't become a lasting part of D&D like the Warlock did.
Swashbuckler is an archetype I see come up often enough that a core class might have been good. The idea of a dexterous, lightly armed fighter that relies on agility and skill over heavy armor is certainly a character concept I've seen a lot and come up in a number of campaigns, usually done cludgingly by a Rogue that took combat-oriented feats like power attack and didn't sink a lot of points into traditional "thief" skills.
There were several versions of a Shaman class (Shaman, Spirit Shaman, Dragon Shaman) all for the same general concept of a more "primitive" divine caster that got their spells not from Gods, but from the spirit world and patron spirits. Having a Shaman as a core class would have been nice, but I've already made it clear I felt the core Divine options were a little limited.
Hexblade was an interesting concept, a fighter class with limited arcane casting. Since there are 2 fighter-type classes in the core rules with limited casting based off the core divine classes (Ranger being fighter plus druid casting, Paladin being fighter plus cleric casting), a "fighter plus arcane casting" type made sense, and this one seemed to be "fighter plus warlock". I'm not QUITE sure it should have been in the core rules, but it was definitely an interesting concept to explore.
Only one of the classes introduced became core in the later editions, the Warlock, originally from Complete Arcane. I always thought that was a curious choice, as at least in the gaming circles I ran with it was NOT a popular class, and its general concept seemed like just a Sorcerer with different roleplaying.
I would have loved to see the Noble class become standard, as a non-spellcasting class option (I don't like that it seems most classes have innately supernatural/spellcasting abilities and there's very limited support for a low-magic game) and an option for social-oriented characters. They weren't useless in a fight (medium armor, martial weapons, middle BAB, some leadership-themed buffing abilities similar to bard songs), but they really could shine in a social or political adventure.
I would have liked the Mystic (or Favored Soul) to become a core class. I liked the idea of a spontaneous divine caster, and I really never liked that the default standard for a divine caster in a D&D world is a heavily armored combat cleric. I know Favored Soul was more popular, but I liked the "flavor" of the Mystic better, and Favored Soul literally sprouting wings at high level seemed rather wacky and out-of-nowhere.
I would have liked the Archivist to become a core class. For much the same reason as Mystic, I like alternative divine casters, and the Archivist has been one of my "go to" solutions for a priest character that's more studious and ministerial and less "running around smacking people with a mace".
I would have liked the Knight to become a core class. I know the concept of the Knight and Marshal classes, as a warrior-leader on the battlefield, became core with 4e in the Warlord Class, and the Marshal was a variant of that, but the concept didn't continue into the core of 5th edition, it didn't become a lasting part of D&D like the Warlock did.
Swashbuckler is an archetype I see come up often enough that a core class might have been good. The idea of a dexterous, lightly armed fighter that relies on agility and skill over heavy armor is certainly a character concept I've seen a lot and come up in a number of campaigns, usually done cludgingly by a Rogue that took combat-oriented feats like power attack and didn't sink a lot of points into traditional "thief" skills.
There were several versions of a Shaman class (Shaman, Spirit Shaman, Dragon Shaman) all for the same general concept of a more "primitive" divine caster that got their spells not from Gods, but from the spirit world and patron spirits. Having a Shaman as a core class would have been nice, but I've already made it clear I felt the core Divine options were a little limited.
Hexblade was an interesting concept, a fighter class with limited arcane casting. Since there are 2 fighter-type classes in the core rules with limited casting based off the core divine classes (Ranger being fighter plus druid casting, Paladin being fighter plus cleric casting), a "fighter plus arcane casting" type made sense, and this one seemed to be "fighter plus warlock". I'm not QUITE sure it should have been in the core rules, but it was definitely an interesting concept to explore.
