Your Favorite RPG Class is Probably Dumb

Wanna know how I know?

I was 12 years old.

Unfortunately, (not too unfortunately) my first true DnD experience was 4th edition.

I was in 9th grade, and got my friend Guy to go halvsies on a bunch of the miniatures they had for the new edition (I think they were a part of some wargame too, which was actually pretty well designed IIRC).

I remember my first character; a tiefling paladin named Rodimir, after my history teacher’s Polish husband.

I couldn’t wait to play with the imaginary knight, so I went into my basement and started rolling dice against monster stat blocks I had the minis of.

Eventually, I ran a couple sessions DMing for friends, and even though I didn’t know it, it was all over from there.

Years before I knew anything about old school gaming or the vast history of RPGs from the 70’s on, I was already cutting up minis, gluing them together, and running little pulp sagas in my basement.

I became enamored with the 4th edition DnD’s multiclass system - every character ability was basically a new ‘card’ that you added to your ‘deck’, each level you’d choose a new card from each class, or alternate between classes.

For all of 4e’s faults, that bit was really smooth.

Since those humble yesteryears, I haven’t stopped being excited by interesting game design, and I DEFINITELY haven’t stopped playing edgelord vampire-warlock-crusader-knights.

I’m actually currently playing in my buddy’s 5e campaign as one such character right now - lol.

What does this have to do with me rage-baiting you about your favorite character class?

Because I know for a fact how dumb my own favorite character is.

Objectively, my years-long fixation with the image of the ‘dark/holy magic swordsman’ is pretty silly - the quintessential melodramatic edgelord with a big sword trying to become GOD.

In the same way that Harry Potter fans are obsessed with their fandom to a silly degree, I think it’s interesting how much we can attach ourselves to these different fantasies.

There are stories told to us when we were young that are imprinted onto our soul for the rest of our lives.

There are ideals we want to embody, and heroes we want to live up to in our own lives.

Personally, I do want to fight against injustice and despair, while embracing the mysteries of the darkness and kindness behind our physical reality - to gaze upon the face of God.

I think one of the most profound parts of roleplaying games is ironically - our silly pet DnD characters.

In some pseudo-Freudian/Jungian sense, these pet characters we can’t get over are a part of ourselves - that part of our 12-year-old heart that dared to think it could change the world somehow. That part of us that believed we could win and bring good to those around us.

Even just this past month, my emo dark paladin was able to slay a gigantic dragon, and then he even single-handedly slew the evil shark god.

If he can do it, maybe I -we- can do that in real life too.

The funniest part of this little blog post is that even the premise behind it IS ITSELF silly and cliche, which further proves its’ point:

Don’t give up on the dreams of your youth.

Life might seem incredibly strange right now, and some things may seem beyond repair, but we always have the choice to act in line with truth.

I believe in you, and I believe in us.

Comment below and let us know what your favorite DnD class is!

Much Love,

Drew Cochran

P.S. my current half-elf warlock paladin’s name is Pancreas. His friends call him ‘Slick’. Canon