Level title

A level title is a system whereby each level of a character class is given a special name. It is usually associated with earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons.

History

Original D&D

Level titles first appeared in the original D&D game in Men & Magic (1974). In that edition, each character class had a different name for each level, rather than simply a number.

For example, a first-level magic-user is known as a Medium. At each subsequent level they become known as a Seer, Conjurer, Theurgist, Thaumaturgist, Magician, Enchanter, Warlock, Sorcerer, Necromancer, and, at 11th level, a Wizard. Thereafter they are simply known as a 12th-level Wizard, 13th level Wizard, and so on.

The basis for this came from the Chainmail wargame. Individual troops where classified as "Men" (the became the basis for the "0-level Man"), while special characters who stood out form the masses would have special titles and rules. A "Hero" could fight as four men, and be the last man killed in a unit, while a "Super Hero" (this is more Conan the Barbarian or King Arthur than Superman or Batman) is eight-men strong. In the OD&D rules, a fourth-level Fighting-Man becomes a Hero, with all the benefit in a large battle. Likewise, an eight-level Fighting-Man becomes a Super Hero with the ability to kill up to eight (level 0) men in a single round of combat. (The large assortment of low-level monsters per encounter in the OD&D books reflected the power of even medium-level characters.)

Chainmail also had Wizards with variable degrees of magical and fighting ability, each with titles that became the basis for the Magic-User class: Magician (6th level Magic-User), Warlock (8th), Sorcerer (9th) and Wizard (11th).

Basic D&D

The various versions of Basic D&D, based on Original D&D, continued to use level titles. The Basic Rules (BECMI) (1983) used level titles, but the subsequent Rules Cyclopedia (1991) did not.

AD&D 1st edition

OD&D's level titles continued to be used in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, first appearing in the Players Handbook (1e) (1978).

AD&D 2nd edition onward

Level titles no longer appeared from AD&D 2nd edition (1989) onward.

Some level titles were re-used for other purposes. In AD&D 2nd edition, Warrior (previously a 2nd level fighting-man was now a category containing fighter, paladin and ranger; and Wizard was now a category containing mage and various specialist wizards, which would use former level titles for the names of the Enchanter and Necromancer.

D&D 3rd edition onward used sorcerer and later warlock as separate character classes. In OD&D, those names had been level titles for an 8th and 9th level magic-user respectively. D&D 3e also used warrior as an NPC class.

D&D 4th edition introduced a class called the slayer, a name which had been a level title for a 4th level assassin.

List of Titles

Original D&D Titles

Level	Fighting-Man	Magic-User	Cleric	Thief
1	Veteran	Medium	Acolyte	Apprentice
2	Warrior	Seer	Adept	Footpad
3	Swordsman	Conjurer	Village Priest	Robber
4	Hero	Theurgist	Vicar	Burglar
5	Swashbuckler	Magician	Curate	Cutpurse
6	Myrmidon	Enchanter	Bishop	Sharper
7	Champion	Warlock	Lama	Pilferer
8	Superhero	Sorcerer	Patriarch	Master Pilferer
9	Lord	Necromancer	Patriarch, 9th	Thief
10	Lord, 10th	Wizard	Patriarch, 10th	Master Thief

Level	Druid	Monk	Assassin
1	Aspirant	Novice	Apprentice
2	Initiate of the 1st Circle	Initiate	Killer
3	Initiate of the 2nd Circle	Disciple	Murderer
4	Initiate of the 3rd Circle	Immaculate	Slayer
5	Initiate of the 4th Circle	Master	Cutthroat
6	Initiate of the 5th Circle	Grand Master	Dacoit
7	Initiate of the 6th Circle	Grand Master of Dragons	Thug
8	Initiate of the 7th Circle	Grand Master of North Winds	Executioner
9	Initiate of the 8th Circle	Grand Master of West Winds	Assassin
10	Initiate of the 9th Circle	Grand Master of South Winds	Senior Assassin
11	Druid	Grand Master of East Winds	Expert Assassin
12	Archdruid	Grand Master of Winter	Chief Assassin
13	The Grand Druid	Grand Master of Autumn	Prime Assassin
14		Grand Master of Summer	Guildmaster of Assassins
15		Grand Master of Spring
16		Grand Master of Flowers

Advanced D&D Titles

Level	Fighter	Magic-User	Cleric	Thief
1	Veteran	Medium (or Prestidigitator)	Acolyte	Apprentice
2	Warrior	Seer (or Evoker)	Adept	Footpad
3	Swordmaster	Conjurer	Priest	Robber
4	Hero (or Crusader)	Theurgist (or Thaumaturgist)	Vicar	Burglar
5	Swashbuckler	Magician	Curate	Cutpurse
6	Myrmidon	Enchanter/Enchantress	Bishop	Sharper
7	Champion	Warlock	Lama	Pilferer
8	Superhero (or Sentinel)	Sorcerer/Sorceress	Patriarch/Matriarch	Master Pilferer
9	Lord	Necromancer	High Priest	Thief (or Rogue)
10	Lord, 10th	Wizard/Archmaguse	High Priest, 10th	Master Thief

Level	Paladin	Ranger	Illusionist	Bard
1	Gallant	Runner	Prestidigitator	Ryymer
2	Keeper	Strider	Minor Trickster	Lyrist
3	Protector	Scout	Trickster	Sonnateer
4	Defender	Courser	Master Trickster	Skald
5	Warder	Tracker	Cabalist	Racaraide
6	Guardian	Guide	Visionist	Joungleur
7	Chevalier	Pathfinder	Phantasmist	Troubador
8	Justiciar	Ranger	Apparitionist	Minstrel
9	Paladin	Ranger Knight	Spellbinder	Muse
10	Paladin, 10th	Ranger Lord	Illusionist	Lorist
11		Ranger Lord, 11th	Illusionist, 11th	Bard
12				Master Bard
13				Master Bard, 13th

Level	Druid	Monk	Assassin*
1	Aspirant	Novice	Bravo
2	Ovate	Initiate	Rutterkin
3	Initiate of the 1st Circle	Brother	Waghalter
4	Initiate of the 2nd Circle	Immaculate	Murderer
5	Initiate of the 3rd Circle	Disciple	Thug
6	Initiate of the 4th Circle	Master	Killer
7	Initiate of the 5th Circle	Superior Master	Cutthroat
8	Initiate of the 6th Circle	Grand Master of Dragons	Executioner
9	Initiate of the 7th Circle	Grand Master of North Winds	Assassin
10	Initiate of the 8th Circle	Grand Master of West Winds	Expert Assassin
11	Initiate of the 9th Circle	Grand Master of South Winds	Senior Assassin
12	Druid	Grand Master of East Winds	Chief Assassin
13	Archdruid	Grand Master of Winter	Prime Assassin
14	The Grand Druid	Grand Master of Autumn	Guildmaster Assassin
15		Grand Master of Summer	Grandfather of Assassins
16		Grand Master of Spring
17		Grand Master of Flowers

Unearthed Arcana

Level	Druid (Hierophant)	Cavalier	Thief-Acrobat
1	(as Druid)	Armiger	(as Thief)
2	' '	Scutifer	' '
3	' '	Esquire	' '
4	' '	Knight Errant	' '
5	' '	Knight Bachelor	' '
6	' '	Knight	Burglar-Acrobat
7	' '	Knight Grand	Second-Story Thief
8	' '	Knight Banneret	Cat Burglar
9	' '	Chevalier	Master Cat Burglar
10	' '	Cavalier	Thief-Acrobat
11	' '	Cavalier 11th	Master Thief-Acrobat
11	' '		Master Thief-Acrobat, 12th
12	' '
13	' '
14	' '
15	The Grand Druid
16	Hierophant Druid
17	Hierophant Initiate
18	Hierophant Adept
19	Hierophant Master
20	Numinous Hierophant
21	Mystic Hierophant
22	Arcane Hierophant
23	Hierophant of the Cabal

Reception and influence

In 2021, Tim Kask noted that level titles created additional work for designers. "That was one of the hardest parts of making a new character class, was finding names for the various levels. How many synonyms can you find for thief?"

The level title system is used by the D&D-inspired roguelike computer RPG NetHack.