Post by todd2point0 on Jun 20, 2010 15:33:56 GMT -5
Here is just a brief overview of most of the character classes you see in the DnD 4th edition books. Before picking a class you should still read over the powers they possess in the books.
Players handbook #1:
Cleric: Battle leaders who are invested with divine power. They blast foes with magical prayers, bolster and heal companions, and lead the way to victory with a mace in one hand and a holy symbol in the other.
Fighter: Determined combat adepts trained to protect the other member of their adventuring groups. Fighters define the front line by bashing and slicing foes into submission while reflecting enemy attacks through the use of heavy armor.
Paladin: Indomitable warriors who've pledged their prowess to something greater than themselves. Paladins smite enemies with divine authority, bolster the courage of nearby companions, and radiate as if a beacon of inextinguishable hope.
Ranger: Watchful warriors who roam past the horizon to safeguard a region, a principle, or a way of life. Master of bow and blade, rangers excel at hit-and-run assaults and can quickly and silently eliminate foes. Rangers lay superb ambushes and excel at avoiding danger.
Rogue: Cunning and elusive adversaries. Rogues slip into and out of shadows on a whim, pass anywhere across the field of battle without fear of reprisal, and appear suddenly only to drive home a lethal blade.
Warlock: Channel arcane might wrested from primeval entities. They commune with infernal intelligences and fey spirits, scour enemies with potent blasts of eldritch power, and bedevil foes with hexing curses. Armed with esoteric secrets and dangerous lore, warlocks are clever and resourceful foes.
Warlord: Accomplished and competent battle leaders. Warlords stand on the front line issuing commands and bolstering their allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand. Warlords know how to rally a team to win a fight.
Wizards: Scions of arcane magic. Wizards tap the true power that permeates the cosmos, research esoteric rituals that can alter time and space, and hurl balls of fire that incinerate massed foes. Wizards wield spells the way warriors brandish swords.
Forgotten Realms Players Guide:
Swordmage: apply the arcane arts to melee combat. The combat skills they possess are enhanced by the magic they wield. The flourish of a swordmage's blade not only bites with steel, but also with fire, lightning, or other powerful forces.
Players Handbook #2
Avengers: As an avenger, you were trained in a monastery, initiated through secret rites, and imbued with the power to smite your god’s foes. You might be a disciple of Ioun, sworn to hunt and exterminate the minions of Vecna until you one day face the Maimed God. You could be an agent of the Raven Queen, bringing death to those who would defy your mistress. Or perhaps you serve Bahamut as an agent of justice, bringing ruin to tyrants and oppressors.
Barbarians: Savage warriors who deal out powerful blows from their mighty weapons. They charge from foe to foe and seldom feel the pain of an enemy’s strike. For barbarians’ foes, the moments of greatest terror come when barbarians call upon primal forces to lend power to their raging spirits. These rages, although temporary, give a barbarian incredible powers, a combination of skill, willpower, and a legacy of ancient tribal rituals.
Bards: artists first and foremost, and they practice magic just as they practice song, drama, or poetry. They have a clear sense of how people perceive reality, so they master charm magic and some illusions. Sagas of great heroes are part of a bard’s repertoire, and most bards follow the example of many fables and become skilled in a variety of fields. A bard’s artistic ability, knowledge of lore, and arcane might are widely respected, particularly among the world’s rulers.
Druid: Secretive and enigmatic, druids call the wilderness their home. They are capable of running with a wolf pack, speaking with the most ancient trees, and watching thunderstorms from atop the clouds themselves. They regard challenges as tests, both of their fitness and of their connection with the wild places of the world. And though many druids project an outward calm, they have the cunning of the beast and the fury of the storm.
Shamans: Inspiring and dangerous battle leaders.They command powerful spirit guides, and through them lead their allies. These nature spirits bolster their allies’ attacks and offer protection and healing when needed.
Sorcerer: The arcane antithesis of the wizard. Wielding raw, barely contained magical power, sorcerers channel bursts and blasts of arcane energy through their bodies. They gain their power not through rigorous study of esoteric tomes, but by harnessing magic in their blood, waiting to be tapped and shaped. If wizards wield magic as fighters wield
swords, a sorcerer’s magic is the arcing greataxe of a raging barbarian.
Warden: As mountains stand fast against the buffeting wind and trees bend but do not break in the storm, wardens are stalwart protectors who draw on the primal spirits of nature to defend the natural world from
those who would corrupt or destroy it. Some wardens use the power of earth and stone to shield their allies from harm, whereas others summon the primal strength within themselves to increase their ferocity and tenacity.
Players Handbook #3
Ardent: Those who let their base emotions rule them invite madness and destruction. Prolonged feelings of fear. greed. lust, or hatred cnn weaken the mind's defenses against rnanipulation. Wielding psionic power. you excite such emotions In your enemies, creating gaps in their defenses and frustrating their attacks. all while filling your allies with encouraging thoughts and guarding them against despair and other negative emotions.
Battlemind: As wanderers. mercenaries. and adventurers. battleminds are carefree warriors who seek only to test their skill against the mightiest and most dangerous opponents. Battleminds possess a potent combination of psionic and physical skill, allowing them to use their magic to manipulate and deceive their foes even as their fighting skills let them carve a swath through enemy ranks. Battleminds tend to be bold and sometimes arrogant. an attitude earned through bringing ruin to enemies over the course of many conflicts.
Monk: By focusing on their minds and bodies, honing both to near perfection, they master a psionic fighting art that allows them to deliver a punch with the force of a giant's club and to absorb attacks as easily as a heavily armored knight.
Psion: Quintessential manipulators of psionic power. Psions unleash the potential locked within every conscious mind. move objects with just a thought, and assume command of even the least desire of their foes.
Runespriest: Isolated in sacred forges and holy libraries, runepriests seek to unlock the secrets of the runes of divine power. Legend holds that the gods crafted a set of powerful runes, each imbued with a core of divine power, to help create the world and give it order.
Seekers: Seekers are primal champions who scour the wilderness in search of those who would defile it. Versed in hunting techniques handed down through the generations. Seekers combine thrown weapon and bow techniques with primal evocations. The combination allows seekers great range in which to deliver deadly attacks that confound and hamper their enemies. When a seeker looses a missile, the primal spirits
bound to it through ancient evocations are freed. sometimes as terrifying beasts and somelimes as nature's raw destructive potential.
Eberron Player's Guide
Artificer: Artificers treat mastery of magic like a technical skill. They see patterns in energy and matter, and they understand how to manipulate the flow of magic in and around objects and creatures. Artificers channel
energy into items using magical components, diagrams, and complex chains of sigils. Their skills let them assemble a magic device for any situation.
Players handbook #1:
Cleric: Battle leaders who are invested with divine power. They blast foes with magical prayers, bolster and heal companions, and lead the way to victory with a mace in one hand and a holy symbol in the other.
Fighter: Determined combat adepts trained to protect the other member of their adventuring groups. Fighters define the front line by bashing and slicing foes into submission while reflecting enemy attacks through the use of heavy armor.
Paladin: Indomitable warriors who've pledged their prowess to something greater than themselves. Paladins smite enemies with divine authority, bolster the courage of nearby companions, and radiate as if a beacon of inextinguishable hope.
Ranger: Watchful warriors who roam past the horizon to safeguard a region, a principle, or a way of life. Master of bow and blade, rangers excel at hit-and-run assaults and can quickly and silently eliminate foes. Rangers lay superb ambushes and excel at avoiding danger.
Rogue: Cunning and elusive adversaries. Rogues slip into and out of shadows on a whim, pass anywhere across the field of battle without fear of reprisal, and appear suddenly only to drive home a lethal blade.
Warlock: Channel arcane might wrested from primeval entities. They commune with infernal intelligences and fey spirits, scour enemies with potent blasts of eldritch power, and bedevil foes with hexing curses. Armed with esoteric secrets and dangerous lore, warlocks are clever and resourceful foes.
Warlord: Accomplished and competent battle leaders. Warlords stand on the front line issuing commands and bolstering their allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand. Warlords know how to rally a team to win a fight.
Wizards: Scions of arcane magic. Wizards tap the true power that permeates the cosmos, research esoteric rituals that can alter time and space, and hurl balls of fire that incinerate massed foes. Wizards wield spells the way warriors brandish swords.
Forgotten Realms Players Guide:
Swordmage: apply the arcane arts to melee combat. The combat skills they possess are enhanced by the magic they wield. The flourish of a swordmage's blade not only bites with steel, but also with fire, lightning, or other powerful forces.
Players Handbook #2
Avengers: As an avenger, you were trained in a monastery, initiated through secret rites, and imbued with the power to smite your god’s foes. You might be a disciple of Ioun, sworn to hunt and exterminate the minions of Vecna until you one day face the Maimed God. You could be an agent of the Raven Queen, bringing death to those who would defy your mistress. Or perhaps you serve Bahamut as an agent of justice, bringing ruin to tyrants and oppressors.
Barbarians: Savage warriors who deal out powerful blows from their mighty weapons. They charge from foe to foe and seldom feel the pain of an enemy’s strike. For barbarians’ foes, the moments of greatest terror come when barbarians call upon primal forces to lend power to their raging spirits. These rages, although temporary, give a barbarian incredible powers, a combination of skill, willpower, and a legacy of ancient tribal rituals.
Bards: artists first and foremost, and they practice magic just as they practice song, drama, or poetry. They have a clear sense of how people perceive reality, so they master charm magic and some illusions. Sagas of great heroes are part of a bard’s repertoire, and most bards follow the example of many fables and become skilled in a variety of fields. A bard’s artistic ability, knowledge of lore, and arcane might are widely respected, particularly among the world’s rulers.
Druid: Secretive and enigmatic, druids call the wilderness their home. They are capable of running with a wolf pack, speaking with the most ancient trees, and watching thunderstorms from atop the clouds themselves. They regard challenges as tests, both of their fitness and of their connection with the wild places of the world. And though many druids project an outward calm, they have the cunning of the beast and the fury of the storm.
Shamans: Inspiring and dangerous battle leaders.They command powerful spirit guides, and through them lead their allies. These nature spirits bolster their allies’ attacks and offer protection and healing when needed.
Sorcerer: The arcane antithesis of the wizard. Wielding raw, barely contained magical power, sorcerers channel bursts and blasts of arcane energy through their bodies. They gain their power not through rigorous study of esoteric tomes, but by harnessing magic in their blood, waiting to be tapped and shaped. If wizards wield magic as fighters wield
swords, a sorcerer’s magic is the arcing greataxe of a raging barbarian.
Warden: As mountains stand fast against the buffeting wind and trees bend but do not break in the storm, wardens are stalwart protectors who draw on the primal spirits of nature to defend the natural world from
those who would corrupt or destroy it. Some wardens use the power of earth and stone to shield their allies from harm, whereas others summon the primal strength within themselves to increase their ferocity and tenacity.
Players Handbook #3
Ardent: Those who let their base emotions rule them invite madness and destruction. Prolonged feelings of fear. greed. lust, or hatred cnn weaken the mind's defenses against rnanipulation. Wielding psionic power. you excite such emotions In your enemies, creating gaps in their defenses and frustrating their attacks. all while filling your allies with encouraging thoughts and guarding them against despair and other negative emotions.
Battlemind: As wanderers. mercenaries. and adventurers. battleminds are carefree warriors who seek only to test their skill against the mightiest and most dangerous opponents. Battleminds possess a potent combination of psionic and physical skill, allowing them to use their magic to manipulate and deceive their foes even as their fighting skills let them carve a swath through enemy ranks. Battleminds tend to be bold and sometimes arrogant. an attitude earned through bringing ruin to enemies over the course of many conflicts.
Monk: By focusing on their minds and bodies, honing both to near perfection, they master a psionic fighting art that allows them to deliver a punch with the force of a giant's club and to absorb attacks as easily as a heavily armored knight.
Psion: Quintessential manipulators of psionic power. Psions unleash the potential locked within every conscious mind. move objects with just a thought, and assume command of even the least desire of their foes.
Runespriest: Isolated in sacred forges and holy libraries, runepriests seek to unlock the secrets of the runes of divine power. Legend holds that the gods crafted a set of powerful runes, each imbued with a core of divine power, to help create the world and give it order.
Seekers: Seekers are primal champions who scour the wilderness in search of those who would defile it. Versed in hunting techniques handed down through the generations. Seekers combine thrown weapon and bow techniques with primal evocations. The combination allows seekers great range in which to deliver deadly attacks that confound and hamper their enemies. When a seeker looses a missile, the primal spirits
bound to it through ancient evocations are freed. sometimes as terrifying beasts and somelimes as nature's raw destructive potential.
Eberron Player's Guide
Artificer: Artificers treat mastery of magic like a technical skill. They see patterns in energy and matter, and they understand how to manipulate the flow of magic in and around objects and creatures. Artificers channel
energy into items using magical components, diagrams, and complex chains of sigils. Their skills let them assemble a magic device for any situation.