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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 3213868" data-attributes="member: 172">I think archetypes are a major reason for the enduring appeal of D&D.They encourage team play. No one character can deal with every challenge that faces a group.They help share the spotlight. They make characters into specialists and punish for generalizing, giving each player who chooses to specialize a clear schtick they are best at.They help define play. Properly designed archetypes will help define the types of adventures the characters will participate in.They provide easy to understand character types. This serves as a useful benchmark for the GM and other players who may not understand your character as well as you.They provide believability and consistency by encouraging characters to pick up a variety of abilities that would logically be had by a character of that vocation.They help with balance. By forcing character abilities to be dispensed in packages of related abilities instead of allowing players to cherry pick abilities they happen to think will be to their immediate benefit, they discourage the ridiculous builds that come from over-specialization.Classes/archetypes are often downplayed in D&D bashing circles as a "sacred cow". But I think they are a strong positive feature of the game and are dispensed with at its peril.</blockquote>