Fighter, Mage, Thief: Difference between revisions

 

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* The ''[[Overlord]]'' games have minions that correspond to fighter, mage, thief, and cleric while mixing in [[Elemental Powers]]. The Overlord himself is always a [[Magic Knight]].

 

* 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.

** 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.)

 

* ''[[Castle Crashers]]'' has three ways to fight, each with its own stat: melee weapons, ranged weapons like bows, and magic spells.

* ''[[Demon Stone]]'' has three playable characters you can switch between at any time: Rhannek, an armored warrior who fights with a two-handed sword. Zhai, a quick, stealthy half-drow rogue. And Illius, a sorcerer.

 

* [[Shadow Era]] uses these as three of the possible kinds of Heroes in the game.

 

* ''[[System Shock]] 2'' opens with the main character, a soldier, deciding whether to join the Marines (which specializes in combat), the Navy (which specializes in technical skills), or the OSA (which specializes in psychic powers), but there's nothing restricting a player from becoming adept with any particular skill. It's entirely possible to have a super-hacker psychic, for example.

** Escalating skill point costs do restrict the player. While everyone can feasibly get a smattering of cross-training in other class abilities, attempting to be an across-the-board Jack-of-all-trades really will leave you [[Master of None]]. It may be possible to have a super-hacker psychic, it's not advisable except as a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]].

* ''[[Hexen]]'' allows you to choose one of three characters to play the game with. While the Fighter and the Mage play the trope straight, the Cleric does not act like a typical thief - his abilities are more of a combination of the Fighter and Mage.

 

* In ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', there are three main stats: Muscle, Mysticality, and Moxie (in that order), and two classes "attuned" to each stat. The fact that the whole game is basically a parody of the RPG genre makes this a no-brainer.

* ''[[Phantasy Star Online]]'' has three classes: Hunter, Ranger, and Force. Hunters use melee weapons, Rangers use ranged weapons, and Forces use [[Magic From Technology|Techniques]].

* [[Age of Conan]] directly divides its classes into 4 archetypes, "warriors", 'rogues", "priests", and "mages". Classes within these roles get the same set of tortage quests and a talent tree in common.

 

* Some games in ''[[Wizards and Warriors]]'' series let you choose between a knight, wizard and a thief.

* ''[[Castlevania: Circle of the Moon]]'' has a version of this. After beating the game in "Vampire Hunter" mode (which has no perks) you get a code to change your class to Magician mode in the next playthrough. Beating Magician unlocks a code for another class (and so on).

* In ''[[Trine]]'', the Mage can create boxes to use as platforms and [[Mind Over Matter|use telekinesis to move objects]]; the Thief can [[Building Swing|swing on certain ceilings]] and use her arrow to shoot targets from afar; and the Fighter is your basic bash-things-with-your-sword character.

 

* ''[[Warcraft]] III'' uses this as the base for the RPG-based [[Hero Unit|Hero units]]. Heroes with the main attribute of Strength tend to be front-line brawlers with lots of hit points, Agility heroes are either sneaky types or ranged, and those that focus on Intelligence are, without exception, casters with powerful spells but not much in terms of physical damage.

** The Undead heroes subverts this, due to the inherent fragileness of the faction itself. Both of its strenght-based heroes, the Death Knight and Dreadlord, are relatively squishy compared to the other factions. One of the better tactics for the Death Knight, for instance, is to stay out of melee fights entirely, taking advantage of their above-average movement speed to keep him out of harms reach and healing friendly units or sniping enemies using Death Coil. Played straight with the Crypt Lord hero added in the expansion, which has a passive that increases his armor and reflects damage, in addition an ultimate that heals him.

** Thief=Fast-but-weak units like the ATVs and aircraft.

 

* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'': the Nameless One begins the game as a Fighter, and can remember the skills needed to become a Thief or a Mage by respectively speaking to the thief Ratbone and to the midwife Old Mebbeth (who will first send you on a set of [[Fetch Quest|Fetch Quests]] that help create your spellbook, and which you can realise [[Wax On, Wax Off|taught you some secret lessons about magic]] if your Intelligence or Wisdom is at least better then average), both of whom are in the Ragpicker's Square. The Nameless One can only be one class at a time (though a bug does exist to make multiclassing possible), but once having "remembered" the other classes can switch between gaining experience by talking to party members of the appropriate classes. The other characters consist of Vhailor (Fighter), Morte (Fighter), Nordom ("Archer" - that is, a Fighter who uses [[Guns Akimbo|twin crossbows]], thanks to having [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous|four arms]]), Dak'kon (Fighter/Mage), Annah (Fighter/Thief), Ignus ([[Pyromaniac]] Mage) and Fall-From-Grace ("Cleric" - that is, a Mage who uses healing spells).

* In ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', the "Fighter" Ground, Rock, Steel, Dark and Fighting types were typically associated with high Attack or Defense, "special" types (Water, Fire, Grass, Ghost, Psychic) with high Special Attack and Special Defense, and Flying and Bug types had generally high Speed stat and attacks that allowed them to act fast or evade attacks. With the appearance of more and more Pokèmon, the type combinations multiplied mixing and matching these properties more and more.

* [[Tales of the World]]: Radiant Mythology has four basic classes you can choose, and three of them are a Fighter, a Mage and a Thief. The fourth is a Cleric, which is basically a mage with healing magic.

 

* [[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.

 

 

* The True20 RPG system, based off of the D20 system for ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', provides the three basic classes of warrior, expert, and adept.

* ''[http://www.basicfantasy.org/ Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game]'' has four classes; Fighter, Thief, Magic-User and Cleric

* There's an indie roleplaying game called Warrior, Rogue, and Mage that fills this trope perfectly.

 

* The three main characters in the ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' comic each fit these archetypes: Oracle, who, with her hacking abilities, can gain knowledge and harm enemies from a great distance, but, being a paraplegic, is not as good (thought [[Handicapped Badass|not completely helpless]]) in close combat, is the wizard; Black Canary, who, being the best martial artist of the three, and having the canary cry for dealing with more powerful enemies, is the best close combatant, is the fighter (although her ability to soak up damage is not appreciably greater than the others'); Huntress, being the best at and most reliant upon stealth, and using a crossbow as her primary weapon, is the thief.

 

** ''[[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]]).

* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows]]'', each of the Hallows seems to fall into one of the archetypes here: The Elder Wand (fighter), the Resurrection Stone (mage), and the Invisibility Cloak (thief).

 

* 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.

 

* ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'', which was designed to imitate a video game, has its three main characters match up with the archetypes: Ace Dick is the Fighter, Pickle Inspector is the Mage, and Problem Sleuth is the Thief.

** Defined by their high Vim, Imagination and Pulchritude, respectively.

 

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', the ponies are divided into Earth Ponies, who tend to be stronger than average (Fighter), Unicorns, who have the most powerful magic (Mage), and Pegasi, who are [[Fragile Speedster|Fragile Speedsters]] in the air (Thief).

** Interestingly, prior to the founding of Equestria, the Pegasus tribe was the [[Proud Warrior Race]].

* The [[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]: Zach and Shane are the Fighters (and both the career military types). Niko is the Mage (Psychic Powers and a [[Fragile Speedster]] compared to the guys), and Doc is a classic Thief (breaking and entering, espionage, and computer hacking).

 

* When you consider the United States military branches, they also fall into one of those three categories:

** Fighter=Army and Marines