With this class, I thee wed...

Our group finally got the chance to play after a two month hiatus.

It was good to get back as it reminded me that the ruleset (ie. 4e or 3.5) isn't the most important thing. It's an important foundation for the fun, but the rules are not the be all, end all of the fun.

During play I also got to read through my brother's copy of the PHB2. As I did I even had an epiphany of sorts.

The classes in 4E feel so restrictive because they're meant to be. You're supposed to pick a single class and go with it for all 30 levels!

I know. That sounds like a total "well duh dipshit wake the fuck up" thing to write, but like I said... epiphany.

In my mind, the class has always been just a tool to help with the realization of my character concept. If I want a melee fighter who uses touch spells I start with a monk and then add in either sorceror or cleric levels. If I want a stealthy warrior who uses twin short swords I go ranger and rogue. And so on.

I can't do that in 4E because once you pick a class, that's it. You're locked in for better or for worse. Til death or TPK do you part. You might look wistfully at that other class and wonder what it would be like to be that for just a weekend, but at best you can flirt by using a multi-class feat.

Upon realizing that it became clear that to fully enjoy 4E I need to change the way I make my characters. I can still start with a concept (ie. storm themed caster) but I have to pour over the potential class and find the one that'll be the best fit.

I did exactly that with the PHB2 as I considered switching my current character from a wizard to a sorcerer.

On the one hand, the sorcerer dragon magic path is a nice fit for my Dragonborn. On the other, the sorcerer powers (for the heroic tier anyways) don't really fit the storm theme I want. There are some lightning and cold powers but nothing that really screamed "this is the character I want".

So, although the wizard class isn't perfect it is comfortable. So I settled.

Of course, when one settles for less than perfect it's only a matter of time before you start thinking of divorce.