Classes
Your class is the last choice of a new run (see Your character). It is what you did before you set out. Your class:
- changes your starting stats;
- adds to your hit points;
- trains you in a handful of skills, and sets how many skill rolls each level gives and which skills it is known for (see Improving a skill);
- gives you your first ranks in a few weapon skills (a berserker has learned one of two) and fighting styles (a thief or an ascetic one of two);
- decides most of your starting kit, its garb among it (a wizard’s robe, a priest’s habit).
No spells come with it at the start. Each class also gives class abilities as you reach its levels, and bonus talents (see Levels below). You keep your class for good, but a class may later open onto a prestige class.
The first eleven classes are adventurers. The last four are everyday folk: an aristocrat, a commoner, a craftsperson, and a merchant. They were never trained for this, and it mostly shows. A new run offers all four.
At a glance
New to the game? The warrior, the berserker, and the paladin are the easiest to start with: plenty of hit points, armour or rage, and a plain way to fight. The everyday folk are the hardest, and two of them are a joke on purpose.
The role says how the class fights, and the difficulty how forgiving it is while you learn the game. The key stats are the ones the class rolls dice to raise. Hit points and mana are what the class adds to yours at the start; each level adds half of that again, plus what your stats add (see Levelling up). The spells given are those the class’s level table hands you, and from which level.
| Class | Role | Difficulty | Key stats | Hit points | Mana | Spells given | How it plays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascetic | Fighter, bare hands | Normal | Dexterity, Willpower | 5 | 4 | none | Fights unarmed and unarmoured, quick on their feet, spending ki on extra blows and stuns. |
| Berserker | Fighter | Easy | Strength, Toughness | 8 | 1 | none | The most hit points of any class; rages for harder blows and wades in. |
| Paladin | Fighter, holy | Easy | Strength, Presence | 6 | 3 | 3, from level 6 | Sword and shield; smites foes, the undead and fiends hardest, and heals with zeal. |
| Ranger | Fighter, archer | Normal | Dexterity, Willpower | 5 | 2 | 3, from level 6 | Shoots from a distance with a bow, beside an animal companion that holds the foe. |
| Warrior | Fighter | Easy | Strength, Toughness | 7 | 1 | none | Armour, a sword and a shield, and steady blows. The simplest class to start with. |
| Druid | Caster, nature | Normal | Toughness, Willpower | 4 | 9 | 13, from level 1 | Staff and sling, spells of storm and frost, and beasts called to fight beside them. |
| Priest | Caster, healer | Normal | Willpower, Presence | 4 | 9 | 7, from level 1 | A mace and a shield, and a prayer that mends their wounds and more, for no mana. |
| Witch | Caster, hexes | Hard | Intelligence, Willpower | 1 | 10 | 14, from level 1 | Frail; lays hexes from afar and lets her familiar harry what she has hexed. |
| Wizard | Caster | Hard | Intelligence | 0 | 12 | 8, from level 1 | The most mana and the fewest hit points; kills with spells before anything gets close. |
| Bard | Support, all-rounder | Hard | Intelligence, Presence | 2 | 5 | 5, from level 1 | A little of everything: songs, many skills, and any weapon, but frail. Stops at level 30. |
| Thief | Sneak | Hard | Dexterity | 4 | 1 | none | Strikes from hiding and builds openings on one foe, then spends them on one deep blow. |
| Aristocrat | Everyday folk | Joke | Presence | 1 | 7 | none | Soft and unfit for this, but money and finds from home wait in town at every level. |
| Commoner | Everyday folk | Hard | Toughness | 3 | 1 | none | A club and a few turnips. Levels come quickest, and their bonus talents come from any tree. |
| Craftsperson | Everyday folk, maker | Hard | Dexterity | 3 | 1 | none | Makes, mends, and takes apart gear with two trades of their choice; a poor fighter. |
| Merchant | Everyday folk | Joke | Intelligence, Presence | 2 | 2 | none | Weak in a fight; their gold grows with a business partner in town. |
Each class’s page starts with the same card, then how to play it, its level table, and what its abilities do.
Stats, hit points, and weapons
The first table is what each class adds to your starting stats. The second gives its hit points and the weapon skills and fighting styles it starts you in. A short description of each class follows, linking to its own page: its level table, what each ability does, and its spells and resource.
Stats: St Strength, Dx Dexterity, To Toughness, In Intelligence, Wi Willpower, Pr Presence.
| Class | St | Dx | To | In | Wi | Pr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascetic | 0 | 1d3 | +1 | 0 | 1d3 | −1 |
| Berserker | 1d3+1 | +1 | 1d3 | −1d2 | 0 | −1 |
| Paladin | 1d3 | −1 | 0 | −1 | +1 | 1d3 |
| Ranger | 0 | 1d3 | +1 | 0 | 1d2 | −1 |
| Warrior | 1d3+1 | +1 | 1d3 | −1 | 0 | 0 |
| Druid | 0 | 0 | 1d2 | 0 | 2d2 | −1 |
| Priest | −1 | −1 | 0 | +1 | 1d3+1 | 1d2 |
| Witch | −2 | 0 | −1 | 1d3 | 1d3 | 1d3−2 |
| Wizard | −2 | 0 | −1d2 | 2d2+1 | +1 | 0 |
| Bard | −1 | +1 | −1 | 1d2 | 0 | 1d3+1 |
| Thief | −1 | 1d3+1 | 0 | 1d2−1 | −1 | 0 |
| Aristocrat | −2 | 0 | −1d2 | +1 | −1 | 1d3+1 |
| Commoner | 0 | 0 | 1d3−1 | −1 | 0 | −1 |
| Craftsperson | +1 | 1d3 | 0 | +1 | 0 | −1d2 |
| Merchant | −1 | −1 | −1 | 1d2 | 0 | 1d3 |
| Class | Hit points | Weapon skills | Fighting styles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ascetic | 5 | Staves 1, Unarmed 2 | Brawler 1 or Staff Fighter 1 |
| Berserker | 8 | Unarmed 1; Axes 2 or Great blades 2 | Great Weapon 1 |
| Paladin | 6 | Long blades 2, Shield bashing 1 | Sword and Board 1, Battle caster 1 |
| Ranger | 5 | Short blades 1, Bows 2 | Marksman 1 |
| Warrior | 7 | Long blades 2 | Sword and Board 1 |
| Druid | 4 | Staves 2, Slings 1 | Staff Fighter 1, Sniper 1 |
| Priest | 4 | Maces and clubs 2 | Sword and Board 1, Toucher 1 |
| Witch | 1 | Daggers and knives 1, Staves 1 | Toucher 1 |
| Wizard | 0 | Staves 1 | Sniper 1 |
| Bard | 2 | Daggers and knives 1d2, Short blades 1 | Duelist 1 |
| Thief | 4 | Daggers and knives 2, Thrown weapons 1 | Twin Blades 1 or Duelist 1 |
| Aristocrat | 1 | Long blades 1 | Duelist 1 |
| Commoner | 3 | Maces and clubs 1 | Brawler 1 |
| Craftsperson | 3 | Axes 1 | - |
| Merchant | 2 | Daggers and knives 1 | - |
- Ascetic: A wandering ascetic of the old discipline, body and breath trained as one: quick, enduring, inward-turned.
- Berserker: A warrior of the wild lands who fights in a fury: mighty and hardy, quicker to rage than to read.
- Paladin: A holy knight sworn to an oath: strong and commanding, steadfast to a fault, and slow to doubt.
- Ranger: A hunter and tracker of the borderlands: sharp-eyed, sure-footed, and easier with beasts than people.
- Warrior: A trained fighter of the shield wall and the dueling ground: strong, steady, and well drilled.
- Druid: A keeper of the old ways who speaks for forest and beast: hardy and patient, and uneasy in towns.
- Priest: A servant of a god, schooled in rite and scripture: strong of will and voice, soft of hand.
- Witch: A hedge-magician of herbs, hexes, and old bargains: cunning, wise in strange ways, and feared.
- Wizard: A scholar of the arcane who traded sunlight for candlelight: brilliant of mind, frail of body.
- Bard: A wandering singer and teller of tales who gets by on charm, quick fingers, and a quicker tongue.
- Thief: A cutpurse, burglar, and picker of locks who lives by nimble fingers and a quick wit.
- Aristocrat: Born to wealth and command and never asked to lift anything heavier than a goblet.
- Commoner: A farmhand, laborer, or servant with no training to speak of: used to hard work, not to being heard.
- Craftsperson: A smith, carpenter, or weaver who knows a trade inside out: sure hands, a patient mind, and few words.
- Merchant: A trader who knows the price of everything: shrewd and persuasive, softened by years behind a counter.
The changes are added to the average score of 10, together with your race’s, your
gender’s, and your birth sign’s. Each class rolls dice for its key
stats, and sometimes for a weakness too: 1d3+1 is two to four, −1d2 takes away one or two (see
How your stats add up). Classes are not balanced against
each other, and some are poor choices on purpose.
Who may take which
Not every class is open to everyone. A new run lists only the classes open to the race and gender you chose, and its Random picks only among those. No goblin, drow, kobold, lizardfolk, duergar, or ratfolk is taken into a paladin’s order. Elves and dwarves keep no witches. Among the drow, only women are priests.
Levels
Each class’s level table gives an ability at levels 1, 6, 12, 18, 25, 32, 40, 50, and 60. It also gives a bonus talent at a few levels in between, from the trees it names. The bard’s table is shorter. It stops at level 30, with its abilities at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 25, and 30.
An ability comes the moment you reach its level (“You gain Fencing.”) and works from then on. The game describes each in words; the class’s page gives the exact numbers. A stat an ability raises rises for good, both score and potential. Some abilities are used from the abilities menu; the rest simply work.
A table may hand out an ordinary talent: the ranger’s and the thief’s Evasion, the bard’s Fast healer, the druid’s Beast-friend. If you took that talent already, the level gives you a talent pick in its place.
Some classes give spells: the priest, druid, wizard, and witch a few, a bard, a paladin, or a ranger one or two (see What your class gives and Casting a spell). Some fight from a pool of their own, such as the berserker’s rage or the thief’s openings (see Resources).
See also: Races, Starting kit, and Prestige classes.