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These are seperate from the rest, because I believe they are more important than all the others.: This Tag should be obvious what it means. In case it isn't: it means the class was made for Pathfinder, rather than for D&D 3.5, so there are a few small differences, which are easily changed if you want to convert it.The standard genre of D&D campaigns is Fantasy. Specifically, High Fantasy in a setting that resembles Europe around the year 1500, at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. Most Homebrew fits this genre as well or easily can with some tweaks (to either the fluff of the class or to the campaign setting). Some classes are made to better fit a different era or location, however. Not every class has a Genre tag.: While Horror does not exclude Fantasy, Horror campaigns are a brand apart. They have a very different feel to them than normal campaigns do, which classes with this tag fit very well. Note that a lot of classes can be made to fit a Horror campaign and that these classes simply fit Horror campaigns amazingly well, often being specifically made for them.: If a class is based around gunmanship or was inspired by something set in the modern era (meaning post-1800), it will most likely receive this tag.: The Oriental tag denotes that a class has fluff written with a Far East or (more rarely) Middle East setting in mind, be it Edo Japan, Han China or even the Mughal Empire of India, Sassanid Persian Empire or early Ottoman Empire. Note that a lot of classes that may be hit by the Japan tag (see below) might not have the Oriental tag (and vice versa). These classes may have the Modern tag (see above) instead.: A class tagged with Sci-Fi (short for Science Fiction, if you didnt know) is likely a high-tech class and therefore out of place in a standard D&D setting. Some classes inspired by a sci-fi work might not be tagged with this tag due to not being particularly/exclusively Sci-Fi themselves (the Jedi from Star Wars being a good example).: These classes are a joke. Just kidding! Classes with this tag are most likely best-suited for a light-hearted campaign or. Note that with some refluffing these classes could still work for serious campaigns and you can still easily make a serious campaign with a party full of Silly classes (I bet some Batman villains had levels in Silly classes). Appropriately refluffed, these classes might even be among the greatest potential Horror classes.: Steampunk as a genre has really grown in the past decade and the Eberron setting has drawn from it as well (though less steam and more magicpunk). Steampunk is best described as a world based off Victorian England (1800s era) with higher levels of technology that is steam-based, up to and including steam-powered mecha even.The Inspiration group of tags describes sources from which the class drew inspiration from and may be entirely based off. Not every class has an Inspiration tag.: If a class is based off something from a novel or a book series, it will have this tag. A Harry Potter style wizard would be a prime example.: The class was based off something or someone from a comic book. This is often the case with superhero-themed classes. Though manga are comic books, they instead fall under the Japan tag (see below).: The class was inspired by something from real-world history. Seems like these would be great for low-magic campaigns, I imagine.: Everything based off Japanese television, anime or manga falls under this. Note that a lot of classes that may be hit by the Oriental tag (see above) might not have the Japan tag (and vice versa).: If the class is based off a movie or a television series and doesnt fall under the Japan tag, it gets this tag.: The class was clearly based off or inspired by a video game and may or may not explicitly call out to that by name alone.Some classes make use of their own special mechanic. Some classes are just bland. Some classes make use of a specific magic subsystem of D&D that some other classes might also use. These are some of them. Remember that to use a class that uses a subsystem you will have to learn the subsystem as well, which brings a steeper learning curve with it.: The class is an arcane caster, like the wizard, sorcerer or warlock. They may be prepared or spontaneous and sometimes know their full spell list. They need not be vancian casters, as with invokers.: The class binds vestiges to themselves, like the Binder from Tome of Magic.: The class is a divine caster, like the cleric or shugenja. They may be prepared, in which case they might or might not know their full spell list, or spontaneous. They need not be vancian casters, as with invokers, though divine invokers are more rare than arcane ones.: The class uses incarnum, thus having the power of Soul on their side. See Magic of Incarnum for more details on the subsystem.: A rarity, even in Homebrew, infusions are the purview of the Artificer from the Eberron Campaign Setting. This class is stealing his job! Which might be a good or a bad thing, depending on how its handled, seeing as the Artificer is Tier 1.: At-will spell-like abilities are your thing! Invokers dont really need sleep, which gives this class bonus points as well. The only official invokers are the Warlock from Complete Arcane and the Dragonfire Adept from Dragon Magic.: The class is a martial adept and learns maneuvers from martial disciplines, like the classes from Tome of Battle. Youre in luck, as theres plenty of Homebrew support for this kind of character.: The class is a psionic manifester, like the classes in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Lucky for you, theyre also in the SRD, making a psionic class easy to fit into a campaign even if the DM has no access to books at all.: The class uses Shadow Magic, like the Shadowcaster from Tome of Magic. If youre playing in the Forgotten Realms, be sure to stay on Shars good side.: The class uses truenaming, like the Truenamer from Tome of Magic. It probably uses a Homebrew fix.: The class uses a unique Homebrew system that either the class creator or someone else made. These are often Big Reads, but the ones that aren't are often incredible.: The class uses Vancian casting, the same sort of spellcasting system the cleric, druid and wizard each also use and which is the standard spellcasting system for D&D.Party roles are important in a party, thats just how they roll. Like dice. You like dice, dont you? Long story short, parties function better if there isnt too much overlap in roles and they complement one another, whether by the same, similar or totally different roles that support one another. When youre late to the party, dont fret! It may seem like youre stuck with a role, but you could easily help them in some other way or find a way to make that role still fun for you. When life gives you lemons, you can either make lemonade or engineer a combustible lemon to burn lifes house down with. Your choice.: You grant your allies bonuses or minor abilities, making you a great support class. Awesome! More people should be like you, because friendship is magic.: Controlling the battlefield is key, whether it is by restricting movement or debuffing enemies.: While some campaigns dont give you enough downtime to do any crafting, the Dedicated Wright could help you very much in that regard. If you cant afford to buy or make one and wont have a lot of downtime, either ask your DM for some downtime or dont focus on crafting. If before the campaign started it was clear you might be on an in-game schedule, dont focus on crafting. Otherwise, crafting can be extremely rewarding for both you and your party, saving you tons of gold pieces, whether you craft mundane or magic gear.: A party Face is someone who is good at dealing with social situations. While this might sometimes be partially dependant on the players own roleplaying abilities, this class is just geared up for it. Theyre often Charisma-focused, have Bluff, Diplomacy/Intimidate and Sense Motive as class skills and have class features or spells that make making people friendly easier. This role is almost never taken as a characters only role, except in low-op games.: Often it is said that a party doesnt need a dedicated healer in 3.5 campaigns. Either way, a Healer can still be pretty darn handy. Plus, this guy may very well be capable of other stuff, especially if he still managed to be Tier 3 or above.: This describes both summoners and others that utilize followers or creatures a lot and have some emphasis on their ability to command them and make them stronger. (They can usually buff their minions, but won't receive the Buffer tag if they cannot buff anything other than their minions.): The Sage Tag denotes a class that can most likely trick out the Knowledge skills. Sage classes tend to have all Knowledge skills as class skills or otherwise at least a sizeable amount. They often get class features that rely on Knowledge checks or make them better, though this is not necessary. Sage classes often also have Decipher Script as a class skill and they are never illiterate.: Most likely is a class with plenty of skill points, the Listen and Spot skills, often the Hide and Move Silently skills, plus also often abilities that make them better at detecting something. Movement options are typically very important for a good scout. Scouts are often good options for wilderness survival games or for tracking as well, as half the time they have Survival on their class skill list.: A rarity in D&D, a tank is a character who goads enemies into attacking him rather than his allies or otherwise prevents his allies from behind harmed. These classes can almost always be found in melee or six feet under.: "It's a trap!" is likely a line you might often find yourself saying with this class. A trapmonkey is a class that usually has trapfinding or otherwise deals with traps, disarming them or setting them for others. In most campaigns, a dedicated trapmonkey is unnecessary, but they can be handy in dungeons.