Archetype

The EQWiki - Your source for random EverQuest knowledge

Archetype refers to a category in which each character class belongs and shares with others of the same type. There are four archetype classes in all: priest, purecaster, hybrid, and melee. The classes within each archetype, while they may share other distinguishing features (such as purecasters, who are all restricted to cloth armor and are the only classes restricted thus), in general are determined by certain characteristics: ability to cast spells or not, which statistic (wisdom or intelligence) determines the size of their mana pool (if able to cast spells), the class's potential melee skills.

The class's archetype is generally determined by these three factors, although the definition is not rigid. For the purposes of determining Alternate Advancements, "Archetype" seems to include a variety of distinctions. Some AAs in the archetype category, for instance, are given to those classes that have pets, which include classes from the priest, purecaster and hybrid archetypes. So it may be said that pet classes form their own archetype, for instance. Even within pet classes, there may be separate archetypes, as Necromancer, Beastlord and Magician are the only pet classes that have a line of pet specific buffs and heals. Tank classes may also be said to form an archetype, although the main three tank classes include one melee and two hybrids. There are as many archetypes as there are groups of classes that share a distinctive feature which other classes do not share.