Class Tier Rankings for D&D 5e: Who is the best Investigator?

TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Sponsor
1:21 - Intro
4:25 - Artificer
7:00 - Barbarian
8:20 - Bard
12:17 - Cleric
14:37 - Druid
18:18 - Fighter, Monk, Paladin
20:17 - Ranger
23:23 - Rogue
28:08 - Sorcerer, Warlock
31:16 - Wizard
38:40 - Community Rankings
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[Jellypope]

“If you can’t solve a problem with violence, you are solving the wrong problem.” -Barbarian

[tayram]

Not sure it should make them S-Tier, but I think you guys did underestimate the Reliable Talent class feature that all Rogues get. It's not really "playing by the rules" anymore when all your Investigation, Perception, and Stealth skill checks are automatically in the 20s; you effectively cannot fail most of the time.

[kylemcallister]

Monty’s humor for the barbarian just killed me. It’s like someone was writing a resume for a barbarian applying to be a detective!

[spambaconeggspamspam]

"Can you cast spells?"
"No... but I literally can't do worse than a ten on skill checks and that's before even adding my bo-"
"I'm sorry best I can do is a B, come back when you learn how to talk to the dead."

[CivilWarMan]

"There might be some hidden gems on the Paladin spell list."

Zone of Truth: "Am I a joke to you?"

[lucasjames]

Barbairian: " i look for traps" DM: " how?" Barb: "i walk forward and see if one springs"

[chrisvossler]

Speaking of the Cleric's spell list, in this week's session, our DM's murder mystery got completely derailed because the Cleric used Speak with Dead to ask the victim who killed him!

[dutch]

The wizard is as much, if not more than, a built investigator as many of the other classes. It is easy to say that any wizard is able to cast Detect Thoughts as a ritual, but who has that in their book? "Even a blasty Invoker can...". A blasty Invoker would pass on Scorching Ray, Acid Arrow, and Shatter (let alone Enlarge/Reduce, Flaming Sphere, Hold Person, Invisibility, Levitate, Web, etc., etc.) for their two picks to get Detect Thoughts? It then becomes entirely up to chance, and the whim of the DM, whether or not that wizard would find an investigate type spell in a book or scroll that they looted.

TL;DR A cleric or a druid can get ANY available spell the next day; a rogue or a bard has their skills baked in, always at their fingertips. A wizard has to choose their spells carefully, or get a lucky find, to be effective as an investigator.

[BigAppleAM]

"Spellcasting is such a gamechanger" +
"Social situations pop up often during investigations" =
"Paladin belongs in D along with Fighter and Monk" 🤔

[sandorfalusi]

With the artificer Monty never takes the infusions into account, and there are a couple of those geared towards investigation. Items that let you cast certain spells like detect magic and charm person. Stuff like the helm of telepathy or wand of secrets or eyes of the eagle, that you could take and is available to every artificer. And they round out the class a lot, and should be acknowledged.
Also tool expertise can be used to gain knowledge about the craft, and they can just buff skill with guidance and flash of genius to really high levels.
3rd strongest after bard and wizard, very solid A from me.

[nathans]

Monty is always down on artificers not having high level spells. Meanwhile he's all about the Arcane Trickster, which has less casting than the Artificer.

[ChuchoMonte]

All this tier rankings just push me to create an entire party of barbarians with my friends and resolve all stealth missions, all investigations and social media aspects with brute force xD love the content guys!!

[rimokesdkrans]

I think you missed a factor about the rogue. One of the most handy options for gathering information is Thieves' Cant. Thieves' Cant allows one to gather information from "not-so-legal" sources, which may have high underground positions depending on the campaign. Wizards have many spell slots as an option, but the rogue just needs to ask the right people.

[willmorris]

"I'm tempted to give the Bard the S" is quite the recurring theme in these videos.

[MrGunsnrosesfan]

It surprises me that you definitely talk about the Interrogation part of the investigator role when talking about Bards, but that Paladins are lumped in with fighters and Monks
Sure, Paladins aren't full caster and they don't have skill expertise. But they (should) have a good charisma score and get some really good investigative spells like Zone of Truth and a bunch of "locate" and "detect" divination spells.
I am not arguing that Paladins are A tier by any means, but they definitely have more investigative tools than the other D-tier classes, like, a lot more. Given the lack of other C-tiers, that's where I'm putting it.

[kazzsaru]

Two words for Rogue investigator: RELIABLE TALENT

[brianhudson]

Monty's tied up in spells. Granted, I don't really play spell casters that much, just because that's not my game. But I like playing skill monkey's, and like to rely on things that I don't have to worry about running out of, like spell slots.

[dbrandow]

I differ with them philosophically in terms of whether someone is good at filling a role if they can do it reasonably well throughout the adventuring day or do it extremely well but only a limited number of times and potentially needing plenty of prep time to do it. I prefer the former, they prefer the latter.

[troyyrob]

You asked who is the best investigator and a lot of investigation is leg work, like talking to folks (bard), or stake outs, or picking locks, or hunting for clues, or tailing people, or sneaking places. Magic like detect thoughts etc can help that, but rogues can ALWAYS do those things whereas wizards and bards need spell slots. Magic can be a boon but they aren't constant boons.

[harrywhiteley]

The Barbarian is a very deep class for investigator, they get the D is for Destruction rating