263 lines about 262 character classes
Want to play a Murder Pixie Dream Girl? How about a Magic Pinkerton? Or your Ex-Fiance’s Mom Who Still Sends Christmas Cards? Here is a comprehensive list of all of the character classes. Read More …
Tag: character classes
Swords Against Systems
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition: Finally, a D&D that does Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser right. Give me the jug, and I’ll give you the builds. Read More …
Class Construction in early Tunnels & Trolls
The early editions of Tunnels & Trolls are a good example of two class design schema: Classes to fill holes Classes on a spectrum The two base classes are warrior and wizard. The warrior is a straightforward arms and armor type, noted in the game’s fifth-and-a-half edition as being based on Conan. Wizards have a mix of Read More …
The First Estate
“Vatican II led to many changes in the Catholic Church, notable ones being the use of mother-tongues – instead of Latin – for parts of the mass, the empowerment of the laity, and allowing priests to use bladed weapons in combat.” — Critical Miss #8 I suppose I’d know who the cleric was, if I’d Read More …
Another (back)stab at a thief
The Thief The thief is centered, well-meaning, and devoted to the common good, spreading enlightenment by the lightening of purses. Not without commercial skills, however, the thief has a nose for gold and a touch to match. Where other adventurers laugh in the face of danger, the thief smiles at the back of danger’s head, Read More …
The Elegance of Arduin
As a followup to yesterday’s post on race and class… The Arduin Grimoire is a series of three books functioning primarily as a supplement to 1974 Dungeons & Dragons. Although it makes some noises about being a complete roleplaying game, it’s really not playable unless you at least understand the concepts of D&D. A few Read More …
Akrasia’s Thief
Akrasia posted a variant thief class that I really like. I’m working on a mini-campaign for which I’m looking at implementing a variant thief class, and Akrasia’s is a front-runner. I’m also working on posts regarding the history of the thief in literature and gaming, and seeing multiple mechanical interpretations for multiple systems is very Read More …
Race, Class and type in the evolution of D&D
Today’s familiar model of class in fantasy games works like this: Pick a race, determining base characteristics and/or available classes. Pick a class, determining the majority of your character’s abilities and advancement path. That’s the model Gary Gygax created for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the late 1970s. Although there have been variant models over Read More …
What makes a core class?
I often insist on the fighter, magic user and thief as the core classes of Dungeons & Dragons, since each of them has a unique mechanical subsystem. It’s been pointed out to me, though, that the cleric has his own subsystem, too: turning. So I think it’s reasonable to define a core class, in non-Advanced Read More …
The Construction of Character Classes
Premise: a character class provides players with an interface to the game world and a place for their characters within it. (See yesterday’s post on classes.) There are a couple of major schema for constructing character classes. Most games use more than one. Class by Combat Role You separate characters by how they fight. This Read More …