Jeff's Top 3 DnD Classes

So you want to role-play do ya? You want to assume the mantle of the Hero or villain who tirades across the country side saving damsels or murdering them without recourse? Is that what you want? Well gud on ya bai. 

You can talk the talk, but how ya gonna walk it son? In an RPG with an endless array of classes and sub-classes, character traits, and personality quirks available to pump up your precious immersion, you can cast yourself as just about any character in the story of your life. 

With all the choices, it is hard tyo know where to begin. So allow me, Jeff, and your fine friends at JADE to help make your character development a little more guided and a little less like a gaping chasm of soul-sucking tedium. Here are, what see as, the three best classes in D & D:

Druid

If you consider yourself a classic hippie at heart, (And lets be honest with ourselves who doesn't) then you love nature. But instead of spending all day hugging trees, which can of course take a venerable toll on your arms, why not channel your enthusiasm for the woodland realm into a badass RPG experience? 

You can assume the identity of one of nature's fiercest protectors and gain access to a host of cool spells that prove just how sexy Gaia really is. From the ability to summon animals, commune with them, ride them, touch them, or simply smile at them politely... You can do a shitload of cool things with animals. Couple this fact with being able to poison, regenerate limbs, foresee imminent danger, and interact, communicate with, and manipulate many elements, and you've got yourself a class that gives the player a chance to interact with the surrounding world in subtle yet interesting ways.

Bard

Who doesn't love being the passionate story-teller of the group? Seriously who, i'll fight you. Few thrills compare to donning the mask of the charming and witty aficionado who can charm their way out of the stingy dungeon and into even stingier bed chambers if you know what I mean. 

Bards are the shit not only because of a pungent charisma that grants the player social skills allowing them to be a central component of a lot of the party's major scenes of intrigue, but because a lot of their spells do badass things under the pretense of “smoke and mirrors.” It's the ability to jedi mind trick people into calling you daddy, disguise yourself as the King's long lost cousin Henry (with documents to prove it), and pretty much elicit valuable information from a monkey's anus, that can lead the Bard even so far as entering Rogue territory. 

Planning a heist? The player fielding the bard can experience a cool multi-class high when their powers allow them to play the socialite and the thief if a more specialized class of criminal isn't readily available. Hell, they can even roll high on a decked out persuasion roll and have the queen for dessert. To some, this is the closest they will ever come to knowing the touch of a woman in real life. Don't take that away from them.

Sha'ir 

Though this class is only available in 2^nd edition D and D (and a 3rd edition redo in Dragon Magazine issue 315, 321), it comprises all magic classes on the scale of badassery for the sole reason that these magic users cast spells using a F@#$ing genie, and this genie can cast ANY spell from ANY level providing you make an adequate roll on the percentile die. 

But before you go breaking out your collector's edition Blu-ray copy of Aladdin, know this: The higher the spell level, the higher the margin for error on your dice roll. But that is what makes role-play fun, the risk. And if you have horseshoes implanted deep in your rectal cavity, then playing a Sha'rir could put you on a different level. So much so that, when local authorities come a knockin' on your door, investigating the recent string of magical incidents that have ruined their town, and proceed to ask you your name, you can look at them slowly and say “Goddd.”

Role-play is no joke. In fact it's more f@#$ing serious than just about every major Geo-politcal crisis currently facing the Earth... Ok maybe not. But if you want to do well, building yourself a cool character that can aid the party in very strategic ways while keeping you wholesomely engaged is critical. The above classes are the ones that can do the most and not just hack and slash at meat like it's some divine calling. 

Now while the classes mentioned in this article are super and all, there is still an endless amount of character kits available that expand on these basics to yield an even deeper level of immersion. But if you thought I felt like writing about those too, then I want you to know that I'm moved by your blind faith. But, go explore the material yourself, create a character that makes you feel all tingly, and as always Happy Gaming. 


Written by: Jeff Clive