How many non-spellcasting classes are there?

[Emirikol]

So, i'm working on a little project..how many non-spell-casting classes are there out there? I don't have any of the complete books, so could someone help me out? (all classes listed for convenience).

thanks, jh


NPC
Adept
Aristocrat
Expert
Warrior
Witch

Class
Barbarian
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Ranger-non-magic (d10 hp)
Rogue
Sorcerer
Wizard
Specialist Wizard


Psionic Handbook (3.5E)
Psion
Psychic Warrior
Soulknife
Wilder

Complete Warrior
Hexblade
Samurai
Swashbuckler

Complete Divine
Favored Soul
Shugenja
Spirit Shaman
Sohei

Complete Arcane
Warlock
Warmage
Wu Jen

Complete Adventurer
Ninja
Scout
Spellthief

Miniatures Handbook
Favored Soul
Marshal
Healer
Warmage

Dragon Magazine
Sha’ir (Drg315)
Prc: Barber (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Corsair (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Holy Slayer (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Mamluk (Arabian) (Dragon321)

 

[Emirikol]

On a related note, it seems hard for a designer to make a non-spellcasting class eh?

jh

 

[Nightfall]

Em,

Just a little clarification:

Hexblade DOES cast spells

So do ALL the complete Divine and Complete Arcane spellcasters. (Technically Warlock doesn't, as it uses spell-like abilities but to me that's still spells.)

Spelltheives can cast spells too.

Healer, Warmage, and Favored Soul cast spells too.

 

[Emirikol]

I'm sorry, I just listed all classes in general so that people could choose which ones DON'T cast spells

jh

 

[Nightfall]

Em,

Ah thanks for that insightful little clarification then.

 

[Particle_Man]

From your list (added commoner):

non-spell-casting classes

NPC
Aristocrat
Expert
Warrior
Commoner

PC
Barbarian

Fighter
Monk
Alt. Paladin (spell-like abilities) (complete warrior)
Alt. Ranger (spell-like abilities) (ditto)
Ranger-non-magic (d10 hp)
Rogue



Psionic Handbook (3.5E) (none use spells, all use *powers* except Soulknife)
Psion
Psychic Warrior
Soulknife
Wilder

Complete Warrior

Samurai
Swashbuckler

Complete Divine

Sohei (not in complete divine, and I don't know if it gets spells)

Complete Arcane
Warlock (spell-like abilities)


Complete Adventurer
Ninja
Scout


Miniatures Handbook

Marshal (?)


Dragon Magazine (???no idea???)
Sha’ir (Drg315)
Prc: Barber (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Corsair (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Holy Slayer (Arabian) (Dragon321)
Prc: Mamluk (Arabian) (Dragon321)

 

[Nightfall]

Particle,

Marshall gains auras. So while I'm not sure if they are spell-like abilities or not, I personally don't count them as such.

 

[Staffan]

Sohei (not in complete divine, and I don't know if it gets spells)

Sohei is in Oriental Adventures, and they do get spells. I don't have the book in front of me, but I believe they have a bard- or psychic warrior-like progression, except they cast divine spells (focused on improving their own fighting prowess).

OA also has the Samurai (different from the CW one) that doesn't cast spells. There's also the wu-jen, shugenja, and shaman, which do.

Eberron has the Artificer, which technically doesn't cast spells. However, they have "infusions", which work pretty much exactly like spells, and there's one infusion that can mimic any spell up to level 4 (if the artificer is high enough level). I'm guessing that if you count psionic classes as spellcasters, you should count the artificer too.

There's also the recently released Magic of Incarnum, with a bunch of classes that don't cast spells either, but use incarnum soulmelds. IIRC, they're the Incarnate, Totemist, and the Soul-something.

If you start including third-party products, the list increases. Arcana Unearthed/Evolved has the Unfettered, Champion, Totem Warrior, Oathsworn, Warmain, and Ritual Warrior. The last three get "combat rituals" though, which work sort of like spells. There's also the Akashic, which technically can cast spells, but that ability doesn't kick in until 20th level. Iron Heroes, of course, is all about non-magic classes, and has the Archer, Armiger, Berserker, Executioner, Harrier, Hunter, Man-At-Arms, Thief, and Weapon Master, but they're only semi-compatible with D&D (they're balanced with not having magic items in mind, so the classes themselves are a lot more powerful).

 

[Thanee]

On a related note, it seems hard for a designer to make a non-spellcasting class eh?

Why should that be?

I would think it's harder to make a decently balanced spellcasting class, that adds something new, than a non-spellcasting class.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I would think it's harder to make a decently balanced spellcasting class, that adds something new, than a non-spellcasting class.

Problem is, if there's no magic involved in the class, you rapidly run out of schticks.

Barbarians are good. Fighters are good. Rogues are good. Aristocrats are an NPC class, but Dragonlance has a really good Noble class that covers that schtick. Scouts are good... but everyone complains they steal the Rogue's schtick. Swashbucklers and Samurai are just variant Fighters-- and they really should've been left as Fighters.

Monks and Ninja are more magical than some of the spellcasting classes.

What's left? What else can you have that's valuable to an adventuring party, exciting to portray, and doesn't wield magical powers? The only other areas I can think of are from games with a higher level of technical or cultural advancement-- Pilot and Mechanist from Dragonstar and Athlete from XCrawl.