Upcoming Dungeons & Dragons Classes Previewed

UGO had the chance to check out the new classes being introduced to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition in the Player’s Handbook 2, due out on March 17th.

The real highlight of my visit with the Wizards people came during the play test of the new classes. In the interest of full disclosure, I think bards are the most interesting class and have played them for over 15 years. Needless, then, to mention that I was wary and anxious to get a crack at the (new) bard. But, it’s not new new like the avenger so let me tell you about that first.

The avenger (along with the warden, shaman and invoker) are new classes to 4E. I didn’t get a chance to play the other three though I did play with them in my party. Here’s a rough out line of each. I played in 3rd level group:

The Shaman – Had a nice spirit animal that required a certain amount of damage in a single hit BEFORE it started losing hps. Nice. Healing was ok, with a nice incidental heal spell that affected two characters.

The Invoker – A sort of divine wizard. In play, the invoker moved enemies around a fair amount. I wasn’t overly impressed but that could have been due to the player and not the class.

The Warden – Good aggro control but lacks the leadership of a Warlord.

It disturbs me to see D&D classes being described with MMO terminology.