One of the distinctive features of the AD&D™ game system is
its use of character classes, professions for player characters to
adopt and follow through a campaign, each with its own inherent
advantages and disadvantages. The skills used by each
class vary considerably, and each class has its own areas of
special proficiency. A great deal of emphasis has been placed
in recent writings on the point that character classes should be
well-balanced to prevent one class from gaining an excessive
advantage or being at a great disadvantage in the game.

A natural question to ask, then, is whether or not the official
AD&D character classes are themselves balanced with respect
to one another. This article uses some simple statistical comparisons
to determine one possible answer to this. The first part
of this article will examine the ten “regular” AD&D classes and
sub-classes (fighter, ranger, paladin, cleric, druid, magic-user,
illusionist, thief, assassin, monk). The next section deals with
the bard class, and a final section concerns the newly presented
class of barbarians (from DRAGON™ issue #63).

Evaluating character classes is very difficult. The great variety
of special abilities each class has makes a complete analysis
just about impossible, and most people are reduced to simply
role-playing such characters in different adventures to get a
subjective “feel” for how well a particular class works.

One possible test was suggested by Lewis Pulsipher in White
Dwarf #25 (“What Makes A Good AD&D Character Class”).
That author wrote, “Experience levels are a convenient signpost;
a third level ‘X’ class is not necessarily equal to a third level
‘Y’ class — compare experience points, not levels.” He makes
an excellent point. One experience point for any class is the
same as one x.p. for any other class. In a well-run campaign, all
characters should gain experience points at about the same
rate — but not necessarily levels, since most level boundaries
are not the same. An easy way to start comparing character
classes would be to examine fixed amounts of x.p.’s and see
what level that corresponds to in each class.

<superscript>
A good set of arbitrary “fixed amounts” are the powers of 10
(1, 10, 100, 1000, etc.). All character classes are at the same
level (1st) between 100 and 103 (1 and 1,000) x.p.’s, so we can
start comparing classes at 103 x.p.’s and proceed up from there
to 104, 105, 106, and, to include very high levels, 2x106 (two
million) x.p.’s. Table 1 shows the results of this comparison.

It becomes apparent in looking over the table that paladins
are the slowest to gain levels, and thieves the fastest (with
illusionists running a close second). This seems to make sense,
as paladins are very specialized fighters and their training
could be said to be very rigorous and demanding. In more
practical terms, paladins are just about the most powerful
fighting-types in the game because of their special abilities,
and the limitation on how fast they rise in levels keeps them
from becoming too powerful too quickly. A 13th-level paladin is
still quite capable of stomping a 19th-level thief in face-to-face
combat, and probably even when allowing the thief a surprise
backstab attack at the start of the combat.

It seems odd that illusionists gain levels so much more quickly
than magic-users do, but the former do not have spells of the
same power as magic-user spells of 8th and 9th level, and (as
shown below) the two classes ‘are still very close in hit-point
averages. Magic-users are generally more versatile as well, by
virtue of their more varied spell powers.

Another comparison involves finding out the average number
of hit points that a character in each class has at particular x.p.
levels. Because constitution scores can cause hit-point totals
to vary, Table 2 is divided into two parts. The first part notes
hit-point averages for characters with constitution scores of
7-14, and the second part for those with scores of 16 and 18.
Since all non-fighters have the same number of hit points for an
18 constitution as they would have for a score of 16, the hitpoint
averages for characters with 18 constitution apply only to
fighter-types.

Unlike Table 1, Table 2 offers some surprising results. Druids
show up as unusually powerful, rivalling and often surpassing
fighter-types in terms of average hit points at each x.p. level.
This seems inconsistent with the fact that druids are clerical in
nature and not supposed to be as powerful as fighters. Note
that a 14th-level druid has only 1,500,001 x.p.’s, yet has more hit
points than almost any other character type has at 2,000,000
x.p.’s. With a 16 constitution, a Great Druid is especially tough;
this is due to the character’s acquisition of one new hit die at
every level, and also for another reason mentioned later.

Table 2 also reveals that monks, who are expected to perform
hand-to-hand combat without wearing armor of any sort, have
only slightly more hit points on the average than magic-users or
illusionists. True, at the higher experience levels monks gain
armor class advantages, but it seems inconsistent for a monk to
be able to absorb less physical punishment than a thief can.

The rest of the results in Table 1 and Table 2 appear to be in
line with what one would expect, except that clerics and thieves
have very similar hit-point averages in Table 2. This appears to
be a result of the ease with which thieves gain levels (and hence
hit points).

Table 3 diagrams the “level widths” of the official AD&D
character classes; i.e., how many x.p.’s are needed to go up
each level. Here the exceptionally narrow level widths of the
druid and thief become apparent; illusionists also have narrow
level widths, only marginally less so than the other two classes.

Suggestions
The AD&D system, as has been pointed out before by many
people, is not perfect. As time goes on, suggestions can and
should be made for how the system can be improved. Though
the system is playable as it is, this article is intended to point out
that the system might be unbalanced in several areas. The
following suggestions are not by any means official, and better
ways of improving the game balance may be found; I’ve taken
some pains to make them as reasonable as possible.

1. The druid class should have its x.p. table changed so that
greater amounts of experience points are required to reach the
lower levels, and so that hit-point averages are more in line with
the other character classes for playability and balance (see
Table 4 for suggested x.p. modifications). In Table 5, the suggested
change in the druid x.p. table is, rated at various x.p.
levels; it may be seen that though the druid is still tougher than a
regular cleric (probably from all that outdoors conditioning), it
is not more powerful than a ranger or other fighter-type. It
definitely takes longer to reach the higher levels, but the continual
addition of a new hit die (plus very powerful spell abilities
and followers) even this out. Druids, no matter how you cut it,
are a lot tougher than one might think.

TABLE 1: LEVEL PROGRESSION OF OFFICIAL AD&D CHARACTER CLASSES

XP	CLR	DRD	FTR	PAL	RNG	M-U	ILL	THF	ASN	MNK
103	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
104	4	4	4	3	31	31	4	41	4	31
105	7	9	7	7	7	8	8	8	7	7
106	12	13	111	10	12	12	13	14	131	12
2 x 106	16	(14)2	151	13	15	15	18	19	(15)3	14

¹ --- At the listed amount of x.ps.'s, the character is 1 x.p. short of entering the next higher level.
² --- Druids cannot advance beyond 14th level (1,500,000) XP. <revise with UA>
³ --- Assassins cannot advance beyond 15th level (1,500,000 XP) or more XP. <except for Iuz>

TABLE 2: HP PROGRESSION OF OFFICIAL AD&D CHARACTER CLASSES
Average Hit Points (Constitution of 7-14)

XP	CLR	DRD	FTR	PAL	RNG	M-U	ILL	THF	ASN	MNK
103	4.5	4.5	5.5	5.5	9.0	2.5	2.5	3.5	3.5	5.0
104	18.0	18.0	22.0	16.5	18.0	7.5	10.0	14.0	14.0	10.0
105	31.5	40.5	38.5	38.5	36.0	20.0	20.0	28.0	24.5	20.0
106	46.5	58.5	55.5	52.5	53.5	28.5	28.0	43.0	45.5	32.5
2 x 106	54.5	(63.0)1	67.5	61.5	59.5	31.5	33.0	53.0	(52.5)2	37.5

Average HP (Constitution of 16 / Constitution of 18)

XP	CLR	DRD	FTR	PAL	RNG	M-U	ILL	THF	ASN	MNK
103	6.5	6.5	7.5 / 9.5	7.5 / 9.5	13.0 / 17.0	4.5	4.5	5.5	5.5	9.0
104	26.0	26.0	30.0 / 38.0	22.5 / 28.5	26.0 / 34.0	13.5	18.0	22.0	22.0	18.0
105	45.5	58.5	52.5 / 66.5	52.5 / 66.5	52.0 / 68.0	36.0	36.0	44.0	38.5	36.0
106	64.5	84.5	73.5 / 91.5	70.5 / 88.5	75.5 /  97.5	50.5	48.0	63.0	71.5	58.5
2 x 106	72.5	(91.0)1	85.5 / 103.5	79.5 / 97.5	81.5 / 103.5	53.5	53.0	73.0	(82.5)2	67.5

    NOTE: Only the fighter classes are given a listing for average HP at 18 CON; all other listed classes have the
same average number of HP at 18 constitution as at 16 constitution.
¹ --- The HP average is for a 14th level druid.
² --- The HP average is for a 15th level assassin.

TABLE 3: LEVEL WIDTH IN XP FOR OFFICIAL AD&D CHARACTER CLASSES

Level	CLR	DRD	FTR	PAL	RNG	M-U	ILL	THF	ASN	MNK
1	1.50	2.00	2.00	2.75	2.25	2.50	2.25	1.25	1.50	2.25
2	1.50	2.00	2.00	2.75	2.25	2.50	2.25	1.25	1.50	2.25
3	3.00	3.50	4.00	6.50	5.50	5.00	4.50	2.50	3.00	5.25
4	7.00	5.00	10.00	12.00	10.00	12.50	9.00	5.00	6.00	12.50
5	14.50	7.50	17.00	21.00	20.00	17.50	17.00	10.00	13.00	25.00
6	27.50	15.00	35.00	50.00	50.00	20.00	25.00	22.50	25.00	50.50
7	55.00	25.00	55.00	80.00	60.00	30.00	35.00	27.50	50.00	102.00
8	115.00	30.00	125.00	175.00	75.00	45.00	50.00	40.00	100.00	150.00
9	225.00	35.00	250.00	350.00	100.00	115.00	75.00	50.00	100.00	150.00
10	225.00	75.00	250.00	350.00	225.00	125.00	220.00	60.00	125.00	200.00
11	225.00	100.00	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	150.00	250.00
12	225.00	450.00	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	175.00	300.00
13	225.00	750.00	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	250.00	500.00
14	225.00	<revise>	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	500.00	500.00
15	225.00	<revise>	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	<Iuz>	500.00
16	225.00	<revise>	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	-	500.00
17	225.00	<revise>	250.00	350.00	325.00	375.00	220.00	220.00	-	-

    All values for levels beyond the 17th are the same as for the 17th level.

2. The monk class should have its hit dice adjusted so that it
has a higher average of hit points, putting it at least on a par with
the thief class. It is suggested that either 6-sided dice or 4-sided
dice plus one point per die be substituted for the given 4-sided
dice; the hit-point range would be broader in the former case
and narrower in the latter, but the average number of hit points
per level would remain the same. Table 6 and Table 7 contain
statistical data on these suggested changes. These changes
would help keep the monk alive in close combat at all levels,
and make it a more effective and viable class. Note that at high
experience levels and with high constitution, monks become as
powerful as assassins in terms of hit-point average, which
seems reasonable enough.

TABLE 4: SUGGESTED X.P. TABLE FOR DRUIDS

Level Width	XP	Experience level	8-sided dice for accumulated HP
2.0	0 -- 2,000	1	1
2.0	2,001 -- 4,000	2	2
3.5	4,001 -- 7,500	3	3
7.5	7,501 -- 15,000	4	4
15.0	15,001 -- 30,000	5	5
30.0	30,001 -- 60,000	6	6
60.0	60,001 -- 120,000	7	7
130.0	120,001 -- 250,000	8	8
250.0	250,001 -- 500,000	9	9
250.0	500,001 -- 750,000	10	10
250.0	750,001 -- 1,000,000	11	11
500.0	1,000,001 -- 1,500,000	12	12
750.0	1,500,001 -- 2,000,000	13	13
----	2,000,001+	14	14

<expand table>

TABLE 5: LEVEL AND HIT POINT PROGRESSION FOR DRUIDS
                                                                             Average HP

XP	Druid level (new)	7-14 Con	16 Con
103	1	4.5	6.5
104	4	18.0	26.0
105	7	31.5	45.5
106	11	49.5	71.5
2 x 106	13	58.5s	84.5

TABLE 6: SUGGESTED HD TABLES FOR MONKS

Experience level	Possibility 1: 6-sided dice for accumulated HP	Possibility 2: 4-sided dice for accumulated HP
1	2	2+2
2	3	3+3
3	4	4+4
4	5	5+5
5	6	6+6
6	7	7+7
7	8	8+8
8	9	9+9
9	10	10+10
10	11	11+11
11	12	12+12
12	13	13+13
13	14	14+14
14	15	15+15
15	16	16+16
16	17	17+17
17	18	18+18

TABLE 7: HP PROGRESSION FOR MONKS (Modified)
                                                Average HP

XP	7-14 Con	16 Con
103	7.0	11.0
104	14.0	22.0
105	28.0	44.0
106	45.5	71.5
2 x 106	52.5	82.5

The bard
Tucked away in the back of the Players Handbook is the bard
character class, surely one of the most misunderstood character
classes in the AD&D game. There is a popular misconception
about this class: People feel it’s too difficult to become a
bard because one must work through 11 to 15 levels in the
fighter and thief classes first. However, when x.p. totals are
considered, this assumption is shown to be false. It is very easy
to become a bard. In fact, the bard is the most “unbalanced”
character class in the AD&D system.

There are two possible extremes one may take in the approach
to creating a bard character. One is the “fast” way; the
absolute minimum number of experience points are gained in
passing through the fighter and thief classes in order to enter
the bard class as soon as possible (as detailed in Table 8).
People who use this method obviously cannot wait to get their
hands on a lute. And there’s the “slow” way, taken by those who
would rather build up other skills first. Using the “slow” way, a
character gains the maximum possible number of x.p.’s in the
fighter and thief classes before turning into a bard. Of the two
extremes, the fast method will produce the lowest possible
hit-point average in a bard character, and the slow method will
produce the most powerful character, in terms of hit points.

Tables 8 and 9 offer the same statistical analysis for bards as
was done in earlier tables for the other ten official AD&D character
classes. The results are rather surprising. Regardless of
which method, fast or slow (or any procedure between the two
extremes), is employed to create a bard, the bard character
advances just as fast in levels, if not faster, than a member of
any other class — and this takes into account the experience
that must be gained in the fighter and thief classes. This phenomenon
exists because the lower levels of any class are relatively
easy to attain in terms of the number of x.p.’s required.

Furthermore, there is the problem of hit-point averages. At
medium and high levels, bards are incredibly tough; “slow”
bards are especially mighty, tougher than any other character
class, and actually reach, or at least approach, demigod status
in terms of hit points. A 23rd-level Magna Alumnae with an 18
constitution and a background as a 7th-level fighter and 8th-level
thief has an average of 139 hit points, and a possible
maximum of 198 hit points. This amount cannot be justified in
terms of the nature of the class: Is a person who recites poetry
and plays musical instruments for a living innately tougher than
a Ranger Lord who kills dozens of orcs, trolls, ogres, and giants
each month? Likewise, it cannot be rationalized by the need for
game balance: Why are that many hit points necessary? Should
bards be that hard to kill?

Table 10 elaborates on the problem. Most of the trouble with
the official bard comes from the continual addition of hit dice
once the character reaches the bard class, with attendant bonuses
for constitution added on. Another source of trouble is
the fact that the width (in x.p.’s) of each level in the bard class is
quite narrow compared to those of other character classes; this
means it is easier to gain levels in shorter times. This aggravates
the hit-point problem further, of course, and contributes to the
hit-point inflation.

Other criticisms may be leveled at the bard. It is rather clumsy
to have to work through two other classes to become a bard,
whether the process is easy or not; in many ways it would be
better to develop the class on its own (as was done by Jeff
Goelz in DRAGON’” issue #56; his version of bards is worth
looking up). A friend of mine has pointed out the aggravation of
having a medium-level bard run into a group of life-draining
undead; with their fighter and thief levels behind them, they can
outlast all other group members in the ensuing combat.
Beyond this, the bard class as written violates two previously
established tenets of the AD&D rules: It allows a human to gain
three classes, one after the other, when humans are supposed
to gain only two classes, and it allows half-elves to do the same
when they are normally supposed to be advancing in two or
more classes simultaneously. It is also rather strange to declare
that bards cannot use weapons they had learned previously as
fighters, such as bows or polearms. This could be circumvented
by, again, developing the class on its own and making the
appropriate weapon restrictions apply, as with other classes.

Suggestions
The bard class, as written in the Players Handbook, should
probably be dropped from use in play and revised in terms of
hit-point accumulation and overall advancement. For a number
of reasons, I believe Jeff Goelz’s bard (DRAGON issue #56) to
be superior when considering the factors of game balance,
playability, and “realism.”

TABLE 8: LEVEL PROGRESSION FOR BARDS
(Official AD&D character class)

XP	"Fast" bard level	"Slow" bard level
103	1 (fighter)	1 (fighter)
104	4 (fighter)	4 (fighter)
105	8 (bard)1	7 (fighter)
106	15 (bard)1	14 (bard)2
2 x 106	20 (bard)1	19 (bard)2

1 — A “fast” bard is assumed to have expended the
minimum number of experience points in going through
the fighter and thief classes (18,001 for a 5th-level fighter
and 20,001 for a 6th-level thief) before becoming a bard.

2 — A “slow” bard is assumed to have expended the
maximum possible amount of experience points in going
through the fighter and thief classes (125,000 for a 7thlevel
fighter and 110,000 for an 8th-level thief) before
becoming a bard.

TABLE 9: HP PROGRESSION FOR  BARDS
    (Official AD&D Character Class)
                                                    "Fast" bard,                         "Slow" bard, 
                                                     for CON of:                        for CON of:

XP	7-14	16	18	7-14	16	18
103	5.5	7.5	9.5	5.5	7.5	9.5
104	22.0	30.0	38.0	22.0	30.0	38.0
105	55.51	81.51	91.51	38.5	52.5	66.5
106	70.01	102.01	112.01	80.02	116.02	130.02
2 x 106	75.01	107.01	117.01	85.02	121.02	135.02

¹ —The average hit points for a “fast” bard are calculated
by taking the average h.p.’s for the fighter class background
(5.5 h.p, for each of 5 levels), adding the average
h.p.’s for the thief class (3.5 h.p. for 1 level), and then
adding the average h.p.’s for each bard hit die (3.5 h.p. per
die). Constitution bonuses are then added to each hit die;
bards with constitution scores of 17+ receive bonuses to
their hit dice of +3 or more only on their fighter hit dice;
thief and bard hit dice still get a +2 bonus each at best. The
average number of hit points for a 5th-level fighter/6thlevel
thief of 7-14 constitution is 31.

² — The average hit points for a “slow” bard are calculated
as per the note above, except that 7 fighter hit dice
and 1 thief hit die are taken into account. The average
hit-point total for a 7th-level fighter/8th-level thief of 7-14
constitution is 42.

TABLE 10: LEVEL WIDTHS FOR BARD CLASS

Level	Pts.
1	2
2	2
3	4
4	8
5	9
6	15
7	20
8	25
9	25
10	40
11	50
12	200
13	200
14	200
15	200
16	200
17	200
18	200
19	200
20	200
21	200
22	800
23	---

Figures given are in thousands of x.p.’s. The table pertains
only to the bard class as per p. 117 in the Players
Handbook, excluding the initial fighter and thief levels
required to achieve bard status.

The barbarian
A new “official” character class, the barbarian, was introduced
in DRAGON issue #63 by E. Gary Gygax. This is a fighter
sub-class that seems to have been designed as the ultimate
“survivalist”; a barbarian character is very independent, apparently
distrustful of society and magic in general, and prefers to
rely upon his own skills. There is much about this class that I
must confess I like; barbarians have been long overdue for their
share of attention in this game. However, there are some apparent
problems presented in the class as described (with additional
materials provided by Mr. Gygax in DRAGON issue #67).
There are also some unusual features that appear to be inconsistent
with established AD&D rules, though some of these
things may be justified and are not all that unbalancing.

Since the barbarian class is, essentially, just another character
class among many, there seems to be no reason to offer it up
as a pre-determined choice as a character, prior to rolling up
ability scores. If barbarians can do this, why not other classes?
Magic-users could roll 9d6 for intelligence, dropping the lowest
6 results, and so forth. There is no reason to treat barbarians
differently. This option, in fact, has much to recommend it;
rather than having to roll hundreds of times in order to get the
right set of stats for a monk character, one simply selects the
class first, rolls out the characteristics, adjusts them in order to
meet minimum scores, and sets in to play.

There are numerous rules of the AD&D system that the barbarian
class appears to violate:

1. Excessive dexterity bonuses to armor class. Though this
bonus appears very unbalancing at first glance, a little research
reveals that the lowest possible armor class a barbarian in
non-bulky armor could have would be AC -1 (using leather
armor or furs and a small shield). This ability could be easily
justified by noting that barbarians (especially those in fantasy
literature) are highly skilled at dodging blows from their longpracticed
habits of fighting with little armor. Heavier armor
slows them down and they lose this ability. (Note: Mr. Gygax’s
contention that a barbarian could wear chainmail and use a
shield, apparently of any size, and receive an AC of -4, appears
to have been in error (see DRAGON issue #67). Use of any
shield larger than a small one, or any armor bulkier than leather,
removes the added dexterity bonuses to armor class. Overall,
this “violation” is not too bad, considering that not all barbarians
will have dexterity of 18. A fighter in plate mail with magical
and dexterity-related bonuses to armor class can do much
better than that.

2. Lack of an alignment tongue. The Players Handbook says
that all intelligent creatures use alignment tongues, but barbarians
know only a couple of tongues at best; their poor education
could be the reason for this deficiency. Alignment tongues
in general are not innate powers; they must be learned, and
barbarians just don’t have the background (or inclination,
probably) to learn them. This “violation,” too, is no problem.

3. Excessive hit-point bonuses for constitution. Unfortunately,
this “violation” does cause problems. Table 11, which outlines
the level and hit-point progression of the barbarian, shows
that at medium and high x.p. levels, the hit-point average of a
high-constitution barbarian outstrips every other character —
despite the fact that this class gains levels more slowly than all
the rest. It seems unrealistic for a barbarian to so outstrip other
fighter-types; the hit-point average for a barbarian with 18 constitution
in particular appears off-balance in game terms.

4. Exceptionally slow level advancement, and no need for a
tutor or instructor in order to advance in levels. These 2
points are tied together; the latter one, is a “violation” of the
tenets on p. 86 of the Dungeon Masters Guide, and is used to
justify the former point. There is no reason for barbarians to be
exempt from needing tutoring in the art of weapon-wielding, or
other skills such as climbing, hiding, tracking, animal handling,
and so forth. Even Tarzan and his son Korak received tutoring
in these skills, though it came mostly from watching others use
these skills or from the teachings of the Mangani apes who
raised them. The hard knocks are there, as for any other class,
but very few characters could possibly learn to use a sword or
bow to full effect without any instruction.

Level advancement for barbarians is slow enough to make
the class distinctly less effective in combat than other fighters,
even though barbarians would have as many or more hit points.
This deficit, however, appears to be balanced out by the large
number of weapons that barbarians can learn to use, their low
non-proficiency penalty, and their rapid acquisition of new
weapons. Improving level advancement (and the ability to hit
opponents in combat) would unbalance the barbarian class by
making it too powerful.

Even though barbarian characters will have to get used to
rather slow level advancement compared to other classes, this
does not appear to be an exceptionally difficult problem. Lowlevel
barbarians, unless they have very high dexterity (17 or 18),
would be well advised to use heavier armor until their hit points
improve on a par with other fighters, just before 6th level.

5. Ability to strike creatures resistant to non-magical weapons.
At first glance, this ability seems outrageous. No other
player character can attack such monsters without magical
weapons; it seems highly unfair for barbarians to knock off
gargoyles with regular swords. Take a second look at this
ability, though. Barbarians would not gain any bonuses to hit or
damage in such attacks, as regular fighters with magical weapons
would. This ability is also gradual; barbarians of 1st
through 3rd level cannot attack monsters affected only by magical
weapons, only characters of 4th level and above can hit
creatures affected by +1 weapons, etc. Since barbarians abhor
the use of magical weapons, this ability gives characters a
chance to survive encounters with such monsters — though not
quite as good a chance, perhaps, as someone else with a +5
sword would have. I find nothing wrong with this ability, and do
not believe it unbalances the game or the character.

There are some other aspects of the barbarian class that I
have difficulty swallowing, not because the abilities are unreasonable
but because of the loopholes created by their
inclusion, and because some abilities are not well explained.
The “detect magic” ability is not well outlined; it is not clear if
this ability has a range, how often checks must be made to see if
a barbarian recognizes an object as being magical, and how
referees can prevent the players of barbarians characters from
accumulating magical treasure that their characters “don’t
know” is magical.

I would suggest that a barbarian could automatically detect
by touch if something is enchanted; this would be a sure way of
keeping magical weapons and armor out of their hands at any
time. This would serve as a “sixth sense” for barbarians; they
would distrust and possibly fear magical things, and would
want nothing to do with them. This is not an overbalanced
power, since its main function would be to keep the barbarian
“legal,” and also would enable a barbarian to identify an item as
having magical powers or enchantments. However, barbarians
would not care to serve as the “magic detectors” for their
dungeon party. What if there’s a cursed sword in a treasure
pile? What about other sorts of dangerous items? And why
should a barbarian take all the lumps for everyone else? A real
barbarian would clobber anyone who suggests that he or she
serve as an errand-runner for the group. The 5%-per-level ability
to detect magic should not have a range of more than 10’
from the barbarian in any event, and would require concentration
for a full round in order to use. I would suggest that this
power could be used any number of times on an object; sometimes
a barbarian would sense an “aura” and sometimes not.
Sixth senses can be tricky.

Many questions are left unanswered by the secondary and
tertiary abilities listed for this class. Among them:

Exactly how far should a barbarian’s skills be reduced in
effectiveness if the character is operating in unfamiliar terrain?

What bonuses does the horsemanship ability confer? What
difference would it make if someone didn’t have it?

How accurate is “general weather prediction”?

How long does it take to train an animal, build a boat, or
construct a pitfall? How would a typical pitfall work in the
context of the game (chance for pit to be spotted, damage
done, etc.)?

How does the running skill work? Does this mean the barbarian
could travel in a dungeon at a speed of 30”, or that the
character moves at 20 times the normal dungeon movement
rate (about 5’ per second)? Would a running barbarian get
charge bonuses as listed per the DMG, p. 66?

How far can a normal (non-barbarian) character leap and
spring?

Does the “detect illusions” power act in conjunction with a
saving throw vs. an illusion?

How do the rules on first-aid skills work with regard to poisons
and diseases? How long would potion-concoction take?
How effective would it be? What things could be defined as
“natural poisons” and “minor illnesses”?

How does one calculate the effect of charisma values greater
than 25?

One secondary ability that might be added to the list is
knowledge of how to make primitive weapons (spears, javelins,
etc.) and how to fashion armor from leather or furs. This would
keep the barbarian supplied with assuredly non-magical weaponry
and protective clothing. No one said the weapons and
armor would be of high quality, or even good quality, but at
least they would work, and replacement would be cheap.

All in all, barbarians seem very acceptable in the AD&D
game. My strongest suggestion for the class would be to drop
the constitution bonuses and use the older system of +1 hp per
constitution point over 14, unless it could be shown that the
extra hit points are essential for the character’s survival. I am
not inclined to believe this is so.

I also have some questions about the slow level advancement,
though this is still, for reasons explained, within acceptable
margins. Secondary and tertiary abilities should be more
clearly described to eliminate areas of confusion; too much is
left to the referee’s whims in interpreting them in game
situations.

When I first saw this class, and for some time afterward, I
really felt it was way out of whack with the game system. After
sitting down and literally taking it apart, however, I find that it is
‘not as bad as I’d thought; in fact, it seems that this class would
work quite well. What bothered me most were the inability to
use magical items (though it is interesting to imagine a character
doing without them), the various combat abilities (which
seem to balance out anyway), the hit-point bonuses (which still
bother me), and the saving-throw bonuses (which also bother
me). The bonuses to saving throws seem rather unreasonable,
and justification for them seems hard to find.

At any rate, I would accept barbarian characters into my
AD&D campaigns as written. It would be nice to iron some
things out, but it still seems to work.

Author’s note: Interested persons may want to know what the
chances are of getting high ability scores using the “roll 9d6
and drop the 6 lowest” method recommended for generating a
barbarian’s strength. By the use of a complex formula (not
reproduced here), the probability of getting a score of 18 using
this method is about 17.75%. The probability of rolling a score
of 15 or better using this method works out to 62.2%. There is
one chance in 10,077,696 of rolling a 3 (in this case, all of the
dice would have to come up l’s). With their strength generated
by this method, most barbarians end up with physiques like
Arnold Schwarzenegger.

TABLE 11: LEVEL AND HP PROGRESSION 
FOR BARBARIANS (Official AD&D character class) 
                                                        HP Averages

XP	Level	7-14 Con	16 Con	18 Con
103	1	8.251	12.25	16.25
104	2	14.75	22.75	30.75
105	6	40.75	64.75	88.75
106	92	57.75	89.75	121.75
2 x 106	92	65.76	97.75	129.75

¹ — Though barbarians at 1st level use a d12 for hit
points, results of 1-6 are counted as 7. This procedure
also affects all future determinations of hit-point average.

² — At the listed amount of x.p.’s, the character is 1 x.p.
short of entering the next level.

TABLE 12: LEVEL WIDTHS FOR BARBARIANS
(Figures are in thousands of points)

Level	Pts.
1	6
2	6
3	12
4	24
5	32
6	70
7	125
8	225
9+	500

TABLE 13: HP PROGRESSION 
FOR BARBARIANS (suggested)
(If only +1 HP per CON point over 14 is allowed)
                                                                      HP averages

XP	7-14 Con	16 Con	18 Con
103	8.25	10.25	12.25
104	14.75	18.75	22.75
105	40.75	52.75	64.75
106	57.75	73.75	89.75
2 x 106	65.75	81.75	97.75