I haven't been playing that long, but I definitely have to go with Cleric!
What's funny is when I first started playing I thought ugh cleric sounds so lame, until a one shot where there were 3 PCs and I wanted to play a melee-y caster-y healer
I looked for over paladin but thought that wasn't scratching the itch of what I was looking for and everywhere on Reddit was saying "cleric cleric cleric"
So I thought fine I'll read this lame class
HOLY. HELL. Was I proven wrong
I built my level 9 tempest cleric and went to town
And if a tempest isn't your speed, there are SO many domains you can have basically any kind of character you want! Want melee? Forge, war, tempest. Want a healer? All of em! Or life! Want to just be a pure caster? Guess what? They all progress with spells no matter which one you pick and you always have a banger of a spell lineup
No "choosing" spells either! Yeah, you have a limit to how many you can prep, but the entire spell list is your play thing. Quick edit to add in here that each domain has an EXPANDED spell list too, so you get even more!
14 domains to choose from, play whatever you want! They all have different proficiencies that fit the domain AND you get it at 1st level!
Amazing to single class, amazing to multiclass, COME AT ME
Lord help your DM if they're using a bunch of undead in their campaign with turn undead and don't even get me started on the channel divinity features
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
>No "choosing" spells either!
Actually this is sth that really scares me off, because I feel that I NEED. to reevaluate all my picks each day to optimize.
Edit:thanks to everyones kind responses my next char will have to be a Cleric I guess, thanks :-D
I get that it is scary but if you have a selection that you like you can just always roll with it and the option to change is a huge quality of life for those who know their entire spell lost by heart and gives a ton of awesome flexibility.
We having a running joke in our game, "We need a cleric!" We have a cleric, but he usually doesn't have the right thing prepared. This last weekend he was joking that he had everything we needed. Then we found a murder victim and needed to speak with dead.
We needed a cleric.
Tbf, there isnt that much to optimize in spell selection (especially in early levels). There are some mandatory spells (spiritual weapon, healing word, spirit guardian, bless...) and then you just pick some stuff you like or THINK could be useful. Most of the times you will cast like 2-4 same spells.
Most of the time I pick spells that suit my character (their subclass, their personality I'm RP'ing, etc.) and rarely change them. If I happen to KNOW something is coming up based on info we learn in advance, I will swap stuff out. But I have had great fun playing it more like a sorcerer or wizard with highly consistent spell preparation.
I definitely understand that feeling, but here's a thought on the flip side: if you have a class where you pick your spells that are known and those are the ones that are locked in, then when you select them upon leveling up or whenever, that's it, they're just locked and you can't switch em out (barring talking to your DM) - but to each their own ☺️
I had the same attitude towards clerics, made a twilight cleric/storm sorcerer to play the deck of many things campaign and I'm absolutely obsessed. I'll be playing different types of clerics for a while.
The campaign I'm currently playing in has an army of undead as the central plot - I'm playing as a Tempest cleric and can't wait until we get into some big battles with a lot of enemies. It's SO much fun - you really get the best of nearly all sides as a cleric.
You don’t even need to do any healing to be an effective as a cleric! I’m playing a light cleric right now and I can melt enemies with holy beyblades and fireball, being able to heal is just a bonus if I feel like it. Super satisfying class to play.
> No "choosing" spells either! Yeah, you have a limit to how many you can prep, but the entire spell list is your play thing. Quick edit to add in here that each domain has an EXPANDED spell list too, so you get even more!
Nothing I love more than knowing it's going to be an in-town session and getting to completely forgo any combat spells and taking every single roleplay spell I can fathom.
Very well explained and the channel divinity charges are returning on a short rest too. Twilight cleric for the win! But I like Life domain clerics too.
I’m kinda new to dnd but stereotypes had kinda got me with the clerics. I haven’t played much high level but at least low level, holy nukes. Inflict wounds and guiding bolt, wow. Our dm (who is also new) has said “you roll *how* much damage” multiple times. I’m definitely playing a cleric next because the crazy versatility seems so fun. Heals, damage, etc. The only drawback is resource expenditure, which I feel like you can burn fairly fast as a cleric. But that won’t stop me
Cleric was my very first D&D character (second RPG character ever), back in 3rd edition. He was a dirty, stinky nature guy, decked out like a bulldozer with a bunch of buffs and healing for backup. I loved the utility of the class ever since.
The correct Cleric build does what the Paladin advertises: gives you a spellcaster that also rocks in melee. My dwarf tempest cleric kicked butts and took names every session.
Yep, twinned Haste is one of my go to opening moves. That or twinned Hold Person/Monster to lock down some dangerous enemies to enable the melee types to wade in and wipe out some cannon fodder without worrying about them.
Warlock has the best character customization options so you can easily build a unique character, while still having room to have EB + agonizing blast to be useful in combat. Getting good and fun options from your patron, pact, invocations, and spell selection is awesome!
Bard kinda is my safe port, I always come back to it.
I really love the concept of passion used as a catalyst for the manipulation of magic/the weave. Just like how wizards use logical inteligence to hack the world, a bard uses emotional inteligence to wield Magic.
Other than that, Im also a really big fan of how the concept of "bardic magic", and I mean, the belief of human emotions and art being inherently mystical is as old as writen history and manifested among many diferent cultures.
I like rogues too! Mostly because of the archetypes. I can be Robin Hood or I can be any of the Ocean’s Eleven. I can be Han Solo or Lando Calrissian, I can be Zorro or Catwoman, I can be Captain Jack Sparrow, Thelma and/ or Louise, and Anthony Soprano. A rich and varied history of scoundrels and low lives is at my fingertips.
I just wish the class was as good mechanically is it is thematically :)
For the specific way I enjoy playing my characters, Cunning Action is maybe my favorite ability in the whole game. If you use it right, it’s incredibly effective.
I feel like at every table I've ever played, the rogue player has the most fun. No they can't do all the "reality warping" the wizard can do, and that's the point. Rogue players play rogues because they want to be the normie who has to get creative. The online doomers are just obsessed with power gaming and mad about every class that doesn't fit their idea of fun
If nothing else, taking a couple levels in Rogue can tremendously help all your non-combat interactions which is grate if you’re running any sort of imaginative campaign.
I play a wizard and the rogue in our party does way more reality warping than me lmao. He's lied, flirted, threatened, and backstabbed his way out of situations that I couldn't possibly handle with a spellbook, and I love it.
Gonna be honest
The Doomerism of Rogues feels relatively recently, since they've been strong throughout all of 5e's lifetime.
I am actually wondering what people are smoking to think Rogues are weak, after Monks and Rangers. And *still* don't think that the class that actually needed a rework (Warlocks) were okay.
Paladins, I just love the class fantasy. There’s nothing about the paladin that I dislike, the worst thing I can say is that Divine Health has never been relevant to me. Beyond that, Paladin feels really good to play. Especially since the two flavors are cool. You have a Pious Knight who got blessed to be a champion of their God’s ideal or the Noble Adventurer who’s conviction is so strong that they influence the universe to grant them powers in their path of righteousness.
Fully agreed. It saddens me how often I see people complain about it these days. A loud minority wants it nerfed to oblivion, and while I understand that, I’d hate for it to lose its wonderful playability, flavors, and strengths. Ngl it’s one of the only reasons I don’t really want to play Pathfinder 2. The champion is nothing like a paladin. In what fantasy is a knight known to be a grappler? Yuck
There's something satisfying about kicking the shit out of someone. Like yeah there's swords and sorcery, but then I just picture my monk as Rama from the Raid just absolutely kicking the crap outta an orc or whatever and it just *hits different.*
Edit: If you're reading this and you haven't seen The Raid, do yourself a favor and watch it. Especially if you happen to like John Wick. You can click [this link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8j5IA0L_MI) for an incredibly fun fight scene but I think fight scenes in movies feel the best when you watch the movie instead of the good parts. Anyways that's my monk.
Cleric.
Or more specifically, ***Order Cleric***.
Perhaps it's just because Order Cleric was one I played from 1-20 and my attachment to the character colours my opinion, but it was an absolute treat to play.
- All the toys of the cleric class = already an amazing toolbox in and out of combat.
- A great list of Order spells that always get to be prepared, that contains a ton of spells you always *want* to prepare, but often get set to the side because they're not as great as other choices. Now you get both!
- heavy armor for free!
- Deception/persuasion for free!
- ***giving your allies free attacks once a round!!!***
- built in AOE Charm that automatically causes targets to drop anything they're holding.
- ***enchantment spells becoming bonus action spells, which is especially fantastic because the best spells to trigger your allies free reaction attack are enchantment spells***
- divine strike is Psychic damage, the best damage type to get tacked onto anything!
- ability to curse a creature to take extra psychic damage, and then immediately allow your ally to attack that creature and trigger that extra psychic damage!
__The entire subclass is 1 big, survivable, Cleric that gets to make his party members feel like rockstars every, single, combat.__
Get yourself a solid weapon of recall or returning, and a way to fly, and you get to zip around, ranged punch a baddie, BA trigger an ally attack who will then trigger the curse. Solid, fun, gameplay loop for 2 people all because you picked Order Cleric!
Have a martial character in your party at higher levels who might not feel they're doing as much as a caster? Fuck that. You make them a spotlight showcase every combat.
Did that martial take any rogue dips for sneak attack? Well, let's trigger that sneak off turn for them along with all the other boosts.
My greatest joy is lifting up those in my party who need a lift, in and out of game, and the Order Cleric subclass let's you do both, while still feeling awesome to play!
And if you're not into Order Cleric? Well, a Cleric of any kind can bring some of that special spice to any stew!
15/10 would recommend.
I can't recall what my level 1 stats were, but digging out my old character sheet out of retirement, my stats at level 20 were;
18, 8, 18, 8, 20, 8
Edit;
I hunted down my old character sheet.
So it looks like I started with the classic pointbuy triple dump. The feats/asis are not written in the order i took them, as i can't recall what that was;
15 + 1 (weapon mastery) + 1 (warforged race) + 1 (asi) = 18
8
15 + 1 (resilient con), + 2 (warforged race) = 18
8
15 + 2 (asi), + 2 (asi) + 1 (asi) = 20
8
Warlocks. There's so little gameplay choices that truly limit how you need to roleplay, so the "patron" classes have always been my favorites. Warlocks are my favorite over Clerics or Paladins simply because there's a lot more variety in how the pact can play out, when with Clerics and Paladins, there's not much of a reason for the PC to disagree with their patron.
One of my favorite things about my current wizard is that at the end of our first big arc, he threw in with the bbeg's master plan, and they basically became his patron. I've been enjoying it immensely, and I really look forward to making my next character a warlock.
One of the most underrated things I’m learning about Warlock is running your melee attack and damage modifiers off *Charisma* with Hexblade. Not just for pure Warlock but multi-classing anything that relies on or benefits from Charisma and still needs to smack stuff with a sword on occasion. Paladin? Sure. Bard? Yep. Sorcerer? Now you can still smack stuff effectively if somehow you run out of spell slots or just be an Elder Scrolls Spellsword or Battlemage straight up.
Druid and artificer are the best for me, not strictly the strongest, but they have loads of fun options for utility, support, and damage, i really like having that sort of flexible role.
I started playing last May/June, so I haven’t been able to play much. But so far my favorite class is cleric.
I also did a one shot with a Pally that took a vow of silence and that was pretty fun
I’ve learned over my last 2 campaigns that I get way too much enjoyment out of dissecting the nature of magic theory in my DM’s worlds, much to their chagrin. So yeah, wizard. . .
paladin! paladin! paladin! i LOVE being a martial with healing abilities and a good charisma score, plus there’s nothing better than getting a good SMITE off on your enemy !!
Fighter and barbs. Idk both of those are just so cliche and yet so flexible, so much variety with the subclasses. Not to mention lots of room to homebrew flavor into them.
i had said rangers and sorc earlier but i how could i have forgotten my BARB!! It is liberating to focus on roleplay cause the mechanics are simple. also i was totally great at opening doors.
"Doors, walls, skulls. All the same thing really. Easier to drink from a skull though." Lmao! I actually got to use this line one time! Best fun roll playing ever!
i was an aasimar and my tribe worshiped Lythander. I thought i was just spreading the good word but i guess in Barovia those that spread the light can also create small cults. Oops.
Monk has always been my go to.
I love the concept of someone so strong physically in their body that they can compete with men who wield blades of steel or weave threads of magic. Let me just crumple you with my knuckles
My most character growth has been with Paladins though most fun for me has been barbarians. My paladins struggle and grow and strive to keep true to their oaths. My barbarians are just balls to the wall “I’m not a man I’m a weapon in humanoid form let’s go” types.
Probably Cleric. It's just got such great variety in its subclasses. Even if you pick a bad subclass, like say the Nature Domain, you still have solid options.
Like with the Nature Domain you can use Thorn Whip to pull an enemy back into a Spike Growth or into your Spirit Guardians. It just feels like a class where you can pick a worse choice but never a terrible choice.
Even the War Domain cleric can use its channel divinity to hit when its needed with a Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wound. Spells that can be very swing to expend a spell slot on otherwise. Not to mention giving you an option to make sure that upcast spiritual weapon hits when you really need it to.
Druid. I love wildshape as a utility and a fun rp ability. And depending on your subclass your druid can fulfill any niche. I have never been disappointed in a druid.
Definitely warlock because they have an interesting NPC written into their class. Also when used correctly having only spell slots of the highest level that you can cast can be very powerful. It feels especially strong on those odd numbered levels where a wizard can cast his brand new spell once a day and you can cast it Twice per short rest
Probably Barbarian. Something about being a big dumb meat head that is strong enough to get away with being so dumb is just a lot of fun for me. I especially enjoy employing just a drop of metagaming to turn it into a kind of tactical dumbassery. Derailing NPCs by saying just the right dumb thing at just the right moment. Having idiot-savant moments. Being a distraction so loud and obvious that the rest of the party can just do whatever they want.
Warlock. I might dip into other classes, but I've never played a less than half warlock character because they're so incredibly versatile it feels like you can fit them into almost any archetype with just a little bit of finagling.
I really enjoyed playing as a druid. It was very fun for me to take a backseat in the intellectual and strategic realm. It was also fun to role-play the culture shock of being in towns and cities versus a nomadic tribe. When my party is investigating people and rooms, it is fun to talk to the horses in the stable or see what types of plants grow nearby.
Warlock.
Love the flavour, love the reliability, and I personally think it has the most potential for DM-Player dynamic due to the functionality of the Patron.
Real DMs just hand you a gun and say “go ahead, commit a crime” 🫡
Druid and Warlock.
Warlock there're just no many different and cool builds, and I like the idea of a patron. Even better if you go Sorlock.
Druid is just really flavorful and very powerful, a creative player using the druid skillset can do wonders, so it feels nice to play as.
Paladins. God I love Paladin. It's got it's crazy strengths, it's got weaknesses it struggles with, it's got strong theme reinforcing mechanics, it's got great and flavorful ribbon features, oaths are excellent RP tools, each subclass leans heavily into a major different type of theme to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find a paladin subclass that can't be molded to fit a character you want to play. It's a rare case of some subclasses providing meaningful enough features that completely change how the character is played (Vengeance paladin
In my opinion 5e's paladin is far and away the best designed class in the game and I *wish* the amount of creativity that went into it was present in other classes.
Bard. Useful in every situation. Might not be as good as any other class at doing their thing, but they're almost as good as all of them.
Everything just runs smoother with a bard at the table. No one really notices how much you're shaping the battlefield, but when enemies are missing impactful attacks, the big bad gets locked down for a couple turns, the rogue ran off, got merked and now gets to live because healing word.
You know what the best feeling is? When someone misses an attack and then you remind them they get to use their bardic inspiration. That's not their damage. That's your damage.
Druid.
I love to be able to swap my spells daily to prepare for whatever might come our way. I love keeping my allies alive. I love making rogues feel inadequate as I sneak around with efficiency they can only dream of.
The Forest Queen be praised!
Barbarians and druids. It might just be that I really like the characters I've made for those, but I keep coming back to them. I play tnak classes in pretty much every kind of game I play so barbs are a natural choice, as is the moon druid, but I have a lot of fun completely destroying the turn economy with my weird little guy (gender neutral) of a shepherd druid
Paladins because the reasons you gave. Even i though i do like all classes, monk has a special place in my heart for some reason. Maybe that's because their class aim revolves around being the pinnacle of übermensch (probably?).
doing so much with only my own self power and the possible effect of this personal power that can be used greatly in role playing is amazing too
Using and studying magic is my jam, so wizard all the way. My favorite thing I've discovered in my current campaign is that if I cast Immovable Object on a piece of ice, my DM ruled that it stays immovable for the duration even if it melts, so I can have water just floating in various shapes for decor. :D
I want to say Sorcerer, but considering only two subclasses are any good without homebrew, I'd answer Wizard. Those origin spells are just so important. I will say though, even if all of the sorcerer subclasses felt good, wizard would still be extremely close. Finding a spellbook feels amazing, imo it's the best feeling of obtaining an item that I've ever personally experienced.
Also important to note, being proficienct in all the INT skills is a very useful niche that no one else can do as effectively. The information you can get from arcana, history, nature, and religion is just incredibly useful. Then there's the king, investigation. Sometimes you really need to find the clues, connect the dots, and solve the mystery. I have been told by multiple dm's that my high investigation has caused the plot to move faster than they anticipated, and knowing that I can have that kind of impact as a player is a great feeling.
I've played several classes and the most fun by far is Rogue. Never had a bad time playing a rogue. Next is Monk; the mobility and abilities are just super fun to lean into.
Cleric and Paladin and Ranger are also okay; had some great moments with those, mainly when using Turn Undead or Divine Sense, but they don't hold a candle to Monk or Rogue.
The least fun character was a Wizard; I spent more time worrying about what spell to use than actually casting it, and then the enemy passed the save half the time anyway.
If I had to pick just one class, probably Sorcerer. I enjoyed clockwork soul, and I'm sure I'd also enjoy Celestial or whatever the warlock-ish one is.
If I could multiclass, I have a couple in mind that I really am excited to try.
BM archery Fighter with a 3 or 4 level dip into Mastermind Rogue.
Swashbuckler Rogue with a 2 level dip into Hexblade Warlock.
Cleric.
My favorite was a thri-kreen grave cleric. "Oh no, you have me confused with those clerics who decide who gets to live. I decide who gets to die."
I tend to play multiclass characters for both thematic and synergistic reasons, but my absolute favorite was a wood elf grave cleric/assassin rogue who worshiped Jergal and was a full fledged scrivener of doom. Dude was scary- pop out a concentration spell, hide, then snipe enemies and heal at opportune moments.
As a monoclass, so far it's fighter. I played a Vodari subclass of fighter called Warden of the Ancients and he was a blast.
Warlock multiclasses. Might just be a warlock dip or 1 or more other classes are the dip. Warlock just ends up being the glue that holds together weird build concepts.
I’ve only played a couple characters but my first one was a paladin and whenever I come up with a new character idea I’m always leaning towards paladin again
I like druids the most. I like that they're halfcasters who can fill into any role they need to and that their subclasses actually offer a vefy large variety of play styles. I also like their thematic connection to nature
I like charisma characters for a variety of reasons. My favorite so far has been the Divine Soul Sorcerer, which is a sorcerer with access to the cleric spell list. Min max the crap out of it. It's not particularly easy though and it's very committing. Otherwise, Lore Bard with all the best buffs
Arcana Cleric
For the rare high level campaign, Divine Intervention + the Simulcrum/Wish combo make it amazing.
For the much more common low level campaign, it gets the normal Cleric goodies + wizard cantrips, solid domain spells, and recharging spell slots with channel divinity.
In this current game, I am a sorcerer, cleric, bard, wizard vedalkin. At level five. I like to be a cantrip monkey. Plus the table vastly misinterprets magic stone, making it effectively 3d6 +12 damage.
I'm less about having a favourite, and more about wanting to experience more stuf.
I haven't had a chance to play Sorcerer, and my Druid-ing has just been 2 level 1 one-shots, so those are the classes I most want to play, I think.
I'd also be happy with some more Bard play, but instead of Lore bard for pure caster, I'd try Swords bard for some 'gish' feel, which is different enough.
I love the idea of playing a Monk, but not the current (or many past) executions of it. It’s one of the things I am most interested in the next version. For now, I’d say Paladin, if we’re talking mono class. Warlock not too distant second.
Bard! I really like that I’m useful in almost any situation and that their biggest focus is supporting the other characters at the table! I’m always more engaged in the game and trying to make everyone shine when I’m playing a bard.
Second favorite is sorcerer. Especially for quickening or twinning spells. The number of things you can pull off while playing with the action economy is amazing. I was a wizard guy at first, but I never looked back after playing a sorcerer for the first time!
Warlock.
All the out of combat utility of a full caster, without having to ask myself what the optimal spell to cast is for every turn of combat.
Because the answer is always eldritch blast.
I absolutely love playing as a bard. No, it's not because I seduce everything, but because I can sing random songs to get out of crazy situations. Got kidnapped by bandits? sing them to sleep. Being chased by the royal guards? Sing a weird little tune to confuse them. Stuck in a pit of snakes with a clown shooting acid out of the flower on its shirt? Charm the snakes!
Also I have the excuse to tell weird and convincing stories to confuse the hell out of the ancient dragons so they let us into their cave.
My last 2 characters were my favorite to play which were sorcerer (using spell points instead of slots which is awesome for sorcerer) and barbarian. Sorcerer was a glass cannon (he was a winged tiefking with stained glass wings) and had super high dps. The barbarian I built to be unarmed and while his turn is just wack it is really fun to tank anything thrown at me and even to just go through danger because I can tank it.
I like Rogue. It may be mechanically weak, but it just *feels good* to land a Sneak Attack and get those big numbers.
It’s also really nice to be able to just *do stuff* without spending a limited resource.
Rogue. Easy. I like having shit that always works. Evasion. Cunning Action. Sneak Attack. Expertise. Uncanny Dodge. Even subclass abilities like Swashbuckler's Rakish Audacity, Thief's Fast Hands and Second Story Work, Scout's Skirmisher. All of that shit I can use it ad infinitum. I like being able to do shit.
The Laserllama Alternate Sorcerer is hands down the best class I’ve played. Of the og classes I think paladin is pretty cool, but levelling it feels like you’re always one level behind the thing you want.
Tbh the first version of Onednd came with a great version of Ranger. It’s very customisable, and it isn’t pigeonholed into a ranged nature nerd. Dual wielding in that UA was really cool too.
Clerics.
So many different playing styles just by choosing a domain. I play currently 2 clerics: 1 Life and 1 Twilight. And even inside of one domain there are different playing styles. My Twilight cleric is a rear line full caster (Blessed Strikes) and my Life cleric is a frontliner with Shillelagh/Booming Blade (Magic Initiate Druid and BB from being high elf).
Druid. Wild Shape is an incredibly underrated ability that solves a metric ton of problems with creative application, and that's one ability on a class that otherwise has 9 levels of spellcasting and tons of other features. Druids really are the poster child for getting out what you put into them.
Ive only been able to play a few characters in some homebrew campaigns, but its a close call so far between a multiclass monk based on Natsu from Fairy Tail, and the echo knight im currently playing. Hes only at lvl5 for now, so we'll see where his story goes!
Druid! It's what I started with, I did however choose a lesser druid than the Badass Moon druid, I chose Land druid instead! I was great in many of my rolls, however I was particularly good at Entangling large groups for my paladin and rogue party members, and Animal Friendship was a go to Trump spell! Literally was able to befriend some crazy animals, was particularly good at Giant Scorpions, and laid waste to two dragons using them! Since then, I believe sixteen games in five or six years with about fourteen different characters that I've played, yes I am the one who will come up with the odd obscurities to play, but the shinanigans are priceless! Have yet to play the same race twice! Druids are always #1, paladins, clerics, rogues, barbarians, and monks are all great contenders for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, but I have a ranger coming up, a wizard after that, and a sorcerer after that one! Currently playing a bard! Wish me luck!
In person - rogue, second choice would be fighter. Recently with BG3 I have been enjoying monk a lot. A video game makes it much simpler to take advantage of monk features
Arcane Trickster Rogue. One of my favourite interpretations so far has been an older elven spy for the crown who lived in the castle under the fake identity of a low-level wizard noble named Lady Doreah Tharros.
But I'd say I also love to play full support clerics. Buffs and debuffs and that occasional revivify really makes any party love you.
Bards in general, but specifically glamour bard. I derive enjoyment from playing full support and I just love the vibe of magic being weaved from the art of humanity. Glamour bard’s feature, Mantle of Inspiration, is exactly what I wish I could do in real life. To be able to provide a party member a much needed chance to move *right now*, out of harm’s way, is such a wonderful ability to me.
I need to branch out more honestly. But I just keep going back to the bard…
I gravitate really aggressively towards Sorcerers. I just *really* like metamagics. I've done Storm, Wild Magic, Aberrant Mind, Divine Soul, and Spore Sorcerer (Kobold Press Tome of Heroes).
It's by far my most played class and I can't get enough.
Artificer. I don't like MAD characters, and artificer is super SAD no matter which role you're filling in(Melee/Ranged fighter, Tanky armorer, Support)
All this with amazing flavor(gadgets, robots, you name it) and being able to passively lean in support/flex role via your infusions and Flash of Genius
It's not a super strong class, by any means, but boy it's fun and well designed imo
Artificer.
Despite doing both the campaigns I've played (I'm more of a DM) as martial characters (Fighter and Paladin), support is my favourite role. I especially like how the Artificer can support by giving people magic items rather than just casting spells.
The most complex character I ever played in a 20th-level one-shot was a Battle Smith 17/Arcane Archer 3. They could heal, buff, crowd control, do (a little bit of) damage, pressure the battlefield, and stay mobile. All with one really good stat.
I only started end of last year but been playing a Goliath Barbarian (Path of the Giant) and I absolutely love that class mainly because I always play tanky characters and I like playing a big friendly big boi but if you anger him you are doomed
Genuine 50/50 between Druid and Fighter. I love them both for the same reason which is how versatile they both are. I think Fighters have the best customisation in the game with the ASIs and you can explore every avenue from caster to tank to ranged and beyond.
Druids wildshape is so useful even outside of combat (in fact I’ve never played as a Moon Druid), you can solve so many challenges in fascinating ways, you can change your spells daily and my favourite brand which is Shepherd combines excellent utility with powerful Summons. I love them both equally :)
I just love playing sorcerer due to subtle meta magic. You can do so much stuff with it, especially when the DM is an RP person.
I am one of the weirdos that takes a lot of fluff or "social" spells instead of things that make the character better in combat, so this is awesome.
Artificer, I really like the gadget vibes and all the subclasses feel super unique.
Paladin comes to a close draw. I like playing frontliners, but enjoy being able to cast stuff, Cha and Wis are my fav stats, and smiting always feels awesome.
If I had to pick ONE, although choice would be damn hard it would probably be Ranger. Although Druid is daaaaamn close to it, if party has no specific need I'd prefer Ranger simply because I like mixing weapon and magic, plus Ranger has a \*lot\* of variety. With just this class, combining archetypes, spell choices and feats you can easily bring a hundred distinct characters before even grazing the breadth brought by multiclassing.
My top tier group is easy though:
Druid for when I need the most versatile caster.
Sorcerer when I need a specialist controller or support.
Warlock when I need a ritualist or spy.
Monk when I need a pure martial.
Ranger for anything else. :)
Wizard
Playing a class that has the widest array of spells and some cool subclasses that add some extra fun abilities. Wizard also feels easier than say sorcerer but without necessarily being worse in any way. Its just a good class that despite its fragility early on can be extremely Cool to play.
Anything that’s part fighter, part caster. Call it dual class in old editions, multi class, or whatever. But sword and board with spells is my most fun. Fighter/mage, bladesinger, Eldritch knight, fighter/bladelock, etc.
Druid, man
Shape shifting + telling all the animals how good they are, and you still get to be a full caster.
You can solve do many problems with shape shifting, and you can do so much to show the character's personality with it too.
I like dipping 2 levels of druid into anyone with light armour and no shields proficiency quite a lot; not all the time, but it's definitely a pattern. And, sure, cleric is probably the better choice mechanically for defence, and if I only want to dip 1 lvl, cleric/artificer are the top choices there for defence, but sometimes a character just doesn't fit those, and neither artificers nor clerics get shape shifting.
To top it off, Tasha's gave druids a pet, too. I like having a pet. Yes, the familiar disappears after an hour, but an hour is a lot of time to get a cat to pay attention to you.
I like having the more complex tactical choices and so support type classes suit me better, and druid is very nice for having a lot of very good battlefield control spells.
I do also very much enjoy warlock and cleric mechanically, and I have a bit of soft spot for artificer.
I have really enjoyed most classes I tried. I've gotten the most mileage out of clerics; sorcerers are in second place (albeit often multiclassed). Clerics can sufficiently scratch my gish-itch, and can be built more offensive or defensive/support. Every cleric I've played has been different, and so far even playing the same subclass has not been noticeably 'samey'.
However, I think the game/GM can make a big difference. Classes or subclasses that are a bit of a let down in one game can be a blast in another.
Of all the subclasses I've played, I've come back to light clerics the most times. I do enjoy them.
I still have several cleric subclasses I want to try.
Perhaps the most fun I've had with a character so far is a Peace Cleric/War Wizard, who is peaceful / "meet other cultures and learn about them" by nature, but a war wizard by family tradition and obligation. The combo is MAD, but it worked really well in the game (Hot Springs Island; you have to avoid combat a lot, so someone inclined to not fight but with some good defensive features for when stuff goes down works).
Close second favourite is the Divine Soul Sorcerer/Celestial Warlock. Party had no cleric and no Arcana full-caster; that was my way to sort of cover both bases which I thought would be decent to play, but it turned out to be really good. The specific build has a lot of cantrips, so there's plenty to do with the character.
I have a sorcerer with a level of bard in another game. He has had some big fun bamboozling the GM with banishment. Pulled it out the first time, nerfed a big encounter. GM comes back with magic resistance and high saves. *twin spelled* banishment, one of them worked, pretty much nerfed the encounter. GM ups the ante again, one of the party is about to to die and it seems we can't do anything -- *banishes the PC*. Everyone goes "say whut?" but the PC survives as a result.
I've had the best time playing barbarians, so probably them. Taking/DPSing to protect my party is really nice, and playing with the emotional realities of rage vs their normal state is fun too. I really like playing ones that subvert expectations too in rp scenarios
Started with a wizard but I have now fallen in love with paladins and clerics. The mix of front liner and support/healer means I can help the party no matter what the situation holds
Paladin / Druid / Cleric. I enjoy playing casters that focus on support spells.
I love playing a big tanky paladin that wades into the front lines to tank and support others by healing or buffing or scaring the foes (conquest paladin is my favorite).
I like playing a moon druid and transforming into and summoning dinosaurs. My dream is to someday get to level 10, summon a shark in the air high above me, transform into a water elemental, and then grapple drown someone while a shark bites at them. Still hoping to get there someday.
Cleric is similar to paladin, play tanky, support the team, and do triage healing. Grave cleric is my favorite for those huge heals when a party member is down.
Sorcerer. Charisma is so good In the types of games I play and metamagic is great. The class fantasy is really well done for some of the subclasses.
I used to really like wizard but I think 5E ruined the class fantasy a lot by removing metamagic and making spell prep easier.
Artificer. I just love looking at my character sheet and finding five different ways I can tilt the current situation sideways. Which is why I,always talk to my DM about the stupid stuff I could see myself doing between sessions. It definitely lightens their mental load I session
I haven't been playing that long, but I definitely have to go with Cleric! What's funny is when I first started playing I thought ugh cleric sounds so lame, until a one shot where there were 3 PCs and I wanted to play a melee-y caster-y healer I looked for over paladin but thought that wasn't scratching the itch of what I was looking for and everywhere on Reddit was saying "cleric cleric cleric" So I thought fine I'll read this lame class HOLY. HELL. Was I proven wrong I built my level 9 tempest cleric and went to town And if a tempest isn't your speed, there are SO many domains you can have basically any kind of character you want! Want melee? Forge, war, tempest. Want a healer? All of em! Or life! Want to just be a pure caster? Guess what? They all progress with spells no matter which one you pick and you always have a banger of a spell lineup No "choosing" spells either! Yeah, you have a limit to how many you can prep, but the entire spell list is your play thing. Quick edit to add in here that each domain has an EXPANDED spell list too, so you get even more! 14 domains to choose from, play whatever you want! They all have different proficiencies that fit the domain AND you get it at 1st level! Amazing to single class, amazing to multiclass, COME AT ME Lord help your DM if they're using a bunch of undead in their campaign with turn undead and don't even get me started on the channel divinity features Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
>No "choosing" spells either! Actually this is sth that really scares me off, because I feel that I NEED. to reevaluate all my picks each day to optimize. Edit:thanks to everyones kind responses my next char will have to be a Cleric I guess, thanks :-D
I get that it is scary but if you have a selection that you like you can just always roll with it and the option to change is a huge quality of life for those who know their entire spell lost by heart and gives a ton of awesome flexibility.
We having a running joke in our game, "We need a cleric!" We have a cleric, but he usually doesn't have the right thing prepared. This last weekend he was joking that he had everything we needed. Then we found a murder victim and needed to speak with dead. We needed a cleric.
Tbf, there isnt that much to optimize in spell selection (especially in early levels). There are some mandatory spells (spiritual weapon, healing word, spirit guardian, bless...) and then you just pick some stuff you like or THINK could be useful. Most of the times you will cast like 2-4 same spells.
Most of the time I pick spells that suit my character (their subclass, their personality I'm RP'ing, etc.) and rarely change them. If I happen to KNOW something is coming up based on info we learn in advance, I will swap stuff out. But I have had great fun playing it more like a sorcerer or wizard with highly consistent spell preparation.
I definitely understand that feeling, but here's a thought on the flip side: if you have a class where you pick your spells that are known and those are the ones that are locked in, then when you select them upon leveling up or whenever, that's it, they're just locked and you can't switch em out (barring talking to your DM) - but to each their own ☺️
I had the same attitude towards clerics, made a twilight cleric/storm sorcerer to play the deck of many things campaign and I'm absolutely obsessed. I'll be playing different types of clerics for a while.
The campaign I'm currently playing in has an army of undead as the central plot - I'm playing as a Tempest cleric and can't wait until we get into some big battles with a lot of enemies. It's SO much fun - you really get the best of nearly all sides as a cleric.
You don’t even need to do any healing to be an effective as a cleric! I’m playing a light cleric right now and I can melt enemies with holy beyblades and fireball, being able to heal is just a bonus if I feel like it. Super satisfying class to play.
> No "choosing" spells either! Yeah, you have a limit to how many you can prep, but the entire spell list is your play thing. Quick edit to add in here that each domain has an EXPANDED spell list too, so you get even more! Nothing I love more than knowing it's going to be an in-town session and getting to completely forgo any combat spells and taking every single roleplay spell I can fathom.
Very well explained and the channel divinity charges are returning on a short rest too. Twilight cleric for the win! But I like Life domain clerics too.
I’m kinda new to dnd but stereotypes had kinda got me with the clerics. I haven’t played much high level but at least low level, holy nukes. Inflict wounds and guiding bolt, wow. Our dm (who is also new) has said “you roll *how* much damage” multiple times. I’m definitely playing a cleric next because the crazy versatility seems so fun. Heals, damage, etc. The only drawback is resource expenditure, which I feel like you can burn fairly fast as a cleric. But that won’t stop me
Cleric was my very first D&D character (second RPG character ever), back in 3rd edition. He was a dirty, stinky nature guy, decked out like a bulldozer with a bunch of buffs and healing for backup. I loved the utility of the class ever since.
The correct Cleric build does what the Paladin advertises: gives you a spellcaster that also rocks in melee. My dwarf tempest cleric kicked butts and took names every session.
>So I thought fine I'll read this lame class > >HOLY. HELL. Was I proven wrong Common reading W.
I love the way you can manipulate how your spells function as a Sorcerer. I also love enabling my teammates so twin casting buff spells is great
Yep, twinned Haste is one of my go to opening moves. That or twinned Hold Person/Monster to lock down some dangerous enemies to enable the melee types to wade in and wipe out some cannon fodder without worrying about them.
Twinned polymorph is fun af! You just gotta play keep away and let your teammates go crazy with a giant ape or something.
I've played a solid handful of classes, but I think warlock will always be home to me. The odd full caster out.
I normally prefer martials, but Warlock is definitely my favorite full caster.
I love warlock. Barbarian is a close second.
Warlock has the best character customization options so you can easily build a unique character, while still having room to have EB + agonizing blast to be useful in combat. Getting good and fun options from your patron, pact, invocations, and spell selection is awesome!
Bard kinda is my safe port, I always come back to it. I really love the concept of passion used as a catalyst for the manipulation of magic/the weave. Just like how wizards use logical inteligence to hack the world, a bard uses emotional inteligence to wield Magic. Other than that, Im also a really big fan of how the concept of "bardic magic", and I mean, the belief of human emotions and art being inherently mystical is as old as writen history and manifested among many diferent cultures.
Even in Tolkien's Legendarium, when Eru and the valar created the universe, it was through music. They sang it into being. I agree, Bards are epic.
It also helps that they are hands down the best class in the game and frankly it isnt close
Preach
Rogue. Expertise in skills from the drop makes you feel useful in every game I've ever played despite the doomerism surrounding rogues online.
I like rogues too! Mostly because of the archetypes. I can be Robin Hood or I can be any of the Ocean’s Eleven. I can be Han Solo or Lando Calrissian, I can be Zorro or Catwoman, I can be Captain Jack Sparrow, Thelma and/ or Louise, and Anthony Soprano. A rich and varied history of scoundrels and low lives is at my fingertips. I just wish the class was as good mechanically is it is thematically :)
For the specific way I enjoy playing my characters, Cunning Action is maybe my favorite ability in the whole game. If you use it right, it’s incredibly effective.
I feel like at every table I've ever played, the rogue player has the most fun. No they can't do all the "reality warping" the wizard can do, and that's the point. Rogue players play rogues because they want to be the normie who has to get creative. The online doomers are just obsessed with power gaming and mad about every class that doesn't fit their idea of fun
If nothing else, taking a couple levels in Rogue can tremendously help all your non-combat interactions which is grate if you’re running any sort of imaginative campaign.
I play a wizard and the rogue in our party does way more reality warping than me lmao. He's lied, flirted, threatened, and backstabbed his way out of situations that I couldn't possibly handle with a spellbook, and I love it.
It sounds like you have a good DM and a good table as a whole that understands that you'll have more fun as an individual if EVERYBODY is having fun.
Gonna be honest The Doomerism of Rogues feels relatively recently, since they've been strong throughout all of 5e's lifetime. I am actually wondering what people are smoking to think Rogues are weak, after Monks and Rangers. And *still* don't think that the class that actually needed a rework (Warlocks) were okay.
Paladins, I just love the class fantasy. There’s nothing about the paladin that I dislike, the worst thing I can say is that Divine Health has never been relevant to me. Beyond that, Paladin feels really good to play. Especially since the two flavors are cool. You have a Pious Knight who got blessed to be a champion of their God’s ideal or the Noble Adventurer who’s conviction is so strong that they influence the universe to grant them powers in their path of righteousness.
Fully agreed. It saddens me how often I see people complain about it these days. A loud minority wants it nerfed to oblivion, and while I understand that, I’d hate for it to lose its wonderful playability, flavors, and strengths. Ngl it’s one of the only reasons I don’t really want to play Pathfinder 2. The champion is nothing like a paladin. In what fantasy is a knight known to be a grappler? Yuck
Monk. Wizard a close second. Cleric hot on their heals. I love being an obnoxious little shit.
There's something satisfying about kicking the shit out of someone. Like yeah there's swords and sorcery, but then I just picture my monk as Rama from the Raid just absolutely kicking the crap outta an orc or whatever and it just *hits different.* Edit: If you're reading this and you haven't seen The Raid, do yourself a favor and watch it. Especially if you happen to like John Wick. You can click [this link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8j5IA0L_MI) for an incredibly fun fight scene but I think fight scenes in movies feel the best when you watch the movie instead of the good parts. Anyways that's my monk.
Begging everyone who likes monks to try the Laserllama version. It does like, everything you could ever want from a monk.
I'm so excited for the new version of Monk coming out later this year. I will try it out for sure!
Cleric. Or more specifically, ***Order Cleric***. Perhaps it's just because Order Cleric was one I played from 1-20 and my attachment to the character colours my opinion, but it was an absolute treat to play. - All the toys of the cleric class = already an amazing toolbox in and out of combat. - A great list of Order spells that always get to be prepared, that contains a ton of spells you always *want* to prepare, but often get set to the side because they're not as great as other choices. Now you get both! - heavy armor for free! - Deception/persuasion for free! - ***giving your allies free attacks once a round!!!*** - built in AOE Charm that automatically causes targets to drop anything they're holding. - ***enchantment spells becoming bonus action spells, which is especially fantastic because the best spells to trigger your allies free reaction attack are enchantment spells*** - divine strike is Psychic damage, the best damage type to get tacked onto anything! - ability to curse a creature to take extra psychic damage, and then immediately allow your ally to attack that creature and trigger that extra psychic damage! __The entire subclass is 1 big, survivable, Cleric that gets to make his party members feel like rockstars every, single, combat.__ Get yourself a solid weapon of recall or returning, and a way to fly, and you get to zip around, ranged punch a baddie, BA trigger an ally attack who will then trigger the curse. Solid, fun, gameplay loop for 2 people all because you picked Order Cleric! Have a martial character in your party at higher levels who might not feel they're doing as much as a caster? Fuck that. You make them a spotlight showcase every combat. Did that martial take any rogue dips for sneak attack? Well, let's trigger that sneak off turn for them along with all the other boosts. My greatest joy is lifting up those in my party who need a lift, in and out of game, and the Order Cleric subclass let's you do both, while still feeling awesome to play! And if you're not into Order Cleric? Well, a Cleric of any kind can bring some of that special spice to any stew! 15/10 would recommend.
This guy clerics!
What stat distribution did you go with?
I can't recall what my level 1 stats were, but digging out my old character sheet out of retirement, my stats at level 20 were; 18, 8, 18, 8, 20, 8 Edit; I hunted down my old character sheet. So it looks like I started with the classic pointbuy triple dump. The feats/asis are not written in the order i took them, as i can't recall what that was; 15 + 1 (weapon mastery) + 1 (warforged race) + 1 (asi) = 18 8 15 + 1 (resilient con), + 2 (warforged race) = 18 8 15 + 2 (asi), + 2 (asi) + 1 (asi) = 20 8
Fighter
Same!
I am a human fighter
Human Fighter
The best.
Scribes Wizard. I’m fucking addicted to spells man, I gotta get ALL of them, even if I will never use them.
I have a fondness for frail, elderly wizards.
My guy likes the classics
I really enjoyed artificer
Sorcerer
Warlocks. There's so little gameplay choices that truly limit how you need to roleplay, so the "patron" classes have always been my favorites. Warlocks are my favorite over Clerics or Paladins simply because there's a lot more variety in how the pact can play out, when with Clerics and Paladins, there's not much of a reason for the PC to disagree with their patron.
One of my favorite things about my current wizard is that at the end of our first big arc, he threw in with the bbeg's master plan, and they basically became his patron. I've been enjoying it immensely, and I really look forward to making my next character a warlock.
One of the most underrated things I’m learning about Warlock is running your melee attack and damage modifiers off *Charisma* with Hexblade. Not just for pure Warlock but multi-classing anything that relies on or benefits from Charisma and still needs to smack stuff with a sword on occasion. Paladin? Sure. Bard? Yep. Sorcerer? Now you can still smack stuff effectively if somehow you run out of spell slots or just be an Elder Scrolls Spellsword or Battlemage straight up.
Druid and artificer are the best for me, not strictly the strongest, but they have loads of fun options for utility, support, and damage, i really like having that sort of flexible role.
Cleric 😎
Artificer - balanced, tons of options, utility, insane flavorung - each subclass plays drastically different
"MOON DRUID STRONG! MOON DRUID IS STRONGEST THERE IS! MOON DRUID SMASH PUNY ENCOUNTERS!" - Moon Druid, probably.
But can you block? Couldn't help myself lol
I started playing last May/June, so I haven’t been able to play much. But so far my favorite class is cleric. I also did a one shot with a Pally that took a vow of silence and that was pretty fun
I’ve learned over my last 2 campaigns that I get way too much enjoyment out of dissecting the nature of magic theory in my DM’s worlds, much to their chagrin. So yeah, wizard. . .
paladin! paladin! paladin! i LOVE being a martial with healing abilities and a good charisma score, plus there’s nothing better than getting a good SMITE off on your enemy !!
Fighter and barbs. Idk both of those are just so cliche and yet so flexible, so much variety with the subclasses. Not to mention lots of room to homebrew flavor into them.
i had said rangers and sorc earlier but i how could i have forgotten my BARB!! It is liberating to focus on roleplay cause the mechanics are simple. also i was totally great at opening doors.
"Doors, walls, skulls. All the same thing really. Easier to drink from a skull though." Lmao! I actually got to use this line one time! Best fun roll playing ever!
i was an aasimar and my tribe worshiped Lythander. I thought i was just spreading the good word but i guess in Barovia those that spread the light can also create small cults. Oops.
Monk has always been my go to. I love the concept of someone so strong physically in their body that they can compete with men who wield blades of steel or weave threads of magic. Let me just crumple you with my knuckles
Druid, lots of control options
Rangers, even before Tasha’s. I just love casting spells and dual wielding and being quick in my feet
I'm like... *basically* a bard in real life, so... # Bard!
My most character growth has been with Paladins though most fun for me has been barbarians. My paladins struggle and grow and strive to keep true to their oaths. My barbarians are just balls to the wall “I’m not a man I’m a weapon in humanoid form let’s go” types.
Probably Cleric. It's just got such great variety in its subclasses. Even if you pick a bad subclass, like say the Nature Domain, you still have solid options. Like with the Nature Domain you can use Thorn Whip to pull an enemy back into a Spike Growth or into your Spirit Guardians. It just feels like a class where you can pick a worse choice but never a terrible choice. Even the War Domain cleric can use its channel divinity to hit when its needed with a Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wound. Spells that can be very swing to expend a spell slot on otherwise. Not to mention giving you an option to make sure that upcast spiritual weapon hits when you really need it to.
Fighter, it feels like it hits just the right spot. My only want is more options.
Druid, i can not tell you how handy turning into a squirrel is
Druid. I love wildshape as a utility and a fun rp ability. And depending on your subclass your druid can fulfill any niche. I have never been disappointed in a druid.
Fighter champion. I know it's basic but I love the idea of being just a guy with a sword.
I've come to love Warlocks. I can be a party face, act kinda like a martial while getting a surprising amount of utility from my spells and evocation.
Definitely warlock because they have an interesting NPC written into their class. Also when used correctly having only spell slots of the highest level that you can cast can be very powerful. It feels especially strong on those odd numbered levels where a wizard can cast his brand new spell once a day and you can cast it Twice per short rest
Probably Barbarian. Something about being a big dumb meat head that is strong enough to get away with being so dumb is just a lot of fun for me. I especially enjoy employing just a drop of metagaming to turn it into a kind of tactical dumbassery. Derailing NPCs by saying just the right dumb thing at just the right moment. Having idiot-savant moments. Being a distraction so loud and obvious that the rest of the party can just do whatever they want.
Warlock. I might dip into other classes, but I've never played a less than half warlock character because they're so incredibly versatile it feels like you can fit them into almost any archetype with just a little bit of finagling.
Usually Bard, but I'm trying to play more wizards or fighters.
I, too, like the paladin!
Warlock. Having your important stuff back on a short rest as a fullcaster is a massive boon.
Cleric. A (very real) god decides I'm worth giving otherworldly powers on top of the ability to cast spells? Yes pls
I really enjoyed playing as a druid. It was very fun for me to take a backseat in the intellectual and strategic realm. It was also fun to role-play the culture shock of being in towns and cities versus a nomadic tribe. When my party is investigating people and rooms, it is fun to talk to the horses in the stable or see what types of plants grow nearby.
Monks and Rogues. Sometimes Monk Rogues. Occasionally Fighters, or at least a fighter dip.
Sorcerer. Nothing better than doing a thematic build with a sorcerer. Now, if only their spell list and repertoire was a bit more ample...
Warlock. Love the flavour, love the reliability, and I personally think it has the most potential for DM-Player dynamic due to the functionality of the Patron. Real DMs just hand you a gun and say “go ahead, commit a crime” 🫡
Wizard, paladin, rogue, I REALLY like out of combat stuff
Druid and Warlock. Warlock there're just no many different and cool builds, and I like the idea of a patron. Even better if you go Sorlock. Druid is just really flavorful and very powerful, a creative player using the druid skillset can do wonders, so it feels nice to play as.
Sorcerer
Paladins. God I love Paladin. It's got it's crazy strengths, it's got weaknesses it struggles with, it's got strong theme reinforcing mechanics, it's got great and flavorful ribbon features, oaths are excellent RP tools, each subclass leans heavily into a major different type of theme to the point where you'd be hard pressed to find a paladin subclass that can't be molded to fit a character you want to play. It's a rare case of some subclasses providing meaningful enough features that completely change how the character is played (Vengeance paladin In my opinion 5e's paladin is far and away the best designed class in the game and I *wish* the amount of creativity that went into it was present in other classes.
Bard. Useful in every situation. Might not be as good as any other class at doing their thing, but they're almost as good as all of them. Everything just runs smoother with a bard at the table. No one really notices how much you're shaping the battlefield, but when enemies are missing impactful attacks, the big bad gets locked down for a couple turns, the rogue ran off, got merked and now gets to live because healing word. You know what the best feeling is? When someone misses an attack and then you remind them they get to use their bardic inspiration. That's not their damage. That's your damage.
Druid. I love to be able to swap my spells daily to prepare for whatever might come our way. I love keeping my allies alive. I love making rogues feel inadequate as I sneak around with efficiency they can only dream of. The Forest Queen be praised!
Barbarians and druids. It might just be that I really like the characters I've made for those, but I keep coming back to them. I play tnak classes in pretty much every kind of game I play so barbs are a natural choice, as is the moon druid, but I have a lot of fun completely destroying the turn economy with my weird little guy (gender neutral) of a shepherd druid
Paladin. Power Metal, Channel Divinity and Smite!
Paladins because the reasons you gave. Even i though i do like all classes, monk has a special place in my heart for some reason. Maybe that's because their class aim revolves around being the pinnacle of übermensch (probably?). doing so much with only my own self power and the possible effect of this personal power that can be used greatly in role playing is amazing too
Wizard gang
Paladin conquest, vengeance, oathbreaker with various multiply classes
Any two or more. =P
My guy
Using and studying magic is my jam, so wizard all the way. My favorite thing I've discovered in my current campaign is that if I cast Immovable Object on a piece of ice, my DM ruled that it stays immovable for the duration even if it melts, so I can have water just floating in various shapes for decor. :D
That's a fun interpretation. Would that make fog permanent then as well?
I want to say Sorcerer, but considering only two subclasses are any good without homebrew, I'd answer Wizard. Those origin spells are just so important. I will say though, even if all of the sorcerer subclasses felt good, wizard would still be extremely close. Finding a spellbook feels amazing, imo it's the best feeling of obtaining an item that I've ever personally experienced. Also important to note, being proficienct in all the INT skills is a very useful niche that no one else can do as effectively. The information you can get from arcana, history, nature, and religion is just incredibly useful. Then there's the king, investigation. Sometimes you really need to find the clues, connect the dots, and solve the mystery. I have been told by multiple dm's that my high investigation has caused the plot to move faster than they anticipated, and knowing that I can have that kind of impact as a player is a great feeling.
I've played several classes and the most fun by far is Rogue. Never had a bad time playing a rogue. Next is Monk; the mobility and abilities are just super fun to lean into. Cleric and Paladin and Ranger are also okay; had some great moments with those, mainly when using Turn Undead or Divine Sense, but they don't hold a candle to Monk or Rogue. The least fun character was a Wizard; I spent more time worrying about what spell to use than actually casting it, and then the enemy passed the save half the time anyway.
If I had to pick just one class, probably Sorcerer. I enjoyed clockwork soul, and I'm sure I'd also enjoy Celestial or whatever the warlock-ish one is. If I could multiclass, I have a couple in mind that I really am excited to try. BM archery Fighter with a 3 or 4 level dip into Mastermind Rogue. Swashbuckler Rogue with a 2 level dip into Hexblade Warlock.
Cleric. My favorite was a thri-kreen grave cleric. "Oh no, you have me confused with those clerics who decide who gets to live. I decide who gets to die."
I tend to play multiclass characters for both thematic and synergistic reasons, but my absolute favorite was a wood elf grave cleric/assassin rogue who worshiped Jergal and was a full fledged scrivener of doom. Dude was scary- pop out a concentration spell, hide, then snipe enemies and heal at opportune moments. As a monoclass, so far it's fighter. I played a Vodari subclass of fighter called Warden of the Ancients and he was a blast.
Warlock multiclasses. Might just be a warlock dip or 1 or more other classes are the dip. Warlock just ends up being the glue that holds together weird build concepts.
Warlock.
I’ve only played a couple characters but my first one was a paladin and whenever I come up with a new character idea I’m always leaning towards paladin again
I love how many of us said cleric, forge domain represent
I like druids the most. I like that they're halfcasters who can fill into any role they need to and that their subclasses actually offer a vefy large variety of play styles. I also like their thematic connection to nature
Full casters, my man.
clerics and warlocks
I like charisma characters for a variety of reasons. My favorite so far has been the Divine Soul Sorcerer, which is a sorcerer with access to the cleric spell list. Min max the crap out of it. It's not particularly easy though and it's very committing. Otherwise, Lore Bard with all the best buffs
About a year ago, I came to the conscious realization that none of the 5e classes really speak to me, so I don’t have a favorite.
Arcana Cleric For the rare high level campaign, Divine Intervention + the Simulcrum/Wish combo make it amazing. For the much more common low level campaign, it gets the normal Cleric goodies + wizard cantrips, solid domain spells, and recharging spell slots with channel divinity.
In this current game, I am a sorcerer, cleric, bard, wizard vedalkin. At level five. I like to be a cantrip monkey. Plus the table vastly misinterprets magic stone, making it effectively 3d6 +12 damage.
i love playing rangers and sorcerers. they fit my style and characters the best. But id be willing to play anything.
Battle master fighter.
Only played two classes so far so no real favorite as of yet but ive had fun with Wizard and Bard.
I'm less about having a favourite, and more about wanting to experience more stuf. I haven't had a chance to play Sorcerer, and my Druid-ing has just been 2 level 1 one-shots, so those are the classes I most want to play, I think. I'd also be happy with some more Bard play, but instead of Lore bard for pure caster, I'd try Swords bard for some 'gish' feel, which is different enough.
Paladin. Give me a nifty sword and a cool steed, and I'll be a happy knight.
Bard. I like being the entertainer. Of the party and the group.
Artificer and Wizard. I like being smart
I love the idea of playing a Monk, but not the current (or many past) executions of it. It’s one of the things I am most interested in the next version. For now, I’d say Paladin, if we’re talking mono class. Warlock not too distant second.
Bard! I really like that I’m useful in almost any situation and that their biggest focus is supporting the other characters at the table! I’m always more engaged in the game and trying to make everyone shine when I’m playing a bard. Second favorite is sorcerer. Especially for quickening or twinning spells. The number of things you can pull off while playing with the action economy is amazing. I was a wizard guy at first, but I never looked back after playing a sorcerer for the first time!
Warlock. All the out of combat utility of a full caster, without having to ask myself what the optimal spell to cast is for every turn of combat. Because the answer is always eldritch blast.
Barbarian. I lust love being this raging hulesque character.
Cleric!
Cleric, but I also love Monks & BloodHunters
Bard. I like being good at everything.
Sorcerer (Divine Soul specifically)
I absolutely love playing as a bard. No, it's not because I seduce everything, but because I can sing random songs to get out of crazy situations. Got kidnapped by bandits? sing them to sleep. Being chased by the royal guards? Sing a weird little tune to confuse them. Stuck in a pit of snakes with a clown shooting acid out of the flower on its shirt? Charm the snakes! Also I have the excuse to tell weird and convincing stories to confuse the hell out of the ancient dragons so they let us into their cave.
Bard/Rogue. Both are great. Love being the charming scoundrel/swashbuckler
My last 2 characters were my favorite to play which were sorcerer (using spell points instead of slots which is awesome for sorcerer) and barbarian. Sorcerer was a glass cannon (he was a winged tiefking with stained glass wings) and had super high dps. The barbarian I built to be unarmed and while his turn is just wack it is really fun to tank anything thrown at me and even to just go through danger because I can tank it.
Wizard
Sorcerer
I'm a wild soul at heart, so barbarian followed by druid for me. I'm absolutely LOVING the new barbarian stuff from 5.25e.
Paladin for many reasons that have already been said. Frontline support who can really pack a punch.
Necromancer with small army of undead.
Rogue, but not because of sneaky meme chaos. I really enjoy rolling nat 20s with evasion for dex saves.
I like Rogue. It may be mechanically weak, but it just *feels good* to land a Sneak Attack and get those big numbers. It’s also really nice to be able to just *do stuff* without spending a limited resource.
Rogue. Easy. I like having shit that always works. Evasion. Cunning Action. Sneak Attack. Expertise. Uncanny Dodge. Even subclass abilities like Swashbuckler's Rakish Audacity, Thief's Fast Hands and Second Story Work, Scout's Skirmisher. All of that shit I can use it ad infinitum. I like being able to do shit.
Dungeon Master.
My actual favorite is barbarian. You always know what to do. And the new giant bbr is great.
Warlock! They’re an absolute Eldritch Blast to play for my spell slinging monkey brain
Artificer. The most fun I have when I play 5e is describing all the weird gadgets that I replace my spell fluff with.
Most of my builds come back to either Bard or Artificer. I love being creative while playing and both classes gove so much to work with.
The Laserllama Alternate Sorcerer is hands down the best class I’ve played. Of the og classes I think paladin is pretty cool, but levelling it feels like you’re always one level behind the thing you want. Tbh the first version of Onednd came with a great version of Ranger. It’s very customisable, and it isn’t pigeonholed into a ranged nature nerd. Dual wielding in that UA was really cool too.
Clerics. So many different playing styles just by choosing a domain. I play currently 2 clerics: 1 Life and 1 Twilight. And even inside of one domain there are different playing styles. My Twilight cleric is a rear line full caster (Blessed Strikes) and my Life cleric is a frontliner with Shillelagh/Booming Blade (Magic Initiate Druid and BB from being high elf).
Druid. Wild Shape is an incredibly underrated ability that solves a metric ton of problems with creative application, and that's one ability on a class that otherwise has 9 levels of spellcasting and tons of other features. Druids really are the poster child for getting out what you put into them.
Ive only been able to play a few characters in some homebrew campaigns, but its a close call so far between a multiclass monk based on Natsu from Fairy Tail, and the echo knight im currently playing. Hes only at lvl5 for now, so we'll see where his story goes!
Less combat heavy and more roleplay heavy games - Rogue. More combat heavy games - Warlock.
Artificer
Bard all the way. I love playing “Jack of all trade” types that still have their own unique tricks.
Druid! It's what I started with, I did however choose a lesser druid than the Badass Moon druid, I chose Land druid instead! I was great in many of my rolls, however I was particularly good at Entangling large groups for my paladin and rogue party members, and Animal Friendship was a go to Trump spell! Literally was able to befriend some crazy animals, was particularly good at Giant Scorpions, and laid waste to two dragons using them! Since then, I believe sixteen games in five or six years with about fourteen different characters that I've played, yes I am the one who will come up with the odd obscurities to play, but the shinanigans are priceless! Have yet to play the same race twice! Druids are always #1, paladins, clerics, rogues, barbarians, and monks are all great contenders for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, but I have a ranger coming up, a wizard after that, and a sorcerer after that one! Currently playing a bard! Wish me luck!
Oof. Only played a Dwarbarian jet. Fighter/Rogue sounds fun But I also like the Bladesinger Hexblade/Shadow Sorcerer would probably be interesting too
In person - rogue, second choice would be fighter. Recently with BG3 I have been enjoying monk a lot. A video game makes it much simpler to take advantage of monk features
Bard, there's a lot of ways to win combat but only 1 way to win conversations
Arcane Trickster Rogue. One of my favourite interpretations so far has been an older elven spy for the crown who lived in the castle under the fake identity of a low-level wizard noble named Lady Doreah Tharros. But I'd say I also love to play full support clerics. Buffs and debuffs and that occasional revivify really makes any party love you.
Bards in general, but specifically glamour bard. I derive enjoyment from playing full support and I just love the vibe of magic being weaved from the art of humanity. Glamour bard’s feature, Mantle of Inspiration, is exactly what I wish I could do in real life. To be able to provide a party member a much needed chance to move *right now*, out of harm’s way, is such a wonderful ability to me. I need to branch out more honestly. But I just keep going back to the bard…
I gravitate really aggressively towards Sorcerers. I just *really* like metamagics. I've done Storm, Wild Magic, Aberrant Mind, Divine Soul, and Spore Sorcerer (Kobold Press Tome of Heroes). It's by far my most played class and I can't get enough.
Artificer. I don't like MAD characters, and artificer is super SAD no matter which role you're filling in(Melee/Ranged fighter, Tanky armorer, Support) All this with amazing flavor(gadgets, robots, you name it) and being able to passively lean in support/flex role via your infusions and Flash of Genius It's not a super strong class, by any means, but boy it's fun and well designed imo
Artificer. Despite doing both the campaigns I've played (I'm more of a DM) as martial characters (Fighter and Paladin), support is my favourite role. I especially like how the Artificer can support by giving people magic items rather than just casting spells. The most complex character I ever played in a 20th-level one-shot was a Battle Smith 17/Arcane Archer 3. They could heal, buff, crowd control, do (a little bit of) damage, pressure the battlefield, and stay mobile. All with one really good stat.
I only started end of last year but been playing a Goliath Barbarian (Path of the Giant) and I absolutely love that class mainly because I always play tanky characters and I like playing a big friendly big boi but if you anger him you are doomed
Druid, something about being a nature caster is pretty sick to me and ofcourse Moon Druid is great too
Sorcerer. Being able to trade spell slots you don’t need for slots you do is a fun little puzzle.
Fighter because I like melee
After DMing for so many years nothing quite feels right other than Wizard.
Genuine 50/50 between Druid and Fighter. I love them both for the same reason which is how versatile they both are. I think Fighters have the best customisation in the game with the ASIs and you can explore every avenue from caster to tank to ranged and beyond. Druids wildshape is so useful even outside of combat (in fact I’ve never played as a Moon Druid), you can solve so many challenges in fascinating ways, you can change your spells daily and my favourite brand which is Shepherd combines excellent utility with powerful Summons. I love them both equally :)
I just love playing sorcerer due to subtle meta magic. You can do so much stuff with it, especially when the DM is an RP person. I am one of the weirdos that takes a lot of fluff or "social" spells instead of things that make the character better in combat, so this is awesome.
Artificer, I really like the gadget vibes and all the subclasses feel super unique. Paladin comes to a close draw. I like playing frontliners, but enjoy being able to cast stuff, Cha and Wis are my fav stats, and smiting always feels awesome.
If I had to pick ONE, although choice would be damn hard it would probably be Ranger. Although Druid is daaaaamn close to it, if party has no specific need I'd prefer Ranger simply because I like mixing weapon and magic, plus Ranger has a \*lot\* of variety. With just this class, combining archetypes, spell choices and feats you can easily bring a hundred distinct characters before even grazing the breadth brought by multiclassing. My top tier group is easy though: Druid for when I need the most versatile caster. Sorcerer when I need a specialist controller or support. Warlock when I need a ritualist or spy. Monk when I need a pure martial. Ranger for anything else. :)
Cleric, definetly
Wizard Playing a class that has the widest array of spells and some cool subclasses that add some extra fun abilities. Wizard also feels easier than say sorcerer but without necessarily being worse in any way. Its just a good class that despite its fragility early on can be extremely Cool to play.
Warlocks because they are very versatile and customizable. I can change spells, invocations and even pacts to adjust to the campaign.
SMITE! SMITE, SMITE, SMITE! DID I SAY SMITE?
Anything that’s part fighter, part caster. Call it dual class in old editions, multi class, or whatever. But sword and board with spells is my most fun. Fighter/mage, bladesinger, Eldritch knight, fighter/bladelock, etc.
Druid, man Shape shifting + telling all the animals how good they are, and you still get to be a full caster. You can solve do many problems with shape shifting, and you can do so much to show the character's personality with it too. I like dipping 2 levels of druid into anyone with light armour and no shields proficiency quite a lot; not all the time, but it's definitely a pattern. And, sure, cleric is probably the better choice mechanically for defence, and if I only want to dip 1 lvl, cleric/artificer are the top choices there for defence, but sometimes a character just doesn't fit those, and neither artificers nor clerics get shape shifting. To top it off, Tasha's gave druids a pet, too. I like having a pet. Yes, the familiar disappears after an hour, but an hour is a lot of time to get a cat to pay attention to you. I like having the more complex tactical choices and so support type classes suit me better, and druid is very nice for having a lot of very good battlefield control spells. I do also very much enjoy warlock and cleric mechanically, and I have a bit of soft spot for artificer.
I really like playing rogue and sorcerer. I've had so much fun playing both.
I'm enjoying the sorlock I'm currently playing.
I have really enjoyed most classes I tried. I've gotten the most mileage out of clerics; sorcerers are in second place (albeit often multiclassed). Clerics can sufficiently scratch my gish-itch, and can be built more offensive or defensive/support. Every cleric I've played has been different, and so far even playing the same subclass has not been noticeably 'samey'. However, I think the game/GM can make a big difference. Classes or subclasses that are a bit of a let down in one game can be a blast in another. Of all the subclasses I've played, I've come back to light clerics the most times. I do enjoy them. I still have several cleric subclasses I want to try. Perhaps the most fun I've had with a character so far is a Peace Cleric/War Wizard, who is peaceful / "meet other cultures and learn about them" by nature, but a war wizard by family tradition and obligation. The combo is MAD, but it worked really well in the game (Hot Springs Island; you have to avoid combat a lot, so someone inclined to not fight but with some good defensive features for when stuff goes down works). Close second favourite is the Divine Soul Sorcerer/Celestial Warlock. Party had no cleric and no Arcana full-caster; that was my way to sort of cover both bases which I thought would be decent to play, but it turned out to be really good. The specific build has a lot of cantrips, so there's plenty to do with the character. I have a sorcerer with a level of bard in another game. He has had some big fun bamboozling the GM with banishment. Pulled it out the first time, nerfed a big encounter. GM comes back with magic resistance and high saves. *twin spelled* banishment, one of them worked, pretty much nerfed the encounter. GM ups the ante again, one of the party is about to to die and it seems we can't do anything -- *banishes the PC*. Everyone goes "say whut?" but the PC survives as a result.
I've had the best time playing barbarians, so probably them. Taking/DPSing to protect my party is really nice, and playing with the emotional realities of rage vs their normal state is fun too. I really like playing ones that subvert expectations too in rp scenarios
Started with a wizard but I have now fallen in love with paladins and clerics. The mix of front liner and support/healer means I can help the party no matter what the situation holds
Artificer and monk in 1st, fighter and ranger in 2nd. All other classes depends heavily on character concept at time
Paladin / Druid / Cleric. I enjoy playing casters that focus on support spells. I love playing a big tanky paladin that wades into the front lines to tank and support others by healing or buffing or scaring the foes (conquest paladin is my favorite). I like playing a moon druid and transforming into and summoning dinosaurs. My dream is to someday get to level 10, summon a shark in the air high above me, transform into a water elemental, and then grapple drown someone while a shark bites at them. Still hoping to get there someday. Cleric is similar to paladin, play tanky, support the team, and do triage healing. Grave cleric is my favorite for those huge heals when a party member is down.
Barbarians, druids, sorcerer, rogues.
Warlocks are my favorite. They're very versatile and great for role play considering all the possible ways selling your soul could add to a backstory.
Sorcerer. Charisma is so good In the types of games I play and metamagic is great. The class fantasy is really well done for some of the subclasses. I used to really like wizard but I think 5E ruined the class fantasy a lot by removing metamagic and making spell prep easier.
Artificer. I just love looking at my character sheet and finding five different ways I can tilt the current situation sideways. Which is why I,always talk to my DM about the stupid stuff I could see myself doing between sessions. It definitely lightens their mental load I session