#i am not tagging with every single naddpod or d20 campaign thanks

[utilitycaster]

Updated Class Choices in Actual Play: main PCs

Original post here, I’m just doing the whole thing again instead of reblogging or something like that. Since making this post I’ve fully caught up with NADDPod and RQG and there’s been several new D20 seasons, so LET’S GO

potential spoilers for anything that isn’t a one-shot in Critical Role, TAZ Balance or Graduation, NADDPod, RQG, Relics and Rarities, and all D20 seasons. Also for reference: I’m counting Trinyvale and The Mavrus Chronicles as main campaigns, as well as all the D20 sidequests.

If a player or a PC leaves/character dies mid-campaign the character still counts as a main PC, as does that player’s replacement if the player themselves didn’t leave (eg: both Scanlan and Taryon are considered main PCs for CR campaign 1).

In a couple cases I did have to guess regarding what the base class was, for characters who were multiclass builds from the start, and I’ll note that.

Rusty Quill Gaming is pathfinder rather than D&D, and subclasses don’t fully line up (as for classes, most do and I’m counting Cel’s class as Artificer/Alchemist subclass in D&D).

In the case of subclass or class changes, which has happened a few times in D20 in particular, I’ve noted the change

Keep reading if you want the actual information!

Fighter is the most common, with 11, plus two multiclass dips into fighter. And, like D&D at large, human fighter is a very popular race/class combination. Champion is the most common subclass, with four characters (Magnus from TAZ, Hardwon from NADDPod, Fabian from Fantasy High, and Veros from Relics and Rarities). All but Fabian are humans, at least to start off, and Fabian and later Hardwon are half-elves. Bertie from RQG likely would have been the champion archetype in D&D as well. There are two battlemasters (Boomer and Jet, both from D20), and then it’s all over the place. The multiclassers are both barbarians multiclassed into battlemaster (Grog and Amethar). Of the fighters, one multiclassed into a rogue, one into a bard, and one (Jet) switched into fighter having originally been a rogue.

[edit on Nov 28 per an anon ask - Magnus is actually a Battlemaster despite Big Champion Energy! which means of the fighter-as-main-class, we have 3 each of champions and battlemasters, and Bertie from RQG which is pathfinder, and then one each of gunslinger (Percy), eldritch knight (Theo), arcane archer (Hungry Dave), and echo knight (Henry)]

Cleric is next up with 10, plus three characters who multiclassed into cleric. There’s no clear favorite for subclass - grave is the only domain with two characters (Caduceus and Efink) and the rest vary. Two characters, Kristen Applebees and Zolf Smith, have changed domains (and deities) over the courses of their respective campaigns. All but one of the dwarven main characters in actual play has been a cleric, and there have been a few humans, but otherwise it’s again pretty scattered. The multiclasses have also not shown a clear favorite (1 war, 1 city, 1 tempest). Note: I considered Fia and Saccharina both to be multiclasses into cleric, as well as Bob; no cleric base classes have multiclassed into another class. All the multiclasses into cleric are other spellcasting classes (wizard, sorcerer, and bard).

Barbarian and rogue are tied with 9 characters each, plus one multiclass into barbarian and three into rogue.

Barbarian: three berserkers, two each of ancestral guardian and zealot, and one each of wild soul and storm herald. There are two half-orcs and otherwise no race preference. As mentioned, two multiclassed into battlemaster fighters; there’s also a multiclass from barbarian into sorcerer (Fitzroy) and artificer (Gorgug). The lone multiclass into barbarian is Moonshine Cybin, a druid.

Rogue: there are two arcane tricksters, two inquisitives, and two swashbucklers, plus an assassin, a mastermind, and Sasha Racket who in D&D would probably be a thief. Thanks to D20 being like “toy is a race now” it’s hard to say what the overall race breakdown is, even counting all A Crown of Candy characters as human variants, but there are 1.5 goblins (Nott/Veth being the 0.5) and three confirmed humans (Ruby Rocks, Sasha Racket, and Marcus St. Vincent). Of the multiclasses into rogue, two are rangers who chose the assassin subclass (Vex and Liam Wilhemina) and one is a fighter (Magnus Burnsides, subclass not clear). The two rogues who multiclassed are Vax, who took levels in vengeance paladin and one in druid, and Ruby, who took levels in shadow sorcerer. (note: Jet Rocks is counted as a fighter as she gave up her rogue class entirely, but she was a rogue to start)

Bard is next with 8 characters, all but one of whom (swords) is a lore subclass, with one multiclass into bard. Fig Faeth was formerly a college of whispers bard, but switched into lore during Fantasy High Live. There are two tieflings and two fairies from D20, who I believe use elf stats, plus a high elf, a human, a gnome, and an aasimar. The multiclass into bard is Fabian Seacaster, a fighter; the multiclasses from a bard base class are Fig (into hexblade) and Bob (into city cleric).

Druid and Paladin are the next most common, with six characters; there is one multiclass into druid and two into paladin (and Vax is responsible for most of this)

Druid: The only repeat subclass is circle of the shepherd (Kugrash and Lillith) - the rest all again all over the place, and all six have different races. The multiclass into druid is the aforementioned Vax (rogue and paladin); the only druid to multiclass out is the aforementioned Moonshine (into barbarian).

Paladin: two oath of devotion (one of which, Ricky Matsui, switched to oath of redemption), one oath of the ancients and for a while, vengeance (Beverly), one oathbreaker (Cody “Night Angel” Walsh) and two are from pathfinder and difficult to determine from a D&D standpoint (Grizzop, of Artemis, and Azu, of Aphrodite). The races are completely all over the place again. None of the paladins have multiclassed, but there are two multiclasses into paladin (Vax and Fjord, a rogue and warlock respectively, into oath of vengeance and oath of the open sea, also respectively).

We have a four-way tie for next most common, with five each of ranger, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard.

Ranger: two beast master, two gloomstalker, and a hunter. There are two half-elves (Vex and Nyack) and no other real patterns. No one has multiclassed into ranger, but Vex and Liam W. both as mentioned multiclassed into assassin rogues.

Sorcerer: three draconic, one storm, and one wild magic. Two are human, and there are no other preferences for race. One (Saccharina) multiclassed into tempest cleric, and there are two multiclasses into sorcerer, both from battle classes (Fitzroy, a barbarian, into wild magic, and Ruby, a rogue, into shadow).

Warlock: three are hexblades, because let’s face it that class is extremely cool, one is a celestial warlock and one is a genie. No significant race overlap (technically, Lapin Cadbury uses the human stat block, and Iga is human) (I am assuming pactwraiths have revenant stats but like. who knows). The common ground for multiclassing into warlock is “Emily Axford likes to play hexblades”, with both Fig and Sofia taking levels in it; Fjord is the only warlock to multiclass out, into oath of the open sea paladin.

Wizard: two transmutation, one divination, one necromancer, and one chronurgist. Two are high elves, with no other preferences for race; Fia is the only one to have multiclassed (into war cleric) and no one has multiclassed into wizard.

And finally, tied for last but with four each, we have monk and artificer.

Monk: no subclass overlap until Sofia switched to Way of Shadow, but three are humans and one is probably a human equivalent (bittyfolk from Tiny Heist) - the subclasses represented are Cobalt Soul, Drunken Master, Shadow, and Long Death. No multiclasses into monk (like ranger, monk doesn’t offer too many benefits in a multiclass dip) but Sofia Bicicleta took a level in hexblade warlock.

Artificer: despite not being made official until relatively recently, this caught up, thanks to Zonk Verbena Zirk Vervain. Three are either alchemists or probably the equivalent thereof (Taryon is based on the UA version but is pretty clearly not a gunsmith, and Cel’s class is technically Alchemist, not Artificer, but Artificer with the alchemist subclass is probably the closest 5e equivalent), and one is an artillerist; no race preference. None have multiclassed, but Gorgug (barbarian) has taken a level in artificer.

And finally, there is one Bloodhunter, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Lucien is his name, murdering Cerberus Assembly members is his game.

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several other fun facts from the giant list I made to do this:

Number of characters who have switched races or bodies during their campaign: 3

Number of characters who have switched deities/patrons during their campaign: 7

Number of characters who have briefly not had a class while their party was mid-level, with said change representing a major turning point for their character, but then came back stronger than ever having addressed the negative behaviors they learned from a seafaring father figure and having acquired a new plot-relevant weapon, and immediately multiclassed into a class that uses charisma for spellcasting: only two but it’s weird it happened twice

Number of characters whose first name or nickname is a food or drink: 6

Number of characters whose first name or nickname is a food or drink from A Crown of Candy: 0

Number of characters who typically go by only one name (ie, actively do not use their last name or any titles): 18

Number of characters who go by a given name and title/descriptor (eg: Adjective Firstname, Firstname the Title, Firstname of the Place): 8

Number of characters with three-part names (first, middle, last): 2

Number of characters with four-part names (first, two middles/a two-word nickname, last): 3

Number of characters with no name: 1

Percival Friedrickstein Von Musel Klossowski De Rolo III: but you can call him Percy