Older editions: Was dwarf ever a class?

[cmastah]

I remember hearing/reading that at some point, dwarf and elf were classes. To my knowledge, Gary Gygax's methods seemed to try to simulate what reality would be like with fantasy (for instance, a balor's flight was supernatural and wouldn't work in an anti-magic area), so how does having dwarf and elf be classes make any sense? If someone can also point me to which edition this was in, I can try to read up on it myself and try and understand the reasoning.

[see]

In the beginning (Original D&D, published 1974), dwarves and elves were not a class. They also were not a class in either the Holmes-authored D&D Basic Set (1977) or Gygax-authored AD&D (PHB published in 1978).

However, in the Moldvay-authored D&D Basic Set (1981), they became classes, and remained so in the "D&D" line through the Mentzer-authored D&D Basic Set (1983) and the 1991 D&D Rules Cyclopedia.

[James Jacobs]

In the BECMI edition of the game (the version called "Dungeons & Dragons" while "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" was doing its thing), dwarf, elf, and halfling were all classes. They essentially functioned as the multiclass options for the game.

[TriOmegaZero]

I'd like to make a dwarf and elf class for my homebrew where they can advance via age categories like dragons, being that they are immortal. It's on the back burner with the rest of my world however.

[Liz Courts]

Moved thread.

[Kthulhu]

Moldvay B/X, Mentzer BECMI, and the Rules Cyclopedia all treated race as class for demihumans.

[R_Chance]

Kthulhu wrote:

Moldvay B/X, Mentzer BECMI, and the Rules Cyclopedia all treated race as class for demihumans.

This was the reason I stuck with original D&D and then moved to AD&D (1E) and didn't do the basic versions (although I collected the books and read them). The idea that all Dwarves / Elves / Halflings followed a single path was... annoying. You could have homebrewed it, but it was easier to just go AD&D or stick with the original game.

[Aelryinth]

I did make up a 20 level 'elven racial class' back at the start of 3E on Monte Cook's boards. It got a pretty favorable reception.

It got medium BAB and medium spellcasting = BAB in whatever tradition the elf picked, defaulting to wizard (different subraces defaulted to different traditions). As they levelled, they got automatic proficiency in all elven weapons, armors, lower penalties with them, weapon finesse, and the like. they got 4 SP a level, and could pick their skill list like experts, reflecting long years to learn anything they wanted to.

All elves progressed in the class as they got older, so older elves were all strong...there were no elven commoners, warriors, nobles or experts...nobles were just elves who had more racial levels sooner, or had actual focused classes with full BAB or spellcasting.

They were a perfect gish blend, and a real good reason why you should be scared of elves! :)

==Aelryinth

[Dark Dwarf]

Wow that goes back Dwaves as a class. That back when I started playing D&D. Yah they was back in the day along with the other basic classes.

[Cylyria]

Aelryinth wrote:

I did make up a 20 level 'elven racial class' back at the start of 3E on Monte Cook's boards. It got a pretty favorable reception.

It got medium BAB and medium spellcasting = BAB in whatever tradition the elf picked, defaulting to wizard (different subraces defaulted to different traditions). As they levelled, they got automatic proficiency in all elven weapons, armors, lower penalties with them, weapon finesse, and the like. they got 4 SP a level, and could pick their skill list like experts, reflecting long years to learn anything they wanted to.

All elves progressed in the class as they got older, so older elves were all strong...there were no elven commoners, warriors, nobles or experts...nobles were just elves who had more racial levels sooner, or had actual focused classes with full BAB or spellcasting.

They were a perfect gish blend, and a real good reason why you should be scared of elves! :)

==Aelryinth

Would you happen to have a link to that still? I'm kinda curious what it looked like.