Coolest, most unique classes/jobs in RPGs

[v1rus]

Which are some of the coolest, most unique and crazy classes/jobs you have seen in RPGs? I guess both the concept/fluff and gameplay count.

My favorite example comes from our eastern brethren, in Final Fantasy Tactics - Arithmetician. Tl/dr for those who dont know they work - basically you choose an effect, such as - heal/dmg/debuff, then you choose a stat - XP/lvl/gold and then you choose a number, such as 2/3/4/etc. Say you picked damage, lvl and 3 - the result would be that every single character on the map whos level is dividable by 3 would suffer DMG. Such a unique, fun concept, with amazing trade-offs, since your dmg abilities or your buffs could target both enemies and your characters if you did your calculations wrong.

 

[Raghar]

Coolest is classless.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I have a feeling a lot of these will be from tactical or multiplayer RPGs due to having more room for niche classes.

 

[NecroLord]

Coolest classes are those you make yourself.
An ascetic gnome who renounces worldly possessions...
An orc scientist...
A half-ogre professor of quantum physics...

 

[Butter]

The Magic Candle has professions like carpenter, tailor, and gem-cutter, the benefits of which are economic and logistical.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I like the Calculator class from Final Fantsy Tactics. It's an advanced class, so you have to spend time as a white mage, black mage, summoner or so on before you can access the class. Once you do become a calculator, you have to then spend time developing your Math skills such as being able to cast magic on someone whose level is divisible by 3 or 5 or other numbers. Or based on the enemy's terrain elevation or some other arbitrary bit of information that can be associated with a number. Anyway, as a calculator you are able to cast a spell your previously learned from a previous character class as long as an opponenet falls under a category from one of your Math skills. I've never seen another game employ a character class like this and it can be quite a bit of fun trying to explore different Calculator combinations to the greatest effect.

 

[v1rus]

I like the Calculator class from Final Fantsy Tactics.

You and me both friend. Arithmetician is an alternative translation for the Calculator.

 

[v1rus]

The Magic Candle has professions like carpenter, tailor, and gem-cutter, the benefits of which are economic and logistical.

Yeah, I feel like RPGs need to more frequently explore economic/logistical based classes.

 

[Raghar]

Tailoring is a skill, not something that is restricted to some class. Look at Star Ocean, one of skills was Cooking.

It's still one of more kickass skill systems.

 

[v1rus]

Tailoring is a skill, not something that is restricted to some class. Look at Star Ocean, one of skills was Cooking.

Yeah, thats a frequent way to implement stuff like it, and while certainly cool and good, I just feel RPGs should explore an option for "having a party member who has little to no combat use, but makes up in other ways" more frequently.

 

[Butter]

Tailoring is a skill, not something that is restricted to some class. Look at Star Ocean, one of skills was Cooking.

Yeah, thats a frequent way to implement stuff like it, and while certainly cool and good, I just feel RPGs should explore an option for "having a party member who has little to no combat use, but makes up in other ways" more frequently.

One I thought of was a Scholar. If you're constantly delving through ancient tombs, your fighter and wizard might need someone familiar with ancient runes, lore, or demonic rituals.

 

[v1rus]

Tailoring is a skill, not something that is restricted to some class. Look at Star Ocean, one of skills was Cooking.

Yeah, thats a frequent way to implement stuff like it, and while certainly cool and good, I just feel RPGs should explore an option for "having a party member who has little to no combat use, but makes up in other ways" more frequently.

One I thought of was a Scholar. If you're constantly delving through ancient tombs, your fighter and wizard might need someone familiar with ancient runes, lore, or demonic rituals.

Yeah, that role is frequently delegated to the wizard - and while it frequently works, both in thematic and mechanical sense, I just feel that the option for non-combat characters merits further exploration.

 

[luj1]

Mesmer in Guild Wars 1 (sort of a control mage)

Farmer in Legend of Grimrock 2 (gains experience by eating rather than killing monsters)

 

[luj1]

I have a feeling a lot of these will be from tactical or multiplayer RPGs due to having more room for niche classes.

Coolest classes/abilities are from multiplayer games imo

 

[0sacred]

Gadgeteer

Preserver

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Early D&D psionic incarnations. You punch people in the brain.
Lineage 2 Warsmith. Summons giant war golems to lay siege to castles.
FFXI Corsair, it's a pirate-themed gambler class. FFXI has a lot of good classes, actually.
Star War Galaxy's non-combat classes in general. There's an entire class dedicated to just dancing in a bar.

 

[v1rus]

Early D&D psionic incarnations. You punch people in the brain.
Lineage 2 Warsmith. Summons giant war golems to lay siege to castles.
FFXI Corsair, it's a pirate-themed gambler class. FFXI has a lot of good classes, actually.
Star War Galaxy's non-combat classes in general. There's an entire class dedicated to just dancing in a bar.

Real curious. Care to explain how exactly all this fit into their respective games? Cant imagine how dancing in a bar was a fun thing to do in MMO, lol.

 

[gaussgunner]

Fighter

Rigger in Shadowrun? Hangs back and pilots the attack drones, whips out a machine pistol, and has just enough hacking skills to be useful but not gay, if memory serves.

I'm trying to think of some cool utility jobs/roles that can be done by any class if you build up the right combination of stats and skills. Charmer or Persuader, Historian, Handyman, MacGuyver...

 

[mondblut]

Snowflakes, snowflakes never change.

Human Fighter is the only real thing.

 

[skeletonmeister]

Coolest is classless.

Couldn't agree more

 

[†††]

Arithmetician

Calculator

Similar to this one in the sense of being "math based", the GBA version of FFV had a class/job (Oracle) that performed random spells based on the last digit of the caster's MP (performing spells could take 1, 3 and 7 MP, each with different countdowns) and the damage depended on the last HP digit of the target. Some of the spells could target both your characters and enemies, and most of them had several negative side-effects, even including sudden death, as well as being elemental. Not as interesting as the FFT job but it induced a sense of planning by having to calculate your MP to cycle through beneficial spells and avoid the bad ones (or you could play with buffs/debuffs and equipment to minimize the negative effects). Sadly the random damage made the class feel underpowered most of the time.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Snowflakes, snowflakes never change.

Human Fighter is the only real thing.

Fighter? What are you, a zoomer?
In this house we call it Fighting Man.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Dark Sun had 2 funny classes :
- Templar, which was basicallt a mix of Cleric and Commissar. In addition to Cleric spells (which you received by serving the arch-wizard leading your city), you had police and then political power within the City Wall, depending on your level : Call the guards,, arrest people, etc...
- Dune Trader, which was basically a Thief with super diplomatic / bartering skills.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

An ascetic gnome who renounces worldly possessions...

As much as I detest bards in general, The Bard's Tale trilogy had actual music tracks that would play to match the in-game tune your bard was playing, which is definitely the best implementation of the bard class ever.

 

[anvi]

FFT was the first thing I thought of. EverQuest had a class called Enchanter which was all about crowd control. It could sleep single targets or a whole room, but the whole room spell might put you to sleep too. You had to pump your magic resistance to resist your own spell. You could also stun the whole room and lower the magic resists but these things caused you to be killed instantly unless you had a good group. It could also Charm enemies.

WoW's Druid is really good too. And half the classes in a semi-dead-will-someday-return MMO called Vanguard. The Blood Mage especially but most of the classes in that game worked in an amazing way. Best classes in any game probably.