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by Lore Sjöberg
Druid
Druids are characterized in Dungeons and Dragons as holy folk
who commune with fauna, concern themselves with the balance of
nature, and are just as likely to be found slogging through
lightless dungeons gutting kolbolds as anyone else in the world of
Greyhawk. This satisfies the gamer's need for a character with
an interesting backstory, but one which nevertheless doesn't
get in the way of the usual blood-for-gold-pieces marketplace
of a standard adventure module. But they do have interesting
spells which use vines and things. C+
Bard
Just a bad idea overall. In the original AD&D, you had to
go through all sorts of RPG rigamarole to make your character
a Bard, involving switching classes more often than a state
college student switches majors. This is good, because it
reduced the overall number of players carrying lutes and
making up an ode every time you took out another nest of owl-bears.
From what I understand, now you can be a Bard from the get-go.
I shudder to think. D
Barbarian
The odd thing to me is that this involved the same detailed level
system as the rest of the classes. There's something odd about
having a "third level Barbarian," as if he had to pass some sort
of Barbaric bar exam to prove his competence to practice
barbarism in the state of New Jersey. Presumably if you
were ever caught extending your pinky under any circumstances
you were, as it were, disbarred. C+
Ranger
Not ranger in the Smokey the Bear sense, nor even a Ranger in
pickup truck sense, either of which would have been entertaining.
No, these are Rangers in the Tolkienesque sense of squinty-eyed
guys with names like "Matterhorn, Son of Marathon" who gut and eat bugbears for
supper. Real Jack Palance types, if you could have ever gotten
Jack Palance to wear a hat with a feather in it. B-
Illusionist
This is just a Magic-User with a penchant for phantasm. Not
terribly interesting beyond the fact that at least they're
not called "Magic-Users." It would have been much more interesting
to make them illusionists in the Doug Henning sense of not
actually having any magical powers. Imagine this: the party is
being menaced by a pair of Ochre Hulks or something equally ludicrous.
Thinking quickly, the Illusionist pulls out three rings
which appear to be interlocked. With a tug and a pearly smile,
the Illusionist separates the rings! Then while one of
the Hulks is explaining to the other how he thinks the trick works,
a Fighter sneaks behind and wallops them with his broadsword.
Ta da! C
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