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This is the character sheet for the core classes Dungeons & Dragons introduced between its 1st and 3rd Editions. Go to Dungeons & Dragons Classes if you want to check out the classes introduced in other editions.
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Assassin
Assassins are professional killers for hire who specialize in using stealth and precise blows to quickly dispatch their enemies. Debuting in OD&D's "Blackmoor" supplement as an independent class tied to the Thief, they maintained this status in 1st edition, but were increasingly downgraded in prominence over the editions, becoming a Thief kit in 2nd edition and a Prestige Class in 3rd edition. A non-evil variant, Avenger
, was introduced on April Fools in 2007. It would return to full class status in 4th edition, and then be downgraded to a Rogue subclass in 5th edition.
, was introduced on April Fools in 2007. It would return to full class status in 4th edition, and then be downgraded to a Rogue subclass in 5th edition.- Always Chaotic Evil:
- Zigzagged with 2E; the Assassin kit in the Complete Thief's Handbook recommended assassins be evil. A neutral (but not good) aligned assassin could also be allowed as a PC based on the DM's discretion. This neutral assassin may be used to eliminate an enemy that could bring about war, rebellion, terrorism, etc. While not good in the moral sense, it can be justified that killing this person would save many lives.
- Played straight with 3E. Assassins have to have evil alignments as a requirement.
- Subverted with the 3E Avenger variant created for April Fools' Day in 2007, which instead has the requirement that they be of any non-chaotic alignment.
- Boring, but Practical: 3E Assassins have a very small list of spells they can use, but it contains almost all the spells a stealthy character would want (read: Invisibility), and the ability to cast arcane spells at all opens up huge new options for them.
- Lethal Joke Character: The Avenger in 3E was created specifically for April Fools, and the text describes it as having Sneak Attack progression at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels rather than 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th levels like the Assassin. Regardless, it still bears most of the same class abilities as the Assassin, such as Death Attack and Hide in Plain Sight.
- Magic Knight: Zigzagged. The original iterations of the assassin were purely mundane warriors, being essentially Thieves with increased backstabbing powers. In 3rd edition, however, the assassin became a secondary spellcaster, gaining access to a number of stealth-based spells. 4th edition expanded on this idea, with the first iteration of the assassin being a full-fledged shadow-manipulating warrior-mage. 5th edition returned to its roots as merely a mundane skilled killer.
- Master of Disguise: The assassin was the only class in OD&D and 1st edition to include rules for disguising yourself, including the possibility of disguising yourself as a different sex or (humanoid) race.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: The Avenger variant created on April Fools 2007 for 3E is dedicated to the defense of their nation or homeland, striking down enemies of their country from the darkness.
- One-Hit Kill: Their signature ability in 1st edition was the ability to do this to any enemy they surprised (with a chance of failure depending on relative level). This is retained in 3.x edition, though you needed to observe for three rounds and the attack allows a save to resist dying instantly. At the Assassin's option, it can be modified into a paralyzing attack should they wish to take prisoners.
- Professional Killer: Their specialty is killing others cleanly and stealthily. And their powerful stealth abilities make it all the easier for them.
- Redemption Demotion: In 3E, the Avenger variant allows non-evil and non-chaotic characters access to a similar skillset. However, RAW they don't have the same progression for Sneak Attack as the Assassinnote , and they have an even smaller spell list than Assassins, who already have a small list that can at least be bolstered with spells from additional sourcebooks.
- Stealth Expert: Even more so than the Rogue. They can hide in plain sight and use stealth-based spells, which is everything the Rogue would ever want.
Barbarian
Barbarians are primal warriors typically hailing from remote or lawless regions. Whilst not as trained in combat as their Fighter counterparts, barbarians make up for this deficit with raw vitality and sheer brutality. First officially codified in the Unearthed Arcana supplement to 1st Edition (though it appeared in a fanzine before this); disappeared from 2nd Edition, only to be reintroduced in the Players Options series; finally recodified as a standard class in 3rd Edition. Class Handbooks: WotC 3.5 version, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version (copied from the GiantITP version), Gleemax 4E version.
, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version (copied from the GiantITP version), Gleemax 4E version.- Badass Normal: All of their abilities are neither magical nor supernatural. Which means everything they do is something that, on paper, anyone can do.
- Barbarian Hero: The good and neutral aligned Barbarians are described as "free and expressive".
- The Berserker: In 3rd edition, where it was their signature ability.
- Boring, but Practical: The class's main trick is to rage for stat bonuses, then get up in the enemy's face and wallop them with the biggest weapon available. It's not very versatile, but a well-built barbarian can pump out so much damage that it's generally the only trick they need.
- Canon Immigrant: The barbarian first appeared in the British fanzine White Dwarf before being adopted by TSR.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Frequent with any non-magic class, but Barbarians can become essentially immune to certain things by getting really mad.
- Composite Character: In early editions, the whole "Unstoppable Rage" schtick was more a trait of the Berserker (a fighter kit), which got its features rolled into Barbarian.
- Lightning Bruiser: In 3.x, the barbarian has the highest base movement speed of any class except for the monk. In addition to that he has uncanny dodge, meaning that he reacts so quickly to danger that he gains a bonus to reflex saves against traps and cannot be flanked or sneak-attacked in combat. The barbarian also gets the greater base movement rate in 1e, though only unarmored.
- Made of Iron: Traditionally, barbarians have the highest hit points of the core classes, and in most cases, actually take reduced damage from all physical attacks at higher levels. In 5E barbarians take this to the extreme, taking half damage from physical sources while raging, with a certain very popular subclass feature expanding that to half damage from all damage types except psychic.
- Nature Hero: They were expanded upon in the splatbook "Masters of the Wild", and they are consistently described as being "wild" and appreciating nature in the books.
- Never Learned to Read: Possibly; in the third edition, barbarians must spend skill points for literacy, whereas other characters are automatically literate. They are also the only illiterate characters (and explicitly noted as such) in 1e AD&D.
- One Stat to Rule Them All: In 1st Edition, Constitution. (Though Dexterity is just as important.) In 3rd, barbarians benefit from all physical stats (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution).
- Unskilled, but Strong: Compared to the Fighter, Barbarians have more health, faster movement and huge stat boosts when raging, but not nearly as many combat feats. In 1st Edition, barbarians are the only fighter-types who have no abilities that enhance their combat abilities (specialization, weapon of choice)-and to top it off, they have an absolutely brutal experience point requirement for level advancement. However, while a barbarian will be lower level than a fighter or cavailer of the same experience points, the barbarian will be of comparable ability.
- Unstoppable Rage: The barbarian's distinguishing characteristic in 3rd Edition is rage. The original 1E barbarian from White Dwarf also had this ability, but the official one by Gary Gygax did not (it was defined by its extreme resilience).
Bard
Wandering performers who are masters of the social arena, bards are also capable of contributing to an adventuring party with their mastery of inspiratory music as well as an arsenal of spellcasting abilities. A class introduced in Strategic Review Vol.2 Issue 1, converted to the Ur-Example Prestige Class in AD&D 1st Edition, then made its own class again from 2nd Edition onward. Class Handbooks: Gleemax 4E version, Gleemax 3.5 version, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version.
, Gleemax 3.5 version, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version.- The Bard: The Trope Codifier for the concept of a Jack of All Trades bard that uses magical music.
- Characterization Marches On: Started out mechanically as a Prestige Class and thematically as a druidic lorekeeper who learned and taught magic through music. By third edition they're a starting class with closer thematic ties to skalds and who use Magic Music.
- The Face: This is consistently one of their best qualities, between a Charisma focus, their magical abilities usually including illusions and enchantments, and a skill focus designed for social encounters. The Glibness spell in 3.5 is particularly indicative of this, providing a massive bonus to Bluff checks that means the target will generally always believe that you're not lying to them.
- Girls Like Musicians: A stereotypical bard uses their high charisma score to seduce anyone. This is technically because they're a high charisma class who could easily end an encounter by...turning it into an encounter, but the way this was attached to bards rather than other charisma-based classes is likely because of this trope.
- Magic Music: Third edition made the bard's magical abilities into this; previous editions had them as merely bits of lore that the bard had picked up from his travels.
- Master of None: Bards have half-decent fighting abilities, a little bit of arcane (wizard) magic, and some thieving skills, but aren't particularly great at any of them, and it's generally agreed that trying to focus on one thing is a bad idea. The best ways to make them good all involve specializing (as they are given plenty of options in source books due to their status as a core class). One interesting quirk in 3rd Edition was that while the little bit of magic they got was arcane, their spell list included a couple of divine spells — namely, the Cure spells. Of course, Clerics were still better healers.
- Music for Courage: The inspire courage ability lets a bard enhance his allies and protect them from fear attacks.
- The Power of Acting: Bards don't have to be musicians; any form of entertainment, including acting, can work as a source of power.
- The Power of Rock: By default, bards tend to be musicians with magic powers.
- Prestige Class: The AD&D 1st Edition version could be considered the Ur-Example. A bard had to start as a fighter, work up to at least 5th level, then switch to thief and work up to at least 6th level again, and then switch to druid and only then - assuming you were the right race, alignment, and your stats were also up to it - you could become a bard. Stats The Fochlucan Lyrist Prestige Class from 3.5e has similar requirements as a spiritual successor to the original Bard.
- It may astound those accustomed to the notion of the Master of None, but the insanely high requirements to break into the Bard class in first edition meant that carrying a musical instrument was a sign that you were a badass - fighter, thief, and (thanks to your third and final class) loremaster and minor spellcaster as well.
- The Red Mage: Bards are the inspiration for the Trope Namer from Final Fantasy, actually, technically making them the Trope Maker. They're decent melee fighters, have a diverse if limited selection of magic, and come equipped with a raft of special abilities related to music and skills. The main drawback is that they'll be outclassed in almost any area by a more dedicated class.
- Simplified Spellcasting: Starting in 3.5, a bard's spells are simple enough that they can still cast them in light armor without any chance of spell failure.
- The Smart Guy: Fans of Elan might be surprised to learn that in 2nd Edition, Bards actually had the highest Intelligence ability requirement of any of the Core classes — a Wizard "merely" needed an Intelligence of 9 while a Bard needed a score of 13.
- Super-Scream: Their offensive spells (such as shout) tend to fall into this trope, as does their strongest performance ability, deadly performance.
- Support Party Member: This tends to be where they excel in combat; a bard's musical abilities tend to manifest as either buffs or debuffs, while their illusions and enchantments can screw with enemies. A Dragonfire Inspiration-focused Bard is generally considered one of the strongest buff options in 3.5, being able to stick an absurd amount of energy damage onto every allied attack.
- Wandering Minstrel: Often joins up with an adventuring party to chronicle their exploits in song.
Cleric / Priest
One of the three original classes, the Cleric (also known as the Priest) is a devoted servant of a patron deity, whose faith has been rewarded with the ability to work holy magic. Purportedly created during the Braunstein days of Blackmoor as a counter to one of the other players, who was playing as a vampire character. Class Handbook: Gleemax 4E version, Brilliant Gameologists 4E version, Gleemax 3.5 version, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version.
, Brilliant Gameologists 4E version, Gleemax 3.5 version, Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version.- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: The Cloistered Cleric (no armor or weapon abilities in exchange for knowledge skills and divination) variant in 3.5 finally provides an aversion for the system, as a class for a western book copying monk-though the class first appeared in a Dragon Magazine article by Len Lakofka in 1982.
- Church Militant: Despite nominally being religious devotees and healers, all clerics have access to at least medium armor (heavy in 4th edition and earlier, though some deities will grant heavy armor in 5th) and some perfectly serviceable weaponry. Compare this to most other casting classes, which tend to get light armor (and no armor at all for Arcane casters) plus a short list of weapons.
- The Church of the Silver Flame from the Eberron campaign setting explicitly designates player character clerics as this, with non-combat divine magic users in the "adept" NPC class.
- The Cloistered Cleric variant in 3.5 edition averts this, trading away basic attack bonus and weapon/armor proficiency in exchange for more skill points and class skills to spend them in.
- Combat Medic: As the only one of the original three classes to get healing magic, clerics have been pigeonholed into this role ever since.
- Detect Evil: One of the cleric's spells is the Trope Namer.
- Enemy Exchange Program: Evil-aligned clerics (as well as neutral-aligned clerics of evil deities) can use the Rebuke Undead ability to permanently take mental control over an undead creature. This doesn't work anymore as of the fourth edition.
- Evil Counterpart: Many evil cleric spells are evil counterparts to good cleric spells. In addition, evil clerics' ability to channel negative energy to cast inflict spells or rebuke and command undead is the evil counterpart to good clerics' ability to channel positive energy to cast cure spells or turn and destroy undead.
- Good Shepherd: A common attitude for good-aligned clerics.
- Hammer of the Holy: Clerics are almost always restricted to bludgeoning weapons in all editions, the exception usually being whenever the favored weapon of their deity comes into play. Not that bludgeons are necessarily a bad thing, especially if you end up having to fight swaths of skeletons.
- Healing Hands: A cleric's many healing spells tend to work as touch spells.
- Holy Hand Grenade: How much they use this trope depends on the edition. In 1st edition, this type of spell was either weak (e.g. Spiritual Hammer, which hit like a...slightly magical club), evil (reversed healing spells) or very high level (Flame Strike, on par with raising the dead or traveling to another plane of existence). On the other hand, 3rd edition's profligacy with this trope is what helped give rise to CoDzilla.
- Master of All: The class's 3.5 incarnation is generally notable for being incredibly good at just about everything when given their full power: at a glance, they're great support casters and passable combat characters, but buff spells can quickly turn "passable" to "excellent," and they have many spells that allow them to be good offensive and utility casters as well. Their skills are fairly unimpressive, but this can be solved with the Divine Insight spell or the Cloistered Cleric variant (which does make them worse fighters without buffs) and even without that, they can at least cover some bases. Lastly, domains make it feasible to spec a cleric into a wide variety of potential paths, especially with the aid of devotion feats. It's entirely feasible to build a party of four clerics.
- Nature Equals Plants: The Nature Domain is mostly plant and animal control, while separate Domains for other elements exist.
- Necromancer: When you choose to become Evil Cleric, you gain access to undead summoning and dozens of rebuking spells for beefing your undead army. This can potentially outclass Wizard Necromancer in terms of quantities of undeads.
- Religion is Magic: Have the ability to cast spells through the service of their god.
- Technical Pacifist: In the first two editions, clerics cannot cause bloodshed, and thus cannot use slashing or piercing weapons. Apparently, bludgeoning people to death with a big, heavy mace is just fine, though. This restriction was created by Gygax, who supposedly based this on Archbishop Tilpin from La Chanson de Roland, even though Tilpin actually wielded a sword and lance (both named "Almace"). The idea of clerics wielding bludgeons was actually based on The Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts Bishop Odo of Bayeux wielding a club in battle. Later editions and spin-off games like Pathfinder and 13th Age justify that by saying that Clerics are proficient in simple weapons - most of which are bludgeoning. It's unknown if the Braunstein Blackmoor era cleric had these restrictions or not.
- Turn Undead:
- Though in the third edition, this applies only to good clerics and ones who are neutral but channel Positive Energy.
- Evil Clerics get to control the undead instead — but be careful when trying to tame more powerful spirits.
- Vampire Hunter:
Word of God says they were inspired by vampire-hunting priests from Hammer Horror movies. - Warrior Monk: In every edition, standard clerics have excellent armor proficiency, decent attack progression, and adequate weapon proficiency.
- White Magic: The typical cleric focuses on healing and support magic. However this can be subverted depending on the cleric's deity, especially if they're evil-aligned.
Druid
Druids are a priesthood who worship Nature as their patron and who are dedicated to protecting and preserving the wilderness in the face of external threats. Originally a sub-class of Clerics introduced in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement, which was turned into its own class with its own spell list in 1st Edition. 2nd had it a cleric with different spell access.
Class Handbook: Gleemax 4E version, Gleemax 3.5 version Brilliant Gameologists 3.5 version.
- The Beastmaster: The spell Animal Friendship, available at 1st level, allows druids to do this, with a one-time chance of failure. 3rd edition replaces the spell with an animal companion class feature which functions almost identically.
- Character Alignment: One of the classes most restricted by the Alignment mechanic, druids were mechanically forced to maintain a True Neutral alignment or lose all of their powers. In AD&D, multiclassed druids could be any of the other Neutral alignments, and 3rd edition made it that druids in general just had to be a Neutral alignment.
- Druid: The Trope Codifier for the concept of a Druid as a nature-themed magician.
- Healing Hands: Though less effectively than clerics, by and large, they are capable of healing others.
- Heal It with Nature: Druids are spell casters who derive their power from a connection to nature, and can cast healing spells.
- Klingon Promotion: In 1st and 2nd edition, druids had to defeat (not necessarily kill) higher-ranked druids to advance in levels beyond 11th.
- Loyal Animal Companion: A 1st level spell which became one of the classes defining traits.
- Magnificent Bastard: In 2nd Edition, the Complete Druid's Handbook uses this outlook as an example for some class kits. An Advisor (the kit) to a king would suggest a particular area for hunting grounds (seems very non-Druid) because he knows that his king will see the beauty of the locale and instead ban anyone from hunting there or even approaching the would-be hunting grounds, thus fulfilling the Druid's obligation and duty to protect nature in some form.
- Master of All: In 3.5e their spellcasting abilities, Wild Shape and animal companion are each individually powerful, to the point where variant Druids which remove one entirely are still considered strong classes. This is compounded by how their shapeshifting mechanics replace their physical stats rather than modifying them, allowing them to casually sidestep the drawbacks of a Squishy Wizard. At worst, a Druid can be continuously shapeshifted into a bear, accompanied by another bear, while spamming spells which summon bears... with each bear being individually stronger than the party Fighter.Leeky Windstaff: "Foolish girl! I am a druid, I have special abilities that are more powerful than your entire class!"
- Prestige Class: In the BECMI ruleset, a Druid is a subclass that a 9th level Cleric of Neutral alignment can choose to graduate into. In other iterations of the game, it's an entirely separate class.
- Primal Polymorphs: "Wild Shape" is one of the signature abilities of this nature-attuned eco-warrior class, allowing them to assume the form of creatures with the "beast" creature type.
- Nature Hero: Many druids tend to be hermits who live in the wilderness, in harmony with nature.
- The Red Mage: Druids fall outside the dichotomy of white-magic clerics and black-magic wizards, with both healing and damaging spells regardless of alignment.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Druids usually have access to the speak with animals spell from an early level, which allows them to do just that.
- Squishy Wizard: Only in 1st Edition, where they had similar armor restrictions to thieves (i.e. leather or nothing). After, they're still restricted to non-metal armor (but dragonhide is not metal).
- Summon Magic: Can summon animals, fey, and elementals.
- Underground Monkey: One of the conundrums with druids from a lore perspective is that they overlap heavily with the Cleric in terms of representing the "priest of a nature-based deity". Though the druid's unique spell list and Voluntary Shapeshifting class mechanically largely separates it from the Cleric, it still leads to a lore overlap that different settings have to resolve. This inspired 4th edition to more clearly break the two apart by inventing the Primal Spirits, an entirely separate animistic pantheon to the gods, giving Primal classes like the druid and Divine classes like the cleric separate powers to worship.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Their signature ability, Wild Shape, allows them to change into animals at will a certain number of times a day. Eventually, this expands to transforming into elemental made of fire, water, wind, or earth.
Fighter / Fighting Man
One of the original three classes, the fighter is the self-explanatory generic warrior class.
- Badass Normal: None of their abilities rely on magic or supernatural means.
- Barrier-Busting Blow: 3.5e's Dungeoncrasher, in addition to its main tactic of damaging opponents by slamming them into walls, also gets bonuses on checks made to smash through walls and doors.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Their main function was to kill things with weapons, so...yeah. The Greyhawk supplement made them beefier due to adding "to-hit" and damage bonuses for a high Strength stat, especially if they qualified for the Exceptional Strength percentile.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- In OD&D, the School of Psionics was introduced as an attempt to give the Fighting Men their own set of spells.
- Again in OD&D and 1e AD&D, their specific niche was being able to attack a number of times equal to their level, but only against opponents with one Hit Die or lower. This was actually a holdover from Chainmail, where a Hero had 4 attacks and required 4 hits to kill.
- The Generic Guy: Fills this role in 3rd edition, where they have a decent chassis but no unique abilities beyond proficiency with tower shields (which are rarely used) and extra feats (most of which can be selected by anyone, not just fighters). Feats are still a useful character customization resource, however, meaning that it's not uncommon for characters of other classes to splash a few levels in Fighter to pick them up. Averted later on in the edition's lifespan, where variants like Dungeoncrasher and Zhentarim Soldier can be used to grant Fighters genuinely unique abilities.
- Heavy Equipment Class: Trope Maker, being the only one of the three original classes capable of both using martial weapons and heavy armor. Even with the addition of more warrior classes, their range of equipment available to them is only rivaled by the Paladin.
- Knockback: 3.5e's Dungeoncrasher variant specializes in this, gaining bonuses on their roll to knock opponents back and also inflicting damage if they collide with a wall.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Trope Codifier, all non-spellcaster classes other than Rogue have no access to magic.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: In 3.5, The Tome of Battle removed any incentive to ever play a fighter. A Warblade, even when denied access to the martial arts system he's the showcase for, has better base stats than the fighter, though he lacks the feat access.
- Terror Hero: One of the few useful class skills a fighter gets is Intimidate. The Zhentarim Soldier upgrade makes them one of the best at it; take Imperious Command, and you can reduce an opponent to cowering in a single round.
- Vanilla Unit: In 1st and 2nd edition, Fighters were just good at attacking and soaking up damage. They didn't have any spells or special abilities. 3rd edition added a degree of customization with a bunch of bonus feats and later editions threw in subclasses with supernatural abilities but they're still best at hitting things.
- Weak, but Skilled: Compared to the Barbarian, although it's a very relative comparison - they have slightly less health, move slower and can't use Rage, but have more combat feats than anyone else.
- Weapon Specialization: In late 1st edition, Fighters gain an ability called "Weapon Specialization", which gives them bonuses when they use their chosen weapon. 3rd edition turned this into a feat which requires 4+ levels in Fighter.
Illusionist
Originally a sub-class distinct from the Magic-User class and with its own spell list (though there was overlap). Became "merely" one type of specialist wizard among several others as early as AD&D 2nd edition (though a remnant of the old separation stuck around until 3E — gnome wizards had to be illusionists). First introduced in Strategic Review Vol.1 Issue 4.
- Power Copying: The 1st edition DMG made it clear that illusionists could only make convincing illusions of monsters they had personally encountered, making the main "illusion" line of spells (Phantasmal Force, Improved Phantasmal Force, Spectral Force) function similarly to Blue Magic from Final Fantasy - the illusionist can, with clever use of his spells, "use" the powers of defeated monsters against his current foes. The weakness of the technique is that recognizing the illusion for what it almost always negates all effects of the spell.
- Master of Illusion: The name of the game for illusionists.
- The Red Mage: Not as much so as the druid in 1st edition, but a sufficiently-leveled illusionist could prepare both healing and damaging spells, as well as the illusions and mezzing spells which were their stock-in-trade.
- Squishy Wizard: Being a subclass of the magic-user, they inherit this trope from it.
Monk
Inspired by 70s kung-fu movies, the Monk is a martial artist who hones their body, mind and spirit through rigorous training to the point they can achieve superhuman feats. A Cleric sub-class introduced in the OD&D Blackmoor supplement. Made its own class in AD&D 1st Edition.
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: The defining attribute that distinguishes the "Monk" from the "Cleric" is that the monk practices martial arts and is heavily rooted in the archetype of the Shaolin monk, whereas the Cleric took its roots more from the Christian Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller.
- Arrow Catch: The 1st edition iteration of the monk gave it the ability to try and catch arrows or similar projectiles in mid-flight as a level-gated class feature, and this trait persisted into all subsequent editions. 3rd edition offers players the chance to focus on this ability with feats.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Regardless of its flaws, not many other classes can literally punch out Cthuhlu.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: They gain the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, which lets them deal lethal damage with unarmed strikes. Their abilities eventually increase this damage dramatically and give them the power to ignore certain damage resistances as though they were made of certain powerful metals.
- Character Alignment: Traditionally, monks are required to adhere to the three Lawful alignments, to represent the strict mental discipline and physical training regimes that unlock their Supernatural Martial Arts. 3rd edition even features a monk variant class that instead must be any Chaotic alignment instead.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Most of the monk's abilities are not magical in nature, but merely stem from years of training. Including the ability to do lethal damage with their fists, the only Core class that can do so without taking a feat.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: When first introduced in OD&D they were a variant of the Cleric class (which made sense), who had all the abilities of a thief (which didn't), had the same vow of poverty as paladins, could fight effectively with any weapon, but fought best with their bare hands. They were also the only class that got more than one melee attack per round against enemies with any number of Hit Dice, vs the Fighter who was restricted to just enemies with 1 Hit Die or less. Not that they made much more sense when they returned in 3rd edition...
- Their magic item access was also weird: magic weapons, magic rings, and miscellaneous magic items that only thieves could use. They couldn't even use healing potions.
- Flash Step: Their Abundant Step ability in 3rd Edition, which mimics the 'dimension door' spell.
- Fragile Speedster: Even if you happen to roll 18 for all your ability scores, monks will never get as tough as the true fighting classes, with their naturally high AC and movement speed bonuses being their main boons. In their Advanced Dungeons & Dragons incarnation their hit die was D4, the same as the Squishy Wizard magic-user class though they did get two hit dice at first level.
- The Grappler: Meant to be this in 3.5, but his poor Base Attack Bonus and Grappling with Grappling Rules makes him the worst core class at grapples (even the Squishy Wizard, Sorcerer and Druid can transform into or summon something good with grapples, while the cleric can self buff and size increase themself).
- Healing Factor: Once they hit a high enough level (usually 7th), monks could heal themselves either once per day (OD&D and 1e) or had a pool that could be spread across the day (3e).
- In a Single Bound: One of the unlockable class features for monks is their ability to make spectacular leaps, which is even given a name in some editions as "Leap of the Clouds".
- Invulnerable Knuckles: Said knuckles count as magic weapons for the purpose of piercing magic defenses. This also has the side-effect of letting a Monk punch ghosts.
- Ki Manipulation: 3rd Edition describes many Monk abilities as being quasi-spiritual.
- Master of None:
- Have a lot of "flavor" abilities with no value, like the ability to partially slow your fall by using nearby walls (most wizards can completely slow all falls, period, with a level 1 spell). Most of its abilities are contrary, as well: the monk has a lot of mobility-enhancing powers that would lead to hit-and-run attacks... but Flurry of Blows only work when the monk stands still.
- Depending on the edition, in 3e monks are somewhere between a fighter (with unpredictable offensive powers) and a rogue (without sneak attack). 4e makes them strikers, and 13th Age monk is focused on using techniques and special attacks.
- Mage Killer: Practically the only thing they consistently outperform every other class in across the editions is getting around the enemy fighting line quickly and locking down their mage. Of course, by 3.x, trying to take down a good mage with the monk's anti-mage abilities is like trying to eat a brick wall while using a really well-made knife and fork.
- The Paralyzer: Stunning Fist, which is essentially a "proc" in 1st edition (kicks in if you beat the required to-hit score by 4+) and part of a character build in 3rd edition (a possible free feat).
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: They were the first class to get multiple attacks per round in melee, but only with unarmed attacks. This was kept across all it's incarnations and eventually named "Flurry of Blows" in 3rd Edition.
- Required Secondary Powers: By strict rules as written, a Monk is arguably not proficient in Unarmed Strike.
- Touch of Death: Their Quivering Palm technique.
- Became a Useless Useful Spell in 3.5 when it could no longer affect targets of higher Hit Die than the monk. Most mooks at the level you gain it have more Hit Dice than player characters, nevermind targets you'd actually feel like expending it on.
- It doesn't have to be instant-death, either; the monk is able to simply will the target to die at any time for at least a week after landing the attack (depending on the monk's Wisdom and level), and if the target fails a Fortitude save, they drop dead. Extortion ahoy!
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Monks have tons of filler abilities that are easily replicated by cheap, common, magic items (What good is limited access to slow fall over 20 levels if a Ring of Slowfall is dirt cheap and easily afforded by the time you start getting the basics of the ability and does more than it ever will?).
- Wuxia:
- Averted. Playing your monk like a Wuxia badass is a good way to get your ass handed to you by the guys who aren't fighting naked and barehanded.
- Played mostly straight in fourth edition and entirely straight in fifth, with the relatively balanced magic of fifth edition especially making the monk's mobility kit and large pool of varied tricks extremely powerful and never really redundant. In the mid-levels the monk will likely be the only player in the party with full vertical movement, for instance, and most enemies won't have it either.
Paladin
Introduced in the Greyhawk Supplement for OD&D as a Fighter sub-class. Made its own class in AD&D 2nd Edition.
- Captain Ersatz: They were inspired by Holger Carlson from Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson. Also, by Anderson's original sources, Charlemagne's paladins in the medieval French Chansons de Geste (Songs of Deeds), particularly The Song of Roland and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.
- Character Alignment: Paladins are legendary for having one of the most restrictive alignment requirements in traditional D&D; Lawful Good exclusively. In older editions, paladins not only lost their abilities if their alignment changed, but if their alignment changed to Non-Good, then it was largely impossible for them to redeem themselves and regain their powers.
- Code of Honor: Paladins are expected to abide by their Oath, or risk losing their powers and potentially becoming an Oathbreaker. Earlier editions had a fairly inflexible code for all paladins to follow, while later editions introduced different Oaths for different types of paladins, each with their own tenants to follow. As of 5E, these include (but are not limited to):
- The Oath of the Ancients, which calls on the paladin to be a Hope Bringer and fight for what is right and just
- The Oath of Devotion, which calls on the paladin to be honest, kind, and brave
- The Oath of Vengeance, which calls on the paladin to destroy evil wherever it lurks
- Combat Medic: They can cast healing spells and their Lay on Hands ability allows them to heal others. They often heal others in the middle of combat.
- Cool Horse: The paladin's Special Mount, gained upon reaching level 4. Not only is it tougher than a standard Mount, it shares an empathetic bond with the paladin and levels up as she does. Though a warhorse is the iconic example, all sorts of different mounts have been presented as options.
- Detect Evil: One of the paladin's abilities duplicates the effect of the cleric spell of the same name, which is the Trope Namer.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Paladins used to have a lot of weird restrictions, that eventually got stripped away:
- Donating most of their loot to their patron church or ruler.
- A funding and men-at-arms limit on any stronghold they build.
- A limited number of magic items they could own.
- If they obtained a horse, then they had to wait 10 years until they could get a replacement.
- If they acquired a Holy Sword of any sort, they became virtually immune to all magic.
- They could only adventure with parties that shared their alignment, unless ordered otherwise.
- Evil Counterpart: The Blackguard prestige class is to evil deities as Paladins are to good deities.
- Good Is Not Soft: Paladins fight to uphold the concepts of honor, order, loyalty, and kindness, but that doesn't mean they're naive pushovers, and anyone that crosses a paladin can quickly find out how intense their divine wrath can be.
- Healing Hands: The "Lay on Hands" innate ability, and at higher levels, healing clerical spells.
- Heavy Equipment Class: Rivals the Fighter in equipment range, being the only other class that has innate access to all martial weapons along with heavy armour.
- Holy Hand Grenade: "Smite Evil", the alternate name to the page, comes from the Paladin's signature ability to do extra damage to Evil foes.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Generally meant to fill this archetype: a noble, charismatic warrior who always tries to do the right thing.
- Magic Knight: An offensive variant in 3rd edition, where they have their smite evil ability to take out evil foes; a defensive variant in 1st, where they project a permanent circle of protection from evil, giving their allies saving throw and armor class bonuses.
- Oathbound Power: Possibly the most famous example of this trope; See Right Makes Might for more details.
- The Paladin: Trope Codifier.
- Prestige Class: In BECMI, the paladin is one of three "advanced" classes that the fighter can progress into from 9th level; alongside the generic "Knight", which any 9th level fighter can become, Lawful fighters can become Paladins and Chaotic ones can become Avengers.
- Right Makes Might: A paladin's powers are tied directly to his alignment; if she strays from the path of righteousness, she loses all her special abilities.
- To Be Lawful or Good: For Paladins caught in this dilemma, it's always better to err on the side of Good. The Code of Conduct in Third Edition outright states that a Paladin needs to make a habit of doing Chaotic deeds for their alignment to change, while a single Evil deed is already enough for them to fall.
- Warrior Monk: Held to the other end of the spectrum than clerics, being more capable when it comes to combat.
- White Magic: Starting out, their only means of healing period was their Lay on Hands. They eventually did get limited access to cleric spells in 1st Edition.
Ranger
A Fighter sub-class introduced in Strategic Review Vol.1 Issue 2. Made its own class in AD&D 1st Edition.
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: In the 1st edition, only three rangers at most could ever work together, an increase from two for the Strategic Review version.
- The Beastmaster: Not to quite the same extent as a Druid, but they still normally gain an Animal Companion in 2nd Edition and later.
- Bow and Sword in Accord: A standard weapon selection since the class first appeared.
- Character Alignment: Their Strategic Review version were limited to being Lawful, whereas the version from 1st and 2nd edition was restricted to any Good alignment.
- Dual Wielding: First tied to the ranger class in 2nd edition, thanks to a certain drow ranger. Somewhat mutually exclusive with archery proficiency, though. 3.5 explicitly separated the two traits into distinct career paths. Some splatbooks added mounted combat and wrestling to Ranger styles.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- At their earliest, rangers were pigeon-holed in the role of being very effective at fighting goblinoids and giants, dealing additional damage to them equal to their class level. By the time 2nd Edition rolled out, it got reworked more into their Favored Enemy feature that came about in 3rd Edition.
- Their spell selections went from cleric and wizard spells in Original Edition, to druid and wizard spells in 1st Edition, to just plant and animal domain priest spells in 2nd Edition, until they just got their own dedicated divine/primal spell list in 3rd Edition.
- They had to adhere to the same "vow of modesty/poverty" that Paladins did. Unlike the Paladin, this was lifted once they reached 8th level.
- They couldn't hire any hirelings, mercenaries, or henchmen until they reached 8th level.
- They gained a limited number of unique followers, 2-24 for the SR/1e version or 2-12 for the 2e version, once they reached a high enough level.
- Their Strategic Review and 1e versions gained the ability to use certain magic items as they leveled:
- At 9th level, they could use magic items that heal wounds or cure diseases.
- At 10th level, they could use magic items pertaining to scrying, telekinesis, and travel.
- Forest Ranger: Many rangers tend to be woodsmen (or women).
- Hunter of Monsters: Their Favored Enemy ability increases skill checks and damage rolls made against specific creatures, and they tend to prefer to hunt these same creatures for varying reasons.
- Nature Hero: They tend to live in the wilderness, receive most of their powers from nature itself, and, like the druid and barbarian, will seek to protect it from harm.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: They are able to use Wild Empathy to communicate with animals and magical beasts and influence their behavior.
Rogue / Thief
Introduced in the OD&D Greyhawk supplement.
- Back Stab:
Sneak Attack! A common trait of the Rogue is the ability to do extra damage when the enemy is off-guard. - Badass Normal: None of their abilities are based on magic or supernatural means.
- Combat Pragmatist: Being the only core non-spellcaster with Use Magic Device as a class skill (the skill governing use of magic items like scrolls and wands) gives one a lot of options.
- Five-Finger Discount: Picking pockets is one of the standard Thief abilities.
- Glass Cannon: Traditionally, they're great at dealing damage, especially if an opponent is off-guard, but don't particularly enjoy taking it.
- Master of Unlocking: Picking locks is one of the rogue's key specialties.
- One Stat to Rule Them All: Dexterity. It is the key to their skills and defenses.
- The Sneaky Guy: The defining attribute of the Rogue or Thief is that it is the most stealth-centric of all the base classes. It revolves around the skills to sneak around, pick locks and disable (or set) traps.
- Roguish Romani: One of the Thief's kits for 2e was a gypsy. Despite what it sounds like, it was actually presented in a neutral light, with the "gypsies" themselves simply having different cultural views on personal property, namely that something only qualified for as long as it remained on your person.
- Squishy Wizard: When they were introduced, they used a d4 to roll their health, although it was somewhat offset by them being able to wear leather armor. AD&D 1st Edition bumped it up to a d6. Compared to OD&D, AD&D beefed up all core classes' hit dice except wizards.
- Stealth Expert: As the archetypical skill expert, Rogues are also proficient at sneaking. It helps them make use of their backstabs or sneak attacks in battle.
- Thieves' Cant: This language is unique to this class and is limited to the discussion of thievery-related activities.
- Trap Master: Only rogues are allowed to have any chance of successfully disarming exceptionally difficult traps.
- Utility Party Member: The Rogue has traditionally been the party's skill monkey, thanks to receiving, depending on the edition, the most skill points per level or the most non-combat skill boosts.
Sorcerer
An alternate arcane spellcaster introduced in 3rd Edition, the sorcerer is flavored as an arcanist whose powers come to them innately, possibly as a result of exposure to some power-imbuing event or a mystical lineage, and thus they wield magic intuitively rather than studying it like a wizard does.
- Black Mage: Arcane healing is possible, but it's very inefficient compared to divine spells. Either by a spell that converts other spells into a small amount of healing or taking damage from someone else and putting it on yourself or transferring it another target. Or the high-level stuff like Limited Wish or Wish that can simply replicate almost any spell.
- Bullying a Dragon: According to the fluff, many sorcerers are persecuted by Muggles because of their supposed "freakish" or "demonic" nature. Yeah, actively making trouble with a guy who, for all you know, can blow up a city block or whistle up a dragon to fight you. Smart move.
- Glass Cannon: Like wizards, sorcerers can dish out huge amounts of damage with their spells, but their d4 Hit Dice means that they won't have many Hit Points.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: At the low levels, they struggle while the warrior-type classes shine. At the higher levels, they are blowing up entire armies and solving problems warrior-types could only dream of accomplishing.
- Not That Kind of Mage: Despite being similar enough to wizards that they share the exact same spell list in every edition other than 4th, sorcerers have entirely different ways of utilizing their powers, to the point of having distinct spellcasting mechanics in 3rd edition.
- Puberty Superpower: It's mentioned that sorcerer abilities tend to manifest as they grow up.
- Remember the New Guy?: The only "new" class in 3e, introduced mostly because 1/4th of the PHB was wizard spells. Many worlds were retconned so that famous wizards were sorcerers.
- Squishy Wizard: Their hit die is only d4, the smallest hit die size and thus assures a low HP, and they cannot wear armor of any kind without risking spell failure, thereby assuring an easy hit. Between having low hit points and being easily struck, it wouldn't take much to put a Sorcerer out of commission.
- Superpowerful Genetics: A sorcerer's powers are innate, as opposed to wizards, who require years of study to learn their magic.
- Vancian Magic: Of a different sort than wizards and most other spellcasting classes. Rather than being required to prepare spells in advance, sorcerors can spontaneously cast any spell they know, and are allowed to cast only a given number of spells per day (sorcerers also get to cast more spells per day than wizards). On the other hand, sorcerers are only allowed to know a limited number of spells, period. This gives sorcerers great flexibility to adapt their plans on the fly (in contrast to wizards, who are screwed if they go up against something they didn't prepare for ahead of time), but less flexibility in terms of the total range of situations that they can tackle.
Wizard / Magic-User / Mage
One of the original three classes.
There are five different iterations of the Wu Jen. The original, for AD&D 1st edition, in Oriental Adventures. AD&D 2nd edition has two alternative versions; one in The Complete Wizard's Handbook and the other in an article in Dragon Magazine #229. 3rd edition also has two alternative versions; a 3.0 version in the 3.0 reimagining of Oriental Adventures and the final 3.5 version in Complete Arcane.
- Achilles' Heel: Wizards cannot prepare spells without their spellbooks. Very sadistic GMs wanting to equalize the sorcerer/wizard gap are known to exploit this fact.
- Badass Bookworm: Wizards study dusty old tomes for years to gain the ability to blow stuff up with a flick of the hand.
- Black Mage: Regardless of alignment, healing is one of the very, very few things they can't do.
- Crazy-Prepared: The 2nd and 3rd/3.5 edition wizard is best played with this mindset. Without the cleric's access to all spells each level, wizards must carefully shop for scrolls and prepare the right ones each day.
- Empathy Pet: Familiars are one of the iconic class features of the wizard and its variants, granting the wizard an animal (or, more rarely, a low-level monster) that possesses an empathic link to the wizard. Depending on edition, they can easily be a terrible weakness, as this same empathic link means that the death of a familiar can have devastating side effects on their wizard.
- Glass Cannon: They can inflict massive damage and do almost anything in the world, but their low HP and difficulty evading blows means they can be put out of commission in very few blows — in fact, first-level wizards in the early editions had a very real chance of being killed in one attack by a goblin, one of the weakest of the game's monsters!
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: At the low levels, the struggle to really do much of anything while the warrior-type classes knock down the enemies. At the high levels, they're solving problems left and right and taking out enemies before they even know what's going on, which is something warrior-types won't be doing any time soon. 3.x Edition took this into overdrive.
- Necromancer: Similar to evil Clerics, Wizards can reanimate the dead via the Animate Dead spell and create undead via the Create Dead spell. They have early access to the Chill Touch, a lethal close-range spell. However, they cannot rebuke undead, unless they take certain extra steps, like taking the Necromancer specialization with the Undead Master kit or the Arcanist specialization.
- Not That Kind of Mage:
- Specialist wizards are defined by the school they have specialized, to the point they completely lose the ability to cast any spells from one or more schools based on their specialization. Each of the eight "core" schoolsnote has an "opposed" school in 2nd edition, whilst 3rd edition allows players to choose which school they forfeit. More esoteric specialists can have more drastic prohibitions, with the ultimate example being the Dualist tradition, who focus on two traditionally opposed schools and lose access to all six other schools. As a result, the spells that a wizard is capable of casting can vary wildly.
- 3rd edition expanded upon this trope by creating a far larger array of distinct arcane spellcaster classes, who might superficially resemble wizards, but often had unique mechanics, restrictions and even spell lists.
- Science Wizard: Wizards have been the most frequently characterized as a scholar of some kind throughout the game's history. Most colleges and guilds dedicated to studying science are run by wizards. Certain Background options in 5th Edition allow one to apply this trope to other spellcasting classes.
- The Smart Guy: Wizards are the only core class whose most important stat is Intelligence.
- Spell Book: A wizard's spellbook carries notes on the spells that they've studied and learned.
- Squishy Wizard:
- OD&D magic-users used a d6 to roll their health like fighters and clerics but had a lower accumulation than either class. Until the Greyhawk supplement introduced using a d4 as an alternate, which stuck from then up to 3.5 Edition.
- The inability to wear most (or in OD&D to AD&D 2nd, any) armor or use shields makes a wizard who doesn't have a defensive spell up in advance very easy to hit in combat, and especially in earlier editions the potential for any hit scored to ruin any spell the wizard might have been busy casting at the time. This combined with the wizard's abysmal HP at low levels made it incredibly easy for them to die, as laid out in Glass Cannon above.
- Vancian Magic: The Trope Codifier. Wizards have to prepare their spells ahead of time and can only have a certain number at once.
Necromancer
One of the eight "core" Specialist Wizards, necromancers officially debuted in D&D history in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, although a prototype necromancer conceived of as an NPC-exclusive "villain class" for AD&D 1st edition had appeared earlier in the pages of White Dwarf. Necromancers specialize in magic that interacts with the forces of life and death, and are widely considered the most inherently feared and evil of the specialists. Despite this, they've always been very popular, and even received their own class sourcebook in 2nd edition in the form of the Complete Book of Necromancers — the only equivalent to this, the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook, was more of a 2nd iteration of the original Complete Wizard's Handbook intended for the unique wizards of Al-Qadim.- Charm Person: Averted in 2nd edition, where the Enchantment/Charm school is one of the two schools that necromancers sacrifice access to (alongside Illusion) as part of their specialization. Played straight with the Undead Master kit, who gains access and even specialist bonuses to Enchantment/Charm spells, as their archetype is the "sinister magical mastermind".
- Creepy Good: Given the sinister vibe of the majority of necromancy spells, even the most benevolent and heroic necromancer is likely to be seen as spooky and creepy.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The necromancer has never had a strict alignment requirement, outside of the 3.5 "Dread Necromancer" spin-off class having a "Any Non-Good" alignment requirement. As a result, though their powers are fearsome and easily lend themselves to evil, they can still be good. The Complete Necromancer's Handbook acknowledges this by giving necromancers an array of kits that span the moral alignment; alongside the obligatory Dark Is Evil "Archetypal Necromancer", there's the morally neutral Philosopher, the "neutral shading towards evil" Undead Master, and the outright heroic Anatomist (who studies necromancy to improve their ability to heal the living) and Deathslayer (who studies necromancy to better battle the undead).
- Necromancer: The D&D necromancer traditionally focuses on using dark magics to slay the living with disease, decay and entropic force or to animate the dead. A number of "spin-off" necromancers have appeared over the editions as well.
- In 2nd edition, the ghul lord from Al-Qadim is a pseudo-necromancer, in that they are technically an elementalist who draws their power from the Elemental Plane of Negative Energy. As such, their magic works best when used to raise the dead or inflict disease, decay and entropy on the world around them. The cost for this is their body slowly withers away until they look like a living corpse themselves.
- Also in 2nd edition is the Arcanist from Ravenloft, which focuses on the "communing with the dead for unholy knowledge" archetype of the necromancer and so in practice is a necromancer/diviner hybrid, with specialist bonuses to spells from either of those schools. Though a Non-Action Guy even by the usual standards of D&D wizards, as they suffer a severe penalty (-25%!) to learning Abjuration and Conjuration spells, and flat out cannot learn Transmutation, Evocation, Illusion or Enchantment spells, they do make good "behind the scenes" masterminds, and their ability to turn undead like a cleric can make them quite useful in a party. Assuming they're used in a setting other than Ravenloft, where their abilities are all severely impeded by the base rules of the setting.
- 3.5 edition introduces the Dread Necromancer class in Heroes of Horror that is basically a superior version of the 3.5 necromancer. Built off of the Sorcerer's chassis, the Dread Necromancer knows all of the Necromancy spells available to wizards and sorcerers, can cast them more readily, and gains a number of fairly powerful class features as they progress, ultimately transforming into a lich at 20th level.
- Summon Magic: In 2nd edition, it's noted that necromancers often like to take Conjuration spells to bulk out their spell lists, as it gives them access to minions who can't be repelled by clerics or who aren't inherently vulnerable to paladins. The Undead Master in particular specializes in employing a massive army of undead, summoned minions and enthralled mortals.
- Unequal Rites: Wizard-necromancers (and subsequently sorcerer-necromancers) are, in most editions, rather sub-par as player characters compared to cleric-necromancers. Clerics get access to a much broader array of spells, and their inability to turn and control the undead gives them more options to deal with "wild" undead.
Elementalist
Elementalists are wizards who have chosen to specialize in the magical manipulation and command of one (or, more rarely, multiple) elemental forces. They debuted in 2nd edition's Tome of Magic and were reprinted in both Player's Option books and in Ravenloft: Domains of Dread, but also saw the creation of two alternative elementalist wizards as part of the Al-Qadim setting; the Elemental Mage and the Zakharan Sorcerer.- Elemental Powers: As you might guess from the name, elementalists specialize in elemental magic. Traditionally, the four classic Western elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air.
- Master of One Magic: What distinguishes the Elemental Mage in 2e from the standard Elementalist. Normal elementalists can learn spells of any school, except their elementally prohibited opposition school (Earth/Air, Water/Fire) — they do receive a penalty to learning spells outside of their specialized school, but it's quite low, so they can potentially wield a very diverse arsenal of spells. Elemental Mages, on the other hand, cannot learn any spell that isn't part of their elemental school, but in exchange for this limitation, they double the standard specialist wizard bonuses. Zakharan Sorcerers only get the standard specialist bonuses, but are allowed to learn spells from two elemental schools simultaneously, and they can match "opposed" schools, so a Zakharan Sorcerer could specialize in Earth and Air spells, or Fire and Water spells.
Wu Jen
Debuting in the sourcebook Oriental Adventures for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition, the Wu Jen was envisioned as the "Oriental Mage", and draws its inspiration from Japanese and Chinese mythical traditions of mysterious, wilderness dwelling hermits who command unearthly powers through devotion to strange philosophical teachings, meditation, esoteric personal training and interactions with unearthly powers. Appearing through the first three editions of the game, the Wu Jen is characterized as a strange and unearthly mystic who normally lives a reclusive life in the wilderness, honing mental and spiritual powers over the elements, and venturing forth only when they perceive a personal reason to do so. Their defining characteristic is their need to obey strict spiritual taboos in order to maintain access to their magical powers; breaking a taboo strips them of their spellcasting until they atone.There are five different iterations of the Wu Jen. The original, for AD&D 1st edition, in Oriental Adventures. AD&D 2nd edition has two alternative versions; one in The Complete Wizard's Handbook and the other in an article in Dragon Magazine #229. 3rd edition also has two alternative versions; a 3.0 version in the 3.0 reimagining of Oriental Adventures and the final 3.5 version in Complete Arcane.
- Bargain with Heaven: A wu jen's spellcasting is tied intrinsically to an increasing array of pacts they swear to spiritual patrons. Whilst the nature of these patrons is never fleshed out in any of the incarnations, the inference is that they are akin to the kami of Shinto or the immortals of Taoism — divine spirits representing the elemental and cosmic forces of reality.
- Cast from Hit Points: The signature mechanic of the Dragon #229 version of the wu jen. Rather than having to memorize spells like normal wizards, wu jen instead can cast any spell they want... at a cost of having to sacrifice hit points equal to the spell's level each time they cast it. Also, from 6th level onwards, they can boost their Strength, Dexterity and Constitution scores by 1d4 points each for 2d4 rounds, at a cost of having to spend 1d6+2 hit points each time they boost their physical strength.
- Charged Attack: The 1st edition wu jen can, from 4th level onwards, cast a spell with all of its effects boosted to the maximum once per day. The wu jen from the Complete Wizard's Handbook also retains this ability, and it is their only unique special benefit as a kit.
- Elemental Powers: Throughout most of its incarnations, the Wu Jen is associated with the use of elemental magic, dividing its spells into five different schools. With the exception of the Complete Wizard's Handbook version, wu jen are restricted to unique spell lists created entirely for the wu jen, making it feel more like a distinct class than the common specialist wizards.
- Element No. 5:
- The 1e wu jen's magical schools are defined as Earth/Metal, Fire, Water, Air, and Wood/Nature.
- The Dragon #299 wu jen's magical schools are defined as Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Nature.
- The 3.0 and 3.5 wu jen's magical schools are mapped to the Chinese wuxing philosophy; Earth, Metal, Wood, Fire and Water.
- Flash Step: Several iterations of the wu jen are able to move with blinding speed in single short but potentially decisive bursts.
- The 1e wu jen can give themselves +3 to an initiative roll once per day.
- The 3.0 wu jen can give themselves +4 to an initiative check once per day.
- The 3.5 wu jen can always roll twice when called to make an initiative check and choose which result to use.
- In a Single Bound: The Dragon #229 wu jen can, from 12th level, leap up to 30 feet in a single bound at a cost of 1 hit point of damage.
- Magic Knight: The 1e wu jen is able to use a number of "Oriental" (read: Japanese) weapons that would normally be restricted for wizards, including boku-tohs (wooden katanas), short swords, and sais. The Complete Wizards Handbook wu jen retains access only to the boku-toh, bo staff, jitte and shuriken. Both of these versions also get a +1 proficiency bonus to attack rolls with a single weapon they are proficient in. The Dragon #229 wu jen can use any weapon, although they still have only a wizard's THAC0 progression. All other wu jen have no special affinity for martial weapons.
- Master of One Magic:
- In 1st edition, a wu jen who knows all of the spells belonging to an elemental school that are available at their current level gains a bonus to the potency of spells they cast from that school, as they are considered to have mastered that school. For example, if a wu jen able to cast 3rd level spells knows all of the Fire-aligned spells of 1st, 2nd and 3rd level, then they gain a potency bonus to all Fire spells they cast. A wu jen can be a "master" of multiple elemental schools, but once they advance to a new level of spellcasting, they lose the benefit of school mastery until they learn the requisite elemental spells of their new level.
- The 3.0 wu jen has the same "elemental mastery" special class feature as the 1st edition version.
- The 3.5 wu jen reimagines the Elemental Mastery mechanic in a simpler fashion; at 6th level, they can choose a single elemental school, and forever afterwards they treat their caster level as being +2 levels higher when they cast spells of that school.
- Both the 3.0 and the 3.5 wu jen have a class feature called "Spell Secret", where at certain levels they are allowed to choose a single specific spell and permanently give it the effects of a single specific metamagic feat, to represent the wu jen's utter mastery of the intricacies of that spell.
- Oathbound Power: The signature defining trait of the wu jen, which is univeral across its incarnations. As it levels up, it acquires an increasing number of taboos, which are mandated or prohibited codes of behavior that the wu jen must obey. If they break a taboo, they lose their spellcasting abilities until they commit an act of spiritual atonement. Ironically, they're also characterized as tending to be outside of the normally strict social requirements of their native cultures. Sample taboos vary depending on incarnation, but commonly include never cutting one's hair, refusing to wear (or always wearing) a specific color, dietary restrictions such as refusing to consume meat and/or alcohol, small daily rituals they must perform, and so on.
- The Pig-Pen: One sample taboo found in every incarnation of the wu jen is a refusal to ever voluntarily bathe.
- Power at a Price: The Dragon #229 wu jen's ability to use their life force to fuel their spells and extraordinary physical feats comes with a downside: they halve all magical healing effects targeting them, making them a Squishy Wizard even compared to other 2e wizards!
- Supernatural Martial Arts: What separates the wu jen from the wizard is that their magical abilities are typically tied lore-wise into practice of esoteric martial arts. This trope is most strongly in play in the Dragon #229 version of the class, who gains the lowest amount of spells (1 per level!) but whose spells function more like Ki Manipulation on a lore basis, being Cast from Hit Points and paired with the abilities to enter yogic trances, boost their physical attributes through meditation, and move in tremendous leaps.
- The Unfettered: Wu jen are devoted to personal power and self-improvement through spiritual growth, and are largely indifferent to the oft-intricate webs of societal expectations, demands and taboos that tend to be associated with their native cultures.
- In 1st edition, wu jen have no societal birth rank or family prominence requirements to join the class, as wu jen deliberately cast aside their family to pursue their magical powers. They also have the least use for the Honor mechanic, having to worry about only the most fundamental Honor-penalizing acts and gaining no real benefits from a high Honor score outside of the generic benefits
- In 3.0 and 3.5, wu jen are restricted to Non-Lawful Alignment. A wu jen whose alignment changes to any of the Lawful alignments suffers the normal penalty for breach of alignment requirement — that is, they can't use their spells or class abilities until they change back to an allowed requirement.
