How many character classes do you need, anyway?

[Jackinthegreen]

Technically classes aren't needed: Roles are. I think it's pretty safe to say three roles form the backbone of most adventures: Tank, Healer, and Damage-Dealer. In the case of DnD though, arguably a fourth role of Skill Specialist comes to mind.

As for how many classes do we want, that's a totally different story. I absolutely love how many classes 3.5 Extended has and the wealth of customization that comes from it. Even if there's not something exactly tailored to how a person wants to play, the system lends itself well to making new classes or tweaking existing ones.

 

[Vespucci]

Technically classes aren't needed: Roles are. I think it's pretty safe to say three roles form the backbone of most adventures: Tank, Healer, and Damage-Dealer.

From a purely gamist point of view, that's only true if you're doing it wrong. Dealing damage is something that "tank" and "skill specialist" do while trying to feel important. Healing is something that the support staff do when the nagging grows incessant.

The wizard is busy doing control. (i.e. Winning.)

I also dispute the premise that the game is WoW with lousy graphics and a slow AI. It still seems to me that "bold explorers who occasionally do heroic things (because the bad guys got in the way of the looting)" don't necessarily need a "tank". Unless they acquired it somewhere, in which case, it's some bizarre artifact, not a guy wearing a lot of steel. There is a live question about how many different sets of rules gadgets you need to cover the ground from Baden-Powell to Conan to Moses to Gandalf - is that two (guys without supernatural powers, guys with 'em), three (guys without supernatural powers, guy with god on his side, guy with a funny hat), or four (guy with a lot of merit badges, guy with a big sword, guy with god on his side, guy with a funny hat). One might also claim that there are other important types who need classifications of their own - is Samson a guy with a big sword type, a guy with god on his side type, or something else?

 

[Celebrim]

I've decided to answer this question with a difereent emphasis:

"How many character classes do you need, anyway?"

In that case, the answer is easy:

PC Classes
Akashic
Bard
Champion
Cleric
Explorer
Fanatic
Feyborn
Fighter
Hunter
Rogue
Shaman
Sorcerer
Wizard

NPC Classes
Commoner
Brute
Expert
Scholar
Warrior

Classes I'm thinking of Adding
Paragon

So, 17-18 depending on how you count them, 4 of which are essentially 'monster classes'. So far I've been able to use those classes along with their customization options and general customization options availabe during chargen/advancement to encompass just about anything you can think of - from 'I want to be a guy who rides dinosaurs' to 'I want to be able to turn into a giant' to 'I want to play Elastagirl' to 'I want to be a lizard mutant' to 'I want to be a fairie nursemaid'. And that's just the tip of the ice berg, as things like, "Turns into a giant cockroach", "I want to be a guy whose been reincarnated a billion times", "I want to be a battlefield commander", "I want to be the human torch", "I want to be a nuetral evil Anti-Paladin of the god of magic" are all on the table just with those classes.