History Main / SquareRaceRoundClass

** Some players will use such wacky sets against other players [[ItAmusedMe for the sheer fun of it]] or to throw for a loop other players who thought they knew exactly how to counter a particular 'mon, [[CrazyEnoughToWork only to have their entire strategy invalidated]]. In particular, the ''Pokémon'' Youtuber known as PIMPNITE is famous for playing with nothing '''but''' completely counterintuitive movesets, and often even winning with them.

*** Ironically, it's suggested that Heracles's class (Berserker) is this for him. It seems like exactly the sort of thing Heracles should be good at; raw strength fueled by UnstoppableRage. The thing is, it's Heracles; he would be insanely strong no matter what you summoned him as, so all becoming a Berserker does is pack on even more physical power that he doesn't actually need while sacrificing his GeniusBruiser traits, his unique equipment, much of his fighting skills, and his sanity. Later stories involve him being summoned as an Archer, and proving far more effective than his Berserker self.

*** Lancer gets into this himself in the first ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' OVA, where Lancer is summoned as a Caster. He notes however that while he had learned druidism he greatly prefers fighting with his lance and his Caster fighting style reflects this; preferring to fight in melee range. Unlike most examples however, he's pragmatic enough to still be a very capable fighter.

*** Rider has this going on a bit more subtly, as later materials would show. Riders are meant to be cavaliers or monster tamers, in particular people with some kind of legendary mount like the Hippogriff or Bucephalus. Rider is Medusa... and her mount is Pegasus. Those familiar with the legend would probably know that Medusa never rode the Pegasus; in fact, it was born from her ''death.'' This means Rider has to pull her abilities from just the natural skills of the Rider class and a fairly minor part of her legend, rather than making use of her monstrous powers or her divine gifts. Watching her in combat, she shows off a weird eclectic mix of skills that barely seem related to being a Rider or Medusa, and in most of her fights, she doesn't even use the Pegasus. Future works point out that she's best as either a Lancer or Avenger, with her personal skills leaning heavily on those two classes. The main issue with both those classes is as an adult, she lacks the divinity she had in her youth which hurts her Lancer side (and her scythe is actually a version of Harpe, the weapon used to kill her), and she isn't willing to make use of the monstrous strength she could have because she doesn't want to become Gorgon which hurts her Avenger side.

*** Morgan Le Fay is a Berserker even though she is completely calm and fights like a Caster with a spear like a Lancer. The reason why she is in the Berserker class was assumed to be due to her BlueAndOrangeMorality[[spoiler:...but once you learn [[FolkHero who she used to be]] and [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption what it took for her to become the queen of Fairy Britain]], the true reason for why she's a Berserker becomes very apparent.]]

*** Leonidas is definitely a Lancer as far as having a BladeOnAStick goes, but that's really as far as it goes, as Leonidas has nothing in common with the characteristic qualities of the class. Lancers specialize in hit an run tactics, being [[FragileSpeedster Fragile Speedsters]] who are generally categorized by low Endurance and lower Luck. Leonidas is... [[MightyGlacier not that]]. His Endurance is at an exceptional A-Rank and his Strength is at an impressive B-Rank, and his Luck, unlike many Lancers, is at an average C-Rank Rank (reflecting how he lasted so long in the Battle of Thermopylae, but still perished in a LastStand). If anything, his DumpStat is his ''agility'', being at a dismal D-Rank. This extends as far as his preferred fighting style; while most Lancers are harassers in combat, Leonidas forgoes that for HoldTheLine StoneWall tactics, seeking to weather a barrage of offense and win through VictoryByEndurance.

* Three out of five of the main character's party members in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' break the traditional mold one way or another:

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'': The vampire Shalltear Bloodfallen is a Cleric in addition to her other classes, allowing her to cast divine magic. Since her natural abilities as a vampire are geared towards fighting living opponents, her magic is used to counter her lack of offensive options against her fellow undead. She is notably the second most powerful NPC in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, second only to the physically powerful but unintelligent Gargantua, though being an undead cleric does mean that some of her spells can't be used to heal herself.

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'': The vampire Shalltear Bloodfallen is a Cleric in addition to her other classes, allowing her to cast divine magic. Since her natural abilities as a vampire are geared towards fighting living opponents, her magic is used to counter her lack of offensive options against her fellow undead. She is notably the second most powerful NPC in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, second only to the physically powerful but unintelligent Gargantua.

** Lizard Priest wears heavy garb and is capable of spellcasting by praying to his gods, but he's more commonly found as the party's frontline fighter and is physically the strongest. He's Lizard Paladin for all intents and purposes.

** Gnome and goblin characters can be Warriors and Death Knights; the game ignores the problem of how small characters have the same melee reach and running speed as the larger ones. Then again, many bosses are so humongous besides the player characters it hardly seems to matter.

** Draenei and tauren, however, cannot be rogues. Both races have strong cultural mores against deception, they are ''too big'' to be stealth-based combatants (at least the males) and have hooves for feet. Despite this, two draenei rogues turn up as [=NPCs=] in ''Warlords of Draenor''. A common joke is that tauren and draenei rogues do exist, they're just very good at what rogues are supposed to do, which is staying hidden. (Stealth animations for them always existed in the game since players can change appearance in a few ways.) Something akin to draenei rogues were introduced in ''Warlord of Draenor'' with the Rangari, who are a mix of pathfinders and hunters who stalk uncivilized wilds, it's not uncommon to find one that's stealthed or in camouflage when you approach. As of ''Dragonflight'', ''all'' races can become rogues, including draenei, tauren, and their Allied Race equivalents.

** In some cases, this can work to the player's advantage. Kul Tirans[[note]] (A Human variant that is [[StoutStrength fat and burly]] rather than toned)[[/note]] have a racial ability that lets them [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom punch targets so hard it knocks them back]]. Kul Tiran Rogues can follow up stuns with a Haymaker to send enemy players flying off a cliff, while casters (especially [[SquishyWizard Mages]]) can knock physical attackers out of melee range.
** The Nightborne are a race of [[OurElvesAreDifferent former Night Elves]] who use arcane magic in everything they do, from food production to building mana-infused robotic sentries. Once the Nightborne join the Horde, you can find a Nightborne woman in Orgrimmar working as a traditional engineer. She admits she really likes Orgrimmar because they appreciate technology and skills that ''don't'' depend on magic compared to most of her own culture.

** Like the Dawn Brigade above, [[{{Wutai}} Hoshido]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates: Birthright'' has a ''lot'' more units than average who don't fit the classes they're assigned for, often having some very uncharacteristic if not outright lopsided growth rates for the classes they roll up in. Some examples of this include Hinata (a [[FragileSpeedster Samurai/Swordmaster]] with tanky MightyGlacier growth stats), Subaki (a [[MageKiller Sky Knight/Falcon Knight]] with terrible Speed and Resistance but very high [=HP=], Defense and Skill), Rinkah (a [[PowerfulButInaccurate Oni Savage/Oni Chieftain]] with below average HP and Strength but above average Speed and Skill and a monstrous Defense growth) and Azama (a [[WhiteMage Monk/Great Master]] who's a [[MagicallyIneptFighter Magically-Inept]] LightningBruiser). In most of their cases, the best solution is to reclass them to a more ergonomically-fitting class (Azama especially, whom when reclassed into a Dread Fighter becomes an outright GameBreaker).

** Like the Dawn Brigade above, [[{{Wutai}} Hoshido]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates: Birthright'' has a ''lot'' more units than average who don't fit the classes they're assigned for, often having some very uncharacteristic if not outright lopsided growth rates for the classes they roll up in. Some examples of this include Hinata (a [[FragileSpeedster Samurai/Swordmaster]] with tanky MightyGlacier growth stats), Subaki (a [[MageKiller Sky Knight/Falcon Knight]] with terrible Speed and Resistance but very high [=HP=], Defense and Skill), Rinkah (a [[PowerfulButInaccurate Oni Savage/Oni Chieftain]] with below average HP and Strength but above average Speed and Skill and a monstrous Defense growth) and Azama (a [[WhiteMage Monk/Great Master]] who's a [[MagicallyIneptFighter Magically-Inept]] LightningBruiser]]). In most of their cases, the best solution is to reclass them to a more ergonomically-fitting class (Azama especially, whom when reclassed into a Dread Fighter becomes an outright GameBreaker).

* Holly Whyte holds the White Mage asterisk in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' and is as far from the [[WhiteMagicianGirl classical depiction of a female that uses white magic]] as possible, having the personality of a particularly sadistic and capricious {{Dominatrix}} who mainly uses her healing magic to make sure that her torture victims don't die too quickly. Even more jarring, if we take into account that her team (Argent Heinkel the KnightInShiningArmor, Barras Lehr the [[DumbMuscle all-brawn-no-brains]] BareFistedMonk and Ominas Crowe the deranged, stuttering pyromaniac of a BlackMage) are practically stereotypical depictions of their respective jobs.

** Many members of the Dawn Brigade in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' have this going on, with growths that definitely don't fit their usual classes. The one who fares the best of them is Nolan, an axe-wielding Fighter. Normally, Fighters have poor Skill and good Strength, but Nolan has the opposite, making him look a little like a Myrmidon who decided to use axes.

* ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'': The vampire Shalltear Bloodfallen is a Cleric in addition to her other classes, allowing her to cast divine magic. Since her natural abilities as a vampire are geared towards fighting living opponents, her magic is used to counter her lack of offensive options against her fellow undead. She is notably the second most powerful NPC in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, second only to the physically powerful but unintelligent Gargantua.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' fancomic ''Webcomic/TheHandbookOfHeroes'' has Pugilist (or "Pug" for short), who is a kobold. TheRant explicitly describes her as "the archetypal race-class mismatch. Brawling with a racial Strength penalty and a size-small frame is no easy task, but it brings all kinds of fun Napoleon complex tropes with it." Note this doesn't stop her from being a PintSizedPowerhouse.

* In ''WebAnimation/PuffinForest'', Claire is a tiefling Cleric who directly serves the angel Gavriel. Even though Gavriel is secretly the BigBad, Claire is unaware of this and remains a steadfast ally to the party.

* ''Franchise/FateSeries'': Many servants have qualities that would qualify them as being a number of different classes, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are ''good'' at being those classes. This is generally because the Fuyuki summoning system dictates that only seven Servants can be summoned and their classes are based on their best role. For example; if two Servants in a single Holy Grail War can be a Saber class, the best one will be summoned into that while the other will be moved to a different class.

* ''Franchise/FateSeries'': Very common within the ''Fate'' series. Many servants have the qualities that would qualify them being a number of different classes, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are ''good'' at being those classes. This is generally because the Fuyuki summoning system dictates that only seven Servants can be summoned and their classes are based on their best role. For example; if two Servants in a single Holy Grail War can be a Saber class, the best one will be summoned into that while the other will be moved to a different class.

*** Archer is a Servant who focuses on swordfighting in spite of his class abilities focusing on range. Lancer notes the absurdity of this, and wonders [[IKnowYourTrueName what legendary hero Archer is supposed to be]], given his [[ComboPlatterPowers strange mish-mash of powers]] unrelated to archery. WordOfGod states he ''could'' have been the Saber for that Grail War, but [[spoiler:King Arthur/[[HistoricalGenderFlip Arturia]]]] fits the role so well that any other class would fit her even worse. As it turns out, Archer is actually a mage using unique magical abilities to emulate the skills of a swordsman stuck in an archer class. The only reason he stands a chance in the War is [[TheDeterminator raw determination]] combined with being [[CombatPragmatist willing to fight very, very dirty]]. [[SubvertedTrope Unlike many other examples]], however, he is actually still ''very'' qualified for the Archer position and was a supremely skilled bowman in life, it just so doesn't happen to be his preferred form of combat, while his archery skills are mostly plan B in case a head-on fight doesn't work.

*** Saber being noted as the ultimate Saber-class Servant is capable of be summoned as both a Lancer (thanks to her lance Rhongomyniad) and a Rider. And as ''Grand Order'' reveals a little tinkering of her Saint Graph could lead her to being a functional Archer as well. She also makes mention that she has the raw potential to be a Caster, something she shares with her sister [[spoiler:Morgan le Fay]], but unlike her she didn't have the patience to learn magic and didn't feel it a proper path for a future king. An AlternateSelf of hers is later released in ''Grand Order'' that, sure enough, is as good a mage as [[spoiler:Merlin]].

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyVBeyondTheMyth'' has multiple races of adventurers, with each race having 2 or 4 classes native to them. You can change a character's class, keeping their race and race-native traits (race skills and stat distributions) in the process, at the cost of five levels. You are free to have a Celestrian (an elf-like humanoid whose stats [[SquishyWizard favor magic]]) attempt to be a Dragoon (an Earthlain-native StoneWall class) or an Earthlain (an ordinary human known more for physical abilities than holding a lot of mana) try to be a Botanist (a Brouni-native class focused on spamming [[TheMedic healing]] and StatusEffects) if you really want to.

*** A lesser example would be Legates Fasendil and Sevan Telendas, an Altmer (High Elf) and Dunmer (Dark Elf) respectively who wear heavy Legion armor and belong to the "Soldier" class. Almter are almost always mages, and while Dunmer are [[JackOfAllStats more versatile]], they also tend to blend in more mage and/or thief-like skills.

*** Archer is a Servant who focuses on swordfighting in spite of his class abilities focusing on range. Lancer notes the absurdity of this, and wonders [[IKnowYourTrueName what legendary hero Archer is supposed to be]], given his [[ComboPlatterPowers strange mish-mash of powers]] unrelated to archery. WordOfGod states he ''could'' have been the Saber for that Grail War, but [[spoiler:King Arthur/[[HistoricalGenderFlip Arturia]]]] fits the role so well that any other class would fit her even worse. As it turns out, Archer is actually a mage using unique magical abilities to emylate the skills of a swordsman stuck in an archer class. The only reason he stands a chance in the War is [[TheDeterminator raw determination]] combined with being [[CombatPragmatist willing to fight very, very dirty]]. [[SubvertedTrope Unlike many other examples]], however, he is actually still ''very'' qualified for the Archer position and was a supremely skilled bowman in life, it just so doesn't happen to be his preferred form of combat, while his archery skills are mostly plan B in case s head-on fight doesn't work.

*** Archer is a Servant who focuses on swordfighting in spite of his class abilities focusing on range. Lancer notes the absurdity of this, and wonders [[IKnowYourTrueName what legendary hero Archer is supposed to be]], given his [[ComboPlatterPowers strange mish-mash of powers]] unrelated to archery. WordOfGod states he ''could'' have been the Saber for that Grail War, but [[spoiler:King Arthur/[[HistoricalGenderFlip Arturia]]]] fits the role so well that any other class would fit her even worse. As it turns out, Archer is actually a mage trying to be a swordsman stuck in an archer class. The only reason he stands a chance in the War is [[TheDeterminator raw determination]] combined with being [[CombatPragmatist willing to fight very, very dirty]]. [[SubvertedTrope Unlike many other examples]], however, he is actually still ''very'' qualified for the Archer position and was a supremely skilled bowman in life, it just so doesn't happen to be his preferred form of combat.

* ''Webcomic/MonstersCanBeHeroesToo'': Shelly the Skeleton chose the wrong character class. She is a WhiteMage, a class that specializes in destroying undead and supporting the living. When she tries to heal a fellow skeleton the spell [[ReviveKillsZombie does the opposite of what she intended]], causing the other Skeletons to turn on her. This is less of a problem when she join's Coal's party, who are not undead.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' all but revels in this. This is especially apparent in the "NPC Codex" {{Sourcebook}}, which gives examples of every class in just about every race.
** Their iconic Ranger is in fact a Dwarf.

*** Speaking of the Brotherhood, most of the members are sneaky assassin types as you'd expect, but then there's Festus Krex, a '''Destruction mage''' who very much believes ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill. Destruction magic tends to involve large, fiery explosions and loud, bright lightning bolts, not exactly prime material for discreet assassination unless you want to burn down the target's house and possibly the entire town along with it. One hopes he at least has the Illusion perk that makes all spells silent to others...
*** Falion, the wizard in Morthal whom nobody trusts, is a Redguard ''Conjurer''. Redguards in ''Skyrim'' now start with small bonuses to Destruction and Alteration, but Conjuration is still seen as a wicked art for Daedra-worshippers and necromancers. Falion is, inarguably, a necromancer who has dealings with the Daedra, but he doesn't seem to be a bad person and will even cure you of vampirism if you ask him to.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey V: Beyond the Myth'' has multiple races of adventurers, with each race having 2 or 4 classes native to them. You can change a character's class, keeping their race and race-native traits (race skills and stat distributions) in the process, at the cost of five levels. You are free to have a Celestrian (an elf-like humanoid whose stats [[SquishyWizard favor magic]]) attempt to be a Dragoon (an Earthlain-native StoneWall class) or an Earthlain (an ordinary human known more for physical abilities than holding a lot of mana) try to be a Botanist (a Brouni-native class focused on spamming [[TheMedic healing]] and StatusEffects) if you really want to.
* ''VideoGame/EverQuest'' only lets certain races play as certain classes. Only the more intelligent races could be Clerics or spellcasters. Only the Evil or Neutral races could be Necromancers and Shadowknights. Only Humans could be monks (until the first expansion, when the Iksar were introduced.) Only the more primitive races could be shaman (in fact, this was the only class Humans could NOT be.) Despite there being some race/class balance issues (Ogres were physically unstunnable from the front, as well as the strongest race, making them the best Warriors) the game worked all the classes well into each race's lore and culture quite nicely. ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' did away with these restrictions, allowing any race to be any class. This lead to class/race combos like Ogre Assassins, Ogre Troubadors, Ogre Wizards, Dwarven Illusionists, Troll mages in general, Troll healers in general, Gnome Monks, Dwarf Monks, Halfling Monks, Ratonga Monks, Froglok Monks, Erudite Shaman, Erudite Berserkers, Erudite druids, and High Elf necromancers (after betraying Qeynos) with very little justification in the lore for them to ever be such classes other than the fact that the cataclysms and wars that happened over the last 500 years forced all the other races to flock to the Human cities of Qeynos and Freeport for refuge allowed them to explore new options. Even from a game mechanic standpoint, certain races are certainly better at specific classes than others, but at the end game it becomes a moot point, since stats rewarded from gear allow most players to hit the stat cap and pretty much be on equal footing with everyone else. All the races no longer had inherent traits that made some of them superior as certain classes either.

** Some players will use such wacky sets against other players [[ItAmusedMe for the sheer fun of it]] or to throw for a loop other players who thought they knew exactly how to counter a particular 'mon, [[CrazyEnoughToWork only to have their entire strategy invalidated]]. In particular, the ''Pokémon'' Youtuber known as PIMPNITE is famous for playing with pretty much nothing '''but''' completely counterintuitive movesets, and often even winning with them.

*** Speaking of Lancer, he gets into this himself in the first ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' OVA, where Lancer is summoned as a Caster. He notes however that while he had learned druidism he greatly prefers fighting with his lance and his Caster fighting style reflects this; preferring to fight in melee range. Unlike most examples however, he's pragmatic enough to still be a very capable fighter.

*** Rider has this going on a bit more subtly, as later materials would show. Riders are meant to be cavaliers or monster tamers, in particular people with some kind of legendary mount like the Hippogriff or Bucephalus. Rider is Medusa... and her mount is Pegasus. Those familiar with the legend would probably know that Medusa never rode the Pegasus; in fact, it was born from her ''death.'' This means Rider has to pull her abilities from just the natural skills of the Rider class and a fairly minor part of her legend, rather than making use of her monstrous powers or her divine gifts. Watching her in combat, she shows off a weird eclectic mix of skills that barely seem related to being a Rider or Medusa, and in most of her fights, she doesn't even use the Pegasus. Future works point out that she's best as either a Lancer or Avenger, with her personal skills leaning heavily on those two classes. The main issue with both those classes is as an adult, she lacks the divinity she had in her youth which hurts her Lancer side (not to mention that her scythe is actually a version of Harpe, the weapon used to kill her), and she isn't willing to make use of the monstrous strength she could have because she doesn't want to become Gorgon which hurts her Avenger side.
*** Gilgamesh has a personal preference for the Archer class, but as ''Grand Order'' shows he can also appear as a Caster. However, much like how his average swordsmanship despite owning pretty much every weapon in the world prevents him from being a proper Saber, he never actually bothered to learn magecraft while alive despite his innate talent for it and compensates with his massive reserves of mana and a whole bunch of magical artifacts from the Gate of Bablyon. Interestingly, he might actually be ''more dangerous'' as a Caster since he's summoned post-CharacterDevelopment and handles himself with far more maturity than his haughty Archer self, allowing him to leverage his abilities much more effectively.

*** Similarly, the [[WorldsBestWarrior greatest Archer-Class]] Servant, Orion ''also'' has a Berserker's attack sheet and arguably skills, to say nothing of his [[HeroicBuild appearance]] and is more likely to either hit people with his bow or ''throw it at them'' than to use it properly. To say nothing of his other weapon, a giant spiked club.

* ''Literature/AesirCrossWars'': Azrael's Myriad Might is the Trickster, giving him an affinity for underhanded tactics and being outright irritating to fight. Ironically, he's also an angel.

** This also applies to types. Some types are heavily geared towards certain strategies, and if a the stat distribution and move pool of a Pokémon of that type does not fit into said strategy, this can heavily cripple the mon in question.

* Preserving its tabletop roots, ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'' and its sequels completely decouple race and class. This results some odd combinations like an Orc Rigger or Troll Mage. Trolls will take meaningful handicaps in the late game if they're made a rigger, decker, or shaman (their Intelligence and Charisma cap out 3 points lower than other races). That said, they make surprisingly good mages; it's hard to be a SquishyWizard when the stat that governs your hit points caps out almost double everyone else's. Perhaps most surprisingly, the best race for a mage is not a human or an elf, buta dwarf, who can raise their all-important Willpower stat higher than anyone else by 2.