D&D Core Base Classes Explained (3.5)
There are more classes than this. Many, many more. This is a rundown of the eleven base classes from the core rulebook, which are the ones you can expect to find in basically any 3.5 campaign. They've all got pluses and minuses, some are definitely more powerful than others, but every one of them can be fun in its own unique way.
Barbarian
You pick Barbarian when smashing something is the answer you want your character to have for problems. Whatever, or whoever, that problem may be.
Primary Stat(s): Strength, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Intelligence, Charisma
Pros: Full base attack bonus, good Fortitude save, Rage, improved Strength and Constitution while raging, damage reduction
Cons: Bad Reflex and Will saves, limited utility outside combat
As a Barbarian, you'll have a pretty easy time hitting enemies with melee attacks, dealing decent damage, and surviving when people try to hit you back. You should pretty much always be the physically strongest member of the party, except when some spellcaster decides to make that a competition. Where you'll find yourself lacking is in social encounters and puzzle-solving. Granted, that's not what the class is for. Have someone else do the talking outside of Intimidate checks, and remember that your method of finding and disabling traps is usually walking through them.
Bard
You pick Bard when smashing something is still the answer you want your character to have for problems, except a very different variety of smashing than the Barbarian. Bards inspire their allies through art and use their charisma-gic to literally and metaphorically open doors.
Primary Stat(s): Charisma
Dump Stat(s): Strength
Pros: Spellcasting, good Reflex and Will saves, lots of class skills, Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge
Cons: Bad Fortitude save, more limited spellcasting than full casters
As a Bard, you'll often use Bardic Music alongside spells to make everyone else better at what they were already doing. You're not a Wizard with a spell for every possible emergency, but you shine as the party face, handling social encounters with Charisma, music, magic, and a genuinely great selection of skills. Bardic Knowledge also basically lets you pretend you have ranks in every knowledge skill, which saves you a lot of skill ranks, and lets you make fun of the wizard for being an egghead while you have fun at the bar.
Cleric
You pick Cleric when you want to cast spells that make you and everyone around you stronger, when healing or magically harming at a moment's notice feels right, or when you want to make the undead regret not just being dead. Or if you're a really cool Cleric, you can even controll them.
Primary Stat(s): Wisdom, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Dexterity
Pros: Full spellcasting, Turn or Rebuke Undead, domain spells and powers, armor proficiency, spontaneous healing or harming, access to the ENTIRE Cleric spell list
Cons: Low skill points, limited class skills, 3/4 base attack bonus
Clerics are the magical Swiss Army knife of divine magic. You can heal, buff, summon, destroy, and change your focus wildly depending on your domains. You can wear full plate while doing it, which makes you both tanky and versatile. With the right build, a Cleric can rival a Fighter in melee while still being a full spellcaster, which is about as fair as it sounds. Just remember that being able to heal doesn't mean healing is always your best move. I go into that problem in the handbook on healing versus buffing.
Druid
You pick Druid when you want to turn into a bear and still cast spells afterward. Also when you want an animal companion that might hit harder than the Fighter. You are nature's ally and warden, wielding plants, animals, weather, and the elements against anyone who apparently didn't get the message.
Primary Stat(s): Wisdom, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Charisma
Pros: Full spellcasting, Wild Shape, animal companion, strong battlefield control and summoning
Cons: Armor restrictions, alignment restrictions, a lot of moving parts for a new player
Druids get some of the best spells in the game, they ability to shapeshift into a huge range of animals (and more with alternate features), can summon animals, have their own animal companion, and never really feel restricted to one thing. You're a tank, a healer, or a beat-stick at your liesure, with the only real restrictions being your alignment and armor choice.
Fighter
You pick Fighter when you want to kill things in cool ways. Fighter enables you to specialize in cool fighting styles by enabling you to select entire trees of feats that you otherwise wouldn't have access or the room in your build for.
Primary Stat(s): Strength, Dexterity, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Intelligence, Charisma
Pros: Full base attack bonus, bonus feats at 1st level and every even level, proficient with basically all (non-exotic) weapons and armor
Cons: Bad Will save, very few skills, can fall behind if you don't prestige/multiclass
Fighters start strong and straightforward, and all those feats let you specialize in nearly any fighting style. The problem is that most of your class features are just more feats, and feats can struggle to compete with the increasingly ridiculous things spellcasters gain at higher levels. You can still build an effective Fighter, but you'll want a plan beyond "I hit it again," especially if your DM runs combat with terrain and tactics.
Monk
You pick Monk when you think traditional weapons are lame. Monks will win fights by punching, kicking, tripping, or grappling their opponents. What's nice is not spending money on weapons or armor, because YOU are the weapon and you can't be hit, if you're wise enough.
Primary Stat(s): Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Intelligence, Charisma
Pros: All good saves, scaling unarmed strike, Flurry of Blows, Stunning Fist, high mobility, wisdom to AC
Cons: Multiple ability dependent, struggles to combine movement with full attacks, damage needs help
Monks are a mechanically awkward bundle of genuinely cool ideas. The class wants you to be mobile, but Flurry of Blows wants you to stand still and full attack. It wants Strength for damage, Dexterity for Armor Class, Constitution for survival, and Wisdom for more Armor Class and several abilities. That's a lot of ability scores to keep happy. Monks can be made to work, but doing so takes some careful planning or a good conversation with your DM.
Paladin
You pick Paladin when you want to be a holy beacon of justice, smiting evil, saving the innocent, and giving the party rogue a hard time when they want to do "morally gray" shenanigans. You are quite literally the knight in shining armor, the one who channels divine grace through your fingertips to heal the afflicted, the bastion of good.
Primary Stat(s): Charisma, Strength, Wisdom
Dump Stat(s): Intelligence
Pros: Full base attack bonus, Smite Evil, Lay on Hands, Divine Grace, special mount, some spellcasting
Cons: Lawful Good alignment restriction by default, code of conduct, few skills, multiple ability dependent
Paladins are frontliners with divine support powers and some of the best saving throws you can get without resorting to stranger nonsense. Your spellcasting arrives late and isn't the main event, but the list has some absurdly powerful options hiding in it. The strict alignment and code can be restrictive, so talk to your DM before the campaign about what actually counts as a violation. Nobody wants to discover ten sessions in that the DM and player have completely different definitions of lawful good and suddenly there's a useless character at the table. Don't let that stop you from having fun playing as the person to stop a thief or forfeit a reward to help someone in need. Every party needs a moral compass, and hopefully it's you and not the rogue.
Ranger
You pick Ranger when you want to be Legolas or Aragorn. When you want to shoot arrows from across the battlefield or dual-wield swords to chop through your enemies in a blaze of steel.
Primary Stat(s): Dexterity, Strength, Wisdom
Dump Stat(s): Charisma
Pros: Full base attack bonus, Favored Enemy, combat styles, strong skill list, some spellcasting, animal companion
Cons: Favored Enemy can be campaign-dependent, delayed spellcasting, animal companion is weaker than the Druid's
Rangers are strong scouts and competent damage dealers, especially as archers or dual-wielders. Favored Enemy feels fantastic when the chosen enemy actually shows up, and feels like blank space on your sheet when it doesn't, so knowing something about the campaign helps. Their spell list is limited, but there are some very good options in it, especially once you look beyond the core rulebook. This is another class That makes me highly recommend talking to the DM before the campaign starts.
Rogue
You pick Rogue when you want to outwit, outplay, and out-stab. You're the skill monkey, trapfinder, and sneaky striker of the party, assuming the thing you're trying to stab has anatomy that Sneak Attack cares about.
Primary Stat(s): Dexterity, Intelligence
Dump Stat(s): Strength
Pros: Tons of skill points and class skills, Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, special abilities
Cons: Low hit points, 1/2 base attack bonus, precision damage has several counters, positioning matters
Rogues can be incredible at the 3.5 skill system and deal a pile of Sneak Attack dice when they can catch someone vulnerable. The words "when they can" are doing a lot of work there. Positioning is key here, because flanking, catching an opponent flat-footed, hiding, or maybe magic items are what you need to actually get that juicy fist-full of D6. Playing a rogue is a great way to get the brain juices flowing, because your class doesn't just naturally kill things or provide survivability. You'll need to think on your feet to survive a dungeon's critters and traps, which is your job first and foremost.
Sorcerer
You pick Sorcerer when you want magic on demand without preparing a daily homework assignment. You're a prodigy with innate magical power, a limited number of tricks, and enough daily spell slots to keep doing those tricks for longer than the wizard would.
Primary Stat(s): Charisma, Dexterity, Constitution
Dump Stat(s): Strength, Intelligence
Pros: Full arcane spellcasting, spontaneous casting, lots of spells per day
Cons: Very few spells known, gains new spell levels later than Wizards, fragile, reliant on spells
Sorcerers trade the Wizard's absurd breadth for the ability to cast whatever they know whenever they need it. That sounds simple until you realize a bad spell choice may follow you for several levels, so choose spells that stay useful and cover more than one situation (or talk to your DM about retraining spells). You're squishy and almost comically feature-light, but a well-built Sorcerer is still a full arcane caster, which means devastating is very much on the table. They're also metamagic specialists, which means if you're looking to pump up a caster with tons of metamagic feats, the Sorcerer is the way to go.
Wizard
You pick Wizard when you want plans, backup plans, contingency plans, and a scroll that solves a problem the DM didn't even know existed until you pulled it out.
Primary Stat(s): Intelligence
Dump Stat(s): Strength, Charisma
Pros: Full arcane spellcasting, potentially enormous spellbook, school specialization, bonus feats, Scribe Scroll
Cons: Fragile, must prepare spells, fewer casts per day than Sorcerers, bad preparation can ruin your day
Wizards start fragile and scale into reality-warping monsters. Their spell access gives them a potential answer to nearly anything, as long as they learned the right spell and had the good sense to prepare it. A prepared Wizard controls encounters, skips obstacles, and cheerfully mangles the action economy. An unprepared Wizard looks at the perfect spell sitting uselessly in their book and promises they'll bring it tomorrow.