@nostupidquestions Did the fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard core and its various iterations come from tournament play?
Or maybe there’s just not that many permutations for team compositions in early dnd?
AI says
"Character Class Distribution
For AD&D tournament play, successful teams typically included:
At least one primary fighter (Fighter, Paladin, or Ranger)
One primary spellcaster (Magic-User or Illusionist)
One healer (Cleric or high-level Druid)
One skill specialist (Thief or Bard)"
The first three character classes to appear in D&D were the Fighting-Man (now called the fighter), Magic-User (now called the wizard) and Cleric. The first supplement introduced Thief (now called Rogue) and Paladin (as a Fighter sub class). The list grew a bit with f.e. druid and ranger but then with adnd 2e it was re-organized again with all character classes falling under the four traditional abstract archetypes: Warrior, Wizard, Priest, and Rogue.
So it came from the humble beginnings I’d say. It also makes the game more fun when you have your own specialty. Having two bards argue about who’s the better one at haggling does sound like a fun rp opportunity though.