Ahnehnois
First Post
XP is something we largely accept, but it is an example of conflating things that are part of the game world with things that are not.Which lead me to wonder; "Can you have a system that encourages Paladins to be Valiant and Fighters to be Brave etc., and yet still avoid meta ability-mechanics." The only one I can think of is an advancement system where you pick up extra levels (or XP) in a class by acting according to type. Which might be kinda neat.
That being said, why is this an important goal? Do we need class mechanics to encourage moral decisions and shape the exercise of free will?
If you want to represent fearlessness, make rules for fear and give fighters a bonus against it. Otherwise, just make them tough in general to reward the player of one for placing the character in danger. No need to even think about metagame rules in this arena.