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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 3213539" data-attributes="member: 3586">Certainly they are useful! However, there's a difference between them being useful and the game being restricted to just allowing the archetypes.Rogue. Not rouge. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />There was a criticism by a respected game designer a few years ago that multiclassing (per 3e) diluted the archetypes and meant that everyone ended up playing the same uber-character. That is, to put it bluntly, poppycock.3e  rewards specialisation in archetypes. Although it is possible to build versatile "jack-of-all-trades" characters, rarely do they actually perform well in play. Building the best archer possible is far more rewarding to power-gamers rather than building a cleric/fighter/mage/rogue. The latter doesn't work.However, what isn't as obvious is that this archetypal archer character is quite possibly attained by multiclassing! The character sheet may say "fighter/rogue/ranger/order of the bow initiate" and give the appearance of a muddy mess with no relationship to any archetype, but in fact, the character is a very strong archetypal character. It just uses a non-standard path to get there.3e does allow blending of classes, but that isn't anything new to the game. (Consider the Cleric/Fighter/Mage and other variants of 1e, which were generally preferable to pure classes). Now, moving back to pure classes as archetypes. Are they now useless, replaced by these archetypes created through multiclassing? By no means! Although not every class is well-designed, most do actually work for their full 20 levels, allowing those who want to play them purely can do so.Furthermore, classes are a brilliant entry point for new players. It's easy to grasp their concepts (as opposed to the diversity of point-buy systems), and it's very quick to get going with them.I submit that both archetypes and the class system are alive and well in D&D, and their retention is an important part of 3e's success - as is the ability to move outside them if needed.Cheers!</blockquote>

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