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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6347329" data-attributes="member: 996">To be fair, neither backgrounds nor sub-classes are new.  4e had backgrounds, 2e had kits, and even 1e had an obscure table of 'secondary skills' that reflected your pre-adventuring pursuits.  Likewise, sub-classes were present in Essentials, are comparable to 4e builds, and were found in 1e and even 0D&D.  And, of course, 5e lifts it's MCing directly from 3e.  All fair, and a clear attempt to deliver on the promise of taking the 'best' from prior editions.  But not 'new.'While I'm quite pleased with Backgrounds, I'd also question whether sub-classes are all that 'smooth.'  Different classes pick sub-classes at different levels, for instance, and you can't mix/match between sub-classes of the same class (while you could between different classes via MCing), meaning some features are cut of from eachother in a 'hard' sense (possibly for the good, if they'd be 'broken' in combination). It is a very powerful option, though.  It allows you to build a character that partakes of two or more classes in a desired proportion, something backgrounds of feats (if used) can't deliver.  And, of course, there is the option of feats, which offer further customizeability.  It's really got the potential to be a very rich edition from that PoV.</blockquote>