DnD 2024 Classes and Subclasses: Character Optimization Guides (2024)

DnD 2024 Classes are the mechanical heart of characters in Dungeons and Dragons. While your race and background carry equal weight in who your character is, your class defines what your character does. Understanding how to build and play a class effectively is the most important part of building an effective DnD character.

Listed below are Handbooks on each of the classes present in the 2024 DnD 5erules, exploring the nuances and tricks to get the most out of each. To thatend we not only go over the features and options of each class, but put thoseideas into practice with subclass handbooks and example builds.

We try to keep multiclassing to a minimum in class-specific andsubclass-specific guides, but, if those advanced options interest you, don’tmiss thePractical Guide to Multiclassingand ourBuild Guide Showcase, both of which go into multiclassing.

These articles are for the 2024 DnD 5e rules. For the 2014 rules, see our2014 Classespage.

Table of Contents

• Choosing a Class
• DnD 2024 Classes
  • Artificer
  • Barbarian
  • Bard
  • Cleric
  • Druid
  • Fighter
  • Monk
  • Paladin
  • Ranger
  • Rogue
  • Sorcerer
  • Warlock
  • Wizard

Choosing a Class

Choosing your character’s class is arguably the most important decision whenbuilding a new character, as it determines their biggest capabilities andtheir role within the party.

DnD 5e is resilient enough as a system that a party doesn’t need to adhere tothe classic Cleric/Fighter/Rogue/Wizard party makeup, though covering all ofthose core capabilities can make your party more successful. For a quick,capable party, ensure that someone in the party is filling each of those fourroles.

If your character’s build won’t neatly fit into those boxes, it may behelpful to considerparty roles in more depth. Specific roles can be split between the party, and so long as every role isrepresented, your party has everything that it needs to succeed regardless ofspecific classes.

DnD 2024 Classes

Artificer

The Artificer has not made its way into the 2024 DnD rules. See our coveragefor the2014 rules.

Barbarian

With a huge pile of hit points, access to damage resistance to common damagetypes, and a high risk, high reward play style, the Barbarian is a capablemelee warrior that’s a ton of fun to play. Rage allows the Barbarian to beexceptionally durable during a few fights per day, allowing you to actaggressively while shrugging off blows that would quickly drop othercharacters.

• 2024 Barbarian Class Guide
• 2024 Barbarian Subclasses Guide
  • Path of the Berserker Barbarian Subclass Guide (Coming soon!)
  • Path of the World Tree Barbarian Subclass Guide

Bard

A jack of all trades with skills and magic to overcome many challenges, theBard falls somewhere between the Rogue’s capability with skills and theSorcerer’s capabilities with magic. If you want to do a little bit ofeverything, the Bard is a great choice. With more skills than most characters,Expertise, and full spellcasting, you can build a Bard to fill nearly any rollin your party.

• 2024 Bard Class Guide
• 2024 Bard Subclasses Guide
  • College of Dance Bard Subclass Guide

Cleric

While novice players overlook the Cleric for fear of becoming a “healbot”,the Cleric is a much more interesting class than that. Diverse, powerful, andbacked up by an amazing spell list, Clerics can fill a variety of roles in theparty and support many play styles. They do still have the best healingoptions in the game, but most Clerics spend more time smashing through fightswith Spirit Guardians than they do spamming Cure Wounds.

• 2024 Cleric Class Guide
• 2024 Cleric Subclasses Guide

Druid

Divine spellcasters with a close bond to nature, Druids are primarilyspellcasters and thrive when controlling their environment with area controlspells. They match the Cleric’s healing capabilities, but present a verydifferent playstyle otherwise. Among their most iconic options is Wild Shape,allowing you to temporarily adopt the form of an animal.

• 2024 Druid Class Guide
• 2024 Druid Subclasses Guide
  • Circle of the Moon Druid Subclass Guide
  • Circle of the Sea Druid Subclass Guide

Fighter

Diverse, capable, and effective, the Fighter is the master of arms and armor.Fighters have many excellent tactical options, get more Weapon Mastery slotsthan any class, and get more Ability Score Increases than any other class,allowing them to further customize by collecting feats. Because theircomplexity grows slowly as you level and you can add complexity as desired byadding feats, the Fighter is both an easy class to play and an exciting classto optimize.

• 2024 Fighter Class Guide
• 2024 Fighter Subclasses Guide
  • Champion Fighter Subclass Guide
  • Eldritch Knight Fighter Subclass Guide

Monk

The iconic unarmed combatant, Monks are capable of many superhuman physicalfeats without the use of spells. They’re a comlex class to build and playsuccessfully, but their niche between the Fighter and the Rogue can make thema lot of fun. Unfortunately, the mechanical requirements of the class meanthat monk builds are extremely homogenous and there is very little room todeviate without feeling like your character is underperforming the rest ofyour party.

• 2024 Monk Class Guide
• 2024 Monk Subclasses Guide
  • Warrior of the Elements Monk Subclass Guide
  • Warrior of the Open Hand Monk Subclass Guide

Paladin

Warriors powered by their commitent to a cause, the Paladin is nearly alwaysa heavily-armored melee character, equally capable of smiting their enemiesand healing their allies. Their dependence on Charisma also makes them capablein social situations where similar classes like the Barbarian and the Fighteroften struggle. Because the Paladin’s capabilities touch on so many mechanics,Paladins are very mechanically satisfying to play and can be a great way toquickly master 5e’s mechanics.

• 2024 Paladin Class Guide
• 2024 Paladin Subclasses Guide

Ranger

Capable explorers and warriors, the Ranger falls somewhere between theFighter’s martial capabilities, the Rogue’s skills, and the Druid’sspellcasting. Despite a few mechanical frustrations relating to their Hunter’sMark spell, the Ranger has a lot of to offer.

• 2024 Ranger Class Guide
• 2024 Ranger Subclasses Guide
  • Beast Master Ranger Subclass Guide

Rogue

More than just the orphaned thief stereotype, Rogues are cunning,highly-skilled characters capable of solving many problems and filling manyroles within a party. The Rogue’s signature combat ability is Sneak Attack,which encourages you to use positioning, stealth, and clever tactics todeliver powerful single hits which can eventually add powerful crowd controleffects with the Cunning Strike feature.

• 2024 Rogue Class Guide
• 2024 Rogue Subclasses Guide

Sorcerer

Spellcasters that draw power from an innate source of magic. The Sorcerer’sMetamagic feature allows them to customize those spells to suit the needs oftheir situation.

• 2024 Sorcerer Class Guide
• 2024 Sorcerer Subclasses Guide
  • Draconic Sorcery Sorcerer Subclass Guide

Warlock

Warlocks draw their power from a pact made with a powerful entity of somekind. Mechanically, the Warlock is delightfully weird compared to otheroptions, offering a huge number of customization points and entirely uniquespellcasting resource that makes them feel and play very differently fromother spellcasters. Building around Eldritch Blast has been simple andeffective since the Player’s Handbook released in 2014, but that is certainlynot the only way to build an effective warlock.

• 2024 Warlock Class Guide
• 2024 Warlock Subclasses Guide
• 2024 Warlock Invocations Guide

Wizard

• 2024 Wizard Class Guide
• 2024 Wizard Subclasses Guide
  • Illusionist Wizard Subclass Guide