So this is something I consider the bottom, bargain-basement level of content, but I feel like someone might actually benefit from me doing this. I'm going over thoughts and observations for every class, individually. This is because there's a fucking lot of them and sometimes people get paralyzed by choice or don't know how to approach a given class. Maybe this will help eliminate some of that. There's an enormous amount of personal choice in Pathfinder and I hate to see people toss it away because they're not informed.
I'll be going in, very roughly, release order. It'll be mixed up a bit for better pacing and length of content. Some books have only one class in it, but other books probably deserve their own posts. It won't do to give you weirdly short followed by weirdly long posts. We are separating by book, except for Pathfinder Unchained. I'm not going to bother going over both versions of the classes separately. It'll get mentioned(Wait your turn, Summoner), but don't expect a lot of technical information about the differences. There's no class I'd consider completely inviable, so I don't see a need to give them pure ratings like this is one of those enormously misleading class tier lists.
Core Rulebook
Unchained Barbarian. This is a pretty solid member of the 1:1 attack bonus club and one with a classic mythology I love. This is a great class for someone who enjoys budgeting a resource, because Rage is one of the best abilities in the game. You get more skill utility than Fighter or Paladin, and rage powers round out in-combat utility nicely. Given the abilities you've got(see below), it's your first choice if you want to play someone who doesn't wear much but still comes off as tough as hell.
Barbarian can easily reach pounce(an extremely important ability) via the possibly-overpowered Beast totem and have extremely powerful abilities in Superstition, Terrifying Howl, and their various immunities like Internal Fortitude. Barbarian in general gets excellent defensive capabilities, between their temporary HP from raging, D12 hit points, DR and Uncanny Dodge. You have to give up the fighter's enormous list of feats, so it's most likely you'll be building for two-handed fighting...or possibly a shield.
Bard. This class is long considered the king of the utility classes, though their crown is tarnished a bit by Pathfinder's large amount of competitors. If you want to do a little bit of everything or play a real con artist type, Bard's your class. You get skills, support abilities, some of the best buffs in the game via bard song, spells, 3/4ths attack bonus, an okay list of weapons...you got a little bit of everything. You'll either love or hate the core conceit of being a performer, but Bard casts a much wider net than that these days anyway.
Bard has an excellent spell list, and a progression that supports variety and preparedness over spells per day. They've got the extremely powerful boost to skill utility Versatile Performer as well. Really, hurting people is the only thing on Bard's report card that they get less than an A+ at...but even then, a C isn't a bad grade. To be really capable with combat you probably need to take an archetype like Archaeologist or Dervish Dancer, but you won't be a slouch without it. Bard also has probably the largest amount of funky Archetypes to try, some that really shake up what the class gets by giving you a powerful ability instead of bard song.
Cleric. I don't know what it is about religious concepts I like so much. Maybe something about all that conviction and dedication I never had, validated by a force you can prove is real. Let's not get philosophical, though...everyone knows it's fun to play, whether you're dedicated to a god or just a conceptual force. Cleric is one of the game's best switch hitters, able to fill two wildly different roles depending on spell selection and feats.
So there was a term, CoDZilla. CoD means "Cleric or Druid" and "Zilla" means "Fucking Monster". For those of you who weren't around for the wildly varying balance of D&D 3.X, Cleric and Druid were king. You had an excellent spell list, you had the best buffs in the game, you had 3/4ths attack bonus, nobody was better. While that's certainly not true any more...your buffs are still great. You still get medium armor. Your spell list is still damn good. For curing conditions like poisons, diseases, curses and all the rest of the stuff that's going to happen to an adventurer all the god damn time, there's nobody better. Cleric is still a great way to play someone who can provide utility and support but still push people's faces in...or vice versa.
Druid. I did a whole set of posts on Druid's class fantasy, so I think it's obvious I love them. There's something about the standoffish, strange natural spellcaster that's really cool. Someone who lives on the outside of society, looking in. Someone who sees your cute little society on the same level as an ant or primate colony. You should consider Druid a sister class to Cleric, and a lot of things I said about them can be said about Druid as well, so I'll be brief.
You get a little better skill utility thanks to wild empathy, wild shape and just plain having more skill points. That said, you're still a damn good switch hitter: You've got a great spell list, and any buff spells you lack are propped up by wild shape, perfectly useable if you have to kick some ass. You get either an animal companion or a single domain from a short list, and frankly...both are pretty good choices. Your choice of animal companion can be for flat damage, but there's also a lot of ways to get decent utility out of them, like a dedicated "assist bitch" who can do scouting or stealthing when they're not in combat.
Fighter. Alright, I hope you didn't think all of these were gonna be positive...because I have bad news. I'm not Team Fighter, guys. I can't say a damn thing about its effectiveness: it's a great class. It's straightforward. Some people like that. I don't. There's something to be said for playing a soldier, a career killer, a guard or any other concept that slots perfectly into fighter...but I find that every time I come up with one of those, I end up taking a more robust class. To me, it's almost a class without a fantasy: "I'm good at killing people" is the kind of thing someone says when they don't really have a character.
You get feats. That's what you get. You can either take Weapon Training and Armor Training as-is or trade them for some fairly fantastic bonuses, but in general? You're here because you get feats. When you're not in combat, what you "get" is you "get" to stand around and wait for the next combat. Feats in this game are the path to in-combat utility and damage, and combining them effectively can make for a deadly character. Fighter's even good for taking just a few levels along with another class just for a little bump. But if you're not good at picking feats...Fighter loses a lot of its lustre. I mean, I'm not even good judge, there's a ton of feats in this game and some people have other hobbies. I don't, but I'm sure someone does.
Unchained Monk. I consider this class to be rogue's "bro" in terms of a combat capable skill character. Monk is great for a capable character with good utility that doesn't deal with spells at all. As for the fantasy and feel of the class? Oh, man, what do I even have to say? I'm sure everyone reading this can name five or six martial arts films they fucking love. Between the badass, mystifying nature of the martial arts and the cool pseudo-philosophy you get to spout, Monk is a blast.
You're pretty deadly in combat, thanks to flurry giving you attack spam. You get Style Strike thanks to the Unchained rework, which means you can take a minor amount of movement before taking a full attack action, an incredibly powerful thing. You get Ki Pool and a large list of Ki powers, giving you a lot of utility via a managed resource. You also get great skills and some pretty good physical capabilities like fast movement, feather balance, or high jump. You also get some of the better defensive abilities in the game, like diamond soul, evasion, or purity of body.
Paladin. This one always gets a reputation for being pretty arrogant thanks to its alignment restriction and code of honor, but paladin is fun. Everything I said about conviction under cleric I could repeat here too: It's compelling and fun to play sometimes. This is also the class that never stops: No matter what, you're tough enough to keep going. A great way to play a character who won't quit or can't be stopped.
You get 1:1 attack bonus, spells, and the best defensive power in the game: Divine Grace. Sure, you get other great ones like Lay on Hands, but Divine Grace will make people tired of hearing you made your save. You also get Smite Evil...which is a damn powerful thing considering most games are gonna have you fighting evil monsters a majority of the time.
Ranger. Do I have to? I guess I have to. Ranger is modeled after Aragorn. It's a class that's sort of like an alternate paladin, where they get some spells and abilities but still get to be a master fightsman. The fantasy I always saw negatively, and I really can't help it: shitty druids, generic woodsman concepts, and people who like Lord of the Rings way too much. I know I'm not being fair. I'm sorry.
Ranger isn't a terrible class by any means. Some of their fighting style tracks are big traps, but most of them are okay, particularly two weapon fighting giving you most of the feats without having to have a high dex. You have a good spell list, okay skills, and you're one of the few classes that can easily fight with both a bow and melee weapons without giving up too much.
Favored Enemy is stupid and I hate it. It's ultimately a toxic ability that makes balance slightly more painful for your GM. It's too good when it comes up and how often it comes up is entirely at the whim of the GM. It's one of the few abilities in the game that's often taken away unintentionally because it's a headache to balance around.
Unchained Rogue. The other non-spell utility class and a classic bastard. Culture is filled with an enormous amount of rogues and they're all awesome. You can generally use whatever light weapon you want and you have the game's best skill powers at your disposal. Your effectiveness is tied almost intrinsically to your inventiveness. Every party has a rogue, and it's easy to see why.
You're also pretty solid at combat if you pre-plan and bring friends. You can rival fighters in damage thanks to finesse training and Debilitating Injury. You have access to skill unlocks to widen your skill capabilities, and rogue talents are chock full of amazing capabilities, both in-combat and out. Powers like Rumormonger can tilt entire plots if applied carefully.
Sorcerer. I know what you're thinking. Skip this loser and get to the real arcane caster. They're widely considered "not as good" as wizard, but frankly? I've got a big soft spot for them. I love the class fantasy of being a magical being, someone who didn't really work for their power, but I also have a soft spot for the way their spellcasting works. See below.
You get more spells per day, but you give up versatility. That's supposed to be the trade-off. You get bloodline powers to make up for the gap in that trade as well. Sorcerer is good for someone who wants to make a spellcaster dedicated to a narrower specialty than a wizard or who doesn't like the preparation aspect of the wizard class. I'd also say that while a damage-focused spellcaster probably won't ever beat a melee class for damage, but sorcerer would shine at it thanks to several damage-focused favored class bonuses and the ability to really spam spells.
Really, that's the benefit. Picking a few great spells and using them all fucking day. It's a niche I just happen to like.
Wizard. Calm down. Like, right off the bat calm down. I'm not gonna sit here and say Wizard isn't an amazing class. It is. But it's been overhyped since day one and not all of it is deserved. Some of that is probably how fucking iconic it is: Every game's gonna have berobed old men weaving mystic spells...murderous magical cultists, or mage school intrigue. They're inseparable from a fantasy game.
Your benefit is the wide breadth of what the arcane spell list has to offer and the fact that you can do anything given a day to prepare, and maybe some gold to buy a spell to put in your spellbook. That's why everyone hypes up Wizard: they're the prep-time class. The Batman class. Outside of prep-time, the arcane spell list is also the best crowd control in the game, hands down. Sorcerers benefit from this too, but Wizards have the ability to tailor what they're taking to the weaknesses of the enemies they're going to fight...and also the ability to cast spells to find out which enemies they're going to fight. If you like preparation, planning, and picking through your spell list...This is the class for you.
@}-,-'--
So Stupidly, I expected to get through more than one book today. I don't know what I was thinking: The Core Book has the most iconic, the most useful and the longest-standing classes. You'll notice I was positive on most of them. There's a lot to say about them, even about the classes which are really just alternate versions: Druid and Ranger. In the future you're gonna find that a lot of classes use a core class as a blueprint, and I think that's okay. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. So I'm sorry if today was a little boring for you lifers who have been staring these classes in the face for 20+ years...but there's new players every day.
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