[4E] V shaped? Y Shaped? Explaining the terminology

[Ahnirades]

I've seen the following terms used frequently in this forum, and would appreciate an explanation of their meaning:

A shaped, V shaped and Y shaped classes

MAD classes

Are there any others I'm missing? It's like like a brand new shorthand has emerged from nowhere, and I'm feeling a trifle confused.

[devlin1]

Didn't someone just ask this, like, last week?

Anyway, A-shaped classes are those that use one primary attribute for all attacks and relegate secondary attributes to other effects. The fighter's an example of this. V- and Y-shaped classes refer to the same thing: a class that has attacks based on two different attributes. The ranger and the paladin are examples of V-shaped classes.

MAD = Multiple Attribute Dependency (or Disorder, if you like), in reference to V-shaped classes.

[Front Toward Everybody]

Originally Posted by devlin1

Didn't someone just ask this, like, last week?

In all seriousness, I think a brief glossary as a sticky thread would be a good idea.

[Mecha-Shiva]

A V shaped class is a class that has one attack stat and two secondary stats. At character creation there is usually a choice of which secondary stat you want to focus on.

A Y shaped class has 2 chioces for attack stat and one as a secondary.

MAD is Multiple Attribute Disorder. It refers to a class that has to have too many stats high to be effective.

[Ahnirades]

Thanks for the clarification, everyone.

[Yakk]

V and Y refer to the same thing, as far as I know.

A and V shapes refer to the main stats of the class. A V shaped class has two 'attack' attributes that need to be high to use powers, and one 'secondary' attribute that can be lower and contribute to non-attack-roll effects.

A A shaped class has one 'attack' attribute that needs to be high, and two 'secondary' attributes that contribute to non-attack-roll effects.

For most A shaped classes, different builds/options specialize in different non-attack-roll stats.

[Crazy Jerome]

Heh. All this time, I've been assuming that the V and Y distinction was meant to show that some classes needed that third, secondary attribute a little more in the Y than in the V. Basically, a Y was a more MAD V.

It just now occurs to me that such usage would be a terrible pretense of precision. I'm just glad we don't have M shaped classes.

[Neil Phillips]

We need a letter for Fighters and Wizards

Fighters are Strength primary, Con/Dex/Wis secondary, while Wizards are Int primary, Con/Dex/Wis secondary... with Cha as a common feat prereq..

E-shaped?

[Mostlyjoe]

Rangers are technically H shaped. Two builds that are for the most part nearly interchangable but viable by themselves. Rare that.

[not a pumpkin]

Originally Posted by Neil Phillips

We need a letter for Fighters and Wizards

Fighters are Strength primary, Con/Dex/Wis secondary, while Wizards are Int primary, Con/Dex/Wis secondary... with Cha as a common feat prereq..

E-shaped?

If the purpose of the terms wasn't merely to disparage V shaped classes, then yes. But since that's pretty much all they're used for it hasn't become needed to make such distinctions. Especially since such classes only exist in the PHB. Later classes seem to be all straight A shaped, needing other stats only for feat pre-reqs/surges/other things which aren't classe specific.