In the same vein, the cleric class comes in for a good deal of grief in spite of the fact that it was one of the original three classes in the game. This made for some hard feelings, and fixing the design issues implied by this class’s existence is such a hassle that maybe it’s best to just drop it altogether! When the thief class came along with an explicit chance to “move silently”, a lot of people leaped to the conclusion the other classes couldn’t attempt such a thing anymore. Yet not only was it a latecomer that wasn’t even in the original three “little brown books” that made up the original “White Box”rule set, but its system of skills and abilities was seen as taking away from actions that everyone tended try during the earliest game sessions.² For instance, fighting men might take a stab at being stealthy by removing their armor and then scouting ahead for the party. Now… the thief class takes a lot of flak in spite of the enduring appeal of characters like Robin Hood and Bilbo Baggins. Consequently the discussion tends to boil down to whether one has more enmity for the thief or the cleric. Indeed, Steve Jackson’s first role playing game was built around just those two archetypes, which isn’t surprising given that they neatly encapsulate the two poles of the swords and sorcery genre. Few people challenge the place of either fighting men¹ or magic-users on the roster. One of the longstanding debates in gaming circles is which of the core Dungeons & Dragons classes are least necessary to the game.
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