RPGs can often have some of the most weird classes in video games. While we often argue about some of the most interesting and powerful class/job systems in the game, there are a few that are so obscure that it’ll give you a headache trying to even play as that class.
Sometimes these weird classes can be just an internal, hilarious joke that the developers pulled. But sometimes it’s just a result of poor system testing and planning.
Most Weird Classes in RPGs
Final Fantasy Tactics (Calculator)
The Final Fantasy franchise is famous all over the world for being one of the most popular RPGs. There are a lot of spin-offs that came out of the series. One of them in particular turned into a fan favorite.
Final Fantasy Tactics is a game that is loved by many for being a game that explores how amazing class/job systems in JRPGs are. While also experimenting with some of the very weird classes ever seen in Final Fantasy. One such class is the Calculator class, also known as Arithmetician.
The Main job of the Calculator class involves accurately measuring character stats to cast spells. This allows for precise damage on spell casting. As a result, they are also considered one of the most ‘broken’ classes to play with among the fanbase.
But being broken doesn’t make it an easy to pick up job. Using a Calculator class is weird, as unlike a regular spell-casting class, one can’t rely on the tried and true MP regain and usage method. Players will actually have to rely on calculations and maintain parameters for spell casting to fully utilize the job.
Bravely Default (Salve-Maker)
Bravely Default can be considered the spiritual successor to classic Final Fantasy. As the modern titles in the franchise have moved away to focus on action combat gameplay, Bravely Default is one of the few Square Enix JRPGs from the Nintendo DS era that uses the job system.
However, we want to highlight one weird class system from the game, which is the Salve-Maker. With so many combat classes to choose from, the salve-maker seems like the most absurd one to choose.
The Salve-Maker class gets access to a unique ability that sets it apart. The compounding ability allows them to combine items and potentially craft something completely new. This brings in an unusual style of gameplay to the overall game, often resulting in unexpected outcomes.
But it is also very weird because of the unconventional nature of using a class that just combines items, while the rest of the party is busy with encounters and regular combat in the usual classes.
Dark Souls (Deprived)
If there is one RPG franchise that has become incredibly popular in the past few decades, then it has to be Dark Souls. It created a whole new sub-genre of action games called Souls-likes. Now, every time fans see the words ‘FROMSOFTWARE’ during game announcements, they scream with joy.
In the Dark Souls series, once you boot up a fresh new game, you are introduced to the character creation screen. There are a lot of classes to choose from, each of which gives players various weapons and items to kick off things with.
Out of all of these, there’s an option to pick a class called ‘deprived’. It’s probably the most weird and useless class one can choose. It sends the players out with the absolute minimum points on all stats, bare minimum experience points, and absolutely no armor or strong weapons.
The Deprived is a one-of-a-kind joke class that has become a staple in Souls games. Nowadays, a class that represents the bare minimum appears quite often in most games. Challenge game completionists and speed runners always like using these classes.
South Park: The Stick of Truth (Jew)
South Park is definitely one of the most controversial media out there. A Western animated show that parodies everything in the world. The show gets into trouble quite often, getting involved in politics and celebrity gossip.
So naturally, the brightest thing to do was expand upon the controversies by bringing the IP to video games. South Park: The Stick of Truth is a 2012 RPG that is made by Obsidian Entertainment in collaboration with the South Park studio.
Being an RPG, South Park does the needful by allowing players to choose their own job systems. But then you will pass the screen to see something that is insanely controversial, given the current political weather.
The game introduces a class that is literally called ‘Jew’ as a jab at Jewish people. The developers made sure this class is as weird as possible. Since the main thing about ‘Jew class’ in South Park: The Stick of Truth is gaining bonuses and rewards, the more they take damage.
Ragnarok Online (TaeKwon Master)
Ragnarok Online is one of the oldest MMOs that was at the height of its popularity back in the early 2000s. Nowadays, most people don’t remember it as much, grander alternatives have shown up.
Talking about the game in general, it was your regular run-of-the-mill fantasy MMORPG that spanned across multiple media. Being an MMO, Ragnarok Online had a lot of classes to choose from as they kept adding over time. This resulted in a lot of unique class types throughout the game’s life.
One of these class systems was the TaeKwon Master. At first, it seems like any other regular martial arts/monk class. But once you start playing, you will realize it is one of the most weird classes one can choose to play.
The whole combat system of the TaeKwon Master relies on knowledge about the celestials, stars, suns, and moons. In other words, according to the date and time, the character’s combat abilities will change.
This is very weird as it brings in several conditions that restrict effective play for any new player. But it also spices things up but generally making the approach to combat harder.
Final Fantasy III (Onion Knight)
Heading back to the world of Final Fantasy RPGs, we are taking a game that is even older than the one we mentioned earlier. Final Fantasy III is a game that was released only in Japan back in the Famicom days in 1990.
This game had all the regular classes that you get in classic Final Fantasy. But it also introduced one of the most weird classes ever seen in a Final Fantasy game. That is the Onion Knight class, which is also the default job class in the game.
A lot of weird things are going on with the Onion Knight class in Final Fantasy III. They have very poor stat distribution and limited equipment to carry. The class starts getting better only when the player hits around level 90. It was brought back as a secret class system in the Nintendo DS remake of the game.
Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (Alchemy)
Monster Hunter is a kind of video game developed by the amazing people at Capcom. It’s a title where players get to live the power fantasy of hunting down mythical creatures larger than life.
The franchise started gaining traction all over the world, starting with the release of Monster Hunter World. But that game brought a lot of changes to Monster Hunter. Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is the culmination of everything great assembled from the old titles.
It introduced a system that is very akin to RPG class systems, and is called style. This granted special combat attributes unique to hunters. One of these styles was the ‘alchemy style,’ which is considered one of the most out-of-place weird classes in a Monster Hunter game.
A title about having epic moments of clash against gigantic monsters, you don’t want to be running around picking up barrels and shaking them to generate stuff.
