For players of Dungeons & Dragons, picking the right class to play for each campaign is essential. Your character’s class determines many things such as your stats and how much damage you can inflict.
Beyond that, the class of a character greatly influences their backstory and how their character arc develops in the game. While each player has their favorite class or classes to play, there are some that are better than others overall. While some are particularly badass, others are fairly weak.
Weak: Ranger
While ranger might be an awesome class because it calls to mind favorite fantasy characters such as Aragorn, this class has become a little bit outdated. It feels too classic, and it’s difficult for people not to fall into traps of doing the same tropes over and over again.
While rangers, like any class, can be made into a cool character, their main skills aren’t the most useful in many campaigns. Survival and tracking skills aren’t generally sought after in the same ways skills like perception or sleight of hand tend to be.
Bad Ass: Wizard
Wizard is the classic magic class, and while it might be original, it’s still really great to play. In the 5th edition, this class is still quite versatile. There are many different spells wizards can use, and you can customize them in interesting ways.
The main downside to wizards is that they have low HP and things can go wrong if they run out of spell slots in battle situations. However, they have some of the most iconic spells such as firebolt.
Weak: Barbarian
While some classes are rather sought after, some are not so much. There are many different kinds of people who play Dungeons & Dragons, so all classes have their fans. The main issue with barbarian is they aren’t very flexible. While they can be super useful in battle and good tanks, melee is their main skill.
They can’t use magic, and they are mostly useful for hand to hand combat. They also are harder to individualize in interesting ways.
Bad Ass: Cleric
Being a cleric offers you many of the perks of playing as a wizard along with some interesting backstory and customization options. Clerics need to have some tie to religion or philosophy, and this makes for many different character backstories that can be quite varied.
While they might not do the most damage, clerics are essential because of their healing spells. They also have spells that can raise people from the dead, and it’s hard to get more badass than that.
Weak: Bard
Where cleric is a magic class that has some unique capabilities and interesting spells, bard kind of lacks in these areas. They are often some of the weaker characters, and they don’t have as many damage-dealing spells. They are mainly supposed to be characters that offer inspiration and support, but they aren’t the easiest to play especially for newbies.
While they can be made to be a useful party member, it takes a skilled hand, and this class often goes really wrong.
Bad Ass: Monk
While many people scoff at this class, they are one that not many people play, so you’re not as likely to make a character that hundreds of other people already have. They can do a lot of damage, and there’s something especially badass about how their weapons are just their fists.
Playing a monk makes the most sense in campaigns that aren’t so reliant on European lore heavy campaigns, but, with an adept dungeon master, this can be an awesome class.
Weak: Rogue
Rogue is one of the most classically loved and adored classes. They are right up there with ranger in terms of being played often and having a lot of tropes associated with them.
They definitely aren’t a bad class at all as they can have many useful skills such as sleight of hand and stealth. However, they are a bit overdone. Also, magic also makes any of their sneak abilities not as useful, so they can sometimes feel a bit weak compared to other classes that they come against.
Bad Ass: Warlock
While wizards have some pretty intense spells, warlock is another class that has many advantages. Warlock’s biggest advantage is that they have Eldritch Blast, a spell that can be cast twice on each turn, unlike other spells for other magic users.
While some people might think they are basic, they are easy to customize, and they can have some truly interesting backstories.
Weak: Sorcerer
The problem with sorcerer is that they have some of the downsides of both warlock and wizard without as many of the advantages. The best thing about sorcerers is that they are born with magic as opposed to getting their magic from a patron or from components.
This can lead to interesting backstories. The issue, however, is that they don’t have the Eldritch Blast cantrip like warlocks do, and they also don’t have nearly as many spells at their disposal as a wizard does. They can still be fun to play, but they aren’t the best magic class.
Bad Ass: Fighter
Fighter is one of the most basic classes in a way, but they also offer a lot of flexibility if you don’t want to play a character with magic. They are overall a strong class as they have a high armor class and can do a good deal of damage. They are a great class to play if you want something that’s very simple to build over time.
They can fight with such a large range of weapons that it’s easy to decide if you want to focus on melee or ranged attacks. Plus, fighters as a class are a broad idea that these characters can be almost anyone.