WF Playability By Class Guide/Discussion.

[orcbanian]

Purpose of this thread:
A lot of people ask which classes work well for Warforged and which don't. I figured organizing an overview of each Class for how it relates to WF would be a good idea. This will be based on personal observation and experience. I will be editing this first post to reflect additional information/opinion as it is provided. The thread will be a place for discussion (not argument. You can argue, but any argumentative posts will be ignored for purposes of reflecting opinions in this first post). This post will hold the overview for the classes.

Format:
Each class will be listed separately and given a rating of 1-5 in the following categories: Relative Effectiveness (covers DPS, skills, spell usage depending on class), Survivability (covers AC, Saves, HP and Healing), Soloability (covers ability to deal damage and self-heal), Party Contribution (covers the team-player aspect such as buffs, agro-keeping, healing assistance, etc). More categories can be added as needed. After these ratings will be a small line for strengths and another for weaknesses, then a large space for details and explanations.

I was originally going to fill this all out myself, but I figured making it a community activity from the beginning would be more appropriate. Please leave whatever insight and experience you have and I will update and add to this post regularly.

Barbarian
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:


Bard
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Cleric
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Fighter
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Monk
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Paladin
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Ranger
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Rogue
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Sorcerer
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Wizard
Relative Effectiveness:
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Thanks for contributing thus far: Ghoste.

[BurningDownTheHouse]

I belive that many will agree with me and probably as many will flame me, but here goes...
This disscution can be applied to any class in the game with little distinction bar one: warforged are harder to heal using the cure wounds spells,
but can additionaly be repaired with repair spells - which can be both advantage or dissadvantage, depending on party makeup and the general feeling twards them.

Otherwise they have both pros and cons just like any other race in the game.
My 2c.

[hu-flung-pu]

I look forward to reading this.

I've been away for a while. And I'm downloading my updates with in minutes.

Edit: 6312 files is quite a bit of downloading.....

[orcbanian]

Well I guess the best way to start a discussion is to actually START a discussion. So choosing the first class on the list, let's discuss Warforged Barbarians.

Barbarians would appear to be one of the best options for Warforged, since their abilities stack so nicely. First and foremost, the bane of all Barbarians is the fatigue that comes after a rage. This haunts every fleshy Barbarian, but Warforged are immune to it, giving WF all the benefits and none of the drawbacks (except for reduced AC) of the Rage ability. Another nice feature is that the Warforged and Barbarian Power Attack enhancement lines stack, which gives can provide a -11/+11/+22 rather than the usual -8/+8\+16 that fleshy Barbarians have. Warforged Constitution bonus goes well with the Barbarian's high amount of HP, but the lack of Racial Toughness enhancements means that your Warforged Barbarian won't have as many HP as his Dwarf counterparts. Some see this as a curse and some as a blessing, considering that Warforged are hard to heal, even if you take Healer's Friend to some degree. Barbarians are arguably the most difficult class to heal since they have so many HP, and Warforged are the most difficult race to heal because of their resistance to healing. This combination pretty much makes the Warforged Barbarian the worst class to heal, which can get you snubbed by some more conservative Clerics. The best option to counter-act this is to pay/provide the cleric with Heal scrolls or see if the Wizard/Sorcerer is WF-sympathetic and provide them with Reconstruct scrolls. Failing this, you'll end up becoming either a pot-junkie or splash some caster for wand/scroll usage. The other options are either spending a great deal of time as a soul stone or being so amazingly uber that you don't ever need healing. Both of these last two options are difficult to pull off for two very different reasons.

Because of these and other reasons, I would rate the Warforged Barbarian thusly:

Relative Effectiveness: 5/5 (Built for Killing/DPS and is the best at it with Critical Rage/Power Attack)
Survivability: 4/5 (With a great deal of HP to work with and acceptable saves, the only thing that can keep the WF Barb from surviving is his taxation of the Healing pool)
Soloability: 3/5 (Can take more punishment than other classes, but will be pricey to self-heal)
Party Contribution: 3/5 (Will deal out the harshness as well as any, but will require more of the Cleric's mana than anyone else as well)
Strengths: Never being fatigued means you can use your Rages as whimsically as you want without having to worry about being too slow and clumsy afterwards. The stacking Power Attack enhancements means that as long as you are able to hit your opponents with consistency, you'll hot for more DPS than your counterparts almost every time.
Weaknesses: You're very difficult to heal and thus very expensive to maintain. This class isn't for the feint-of-heart when it comes to the cleric bribing bill and the amount of pots you'll go through.

[baylensman]

Barbarian
Relative Effectiveness: 5/5
Survivability:4/5
Soloability:3.5/5
Party Contribution:5/5
Strengths: great immunites and resistance. very tankish with high DPS,
Weaknesses: Hard to heal unless someone bring repair spell/wand/scrolls

Details:fun to play only need cleric/caster to keep me up during heavy boss battles, usually tell them not to heal me afterwards as i carry a ton of pots (200 oils of serious) any looted wands of repair go to caster type at begining of quest. Lesser charisma score means I don't draw as much agro so i end up chasing baddies as other tanks run away to stop from dying


Bard
Relative Effectiveness:haven't played/leveled far enough to be sure
Survivability:
Soloability:
Party Contribution:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

Details:

Paladin
Relative Effectiveness:5/5
Survivability:5/5
Soloability: 5/5
Party Contribution:5/5
Strengths: self healing self buffing, able to raise the cleric while laffing
Weaknesses:have to overcome initial charisma defict to be effective with some spells and abilities

Details:best WF build i ever did went 13 pall 2 sorc 1 ftr, lots of SP lots of weapons choices, with proper spell/scroll assortment can acts as a lock picker, door finder, trap smith, back up cleric, crowd control, or even off tank with moderate DPS
my first to cap first to 1750 well know among some of older friends and guildmates. will not be deleted ever! I pull him out every now and then just for fun