Considering Classes

By Finister on February 5, 2025
A bunch of characters in a tavern

One of biggest goals of QuestRex was to both simplify and expand the Dungeons & Dragons classes system. To offer players more options with fewer rules. Out of curiosity, I put together a list of every official Dungeons & Dragons character class from the original edition through Fifth Edition. I excluded most splat book classes except for the Psionicist, as well as anything specific to campaign settings like Dark Sun, Oriental Adventures, et. al.

  1. Cleric – Original D&D (1974)
  2. Fighter – Original D&D (1974)
  3. Magic-User – Original D&D (1974)
  4. Assassin – AD&D Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975)
  5. Monk – AD&D Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975)
  6. Thief – Original D&D Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975)
  7. Druid – AD&D Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976)
  8. Bard – AD&D 1st Edition (1977)
  9. Dwarf – D&D Basic Set (B/X/BECMI, 1977)
  10. Elf – D&D Basic Set (B/X/BECMI, 1977)
  11. Halfling – D&D Basic Set (B/X/BECMI, 1977)
  12. Illusionist – AD&D 1st Edition (1977)
  13. Paladin – AD&D 1st Edition (1977)
  14. Ranger – AD&D 1st Edition (1977)
  15. Barbarian – AD&D 1st Edition (“Unearthed Arcana” supplement, 1985)
  16. Cavalier – AD&D 1st Edition (“Unearthed Arcana” supplement, 1985)
  17. Mage – AD&D 2nd Edition (1989) – renamed Magic-User
  18. Rogue – AD&D 2nd Edition (1989) – renamed Thief
  19. Psionicist – AD&D 2nd Edition (“The Complete Psionics Handbook”, 1991)
  20. Sorcerer – D&D 3rd Edition (2000)
  21. Warlock – D&D 4th Edition (2008)
  22. Shaman – D&D 4th Edition (2009)
  23. Warden – D&D 4th Edition (2009)
  24. Invoker – D&D 4th Edition (2010)
  25. Psion – D&D 4th Edition (2010)
  26. Artificer – D&D 5th Edition (2019)

It’s amazing how much was accomplished by 1976—you could stop there and still have plenty to play with. Stretch that timeline to 1985, and there’s little that later editions truly added. It’s true later versions introduced kits, subclasses, specialty classes, and feats, but they were all just building on the solid foundation already in place by 1985.

For many of the modern editions (2E on) the sheer volume of rules can be overwhelming. Back in college, I had the time and inclination to suffer them all, but these days, I need something more streamlined. Keeping track of that many rules is just too much effort, and constantly searching through gigantic rulebooks slows the game down.

The revised QuestRex (arriving any month now) has 4 classes and 47 talents, which include races as talents. All of this fits into just 32 pages in a compact 6.14” x 9.21” book. Yes, you can expand it with optional supplements like Psionics and Mutants, but they’re just that—optional. For me, this is about the right balance: enough for great latitude in character creation without bogging down the gameplay.