Class Options in BECMI

Over the years, one of the common topics of discussion among BECMI, and those of the other Classic D&D editions, players has been the "limited" class options in the game. It's always tempting to write up a bunch of homebrew classes, or try and split up the races and classes like AD&D did, but it occurs to me that if we take a look at what's really there for the game, some of that temptation. Let's flip through the various books and review, then we can decide what, if anything, is missing.

"Core" BECMI rulebooks:
Basic: 
Cleric
Fighter
Magic User
Thief
Dwarf
Elf
Halfling

Expert: 
No new options

Companion:
Druid (high level Cleric subclass)
Knight (high level Fighter subclass)
Paladin (high level Fighter subclass)
Ranger (high level Fighter subclass)
Magist (high level Magic User "subclass", more of a role than a class, no real unique abilities)
Magus (high level Magic User "subclass", more of a role than a class, no real unique abilities)
Guildmaster  (high level Thief "subclass", more of a role than a class, no real unique abilities)
Rogue  (high level Thief "subclass", more of a role than a class, no real unique abilities)

Master:
Mystic (sort of a cloistered monk class)
Guidelines for non-human (and non-elf) spellcasters, handy if you use one of the spellcasting add ons for shaman types found in the books below.

Immortals:
This set obviously introduces a bunch of new options for ultra-high level PCs, but these are beyond the scope of basic class options.

Gazetteer 2, The Emireates of Ylaruam
Dervish (a desert themed druid variant)

Gazetteer 3, The Principalities of Glantri
Magic Crafts: (variant "specialty" class options for magic users)
Alchemist
Dracologist
Elementalist
Illusionist
Necromancer
Cryptomancer
Witch
Radiant

Gazetteer 5, The Elves of Alfheim
Special rules for "splitting" the elf class to focus on either fighting or magic use

Gazetteer 6, The Dwarves of Rockhome
Dwarf Cleric

Gazetteer 8, The Five Shires
Halfling Master (Spellcasting class for Halflings)

Gazetteer 9, The Minrothad Guilds
Merchant Prince (seafaring spellcaster with a pirate flavor)

Gazetteer 10, The Orcs of Thar
Kobold
Goblin
Orc
Hobgoblin
Gnoll
Bugbear
Ogre
Troll
These are all basically fighter type classes for the various humanoid races.
Shaman (this is an add on to the race based classes above, giving them minor cleric spellcasting)
Wicca (this is an add on to the race based classes above, giving them minor magic user spellcasting)

Gazetteer 11, The Republic of Darokin
Merchant (a travelling trader with minor spellcasting)

Gazetteer 12, The Golden Khan of Ethengar
Horse Warrior (a fighter subclass for the mounted warrior)
Bratak (a thief subclass with a penchant for spying, diplomacy and riding)
Hakomon (a magic user variant)
Shaman (a cleric variant for the less civilized)

Gazetter 13, The Shadow Elves
Shadow Elf (a minor variation on standard elves)

Gazetteer 14, The Atruaghin Clans
Shamani (another totemic cleric variant)

Dawn of the Emperors Gazetteer (Boxed Set)
Forester (a human version of the magic using fighter elf class)
Rake (a thief variant geared toward burglary and adventuring instead of backstabbing and muggings)

Creature Crucible 1 - Tall Tales of the Wee Folk
Centaur
Dryad
Faun
Hsiao
Treant
Wood Imp
Brownie
Leprechaun
Pixie
Sprite
Pooka
Sidhe
Woodrake
These are, with a couple exceptions, just the typical "fighter" versions of these races, but as with the Orcs of Thar, rules are included for adding on to the class to grant some spellcasting abilities as well.

Creature Crucible 2 - Top Ballista
Faenare
Gnome
Skygnome
Gremlin
Harpy
Nagpa
Pegataur
Sphinx
Tabi
These are, with a couple exceptions, just the typical "fighter" versions of these races, but as with the Orcs of Thar, rules are included for adding on to the class to grant some spellcasting abilities as well.

Creature Crucible 3 - The Sea Folk
Aquatic Elf
Kna
Kopru
Merrow
Nixie
Sea Giant
Shark Kin
Triton

Creature Crucible 4 - Night Howlers
Werewolf
Werebat
Werebear
Wereboar
Werefox
Wereseal
Wereshark
Weretiger
Devil Swine
Wererat

Hollow World Campaign Setting
Warrior Elf (an elf variant with no magical ability)
Beastman
Bruteman
Hutaakan
Krugel Orc
Kubitt (actually just a variant human "race", they use the normal human classes but have racial modifiers and abilities)
Malpheggi Lizardman
Once again, rules are included for adding on to the class to grant some spellcasting abilities as well.

Hollow World, Kingdom of Nithia Sourcebook
Archer
Charioteer
Heavyman
Spearman
Runner
Khopesh
These are all just variant fighters, with specific bonuses offset by reduced general abilities
War Cleric
This is just a variant cleric, with specific bonuses offset by reduced general abilities
Mage Scribe
Montoth
Templar
These are all just variant magic users, with specific bonuses offset by reduced general abilities
Royal Seal Bearer
Lockmaster
Guardian
These are all just variant thieves, with specific bonuses offset by reduced general abilities

Hollow World, Milenian Empire Sourcebook
Cleric of Halav
Cleric of Matera
Cleric of Petra
Cleric of Protius
These are all just variant clerics, with specific bonuses offset by reduced general abilities
Griffon Rider (A variant fighter class)

Wow! That's a ton of options. It has never really made a lot of sense to me why people complain that the options are limited. I understand that some players want totally customized, unique characters, but BECMI, and other early editions of D&D assume that characters will fit into some genre archetype.

If you expand the optional rules for humanoid shamans and wiccas (that allow them to take spellcasting abilities in addition to their normal class abilities in exchange for an increased experience cost to gain levels) to allow any of the non-human classes to purchase minor cleric or magic user spellcasting, a huge bunch of new options opens up, probably satisfying most players. Remember though, as soon as a character adopts the methods of a cleric or magic user, he should be bound by the same armor and weapon restrictions that those classes are, he may still use barred weapons and armor without penalty, but can't cast spells while doing so.

I'll examine and streamline those rules in the near future and post them here.

Thief skills can probably be addressed in a similar fashion, charging an added XP cost to grant limited access to the thief skills, as long as the thief class weapon and armor restrictions are adhered to. I'll have to go over that and see what I can come up with, I'll keep you posted.

In the end, the only real ubiquitous character class that can't be directly built using these options is the Bard. For an AD&D style bard, who is just a roguish jack of all trades with minor spellcasting ability, you could just take the thief class and add the spellcasting option I just mentioned, but if you want a true minstrel with magical ability and different skills based on charm and leadership, a new class may be needed.

There's a couple fairly standard races missing from the options as well, the two main ones being Lupins and Rakasta, staples of the Mystara setting that were somehow overlooked before the conversion of the setting to AD&D 2nd edition. Other weird D&D races like Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi, etc might also make good candidates for new races.

So Bards, Lupins and Rakasta are about the only things I think are really missing. A handful of other race based classes and possibly a class archetype I'm forgetting right now could fit in too, but I think I've made the point I set out to; The BECMI (and BX, etc) game has a ton of class options!