Is Superheroic Fantasy D&D’s Future? A Complete Class Compendium Conversation

There’s an argument you’ve likely heard or had with your gaming friends: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2024) is superheroic fantasy powered by a d20. The superheroic fantasy feel is part of what makes 4e, 5e, and nu 5e distinct from earlier editions of D&D. The synthesis of superheroes in a high fantasy world intrigues me, so when I read about Mike Myler’s Complete Class Compendium for Level Up A5E and D&D 2024 on Backerkit, my medieval Spidey-sense buzzed as I felt that some of the core Avengers could come from his book, not unlike the What If… episode “The Avengers Assembled in 1602?” Let’s look at the compendium, give my impressions, and talk to its creator about whether he wrote superheroic fantasy or the reader is reinterpreting his work. 

What Are These New Classes?

Complete Class Compendium for Level Up A5E and D&D 2024 is a sourcebook offering 12 original classes to add to your Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition(2024) or Level Up: Advanced Fifth Edition campaigns. With class names like Freak, Mad Scientist, and Speedster, and subclasses like Freak: Hulking and Gemini: Reluctant Hero, many of the classes feel like superheroes, but more on that below. A dozen classes and their numerous subclasses is an enticing addition for players, but there’s more. Appendices offering ideas like radiation (I’m seeing superheroes and mutants in these classes, so fallout feels thematic), monsters, a new lineage/species, items, feats, spells, rules for settlements, and a school of magic. Regardless of my take on superheroes versus fantasy, this book promises a nice collection of new options for your game. 

Before I dig into the specifics of what I’m seeing, it’s worth noting that Mike’s new classes feel superheroic, high fantasy, and between, but all are accurate to the tone of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2024). As such, I’ll divide these between what I see as superheroic fantasy, high fantasy, and between. Let’s start with high fantasy. 

High Fantasy

In terms of high fantasy, there are several classes that feel perfect for that style of Dungeons & Dragons. 

The Bloodweaver class is a blood mage, a dark fantasy idea that’s been explored throughout the D&D editions. The Bloodweaver from Mike Myler goes its own route offering three subclasses that specialize in healing, curses, or blood blades. Better yet, there’s a new school of magic focused on enchanted hemoglobin. This is a versatile class whose path can make the character an ambulance or a tank.

The Diabolist is a cool idea, you’re playing a magical general of hell. With four subclasses, you can pull allies, servants, powers, and promises from the other planes to do your bidding. Of course, these are powerful creatures so don’t appear weak or you may end up creating a new character. 

Feywalker is fey grounded in D&D with subclasses that give you beast companions, chaotic whimsy, or a deep connection to plants. Does the idea of plant, fey, or animal companions call out to one of your players? 

Compendium Middle Ground

Mike Myler created a few classes that dwell in that middle ground between high fantasy and superheroics. They feel appropriate for gothic fantasy such as Ravenloft or Kobold Press’ upcoming Night Hunters, but could work in most kinds of fantasy. 

The Doctor class is a healer without being a cleric. The subclasses are named Chemist, General Practitioner, and Surgeon, which makes the concepts clear. 

Exemplar is a main character hero class, the idea of being something greater than a standard murder hobo that deserves the spotlight. Think Arthurian and Greek mythology with vows, magic weapons, and demigods. This character feels right for your player that wants to be a fighter and the center of the campaign. 

Occultist is a dark aspirational class with gothic undertones; you want to become an undead, thing from Beyond, a shadow figure, an ooze, a vampire, or a lycanthrope. Your goal is to embrace and ultimately become one of these dark creatures, which in some cases will make dungeon delving a lot easier. The vampire and werewolf options feel gothic and ideal for a campaign of tailcoats and top hats.  As soon as I read about becoming an ooze, I knew that one of my players would embrace that subclass in every way. Every way. 

• EGG: “What do you do this round?”
• PLAYER: “You remember Slimer from Ghostbusters? I slime, Egg. I slime.” 
• EGG: “Groovy, give me a roll to slime with advantage.”

Superheroic Fantasy

Here’s the crux of my argument, and the coolest classes in the book, in my opinion. Want to game as a fantasy Justice League or murder hobo X-Men, these classes lend themselves to that style of play. 

Freak, a class that allows you to play as anything from mutant zombies to the Hulk and more. This can play two ways, exposure makes you into something dark and horrible or something tragically heroic. There’s room for a tragic backstory and fun roleplaying combined with raw freaking dice rolls!

Gemini, a warrior that generates a duplicate with the flavor of a character like Multiple Man of The X-Men. Here’s an idea, twins or Stephen King’s The Dark Half. This one offers four subclasses, each dealing in a duality like youth and old age, body and mind, daylight and twilight, or both cowardice and courage. I like the idea of playing with transformation and how it could influence how you play your character. 

Mad Scientist, like the early villains of superheroes and the pulp heroes, this class combines the dark arts with engineering and, hopefully, a LOT of monologuing! In a campaign, you’re likely playing as a Magneto type of character during one of his “good” phases when he’s not opposing The X-Men, but decides to teach them. This could be over the top fun. 

Mechanic, a fantasy superhero in the vain of Iron Man, where the “clothes” make the hero. The subclasses specialize in different types of armor. Become a walking tank and fight without fear of being hit (often). 

Speedster, a lightning fast fantasy superhero like Quicksilver, Cheetara, or the Flash. Well, maybe not quite the speed of light, but fast. Being quick in a D&D fight is a blessing, so this may speak to players ready to race into combat. 

This final class isn’t classically superheroic, but it’s in the vain of a fantasy Batman Beyond or Spider-Man 2099. The Scrapper blends the techno-mages of Shadowrun with the feel of D&D. While this deals more with constructs and steampower, there’s still a hint of superheroics and cyberpunk in this concept, which will appeal to someone that wants a fantasy five minutes from now setting.

Genre Crossover?

The next evolution of Dungeons & Dragons, the path forward for the core game, maybe a legitimate and official embrace of the combination of fantasy and superheroics. Currently, there’s a feel that the characters are superheroic compared to OSR dungeon crawls/home invasions. Many campaigns are played in a superhero style, but the adventures and worlds are not written towards the genre’s primary tropes. Ideally, the characters would be city dwellers dealing with a lawless metropolis where they need to confront the criminal element for the betterment of society. That means saving the world, stopping criminals instead of killing them, secret identities, and traditional heroic adventures where the characters are purely righting wrongs, not seeking their next paycheck. Set in a fantasy world where outfits are costumes, this could have a broad, colorful appeal when if becomes mainstream. In the meantime, I see Mike Myler’s Complete Class Compendium for Level Up A5E and D&D 2024 on Backerkit as a great option to build your campaign around. 

Mike, What’s Your Take On My Take?

But the superheroic and high fantasy content are my takes. What does Mike Myler think? Is the Complete Class Compendiuma collection of superhero inspired concepts or is Egg as wrong as casting Tony Hawk as DC Comics’ Hawkman or Wolf Blitzer as Marvel’s Werewolf by Night just cause of their names?! I asked the Mike Myler to weigh in on what he sees these classes and rules as a recipe for: 

“The add-ons on the Backerkit page strongly support superheroic campaigns (several of those PDFs include feats or archetypes inspired by superheroes)! There are definitely some class options that are very much along those lines too—toss a domino mask on any Gemini and you’re pretty much there, and the Diabolist feels an awful lot like playing as Blackheart in Marvel vs. Capcom. I’m unsure if I’ve ever looked at the Freak as a kind of superhero, and I love Spider-Man 2099 and Batman Beyond to death but never consciously made the connection between them and the Scrapper! The distinctions you’ve drawn intrigue me and I think are a solid testament to the versatility of what’s in the book because I honestly didn’t ever make the jump to superheroes for most of these classes.

My only suggestion is that with the exception of the hard technology Mad Scientist and Scrapper, and then the Speedster (which would need a bit of Hermes-inspired backstory involved), a lot of these would fit right at home in a reasonably fantastical medieval fantasy realm. Not a stretch to imagine a Gond-worshiping Mechanic (I think 3.5E had a prestige class for that?), and the Bloodweaver screams old school blood mage fun.

All that said—you’ve convinced me. The next campaign I roll out at the table is going to look a lot like Marvel 1602.”

And There You Have It…

Mike didn’t so much wake up and create superhero classes as I colored the concepts as four color funnies based on my interpretation of nu 5e and A5E. That said, as Mike stated about how versatile the books contents are, there are strong gaming elements to interpret in these books. That’s the beauty of a great sourcebook in the hands of gamers, the player can pull the best elements from them. These are fantastic classes for your gaming table, whether superheroic, gothic fantasy, high fantasy, or your fantasy, Complete Class Compendium brings something new and fun to your games. If you want to add these classes and new gaming options to your campaign, check out the full book on Backerkit: 

Complete Class Compendium for Level Up A5E and D&D 2024 from Mike Myler

• END DATE: Feb 13, 2026 at 11:59pm EST.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit, where you can find a free PDF preview of the Gemini class

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