D&D General What class is Gandalf?

[Charlaquin]

He's an NPC, and in 5e that means he doesn't need to be defined in terms of classes.

Yeah, that’s my preferred interpretation as well.

 

[Thunderfoot]

While he is indeed a wizard, in the context of his setting he is closer to demi-god...

 

[Marandahir]

Sounds like a bard, then.

Note that Gandalf's powers come from spoken incantation, not sung verse.

The Valar are Bards, the Maiar are Wizards.

 

[Scruffy nerf herder]

I can see arguments for several options!

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He simply does too many of the things that different classes do to not consider him either unique (i.e. Gandalf is the Gandalf class, or Maia is a racial class or something like that) or a high level character with a bunch of levels in multiple classes.

 

[Scruffy nerf herder]

He's quite clearly a Magic User not a Wizard or Sorcerer.

Yeah and he must have super high bonuses in all three of Int, Wis, Cha.

 

[Yora]

Gandalf is a shapechaged solar. Wouldn't even have a class.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

As this is a D&D General question, I'm going to forego 5e.

Gandalf is a Maia, but he also has a number of restrictions placed on his action as one of the Istari - he is "clothed in flesh;" furthermore, unlike - say - an unfettered Maia, he can't just reassume his "angelic" form on a whim. He really is stuck in the body of an old man, and subject - to some extent - to physical processes such as aging, hunger, death etc.

I think the Ainur can be modeled reasonably well using the rules for divine beings in 3e's Deities and Demigods with a number of additional restrictions imposed - which is to say, you don't need to invent any new rules for creatures with divine rank, but you do need to excise a number of innate abilities which deities would ordinarily automatically possess, and dumb down some more egregious Salient Divine Abilities.

So I'd start Gandalf as a 20HD Native Outsider with 11 Divine Ranks (he needs a modified Rejuvenation SDA as a Maia), 5 Cleric levels (for searing light against the Nazgul), and 5 Wizard levels (for lightning bolt). I'd then trim back any abilities which weren't consistent with Tolkien's view of the Ainur, and then impose additional restrictions based on the fact that he is an Istar. Salient Divine Abilities would include Arcane Mastery and Spontaneous Wizard Spells, allowing him to forego the use of a spellbook.

 

[CleverNickName]

He could be any class I wanted him to be, I suppose.
But he calls himself a wizard, and who am I to argue?

 

[Orius]

Melian wasn't a wizard. She was just a Maia that was a heck of a lot more powerful than any of the Istari. People are saying that Gandalf would be a Solar. He wouldn't even be close. The Valar would be the Solars. Then the highest Maiar would be like the Planetars, and those would be like Melian, Arien(who carries the Sun), Eonwe(who beat a weakened Morgoth), Osse(who could affect entire oceans and raised Numenor), etc. The Istari like Gandalf would be some sort of Archon most likely, but with Sorcerer levels or in 5e sorcerer level equivalent abilities.

Exactly. Gandalf doesn't have class levels, he's a celestial who's a DMPC. Don't give me that 5th level MU crap.

And no he's not a solar. That's roughly the levels the Valar themselves are on. Gandalf would be more equivalent to a deva in terms of rough power levels, and indeed the role the Istari were supposed to play was similar to the purpose of devas or other celestials who act in secret on the Material Plane.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Gandalf is an Invoker. Divine spellcaster, given special power directly by divine beings.