What's the Fourth Role?

The holy trinity of combat roles in cooperative video games (popularized by MMOs) are the Tank, DPS, and Support. Later on, these roles became more commonplace in competitive and cooperative games; even designing game systems around them such as Overwatch or Marvel Rivals with its hero shooter elements with characters in dedicated roles. More flexible games may allow characters of various classes to offset these roles; like a Warrior being able to specialize more in damage by dual-wielding weapons or carrying one weapon and a shield for "tanking". It's important to note this distinction transcends class, race, weapon choice, etc. this is the ROLE in which this character or player is supposed to be played. It goes beyond the "class fantasy".

For a combat focused game; I think you can't do much better then the holy trinity. I don't honestly have a problem with it. Tabletop games have a slightly different, though similar approach to this, but we get more into the class fantasy stuff later. For multiplayer video games, the common sentiment is that this trinity can't be broken because it encompasses all the of the possible interactions in the game space; Dealing damage, surviving damage, and reversing damage are pretty much all of the direct interactions you can have with another team of players or NPC monsters in a standard game not related to game specific gimmicks or mechanics; which go outside the scope of this role breakdown.

Note: I also feel I should mention here that it's likely equally as viable (and perhaps more interesting) if these basic roles just do the same things as usual but in different ways. Like a burst healer vs a regeneration healer, or a tank who gains stacking defensive buffs to reduce their damage taken or regenerates a portion of damage dealt, or a "dodge tank", etc. The flavor of the exact mechanics can vary and make characters and roles feel unique even if they all eventually boil down to "do damage and don't die". 

The most commonly put out 4th role to this system is a split of the support and healer role; usually with a debuff or crowd-control focus being on the 4th new role and a sole focus of healing and sustaining on the healer class. While I quite like this thematically; the issue is that very few games actually have such an important focus on crowdcontrol or buffs/debuffs that an entire role needs to be dedicated to it. Imagine a game where a person buffing your damage output was as necessary as a healer; you would have to do so little damage at baseline that the game would be extremely unfun. So to if you couldn't survive against a wave of enemies if you literally didn't have this 4th Mezzmer class to stun them; then trying to complete this content or dungeon or whatever would be extremely reliant on some kind of specific mechanic; more like a puzzle then a fair and creative combat arena. Many games instead split these abilities up and across the other roles; Tanks having the stuns or shields or slows that keep enemies from getting too aggressive, and Supports having escape abilities, shields, or buffs as part of their kit to improve teammate effectiveness when not directly dealing damage. Damage-Dealers tend to have the least of these moves but that's because they are also the most effective role at actually completing the objective (killing people) and are differentiated from tanks with having high mobility or range; so it's a fair trade off; but sometimes they get stuff like short term stuns or mobility-reducing tools to make it easier to finish off opponents.

The other issue with making the 4th role a Support/Buff/Debuff specialist is if the game also features solo play. Since your type of interaction is "support allies/reduce enemy effectiveness" you have the worst solo effectiveness right besides the healer, who at least gets to heal themselves. If anything you could break the class Trifecta down further into just two sides of a coin; Damage Dealers & Support. Because let's face it; in most games, tanks CAN also do damage. It's no fun if you literally can't hurt enemies, and in MMOs especially tanks need to be able to grab enemy aggro, so there is really a sliding scale between survival/offensive power between tanks & dps classes. This is even a common role in some games; something like a "Bruiser" or "Off-Tank" which has some of the properties of both these roles.

Another 4th possible role, and a personal favorite of mine is the "utility". This sounds similar to the above Support/Buff/Disabler role but instead more focuses on providing some kind of useful non-numerical combat advantage to their team, similar to an Engineer from TF2 with teleporters, some of the operatives in Rainbow Six Siege providing vision and information, the XP soak and map control of a Lost Vikings player in Heroes of the Storm, etc. The problem with this role is it isn't as universal across all games and game-modes, and is often too character specific. For example off the top of your head you could easily imagine five different DPS characters with different primary weapons; pistols, shotguns, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, flamethrower. Without even giving you any more information how these characters are or what skills or stats they may have; you can already imagine five different playstyles and unique ranges where these characters could be useful and fit the DPS role. The issue with a utility character is five different variation of "deployable teleporter that get your teammates back in the fight quicker" isn't nearly as interesting and doesn't conjure up ideas of different gameplay. It also has an issue with the game and map design. 

For example, if the game has only one game mode, like a standard 5v5 MOBA, then a utility character fully focused on map control and pushing waves that doesn't interact as much with the enemy team is fine. But now if the developers wanted to add a 4v4 arena deathmatch mode; this character would be almost useless. Contrary, if they added a 3 to 5 player PvE cooperative mode where you defend a fortress from waves of enemies; this character could instead become extremely broken and stronger then all the others because it was designed with the mindset that it'd be weak in a straight up fight (outside the holy trinity) but strong in the macrogame sense. It can also be annoying from the "dps is fun and healing isn't" perspective. If your game featured a character that can give other characters flight for a limited time, that power would be extremely strong and a desirable character on your team. But why play the guy that gives other people flight when you could be the cool gun character that kills everyone now with wings? Healers are already a role developers have to coerce players into playing with bonus XP and strong mechanics because nobody wants to be the "support" that enables their teammates to do everything. There's also just less ideas that work to fully design a character's kit around that aren't tied to damage/combat in some way; partially because we've been acclimatized to games where combat is the main/only focus, so it's naturally much more deep and complex feeling then most other game systems out there.

Of course, this entire Tank/Healer/DPS paradigm is related to combat focused competitive games. Games without combat or with a much different focus don't have the same goals and your characters will be different, and as such, players will instead have different roles.

Fighter, Rogue, Mage
The classic fantasy archetypes of Fighter, Rogue, and Mage are extremely common in fantasy fiction, and act as a sort of basis for character classes and choices. I personally really like this setup, even though I think it suffers from some very specific limitations. If you boiled down every class to its core elements, removing all the setting-specific fluff, it would come down to one of these three archetypes or a combination of them. But notice how these archetypes exist without a gameplay loop tied to them? It's less of an optimized combat trinity and more of a aesthetic and role-in-the-fiction.

Originally in D&D, the original trifecta was Fighter, Magic-User, and Cleric. I don't think this really works for our purpose because too many archetypal characters are cut out (Dashing rogues, archers, dick-ass thieves, etc.) and it's too specific to it's setting fiction. Plus having the axis be Fighter (no magic) to Wizard (all the magic) and Cleric (half magic but a little fighting too) feels wrong to me; makes Cleric feel less like a distinct class and more of a multiclass option. Having just one of the primary archetypes be magical feels "right".

Briefly I'd like to touch on the oldschool "square" of Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Magic-User. I think this one is a bit better then the above Fighter/Cleric/Wizard system, but I still don't like it. Having 50% of the class choices have a magic archetype, even if the magic is very different, feels negative to me. We also get into the above video-gamey problem of Wizard stepping on the toes of the other roles, but that's a much bigger topic talked about to death. I think for a dungeoneering squad it fits well, since the Cleric kinda has a role as a healer/support class that the Wizard doesn't, but it doesn't have that same distinctness that the Fighter/Rogue/Wizard trifecta does. It's also much easier to imagine more classes building off that base formula. Fighter + Mage makes a spellblade, or warlock, or paladin or whatever is easy to understand. Thief + Mage makes a Bard or Shadowblade. That's cool. But if you have four, how is that supposed to work? Fighter + Cleric makes... Paladin? What's a Mage + Cleric? How do you divine up between these roles for potential secondary archetypes? Or what if you want to include a setting whose fictional world doesn't have the cosmology that supports a Cleric? I'm not saying you can't do it, I just don't like it.

This fantasy trinity is useful to act as a baseline for creative work. But it's not based on direct gameplay like the combat triangle is in our above example; it's more based on aesthetics and the roles within the fiction. In D&D or generic fantasy TTRPG adventures; what sort of trifecta would we use instead? 

Fighter, Rogue, Sage
My concept, which I have shilled endlessly on this blog, is basically to take the three core fictional archetypes above (Fighter, Rogue, and Mage) and twist them into roles fitting the core gameplay of a standard D&D-esque OSR dungeon-crawling adventure. Basically having each class specialize in one of the roles. I renamed the Magic-User to Sage, simply to denote the difference in their role, but aesthetically they are very similar (wise, read spellbooks, use a staff, limited armor and weapons, etc.). This keep most of the aesthetic of a Wizard but more as a support class. It's a concept I used to shill a lot over the years, but in recent times I have greatly softened on it. The main purpose of this though was to try and fit the Sage underneath one of the core pillars of OSR gameplay; which is Resource Management. Using this, each class has a role they specialize in doing to overcome the challenges of the game world.

Fighters specialize in combat and direct force.
Rogues specialize in (safely) exploring the dungeon environment & overcoming hazards.
Sages specialize in resource management.

These three obstacles; Combat, Exploration, and Resource management are the primary vectors of "gameplay" and the difficulty or challenges to overcome in the game world. I think these three classes fit onto these most neatly; the attempt to pair classes with their actual gameplay function similar to the Tank/DPS/Healer roles in a video game. But there's a small issue here. These three obstacles are not the same as the three pillars of D&D. They don't encompass the entire game. The (official?) Three pillars I am referring to are the pillars of Combat, Exploration, and Social Interaction. One issue I have with this definition is, while the pillar of Social Interaction is certainly huge in the TTRPG game space, it's usually the most "freeform" part of the entire game. It's certainly an important aspect, but it could be regulated to a background element, or even roped in to the "Exploration" part of the game. For example, the pillars don't dictate that worldbuilding, lore, or environmental interaction is its own pillar, but these are background elements that determine what is going on just as much as character interaction. I don't disagree with it, but i find it strange that Resource Management isn't included, when it's so core to even modern D&D's game design, much less OSR style stuff.

With that said, if you want to continue our above design of making classes specialize in one of the "pillars" of the game; how can you do that for Social Interaction? If you want to say the Fighter & Rogue specialize in the combat and exploration part of the game; who is the social interaction master? The wizard is one option, as Wizards often have the tools required to interact socially both with friendly NPCs and monsters (Charm, comprehend languages, etc.) but that's usually not their explicit role in a party AND it also flies against the fiction, where Wizards are often less Charismatic then other classes since Charisma isn't an important stat. So if not Wizards; or if we include Wizards in our above schema, what roles can we create that exemplify social interaction?

For one, I don't think social interaction can be gamified as easily as other systems. You could make it into a minigame where players can't choose directly what they say; in the same way you can't arbitrarily decide if your attack hits or misses; or the much discussed "social combat system". As such, you can't choose to say a smart thing in a situation when trying to convince something of something. This is often rolled into Speechchecks or the Charisma modifier, but I never liked this solution as similar to Perception rolls you take the control out of the hands of the player. It'd be like forcing players to make an Intelligence check or roll a "Tactics" skill to make a good battle plan before a fight; it's just not something that is done.

(However I do like thinking about it; like imaginable an alternate universe where D&D never had a dedicated combat system and so it's as freeform as Speechcraft is, but diplomacy is so important they focused the majority of the game's mechanics around it.) 

Courtier class from Fantasycraft

So how would this social interaction specialist look? Would they have daily powers, or enhanced reaction checks? Similar to stealth (which is already a big problem), the binary success or failure states of a reaction check is kinda difficult to base a class around. Fighters get lots of chances for their benefits (high health, high chance to hit, etc.) to shine through even with randomness, Wizards get their spells, but Roguish or skill characters kinda just have to suck it up if they make a bad roll. Even if they're bad at it, they still have to be the one to do the action. This is a greater problem in TTRPGs over the concept of the "face" character doing all the interaction (always the one with the highest Charisma score) as it's not a real tactical or game play-inspired choice. Making this a class would only solidify this role even more. Second, I have a small pet peeve around making classes where you only need one. Having more Fighters is always good, having more Magic-Users or Clerics is always good, since that means more spells, but usually you don't really need more then one Thief. Having maybe two as a backup in case the first one dies might be good, and maybe more could be added if the game featured a lot of specific-skills where each individual rogue could specialize in different things so you can justify having more then one, but there is just less inherent usefulness to having multiple. The social interaction guy would be even worse for this because, presumably, you'd always have him be the "party face" and having more then one besides a backup is pointless.

Secondly; any rule you add to restrict social interaction is another rule that restricts player creativity and the "gameplay" of the game. Even if you're "allowed" to technically bribe people, your social expert getting a +2 bonus or letting the money be treated as 50% higher in amount for the purposes of bribing officials equal to their yearly salaries for a small benefit or whatever will force players to use this to their advantage, because otherwise it would not be optimal play. (Side note: Reading the Courtier description back does give me an idea for its secondary usefulness as a healer/support role if you use a abstracted HP or grit system, like Goblin Punch's recent Spirit post. But is this just a reskinned Cleric for your city-crawling campaign? Yikes.) Being able to force people to be your friend or hear you out once per day or w/e is interesting but it's a daily power; a forced gamification of a system that should be a part of the main game. The exception of course being supernatural or mystic powers; but still this is less interesting then just having it be default. The other more obvious rule restriction on social interaction is languages and this, fair enough, would give the class a useful benefit and/or give a reason to bring multiple. So you could have one who speaks Bugbear and one who speaks Gnollish or whatever. The issue with this is it's a very binary, kinda boring system. You either know it or you don't, and shutting off social interaction entirely unless you bring the specific key skill needed is a type of encounter design that I don't think is very popular. If you have a hint that there could be Frost Giants in your adventure early on and people decide to learn Giantish then that's interesting enough; but it's more something a character would want to learn on their own and not as interesting as a class feature.

The third and final primary issue with the social-specialist class is a matter of theme. There are a lot of Charismatic characters in fantasy and fiction, but it isn't really an "archetype" the way a Fighter or Mage is. The charismatic, attractive lead is a narrative archetype, but isn't really their "class". Sometimes the pretty face of the party who talks everyone out of trouble is the dashing rogue, or the cunning Wizard, or the damsel in distress. Having a game world you're using in an attempt to emulate myth, legends, and fun fantasy adventures and 1/4th of all adventurers are some courtesan or merchant class would take me out of it a bit; even though I think these are the best examples of roles you could make into this social specialist class. Bards? Maybe, but specific. Merchants or Courtiers? Very tied to social class and often NPCs.

But what if I told you there already was a social specialist in D&D-esque adventure games? And I don't mean player role or the DM's favorite, I mean an actual mechanically backed class. This is probably of no surprise to you, but... it's just the Rogue.

Even if we ignore later D&D skill rank systems in which Rogues tend to get the most points, Rogues have a lot of benefits that give them a social advantage. Being able to hide away out of sight, they can kinda avoid monster encounters; which means they can avoid social interactions they aren't well-prepared for. Being able to climb and sneak around means they're more likely to be able to interact with people out of the way; like the rare friendly monster, a captured prisoner without the guards knowing, or first contact with talking magic items. AD&D also has thieves cant, which while a setting-specific inclusion, is something that would theoretically make a Rogues/Thief just so slightly better at social interaction then other classes; even the Name-Level benefit of a thief in getting to run a thieves guild or a gang of scoundrels is very a "urban" type of reward and likely is set up at an important town with lots of trade and important NPCs, as opposed to the more utilitarian Fighter fortress or Magic-User's reclusive wizard tower and laboratory.

I always wondered what Class benefited the most from Charisma. Obviously having more hirelings (and starting gold) is useful for everyone, but who actually benefits the most from it? I honestly still think it's the Rogue. You could think of Charisma as a sort of "Stealth Defense" score; since it's highly likely that if you get caught sneaking somewhere they'll be some explaining to do; this also allows me to pair off the base attributes to the three class archetypes in a way that tickles me. Fighters like Strength and Constitution, Wizards or Sages like Intelligence and Wisdom, and the Rogues like Dexterity and Charisma. That way, in the same way Fighters can be more hit-y or tank-y, and Wizards can be smart or wise, Rogues can kinda lean towards being dashing or sneaky. Instead of a 4th archetypal role, we expand one of the existing ones and fatten up our trifecta.

D2R Update & Class Spread

Diablo 2 getting DLC 25 years after the fact is not something I was expecting any time soon. More interestingly was the class they decided to add; the Warlock. While I haven't played it myself (given that Blizzard has lost basically all good will), I think the general design of the class is interesting as it really does attempt to fit into an archetype not present in base Diablo 2. But how true is that, really? This got me thinking about "Classes" in games, the fantasies of playing these characters, and the "spread" of fantasy archetypes and fiction each class can possibly represent.

Art @Blizzard

Diablo 2 LOD is already pretty hard to beat in a full spread of all classic fantasy archetypes. Not just from the base classes; but with their expansive possibilities within their skill trees. The Barbarian is probably one of the least "open" of all the archetypes, but does a good job representing the classic barbarian. Notably absent from the lineup is the standard fantasy fighter; which is kinda soaked up by Barb, Paladin (who covers the heavily armored Knight archetype), and Amazon. Amazons are probably stretched the most thin; trying to cover the dex fighter, archer, gladiator, and "lancer" type characters. The Assassin kinda covers the Rogue archetype, as well as Monk with martial arts, and even crosses into Artificer a bit with the traps; but that's more of a support or setting feature with its focus on finding magical gear and the Hoardric cube kinda making everyone the "magic crafter artifact hunting" guy.

As for magic; Sorcerer covers the basic blaster and elementalist Mage, the Druid is just a druid but does a good job of covering the beastmaster hunter type, nature magic, and shapeshifting types all in one. Necro is interesting is as he covers the classic Necromancer with minions fantasy (rare before this game in my memory; and not outdone often since!) but also has curses, poison, cold, and "bone" magic making a nice witch-like kind of archetype to go with it. My own extremely small nitpick? I thought it was interesting has Diablo 3 kind of intentionally got rid of the Necro in exchange for a more flavorful and specific Witch Doctor "voodoo shaman" type archetype; still having the minion summoning, curses, and offensive magic especially playing with corpses. Then they went and added Necro to Diablo 3 anyway as DLC for nostalgia bucks. Oh well.

While somewhat broad, this spread of classes is really solid. It covers pretty much all of the fantasy archetypes you could want in a game or world to explore; while a few obvious omissions exist like the classic arcane magic Wizard, that's folded into some other archetypes (Sorceress, Paladin) and no we aren't saying the Sorc represents a Sorcerer and Wizard is distinctly different; I hate that shit. As said above, it also is missing a bit of the classic fantasy sneak-thief Rogue type, but is mostly covered by Amazon and Assassin.

Naturally in a game like Diablo; a demonologist is a bit of a dark class and not usually something you'd think of as being playable. I distinctly remember thinking how mature and dark Diablo 2 was letting you PLAY a Necro in the first place, always feeling a sort of rebellious glee playing on instead of the more noble Paladin or other classes. However; the Warlock's skill trees do fill a sort of role the other classes don't. The more "occult" and arcane magic caster compared to the elemental Sorc, the conjuration/summoner archetype independent of necromancy or beast summoning, AND it covers the "melee fighter using magic to enhance their attacks" bit you see in high fantasy from time to time. Battlemages or the Pathfinger Magus is an interesting though niche archetype not really present in Diablo 2; minus Enchant on Sorc and maybe Amazon or Paladin with their buffs, but that's a bit different then a guy levitating a sword. Interestingly; the blasting magic is still more fire or poison related; not non-elemental just "magic" damage, which is think is one of the few archetypes still not well served by a single class but instead splashed around in a spattering of all the classes.

But speaking of which; I had the thought to include a bunch of fantasy archetypes and classes and wanted to see what's missing from Diablo 2. I'm sure there's ten thousand pages on all the possible fantasy archetypes you could do; I'm just gonna go with my gut for this one and try to hit the high notes and say if I'd add them or not to D2R as some kind of armchair setting-agnostic game designer. If they want to make Diablo 2 a updated live service "forever game" then here are some possible additions.

Classes already in Diablo franchise; 

Witch-Doctor- Gonna be a "no" from me. As above, already overlaps strongly with the Necromancer, now even moreso with the Warlock inclusion covering both ends of the dark magic spectrum.

Demon Hunter- I'm honestly surprised this wasn't the new class added to D2R if they were going to add anything. I'm not familiar with how they work really; but I know they're a sort of Van Helsing monster-hunter type character. Depending on the implementation and skill trees; this could be a big yes from me and probably the thematically strongest class you could add that doesn't step on the others too much. Closest parallels are Amazon (which you could honestly sidestep a lot by just making the Witch Hunter a male), Paladin (who is more holy magic then monster hunter with silver bullets and witcher sword-oils), and Barb as a generalist non-magic fighter. I'd actually really like this class but if they go with the "default" look being the two crossbows thing it might be a little bit too "Renaissancey" and steampunky for Diablo 2. Mostly I think another kinda-sorta Ranger themed class with a bunch of monster hunting skills, maybe powerful single target marks/curses and some alchemy & traps as a support tree would be a good fit that doesn't overlap with the other classes too much.

Monk- Gonna be a "no" again, once again, overlaps with Assassin. I want to quickly note that there's a tradeoff here thematically: Diablo 2 especially gives me a sort of medieval fantasy D&D-esque vibe that the newer games lack, but it's also a very multicultural sort of "globe trotting" type of game; where you go to the desert where all the paladin holy knight brown people are from, and you have the Asian-esque Assassin ladies. It's not unthinkable to imagining a Wushu monk chi fighter type; but at the same time including it takes away somewhat from the sort of sword and sorcery kind of vibe. Also I think Diablo especially (ARPG hack & slash loot grinding gmae) doesn't gel with an unarmed combat master type. You either have to give them fist weapons or have some alternate forms of advancement to make the gearing meaningful and interesting; which is something the Assassin already solves. Hence, a No.

Rogue- Diablo 4 and 1 both had one, just D2 skipped it. This one I'm more on the fence about. I said above we really don't have one in the game that's covered by the other classes; but it's also thematically weaker then the classes that pick up its slack (Assassin, Amazon, maybe Witch-Hunter if that gets added in our hypothetical example) so I'll give a cautious maybe.

Crusader/Wizard- Gonna be a no, just different names for already present classes in D2.

Blood Knight/Tempest- As much as I want to just totally ignore and write off the Diablo Immortal classes; Blood Knight is extremely thematically cool, but too similar to its opposite (Paladin) and Necro in my opinion; and especially overlapped now with the Warlock. Very close to a good class though. I don't even know what a "Tempest" is and I don't care.

Spiritborn- Lol no. Even if it was retyped as a Shaman; it's thematically too similar to a Druid just in aesthetics to make the cut. If it's too weapon and combat focused, then it's a lot like a Barb, and too occult then it's too much like a Witch-Doctor and overlaps the Necromancer and/or Druid again. Even Amazon could cover this class if you focus more on the gifted natural huntress/dex warrior type of thing. Pass on this one.

Now, let's talk about possible archetypes missing from Diablo 2.

Ranger- Bit of a rough start. Rangers I think are really thematically cool; especially given the possibility of an animal companion summon which they can only get one of but keep throughout their journey; perhaps a bit like an Iron golem (but they enslave a beast? the same way a warlock enslaves a demon?) and once again we lack a lot of bow-focused classes imho. But the problem is the Amazon. The Amazon really thematically overlaps with the Ranger in most ways; the huntress, a little magical but not really, and a dex-based fighter kind of look. The only thing missing is the animal companion which is an unfortunate sacrifice, but it'll be a no from me.

Scout/Hunter/Archer/Elf etc.- I'm adding this here to not make the Ranger paragraph too long. Basically Rangers are weird; you have the sort of archetype of Aragon (with his cloak up only), a bit of nature magic, a bit of the WoW Hunter, and the animal thing. These archetypes I feel are too similar to the Amazon once again, it's just a gendered version of these. I do think adding an Elf & Dwarf class like we're playing OD&D after 25 years of Diablo's worldbuilding would be extremely funny however.

Witch- I really like a good witch. PoE's Witch is a decent enough version of this type of class, but kinda only works in that game's schema with its three pure/three hybrid stat system. The problem is the overlap with Necromancer (curses & dark magic), Warlock (even more dark magic) and Sorceress (for all other kinds of magic). Even trying to got the more Satanic Wicker-Man type magic user now you start stepping on the Druid. It's also harder to squeeze given its gendered name; if Diablo 2's Sorc was a generic male fantasy Wizard, I think you could maybe stomach this, but as its stands it just has too much overlap unfortunately.

Rogue/Thief/Acrobat- Same issues as the Rogue labelled above. Really thematically cool, and kinda missing from the D2 Roster, but we have overlap with the Amazon, the Assassin, and the Demon Hunter/Witch Hunter if we decide to add that too. Keep it as an easter-egg continuation of one of the Diablo 1 classes fallen from heroism, one of the legendary "proto-classes", but not one of this game's slightly more flavorful but not too culturally specific so it has wide appeal sort of archetypes.

Artificer/Gunslinger- As stated above; Artificer is an in-between and possible support class that kinda falls flat when it comes to this setting. Given everyone uses and has magic items, everyone sockets their own runes and makes their own potions and the like, and the Horadric cube is a thing, this class kinda isn't as thematically interesting. While you could justify this class having any role or using any spell with magitech; I think it doesn't fit well with Diablo's gothic fantasy artstyle and vibe. While it doesn't overlap with any other classes in a bad way other then maybe Sorceress (high fantasy wizard) and Warlock (dark occult wizard); I don't like this here for personal taste and we have a better one just below. Assassin traps are about as far as we should go down the magitech line, so no steampunk or magic guns either.

Alchemist- This is one of the big ones. Alchemist is a hugely thematic class that doesn't fit any of the other archetypes. If the Warlock wasn't in Diablo 2 now as the arcane/occult magic user; I would say it's even stronger as a sort of general "magic" class that doesn't rely on Elemental magic, dark magic, or nature magic; even more thematically unique if Trap-Assassin didn't exist. The only issue with this class, the large amount of potions present in the game already as standard healing and plot-relevant items; could easily be smoothed over by simply naming these types of potions as something else. The Alchemist just makes short term "concoctions" and "tonics" instead of regular "Potions" anyone can pick up and use and make in the Horadric cube. You even have some possibility for group wide buffs NOT from a Paladin's aura here, which I think would be extremely cool as a secondary sort of "support" class. If Necro didn't have golems they would also be a shoe-in for a summon tree here too; Iron Golem is like a perfect Alchemist theme'd summon. Otherwise I think a class who maybe has a meta element (like consuming gems or runes for powerful temporary buffs) would be unique, and can specialize in those otherwise useless throwing potions people use in Act 1 normal before they have a build that does anything would also be cool.

Adventurer/Grave Robber- This is where we're getting really close to something viable. A sort of low to non-magical fighting generic "adventuring" jack of all trades class, but not as thematically potent or specific as the Amazon. Lacks setting-specific elements so can kinda insert your own ideas and personality into the fantasy, but has wide enough gameplay implications to be made into a whole class. It's just ever-so slightly beaten out by a slightly more thematic barb (being the "Fighter" version), and our ever-reliable Amazon. We also have a slight bit of a disadvantage making this class unique given Diablo 2 kinda already relegated the role of a scrappy resourceful class that "finds extra items" to the Barbarians scavenging abilities (find potion, find item, etc.) so we kinda have to surrender this one. But we're getting close.

Bard/Jester- Now THIS is a new archetype. Follows the sort of dex fighter/rogueish thing we don't have much of in Diablo 2, but with a magical twist. Similar to our alchemist idea above; could be an interesting secondary support class to expand that role from the Paladin. Musical spells that grant short term but strong buffs are interesting, though essentially the same thing as battle cries. Maybe they could have an instrument off-hand weapon that appears on their back. Character wise I think this would be really cool but am in two minds about it. On the one hand; a good aligned, happy-go-lucky wise cracking bard type would be really unique for Diablo 2 as most of the characters there are really serious and dour. The whole setting has a dark fantasy/gothic sort of tone, so you'd have to use the bard's humor or whimsy sparingly. On the flip side, theming this more as a slightly crazy quiet masked Jester type is almost exactly in line for Diablo's setting; but this starts to creep into the Assassin's zone if you focus too much on the illusions, stealthy assassination, or lethal attacker type archetypes. Bards do have some overlap with the other classes mechanically; specifically Paladin & Barb for support, Amazon for general weapons or ranged/dexterity focus, and Assassin for some possible skill inspiration, but I think a generalist "adventurer" type class flavored as a bard could really pop. I'd give it a unique class identity by giving him a town portal & identify spell you can get early on, meaning you can clear up inventory space for charms which I think thematically fits for a Bard. However one issue you have with these types of classes is without an obvious source of minions to summon to support, supportive or aura builds seem kind of pointless outside of multiplayer. As a fix and another unique class feature; maybe let this be the class that can have two mercenaries instead of one. I know that's a huge change that probably wouldn't fly given everything else, but given Diablo 2 being a bit more "oldschool" in game design and experimental, allowing these things to put forth the class fantasy, I think it'd be a really interesting gimmick to try and design around as essentially being the most charismatic and "personal" summoner class; the summoner just getting two hirelings instead of one.

Cleric/Priest/Oracle- Don't write this one off immediately. While it's easy to say "yeah that's a Paladin" there is a few small differences between them that could be interesting. More caster focused maybe even with holy minions; but now we get into the inherent issues with Diablo's worldbuilding and tone where being able to summon Angels who always seemed to be the most powerful, coolest, and untouchable NPCs would likely ruin their mystique a bit. Plus Paladin does most of the supportive roles that a Cleric could have; but a White Mage type holy magic or spiritual healer does have some potential; it just overlaps a little bit too much with the Paladin, Druid, and other classes. Diablo does kinda let you play classes as multiple archetypes on a spectrum; so your Paladin can be more of a Cleric wizard/fighter hybrid with magic or pure fighting prowess. If we have the Bard idea included above, then this one is surely dead in the water as all its possible outlets are covered. 

Wizard/Magus/Battlemage/Illusionist/Enchanter- Covered by Sorceresses, Paladin, Amazon to an extent, and Bard if we include it. I would say there is a small potential here before; but once again with the inclusion of the Warlock, we kinda have our battle magic caster. Most dark wizard types besides Necromancer we already have covered well. Specifically for illusionists; while enchanting/mind controlling magic in this regard is somewhat unique, it's a bit too limited for a full class with multiple skill trees and once again overtaken by Sorceress and Warlock (and Bard). Magic archer is also straight out with Amazon.

Ronin/Samurai/Duelist- Unfortunately overlapped too much; at least in gameplay. While a serious katana wielding fighter from a far away land is kinda open in this class setup; it's gameplay of highly mobile dex fighter is covered by Amazon and the eastern influence is covered by Assassin. Barb covers the more traditional Fighter role. This one is unfortunate because be kinda don't have a light sword wielding archetype; besides Paladin with shield. Obviously multiple classes can use swords, but it's more sword & shield with European style longswords less katanas parrying and slashing through enemies with precision. We're going to have to just leave this archetype behind imo

Knight/Juggernaut/Pure Tank- Regrettably, a heavy armored warrior is already covered both Paladin & Barbarian in both directions. It's pure fighter again; but this time its more of an artstyle thing. One of my favorite things about classic Diablo 2 in this regard is how it did the graphics for classes as you equipped heavier and heavier armor. So a Sorceress remains kinda sleek and magical-y despite wearing super heavy plate mail. This is also because of the game's own individual eccentricities; with so many pieces of equipment not being class locked means you really can just use swords or the best armor on any character you want, even characters usually locked behind class restrictions. As such, this archetype is more of an aesthetic one and not belonging as a class.

Abomination/Beast/Monster Race Class- Another regrettable one; the possibility behind a "good" demon being playable is interesting but I think would sabotage the overall vibe of human heroes overcoming the forces of Hell which is so core to Diablo's theme. Plus the gameplay of raging warrior is covered by Barbarian, the Druid's shapeshifting form, and thematically by Necro & Warlock being the "bad guys fighting for good". I do think if we included the Alchemist in the above example I'd wanna give them a "turn into a Gargantuan" shapeshifting form like a Druid; not only gives some fun possible class overlap but thematically hits the beat of inhuman monster that's not an animal. I also really like Gargantuans as they are one of Diablo's "weird" monsters, like Quill rats, that are very memorable and setting specific. So this one gets a pass too, with some caveats.

Conclusion
With the Rise of the Warlock DLC, there is an opportunity for Diablo 2 to get more classes and possibly cover all the big and popular fantasy class archetypes missing from its lineup. But how many of these archetypes are actually missing? Only a few; and even those are nitpicks. Still, I think in a perfect world, we'd only get a few more that are thematically very distinct from the others, and preferably keeping the number odd so the Barbarian can stay in the middle right above the campfire. It's tradition at this point.

So my dream classes added to D2R in the future? Just the Warlock and then the Bard. These would be the strongest ideals that don't overlap with the class-fantasy of the existing classes too much while being distinct and having the most gameplay opportunities and make the classes a nice solid 9 as an odd number. If we absolutely had to make it ten, throw on the Alchemist. Any more then that and we've gone too far and will start to dilute the other classes too much. This is just my opinion, and who knows what Blizzard will do. My only prediction is they will continue to charge 25 dollars for each lmao

Unknown Armies- Algomancer

In the mystic underground; Magick changes with the times. Because of the nature of post-modern magick being hand in hand with popular culture and the human experience, the changes that come upon society are reflected back into the world of the weird. For Adept schools, people who are obsessed with a singular magickal idea or paradox and can gain power from it, this can hit especially hard. With today's social media and total divorcement from legacy broadcast; the Videomancers have completed lost the power of their paradox and have all but died out. Instead of watching television bringing millions of people together; content has become custom coded, algorithmically sorted, served fresh on demand all of the time. This has regressed Videomancy into a minor school, if not spelled its total extinction. But surely this new massive social change has brought magickal potential? 

Not sure of image source; but it may very appropriately
be @GetClearSpace

Algomancers interface with social media and content-distribution platforms not merely for entertainment, or as an addiction, but as a spiritual pursuit. To define themselves based on the characters, media, and advice found on bite sized, vacant content. Algomancers usually use phones; but they don't have to. You could use a laptop, a pair of google glasses; but whatever it is it must have a screen and must have an internet connection. The ultimate paradox of the Algomancer is that everything you consume is custom tailored for you; based on what you watch. You're trying to find enlightenment by looking in a mirror. If you don't have it already; then you can't get out more then what you put in.

Minor Charge- Spend a day or significant portion of a day scrolling and consuming content. Breaks can be taken, but no more then 10 or 15 minutes between sessions of screen time. Mechanically, you can't do anything useful for that day such as working a 9-5 job or training a useful skill.
Significant Charge- Make a serious personal decision based on the recommendations or attitudes found in the Algorithm. Such as removing your child from public school after watching a clip about how public schools are actually made to make people stupid, or taking an expensive trip to northern Iran to investigate claims of giants in the mountains. These decisions can ultimately be good in the long term, but all are ultimately risks based on nothing.
Major Charge- Become immortalized in a viral internet clip. You do not necessarily have to the one to record it, but you do have to see it after it is posted, watching very cuts and edits of your 15 minutes of fame. The ultimate form of self recursion; wasting time viewing yourself through an algorithm designed to engage you.

Taboo
The Algomancer cannot ever take advice or face-value social cues from others in person. This doesn't work for obvious things; you can't say "Hey you should keep breathing" and by continuing to breathe they don't taboo, but it does mean that they can't change their plans or learn valuable skills from others. They cannot seek psychological therapy; as they are supposed to be self sufficient from the "nourishment" of their recursive algorithm. You can still make use of any service bought and paid for (like medical care or buying the services of mercenaries, etc.), but accepting medical advice from your friend who is a trained combat medic will cause you to taboo. You'd much rather scroll on your phone to search how to apply a tourniquet while bleeding from a gunshot wound, just to make sure you're "doing it the right way".

Blast
This school's blast works a little different. Instead of performing direct damage, this school curses the target to be beset by fear or anxiety inducing content on social media, tailored for them. This causes minor stress to their gauges; such as short videos which expose their political beliefs at being defeated or inferior, or if they had a rough time in high school their highschool bullies and social-superiors suddenly reach out with their beautiful wife and house, etc. You can avoid this blast by shunning all "devices" for a day for a Minor Blast or a Week for a Significant one.

Algomancer Adept Spells
Wake the Sleep (1 Minor Charge)
This spell can only be cast when you first wake up; either from sleep or the state of being unconscious. If you stare at your phone for at least an hour, you regain +1 hit point or increase your daily healing by a small amount. If you ever perform this spell; the next time you wake up without using it, you cease natural healing for the rest of that entire week.

Search Function (1 Minor Charge)
When presented with any large number of items you can spend a charge to "search" them incredibly fast and find exactly which one you were looking for. This is only Magickally enhanced luck; it does not provide new knowledge or discernment beyond what you already would have had, this simply allows you to compress a longer search time into a shorter one, finding whatever you were looking for in just two or three attempts. For example, instead of spending an hour searching the library for a rare manuscript you know the name of, it only takes you 10 minutes. If you wouldn't be able to find the item within a reasonable human amount of time (massive archive that would take days to search, it's hidden too well, details are too fine for you to discern, etc.) then this spell does nothing and the charge is not returned.

Armor of Ignorance (2 Minor charges)
If you are suddenly thrust into a dangerous situation, such as a mass shooting incident, a natural disaster, or a riot, you can walk while scrolling on your phone. You are given an aura of protection. No crossfiring bullets, random falling objects, or floods of water while strike you; instead miraculously avoiding your path. This effect doesn't work against people trying to target you specifically, but random criminals or muggers will just skip their eyes right over you. This effect ends the moment you stop scrolling to take in your surroundings.

Tunnel Vision (3 Minor Charges)
You can curse anyone whose social media profile you have open to suddenly be afflicted with a sense of visual vertigo. They can only see and react to things directly in front of them, causing panic and stress, and cutting out all of their peripheral vision. This could be extremely useful in a fight or to sneak past someone, but you have to find an online account of theirs in some fashion to use it.

Time to Forget (X Minor or Significant Charge cost)
By standing behind someone and motioning on the back of their skull, you can make them forget events that transpired recently, going back in a linear fashion. Each "event" is a single instance but covers roughly 10 minutes of time or an hour for unimportant or if the person was on "autopilot", such as working at a job or scrolling a phone themselves. You can also remove any stress gathered during this time as they forget these. Every Algomancer has a different motion; from swipping right with their thumb, to scrolling up with an index finger for vertical video feeds, to flicking their middle finger back and forth on the back of your skull like a mouse wheel, scrolling your memories away.

If the target is willingly trying to forget something, this costs Minor charges. If you are using this against someone's will, it costs Significant charges instead. You cannot use this ability on yourself.

Thumb of Power (2 Significant Charges)
You can swipe your thumb across any device to activate, hack, or bypass it; like an electronic security door or time-lock safe, or hotwiring a car. This device must have at least one electronic component; meaning old school padlocks or complex wooden puzzle boxes are totally unfathomable to your abilities.

Filter the Information (3 Significant Charges)
You gain the ability to read and possess a massive amount of information in a short amount of time. For example, flipping through the pages of a book as fast as you can, or rapidly scanning your eyes over a police databank and absorbing all of that knowledge immediately. You have perfect photographic memory and recall and can perfectly replicate the knowledge found within no matter how complex. You can perfectly write down or sketch what you've seen with an uncanny, savant-like level of accuracy. You forget all of this information in exactly eight minutes.

Turning of the Wheel (4 + X Significant Charges)
An obscure Algomancer spell; seemingly invented by an Adept with a high degree of intelligence and craftiness that continued to absorb media while engrossed in crafts or tinkering. This spell requires a specially prepared music box and wind up key, and magickally alters the properties of the box to make it capable of holding its "charge" and playing music for up to a maximum wind up of two hours.

When this spell is cast, any amount of magical charges can be "stored" within the music box, and then it is wound up for the first time. As long as the music box remains wound and continues to play, the charges remain safely within. This means it must be round up occasionally (at least once every 2 hours) by being hand cranked; no machine or automated system can accomplish this, the key must be removed and replaced by human hands each time. Even if the owner of a magic charge breaks taboo, has their magick stolen, or even if some other catastrophe happens; the charges remain safely inside the box. If the box ever fully expends its charge and stops playing, all charges within are lost permanently. Otherwise, you can open the box and willfully regain the charges within as long as you can charge it.

This spell lasts for as long as you keep the box going. Any magic user can store their charges within, regardless of school or type, and regain them even if they break taboo afterwards. The charges stored within could be Minor, Significant, or even Major; which remain safe as long as you keep the box playing.

MAJOR CHARGE EFFECTS
Insert a new idea, piece of disinformation, or useful tip into the public unconscious. People are free to ignore or build upon this idea, but it will worm its way into the public sphere forever and be impossible to fully get rid of. This can also be used to improve an existing idea, causing it to reach more people.

Force every single screen in the entire world to play a single video clip for exactly 60 seconds.

Some Algomancers also speak of the power for one to fully embrace their madness; retreating into themselves and disappearing into a world entirely made only for them. This self recursive mirror world would be an Otherspace with an almost Godlike entity ruling it; but only able to recognize and act upon its own vision and ideas endlessly repeated until the end of the world.

[Classes] Eight Mini-Animal Classes

These classes aren't really intended to be for full player character. Instead, they are more like minor classes for secondary characters like animal companions, or for quick replacement PCs with a relatively low power level. Each one has a maximum level of 4 with the same XP requirements as a normal class. Additionally, treat their maximum AC as their base AC, as they don't usually wear armor beyond their natural fur and other protection.

However, unlike normal classes these animals only get XP for treasure spent directly on them. Buying them a solid gold collar, feeding them decadent treats, paying the wages of a falconer for your Witch Owls and so on. These classes are also just animals, just very smart and loyal ones. As such they cannot speak unless otherwise noted, but can understand human speech and follow orders. Treat their loyalty as a normal hireling +1 for their owner, with another +2 if they were raised from birth by that person.

To pick a random animal class, roll a 1d8.

Art @Ovopack, as usual.

[1] Witch Owl

HD- d3

Max AC- 13 / Minimum Hit-Points- 2

You're a wise, magical owl. Witch Owls cannot speak, but can still 'hoo' in response to words and answer questions this way. They can also learn to cast spells, not requiring to speak magical incantations to do so. They gain spell slots according to the table below.

Additionally; Witch Owl's can fly. Being able to fly has some great advantages. Plus your talons act as instant death for any tiny 0 HD creatures like rats or tiny pixies that you catch, but only deal 1d2 damage to normal creatures if you try to scratch their eyes out.

Character Level	1st Level Spells	2nd Level Spells
1	1
2	2
3	2	1
4	2	2

[2] Raccoon Burglar

HD- d4

Max AC- 14 / Minimum Hit-Points- 3

You're a cute little raccoon. You're sneaky and are good enough with your little paws to pick locks. Treat your lockpicking skill as a 0 level Thief at 1^st level. Once you are 2^nd level, treat yourself as a 1^st level thief, and then at 4^th level, treat yourself as a 3^rd level thief.

As a raccoon, you're also sneaky and can blend in in urban environments. Gain +1 to sneak and stealth rolls at 1^st and 3^rd levels. You can also scavenge enough food to survive in a city or town and don't get sick from eating it, obviously.

[3] Tiny Giant Spider

HD- d4

Max AC- 13 / Minimum Hit-Points- 2

You're a very small giant spider. Big enough to be held in both hands like a cat, but not so big as to be a monster. Spiders of this size and breed can actually be trained pretty well, but you freak people out with your huge unblinking creepy eyes and just from being a spider.

At 1^st level you can shot web as the spell Web once per day. At 2^nd and 3^rd level you can an extra shot. Finally at 4^th level your ability progresses and you can now perform large feats of construction like making a net to catch someone else who is falling down or create some simple cloth from spiderweb.

[4] Bat Guide

HD- d3

Max AC- 12 / Minimum Hit-Points- 2

You're a big old ugly bat. You can fly, but more importantly you can navigate and “see” in total darkness using echolocation. You're a bit weak with fragile bones and no fur or scales to protect you, especially in enclosed spaces where you'll be most useful.

You can't hurt people at all with your physical body, your teeth are too small and claws too weak. At 2^nd level, you get +1 to your Max AC. At 3^rd level, you can do a power screech that kills small creatures with 0 HD or breaks small glass objects. Finally at 4^th level, you grow retractable vampire fangs and can bite things for 1d2 damage. Every point of damage you do with this bite is also healed, as long as you are drinking the blood from a healthy living creature.

[5] Python Assassin

HD- d6

Max AC- 12 / Minimum Hit-Points- 4

You're a large, fat snake that kills people. You don't have any venom, you do it by constriction. You can climb pretty well, starting at 2^nd level, and can slither up walls and steep slopes better then a person. You sneak attack people by falling on them or hiding in baskets to leap out. Your bite is weak and only useful for swallowing helpless prey; you can only hurt things by squeezing them, either a full body constriction or around the throat. You can only squeeze things as big as a man or smaller with a Strength modifier of +2 or less, as anything stronger can just rip you off.

Whenever you constrict someone, they must make a saving throw minus your level. If they fail, they either cannot act this round or take 1d6 suffocating damage. If they succeed this saving throw, then they mark one check against you. If they get a number of checks equal to your level+1, they can slip out of your grasp. Once a person has been constricted, you can't constrict them again until you sneak up on them a second time.

[6] Octopus

HD- d4

Max AC- 12 / Minimum Hit-Points- 2

You are an octopus. You are unrealistically strong and capable on land, but still need to be kept moist or else you will slowly dry out and die. You also have 8 limbs, but not all of them are useful right away. You are surprisingly intelligent, can slip into small spaces, and can change color to camouflage, giving you advantage on sneak rolls made while stationary. You can still wear up to 8 magic rings, which makes you exactly as overpowered as you think it does. You can also swim really fast and breath underwater; but you need to use all your limbs to swim.

You have soft skin. Unlike the other animals, you treat your base AC as 8. You gain your AC by wielding shields and weapons. Add your level to your grapple rolls or saves. Finally, you get to use multiple arms. The number of arms you can use usefully is equal to your levelx2. “Useful” arms include using weapons or shields. You still need at least the same number of arms holding weapons or shields as arms dedicated to motion to crawl around on land, else you're stuck in place.

[7] Brutal Stag

HD- d8

Max AC- 16 / Minimum Hit-Points- 6

You're a spirit of nature. But not the peaceful or nurturing kind, you represent the brutality of nature. You have a dark brown coat that becomes black at night, and your eyes can turn red or glow bright white as the moon. Your impressive antlers are both a target for overzealous hunters and also a symbol of your power; they are an ill omen. Roll on the table below every time you appear.

Brutal Stag Horn Table- Roll 1d8

1. Dripping with blood, constantly.
2. Several venomous snakes wrapped around your horns, trying to mate with them
3. Human heart, suspended above both your antlers, floating in midair.
4. Antlers have a clod of dirt stuck to them, grass growing on them.
5. Supernaturally large, a cold wind chimes as it blows through them.
6. Shrike has built its nest here. Several corpses of small rodents have been flung and impaled on your antlers, the shrike a spirit in your honor.
7. Several skulls of smaller animals, placed atop the tips of your antlers with ritualistic intent. They can cackle and whisper spell incantations to friendly witches.
8. Has a rival, lesser stag's head stuck on your antlers. You can fling it off and the severed head will scream at people.

You have a hoof attack at 1d4+1 and a gore attack at 1d8+1, impaling people on your horns. Each level past the 1^st, gain +1 to hit with your attacks. Whenever you roll your hit points, reroll 1s.

[8] Donkey-Corn

HD- d8

Max AC- 15 / Minimum Hit-Points- 6

You look like a big dumb donkey with a blunt, gray horn on your head. You're the more pedestrian, less magical, and less cool kind of unicorn. For extra jokes, make your horn an actual carrot or a stick just tied to your head. You're bigger then the other animal classes and at the very least get a 1d4 hoof attack. You can also carry a smallish person on your back and carry a decent amount of gear strapped to you.

At 2^nd level you can use your horn as a holy symbol, letting you turn undead once per day. At 4^th level you can touch someone with your horn once per day and heal them 1d6 hit points.

Art @PerryBibleFellowship (occasional NSFW)