Three letter abbreviations for non-PHB classes

[Elves]

Like the rog/pal/wiz etc abbreviations used in the books.

Probably some of these exist already but this is just a quick list I drew up for personal use. Two are four letters for clarity.

Arc
Ard
Atf
Beg
Bdr
Crs
Dsh
Dfa
Dnc
Dsk
Eru
Fac
Fvo
Hlr
Hex
Inc
Knt
Msh
Nja
Psi
Psw
Smr
Sct
Sham (Shm)
Shad (Shw)
Shu
Soh
Sbn
Skf
Spt
Ssh
Swa
Ssg
Tot
Tru
Wdr
Wlk
Wrb
Wmg
Wuj


Feedback?

[Buufreak]

Well, I certainly hope you have these figured out. I'm actually struggling on a fair few.

[Elves]

Which ones? Suggestions for clarity?

[heavyfuel]

Arc
Bdr
Dsh
Dnc
Sct
Sham (Shm)
Shad (Shw)
Soh
Sbn
Ssh
Wlk



These are the ones I could decipher after 5 seconds. Still, 5 seconds is a looking time. Some aren't at all obvious. Why even do this?

As for Spellthief, I suggest Spt

[Elves]

Why even do this?

Project in sig, to use in places where the rulebooks use these notations. Also just something I've wondered.

Spt is good. Added.

[Mike Miller]

Are you missing psionic classes? What about prestige classes? Does it have to be 3? Dread necromancer is usually DN, for example.

[Elves]

Oops, added the psi classes.

Is "acv" recognizable for archivist? Ard(ent) and arc(hivist) are too close.

How about "wck" vs "wlk"? First may be more visually familiar.

[Allanimal]

Which ones? Suggestions for clarity?

If people that hang out on D&D forums are having problems figuring D&D class names, it probably needs clarity.
Maybe include the full name in the list too?

Warmage : Wmg
Wu Jen : Wuj

Or even better, a table!


Full Name
Abbreviation


Warmage
Wmg


Wu Jen
Wuj

[Elves]

If people that hang out on D&D forums are having problems figuring D&D class names, it probably needs clarity.
Maybe include the full name in the list too?

Intentionally didn't include in hopes of hearing which ones people are having trouble with.

[MisterKaws]

I think you should make them standardized unless a common abbreviation is already settled(like DFA). Usually, the first three letters are your best bet. For names made up of more than one word, making a four-word abbreviation with the first letter of the first name and the three first letters of the second name is good(SSha,WBla,SCas,TNam, you get it). For Warlock, I think Wlk is far easier to identify than Wck. It has the first, the middle and the last letter, very symmetric. Arc, Ard and Art are famous enough that using the three first letters causes no confusion to most players. In fact, the "Atf" had me thinking for twenty seconds. Hea is also far easier to identify than Hlr.

[Zaq]

Dsh took me WAY too long to figure out. Basically through elimination.

Better alternatives would be Drs, Dsm, or Dgs.

Wdr would be easier to parse than Wil. Or Wld, if you insist.

Skf makes me cringe, but I can’t think of a better one that doesn’t introduce a new problem.

[ben-zayb]

As already mentioned upthread, why not use 2 letters if it would be more intuitive or already known as such? DN is already standard for Dread Necro, and it is intuitive enough to get if you aren't familiar.

In fact, I'd rather do that for classes with names that are made out of 2 words. SS for swordsage, WB for Warblade, DS for Dragon Shaman, WM for Warmage, SK for Soulknife, and even WL for warlock is pretty easy to figure out.

[Asmotherion]

i find it easyer to use 3-4 letter ones. Wile some are obvious with 3 letters (Sor/Wiz) others are read easyer intuitivelly with 4 (Wrlk instead of Wlk or Fgtr instead of Ftr for example).

i do get uniformity is valuable but i find clarity even more so...