It Ain't D&D Without...

[TarionzCousin]

It ain't D&D without...

Hot female fighters in chainmail bikinis!

 

[Wormwood]

Tank, healer, DPS.

And honestly, I'd like to figure out a way to drop Tank and Healer.

 

[M.L. Martin]

But it didn't start out that way, as the cleric was a Johny-come-lately, so excluding them wouldn't be a problem.

Actually, the cleric was one of the three classes available in the original set--it's the thief that's the latecomer, introduced in Greyhawk.

I'd love to have seen the cleric lost like they were thinking about in 2E--it requires too much hardcoding of certain assumptions about gods, magic and the like--but at this point, it's too iconic to D&D as D&D. Of course, I don't much like D&D as D&D.

 

[the Jester]

Cleric
Fighter
Rogue
Wizard

The rest is all butter.

 

[Shemeska]

If it has been around for at least 20 years or two full edition cycles, it's probably safe to assume it's here to stay in the collective paradigm of the game for most folks.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Tank, healer, DPS.

And honestly, I'd like to figure out a way to drop Tank and Healer.

Play a Hunter with a Pet.

 

[doctorhook]

• A front-line warrior. (Defenders; Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, etc.)
• A spellcaster/alchemist. (Wizard, Sorcerer, Druid, Artificer, etc.; Controller-types, generally.)
• An adventurer who can heal others. (Cleric, Priest, Druid? What 4E uses leaders for.)
• An archer/ranged attack specialist. (Ranger, Rogue? Spellcasters? Many of these are Strikers.)
• A expert to accomplish specialised tasks. (Rogue, Bard, etc.; skill-monkeys.)
• An adventurer with a strong faith in some kind of supernatural-force. (Clerics, Paladins, Druids, Shamans, Monks, Psions, some Wizards, etc.)
• An animal-handler or summoner. (Ranger, Wizard, Invoker, Druid, etc.)

There's lots of overlap here, but I could put everything into these categories, I think.

 

[dm4hire]

Actually, the cleric was one of the three classes available in the original set--it's the thief that's the latecomer, introduced in Greyhawk.

I'd love to have seen the cleric lost like they were thinking about in 2E--it requires too much hardcoding of certain assumptions about gods, magic and the like--but at this point, it's too iconic to D&D as D&D. Of course, I don't much like D&D as D&D.

Oops, you are correct. I was thinking of a blog discussing how the Thief techniquely should be considered the first D&D class since the other three were Chainmail originals that transferred over. Regardless as Shemeska points out, after 20+ years of being in the the books any class that's from the original should be considered core.

 

[Jhaelen]

Yeah, I'd say you need Fighter, Rogue and Spellcaster. Everything beyond that would be flavor/kit/subclass.

This was my first thought.

However, I think it could even be D&D with only a single class: Adventurer.

Or rather, as a system without classes. I cannot think of any adventure you couldn't play if D&D didn't have different classes/roles. You'd just have to make everything a skill that anyone could learn with a certain amount of dedication: trapfinding, spellcasting, fighting.

 

[Mallus]

It ain't D&D if it doesn't have a mess of character classes that don't logically belong together. I tried to click most of the list and found it's a single-response poll.

Therefore, this poll ain't about D&D!