D&D General Best NPC Classes (Dragon Magazine)

[Snarf Zagyg]

Official List of Best "NPC" Classes in AD&D, In Order (Published in Dragon Magazine):

1. Incantrix
Do you like magic? Party tricks? Lederhosen?

2. Death Master
It feels good ... to be BAD!

3. Witch
Would you like to play as a pronoun? An adjective? BOTH?

4, Duelist
To quote the Brady Bunch, Martial Martial Martial!

5. Bandit
Alas, there was no Smokey class.

6. Cloistered Cleric
What if all healbot?

7. Samurai
Who needs OA, Green Lantern?

8. Anti-paladin
Fun fact- if you thrown a paladin at an anti-paladin, they cancel each other out. Thanks, Bill Nye!

9. Shaman
When your druid explodes because he put on the chainmail, try a shaman!

10. Beastmaster
Proving you didn't need Unearthed Arcana to unbalance the game.


As this list is the product of maths and logicks, it cannot be reasonably disputed. But you're welcome to try. Remember- NPCs only!

 

[Voadam]

I thought the duelist was a PC class. With the sweet, sweet d12 HD.

 

[Voadam]

Alternative Choice:

The Smith. Do you really want rules on how much xp it takes an NPC to craft armor?

 

[Tonguez]

Incantatrix absolutely - anything that disrupts magic is great - even if its other magic

the Accountant and the Jester were up there too
and was Houri from Dragon?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I thought the duelist was a PC class. With the sweet, sweet d12 HD.

All classes in Dragon were NPC classes.* Including the "chaotic non-player character who like to make people pay," a/k/a the Duelist.

Duelist was Dragon #73. And yes, it had the sweet d12.


*And everyone TOTALLY believed that, as opposed to it being a fig leaf for Gygax.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I thought the duelist was a PC class. With the sweet, sweet d12 HD.

I don't remember that one but it sounds cool

 

[Voadam]

All classes in Dragon were NPC classes.* Including the "chaotic non-player character who like to make people pay," a/k/a the Duelist.

Fine, then how could you not include the alternative monk, the one that was actually worth playing (d4 HD and no dex AC bonus, grumble, grumble, grumble).

Duelist was Dragon #73. And yes, it had the sweet d12.

I believe both the Duelist and the alternative monk were in a Best of Dragon collection as well. The bounty hunter and Jester were there too.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Fine, then how could you not include the alternative monk, the one that was actually worth playing (d4 HD and no dex AC bonus, grumble, grumble, grumble).

I believe both the Duelist and the alternative monk were in a Best of Dragon collection as well. The bounty hunter and Jester were there as well.

Best of Dragon III had the redesigned Monk and B***, along with the Archer and Alchemist.

Like Star Trek movies, the Best Of Dragon even volumes had the best NPC classes. (I'll include my placement in parentheses)

II
Anti-Paladin (8)
Berserker
Healer
Ninja
Lycanthrope
Samurai (7)
Scribe

IV
Bandit (5)
Bounty Hunter
Cloistered Cleric (6)
Death Master (2)
Duelist (4)
Jester
Scribe
Smith

Others-
Incantrix (1) (Dragon 90)
Witch (3) (Multiple, Dragon 114 has the best/final)
Shaman (9) (Dragon 141)
Beastmaster (10) (Dragon 119)

 

[Fanaelialae]

IIRC they also did a Mom class for one of the April issues.

 

[Voadam]

The death master was a real nice Orcus cultist class from before specialty priests were a thing. I completely agree with their inclusion on this list.