How many classes do you prefer in a RPG?

[EricNoah]

I'll never see the appeal. They might sound great to players, but as a DM ... I want classes and I want levels. I need to be able to eyeball an NPC in a flash and put them together quickly, and classes/levels help me do that.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I'll never see the appeal. They might sound great to players, but as a DM ... I want classes and I want levels. I need to be able to eyeball an NPC in a flash and put them together quickly, and classes/levels help me do that.

That's pretty much the thing I like best about class&level systems, too. The convenience, relatively quick and easy balancing, etc.

To be fair though (to at least one classless system that comes to mind) the alternative might have ready archetypes, to use as they are, or as springboards, templates or such. And speaking of templates in the more commonly used sense, that's also something that either type can provide, to place on top of a class (or classes) & level(s) or on top of a 'build' of another kind.