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Fighter, Mage, Thief: Difference between revisions
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* ''Thief'': The [[Fragile Speedster]]. Being quite a bit squishier than the fighter but not as much as the wizard, the thief relies on stealth and guile. His methods of solving problems typically involve sneaking by them, [[Back Stab|stabbing them in the back]], sniping them from a distance, or even talking to them. His weapons of choice are usually light weapons like [[Knife Nut|daggers]] or ranged weapons like [[The Archer|bows, crossbows]], and throwing knives. His survival usually depends on stealth abilities, evasion/speed, weapon range, or a combination of these factors, rather than armor.
Likely, there will be builds that allow the player to mix and match elements of the three paths, but usually, it boils down to strength, stealth, and sorcery.
These may include:
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* ''Fighter+ Thief+ Mage'' - [[Jack of All Stats]]: A jack of all trades that risks being a [[Master of None]] if his skills don't have synergy.
This trend stretches back to the grandpappy of all RPGs, ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''. First edition offered players three main character classes: Fighter (actually called the [[Most Gamers Are Male|Fighting]] ''[[Most Gamers Are Male|Man]]'' at first), Thief, and Magic User (it also featured Clerics who [[The Medic|healed the party]], but modern games prefer to use abundant healing items). As a result, a lot of RPGs have typically followed in their footsteps.
See also [[An Adventurer Is You]] for a breakdown of the party-based RPG (especially the MMORPG). See also, [[Action Hero]], [[Science Hero]], and [[Guile Hero]].
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== [[Adventure Game]] ==
* The ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series has Fighter, Magic User (renamed Wizard in later games) and Thief. Unlocking cross-class abilities is possible at the expense of same-class starting abilities, though some quests are class-specific and criticized for it. It's possible to earn the class of Paladin, which amounts to a Fighter who does good things rather than just kill stuff, ''and'' has a [[Flaming Sword]] to kill stuff with. Appropriately but oddly, there's at least one Paladin quest which is done for the sake of right, with no reward.
** ''QfG'' loves to [[Anvilicious|hammer home]] the Paladin's need to be selfless: each game, starting with the second one, has a least one quest where you're either offered a reward that you should turn down, ''or'' you're not offered a reward at all. QfG4 even has a quest where the ''quest'' isn't given to you; you just hear the basics and you're expected to run with it.
*** It is possible to become a paladin if you're playing as a thief, but do any actual thieving ({{spoiler|except to steal an item needed to defeat an elemental}}) and you've lost your chance.
** Also, Wizard isn't a class, it's an title for academically certified Magic Users, earned in the second game upon graduation from the Wizard's Institute of Technocery. (As, if you haven't graduated from the school, you shouldn't be able to ''complete'' the second or subsequent games as a Magic User. This becomes part of a "new" character's assumed backstory.)
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* ''[[Fable (video game)|Fable I]]'' allows you to invest experience into Strength (health, damage resistance, and melee weapons), Skill (archery, bartering, and stealth), and Will (magic powers).
** ''[[Fable II]]'' streamlines things further, though still into Strength (melee), Skill (ranged) and Will (magic). It also has heroes as NPCs that each personify one of these paths, so the Hero of Strength is big and muscular, the Hero of Will is glowing with magic power, and the Hero of Skill is tall and lanky, just like how the character will look if they specialize in a particular path.
*** Not like anyone would specialize in a single path unless they wanted a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]]. As Exp is available from numerous sources, most people will specialize in all areas, which eventually makes the character look like a giant (Skill) glowing (Will) barrel (Strength) with arms and legs (same goes if you're playing as a female).
* ''[[Ultima]]'' has the stats of strength, dexterity, and intellect, with the three Principles each related to one stat (Strength = Courage, Int = Truth, Dex = Love). The classes associated with the virtues derived from the principles also mostly work out, with the meleeist Fighter for Valor (courage), pure-caster Mage for Honesty (truth), ranged fighter Bard for Compassion (love), Magic Knight Paladin for Honor (truth and courage), more-agile fighter Tinker for Sacrifice (love and courage), more-agile caster Druid for Justice (truth and love), jack-of-all-trades Ranger for Spirituality (all three), and mostly-worthless Shepherd for Humility (none!)
** ''[[Ultima IX]]'' gives you starting equipment based on what class you choose. The super-awesome Ranger gets an immediate boost to the three main stats, but crappy equipment. The super-crappy Shepherd, which gets no boost at all to the three main stats, gets equipment that other classes can't get for a least four or five hours. It pays to handicap yourself, apparently.
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* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' has the stats of Body (health and strength), Mind (raises Focus, which allows you to enact [[Bullet Time]] and use <s> special or non-mastered</s> weapons), and Spirit (raises Chi, which allows you to heal and use magical martial arts). It's not a traditional breakdown, as there's little stealth involved, but it does provide a basic breakdown between strength, speed, and sorcery.
* Because magic doesn't exist in the ''[[Fallout]]'' universe, the three basic character builds are Fighter (punches and guns), Thief (stealth and stealing), and Diplomat ([[Talking the Monster to Death|talking your enemies to death]]). The first two games offered 3 pre-built characters fitting each type. Of course, the open-ended character system allows you to mix and match attributes as you like.
* ''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura'': The game does not have pure character classes, instead having more open-ended character building like in Fallout (see above), but there are still three basic builds: fighter (put the bulk of your points into combat skills), thief (distribute points broadly among stealth and social skills), and wizard (concentrate on willpower, intelligence and magickal skils). Technology is a unique fourth option; it functions as a prototypical [[Item Crafting]] system, and technological aptitude interferes with your magickal aptitude. (However, there's no such thing as a "pure" technologist; a tech-user must use his technological skills to enhance his abilities as a fighter or thief.)
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' uses a modified version of the D&D D20 system. Basically, a character can have 3 kinds of features that the user specifically selects: skills, feats, and Force Powers. Each of the 6 classes in the game focuses on one of these. Soldiers focus on feats, while Scouts and Scoundrels focus on different sets of skills. The Jedi classes work like this too, only adding Force Powers to the mix. Guardians are basically Fighters with a few Force Powers; they get lots of access to feats. Consulars are Wizards with [[Laser Blade|lightsabers]]. And Sentinels are Thieves that don't steal (skill-focused).
** The sequel's Prestige Classes play it even straighter, essentially boiling down to a combat monster, an arch-wizard and a stealthy assassin each with some Jedi or Sith flavour text.
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* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' goes in this direction with its classes, having the typical Fighter-Rogue-Mage setup. The playable races are also set up in a similar pattern, with the [[Squishy Wizard|magical]] [[Our Elves Are Better|elves]], [[Mighty Glacier|hardy]] [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|dwarves]], and [[Jack of All Stats|average]] humans.
** The classical lineup is particularly obvious in the ''Leliana's Song'' DLC, where your party consists of exactly three characters: warrior (Tug, who is, subversively, not the leader, {{spoiler|and Silas}}), mage (Sketch), and thief (Leliana herself). Other DLCs tend to remove one of the three parts: ''Golems of Amgarrak'' gives you no real mage (unless your PC is one), while ''Witch Hunt'' features no rogues (ditto).
* The original ''[[Diablo]]'' provided a breakdown of Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer, with later games adding more classes.
** ''Diablo'' is also a partial subversion in that any character can potentially learn any magic and use any equipment.
** Played straight in ''[[Diablo III]]'' with the followers; Kormac the Templar, Lyndon the Scoundrel, and Eirena the Enchantress.
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** Infiltrator (Combat/Tech): [[Glass Cannon]] Trickster
** Sentinel (Tech/Biotics): [[Jack of All Stats]] or [[The Tank]], depending on how you play the class.
** In the third game, the only three squad-mates you're guaranteed to have the entire game fall into this - James (weapons), Liara (biotics) and EDI (tech).
* Played straight in ''The Tomb of the [[Task Maker]]'': fighters can use the most weapons, magicians can use the most spells, and thieves can steal items and pick locks.
* ''[[Fate Extra]]'' Allows the player to choose one of three servants to fight for him/her.
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== [[Strategy Game]] ==
* [[Lords of Magic]]: Warrior, Mage, and Thief are the three types of champions (single unit characters that lead armies) in its gameplay, and much of the rest of gameplay is influenced by this division. Unit production buildings are divided along these lines as well, with a "barracks" producing infantry, cavalry, ships, and warrior champions, a "thieves Guild" producing thieves, ranged units, and scouts, and a "mage tower" used to produce mages and magical creatures, as well as having an associated building for spell research. Each chamopion can be used to "train" at its associated building, improving the experience of units produced there, and each type of unit uses different types of resources to produce and maintain depending on its category.
* In the iOS game [[Highborn]], the three Heroes are Archie, a knight/paladin; Enzo, a wizard; and Trillian, a rogue.
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* ''[[White Wolf|Werewolf the Apocalypse]]'' somewhat does this with the five Auspices. Ragabashes are the thief-type with gifts related to stealth and deception, Theurges and Galliards could be considered mages as their gifts don't give direct combat ability but can act as buffers/good for working with spirits to make magical effects, and Philodoxes and Ahrouns as the fighters with Philodox gifts more focused on [[Mighty Glacier|taking it]] and shrugging it off and Ahroun gifts more focused on dishing out punishment for extended periods.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' does it, too--White Wolf has a thing for the number 5, and most types of Exalted have 5 subtypes. For example, the 5 castes of Solar Exalted are Dawn (Warriors), Zenith (Leaders), Twilight (Sorcerers/Smart Guys), Nights (Thieves), and Eclipse (Masters of [[Social Fu]]).
** It's been noted that ''White Wolf'' games that stick to the five-by-five system usually have a familiar breakdown for the social splats: Leader, Warrior, Mystic, Rebel, and Spy. ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' goes Blood Talons (Warrior), Bone Shadows (Mystics), Hunters in Darkness (Spy), Iron Masters (Rebel), and Storm Lords (Leader). ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' goes Adamantine Arrow (Warrior), Free Council (Rebel), Guardians of the Veil (Spy), Mysterium (Mystic), and Silver Ladder (Leader). ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' divides by the clans of Ventrue (Leader), Gangrel (Mystic/Warrior), Mekhet (Spy), Nosferatu (Rebel), Daeva (Warrior/Leader). ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' has Ferrum (Warrior), Mercurius (Mystic), and Stannum (Rebel) with Aurum (embracing humanity and mortals) and Cuprum (remaining isolated from humanity and touching on the inner self) blending elements of Leader and Spy.
** From [[Exalted]] you have the Lunar who are the exception to the [[White Wolf]] usual trope of the [[Five-Man Band]] by sticking more closely to this trope. The Full Moon (Fighter), the No Moon (Mage) and the Changing Moon (Thief).
* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' [[Forgotten Realms]] setting there were three adventurers who quested to overthrow Jergal, the god of discord, death, and the dead. They were a warlord named Bane, an assassin named Bhaal, and a necromancer named Myrkul, making them an evil version of this trope. Each of them ended up being freely given an aspect of the god's power, as he'd become bored with the job.
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== Literature ==
* Unsurprisingly, a number of [[Dungeons and Dragons]] novels contain this trope:
** ''[[Ravenloft|Vampire of the Mists]]'' has Jander Sunstar (fighter, although he has some supernatural abilities, and is quite stealthy, from being a vampire), Sasha (spellcaster, although he's actually a cleric, not a mage), and Leisl (thief).
** ''[[Dragonlance|War of the Twins]]'' has Caramon Majere (fighter), Raistlin Majere (mage), Crysania of Tarinius (cleric, which, again, is a different kind of spellcaster in D&D), and Tasslehoff Burrfoot (thief, [[Berserk Button|but don't you dare call him one]]).
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== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* The Minbari on Babylon5 have the warrior, worker, and religious castes.
* On [[Leverage]], [[The Big Guy|Eliot]], [[Playful Hacker|Hardison]], and [[Classy Cat Burglar|Parker]] largely fulfill these roles, though Hardison is a hacker instead of a mage.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Role Playing Game]]▼
[[Category:Power Trio]]
[[Category:Video Game Characters]]
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:Fighter, Mage, Thief]]
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