Pokemon Gen 1 Gym Leaders Explained as Dungeons and Dragons Classes

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 29, 2024 2 Views 8 Min Read
Pokemon Gen 1 Gym Leaders Explained as Dungeons and Dragons Classes

An iconic part of nearly every mainline Pokemon game is the Gym Challenge featured in each region, with a generation’s Gym Leaders largely responsible for a region’s identity. While Pokemon fans are likely familiar with the importance of a Gym Leader’s type specialization, many of these trainers also share characteristics with traditional RPG archetypes. With this in mind, it’s clear to see how the Gym Leaders of Gen 1’s Kanto Region could fit into Dungeons and Dragons‘ class system.




Although the Gym Leaders themselves don’t do the fighting in the Pokemon series, the creatures they use and their overall aesthetic and type specialization play a role in establishing their identity. These aspects can be used as a basis for determining which DnD class fits them best.

There are a total of 13 classes for
Dungeons and Dragons
2024 (including
Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
) and only 8 Gym Leaders, so not every class will be represented.

pokemon-iono-melony-gym-leaders

Related
Pokemon Franchise Gym Leader Tier List

Pokemon has featured over 70 gym leaders across the series’ nine generations of mainline titles, and some have been far more memorable than others.

Every Kanto Gym Leader Represented by a Dungeons and Dragons Class


Brock – Barbarian

Barbarians in Dungeons and Dragons are typically known for their high strength and constitution, making them formidable warriors on both offense and defense. Similarly, the Rock-type in Pokemon also tends to favor high levels of physical defense as hardened creatures of the earth. Brock is mainly known for using Geodude and Onix in his gym battle, which both have Defense as their highest stats, making a tanky class like Barbarian a natural fit for Pewter City’s Gym Leader.

Misty – Cleric

The closest DnD class that Misty fits into is the Cleric, which tends to have high wisdom and charisma stats that bolster its healing capabilities. Water is typically associated with healing and cleansing so as the Water-type Gym Leader in the Kanto Region, Misty shares this aspect of the Cleric class. She also uses several critters with healing abilities, with her ace Starmie knowing Recover in its Gen 2 iteration, and her Pokemon World Tournament teams from Black 2 and White 2 include Slowbro and Jellicent, who both have recovery moves as well.

Lt. Surge – Fighter

Lt. Surge makes a strong case for representing the Fighter class among Kanto’s Gym Leaders due to his status as a former soldier. The Fighter is known for having high strength and constitution while being able to wield a wide range of weapons. A class like this is a great match for Lt. Surge’s tendency to use fast, Special Attacking mons like his ace Raichu.


Erika – Druid

Druids are masters of the natural world with high intelligence and wisdom stats in Dungeons and Dragons, making a Grass-type Gym Leader like Erika the perfect representation of the class. While Druids tend to use nature magic as well as the Wild Shape skill to transform into various animals, Erika leans more into the former with her Grass-types like Vileplume, which are known for inflicting status conditions like sleep, paralysis, and poisoning.

Koga – Monk

Although Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t have a true ninja class, the Monk is a similar martial class that excels at unarmed combat with its emphasis on strength and dexterity. With Fuchsia City’s Koga being a Poison-type master and ninja, the Monk class makes the most sense for him. Monks tend to utilize evasion to avoid damage due to their frail constitution, which is fitting given how much Koga’s Muk likes to use the Evasion-boosting move Minimize.


Sabrina – Sorcerer

Dungeons and Dragons has several magic-oriented classes, but none is a better fit for the Psychic-type Gym Leader Sabrina than the Sorcerer. Sabrina is often considered the toughest Gym Leader in the Gen 1 games, making her the perfect inheritor of the raw magical power that Sorcerers can channel. As someone with telekinetic abilities herself, the innate magical prowess of Sorcerers makes it the ideal class for Sabrina over magic-wielding classes like Warlock or Wizard.

Blaine – Artificer

The Artificer class found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is able to create unique mechanical contraptions using their knowledge of magic and individual ingenuity. This makes Cinnabar Island’s Blaine the perfect fit for this class as he is a former scientist who worked alongside Mr. Fuji to study Pokemon. Blaine’s technical ingenuity is on display within his gym, where he has rigged up quiz machines to test the player’s Pokemon knowledge before they face him and his team of Fire-type mons.


Giovanni – Rogue

Rogues are infamous within Dungeons and Dragons for their stealth and subterfuge as a class with high intelligence and dexterity. Often, rogues are thieves or tricksters, which makes the leader of Team Rocket and Viridian City’s Gym Leader Giovanni a great match for the Rogue class. Team Rocket’s criminal activities include an underground network of Pokemon smuggling, and Giovanni being the gang’s kingpin means he’s mastered the art of subterfuge and deception.

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