Core Identity: Masters of precision, stealth, and trickery. Rogues excel in exploiting weaknesses rather than overwhelming force.
Defining Features:
Sneak Attack — Rogues deal devastating strikes when they catch foes unaware or exploit a distraction. This defines their combat style: precise, surgical, and opportunistic.
Cunning Action — In the heat of battle, a Rogue can move, hide, or outmaneuver enemies faster than others, slipping from danger or closing in on targets with uncanny agility.
Evasion — Rogues can twist away from blasts, traps, or other area effects, emerging unscathed where others might be burned or broken.
Uncanny Dodge — When threatened, Rogues instinctively deflect or slip past blows, reducing harm through sheer reflex and awareness.
Expertise — Beyond combat, Rogues embody skill mastery, excelling in stealth, thievery, or other specialties to a degree no one else can match.
Core Identity: Wilderness survivalists and monster hunters, defined by their mastery of environment and chosen foes.
Defining Features:
Favored Enemy / Favored Foe — Rangers are at their best when facing certain creatures, knowing their habits, weaknesses, and tactics.
Natural Explorer — They move through wild terrain with unmatched ease, ignoring hindrances that slow others and guiding companions safely.
Fighting Style — Rangers develop a specialized combat approach — archery, dual blades, or ambush tactics — reflecting their personal hunting methods.
Primeval Awareness / Nature Magic — They can sense unnatural presences in their environment, often tied to primal forces or ancient knowledge.
Hide in Plain Sight / Vanish — Later in their path, rangers become nearly undetectable in their chosen terrain, merging with the wilderness itself.
Core Identity: Holy warriors bound by oaths, blending martial power with divine conviction.
Defining Features:
Divine Sense — Paladins can detect corruption, sensing the presence of fiends, undead, or sacred power.
Lay on Hands — They can heal with a touch, restoring life and vigor through sheer devotion.
Divine Smite — Paladins channel radiant power into their strikes, overwhelming evil with the force of their oath.
Aura of Protection / Courage — Their conviction shields allies, bolstering resistance against fear and harm.
Sacred Oath — Each Paladin swears an oath (Devotion, Vengeance, Ancients, etc.), shaping their ideals, combat style, and moral compass.
Core Identity: Martial artists who master body and spirit, wielding ki to achieve superhuman feats.
Defining Features:
Martial Arts — Monks turn every limb into a weapon, fighting unarmed with speed and precision.
Flurry of Blows — They unleash rapid strikes beyond normal limits, overwhelming foes with sheer speed.
Step of the Wind — Monks leap, dash, and maneuver with near-supernatural mobility, traversing battlefields like flowing water.
Deflect Missiles — They can catch or redirect projectiles, turning arrows and bolts into wasted efforts.
Slow Fall — A monk’s training allows them to survive plunges that would kill others, descending lightly even from great heights.
Stillness of Mind / Purity of Body — Through discipline, monks resist fear, charm, and even poisons, transcending mortal frailty.
Core Identity: Masters of weapons and tactics, Fighters adapt to any battlefield role.
Defining Features:
Second Wind — Fighters push beyond their limits, restoring vitality mid-battle through grit and resolve.
Action Surge — At critical moments, they can act with unparalleled speed, taking decisive action beyond normal limits.
Fighting Style — Each Fighter specializes in a combat method — dueling, archery, defense, or great weapons — honing their edge.
Indomitable — Fighters refuse to yield, shrugging off despair or magical compulsion through sheer willpower.
Extra Attack Mastery — More than any other, Fighters define themselves by relentless offense, striking multiple times where others strike once.
Archetypes (e.g. Champion, Battle Master, Eldritch Knight) provide advanced depth: precision maneuvers, magical versatility, or peerless athleticism.
Core Identity: Warriors of raw fury, channeling primal rage into overwhelming power and resilience.
Defining Features:
Rage — The defining feature of a Barbarian, channeling primal fury to enhance strength, toughness, and ferocity.
Unarmored Defense — Their natural resilience allows them to fight without heavy armor, trusting in instinct and toughness.
Reckless Attack — Barbarians throw caution aside, striking with overwhelming force at the cost of exposing themselves.
Danger Sense — Heightened instincts allow them to sense incoming danger, reacting faster than others.
Relentless Endurance / Persistence — They fight on where others would fall, refusing to die until utterly destroyed.
Path Features — Whether Berserker, Totem Warrior, or another primal path, these choices add a distinct flavor of spirituality or savagery.
Core Identity: Tinkerers and inventors who fuse magic and craft, reshaping battle through ingenuity.
Defining Features:
Infuse Item — Artificers can imbue mundane objects with magical properties, crafting tools, weapons, or gadgets on the fly.
Magical Tinkering — Small contraptions carry light, sound, or minor magical effects, often serving as clever tricks or aids.
Battlefield Innovation — Their gadgets adapt to allies’ needs: armor that fortifies, weapons that strike with power, or tools that solve problems.
Specialist Paths (e.g., Alchemist, Artillerist, Battle Smith) define their combat role — whether brewing volatile elixirs, summoning magical turrets, or crafting steel defenders.
Tool Expertise — More than any other class, artificers are defined by mastery of tools, making invention their battlefield signature.