The most obvious difference between classes is the special move.
Warrior:
Swirl Attack - Lets you spin around, hitting all of the monsters surrounding you; useful for clearing out mobs. IMO, this is probably the best special move, though I have not experimented with other classes. If you drink a shadow potion and use the swirl attack near (but not directly targeting a monster) you can do damage without turning visible.
Survivor:
Sneaking - Lets you crouch down and move around undetected. Effective at the start of the game, but AFAIK it does not do as good a job fooling higher level monsters. This can be used to loot, giving you a much better chance of going undetected by nearby NPCs. While sneaking, ranged magic attacks will not turn you visible. It can also be used to exploit a bug for super speed. As I recall, if you sneak, use a frog statuette, run around until your stamina drains, then transform back to human, you will keep the frog's speed. The post in the old forum was titled '
SUper speed (for anyone who got bored of walking/running)'. If I got the details wrong, I will reply to this post with the link when the old forum comes back online.
Wizard:
Swap location - Useful for strategic relocation during battle. It can also be used to swap places with merchants to get them out of their shops. In most cases, if they can not see you, you can loot without getting caught (this will not work with Kistandalius in Ars Magicana). You can also bypass the guards at the throne room entrance in the dwarven hall (who temporarily take all of your stuff) by swapping locations with one of the guards inside.
A much greater influence due to class is the way secondary characteristics are calculated. There are a couple stats which are generic; everyone gets 20 weight per strength point and 300 stamina per constitution point. Other secondary stats are calculated as follows:
| Warrior | Survivor | Wizard |
| Vitality per constitution point | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Mana per intelligence point | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Damage per strength point | 0.4 | 0.14 | 0.1 |
Offense and Defense are slightly more complicated, and based on agility (Ag);
| Warrior | Survivor | Wizard |
| Offense | 0.8*Ag | 0.7*Ag - 1 | 0.7*Ag - 1 |
| Defense | 0.7*Ag - 1 | 0.8*Ag | 0.7*Ag - 1 |
When a calculation results in a fraction, it is rounded down for the display. I would assume/hope it would be carried through the game's calculations with greater precision.
Aside from voice and appearance, the only difference between male and female characters are the starting skills. The secondary stat calculations are the same.
