Minimalist B/X classes (warlord, white mage)

One of the best things about B/X is how simple and flexible it is. It is very easy to create new classes, and you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of homebrew classes out there. There are books in DTRPG with dozens of classes, for example. Which is fine. 

My only problem with this is - each class takes one, two or even three pages. I'm not convinced that this is a good idea. It makes the whole harder to grasp, and I tend to think that you should not need to read 100 pages of races and classes to create a PC. 

I like going the opposite route instead - not 100 pages with 50 options, but, say, 30 pages with 100 options.

And B/X is perfect for that. A new class does not need its own weapons, saving throws, XP progression, etc. A paragraph and a few references to existing classes are enough. Here is one example (this is partly adapted from Old School Feats, which contain 35 "feat packages" that work roughly like that).

Art by Larry Elmore

---

Warlord
Prime requisite: Strength.
Requirements: Strength 9, Charisma 9.
XP: as magic-user.
Everything else: identical to the Fighter.

War leader. You can shout orders to attack (+1 to attack and damage rolls) or defend (+1 to AC and saving throws), plus +1 morale, affecting yourself, allies and followers within 60’ that can hear you for one turn. You can only affect intelligent creatures that are willing to follow you, and your allies can only benefit from an order (either attack or defend) at once. Make a Charisma check; failure means you cannot repeat this until next day.

Leadership. Add three to your maximum number of hirelings, and your hirelings get +1 to morale when you hire them.

Authority. Due to your leadership qualities, you may be granted a barony starting on level 7. Your costs to build a castle or stronghold are reduced by 20%. 

---

And... that's it. I might add another feature to make PC level more relevant, and maybe a brief description about what being a warlord means, but I find this an interesting class as written. And it fits less than half a page.

BTW, I'd definitely allow a fighter to simply BECOME a warlord at any point, current XP unchanged. Maybe even at level 7 - you have 64,000 XP, take your barony, when you get to 150,000 XP you can get to level 8 - you've spend more time ruling than fighting.

Let's try another class.

Alternate Magic has five new classes - some are written using the "traditional" method (with their own unique XP tables etc.), while others use a slimmer version. For example:

---

White Mage

Prime requisite, HD, XP, Armor, Weapons, Attack bonus, and Saving throws: As magic-user.

White Mages are wizards that choose the path of healing and protection, eschewing death and destruction. They cast spells like magic-users of the same level (i.e., identical spell progression), and Turn Undead as clerics of the same level.

White Magic. White Mages can learn cleric spells and magic-user spells. However, they cannot learn spells that cause damage or death, nor cast reversed spells. Alternatively, casting such spells makes them temporarily lose their powers (until a quest is completed, a long time has passed, etc., at referee’s discretion; the limitations are comparable to the traditional cleric).

Improved healing. White mages double the number of HP healed when they use healing spells. In addition, they can spend any prepared spell to heal 1d6 per spell level. 

---

As you can see, you play with existing structures (what I often call multipurpose mechanics), instead of rewriting (or recreating) entire classes.

Dark Fantasy Basic has only the four basic classes, that can be customized to taste. But I like these class packages - might add them in a second edition of the game, if this ever happens. Or maybe make twenty-ish minimalist classes, plus additional feats to build your own class. Or should I create an OSE-compatible book of minimalist classes? 

Does any of these sound interesting to you?