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[Bohandas]

snip

Or as someone put it along ago, Gandalf was a level 6 wizard.

Level 6 maybe, but also some kind of a celestial (IIRC he's either explicitly stated or strongly implied to be one of the maiar)

EDIT:
Which would make him proficient with non-exotic swords, as outsiders gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons

[Sergarr]

He uses sword in cavalry charges in the books?  It's been like 10 years so excuse my poor memory.

The fact that he cavalry changes, with or without a sword, is a fact against him being a wizard. Wizards do not cavalry charge.

[mainiac]

Why not?  Considering the number of dudes who lead cavalry charges with nothing but a flag I think a wizard would be pretty damn useful.

[My Name is Immaterial]

How about a Cleric? Combat training, powerful casting, generally divine/do-gooder temperament.

[Sergarr]

How about a Cleric? Combat training, powerful casting, generally divine/do-gooder temperament.

But which god would he... oh wait, nevermind.

Though for a Cleric he's a pretty lousy healer. Aragorn is better than him, and he's a freaking Fighter!

[mainiac]

Wouldn't Strider be a ranger?  He's the head kid of the rangers treefort after all.

[Bauglir]

No, but seriously, Paladin 3/Bard 1. I'm completely serious. Look at those class features, tell me they're not dead-on. How many spells does he cast that aren't 0th level Bard spells? Pretty much just that time he sets fire to pine cones in the Hobbit, near as I can recall.

[Sergarr]

No, but seriously, Paladin 3/Bard 1. I'm completely serious. Look at those class features, tell me they're not dead-on. How many spells does he cast that aren't 0th level Bard spells? Pretty much just that time he sets fire to pine cones in the Hobbit, near as I can recall.

There's also a semi-offscreen fight with all the Nazgul at once that was visible from a long distance...

[mainiac]

He uses offensive magics to hit orcs/the balrog/nazgul.  Bards and Paladins dont have that (I'm thinking of 3.5 right now).

[Bauglir]

I'd wager the Nazgul are each 2nd or 3rd level warriors (of various actual base classes, with maybe 2 Sorcerer added on top for the Witch-King) that happened to get the Lich template imposed on them by their rings, despite not ordinarily qualifying. Many Bard spells are quite flashy, and if you're referring to what I think you are, he would've had Turn Undead by then by my estimate (jump to Paladin 5 after Balrog) - if he has one or more of the many items that boosts turn attempts, this could actually be fairly effective (and gel quite nicely with the flavor).

[Bohandas]

He doesn't really seem to clearly fit any D&D paradigm. I guess Gary Gygax didn't really plagiarize that much after all.

[mainiac]

I think it's more about once you define things optimization starts shoving them into narrow roles.  Gandalf as a 6th level wizard or Bard1/Paly3 or whatever is capable of using a sword but he isn't optimized for it.  So after a while people think "oh he used a sword he can't be a wizard".

[Kadzar]

Since this seems to have become some sort of impromptu general D&D thread:

I don't know how many people keep up with this thread or are likely to watch it, but here is a video in which two DMs (one of whom is the creator of Dungeon World) talk about dungeon mastering.

This is the first part of the first installment of the series, in which they talk all about randomness, such as random rolls, random encounters, games that don't use randomness, critical hit tables, and embracing randomness. It's a very good discussion, and if you don't have time to watch it now, I encourage you to bookmark it for later.

[Rex Invictus]

To me, as a player and as a GM, if you don't accept the dice as they roll you're letting your players down.

[Orange Wizard]

Some days, the dice are cruel, and you want to give your players a break. Mostly because they'll complain about it afterwards if you don't.