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Devil Gnasher 06-18-07, 08:23 PM

Cleric- The cleric class has no basis in standard pre-Dungeons and Dragons fantasy. It instead drew inspiration from the historical and legendary Archbishop Turpin as well as the Knights Templer and the monastic/priestly military orders of the Middle Ages. Male Clerics are better thought of as warrior priests/monks while female clerics are best thought of as warrior priestess/nuns. Druid- The ancient druids were Celtic priests and priestesses, mostly of a god named Dagda or "the Good God", named that for his skill in all things. Druids as a service to the Good God were required to sacrifice bulls, cows, sheep and gold along with murders, rapists and traitors. After the violent crime rate in ancient Britain and Ireland dropped some druids continued the sacrifices; even going so far as to use escaped slaves and other non-violent offenders as well as those who committed no crimes at all. Other druids discontinued the practice citing that the Good God (Dagda) commanded them to only sacrifice the worst of all possible criminals, those who violated the bodies of others, those who committed murder and those who betrayed their people. I might make modifications to the druid class in another post. Sorcerer- Sorcerer comes from an Old English word meaning in essence caster of lots or sortilege. It later came to mean a magician who gained his power from service towards or power over demons, daemons, devils or other creatures of the supernatural. An example of a good aligned sorcerer would be Prospero, from William Shakespeare's, The Tempest. An example of an evilly aligned sorcerer would be Kefka from Final Fantasy 6. Could also be applied to those with innate magical talents. Merlin, as played by Sam Neil would be an obvious choice for a good aligned sorcerer. Wizard- A wizard is in essence a magical scientist and philosopher. While a sorcerer most often uses power borrowed from other beings, a wizard must rely upon his own knowledge, intellect, skill, cunning and magical power. Characters to base wizards upon can be found among such great scientists as Ptolemy, Archimedes or Euclid. This list could also include the alchemists of Middle Ages to modern scientists, such as Sir Isaac Newton. Obvious choices, like some versions of Merlin would make good role models as well. I also present you with A Rebel Without A CAWS (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/archetypology18sep01.html) and Thick as Thieves (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/archetypology13jul01.html).