Community

WotC Mearls wrote:

At the Seattle game day event, I did an interview with Gamer Radio Zero and was asked about the classes in the PH 2. It was a long, hectic day, and I had very little sleep, so I managed to get some of the initials wrong. Anyway, here are the correct ones:

B
B
D
I
S
S
T
W

There is no R class. I have no idea how my brain inserted that letter into the sequence.

No R? Thanks for the clarification, sir.

Your brain latched onto the R sound in bard. That's what I predict happened.

Having sussed out what four of the classes will be, I'll just have to keep my WITS about me for clues as to the identity of the others. I reckon there's going to be at least one pet/summoner class. Will see if I'm right or wrong when the time comes.

Hmm, I just listened to the interview and it invalidated a couple of my guesses, but I'll finish putting them down.

Well, the obvious ones out of the way
Bard
Barbarian
Druid

I was going to guess shadow for the second power source, giving
Illusionist
Shadowblade

But he said only 3 were done previously so that would rule out the Illusionist. Unless it's something semantic.

I thought the following two could fit for more castery options:
Shaman
Theurge

And I was actually kinda baffled on this one for a bit...
W

Witch Doctor? Wyrd? Wraith something. Anyhow, if illusionist (or a variant) is off the table I'm less sure on I. Someone else can guess it, I'm sure

Make that "thinking". Gleemax doesn't seem to let us edit our own posts yet.

WotC Mearls wrote:

Three are completely and utterly new. The rest are either classes or old concepts revisited.

Aha! That seems different to what I mistakenly heard (and people have been repeating) in that it was 3 that were old, everything else was new.

I predict W, I and T will be completely new while S for Shaman (Primal) will be an oldie (with Bard, Barbarian and Druid already given to us by someone else and Sorcerer mentioned as having its first draft completed).

I wonder, though, if the classes that are presented in books like the Forgotten Realms books will be collected into a mainstream PH. If so, then the Swordsage might be one of the S's.

Elderac wrote:

I wonder, though, if the classes that are presented in books like the Forgotten Realms books will be collected into a mainstream PH. If so, then the Swordsage might be one of the S's.

Converting Your Character]Like a few other classes, the 4E wizard has a narrower range of power options than the 3rd Edition wizard. Some of these powers are coming later (summoning and illusions, for example),

Definite confirmation that summoning and illusions are coming, whether they're part of wizard or their own classes. My bet is their own classes, slamming them into Wizard would just result in more cherry picking of the best from each type of wrote:

In Rich Baker's blog, he talks about the sorcerer being an arcane controller. Given that all classes are chosen and in playtest, I doubt that it would be anything else. Changing its source between Baker's blog entry and now would've resulted in a massive fluff & power re-write.

Three completely, utterly new classes - That says to me "Don't use existing class names to try guessing them." There are clues from the full Mearls interview. One of them seems to be a striker, while another alludes towards the "cloth-priest" concept. Are the arcane and divine sources being filled out to four classes each, making them ripe for Powers sourcebooks? Quite possibly.

At this stage, I think Primal will be the PHB2's star source, and others like Psi, Shadow, Ki and Elemental will have to wait their turn.

OatsMalone wrote:

Sorcerer is almost definitely in, probably from a Primal power source. In "Races and Classes", they mentioned that a sorcerer was in production which wreathed himself in elemental magic after casting spells.

I think someone from WotC stated that the sorcerer was an arcane controller.

[indent]My guesses are:[indent]B Barbarian (Primal Defender)

B Bard (Arcane Leader) - I can't wait!

D Druid (Primal Striker)

I Something completely new.

S Shaman (Primal Leader)

S Sorcerer (Arcane Controller)

T Something completely new.

W Something completely new.[/indent]Perhaps PHB II will be Arcane, Divine, and Primal Heroes. This will round off the Arcane and Divine power sources (developers have stated that the Martial power source is complete for now), as well as introduce a new one; which will of course be further rounded in the next PHB.

If it was not explicitly stated that three were "completely and utterly new", then I would have stated:[indent]I Inquisitor (Divine Striker)

T Theurge (Divine Controller)[/indent]But "completely and utterly new" sort of nullifies the idea. Unless "completely and utterly new" is in regard to the concept in which they were originally formulated, and not their name/title.[/indent]

I'm of the opinion the druid is the primal controller.

Do you get more contoller than entangle?

mrpopstar wrote:

Mr. the Hun
[indent]You have a point.

It would actually be awesome if by "hybrid" they mean that the Druid is able to cast [Controller] spells that deal zero damage, only hindering/trapping (a la Entangle) effects, and then changes shape to a [Striker]-type damage dealer in order to mangle those he's restricted from escaping.

Now that would be fun![/indent]

This somewhat reminds me of the Rogue class' "tactics" feature. You could probably choose one or the other as a druid in which you receive special bonuses.

To clarify, Rogues that go down the Brutal Scoundrel path get additional damage bonuses and effects on specific powers, while Artful Dodgers get specific defensive bonuses on other powers. Regardless of which tactic you choose, you can choose any of the powers you wish, you just gain special bonuses in addition to the base features for some depending on your "tactical path."

I don't see why Druids couldn't have a similar mechanic that allows them to either specialize in spells or shapeshifting, yet not exclude them from the other path.

In the scenario I presented, I think what it would really come down to is what At-Will and Encounter powers a Druid will have access to. With a choice of only two At-Wills, it definitely seems like a Druid would be spread quite thin if they decided to take one from each "path."

I don't really want to speculate much further since we have no information about their powers, though I'm anxious to see a preview.

It is curious that the Class Acts feature in the Dungeon magazine features Illusionist spells. They presently have them for the Heroic arc leaving the suggestion that they will eventually publish them for the Paragon Arc and Epic Destiny.

It does give some credence to the Illusionist theory. On the other hand, it could be an early glimse at the Arcane Power book.

If there is the arcane striker in PHB2 it closes the set.

...Warlock?

Arcane Defender is coming with the FR books. Swordmage.

I really don't think the Barbarian is going to be a defender. I think it's going to be a striker. Barbarians have always been more about dealing out the damage, not taking it.

Sword Mage

I don't think Illusionist will be in the PHB2 considering there was an article in Dragon this month specifically about Illusion-flavored powers for Wizards. They might make the Illusionist anyway, but it seems redundant to me.

Well, if they're going to give the gnome PC treatment in PHB2, I'd be very surprised if Illusionist didn't make the book.

Anyway, considering there's no M (and thus no monk), I'd be very surprised if any of the other Oriental-style classes (Wu Jen, Shugenja, Ninja, Samurai) appeared. My guess is that they'll all show up together, probably in PHB3, all connected to the Ki power source. Psionic may very well be there as well. Why wait so long? Those classes are very setting specific. They don't fit as well in the generic campaign setting that most people use when they play D&D. Sure, you can use whatever you want in your campaign setting, but a lot of people don't want to get ninjas and telepaths mixed into their medieval fantasy. Evidence, of a sort.

I think they mentioned the druid as actually being a hybrid in a blog. I was assuming that you'd pick a path of sorts and it would make you more of a role by doing so.

I really hope we get more than 1 controller and less than 4 strikers, Belorin A divine controller would be very appropriate - elemental, too.

Barbarian - Primal Defender/Striker
Bard - Arcane Leader
Druid - Primal Striker/Controller
Inquisitor - Divine Striker
Shaman - Primal Leader/Defender
Sorcerer Arcane Controller
Theurge - Divine Controller
W - Primal Controller/Leader

Fabio_Milito_Pagliara wrote:

there is th cover of the phb II on the wiz site
arcane, divine and primal heroes

Thanks, I hadn't seen that. I guess that rules out the theories for psionic, ki, and shadow characters. I guess we won't see those until PHB III--which fits with what I said before. PHB II will try to fill out the mainstream character classes which were missing, while III will add in the less mainstream classes. The cover, by the way, shows what's probably a Barbarian, although I don't know what race (looks kind of like a goliath) and someone summoning spirit animals. Could be a druid, but I think it sounds more like a shaman. And is summoning a function of a leader, or a controller?

So I think t3nk3n's probably pretty close. Maybe we should do PHB III next--ki (monk, ninja, samurai), psionic (soulknife, telepath), shadow (necromancer).

I am a little sad for the shadow source, I was looking forward to both Illusionist and Necromancer... mostly to Illusionist... well I'll have to wait or mix something up

I personally think the reason that the druid class wasn't in the regular PHB is because druids in 3.5 could do ANYTHING. Since the new game design seems to be currently limiting options to steer people towards part roles, and for the sake of easier developing, I would assume that the druid that we know is being carved up into numerous classes. This way we cans till play those characters we loved without having a ridiculous overpowered class.

I did notice no one talking about the possibility of a Monk(martial artist, un-armed fighter) class. This saddens me, considering that it was one of my favorite classes in the game alongside Bard, Barbarian, and Druid.


..... yes I know these are all classes not included on the game thus far.


......

QQ

My 2 cents !

Barbarian (primal defender)
Druid (primal leader)
Incarnate (primal striker)
Shaman (primal controler)

Mike, I'm getting hot ? :D

Well, we've now seen the cover of the PHB II and that gives us an idea of what the classes might be. It looks like the PHB II will have Arcane, Divine, and Primal classes only. I think the prediction of Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Shaman, and Sorceror are dead on. The I, T, and W are the new ones and I'm guessing one is primal and one is divine. This would "close" out Arcane and Divine in the sense that each would have at least 4 classes (Arcane will have a fifth class in the Swordmage). My guesses are:

I - Inquisitor. A Divine Striker that acts as a holy assassin. Hard-hitting melee powers combined with short range, powerful Daily type powers (a striker paladin). Some sort of "Judgement" type power that it uses to do more damage. Will have a little healing, I'd think. Channel Divinity powers are a given.

T- Theurge. A Divine Controller. Has lots of Zone and Summoning type powers - some healing, but probably in the form of regenerative zones and so forth. Again, some kind of Channel Divinity that helps them do their thing (a "Rebuke Immortals" type power could be cool, for instance). OR
Totemist. Sounds good, don't know what it'd do, though.


W - I'm thinking this is primal and I've got nothing. If the Barbarian is a defender, the Shaman is a leader, and the Druid is a Controller/Striker, then this one could be a pure striker or pure controller. We could get a dedicated Summoner class in the form of a controller, or a striker not unlike a primal warlock or rogue. Wylder? Wildkin? Wyrd? Wold?

W = Wild Mage [Arcane Controller]

That could qualify as a "something completely new" class, I think? There were wild magic rules in 2E, but it don't think it was its own class if I remember correctly. And now that 4E has hit, I noticed in hindsight that a lot of things were foreshadowed in the D&D minis line...there was a Wild Mage mini that came out a few sets ago.

I'm thinking the Barbarian is almost definitely a primal defender - I think it will be more like a Brute than a Soldier (to use Monster terms). I'm sure it will have some sort of marking mechanic, but I'm guessing that it focuses on having lots of hit points and dealing lots of damage, as opposed to impeding movement and being hard to hit.

Judging by the new PH, each power source still has slots to fill as far as party roles go. There is a Divine Leader (Cleric) and Divine Defender (Paladin), but no Divine Striker or Divine Controller. There is an Arcane Controller (Wizard) and an Arcane Striker (Warlock), but no Arcane Leader or Arcane Defender. Given the emphasis on party roles, I can't imagine that these won't be filled sooner or later.

Since the cover of the PH2 lists Arcane, Divine, and Primal heroes, the remaining roles could be filled by four of the eight classes, leaving the other four classes to fill each role of the Primal source.

Shadow is a separate source, so I am assuming there won't be any Shadow classes in the PH2 or the cover would have listed Shadow along with the other power sources. Also, if each upcoming volume of the PH describes eight classes, the PH3 and PH4 (should they eventually exist) could describe all the roles for two power sources in each book. So far the organization has been pretty good in 4th Ed - just my opinion, of course. I am the only person in my group who converted from "expert" D&D to AD&D when it first came out, so I am familiar with the organization in every other edition. From what I have seen over the years, 4th Ed. is the most accessible, possibly because it is a return to iconic fantasy. But I digress. Anyway, given the thematic organization in 4th Ed., I could logically see Ki and Psionic power sources presented in one book and Shadow and Elemental sources presented in the other.

The only remaining Martial role is a Martial Controller, which I am guessing is addressed in the upcoming Martial Power book rather than lumping one final party role for that source into another PH.

So after all this deduction/assumption, I know I still don't have as many guesses as most of you, but I could easily see the following classes in the PH2:

Bard (Arcane Leader)

Barbarian (Primal Defender)

Druid I could see as either Primal Leader or Primal Controller, but Primal Leader is my guess, especially given the parallels to Cleric, which fills the Leader role for the Divine source. Druids have some melee combat ability plus abilities that can aid allies, which puts them more in the Leader role than any other.

Scout (Primal Striker)

The following two classes I am even more skeptical about and one of them is definitely wrong, since there are three never-before-seen classes:

Shugenja (Primal Controller) From the Complete Divine: "... the shugenja is a divine spell caster who casts spells by attuning himself to the primal energies around him and focusing such energy through his body to produce magical effects."

War Mage (Arcane Defender)

But alas, in the end it is all speculation, although I think I have a better idea about the PH2 races, if you don't mind a small tangent to the PH2 speculation. I think the races in the PH2, again considering the power sources involved, might be Githzerai, Gnome, Drow or Doppleganger, Half-orc, and Shifter.

Time will tell. For now, as always, it's just fun to wonder.

flip you on the see side,

J.

mostly I miss the illusionist, I hope for the phb3 (I would like to see ki+shadow), the druid, bard and others are a must for the phb2

I doubt that the Druid will be a leader, since it's more concentrated on shapechanging probably it can be a striker or defender don't know

the Shaman could fill the role of primal leader (buffing and healing with totem and primal spirits)

anyhow I am happy it's coming out in march!

What I want to see:

B arbarian - Primal Defender (think more Brute and less Soldier)
B ard - Arcane Leader
D ruid - Primal Hybrid (Striker/Controller?)
S orcerer - Arcane Controller
S wordmage - Arcane Defender
W itch - Divine Controller (C'mon, the Raven Queen needs witches and you know it)

As for I and T, your guess is as good as mine. Not counting my "W" guess, we've not seen a divine controller or striker, and there might be a third Primal class. of the guesses posited so far, I like:

I nquisitor - Divine Striker
T heurge - Divine Controller

I heard that the Swordmage is going to be in the Forgotten Realms guide and not PHB 2. True ???

With regards to Psions being in PH II, looking at the cover of that book (in the products page) it seems that the subtitle says, "Arcane, Divine, and Primal Heroes." Of course that is subject to change, but it seems like they will not be in PH II.

B arbarian - Primal Defender (think more Brute and less Soldier)

Brutes deal high damage, with lower defenses. Soldiers have higher defenses, and deal less damage. Oh, and a lot of them soldiers have marking abilities... High damage + lower defenses = brute = striker

Although I think Inquisitor is a good idea and i really don't have anything for "I" I can't believe no one has suggested "Witchhunter" for a divine striker.(Unless I missed it i tried to check)

By the way, the cover of the PHB2 says "arcane, divine, and primal heroes"
so the classes have to fit into those power sources. Which is too bad cause the Sorcerer would have made an awesome Elemental Controller. Having the Elemental Controller be called "Elementalist" is like calling the Wizard "Arcanist" or the Fighter "Martialist". Full of lose.

Also no shadow or psionic classes this time around. OH and no swordmage because that is supposed to be in the Forgotten Realms Player's handbook. (Along with the drow and genasi full player race writeups hopefully)

So we have

Primal
- Barbarian (definite in, if you don't think it'll be a defender you're nuts)
- Druid (definite, probably controller in human form and striker while in animal form, a few animals like bear and lion would make good defender forms but it probably won't go in that direction, who knows though)
- Shaman (99%, they said they are working on cool nature spirit mechanics for this one, almost certainly a leader, but no one in WoTC has said so)

Arcane
- Sorcerer (again, to bad but, yeah it's arcane and a controller to boot)
- Bard (go Elan!, leader duh)

Divine
- Theurge or Thaumaturge (as a divine controller, no one in WoTC has said anything but probably, the word Thaumaturge pretty much means divine wizard as it stands anyway)
- Witch Hunter (would make a cool divine striker, could be Inquisitor, but I'm guessing market research would show people rather be a witchhunter than an inquisitor, i guess folks don't like witches)

I have no idea what "I" could be beside's the aforementioned Inquisitor which is a name I just don't like. It's like saying, "for my character class i'm going to play the a**hole; watch as a i ruin hours of fun accusing my fellow player's of working for Satan". The Witchhunter certainly has certain conceptional similarities, but at least it's focused on fighting monsters and protecting the innocent; as well as having icons for players to follow like Van Helsing. I'd really like to hear if anyone has any "I" Primal classes in mind, probably a controller maybe a striker.

My Witchhunter's name is Robin

3 completely and utterly new, eh?

I like the idea of T for Totemist. W for Warden I... I have no idea.

Barbarian MUST bu a striker. He is mobile, dangerous and easy to hit. If he isn't a stiker or a defender/striker they got it wrong. When you think barbarian you think loads of damage and raging bursts of fury.

balard wrote:

When you think barbarian you think loads of damage and raging bursts of fury.

All the more reason to think Primal Controller.

I Inquisitor (Divine Striker)

My heart wept at first for joy at the notion, and then for sorrow that it's most likely not the case.

Also, I'd really like for the barbarian to be a striker. Someone needs to hold that greataxe high and lay down some whuppin'.

Because books are of a finite size. For example, what 36 pages would you have removed to fit those 3 classes in? Maybe... all the magic items and the rules for healing? That looks about the right size

P.S. I'm joking - I'm sure someone will respond warlord and warlock. And, y'know, another 12 pages. Maybe ranger? Nobody likes those, right? Which would be a shame - at a minimum, I really like the warlord.

Here is my list for the classes I liked best from everything that's been put forth thus far. Granted, this are just my opnions of what I liked best, not necessarily what we're going to see (since most likely at least one of the classes will have a name that none of us have probably even thought of). But there's been some really good ideas and opinions thus far, and I just wanted to bring my own thoughts together out of it.

As far as the roles are concerned... it's rough. The primal group can be entirely in flux, depending on how things plays out and which classes are actually in. Druid and barbarian look to be both either a defender or striker depending on the druid's shapechanging and whether the barbarian is meant to wear heavy armor or not. Either or could work. If the 'witchdoctor' is an actual class name, I moved that to the primal leader slot (since having "doctor" in your name makes sense to have the leader's healing abilities). This then moves the shaman to controllers, where possibly they can do Area of Effect type stuff if they have a mechanic a la WoW to throw down totems and such.

For arcane... with the assumption they are not double-publishing the swordmage concept (in both the FR and PHII), that leaves us with the bard and sorcerer to fill out the leader slot and add a second controller (which they seem to be okay with doubling up on roles since we have two martial strikers after all). And as far as the divine... I just like the name 'templar' more than 'theurge', and like everyone else I couldn't come up with anything starting with 'I' except to go along with Inquistor, which would put it into the controller category (and could make sense if the Inquisitor's main abilities were all charm or presence style attacks... browbeating enemies with area of effect "you will do as I say! I command you!" kind of things.

So to recap:

Primal:
B arbarian (Striker)
D ruid (Defender)
S haman (Controller)
W itchdoctor (Leader)

Arcane:
B ard (Leader)
S orcerer (Controller)

Divine:
I nquistor (Controller)
T emplar (Striker)

We'll see how this eventually plays out. But I'm looking forward to all of it! I am really digging the whole 4E class concept, and find the addition of new full classes in 4E much more tolerable and interesting than the 3E class editions that came via the splatbooks.

DEFCON 1 wrote:

So to recap:

Primal:
B arbarian (Striker)
D ruid (Defender)
S haman (Controller)
W itchdoctor (Leader)

Arcane:
B ard (Leader)
S orcerer (Controller)

Divine:
I nquistor (Controller)
T emplar (Striker)

Well, we know that that the Druid is going to be capable to preforming multiple roles, and if you re-read the converting barbarians article, it mentions that either presented choice would lock you into either striker or defender, leading me to believe that the Barbarian can also pull off either of those two roles. So, the two Primal classes we know about can probably serve two roles, I'd be willing to bet that all each of the four primal classes can do this.

I suspect that the W will be the Witch. Not sure about role, though.

SpearSpike wrote:

I don't think they will have a witch class, since it might make the wiccans angry.

And why it isn't a good thing? :D

Here in brazil wiccans only play white wolf...

SpearSpike wrote:

I personally have no objection. But Wiccans do seem to make up a large portion of the RPG market, at least here in MASS they do. So my guess is that wizards wouldn't want to tick them off.

Interesting, the number that self ID as Wicca is less then 1 percent of the US population. Gaming clearly can be one way to meet others that at least consider that path. The Worldwide D&D community has been estimated to be a mere 4,000,000. Thus it strikes me as possible that perhaps 5 percent of gamers at least considered some version of Wicca.

Oh back to topic of a Witch class. Such has been offered before in prior editions and there was no major outcry or protests that I saw. Some muttered some about some versions appearing to default to fairy tales, but generally understood it is just a bloody game.

WotC should have nothing to fear from Wiccans for having a Witch class, the damage (if any) has already been done by having the Warlock class and it came first.

Wow... ENWorld surprised and confused me for a second there.

I dunno how many of you checked out The Kyngdom's post on the front page that mentioned supposedly some of the classes that were to be in the PHII (whose info was taken from the WotC 2009 Spring Catalog)... but it certainly took me aback for a bit, and I'm guessing probably some of you too.

It mentioned in the post that the Catalog had confirmed the classes of Barbarian, Druid, Bard, Sorcerer, and Swordmage as being in the PHII. This shocked me. If this was been true, it meant that the Shaman was actually NOT a new class being made for the primal power source (since the two 'S' classes would have been Sorcerer and Swordmage). As someone who believed with I think most of you that the Shaman was almost a certainty for a new class, this revelation blew my mind.

My first thought when I saw this post was surprise that the Shaman in fact wasn't going to be a new class, and my second thought was that if this was true, then the Sorcerer almost HAD to be a primal controller after all (and not the Arcane controller James Wyatt had mentioned). After all, with Sorcerer, Bard and Swordmage, that would have made THREE arcane classes in the PHII, and thus probably only three primal classes. And that would have made absolutely no sense (especially since the swordmage info would have been nothing more than reprinted info out of the Forgotten Realms campaign guide). Why forsake a fourth primal class just to reprint the info of a class that isn't necessarily being clamored for anyway?

Well it turns out that my initial fears seem to be somewhat discounted, as The Kyngdom's post header might be a bit off. The post now includes exactly the information that is found in the WotC Spring Catalog... and Swordmage it turns out is not listed as a class under the Player's Handbook II, but rather is one of the five classes listed in the new Arcane Power Cards product. So what this really means is that just because the swordmage is getting a set of power cards made for it, doesn't mean that it's necessarily being printed in both the FRCG and PHII. And its more than likely that it probably isn't being reprinted twice, as that always seemed to be rather short-sighted on the part of WotC. Swordmage is a valid class and probably being considered somewhat core... or at the very least valid enough to warrant its own set of power cards. But it doesn't mean it's definitely in PHII.

So we can rest assured that there's a good chance that our beliefs of a Shaman class in the PHII is still a possibility.

Lordflashheart wrote:

Despite the fact that wiccans call themselves witches, they were not the witches that were being hunted in Salem. In fact, every one tried was a Christian. The Witch Trials were all about Christians doing violence to Christians. The whole "Burning Times" thing is just an attempt to inject Wicca into the historical record.

Disinformation is never a good idea.
1) Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner with a claim of a link (never proven) to a coven about 1939.
2) There was one witch(1) charged in the Salem trails, but because she was a slave was not killed but instead sold.
3) The "burning times" the number of deaths for Witchcraft has been greatly reduced from first estimates, however Christians and non Christians (pagans) were subjected to trail and conviction.

(1) Tituba, perhaps just a follower of voodoo

Lordflashheart wrote:

Despite the fact that wiccans call themselves witches, they were not the witches that were being hunted in Salem. In fact, every one tried was a Christian. The Witch Trials were all about Christians doing violence to Christians. The whole "Burning Times" thing is just an attempt to inject Wicca into the historical record.

Agreed and understood.

My point was just that the local romanticised notion of "witches" might cause more to identify with it.

2) I footnoted the witch.

3) http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_burn.htm which appears to be fairly trusted as a fact checker.

Some of the victims worshiped Pagan deities, and thus could be considered to be indirectly linked to today's Neopagans. However most apparently did not.

I have not been to salem, however what I have read about it in recent years my impression is that many there call themselves Wicca but do not walk the path of Wicca. Clearly witchcraft is a major tourist attraction these days.

SpearSpike wrote:

This is very outside the mainstream interpretation of the European Witch Trials. I seriously suggest you read scholarly material on the subject. Very few medievalists would support this statement. There is also not evidence to support it.


Here is a helpful link:

http://wicca.timerift.net/burning.shtml

The link only provides a few facts, that at Salam Witches were not burned is indeed true.
The fact that one witch was pressed to death is false, he refused to plea thus was not convicted of Witchcraft.

Oh I did find one interesting quote, however not a provable fact based on what the website offers.

Few, if any, had any knowledge of pagan religion

This site appears to at least consider that some pagans were accused and convicted of being witches.

I do agree most of the burning times had victims of the Christian faith, I never disputed that. That in some regions as many men as women were killed as witches.
I already stated that no Wiccans were killed at that time, though in the US there have been witch killings after Wicca was founded (if those were Wicca or even a witch does not matter as far as witch killing goes).

Kentinal wrote:

The link only provides a few facts, that at Salam Witches were not burned is indeed true.
The fact that one witch was pressed to death is false, he refused to plea thus was not convicted of Witchcraft.

).

You realize that most likely none of them practiced witchcraft at all. That they were in fact Christians. And if they were practicing magic it would have been folk magic that had existed along side Christian Culture for some time.

Back on page 2 it was said that ant martial classes would be in the martial powers book, if im not mistaken at some point in a intervies or blog i remeber reading that they were going to only have classes presented in players handbooks and campaign setting books.

DEFCON 1 wrote:

You are correct. Unless something changes in the next couple of years for some reason... the so-called Power splatbooks will not have any new classes. Instead they will have new powers for the existing classes (with some powers that might imply new possible "builds" for those classes), new Paragon Paths, and new Epic Destinies. And if I had to guess, probably new feats as well.

The reason for this I presume is because they want a clear demarcation between what the Player's Handbooks are (all 4+ of them that will get released in the coming several years), and what the Powersplats are. The PHs are core character design books. These are only what you require to make base characters in all manner of race and class. The Powersplats are entirely additional information to extend and expand on what you've already gotten in the PHs. That's what I've gathered from what they've released, and I have no reason to think that will change.

I this is in fact the case, then 4E will be just as broken as 3E in a year or two. Why even bother with splat books this time around?

SpearSpike wrote:

I this is in fact the case, then 4E will be just as broken as 3E in a year or two. Why even bother with splat books this time around?

Because there are still plenty of options for Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies to be made for all the classes (especially destinies). So why not do them?

And we're actually in a better place with 4E than with 3E in terms of worrying about power creep, because the entire system has set math behind it. And I don't think it would be a shock to assume that pretty much every new power that gets created is being run through the 4E math washer to make sure it fits the rules set up.

the swordmage is going to be in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, so while I suppose it might make an appearance in PHB2, I think they'd probably put something else there.

If the druid was assigned as a primal leader (reprising the role from 3.x where the druid is a nature priest), what would a shaman offer?

I still expect to see some sort of summoner make an appearance, and i'd bet that the 'T' is going to be Theurge or something along those lines. Hard to say, though - those WoTC designers can be tricksy!