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Message: <blockquote data-quote="empireofchaos" data-source="post: 6781216" data-attributes="member: 6800918">Well, no, it doesn't, but I actually laid out a number of different alternatives in the post I referred to, and the rulebooks, which clearly say class is a profession and then some, and then describe the specific character of each class in some detail, do, too, so when all of that is followed by "class just doesn't model profession very well", it's not terribly helpful in terms of encouraging further discussion, either.I don't think the above examples are implausible - the question is, how common or likely is it going to be in terms of perpetuating class structure relative to a normal case. There are many examples of fictional characters whose class may be ambiguous (and that's given that fiction tends to focus on exceptional cases), but plenty of examples of where class is pretty clearly recognizable. Someone like Boromir or Ned Stark, are pretty clear examples of fighters that are products of military aristocracies, and would recognize themselves as something along those lines. The accountant may be an important person in familiarizing new recruits with an order's structure and finances (which is why I said lay brothers may be regarded as class members in some sense), but they will have little to do with training a paladin to function as warrior that channels divine energy, deals with the order's (and the god's) strict ethical demands, engages in spiritual exercises that focus her energy (learning spells, in game terms). It's possible that all of these things just spontaneously happen due to divine will (though even then, the god probably has a plan, and is probably conducting similar experiments with other people). It's more plausible that they are parts of structures that are taught, trained, explained. Even the idea of an "oath" presupposes something developed by someone, that it is a concrete set of words that are formulated and written down. Druids and rogues perpetuate some semblance of corporate identity through distinct languages. With mage schools, sorcerous bloodlines, warlock pacts, structural elements seem clear as well.</blockquote>

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