How's your experience been with the various A5E classes?
I've been running several weekly games of a5e for months; my players, some of which overlap multiple games, feel that some classes are MUCH more powerful than their 5e counterparts, whereas others are weaker. They've had mixed satisfaction with optimizing inside the system.
Most of them are coming from 5e with various levels of experience. Not every class has been played extensively, I'm only going to list the ones that have reached mid-tiers (level 8+).
Adept - The monk player refused to touch the adept because they didn't get poison immunity. Personally, I'm glad that adepts don't get immunity to such a flexible source of damage/effect.
Bard - Player satisfaction with bards have been pretty good. They've enjoyed the enhanced power brought on by Battle Hymns. As with many things in a5e, more options means more keeping track of what your character can do; remembering exactly how their hymns work, especially when they get buffed, can be used at different times through different actions, etc. is a challenge. They never remember that they can use them as a reaction at the end of another creature's turn. The instrument specialization bonuses are also frequently forgotten.
Berserker - There are berserker characters in two games- and they're both easily the most powerful character on the field. Brutal critical stunning or blinding enemies is nuts when you couple equipment and maneuvers that can result in a 17-20 crit range; add to this stacking rage HP, high AC from heavy armor and a shield and the tempest auto-cover bonus, advantage on dex saves and having a rogue's evasion vs said dex saves means that unless the enemies are primarily ranged fliers or mental saving throw monsters, the berserker is going to make mincemeat of even deadly encounters. Maneuvers are a potent cherry on top of a class that is better than the 5e barbarian in basically every way.
The players think that berserker is very overpowered, I'm inclined to agree.
Cleric - The cleric player has not complained that some of the spells 5e clerics had as automatic go-to's have been nerfed, and he's really been digging a lot of the features that the core cleric gets, as well as the potent healing bonuses the healer archetype grants (maxed hit dice rolls on short rests for everyone!).
Fighter - This one's not been tested to mid-tier, but the general thought is "a battlemaster but I also get a subclass." They miss action surge, though. The only oddity that's come up has been Maneuver Specialization in Catch Your Breath- it makes CYB incredibly potent, and might break hit dice expenditure for the fighter since they get 1d4 exertion for a minutes' rest to burn 1HD. They get way more healing from CYB than they would from short resting and rolling hit dice, and then they also get their EP back from said short rest.
Herald - Players have felt underwhelmed with the Herald, which is sad in my mind; I quite like the class. But these players have come from 5e paladins, and they're used to exploding things with paladin-crits using 99% of their spell slots.
Ranger - The ranger player definitely took a lot of getting used to the a5e ranger; their abilities come up frequently, but for the longest time the player was very frustrated that they couldn't get weapon focus - archery without multiclassing to fighter. They're now mid-tier and have built their character's To-Hit so high that they rarely miss anything; I dread to think what'll happen when they take the feat that lets them ignore cover.
They were very dissatisfied with the Wildborn ranger being a 1/3 caster, rather than the 5e ranger's 1/2 caster.
Rogue - Has been using the Mugging Hit maneuver against nearly every enemy they can. They love it. I love that they love it.
Warlock - The main warlock player seems to be happy with his experience, aside from Fireball only doing 6d6. I think he enjoys the flexibility of spell points.
Oddly, another 5e warlock player complains that they choose a warlock specifically so they don't have to faff about with multiple levels of spells etc, and that spell points complicate the whole thing.
I've been running several weekly games of a5e for months; my players, some of which overlap multiple games, feel that some classes are MUCH more powerful than their 5e counterparts, whereas others are weaker. They've had mixed satisfaction with optimizing inside the system.
Most of them are coming from 5e with various levels of experience. Not every class has been played extensively, I'm only going to list the ones that have reached mid-tiers (level 8+).
Adept - The monk player refused to touch the adept because they didn't get poison immunity. Personally, I'm glad that adepts don't get immunity to such a flexible source of damage/effect.
Bard - Player satisfaction with bards have been pretty good. They've enjoyed the enhanced power brought on by Battle Hymns. As with many things in a5e, more options means more keeping track of what your character can do; remembering exactly how their hymns work, especially when they get buffed, can be used at different times through different actions, etc. is a challenge. They never remember that they can use them as a reaction at the end of another creature's turn. The instrument specialization bonuses are also frequently forgotten.
Berserker - There are berserker characters in two games- and they're both easily the most powerful character on the field. Brutal critical stunning or blinding enemies is nuts when you couple equipment and maneuvers that can result in a 17-20 crit range; add to this stacking rage HP, high AC from heavy armor and a shield and the tempest auto-cover bonus, advantage on dex saves and having a rogue's evasion vs said dex saves means that unless the enemies are primarily ranged fliers or mental saving throw monsters, the berserker is going to make mincemeat of even deadly encounters. Maneuvers are a potent cherry on top of a class that is better than the 5e barbarian in basically every way.
The players think that berserker is very overpowered, I'm inclined to agree.
Cleric - The cleric player has not complained that some of the spells 5e clerics had as automatic go-to's have been nerfed, and he's really been digging a lot of the features that the core cleric gets, as well as the potent healing bonuses the healer archetype grants (maxed hit dice rolls on short rests for everyone!).
Fighter - This one's not been tested to mid-tier, but the general thought is "a battlemaster but I also get a subclass." They miss action surge, though. The only oddity that's come up has been Maneuver Specialization in Catch Your Breath- it makes CYB incredibly potent, and might break hit dice expenditure for the fighter since they get 1d4 exertion for a minutes' rest to burn 1HD. They get way more healing from CYB than they would from short resting and rolling hit dice, and then they also get their EP back from said short rest.
Herald - Players have felt underwhelmed with the Herald, which is sad in my mind; I quite like the class. But these players have come from 5e paladins, and they're used to exploding things with paladin-crits using 99% of their spell slots.
Ranger - The ranger player definitely took a lot of getting used to the a5e ranger; their abilities come up frequently, but for the longest time the player was very frustrated that they couldn't get weapon focus - archery without multiclassing to fighter. They're now mid-tier and have built their character's To-Hit so high that they rarely miss anything; I dread to think what'll happen when they take the feat that lets them ignore cover.
They were very dissatisfied with the Wildborn ranger being a 1/3 caster, rather than the 5e ranger's 1/2 caster.
Rogue - Has been using the Mugging Hit maneuver against nearly every enemy they can. They love it. I love that they love it.
Warlock - The main warlock player seems to be happy with his experience, aside from Fireball only doing 6d6. I think he enjoys the flexibility of spell points.
Oddly, another 5e warlock player complains that they choose a warlock specifically so they don't have to faff about with multiple levels of spells etc, and that spell points complicate the whole thing.
