Subclasses

Subclasses (サブ職業 sabu shokugyou) are a feature of the MMORPG Elder Tale. Characters in Elder Tale can have one of over 90 different subclasses, which can either provide bonuses for the player or simply serve as a roleplaying tool.

(Note: A number of subclasses mentioned on this page are not used in the series and thus have little information about them.)

Overview
While classes cannot be changed after being chosen, subclasses do not have this restriction, making it possible for players to change their subclass. Experience points for subclasses are independent of those of the major classes and are relatively easy to acquire.

Subclasses during the game era were divided into three types: Production, Role-Playing, and Titles. They were acquired by approaching an NPC with the subclass-changing quest. Some subclasses don't require further action and can be acquired immediately, while some others require leveling another subclass first or completing a series of quests.

While only one subclass can be used at a time, most previous subclasses' experience points and skills will simply be "overwritten" and can be switched back with the appropriate quest. An exception is made for particularly special, difficult-to-acquire, or event-related subclasses; those require a subclass-removal quest that erases all EXP and skills attained from them before the player can switch to a new subclass.

While Adventurers are limited to having the twelve main classes, People of the Land are capable of having player subclasses serve as their primary occupation. Some subclasses are found only on Landers, though there have been instances where popular demand made developers implement formerly Lander-only occupations as player subclasses. There are also special Player-made contracts that can grant subclasses to People of the Land, though this was only possible after the Catastrophe.

After the Catastrophe, due to the dangers of hunting and fighting with one's own body rather than controlling a character from a computer, many players switched over from combat to crafting subclasses. This, in turn, has made collecting ingredients that much harder.

Later on, subclasses were discovered to have more potential than their previous game counterparts, such as Chefs being able to create food with real flavor. As a result, Overskills began to develop, allowing magic and objects not native to Elder Tale to be created.

Production Subclasses
Production Subclasses (生産系 seizan-kei) provide players with the ability to create and craft items. There are many players who prefer crafting items to aid their comrades in fighting monsters or exploring dungeons. Many guilds dedicate themselves to producing items and are important pillars of Elder Tale's economy.

It is fairly easy to learn a production subclass. One just needs to buy an instruction manual from People of the Land and can start accumulating experience points.

After the Homesteading the Noosphere update, items that were unavailable in the game prior to the update can be created by players with appropriate subclasses and with high enough levels.

Role-Playing Subclasses
Instead of creating and crafting items, players may choose role-playing subclasses (ロール系 rooru kei). Some are known to give additional stats or other benefits, while others are primarily for entertainment value and are considered as a joke or gimmick subclasses.

After the Catastrophe, some role-playing subclasses have slowly become more practical. In some cases, role-playing subclasses have begun to toe the line of being true production subclasses.

In addition to Elder Tale's standard role-playing subclasses, Shiroe was able to use his skills as a scribe to create a new "adventurer" subclass.

Titles
Titles are a special type of subclass that can only be unlocked by players after completing a specific task or equipment. Some are considered legendary due to the limited amount of players who can acquire them and have already been acquired by famous players since the start of the game. They are known to grant abilities that will benefit players in and out of battle.

Player-Made Subclasses
After the Catastrophe, it became possible for Scribes to create new subclasses by using contracts. This ability is only known by few due to the chaos it may cause if disclosed to the public. For instance, the new subclass Adventurer can change the nature of a People of the Land and grant them the abilities of an Adventurer, including the ability to resurrect after death.

Lander Subclasses
People of the Land have subclasses that only they possess, some of them designating that they are People of the Land rather than an Adventurer.

Trivia

 * It seems as though server-unique classes can become subclasses on other servers. For example, the Exorcist and Pirate classes of the Western European and North American servers are subclasses on the Japanese server.
 * Although Elder Maid was listed as a Lander-only subclass on official material, Indicus somehow has that instead of the typical Maid subclass.