2nd Edition
2nd edition introduced a large number of alternative classes in various supplemental handbooks, which also introduced a variety of "kits" to customize each base class. These kits would grant certain new special abilities at the cost of various restrictions. On occasion the concept of class vs. kit seemed to blur, for example, the Sha'ir of Al-Qadim was introduced as a wizard kit, but it had very different abilities from other wizards, and an alternative system of spellcasting, which warranted it being a class, and not a mere kit. Possibly for these reasons, it was promoted to a class in the release of The Complete Sha'ir's Handbook. As can be seen on the lists below, 2nd Edition had far more alternative classes than 1st Edition, and provided significant flexibility with dozens of kits.
The most common type of variant class was the specialty priest, which applied to almost all settings. Rules for specialty priests were in the 2nd edition Player's Handbook, with the druid offered as an example, and many campaign settings offered detailed abilities and domains for specialty priests of their deities.
Read more about this topic: List Of Alternative Dungeons & Dragons Classes
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