If I Were In An RPG What Class Would I Be?

Hello all you wonderful people!

I had a thought last night when I was crawling into bed about RPGs. Maybe this thought came to me because I was thinking about my Dungeons and Dragons campaign that’s played on Wednesday nights, but that then spiraled into RPG-like anime–from Sword Art Online to Log Horizon, to .hack and whatever other anime are like that.

So, with that I tried to answer a question within a specific set of parameters. What class would I be in an RPG setting while only using the Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition classes presented in the Player’s Handbook. Below, I will list the many classes available in this 5th edition of D&D and then explain which class (or classes to be honest) I would choose and which class (or classes) I wouldn’t choose to use in an anime RPG show. Here we go!

CLASSES:

Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

 

First, let’s cross off some classes that I wouldn’t use: Barbarian; Bard; Cleric; Sorcerer; and Warlock. One, I don’t like Barbarians–their hack-and-slash mentality and huge swords aren’t something that I enjoy. Bard? Ha! Music-playing, dagger-wielding fools. Cleric? Um…holy light magic and odd healing and church stuff in an RPG setting doesn’t appeal to me, sorry. I mean sure, they can be powerhouses, but no thank you.

So what about Sorcerer and Warlock? Raising the dead would be cool and all, but I don’t know to be honest, that seems odd. I will say that I do love a good fantasy novel with zombies (I’m looking at you, Mark Lawrence and George R.R. Martin), but I don’t know if I would enjoy being the one raising dead people in an anime at any time. Sorcerer? As far as I know they have an odd way of using magic. In the 5th edition of D&D there’s a thing called Wild Magic Surge, and that can mean almost anything can happen after a spell is cast–like you turn yourself into a rabbit, or you turn one of your colleagues to stone, or whatever. Big ‘ol nope on that. YIKES!

So, that leaves me with: druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, and the magic using wizard. I have seven classes to choose from here. What is most appealing to me? Hmm… Let’s go through these one by one and I’ll choose my favorite at the end. Oh, and these are going to be ridiculous summaries of the classes, so don’t worry too much about me going into the nuances of D&D here.

Druid: BEAST SHIFTING! “I turn into a bear.” NOW I GO CRAZY AS A BEAR! Ha-ha! Okay, this is funny to me because I have a player in my D&D campaign right now who does that all the time. He shifts into a bear and fights. Wouldn’t that be awesome in an RPG setting? I think so!

Fighter: Swords and shields and honor and, well, your average sword-wielding hero. Sort of like Kirito, or Asuna, or Ren (Rising of the Shield Hero), or Bell (Dan Machi), or well, anyone in those fantasy sword shows to be honest. You know, that would actually be quite fun in an anime. Being able to use a sword to attack, or using two swords were viable? That sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Monk: MARTIAL ARTS ATTACK! Ha-ha! Fists and feet and maybe a staff, spear, or naginata as a weapon. That would be interesting, I think.

Paladin: Huge shield, strong armor, a sword or hammer. Good person with some magic and the ability to absolutely destroy whomever attacks me or my friends. Woo!

Ranger: Aragorn. I’d be like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. That would be interesting, I think. Sword skills and the ability to use a bow? Being able to trap and cook animals to survive in the wilderness? Yup! Cool cool cool!

Rogue: Um…stealth stuff. Ninjas. That’s basically a rogue. That would be fun to me.

Wizard: The anime character that comes to my mind when I think wizard is Shiroe from Log Horizon. Others include Gandalf, Saruman, and Merlin. Wizard is easy to explain. Magic attacks, healing…you understand, I won’t bore you.

 

So, with all that out of the way, what class would I choose if I were put in an RPG? Honestly, when I think about the classes I listed above, the two that stick out to me the most are wizard and fighter.

Wizard sounds fun to me because, well, I hate conflict. I’ll try to dispel anything and not get too close to others, or have someone get in my face, but if it needed to happen, I think being able to shoot fireballs or call down lightning, or create an earthquake would be freaking awesome. You’re super far away? LIGHTNING STRIKE! You’re attacking me head on because I don’t have tons of armor on? FIREBALL TO THE FACE! Plus, let’s be honest, wizards can also heal. While they’re weaker than most other classes in terms of defensive capabilities when it comes to armor, they’re still able to cast defensive spells as well. That in itself is amazing. They can dish out tons and tons of damage and use defense to their advantage. Being a wizard would be freaking awesome!

Fighter….uh, what wouldn’t be fun about using a single sword or two swords, or a sword and shield, or some other weapon like a spear? Okay, perhaps that’s my own opinion, but I honestly feel that their capabilities are almost endless. A fighter can carry a shield, a spear, and a sword at their hip in case they had to get rid of their spear. With that, they have an almost unmatched offensive capability, but they can also defend themselves or others if need be. That’s always a good thing! Now, I don’t like the sight of my own blood, though, so if that was a thing in an RPG I don’t know if I would be able to be a fighter. So, what does that mean?

That means I’d most likely be a wizard. And to be honest, wizards are fucking awesome. Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast (Tolkien universe); Merlin (Arthurian tales); uh, the aforementioned Shiroe of Log Horizon; Raistlin Majere of the Dragonlance stories; and so many more! Being able to use magic in an RPG sounds absolutely amazing to me because the power level is practically unlimited.

While the powers of wizards are all different in fantasy, I think they’re basically the same throughout RPGs, and I’m okay with that. I want a staff, the ability to shoot fireballs, and freeze people, and cause earthquakes. There’s practically nothing a wizard can’t do. Maybe they can even cease themselves from dying? Who knows! That’d be awesome too, studying different abilities in magic colleges and practicing what you already know, and traveling the world… Yeah, wizard for sure.

 

What about you? If you could choose an RPG class what do you think you would choose? You don’t need to narrow yourself to the same parameters I did for this post, but I’m curious as to what all you readers would be interesting in doing? Do you enjoy poisons? Do you hack and slash? Do you like staffs and magic? Would you turn yourselves into animals and attack? Raise the dead? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Thanks for reading!

Alexie 🙂