I was working on a script for a new video
in one of the series that I do, the many ways to build a D&D character. This particular video would be about classes
and subclasses, and actually it might be two videos depending on how that script breaks
down. But I realized while writing it that there
is a pivotal element you really need to understand before you can get to the topic of making
characters based on the class, and it felt like too large of a topic to fit into that
video. Plus, even if you don't care about the Ways
to Build a D&D Character series, this video could still be really helpful to new players
trying to decide what character they want to play for their first or second game. So today I want to talk about the core fantasy
of each of the D&D classes. This doesn't necessarily mean the “fantasy
genre,” although we'll get into that with a few of these. But instead the wish fulfillment, the power
fantasy, the core concept that each of these classes is trying to fulfill. First of all, your character class in D&D
is sometimes described as your job, the way you make your living in the D&D world. But honestly, I find that usually your background
is a better description of that. I mean, I have a hard time believing that
the average individual in a D&D setting can distinguish at the drop of a hat between a
fighter and a barbarian. Or even know the difference between a sorcerer,
warlock, and a wizard, although I think it's more realistic that someone in that world
knows the difference between those. So instead of being a description of your
job, I find that a better description is the way your character lives their life. Partially because a job feels a little reductive,
but also because some of these aren't a job. Instead, they're more of a representation
of how you move through the world and how you solve problems. A fighter and a rogue might both be swords-for-hire,
but from the perspective of the mechanics of the game, the rogue is much more likely
to strike an unassuming target and get away before they can get hit. Why? Because that's what the mechanics encourage. Because that is the core fantasy of the character. So we're going to run through a list of the
classes in 5th Edition and describe the core fantasy for each. But if you're looking for a breakdown on the
mechanics of how these classes each work, I won't really be getting into that much,
except to highlight the aspects of design that I think do a good job of fulfilling the
core fantasy and rewarding that behavior. Think of this as the elevator pitch for each
class. So let's get into it. AMLETH: I will avenge you, Father. Barbarians are warriors who lose their minds
in battle, going into rages. They don't wear armor, but they still soak
up damage better than anybody else. They are brutally lethal up close. But honestly, it's the ability to soak up
damage that does the best job representing this fantasy. If you're raging, you take half damage from
all weapons. So you're encouraged to go into battle at
the front lines and soak up attacks. And that always makes barbarian players feel
powerful and amazing. LOGAN: (Feral yell) KUBO: Before Hanzo could claim the armor and
unite the pieces to reveal their true power, he was attacked by the moon king's beasts. Bards have lots of useful skills, and inspire
others with their performances. Their songs are literally magical, and they
can be a very versatile spellcasting class. The jack-of-all-trades fantasy is really the
one being fulfilled here. It's one of the most flexible classes, you
could do a lot with it. The fact that it's tied to music is almost
secondary. Or it would be, if it weren't so closely tied
into the aesthetics and the narrative around the class. But to me, it's almost like these are two
different fantasies that we've just sort of accepted as one concept. There's the puckish bard who flirts with everybody
and charms people, and there's the spellcaster who can kind of do a little bit of everything. We also see this a little bit with the name
of the subclasses. Each of them is considered a bardic "college." Is the implication that each bard attends
some sort of academy for being a bard and for learning magic? I know very few people who make that assumption. But we don't actually know what bard colleges
are meant to represent. To me, it's actually kind of weird that these
two fantasies - the charming performer and the
jack-of-all-trades spellcaster - were blended into one class when
there's very little to connect them. But as a result, we do get the best version
of the bard in the history of D&D, and one of my favorite classes. So clearly they got something right. JASKIER: (Singing) Toss a coin to your Witcher, o valley
of plenty! ALL: (Singing) Toss a coin to your Witcher, a friend of humanity! JASKIER: Thank you! Thank god for The Witcher, it makes this video
so much easier. THOROS: Lord, cast your light upon this humble servant.
Bring him back from death and darkness. THOROS: His flame has been extinguished, restore it. ARYA: I thought he killed you.
BERIC: He did.
ARYA: But how…? BERIC: Thoros? BERIC: How many times have you brought me back? THOROS: It's the Lord of Light brings you
back. THOROS: I'm just the lucky drunk who says the words. Clerics have magic powers that they get from
gods. Stereotypically they're known best as the
healers, but they can use magic for a lot of cool stuff, and some of them are pretty
incredible fighters. The core fantasy here is wielding holy power,
and that can come in a lot of different flavors. It's actually a testament to the design that
you don't have to heal all the time and you could still have an awesome time playing this
character. Where we get messed up here, unfortunately,
is the expectations of other players. Because a lot of them will assume that the
cleric is their healer - not just a healer, their healer. And unless you're very clear with them, and
maybe make the occasional concession and heal them when it's expected, it could lead to
a bad time at the table if those expectations aren't met and PCs go down in combat because
the player who played a cleric wasn't prepared to heal or stabilize them. I know you'd probably need some fighter levels to be Thor, but you could do most of what Thor does as a cleric. POISON IVY: It took God seven days to create
paradise… POISON IVY: Let's see if I can do better. POISON IVY: Good babies… grow for mommy… Druids get their magic from nature, and they
can control plants and animals, transform themselves into animals, and manipulate the
weather. The fantasy here is extremely strong. Druids can do a lot, and they have fun doing it. In my opinion, it's probably the most complex
class, but it can also be the most rewarding. I have always been intimidated by the idea
of playing a druid. But I do have an idea for one that I think would be a lot of fun,
and that I would be absolutely willing to play the next time I get a chance to be a
player in an ongoing campaign. Well, maybe not the next time, that will probably
be a bard. And maybe not the time after that, that'll
probably be a wizard. But soon, I want to play this druid soon. STORM: Do you know what happens to a toad
when it's struck by lightning? STORM: The same thing that happens to everything else. PAUL: Do you yield?! Fighters are the best at fighting, and there
are a ton of versions of this fantasy. There are some that are more dexterous, and
others that rely on brute strength. There are knights in shining armor, and samurai. If you can imagine someone fighting, you can
do it with the fighter. Some of them even use magic or have their
own super cool powers that are unique to that subclass. Versatility is the name of the game here. From my perspective, as someone who doesn't
play a lot of video games, playing a fighter feels the most like going through a skill
tree in a video game. You can follow different branching paths and
pursue lines of options, but you can also add other abilities on later. And not all of them are tied to your subclass. Just the way you can take other fighting styles
makes this a very easy character to customize. Monks are excellent martial artists. They're fast on their feet, and they can wallop
enemies with bare-fisted attacks. They can catch arrows and bullets out of the air. They can use their spiritual energy, their
ki, to perform cool maneuvers, like dodging attacks or stunning an enemy. This design, I think, is excellent at making
you feel like you have a really different skill set from the other martial classes,
like the fighter, the barbarian, the paladin, etc. You don't really soak the damage the same
way that a barbarian can, and you don't really have as many fighting options as the fighter. But you can hit a bunch of times, and you
can move faster than any of the other classes, and you can fall from great heights without
taking damage, just like in a kung fu movie. Or maybe the best kung fu movie. No, no, no, no, not those kung fu movies… The best kung fu movie. MATT: So does every guy have to go through
all this just to find out your name? ELEKTRA: You should try asking for my number! Yeah, that's the one. PHOEBUS: With all due respect, sir, I was
not trained to murder the innocent. FROLLO: But you were trained to follow orders. FROLLO: Insolent coward. FROLLO: You threw away a promising career. PHOEBUS: Consider it my highest honor, sir. Paladins are holy warriors, knights in shining
armor, who channel divine magic from a god. They're like a fighter mixed with a cleric. Now, these days there's no rule that says
whether a paladin has to be good or evil, but I would argue that it is still part of
the core fantasy that paladins are good and virtuous and pious, and they fight for the
side of the innocent. STEVE: I know I'm asking a lot. STEVE: But the price of freedom is high,
it always has been. STEVE: And it's a price I'm willing to pay. STEVE: And if I'm the only one, then so be it. STEVE: But I'm willing to bet I'm not. And more than anything, this feeds into the
concept that the paladins are the best at fighting demons, devils, and the undead. And the rules reward the paladin with this
behavior, they make you very good at those things. Not so much the tracking them down part, but
once you've got them? The slaying them? Yeah, you're the best at that. LEOPOLD: I warn you, scoundrel, I was trained
to ride at the King's Academy, LEOPOLD: and schooled in weaponry by the palace guard,
you stand no chance. LEOPOLD: Where you run I shall ride, and when you stop,
the steel of this strap will be lodged in your brain. Rangers are trackers and hunters. They're adept at handling the environment,
and taking down specific enemies. The classic version usually uses a bow and
arrow, and usually rangers are one with the wilderness. Sometimes they even have an animal companion
at their side. Now this is a funny one, because I would argue
that the actual core fantasy was missing when the Player's Handbook came out. Or rather, it was designed with an extremely
narrow, specific approach in mind. And the rules themselves weren't designed
to encourage that behavior. So the core fantasy was not well communicated. For example, the beast master ranger has an
animal sidekick. But in the core rules, if an animal dies,
you just go into the wilderness... and find a replacement. That doesn't exactly represent the fantasy
of having a pet that charges into battle with you that you have a close personal connection with. Fortunately, other books they've put out since
then, like Tasha's Cauldron of Everything or Xanathar's Guide to Everything, these books
have done a better job of presenting subclasses and optional rules that make the ranger much
more interesting. And those rules get us a little closer to
representing that core fantasy in the class itself. ARAGORN: They crawled... ARAGORN: Their hands were bound... ARAGORN: Their bonds were cut. ARAGORN: They ran over here. ARAGORN: They were followed. MERRY: Run! GOON: Where are you?! BATMAN: Here. Rogues are extremely good at sneaking up on
their enemies and stabbing them in the back. They represent finding a weak point in your
enemies defenses and doing a lot of damage with precision strikes. Generally, their hit points and defenses are
not as good. But if they can get an attack on an unsuspecting
enemy, or hit somebody that all their friends are ganging up on, they can do a ton of damage. Again, the rules don't actually say that you
have to be amazing at stealth. You could pick from a couple of different
skills to be good at, stealth doesn't have to be on that list at all. But the rest of the design of that class really
rewards that behavior. After all, you just don't have enough hit
points to be a frontline enemy like the fighter or the barbarian. So taking advantage of that option to be really
good at sneaking can make you really good at combat, and that's how the design
rewards that fantasy. SENNA: Korra, please come in here! KORRA: I’m the Avatar, you gotta deal with it! Sorcerers are born with innate magical abilities. They've learned to refine this skill into
spellcasting, basically having been self-taught. Or they're still grappling with the cool powers
they've discovered. Because of this, they have the most malleable
form of spellcasting. They're able to use sorcerer points to enhance
their spells in a bunch of different ways. This flexibility makes sorcerers a lot of
fun. And while it's a lot of resource management,
it's also one of the most customizable spellcasting classes. Your spells could be completely different
every time you cast them because of the things that you choose to do. This, I think, does a really good job of representing
the idea that you don't have the same formal training as a wizard, and you're not given
magic the same way as a cleric, druid, ranger, paladin, or warlock. Because you don't have that same formal training,
your magic is adaptive and flexible and not consistent. That's a really good example of the mechanics
fulfilling the fantasy. AGATHA: In a given space, only the witch that
cast the runes can use her magic. AGATHA: How do you not know the fundamentals? AGATHA: Runes. WANDA: Thanks for the lesson. DR. FACILIER: I got voodoo, I got hoodoo,
I got things I ain't even tried! DR. FACILIER: And I got friends on the other side. EVIL SPIRIT BACKUP SINGERS:
He's got friends on the other side! Warlocks got their magic by making a deal
with some sort of otherworldly entity. This could have been with a demon or a devil,
granting them infernal magic. Or maybe a feylord, something creepy like
an Oberon, Pan's Labyrinth-type figure. Or maybe a Great Old One, like Cthulhu…
because asking for magic powers from Cthulhu can't possibly be a bad idea. They have the fewest spells, but they get
progressively more powerful. And they have some extremely good ones that
are specific to their class. I can really only speak in the abstract sense
how well this class fulfills the fantasy, because I don't play warlocks. I love the narrative around them, but I just
personally don't enjoy having so few spell slots. But I also appreciate that other people really
do enjoy this. And it is far easier to keep track of than
some of the other more complex classes. Plus, it's really good to multiclass with, particularly because of the narrative around the class. Like, at any point in the story you can encounter
a being and ask them to become your warlock patron, and become part-warlock. And that will always be dramatic and cool. THE DOWAGER EMPRESS: Consumed by his hatred
for Nicholas and his family, THE DOWAGER EMPRESS: Rasputin sold his soul
for the power to destroy them. RASPUTIN: Go… fulfill your dark purpose… THE ANCIENT ONE: We harness energy
and shape reality. THE ANCIENT ONE: We travel great distances
in an instant. DR. STRANGE: How do I get from here to there? THE ANCIENT ONE: How did you become a doctor? DR. STRANGE: Study and practice, years of it. Wizards are exactly how you imagine them. They carry their spells around in a book or
something equivalent, and they memorize new spells every day by consulting that tome. So these rules actively encourage the mental
image we have of a wizard hunched over a book with a feather quill in their hand and ink
on their fingers. Of the arcane classes (the bard, the sorcerer,
the warlock, and the wizard), each wizard has way more spells at their disposal that
they can choose from. But they have to look to the books every time
they want to swap a spell out. They memorize spells in a very similar way
to the cleric, druid, ranger and paladin, but they also have to choose spells when they
level up like the other arcane casters. So playing one gives you a really good chance
to have your feet in both camps of spellcasting and see which system you enjoy more. They don't have innate magic in the same way as,
honestly, any of the other spellcasting classes. They actively learn their magic by studying
and by reading. So to promote that fantasy, the rules require
that you have to read your spells, at least at some point, in order to cast them. Also, I know I just talked up how much
I love the bard. But as I was writing this section about the wizards,
I really think it might be my favorite class. I just love them so much. CONSTANTINE: Into the light, I command thee. CONSTANTINE: Into the light, I command thee-- CONSTANTINE: Into the light, I command thee! CONSTANTINE: Into the light, I command thee… Now, those are the core classes from the Player’s
Handbook in 5th Edition, and they're the ones that have the most subclasses in each of the
other books as well, either the official ones or the third party products. But there's two more classes that might be
worth discussing. TONY STARK: Stay put. TONY STARK: Nice. TONY STARK: You’re of no benefit at all,
move down to the toe, I got it. TONY STARK: Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Artificers come from the Eberron campaign
setting. This is a high magic world where the cities
basically run on magic. That's a gross oversimplification, but we'll
get into everything that Eberron actually is another time. Artificers lend themselves really well to
that setting. They are magical inventors. They can build things like guns or magic armor
or robots. And they can enchant other items with magic. This is a real utility class, and much like
the wizard with its spellbook, you really get the most bang for buck with the artificer
if your character has a little bit more time to prepare, rather than just going from battle
to battle to battle. However, I'll also admit that this fantasy
of being a magical inventor is not the best fit for every campaign setting. But we'll talk about that another time, especially
when I do my “classes” video in the Worldbreaking series. Suffice it to say, if you want to play a character
who builds cool inventions, or even just makes magic items, then the artificer has a lot
for you to enjoy. Q: A pen. Q: This is a class four grenade. Q: Three clicks arms the four-second fuse,
another three disarms it. JAMES BOND: How long did you say the fuse was? Q: Oh, grow up, 007. The final class is not an official D&D class. But it's so popular that it might as well be one. It's the only class from the DM's Guild to
make its way onto D&D Beyond, because it was created by Matt Mercer, who runs Critical Role. So, you know… it's pretty popular. VESEMIR: Forest hobo or deadly flapping swarm? VESEMIR: Let's pick a look and stick with it. The blood hunter is designed around becoming
more of a monster to hunt other monsters. You're excellent at tracking monsters, you
can infuse your weapons with magic, and you can inflict curses on your enemies. So, you know… you're a Witcher. This is one of the few classes that actually requires
some conditions from your campaign setting. Specifically, it involves taking a rite of
passage and becoming a monster hunter. There's nothing in the rules that specifically
says you're part of a guild or of any organization. But also, that's definitely part of the fantasy. The subclasses are referred to as "orders,"
so there is an implication that you are part of a small secretive sect of blood hunters. Ironically, this fantasy is actually a lot
clearer here than it is with the bard colleges. Because the very little information we have
from just the core class details of the blood hunter provide us with actually quite a bit
of worldbuilding. It's very easy to add them to your campaign
setting without rewriting a ton of history. All you do is add an old secret faction of
monster hunters. Which… not a bad thing to have anyway. KAULDER: You know what I'm afraid of? KAULDER: (Whispered) Nothing. And that's it, those are the 14 classes that
you could find on D&D Beyond. They're not all official, and they're certainly
not all expected by every player. But I wanted to talk about them all, and this
is my channel, and you can't stop me. Like I said, this is something that I wanted
to talk about in advance of a video that I plan to make about the process of creating
characters based on classes, because this topic was just too vast to fit into that video. I also want to take a minute and thank today’s sponsor, dScryb! Part of the goal of this video is to help you communicate your
character concepts and understand the core fantasy of each class, and dScryb can also really help with that. This is an online service where a team of professional writers
help communicate ideas and concepts, basically giving you the equivalent of boxed text from an
adventure module, but for lots of things. So for example, maybe you’re a Dungeon Master and your players cast Plane Shift. And one of the requirements is a tuning fork, and you don’t
really know why there’s a tuning fork required. Well, maybe you read them this: “You swiftly cast a crude map of the cosmos in the air with your hand as you speak the words of the spell, "creating glowing orrery of threads of magic that materialize out of the air. "You strike a tuning fork against this construct "and hold it close to the place among the planes you wish to go. "You tilt the singing piece of metal, seeking the perfect note for your destination, and when it is close you encourage your companions to prepare themselves.” That is such an interesting and cool way to imagine using the material components for a spell, and they have a lot of these. And you can see that some of these have very specific interpretations of the spell. For example, they have a more sinister version of the casting of Cure Wounds. “The words emerge from your lips like a lurking spider, rasping and otherworldly. “The voice is not your own, though you now command its power. “An inky blackness, somehow both liquid and vapor at once, “coalesces in your palms and writhes to the tips of your fingers. “A chill comes over you, and your hands become frigid -
blue, numb, and corpse-like. “You gesture, holding your hands over the injury,
and the inky tendrils set to work, “worming their way into the wound and stitching it closed.” And this was a specific request from someone named Tyler,
because that’s another cool thing dScryb does, is they take suggestions or submissions! You can either read these aloud or paraphrase them, and you can use these as a player or as a Dungeon Master to make your world feel more real and more sensory. I know sometimes as a Dungeon Master,
I really focus on sight and sound, and there are a lot of other senses that are present
in some of these descriptions that make it feel way more real and evocative. And the fine folks at dScryb have decided to help
sponsor and support the channel! If you visit dScryb.com/supergeek and
use the code Supergeek at checkout, you can get 10% off your first subscription payment. That’s D-S-C-R-Y-B.com/supergeek. Thanks again to dScryb for their support of the channel! Thank you so much for watching, I hope this
video was entertaining, and maybe it got you to think about the D&D classes from a different
perspective as well. If that's the case, please hit the Like button. If it was helpful, or if I said something
that you vehemently disagreed with, let me know in the comments below. I post new videos every Monday and Thursday,
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