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<blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 6165473" data-attributes="member: 23240">Most games I play are classless. That does not mean that I despise classes. I just don't want them where they obfuscate and restrict, instead of helping.In general, I see classes as useful in three cases:- When there are a few distinct character types in the setting, with separate areas of high competence and different social roles.- When the genre uses a small number of strong archetypes, and each character is expected to follow one of them. This often coincides with the previous point, but is not equivalent.- When the game focuses on tactical combat and the classes correspond to different tactical roles and/or different types of mechanics.In first two cases, the number of classes is dictated by setting/genre, and will usually be between 3 and 6. More than 7 is definitely too many.In the third case, I don't think it's reasonable to use more than 5 distinct tactical roles or types of mechanics. But if classes are divided by both, the upper limit is high. The more restrictive limit is the ability of authors to properly design and playtest all of them to ensure balance - which is crucial in a tactics-focused game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="steenan, post: 6165473, member: 23240"] Most games I play are classless. That does not mean that I despise classes. I just don't want them where they obfuscate and restrict, instead of helping. In general, I see classes as useful in three cases: - When there are a few distinct character types in the setting, with separate areas of high competence and different social roles. - When the genre uses a small number of strong archetypes, and each character is expected to follow one of them. This often coincides with the previous point, but is not equivalent. - When the game focuses on tactical combat and the classes correspond to different tactical roles and/or different types of mechanics. In first two cases, the number of classes is dictated by setting/genre, and will usually be between 3 and 6. More than 7 is definitely too many. In the third case, I don't think it's reasonable to use more than 5 distinct tactical roles or types of mechanics. But if classes are divided by both, the upper limit is high. The more restrictive limit is the ability of authors to properly design and playtest all of them to ensure balance - which is crucial in a tactics-focused game. [/QUOTE]

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