List of alternative Dungeons and Dragons classes

Original Dungeons & Dragons

Two new classes were introduced after the release of the original D&D boxed set: Thieves in Supplement I - Greyhawk and Bards in The Strategic Review. New subclasses were introduced in Supplement I - Greyhawk, Supplement II - Blackmoor, Supplement III - Eldritch Wizardry and the Strategic Review.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition

Five standard base classes and five subclasses were offered in the Player's Handbook, with an optional 6th base class, the Bard, presented in an appendix. Additionally, various alternative base classes, subclasses and rule changes were offered in the magazine Dragon and elsewhere, such as the Mystic and the Witch. Eventually, some of these alternative rules came to be compiled in 1985 in the volume Unearthed Arcana. Among other changes, it included the thief-acrobat, a Thief subclass, and the barbarian, a Fighter subclass which had abilities such as summoning a horde of fellow barbarians to any location. Unearthed Arcana also included the cavalier class as "alignment champions" and reworked Paladins to be a subclass of Cavalier. The thief-acrobat, barbarian, and cavalier had previously appeared in Dragon magazine. Many existing classes were also drastically reworked and given different abilities. The Barbarian and Cavalier both had revised treatment in Dragon Magazine #148. The other major book that offered new base classes was the 1985 version of Oriental Adventures; it included the Bushi, Kensai, Ninja, Samurai, Shukenja, Sohei, Wu Jen, and Yakuza. Dragonlance Adventures presented alternative classes for Knights of Solamnia (Knight of the Crown, Knight of the Sword and Knight of the Rose) and Wizards of High Sorcery, as well as the Tinker class, which is exclusive to Gnomes.

NPCs

Most NPCs did not technically have a class in 1st and 2nd edition; they were, instead, "0th level characters" or "hirelings." Most classes gained the ability to attract and recruit hirelings at 9th level and later; others could be hired for a fee. Their abilities were not normally laid out very specifically, leaving more to the Dungeon Master's improvisation. First Edition did have a few "quasi-classes" which acted in a similar fashion. For example, humanoids could become shamans and witch doctors, which were functionally equivalent to clerics and cleric/magic-users except highly limited in terms of maximum level advancement.

Basic Dungeons & Dragons

"Basic" Dungeons & Dragons introduced two alternative classes: the Druid, an option for advancing a cleric character, and the Mystic, a counterpart to AD&D's Monk.

Optional classes (human and demi-human) from other books include: Dervish (GAZ2), Elf Wizard (GAZ5), TreeKeeper (GAZ5), Dwarf-Cleric (GAZ6), Wise Woman (GAZ7), Master (GAZ8), Merchant-Prince (GAZ9), Kobold (GAZ10), Goblin (GAZ10), Orc (GAZ10), Hobgoblin (GAZ10), Gnoll (GAZ10), Bugbear (GAZ10), Ogre (GAZ10), Troll (GAZ10), Merchant (GAZ11), Shaman (GAZ12), Shadow Elf (GAZ13), Shadow Elf Shaman (GAZ13), Shamani (gaz14)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition

AD&D 2nd edition introduced a large number of alternative classes in various supplemental handbooks, which also introduced a variety of "kits" to customize each base class. These kits would grant certain new special abilities at the cost of various restrictions. On occasion the concept of class vs. kit seemed to blur, for example, the Sha'ir of Al-Qadim was introduced as a wizard kit, but it had very different abilities from other wizards, and an alternative system of spellcasting, which warranted it being a class, and not a mere kit. It was treated as its own class in the release of The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook. As can be seen on the lists below, 2nd Edition had far more alternative classes than 1st Edition, and provided significant flexibility with dozens of kits.

The most common type of variant class was the specialty priest, which applied to almost all settings. Rules for specialty priests were in the 2nd edition Player's Handbook, with the druid offered as an example, and many campaign settings offered detailed abilities and domains for specialty priests of their deities.

2nd edition kits

Character kits were conceived as a way for players to customize a class. A character kit is a collection of minor modifications to the standard rules (generally involving bonus languages, changes to forbidden/permissible weapons, bonus non-weapon proficiencies, et cetera). They tended to reflect culture, race, social class, or vocation.

Kit repetition was also not unheard of. Some kit names were used multiple times, occasionally with different descriptions, such as the diplomat. Kits and classes also sometimes duplicated themselves. For example, the shaman appeared in at least six products.

Spells & Magic

The book Spells & Magic introduced some new magic systems for wizards, and the practitioners of some of these systems could be seen as new character classes. The system of channeling seems to have been an exception, this was purely an alternative form of handling spell casting, and gives the example of a “channeling invoker”. In other words, the class is invoker, but instead of using the normal method of spell casting, the character uses a different version, and for sake of clarity, is labeled a channeling invoker. The other alternative systems (Alienist/Summoner, Warlock/Wizard) lend themselves more readily to the concept of alternative classes in addition to an alternative form of spell casting (much as the Wild Mage and Defiler classes use modified means of casting spells). The book also introduced different spell systems for priests, but all of them were, like the wizardly form of channeling, of a nature that suggested a different way of handling spell casting (and acquisition) as opposed to outright classes.

Dungeon Master's Guide

In its Dungeon Master's Guide, 3rd edition introduced five NPC classes not intended for player use. These were the first official alternative base classes, and still the only ones detailed in the core 3 books. All five of these classes were retained in the 3.5 edition Dungeon Master's Guide.

Other sourcebooks

The following base classes were introduced in other sourcebooks. Unless otherwise specified, all sourcebooks are for 3.5 edition.

Core class variants

These are alternative versions of core base classes.

Campaign-setting specific

The Dragonlance campaign setting update for 3rd edition includes 2 alternative base classes (Mystics and Nobles), while further sourcebooks developed by Sovereign Press/Margaret Weis Productions ltd. introduce Masters (in War of the Lance), Mariners (in Age of Mortals and Legends of the Twins), and Nighstalkers (in Races of Ansalon):

Alternative base classes presented in the 3.5 edition Eberron campaign setting include:

The Al-Qadim setting was not extensively supported in 3rd edition, but issue 315 of Dragon Magazine includes an update to the Sha' ir base class from earlier editions.

The 3rd edition version of Oriental Adventures was set in Rokugan, the setting of Legend of the Five Rings. However, many of the classes in Oriental Adventures were used in other settings as well, and some were reprinted in other books independently. Alternative classes created for that book include the Samurai, Shaman, Shugenja, Sohei, and Wu-Jen; see above.

Generic classes

The 2004 release of Unearthed Arcana for 3.5 edition included 3 "generic" base classes: Warrior, Spellcaster, and Expert (no relation to the DMG's Warrior and Expert). These classes cover three basic archetypes without any frills and are easily modified. However, these classes were not recommended for use with the standard base classes. The Warrior is similar to the Fighter, with hit points and a strong attack but few skills; the Expert has a large variety of skills but middling combat capabilities (similar to a Rogue); and the Spellcaster has little combat capabilities but the ability to cast spells (similar to a Wizard). Many class features from the core base classes, such as Familiar, Sneak Attack and Turn Undead, are available to the three generic base classes as bonus feats.

Psionics-related

Psionics in 3rd edition were originally detailed in Psionics Handbook. 2nd edition had only one character class, the psionicist; 3rd edition renamed it the psion and introduced various new alternative classes based on psionics usage. Psionics Handbook was later updated for version 3.5 with the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and new material was added in the Complete Psionic book.

Multiclass-only classes

These classes are only available through multiclassing. They cannot be chosen as a character's main class.

5th edition

No official base classes beyond the Player's Handbook and Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide have been released for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons as of July 2015, but the Dungeon Master's Guide contains alternate class options for the Cleric and Paladin (the Death domain and the Oathbreaker, respectively).

However, the article series "Unearthed Arcana", on the Wizards of the Coast web site, has presented several class options as playtest material. These include a version of the Artificer as a Wizard archetype; a version of the Ranger class without magical abilities; a version of the Favored Soul as a Sorcerer archetype; a version of the Swashbuckler as a Rogue archetype; and a Storm Sorcerer archetype. Another "Unearthed Arcana" article presented a playtest version of psionics rules for the 5th edition, in the form of a class called the Mystic. Unearthed Arcana introduced the Rune Scribe as the first prestige class.