D&D 5E Do Classes Have Concrete Meaning In Your Game?

[Ovinomancer]

Interesting things to know about but not needed when it is time to Fireball.

Again, okay.

I'm sensing that you're trying to make a point here, but I must be dense, cause I'm not picking it up.

 

[Shasarak]

Again, okay.

I'm sensing that you're trying to make a point here, but I must be dense, cause I'm not picking it up.

You said that "Only wizards in your setting can study books on magic" and I am saying no, anyone can study books on magic in the same way that any one can study Holy Symbols, Plate Mail and Two Handed Swords. Just because a Fighter has a Holy Symbol painted on to the front of his Shield has nothing to do with his intrinsic abilities as a Class but nothing stops him from doing it.

 

[Ovinomancer]

You said that "Only wizards in your setting can study books on magic" and I am saying no, anyone can study books on magic in the same way that any one can study Holy Symbols, Plate Mail and Two Handed Swords. Just because a Fighter has a Holy Symbol painted on to the front of his Shield has nothing to do with his intrinsic abilities as a Class but nothing stops him from doing it.

I never made any such claim, though, which probably explains my confusion.

But, now that that's cleared up, what about those descriptions was intrinsically a class feature of wizards?

 

[Shasarak]

I never made any such claim, though, which probably explains my confusion.

But, now that that's cleared up, what about those descriptions was intrinsically a class feature of wizards?

I think a more pertinent question is, why would a class choose to imitate a class feature of another class?

If we disregard the "because roleplaying", it could be because either their class is penalised and/or persecuted for some reason or the other class receives preferential treatment and/or benefits. Which means that the NPCs within that game world have at least the rudimentary knowledge of class to know that a Witch, for example, weighs as much as a Duck.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I think a more pertinent question is, why would a class choose to imitate a class feature of another class?

Because they like to read books on magic?

If we disregard the "because roleplaying", it could be because either their class is penalised and/or persecuted for some reason or the other class receives preferential treatment and/or benefits. Which means that the NPCs within that game world have at least the rudimentary knowledge of class to know that a Witch, for example, weighs as much as a Duck.

Why would you disregard roleplaying?

I'll give you a personal example from the one 5e character I played (I DM mostly). A sorcerer (class) with the sage background. He walked around with a tome of magical theory and his nose buried in it all the time. Sure, he spontaneously cast spells, but he thought it was due to his understanding and study of the basic weave of magic. Really, though, it was probably because his grandfather was a Bronze dragon (the character was a Blue Dragonborn, so this wasn't too weird -- or was it). He had also made a deal with something for knowledge (maybe) dealing with a coming apocalypse that he couldn't understand, and mostly couldn't remember. Or maybe he was just insane. Didn't get to play him long enough to find out. I was hoping for insane, though.

 

[Shasarak]

Because they like to read books on magic?

I was under the impression that no one said that?

Why would you disregard roleplaying?

Because if it is just roleplaying then it will not change the fact that, like the Rite of AshkEnte, you actually dont need the loads of magical paraphernalia.

 

[EscherEnigma]

To answer the original question... it depends?

Mostly on how well understood magic is in the setting. If magic users are common enough that you have a college of 'em somewhere, or that churches reliably have a Cleric†, then there is probably enough understanding of the differences and capabilities of the different paths of magic that there will be some specific term for it. And sure, you could make it such that Druids and Rangers are "Nature Mages", Wizards ares "Book Mages", sorcerers are "Soul Mages", Clerics and Paladins are "God Mages", Warlocks are "Demon Mages", Bards are "Music Mages" and so-on, but at that point you're making the in-game name different from the rules-name just to give your world flavor. Which isn't necessarily bad, but you should do it knowingly. More importantly though, probably only people with Arcana proficiency would really understand the differences.

To your common peaseant folk, anyone throwing fireballs, healing wounds, and so-on could be any number of magic-implying names.

So it'd be much how in the real world someone might be "the computer guy". But in actuality, they might be an IT professional, a computer scientist, a computer engineer, a software engineer, a software architect, and so-on‡. Yeah, I know the difference between those jobs, what the title implies about the person filling the job, the relative education and experience I'd expect of any of them and so-on. But my husband probably only has a notional idea of the differences, and his mother doesn't understand them at all.

All that said, some of the classes do imply more of the in-world structure then others. Particularly Cleric, Druid, Monk and Paladin carry at least some in-world implications regarding religious and monastic orders. So even if your world has monastic orders that aren't so punchy-punchy, if the punchy-punchy ones are common enough to run into more then one Monk there will probably in-world terminology to differentiate them. Similarly, someone that goes up to a Temple of Pelor looking for magical healing is going to know that they don't just need a priest, they need the magical priest, and will probably know the term for that. Whether that magical priest ends up being a Cleric or Paladin would be more iffy.

As for the non-magical classes (Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue)... yeah, there probably isn't much in-world differentiation. Especially with the way skill and tool proficiencies work, you could make an (unoptimized) sneak-thief character that does all the breaking and entering, theft, sneaky stuff and so-on without being a "rogue".

Then again, depending on how Barbarian rage works in your setting, they might end up as a distinct category called "Berzerker" or something.

So to make a long story short: it depends. Magic-using classes with distinct capabilities and paths to power make it likely that there are in-world terms to differentiate between them to some degree, and those terms probably have a nearly 1-to-1 correlation to the game mechanic names, but it's not a sure bet. Classes without magic are less likely to get specific titles.
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†Note: in this post I'll be carefully using capitilization to differentiate a title, such as paladin, cleric, or wizard, from the metagame character class, Paladin, Cleric or Wizard. So all clerics are (self proclaimed) pious servant of a god, but only Clerics (that might also be clerics in a particular religious hierarchy) are the divine casters per the rules in the PHB.
‡Admittedly, the real-world terms are still fuzzier then the in-game distinction between a Warlock and Wizard would be. I imagine Wizards being very particular that they are not a Warlock (whatever the in-game term would be) and that Warlocks are not a Wizard (again, whatever the term may be).

 

[Ovinomancer]

I was under the impression that no one said that?

Dude, you're losing me with these answers. I said that, in direct response to your question.

Because if it is just roleplaying then it will not change the fact that, like the Rite of AshkEnte, you actually dont need the loads of magical paraphernalia.

Sure, but if we're talking about casting fireball, the necessary magical paraphernalia is exactly the same for a wizard, sorcerer, warlock, or lore bard.

Let's say your campaign uses the alternative resting rules for a grittier campaign. Long rests are a week long. A wizard classed character would then only have to look at his spellbook one time, for an hour or so, at most once a week to do everything his class allows. If he didn't cast many spells, it could be months between study breaks. A character with a moderate interest in texts on magic might read far more often than that just for fun or profit. It's pretty much impossible to peg a wizard just because he studies magic in a book.

That's totally ignoring the NPC mages and archmages (in the MM, so core), and the fact that they may or may not study a book before casting spells. Entirely up to the DM to make that call.

So, again, it would be setting assumptions that would allow for the identification of classes, not the rules themselves. Those rules can be used entirely without modification (ie, no flavor rewrites at all) and just a setting assumption that classed people are much rarer than NPC builds, and it would be impossible to pick up that classes exists as part of the fiction. Unless the DM chose to make it so. And it's a perfectly valid choice -- please don't let any of the points I'm making lead you to believe that I think my way is better that yours. I only think that it's different and equally valid.

 

[Arial Black]

Unless your DM is freestyling then every class he adds to his world will be able to be identified. That is just the way that the rules work.

How can the creatures in the game world identify what 5E D&D class, as defined in the PHB that doesn't exist in their world, or from a website that doesn't exist in their world?

Which rule states that 'D&D class' is definately knowable to the creatures in the game world?

 

[Arial Black]

The easiest way would be to see how many spells they can cast in a row.

Or, I dont know, just look at where they are getting their spells from.

Really???

How many spells can a wizard cast in a row?

A person in the game world casts four spells in a row. What class does that prove he must be, to an inhabitant of that world?

How do the creatures in the game world know where someone else gets their spells? Even if they knew, how would that tell them which D&D 5E class they are?

We, as players, could work it out, because we can consult the PHB. But the creatures in the world do not have the PHB, do not know that they are bound by the rules therein, and would not believe that they are not real but are merely characters in someone else's story!