I don't think this is a bad guess at what some of the development documentation might look like, but I agree with most of the other posters -- I'll be frankly astounded if the PHB character creation chapters reflect this rather than "choose race, choose class. Okay, now that you've chosen those, let's talk a bit about what this class does."
What might be interesting is if the DMG outlined this process a bit, and pointed us to what falls where so that we can use the same "layer statistics" in creation of homebrew class content, or balance our own content against the layers that were used in the core content.
I'll be upset if this means that the modular construction is *too* obvious, though, in things like shared talent trees and the like -- those seem to me like they should only be applied to finished classes. Derive your hit dice and attack/defense bonuses formulaicly, but let things as diverse and less inherently quantifiable as talents be directly inspired by the class and its own flavor.
What might be interesting is if the DMG outlined this process a bit, and pointed us to what falls where so that we can use the same "layer statistics" in creation of homebrew class content, or balance our own content against the layers that were used in the core content.
I'll be upset if this means that the modular construction is *too* obvious, though, in things like shared talent trees and the like -- those seem to me like they should only be applied to finished classes. Derive your hit dice and attack/defense bonuses formulaicly, but let things as diverse and less inherently quantifiable as talents be directly inspired by the class and its own flavor.
