List of vocations in Dragon Quest III

Hero (勇者, Yuusha): The Hero class is the most well-balanced of the character classes and is restricted to the main character. He or she can be equipped with either heavy or light armor, and can use a variety of weapons. The Hero also is given a variety of both offensive and defensive spells. Some of the most powerful healing, defensive, and offensive spells in the game are exclusive to the Hero class, including Ironize, which makes the party completely invulnerable for a short time, HealUsAll, which completely restores the group's HP, and the lightning spells Zap and Lightning. In the remakes, the Hero gains a variety of unique outside abilities as well, such as Recall (which allows the player to record conversations).

Wizard (魔法使い, Mahoutsukai): (Mage in the Game Boy Color version) Wizards specialize in destructive magical spells such as Blaze and Boom. Wizards also have the abilities to use spells in the outside world. Such spells as Outside and X-Ray will help the player advance in caves and while adventuring. The Wizard is given powerful magical abilities when leveled fully, including BeDragon and Explodet. The Wizard also has the Chance spell introduced in Dragon Quest II, which has a large menu of possible random effects: some very good, some very bad. Though Wizards have high Intelligence, they are physically frail and cannot equip heavy weapons such as swords, axes, spears, or heavy armor.

Pilgrim (僧侶, Souryo): (Cleric in the Game Boy Color version) Pilgrims are on the other side of the magical spectrum from Wizards, as they specialize in healing and fortifying spells rather than attack magic. Introductory spells such as Heal and SpeedUp are useful in the early stages of the game, but as the player advances, the spells become more versatile. Like Wizards, Pilgrims cannot equip heavy armor, but they can use weapons much like a Hero or a Soldier can. Pilgrims do have initially more strength, agility and vitality than Wizards.

Thief (盗賊, Touzoku): The Thief was a new class added to the remake versions. Thieves have high speed and agility but average attack power and defense power. They have the ability to steal items at the end of a fight. In addition, they are decent combatants that can use whips and chains to attack multiple enemies at once. In the outside world abilities such as Eagle Eye allow the player to locate villages and nearby towns.

Goof-off (遊び人, Asobinin): (Jester in the Game Boy Color version) Goof-offs, although pretty much useless on the battle field, have a great amount of luck. This allows them to deal critical amounts of damage more often than other characters. The trade-off for this is the fact that Goof-offs have minds of their own, and the player cannot always control their actions. Goof-offs are the wild cards of the game, as they sometimes do damage to themselves instead of attacking enemy characters or goof-off (hince the name). Goof-off is the only class that can turn into a Sage at Dharma Temple without a Book of Satori.

Fighter (武闘家, Butouka): Fighters have a great amount of speed, agility, and strength. They can deal devastating amounts of damage from a single strike, and can be equipped with a variety of weapons. However, if equipped with a sword or other bladed weapon, a Fighter's abilities will actually decrease, as his or her attack power will lower considerably. This is because Fighters prefer to attack with their bare hands, and so only claw type weapons will make their attack power rise. In the remakes, a fighter is only able to equip claw weapons, thus removing the possibility of their attack reducing due to equipment. The amount of claw weapons in the game is increased as a result of this change.

Soldier (戦士, Senshi): (Warrior in the Game Boy Color version) This class, which focuses on strength and defense, allows you to recruit basically another hero, but without the inherited magical abilities. Their physical abilities are higher than other classes, but they suffer from relatively low agility.

Merchant (商人, Shounin): (Dealer in the Game Boy Color version) Merchants have the ability to pick up additional gold after a battle. The amount of gold is dependent on the type of monsters which were defeated. Merchants can also appraise items free of charge. In battle, merchants are only average in attack and defense, slightly better than a Pilgrim. In the remakes, merchants have two unique outside abilities: Excavate (which allows the player to dig underfoot for treasure) and YellHelp, which summons a shopkeeper in the field.

Sage (賢者, Kenja): The magical abilities of a Sage are comprised of the skills belonging to both Pilgrims and Wizards. This class is not initially available, but a player can transform a leveled up Goof-off into one at the Dharma Temple. If the player has a rare item called the Book of Satori (or the Zen Book in the remakes), any character holding it can also become a Sage.

Hero: This is the class that the player starts with and is the only character that cannot change class, nor can any other character become a Hero. The Hero levels up slowly but is fairly well balanced, with his stats favoring HP, Strength, and Defense with the rest being average. The Hero also learns several offensive and defensive spells, some of which are the best in the game and unavailable to other classes.

Soldier: Professional warriors who have high attack and defense stats. Soldiers can equip some of the best weapons and armor in the game and can both give and take quite a beating. On the down side, they are fairly slow and do not know magic.

Fighter: Martial artists who are both faster than Soldiers and more likely to score critical hits in battle. Fighters are deadly, even when fighting bare-handed. However, they can equip only light armor, making them very fragile, and certain weapons, meaning upgrades are few and far between. Like the Soldier, Fighters have no magical ability.

Wizard: This class has powerful offensive magic spells at it's disposal, as well as powerful attack buffing skills for your allies. Most of the time their magic can do more damage than anything else in the party, however it uses up MP quickly. They are also the most fragile, with bad defensive stats and weak armor.

Pilgrim: This class gets healing spells as well as spells and debuff monsters and buff your defense. They also get decent defensive stats and when not casting can do decent damage with physical attacks.

Merchant: This class has decent stats but gets few armor and weapons to equip. They can earn you extra money after battles and can tell if items have extra effects. They also get a couple spells useful outside of battle.

Goof-Off: This class is useless in battle. Not only do Goof-Offs ignore battle commands, but their stat growth is terrible with the exception of Luck. However, a level 20 or higher Goof-Off can be promoted to the Sage class without having a Book of Satori.

Sage: The ultimate magic class. Sages learn every spell of both the Pilgrim and Wizard classes and have much better stat growth than either. Further, Sages can equip relatively strong armor and weapons, which makes them powerful both as physical fighters and magic users. However, a character may only become a Sage by using one of only two Books of Satori in the game, or by getting to level 20 as a Goof-Off first.

Thief: This class was added for the remakes and is the most well-balanced class. Thieves have high Agility and average stats everywhere else. They can equip unique weapons like Whips and Boomerangs that hit multiple enemies, and can equip decent armor. They can also sometimes steal items during battle and will learn several unique spells that are useful outside of battle.