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History of the Classes

Writer and game designer Brandes Stoddard explores the history of each of D&D’s classes, from OD&D to 5e.

D&D 2eHistory of the Classes

Domain Rulership, Part Three

It’s been a few weeks since my last Domain Rulership article, so let’s get back to it. This week is the first of at least two articles on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Second Edition, because it had two unrelated systems. ...
D&D 1eHistory of the Classes

Domain Rulership, Part Two

Last time in the History of Domain Rulership, I studied Frank Mentzer’s Companion rules and bemoaned my lack of the Expert rules. To my great surprise, a friend sent me a copy of Expert a few hours after my article ...
History of the Classes

Domain Rulership, Part One

A few weeks ago, my esteemed colleague wrote about PC headquarters and home bases in campaigns. Talking to him about it afterward got me thinking about building new domain-management rules for 5e, taking the best parts from the huge list ...
D&D 4eHistory of the Classes

The Assassin Class, Redux

In the Rogue Class, Part Five, I discussed the Assassin in broad terms, but didn’t have enough reference text to write about it in detail. I have since corrected this fault, with a copy of Dragon Magazine #379, with the ...
D&D 5eHistory of the Classes

The Rogue Class, Part Six

While there may be some additional articles in this series touching on rogues in D&D-like systems, this week I’m talking about the Rogue class of Fifth Edition. Up to this point, we’ve seen the class change from the Thief to ...
ColumnsHistory of the Classes

The Avenger, Part One and Onlyish

In last week’s article, the fifth part of the History of the Rogue, I ended by saying I planned to write about the Avenger this week. It’s a class name that dates back to the Rules Cyclopedia, and a concept ...
ColumnsD&D 4eHistory of the Classes

The Rogue Class, Part Five

In last week’s History of the Rogue, we saw the shift from fragile rogues who should stay clear of combat as much as possible to agile murder-machine rogues. This shift isn’t to everyone’s taste, but I think for most people ...
ColumnsD&D 3.5eHistory of the Classes

The Rogue Class, Part Four

At last we come to the watershed moment of the Thief’s Rogue’s development, and I don’t just mean the name change. Up to this point, thieves have a role in combat, but that role is “mostly try to stay away, ...
ColumnsD&D 2eHistory of the Classes

The Rogue Class, Part Three

Last week in the History of the Classes, the 1e Thief, Assassin, and Thief-Acrobat came under our all-seeing eyes. This week we turn to 2e, where the Assassin and the Acrobat are kits presented in the Complete Thief’s Handbook rather ...
ColumnsD&D 1eHistory of the Classes

The Rogue Class, Part Two

Last time in History of the Classes, I talked about a few iterations of OD&D thieves. Now we’re on to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons thieves, as well as their close kin – assassins and thief-acrobats. The changes to the Thief ...