An Overview of RPG Classes

I’ve been thinking a lot about RPG classes. I’m a massive fan of RPGs, whether they be tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder and D&D; turn-based JRPGs like Shin Megami Tensei and Final Fantasy; and even action RPGs like Kingdom Hearts, or the emerging Souls-like subgenre of RPGs. I love all of it, but by far and away, my favorite part of the RPG experience is choosing different character classes. Hell, I even love non-video game stories with classes of some kind integrated into the story, such as Arcane Ascension and its many different types of magic-users, Hunter x Hunter and the six Nen categories, or Fate/stay night and the seven classes of Servants. 

A few things inspired me to write this essay about RPG classes. The first was watching Fate/stay night and falling in love with the seven different classes of Servants, as well as other Servant classes introduced and expanded upon in the spin-offs, like the Ruler and Shielder. The second was a discussion with my brother about the Fighter class in most RPGs, and how “Fighter” was such a broad term that in 5E it ended up having a wide array of diverse subclasses. The third was a discussion about Dragon Age Inquisition, specifically how it tacked the elemental-wielding Tempest and the Artificer onto the game as Rogue subclasses, and I grumbled to my friend that an elemental controller and an engineer really should’ve been separate classes entirely. 

All of this got me thinking: “What really are the main RPG classes? Are there patterns we can draw from D&D? Can we sort them into different archetypes?”

This will be similar to the one I made for fighting game archetypes. I’m going to go over the “main” RPG classes we see in almost every title, variations on those main classes, and the rarer classes that appear in other non-fantasy settings. 

The Main Classes:

The first edition of Dungeons & Dragons launched in 1974 as a box set with only Fighters (which were unoriginally and hilariously called “the Fighting-Man”), Magic-users and Clerics as the classes. The Greyhawk box was the first supplement in 1975, and it introduced Rogues, which at the time were called “Thieves.” The first volume of The Strategic Review then introduced Rangers, also in 1975. I would argue that these are the five main classes that have defined RPGs as a genre, and most classes are just variations on these. 

The Fighter (aka the Warrior, Physical Adept or Saber) is—as the name implies—the class dedicated to melee fighting. With such a broad title, Fighters can fulfill one of a few different functions. They are the game’s go-to melee and damage-dealing class, but they can also fulfill a defensive role, or they can be versatile jack-of-all trades with access to offensive and defensive abilities. Sometimes, they even get (minor) magical abilities! This broad identity means that their subclasses can be extremely diverse. Variations of the Fighter are abundant, either as classes of their own or as subclasses to each other. They include:

• The Knight is a defensive powerhouse who utilizes swords and shields to protect allies and attack enemies. 

• And if neither the Knight nor Fighter are proficient in mounted combat, the Cavalier comes in as either a class or subclass. They excel in fighting while horseback riding. 

• The Dragoon, also called the Dragon Knight, is a dragon-themed class. They tend to have enhanced strength, immunity to fire, flight, enhanced agility, and the like. They are more likely to appear if Dragonborn is not a race. 

• The Spartan is a class based on the ancient Spartans of history, weaving in and out of combat with swords, spears and shields. 

• The Lancer is a class that often overlaps with the Dragoon, partially because both classes were popularized by a lance-wielding Dragoon named Kain Highwind in Final Fantasy IV. As the name implies, they tend to use spears, lances and polearms. They were also popularized by the Lancers of Fate/stay night. 

• The Marauder, also known as the Cleaver, is a class of pure axe-users. They often function as tanks on the front lines, but they can also have a deep association with nature, similar to Rangers and Druids. 

• The Reaper is a Fighter who specializes in scythes exclusively. Oftentimes, they can use their scythes to grab the souls of their fallen enemies, which they can then spend to perform abilities or absorb to become stronger. 

• The Reaver is a warrior who consumes demon blood, giving them demonic powers at the risk of losing their sanity. Appears in Dragon Age and Fire Emblem. 

• The Samurai, also called the Ronin, is often a fighter subclass or an alternative, Japanese-equivalent class to Fighters. Samurai use katanas, have high resilience and have vaguely supernatural abilities due to proficiency wielding “Ki.” 

• The Fencer is a very mobile Fighter variation that uses rapiers and thin fencing swords. They are often glass cannons to balance this out. 

• The Blade Dancer is similar, but they quite literally dance around the screen. Even quicker and less durable than Fencers, Blade Dancers often use a flurry of dagger and knife attacks to overwhelm their foes. 

• The Swordmaster can proficiently use all types of swords. This can include katanas, rapiers, daggers, claymores, and more. However, to balance it out, they are very weak with any non-bladed weapon. 

• The Paladin (also called the Holy Knight or Oathkeeper) is essentially a mix of the Knight and Cleric. They are Knights who are bound by a code of honor (or “Oath”) and who use holy magic. They are primarily defensive and support classes. 

• The Dark Knight (aka the Death Knight, Oathbreaker, Blackguard or Antipaladin) is a class that Final Fantasy popularized. Dark Knights are massive warriors clad in black armor, a visual callback to characters like Mordred from Arthurian legend. Whereas Dark Knights often stand as a class of their own in JRPGs, in western RPGs and TTRPGs they are often presented as a thematic and visual foil to the Paladin class. 

• The Duelist is a Fighter who specializes entirely in fighting other humanoid characters in the setting, not necessarily monsters, demons or supernatural foes. 

• The Brawler or Pugilist, who fights mostly with martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, but can occasionally use other weapons. DFO has one of my favorite takes on the Brawler, making them a flexible subclass devoted to inflicting status effects on the enemy. 

• The Magic Knight (also called a Magus, Spellsword, Hexblade or Eldritch Knight) is exactly what they sound like: a Knight who uses magic. Note that this isn’t the same as a Paladin, which is a Knight that uses holy magic specifically. As a side note, RPG fans often use the adjective “gishy” to refer to Magic Knights and adjacent classes because of the Githyanki, a race in D&D dating back to 1981. Some Githyanki warriors were called “Gish,” and they used both melee weapons and magic. The name stuck around, and you might still see it used today. Sometimes, games will distinguish between a Magic Knight class who uses lots of fighting and a little bit of magic; and a Swordmage class who uses lots of magic and a little bit of fighting. 

• Compared to the more straightforward Fighter variations I’ve been naming, Nightblades (found in Grim Dawn) are capable of using harmful illusions to attack and confuse enemies. 

• The Lightbringer uses light magic as they fight. Often, this manifests as them literally creating weapons out of light on the fly in the middle of combat. 

The Mage (aka the Wizard, Magi or Magic-User) is arguably the most popular class in the history of the genre. Mages are obviously magic users, which can entail status effects, passive buffs, area of effect (AoE) attacks, precise ranged attacks, and more. In games that have more than one magic-using class, they might be divided based on the roles they play, the source of their powers, or—in games with elemental magic—what element they use. Variations include:

• The Sorcerer is a class popularized by D&D 5E. Whereas most Mages are taught spells in academic settings (think Harry Potter and other “magic schools”), Sorcerers are born with their powers. While the distinction usually isn’t present in video games, D&D’s use of the class has made it a staple in the tabletop world. 

• The Arcanist is a combination of traditional Mages and Sorcerers, having both inherent magic and magic that was taught to them later in life. They appear in Pathfinder. 

• The Warlock is a class that gains their magic through contracts with a patron deity, usually a god, angel or demon of some kind. Again, they are staples of the tabletop world thanks to D&D using it in later editions. 

• The Witch is a class popularized by Pathfinder. Essentially Pathfinder’s equivalent of Warlocks, they are a bit different in their ability to cast both Spells and Hexes, many of which are based on various witches from fantasy literature (i.e. poisonous apples, making potions in a cauldron, that sort of thing). Also, Witches get access to a Familiar, like Beastmasters (listed below). 

• The Necromancer is a class popularized by games such as Diablo, 13th Age and Elder Scrolls Online. Necromancers are often used interchangeably with either Sorcerers or Warlocks, depending on the game, which can be confusing. Their entire gameplan revolves around summoning an army of undead minions to fight on their behalf. 

• The Druid is a class of people who use natural magic. Druids are extremely versatile, and can use elemental magic, plant-based magic, shapeshifting techniques, and more. Druids are another one of those classes that developers can tack lots of ideas onto, so depending on the game, they might be elemental powerhouses; tricky Rogue-adjacent characters that just happen to use magic; warrior/mage hybrids; or anything else. 

• If a Sorcerer uses inherent magic, Warlocks uses magic from patrons and Druids use natural magic, an Astrologer is someone who uses cosmic magic from the sun, moon and stars. 

• The Occultist (or Apostate) is often thought of as the dark counterpart to Clerics, using strange, forbidden magic from evil gods and deities. 13th Age had one of my favorite twists on the concept: in that game, Occultists spend all of their Actions to gather “Focus Points” during their turns, then spend that FP to perform Reactions during the enemy’s turn. I’d love to see more games tackle this concept. 

• The Shaman, also known as the Witch Doctor or Maledictor, is someone who uses shamanic magic. Shamans can go one of a few ways: they can summon spirits and the undead, like the Necromancers and Summoners; they can use status effects to support their parties; or they can infuse negative status effects onto their enemies. They are also closely related to Clerics. 

• The Elementalist, also known as the Kineticist or Tempest, is someone who exclusively uses elemental magic. In games where each elemental magic type has its own class (like how Fire Emblem has Fire Mages, Thunder Mages, Wind Mages, etc.) you’re not likely to find this. 

• The Enchanter specializes in “enchanting” items and weapons, imbuing them with new effects for their party to use. 

• The Chronomancer uses time magic, allowing them to speed up their movements, slow down the enemies, or “rewind” time and help their allies. 

• The Summoner (also called the Invoker or Evoker) is exactly what they sound like; someone who summons spirits to fight on their behalf. Summoners can either fight with the aid of only one summon, or with many weaker summons doing their bidding. 

• The Sage or Red Mage is someone who uses both offensive arcane magic and healing holy magic, making them something of a hybrid between Clerics and Mages. As a downside, they are generally limited in how much of either magical branch they can use.  

• The Mesmerist uses magic to hypnotize their enemies instead of outright blasting them. Alternatively, they can craft illusions to confuse their enemies, but these illusions usually aren’t deadly (unlike the Nightblade listed above). 

• The Rift Mage (aka the Planeswalker, Dimension Warper or Witchwarper) is a magic-user who either gains their magic from other dimensions or can open portals to other dimensions (or both). 

• The Blood Mage, who uses their own blood as both a conduit for magic and a malleable weapon to attack enemies. In gameplay, this translates into Blood Mages using their own HP or Hit Die as a resource to cast spells. 

• The Stormrider is someone who attacks with the power of storms. This can entail lots of things, though it generally involves wind, lightning, water and ice attacks. 

• The Transmuter is capable of converting different objects into one-another, which can be extremely valuable on the battlefield. 

• The Chronicler (also known as the Scribe) is a Mage variation that activates their magic by writing words on a paper. 

• The Arithmetician is another Final Fantasy-popularized class. In this case, Arithmeticians are magic users with little ability to perform consecutive spells, but they are also mathematicians, so they use math to calculate the best possible use of their limited magic. 

The Rogue is a class of criminals. Assassins, Spies and Thieves are often subclasses of Rogues. Speaking of which, Rogues have a bit of a strange relationship with subclasses. Developers often tack random ideas onto them as subclasses, as I already touched on earlier, which can weirdly give the impression that Rogues are a jack-of-all-trades type of class when they really aren’t at all. Traditionally, Rogues are either stealthy strikers, glass cannon strikers who can do lots of damage but have little health, or versatile “Skill Monkeys” who have lots of utility outside of combat. Anyways, variations and subclasses include:

• The Thief (aka the Pickpocket or Smuggler) lacks the versatility and combat skills that Rogues have, specializing more in pickpocketing and stealth. 

• The Assassin (also known as the Hitman, Mercenary or Troubleshooter) can be a subclass, but it is just as often a separate class. They are an offensive archetype that specialize in assassinations and dueling, essentially going in the opposite direction of Thieves.

• The Spy makes use of invisibility and disguises to sneak up on enemies and stab them from behind.  

• The Bandit is a criminal, like all the other Rogue-adjacent classes, but they are better at direct combat than their peers. 

• If most Rogues are street level criminals, the Mastermind is more of a leader, a Moriarty-type of character pulling the strings on operations from the shadows. 

• The Ninja (or Shinobi) is the Rogue taken to its logical conclusion. Ninjas are masters of the shadows, striking from the dark and completely unseen unless they want to be. Because a Ninja is often seen as a more extreme, competent version of the traditional Rogue, they are often used as a Prestige Class instead of a subclass. 

• The Decker is a perfect Rogue variation for a science-fiction setting. Popularized by Shadowrun, they are criminals who specialize in stealing information from rival organizations and companies. 

The Cleric (aka the Priest, Prophet or White Mage) has been a staple of the genre since its inception. Clerics fulfill an interesting role in RPGs (specifically ones in a fantasy setting) because they can heal party members using holy magic. 

• The Inquisitor, aka the Templar, is a popular variation on Clerics. Inquisitors are warriors using holy magic, but instead of protecting the innocent like Paladins, they are dedicated to purging sinners and heretics. 

• The Oracle is to Clerics what a Sorcerer is to Mages: someone born with inherent holy magic, who didn’t need to acquire it later in life through prayer, training or study. 

• The Crusader (aka the Battle Priest or Warpriest) is essentially a tankier version of the Cleric who fights on the front lines. To put it another way, they are very similar to Paladins (albeit with less armor) and Battle Mages (albeit substituting arcane magic for holy magic). 

• The Bishop can either go one of two ways: a Cleric with even stronger buffs for the rest of the party, or a tanky Cleric who fights bare-handed (like Brawlers and Monks). 

• The Medium (aka the Vessel or Avatar) is a twist on the aforementioned Summoner class. Instead of summoning spirits, Mediums channel them into their body, becoming a physical puppet for the spirits to use. 

• The Omdura is the Cleric taken to its furthest extreme. They are a warrior chosen specifically by a deity to carry out their will, with no focus on healing and entirely based around combat. 

• The Avenger is similar, in that they were chosen specifically by a god to carry out their will, until they suffered a great tragedy and left that life behind. While they still use holy magic, they are a purely offensive class dedicated to hunting down those who have wronged them. In some cases (like DFO) they even switch out their holy magic for more demonic abilities altogether. 

• The Runepriest still uses holy magic, but it functions a lot differently. Instead of relying on prayer and a direct line of contact with a deity, Runepriests use ancient runes to activate their spells. 

The Ranger is a class of natural explorers, animal hunters and wilderness survivors. There are often slight variations on this class, including…

• The Hunter, who specializes in hunting and tracking prey throughout the wilderness. 

• The Archer, also occasionally called the Bowman, a long-ranged fighter that utilizes bows and arrows. The Archer is almost never a class of its own, and is instead absorbed into the Ranger to give them proficiency in bows and crossbows. However, in the event the Archer is its own class, it’s likely to be a glass cannon with subclasses that augment its arrows in a variety of ways. 

• The Melee Ranger, who substitutes bows and arrows for swords and hatchets. 

• The Bow and Blade Ranger, a hybrid of the two that uses both long-ranged weapons and short-ranged bladed weapons. 

• The Slayer, sometimes called the Monster Hunter or Blood Hunter, is exactly what it sounds like. Whereas Rangers are oftentimes general hunters and trackers of wildlife, the Slayers hunt mythological monsters specifically. Of all the Ranger variations, this one is the most likely to be its own class, as seen in games like Pathfinder 1E and DFO. 

• The Dragon Hunter is a sub-variation, notable in that they fight Dragons specifically. Interestingly, they can have lots of overlap with Dragon Knights, and many RPGs portray monster hunters as slowly becoming more like the monsters they fight. 

• The Beast Tamer (also called the Barabossa, Valkyrie Rider or Beastmaster) is someone who tames “Familiars” that fight alongside or on behalf of them. It’s also common to see these characters riding their Familiars into battle. 

• The Trapper is a Ranger variation that doesn’t fight directly, per say. Rather, they set up traps ahead of time to slow down or outright kill their enemies. 

Rarer Classes (in Fantasy Settings):

After Rangers, Fighters, Mages, Rogues and Clerics, we have a bunch of more niche classes. Many of these have a very rich history in the genre, but they aren’t quite as rare as the aforementioned ones. 

Pirates, aka Swashbucklers, is your classic Jack Sparrow-type. Criminals and voyagers, Pirates employ both swords and pistols in combat. In lots of RPGs, Pirates can fill a very specific niche as the only class with naval experience. 

Martial Artists, aka Monks, are bare-fisted fighters. As one of the few classes in early D&D editions explicitly inspired by Eastern mysticism, they often use abilities relating to Chakra and Chi instead of magic. The difference between Monks and Brawlers is that the former often has alignment restrictions, uses Chi and fights exclusively with their fists; whereas the latter doesn’t have such restrictions, often has no power source and can also use other weapons if the situation calls for it. 

Seekers, also called Detectives or Inquisitives, have all the sneakiness and intelligence of the traditional Rogue, but they are more of a detective, akin to Sherlock Holmes. In D&D 4E they were also users of natural magic, like Druids and Rangers. 

Nomads (aka Travelers, Explorers or Vagabonds) are another class with lots of miscellaneous skills. In their case, these skills are often rooted in combat or survival. They have no home, wandering the world and acquiring new skills, friends and enemies along the way. 

Barbarians (aka Destroyers, Behemoths or Berserkers) are monstrous warriors modeled after a mix of Conan the Barbarian and real-life Viking Berserkers, who were known to fly into rages where they attacked anything and everything. As such, Barbarians have “Rage” as a central mechanic in many of their appearances. 

• Bloodragers are a variation on Barbarians found in Pathfinder. They can be best explained as a Barbarian with a Sorcerous bloodline, allowing them to use quick bursts of offensive magic in-between melee combat. 

Bards were first created as a “Prestige Class.” For those that don’t know, Prestige Classes were a mechanic seen in many TTRPGs of the 80s, 90s and 2000s that required multiclassing as several other classes. In this case, Bards are crafty and versatile mages who use music to cast their magic, so they require levels in Rogues, Druids and Fighters. Nowadays, Bards are usually just a class on their own, well-known for their versatile nature. They have two main variations:

• Skalds are a cross between Barbarians and Bards, simultaneously using the music magic of Bards while also soaking up damage and Raging on the front lines like a Barbarian. 

• Cantors are a cross between Clerics and Bards. They sing hymns as opposed to mere songs, so their magic is a combination of holy magic and music magic. 

Gamblers are a class that uses luck to their advantage. Their powers allow them to literally manipulate probability, which can be extremely valuable on the battlefield. Think Domino from X-Men. 

Factotums are the ultimate utility class. They have practically no identity of their own, because their key defining feature is their ability to use all sorts of skills for a variety of purposes. As a result, they can be lockpickers, arcanists, fighters, technicians, or any number of other things depending on what the situation calls for. 

Onion Knights are a class popularized by Final Fantasy. They have no skills of their own and very limited equipment, but once they reach Level 90 (out of 99), they suddenly skyrocket in abilities and damage output. 

Wretches (also called Prisoners) are a popular class in the Souls games. They have the lowest stats and worst weapons of all the starting classes, but the fact that their stats are so low actually makes them very valuable for players who plan on respeccing at some point. 

Shifters (aka Skinchangers or Shapeshifters) can alter their appearance at will, either becoming a bestial monster capable of great destruction, elemental beings, mythological entities, or even disguising themselves as other people. 

Shielders (aka Vanguards, Defenders or Guardians) are capable of blocking attacks from incoming enemies with their massive shields and armor. They are a purely defensive class, making them perfect Tanks for the front lines. 

• Wardens are a class seen in D&D 4E. They are users of natural magic (or “Primal” magic, as the game refers to it) while also acting as defenders on the frontlines, making them essentially a hybrid of Shielders and Druids.  

Rulers (aka Warlords, Strategists, Tacticians or Conquerors) are a support class that leads their allies on the front lines and buffs them with various status effects.

Revenants are a personal favorite of mine. They refer to classes of ghosts or spectres who have managed to linger in the mortal plane. The Lingering Soul of Critical Role and the Ghostblade of DFO are prime examples. 

Vampires have occasionally appeared as a playable class, notably in D&D 4E. More often than not, however, they are either a race to choose from or even an enemy species. 

Dancers are a more mobile, dynamic take on the Bards. While some of them do play music or sing, Dancers are often just graceful fighters moving at high speeds all over the map. 

Tricksters are a cross between Mages and Rogues, using their magic to confuse and overwhelm enemies before striking from behind. 

Alchemists are an interesting class that sits at the intersection between several ideas: they can serve as potion brewers, poison masters, botanists, or even explosives experts. They are especially common in games like Pathfinder. 

Copycats (sometimes called Mimics or Blue Mages) are characters who can use the magic and techniques of other characters, be they party members or enemies. 

Mage Hunters are warriors who have dedicated their lives to hunting and defeating Mages (and, in some cases, Clerics and Psychics). They do not use magic themselves, but they use their wits, tools, melee weapons and tricks to overwhelm Mages in direct combat. Oftentimes, Mage Hunters are called Spellbreakers, and they have supernatural powers that explicitly cancel out magical spells. 

Doppelgangers (aka Echo Knights) can summon a duplicate of themselves to fight on the frontlines alongside them. 

Puppeteers are capable of reviving the enemies they kill to fight on their behalf. This allows them to swarm the battlefield, similar to Summoners, Beastmasters and Necromancers. 

Rarer Classes (Sci-Fi and Contemporary):

Now, a lot of those are archetypes specific to the fantasy genre. But what about classes seen in both science-fiction and fantasy? Or classes exclusive to just science-fiction? Luckily, we still have plenty of options. 

Soldiers (aka Infiltrators or Shocktroopers) act as a “jack-of-all-trades” within science-fiction and contemporary settings. They have decent health, defenses, striking power, movement, and so on. Essentially, they are a Fighter that’s also capable of using firearms. 

• Black Ops is a slight variation on the Soldier class idea. While not necessarily more mobile, per say, Black Ops characters are better at stealth than their Soldier counterparts without sacrificing any of their proficiency in firearms or versatility on the battlefield. 

Speaking of which, Gunslingers have emerged as a popular class based entirely around the concept of using firearms. Gunslingers are often modeled after heroes of the Wild West genre. 

• Gun Mages are a popular homebrew class for D&D, and they are essentially Gunslingers who infuse their bullets with magic. 

Snipers are to Rangers what Soldiers are to Fighters: tricky, cunning fighters with low health who snipe away at enemies from afar. 

On the same note, Titans (aka Heavy Weapon Soldiers or Turtles) are to Barbarians what Soldiers are to Fighters: absolutely massive characters with firearms that completely shred enemies, who have above-average endurance, health and physical strength, which lets them soak up damage on the frontlines. 

Scouts are a slight variation on Rogues. They trade the backstabs and stealth of Rogues for pure speed and mobility, jumping and running all over the map to gather intel and disorient the enemy. 

Spitfires (aka Demomen, Explosive Experts and Nukers) are a class devoted to using explosives and AoEs to slow down or outright kill large amounts of enemies at once. In this regard, they are the science-fiction equivalent of Mages. 

Pyros (aka Incinerators) are a contemporary take on the notion of Elementalists, specifically. Their entire gameplan revolves around using fire bombs and flamethrowers to inflict the flame status effect, which often does damage over time. 

Medics are a more scientific take on the Cleric, using technology to heal and buff their allies instead of holy magic. 

Envoys are a highly charismatic class found in Starfinder that uses their diplomatic skills to ease conflict and make allies. 

Vigilantes (aka Heroes) are a class popularized by Pathfinder and inspired by various superheroes in pop culture. 

Scholars are a purely support class, whose usefulness comes not from any magical or combative ability, but from their encyclopedic knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. 

Engineers (aka Mechanics or Riggers) are crafty inventors. In most appearances they are simply inventors with lots of natural talent, but in fantasy settings they are often called Artificers or Technomancers, and their invention comes from innate magical abilities. In any event, Engineers often create robots and golems to fight on their behalf. 

• Mecha Drivers are a variation on the Engineer, fighting exclusively from inside of a massive metal suit of armor that they built. 

Saboteurs can be thought of as an anti-Engineer. A common Rogue subclass, Saboteurs are capable of destroying, rewiring or reprogramming existing technology for their own use. 

Bounty Hunters have a lot of overlap with the aforementioned Gunslingers. They use a variety of technology, guns and tools to defeat and bring in criminals, then collect the rewards. 

Agents (also called Operatives) are exactly what they sound like. Skilled practitioners of espionage in the vein of James Bond or Solid Snakes, Agents can be a lawful counterpart or science-fiction counterpart to the traditional Rogue class. 

Psychics (also called Psions and Espers) are an extremely versatile concept, and can be splashed in as a class or subclass concept, either existing alongside magic (if the setting is fantasy) or as an equivalent to it (if the setting is science-fiction). D&D has taken a stab at the concept of Psychics many times, often to fan backlash, either because it strays from the typical fantasy setting in some way or because Psychic powers disrupt a game balance fine-tuned around magical abilities. Nowadays, Wizards of the Coast seems content with simply assigning psychic-themed subclasses to the various classes of 5E, but in 4E, they shook things up by introducing three pure Psychic classes in one expansion. 

• Ardents were Psychic Leaders, which in 4E meant that they buffed their allies from afar and healed them. 

• The classical Psions were classified as Controllers, meaning they manipulated enemy movement and positioning from afar. Essentially, they were the Psychic equivalent of a Wizard. 

• And Battleminds were Defenders, meaning that they used their powers to defend allies and soak up damage. 

Mutants are in the same vein. Genetically-mutated monsters, Mutants are a rarer class idea, but they often occur alongside Psychics when they do appear. It’s also not uncommon to see them appear as a race or a subrace, rather than a full-blown class. 

Hackers (sometimes called Netrunners) can hack into computers effortlessly and act from within virtual reality and digital spaces. In science-fantasy settings, Hackers sometimes use coding-based magic to “hack” the real world and perform spells. 

Cyborgs (sometimes called Techies) fight using a variety of cybernetic enhancements and gadgets, as opposed to magic or melee weapons. 

• Nanocytes are another Starfinder class, and an interesting variation on Cyborgs. Their entire body is made up of tiny nanobots, which they can control and disperse at will. 

Wastelanders (aka Ravers or Scavengers) reside on the fringes of society, scouring for supplies and brutally attacking anyone who gets in their way or threatens their chances of survival. 

Solarians are a highly-defensive class, similar to Shielders, Seekers and Paladins. Found in the Starfinder RPG, they are essentially the space opera equivalent of a Paladin, and can be thought of as a playable take on Jedi from Star Wars. 

Biohackers are a unique class found in the Starfinder RPG. They are another science-fiction equivalent to the Cleric, using buffs on the rest of the party and debuffs (often AoEs) on the enemies. What I like most about Biohackers is how each of their subclasses are based on a real-world branch of medicine (i.e. Immunology, Genetics, Toxicology, etc.), and their buffs and debuffs complement one-another, with the buffs serving to protect the party from whatever the debuff will do. For instance, a Biohacker might buff a party member’s immune system just before debuffing the enemy’s immune system with a deadly virus. 

Standard Classes in Video Games:

The influence of D&D on RPGs and the video game industry as a whole cannot be overstated, and to prove this, we only need to look at how video game developers have interpreted these classes. 

Many games have cut out the idea of the Ranger entirely, and it’s a real shame, but I can’t fault them for it. It’s incredibly difficult for developers to come up with a gameplay style that still fits their thematic identity as wilderness survivors and guardians of nature, as I explained above. In games like Dungeon Fighter Online, the Ranger is made into a subclass of the larger Gunner class; and they haven’t appeared in a single installment of Diablo, despite how obviously Diablo was inspired by D&D. 

In a lot of single-player video games like Dragon Age and the mainline Elder Scrolls games, the Ranger and Cleric classes are both cut, leaving Rogues, Fighters and Mages as the main classes. This leads to a triangular system where one class emphasizes speed/stealth/agility, one emphasizes strength and one emphasizes supernatural abilities. It makes sense to cut the Cleric (healing allies doesn’t feel as urgent when it’s a single-player game and the allies are just NPCs), but the popularity of such triangular class systems has led to Healers becoming something of rarity even in MMOs like Destiny, where one would expect them to actually show up. 

In response to such triangular systems, games like Anthem often introduce a fourth “jack-of-all-trades” class. They’re a class meant to ease you into the systems of the game before you explore all of its depth, giving you a taste of each playstyle so you know which one suits you best. Basically, it’s the RPG equivalent of a Shoto from Street Fighter. 

Team Fortress 2 has nine different classes, all in a contemporary setting. These nine classes are divided into offense (Scout, Soldier, Pyro), defense (Heavy, Engineer, Demoman) and support (Medic, Spy, Sniper). Within those three groups, we can see how each class handles their “goal” in different ways. Looking at the offensive groups, for example, Scouts can close gaps in an instant to inflict damage at close range, Soldiers inflict damage from far away with their rocket launchers, and Pyros inflict unexpected and sustained damage from the midrange with their flamethrower. However, I’m not the biggest fan of this system either because it shows how defense is difficult to convey effectively (let alone play effectively) in a fast-paced shooter game, considering the “defense” category consists of a man carrying a minigun, an engineer making drones and a man shooting explosives. Had they labeled this category as “crowd control,” I might be a bit more forgiving. 

Just like how World of Warcraft splits up its races on a narrative level, forcing you to pick a side in the conflict to choose certain races; Star Wars: The Old Republic splits its classes on the narrative level, forcing you to choose between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic before picking a class. Both factions have four classes that are roughly equivalent to each other (Sith Inquisitors parallel Jedi Consulars, Sith Warriors are similar to Jedi Knights, Bounty Hunters parallel Troopers, and Smugglers are equivalent to Imperial Agents). 

Grim Dawn has one of my favorite takes on classes, in that each of the 9 classes can be multiclassed with one of the others. Multiclassing is not a concept most video games dive into, but Grim Dawn does it masterfully. As a result, the game has a total of 35 “dual classes” to choose after your base class. 

As Western RPGs and Action RPGs gradually reduced the number of classes in favor of fleshing them out with subclasses; JRPG franchises like Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy doubled down on quantity. Final Fantasy is home to iconic classes like the Onion Knight, Arithmetician, Samurai and Juggler; while Fire Emblem is home to crazy classes like the Barbarossa, Dread Fighter, Grandmaster and Pegasus Rider. 

Finally, I’d also be remiss not to mention Bloodborne, Elden Ring and the Souls games. All of them have a rather creative twist on RPG classes, using them as a starting point for your early game and…that’s it. Because Souls games have you level up one stat at a time with whatever stat you want, it’s possible your build will end up completely different than what you initially intended. Classes ultimately give you valuable early game tools, but they say nothing about your success or playstyle in the long run. 

Problems with Fighter, Mage and Ranger Variations:

One of the trickier parts of getting into RPGs or even creating your own RPG is figuring out what distinguishes different classes and variations of those classes. I would say Fighters and Wizards/Mages are probably two of the worst offenders in this regard, mainly because they are so broad and there are so many variations on them (sometimes as subclasses but often as full-fledged classes), yet in spite of those variations, the original classes never went away. Even though games like D&D and Pathfinder have several classes that all use melee fighting (Monk, Barbarian, etc.) there is also just a Fighter class; and even though those same games have several classes that all use magic (Sorcerer, Warlock, Witch, etc.) there is also just a Wizard class. I don’t know about you guys, but I really prefer when developers either try to give the Fighter and Wizard a very distinct identity or just split them up into several smaller classes that don’t use the words “Fighter” or “Wizard.” 

For Fighters, one of the biggest points of confusion, redundancy and frustration comes with their Knight-themed classes. On a purely thematic level, there’s very little distinguishing a Knight from a Magic Knight (who just uses arcane magic), a Cavalier (who just rides horses), a Dark Knight (who is edgy and wears black armor), a Dragon Knight (who is dragon-themed), and a Paladin (who uses holy magic). Trying to cram all of these into your game is a lose-lose situation: these classes are all just slight variations on the idea of a “Knight,” and it’d be redundant to put all of them in your game, but many of them are also just different enough that they couldn’t logically be subclasses to each other. As such, developers have to make sacrifices about which Knight-adjacent classes will appear and which won’t. 

Mages have several points of confusion. Depending on the game, multiple magic-using classes might be distinguished based on where their magic came from, what their magic does on a mechanical level, and/or how their magic is performed. For instance, D&D’s “big four” caster classes (Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Warlock) are all versatile characters whose flavor distinguishes them by how they obtained their magic (schooling, bloodline, faith, pact); whereas the Bard is distinguished from them by how their magic is performed (through song) and the Druid is distinguished by what their magic does (control over nature and shapeshifting). Not only is that lack of consistency bad enough on its own, but there is also very little distinguishing a Cleric from a Warlock, and as time has gone on, WotC has broadened the definition of a Sorcerer so much that there’s little distinguishing a Sorcerer from a Warlock either, leaving all three in this weird limbo of ambiguous, half-hearted flavor text. 

Adding to this, Final Fantasy started a trend in JRPGs of grouping holy magic and arcane magic together as two different branches of one practice, then distinguishing classes based on this criterion, hence how the Clerics of Final Fantasy are called “White Mages” while the offensive magic-users are called “Black Mages.” This can be really confusing for Western TTRPG fans, since in English-speaking fantasy fandoms, “Black Magic” specifically refers to things like curses and Necromancy, and it is not used as an umbrella term for offensive magic in general. 

______

As a bit of a side-note, Rangers have had one of the weirdest, most confusing histories in TTRPG history. Rangers were the fifth class introduced in D&D, but ever since their inception they’ve lacked a clear identity. It’s no secret that early D&D was heavily inspired by Lord of the Rings, with Gandalf inspiring the Wizard, characters like Boromir and Gimli inspiring the Fighter, and Bilbo likely inspiring the Thief/Rogue. The Wizard was given a much lower hit die than the other classes to balance out their magical abilities, and Clerics were likely created as a way to heal damage and balance out this health discrepancy. 

Rangers were allegedly based on characters such as Robin Hood, but Aragorn undoubtedly played the biggest role in inspiring the Ranger’s identity. Aragorn was an adept fighter, but also a survivor of the wilderness with knowledge of tracking, fauna, flora and poisons. He was a mortal man, yes, but he had an extended lifespan and subtle healing powers. All of this inspired the idea that the Ranger, as a D&D class, would be pragmatic, competent guardians of nature with minor magical abilities. 

As many have pointed out, it’s rather confusing to have Aragorn be Gary Gygax’s inspiration for a Ranger. He is spending a lot of time in the wilderness…but so are the other Fellowship members. He has magical powers…but they were not a result of his wilderness expertise, rather, a result of his partial Elven lineage (which is explained more in The Silmarillion and Tolkien’s other works). He’s the inspiration for the archetypal fantasy hero and almost more of a messianic figure, and the traits that Gygax was inspired by only apply to his appearance in the first volume or so of LOTR. Considering his royal heritage and role on the battlefield, he’s really more of a Fighter or Paladin than a Ranger, all things considered. I’m pointing all of this out because it speaks to the fact that the Ranger’s thematic identity was always muddled, even from its inception. 

But now that the Ranger’s class and flavor have established an identity, how do we translate that into gameplay? That’s something WotC and other developers have struggled with for a long, long time. As a TTRPG, exploration and socialization do play roles in the game, but combat is by far and away the largest, and unlike the Fighter or the Wizard/Mage, the Ranger’s skillset doesn’t directly translate into combat, and that is why the Ranger is considered the worst class in 5E. In D&D, the thematic identity of the Ranger has broadened, with subclasses that now make it into a monster hunter or a beast master. This solution has always dissatisfied me, as we’re now diverting attention away from the Ranger’s original identity to give it more to do, as opposed to finding a gameplay style within that original identity. In fact, the Ranger now has the “favored enemy” mechanic in 5E, which feels more fitting for a Witcher-esque class of monster hunters than a simple loner living in the wilderness. 

Many developers have attempted to circumvent this by making the Ranger an archer (or just a user of ranged weapons in general), which draws on the stereotype that hunters in fantasy settings like to use bows, but this is even worse. Not all archers are wilderness survivors, and not all wilderness experts are archers. 

How I Would Fix These Problems:

Part of why I wrote this essay was to give myself a better grasp on the concept of classes for my own RPG. For the past year, I’ve been working on a tabletop RPG, and while I won’t get into the specifics of the story, lore or even the title, I will say that it’s a science-fiction/fantasy mix, and a big part of why I created it was because I wanted to make a compelling class system that would fix many of these problems. 

In my own game, I decided to break Fighters up into several smaller classes that all use different weapons, akin to in Fate/stay night or Dungeon Fighter Online. Sabers use swords, Archers use bows (and crossbows), Gunslingers use firearms, Lancers use spears and lances, Reapers use scythes, Shielders use shields, and Cleavers use axes. I’m considering also adding a class that exclusively uses heavy weapons like hammers and maces, but I’ll see if this is necessary. Each of these classes have their own unique theme when it comes to subclasses. Archer subclasses all imbue their arrows with some type of effect (added range, AoE, teleportation, etc.); Gunslinger subclasses are themed after the Wild West and specialize in different types of firearms (revolvers, rifles, shotguns, etc.); Reapers have four subclasses themed after the four horsemen of the apocalypse; and Sabers all have subclasses based on different types of bladed weapons (rapiers, claymores, katanas, etc.). 

The idea of a knight-in-shining-armor is a powerful archetype of the fantasy genre, but the idea of a knight-in-shining-armor-who-also-uses-holy-magic is…not. The Paladin from D&D is almost entirely self-referential because of how much emphasis it places on its holy magic, but I still love the idea of these honor-bound protectors. To that end, I created the Oathkeeper. They are heavily armored knights who use swords and shields, though they aren’t as good with them as the Sabers and Shielders. Paladin is a subclass of Oathkeeper that uses holy magic, and Cavalier is a subclass of Oathkeeper that rides on horses. 

Dark Knight, Magic Knight and Dragon Knight are all separate classes entirely. The Dark Knights are all people who either fight the Oathkeepers, were former Oathkeepers who left, or both, and they all have various subclasses that mirror the Oathkeeper’s classes. Dark Knights are offensive powerhouses to oppose the Oathkeeper’s more defensive tendencies. The Magic Knight is a flexible class that is less armored than Paladins and less offensive than Dark Knights, standing square in the middle and using a variety of magic. All of their subclasses are themed around various ratios of magic-to-fighting. Finally, the Dragon Knight is more of a dragonborn, and its subclasses are all based on different types of dragonborns (Crystal Dragon Knight, Flame Dragon Knight, Poison Dragon Knight, etc.).

Rangers were still retained as a class. They retain their thematic identity from earlier editions of D&D as wilderness survivors, but they’ve been retooled into Burst-damage characters who predict enemy movements with enhanced senses and set traps ahead of time. Slayers were created as a separate class of monster hunters, and Beastmasters are a separate class of monster tamers. 

I mentioned that one of my biggest problems with the magic-using classes in RPGs was that most RPGs don’t have a clear framework for how and why these classes are separate. As the biggest TTRPG and the trendsetter for its genre and medium, D&D is the biggest offender. It’s magic is very hard in some ways, but very soft in others, so Clerics, Warlocks, Wizards and Sorcerers are all distinguished by how they got their powers (even though the first two have almost identical flavor); Bards are distinguished by how they cast their spells; and Druids are distinguished by what their powers can do. 

In my own RPG, I decided that magic would be a power system divided into several branches. Each branch has both unique powers and a unique mechanism for casting, with classes distinguished based on what branch they use:

• Mages use Runic Magic, a diverse branch of magic that requires lots of preparation for every spell, as well as reciting specific magic words in a dead language for each spell. 

• Alchemists use Alchemy, the branch based around manipulating solid matter and creating potions. 

• Warlocks use Thaumaturgy, the branch of magic that derives powers from polytheistic gods. 

• Priests/Clerics use Celestial Magic, the branch of magic based around light control, hard-light creation, and laser blasts that are effective against vampires and demons. All of these powers require citing scripture from holy books. 

• Druids use Natural Magic, the branch of magic based around controlling the weather. 

• Mancers use Elemental Magic, the branch of magic that lets users conjure raw elements with bodily motion a la Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

• Black Mages use Infernal Magic, the branch of magic based around raising the dead and controlling blood at the cost of spending their own life essence. Necromancer and Blood Mage are two subclasses. 

• Shamans use Shamanism, the branch based around soul manipulation. Shamans can only use their magic with idols and deep meditation, and technology interferes with their powers. 

• Witches use Witchcraft, the branch of curses, hexes and poisons, but they require lots of random catalysts and miscellaneous ingredients to do so. (The foot of a chicken, the wing of a sparrow, that sort of thing.)

• Incarnums use Enchantment (the branch of imbuing magical energy into objects) and Projection (the branch of creating objects from mana), but both require key words and special equipment. 

• Bards use Symphony, the branch that requires musical instruments to cast everything. 

• Illusionists use Glamoring, a branch that creates auditory and visual hallucinations. 

• Finally, Sorcerers are the most unique. They comprise <1% of all mages, and instead of being born with an affinity for a branch of magic, they were born with a “Talent.” These Talents grant them spontaneous casting, but the Sorcerer also loses control with each spell they use and starts developing physical side-effects, and this process is accelerated when they try to use metamagic.