Subclass

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Subclasses are a form of game mechanic seen in various roleplaying games that make use of distinct character classes. The basic idea is that you start as a relatively generic or archetypical character, such as a Fighter or a Mage, and then you later take one (or, rarely, more than one) subclass to gain access to more specialized abilities. Examples of subclasses can include the Paladin (a fighter with cleric-like holy magic), the Assassin (a rogue specialized in killing people), or the Evoker (a wizard specialized in blowing things to bits).

Though the mechanic predates the system's existence, subclasses were popularized on /tg/ when Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition introduced them as a mandatory aspect of character development; each class, at around 2nd or 3rd level, is required to take a subclass, which contributes roughly half of that class's special class features.

A variant of the subclass system can be seen in the Archetypes system of Pathfinder. This functions basically the same as a subclass, being a "concept defining class" that is overlaid on a baseline class to grant more specific abilities and traits, but Pathfinder's Archetypes are optional choices, rather than being mandatory selections as is usually the case for subclasses.