I'm sure a lot of this has been mentioned already, let me go in brief by class:

  • Barbarian - Rage goes in rounds per day instead of uses per day, making it more viable at low level. Barbs get their pick of rage powers, which are special abilities that activate when raging; these include big saving throw bonuses, totem abilities, and (even more) powerful blows. Barbarians can literally destroy spell effects by hitting them really hard.
  • Bard - Bardic music also goes in rounds per day. You can cast spells straight from level one. At higher level, you can sing as a move action or swift action. There are numerous special bard songs called masterpieces.
  • Cleric - Instead of turning undead, clerics get the ability to heal everyone in a 30' radius as a standard action (or, less interestingly, to harm all undead in that same radius). This means that in-combat healing is actually a viable option now. Various feats exist to boost this further (turn undead being one of them).
  • Fighter - Numerous combat bonuses, and they have several archetypes to give them much-needed extra skill points. Fighters get numerous weapon- and armor-related abilities that other classes don't, such as the ability to deflect spells and siege missiles with their weapon.
  • Druid - Shapeshifting now adds to your ability scores (e.g. +4 str) instead of overriding them (e.g. set str to 18 regardless of what it was). This means that a 6-str 6-dex druid is no longer viable; it's a nerf but arguably they needed it (and druids are still very strong).
  • Rogue - Almost everything that couldn't be sneak attacked in 3E can now be sneak attacked; this fixes the major problem with 3E rogues, they're no longer useless in any combat involving undead or plants or whatnot. The reprinted "unchained" rogue gets dex-to-damage for free, and can apply numerous debuffs on each hit.
  • Monk - The "qigong" and "unchained" monks get their pick of ki abilities, which most notably gives them pounce. While still not a great class, monks are actually respectable damage dealers now.
  • Paladin - Smite Evil now lasts until end of combat, instead of for a single attack. This makes paladins one of the best damage dealers against anything evil. They can also cure conditions by laying on hands, and can get a divine weapon instead of a steed if they so choose.
  • Ranger - Check out the new Hunter class, that gets primal spellcasting straight from level one, a much better animal companion, and a swift action ability that buffs him with various animal aspects.
  • Sorcerer - Their magical ability now comes from a specific bloodline (like draconic, or abyssal, etc) and they get specific abilities themed after the bloodline. Notably, this includes extra spells known, fixing the main problem with the 3E sorcerer. A couple of bloodlines add to spell damage, making blasting work well straight out of the box (which in 3E requires quite a bit of optimizing and splat-diving).
  • Wizard - Cantrips are now at-will, and every school has an extra school power ranging from energy bolts to illusory debuffs to self-teleportation. This means that low-level wizards no longer run out of spells, and never have to resort to the proverbial crossbow. Also, a number of "win the encounter" spells have been toned down, particularly at lower level.


And some new classes, such as the
  • Alchemist - It's a new class that focuses on throwing alchemical bombs at people (touch attacks with a splash effect), brewing lots of potions for free (but of course they go stale after 24 hours), and mutating themselves as a Jekyll/Hyde effect.
  • Magus - The new gish class. Yes, you can play a viable bladedancer or magic warrior straight from level one, without requiring complicated builds or multiclass/prestige class combos. It can full attack and cast a spell every round, cast touch spells through his weapon, and quickly enchant any weapon he's holding. He blows the duskblade and hexblade completely out of the water, and gives most eldritch knight builds a run for their money until level 15 or so.
  • Oracle - Spontaneous divine caster, basically a cleric/sorcerer.
  • Witch - It's basically a warlock/wizard hybrid: it has at-will magical abilities called hexes, and spellcasting from a limited number of schools.