I have a challenge for you lot who've already seen and begun to fiddle with 4e.

In this thread regarding the PHB, One Horse Town declared the following:

Quote from: One Horse TownThe mechanics are so transparent, and power creation so easy, that all you have to do is have a look at what has already been done for you and then crank out new feature after new feature. It doesn't even take long. Half an hour and i reckon that the majority of GMs or players could whip up a Bard or Druid class given what we've seen.

Now, I was intrigued, because I have been planning a new 3e campaign that hinges on the Prestige Ranger class from Unearthed Arcana, wherein the Ranger (along with the Bard and the Paladin) is not a starting class, but one that your character must grow into and qualify for.  Now, I really liked this notion, especially the idea of a Druid becoming a Ranger.

So, here's the challenge.  In 3e, I can see exactly how this progression is handled.  A character starts as a Druid, and, if handled carefully, by about 6th level, qualifies for the Prestige Ranger class.  How could this be modeled in 4e? What does the Druid class look like?  How would the Ranger class be adapted as a Paragon Path of the Druid class?  And, while we're at it, how could the Paladin be adapted as a Paragon Path of either the Fighter or the Warlord?

!i!

At 11th level, a druid would qualify for the Ranger Paragon Path. He would get three path features - two at 11th, one at 16th. One of the 11th level powers would rely on action points, either requiring the character to spend one or activating when another character spent one. He would also have three selectable powers - one encounter attack power at 11th level, one utility power at 12th level (depending on the overall power, this could either be a 1/encounter or a 1/daily utility power), and one daily attack power at 20th.

That's the structure. The actual powers would vary to your taste, of course.

Quote from: PseudoephedrineAt 11th level, a druid would qualify for the Ranger Paragon Path...

And, presumably, there would be other paths to follow, like the more traditional Druidic High Priest Paragon Path or somesuch, yes?  So one path would go the ecclesiastical route, while another would go the nature's-guardian route.  Okay, I can dig that.  And, taking 1st ed AD&D as a model, the druid class was essentially a variant on the cleric, so we have a rough template to work from.

!i!

Yeah, you've got it pretty much right. Classes normally have four paragon paths.

Another (possibly stupid) question: Could a Paragon Path feasibly serve more than one core class?  Such as a Paladin Paragon Path being an 11th level alternative for both the Cleric and the Warlord*, or the Ranger Paragon Path serving for both the Druid and the Fighter.

!i!

[Edit: Now that I think of it, it seems like Warlord itself ought to be a Paragon Path of the Fighter class, as should the Paladin.  Aw, crap, I think I'm going to have to get a copy of the PHB to start fiddling with it.]

So far, paragon paths are for a single class only (they all have the prerequisite "levels in X" class). Theoretically though, there's nothing stopping you if you wanted to make one apply to several classes.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaAnother (possibly stupid) question: Could a Paragon Path feasibly serve more than one core class?  Such as a Paladin Paragon Path being an 11th level alternative for both the Cleric and the Warlord*, or the Ranger Paragon Path serving for both the Druid and the Fighter.

If you cross class as a warlock (regardless of starting class) and take all those cross class feats, you could take the warlock's paragon path associated with your pact. I think it would be cool if something like that applied in all instances of cross classing (though I should add that in all instances of cross classing, as long as you've got all the feats, you can swap out paragon path features for standard class features of the second class).

Wow... it sounds so much more complicated when I say it.