D&D 5E What if everyone in the setting had a [Class]?

[Ancalagon]

I sort of feel we sort of have this already. An NPC could have the "social role" of warrior, and then they could be a guard, a thug, a bezerker, a veteran, a gladiator, a champion... it's worked for 90% of the warriors I've used in my game as NPCs

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Can everyone also discern subclass?

What is the cut off between beings who get classes and those who don't? If every human, elf, orc, goblin, kobold and ogre gets a class, what about other beings? Do dragons get classes? Apes and giant eagles?

How do sorcerors and warlocks work? Does everyone have innate power that they can manifest, or is some in-world basis for that power such as bloodline required to become a sorceror?
Does a warlock require a patron? Do these patron advertise to prospective warlocks, each trying to out-compete the other patrons?

Unless you're actively intending to get into a lot of fights, first-level spellcasting is much more advantageous to everyday life than armour and martial weapon proficiently. If people have a choice of what class they will become, expect many more spellcasters than fighters for example. This would have massive effects for world-building assumptions.

 

[Minigiant]

D&D 5e at the core, but quite expanded beyond that. I would probably add at least a dozen core classes, and quite a few prestige classes and transformational classes.

I could certainly add a non-combat class or group of classes, but I like the idea that everyone in the setting is at least a little bit combat-competent.

Keeping with that idea, I would probably add at least one or two more classes that get expertise at 1st level so you can have sages, diplomats, etc., without them all being a [Rogue].

That's kinda what I've suggesting.

The 5e bard isn't just a musician. [Bard] is a full combat ready adventurer class.
A [Blacksmith] would be a heavily armored hammer wielder with fire immunity and infusions.
A [Noble] would be the return of the 3.5 duelist PRC.

 

[FrogReaver]

I think the thread title question is fine, but reading through the OP there are soo many restrictions that in the end the only real option that satisfies all of them is divine mandate.

For 5e that doesn’t work well given how most low cr monsters function - goblins for example.

 

[TwoSix]

I think the thread title question is fine, but reading through the OP there are soo many restrictions that in the end the only real option that satisfies all of them is divine mandate.

For 5e that doesn’t work well given how most low cr monsters function - goblins for example.

Assuming the only restrictions were that every humanoid (you can draw your own line on if monstrous humanoids, or any other creatures) get classes, and that class is a real, tangible presence that can be somehow verified, how would you implement such a system?

Part of why I'm asking is that an awful lot of people play in such a manner that class, or at least some classes, are recognized elements in the setting. Even going back to AD&D, that idea never made sense to me, so I'm trying to see how people handle these elements in a diegetic fashion.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Assuming the only restrictions were that every humanoid (you can draw your own line on if monstrous humanoids, or any other creatures) get classes, and that class is a real, tangible presence that can be somehow verified, how would you implement such a system?

Part of why I'm asking is that an awful lot of people play in such a manner that class, or at least some classes, are recognized elements in the setting. Even going back to AD&D, that idea never made sense to me, so I'm trying to see how people handle these elements in a diegetic fashion.

I don't know that I agree everyone should have a class. I do agree that AD&D was lousy with everyone seeming to have a class.

What I liked was, in the old Grey Book Forgotten Realms, they break down the population of Shadowdale. In the breakdown, some people had classes, but more often, people were listed as 'Took the Oath'. Took the Oath basically made them militia, and gave them weapon and armor proficiencies.

Everyone having classes and levels you can discern, as well as knowing that a Wizard 5 can only cast one fireball... I don't know how you'd work that short of running a game like Sword Art Online where people wake up inside an MMO, and everyone has classes like that in some kind of meta (not meta in a bad way, but Meta in the sense of 'these are the rules for how the universe works')

 

[TwoSix]

I don't know that I agree everyone should have a class. I do agree that AD&D was lousy with everyone seeming to have a class.

Believe me, friend, I don’t think everyone should have a class either!

But lots of people do seem to feel that way, based on posts here, so I’m trying to think through how to make that work.

 

[FrogReaver]

Believe me, friend, I don’t think everyone should have a class either!

But lots of people do seem to feel that way, based on posts here, so I’m trying to think through how to make that work.

I think most of them drop the requirement that it must be a combat class comparable to pc classes. Commoner is fine there.

 

[FrogReaver]

Assuming the only restrictions were that every humanoid (you can draw your own line on if monstrous humanoids, or any other creatures) get classes, and that class is a real, tangible presence that can be somehow verified, how would you implement such a system?

Part of why I'm asking is that an awful lot of people play in such a manner that class, or at least some classes, are recognized elements in the setting. Even going back to AD&D, that idea never made sense to me, so I'm trying to see how people handle these elements in a diegetic fashion.

That at least opens the possibility that the civilized world has rulers that train their citizens in at least 1 class, probably followed by some required years of service to the crown. Anyone that refuses faces the death penalty.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

Doesn't this kind of go back to how D&D was originally designed 50+ years ago? Monsters were their own thing, but pretty much every humanish NPC all followed the same build rules as PCs. Those ultra high level spells that the BBEG's had weren't even obtainable by players.