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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 2698709" data-attributes="member: 22424">Ick. I wouldn't go that far.The big advantage of classes is that they provide clear character archetypes (&quot;He's a XX&quot; means something significant). Moving to the system you describe would seem to weaken that advantage hugely. Indeed, it might even be better to ditch classes altogether in that case, and go to a point-buy system. (Which is something I really don't want to see in D&amp;D.)At the moment, there are 22 base classes, if one includes the core, the Complete XX and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Also, I think there's a niche for a Mageblade-type class. My ideal set-up would probably pare that number down to around 10, each sufficiently different from the others, but each also flexible enough to cover several concepts.For example, there shouldn't be a need for a Swashbuckler class. You should be able to take the Fighter, strip out the unwanted heavy armour proficiency, load up on defense and mobility feats, and be there. (Maybe add a level or two of Rogue or Bard, for flavour.)(As the game stands, there are limits to how well you can model the low-armour combat-type, due to the extreme reliance on magic armour. I think this could do with being shaken up. Broadly, I would classify all defences as either &quot;ablative&quot; or &quot;avoidance&quot;. Then, set up the system so it's quite easy to get the highest AC with either type of defense, or a quite good defense combining both. Have the two trade off against each other to combat munchkinism - you can't get both a high Dodge bonus and a high Natural bonus, for instance. Oh, and classify all defences this way - so you can't get both Heavy Fortification and Displacement on your armour, because they apply to different types of device.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="delericho, post: 2698709, member: 22424"] Ick. I wouldn't go that far. The big advantage of classes is that they provide clear character archetypes ("He's a XX" means something significant). Moving to the system you describe would seem to weaken that advantage hugely. Indeed, it might even be better to ditch classes altogether in that case, and go to a point-buy system. (Which is something I really don't want to see in D&D.) At the moment, there are 22 base classes, if one includes the core, the Complete XX and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Also, I think there's a niche for a Mageblade-type class. My ideal set-up would probably pare that number down to around 10, each sufficiently different from the others, but each also flexible enough to cover several concepts. For example, there shouldn't be a need for a Swashbuckler class. You should be able to take the Fighter, strip out the unwanted heavy armour proficiency, load up on defense and mobility feats, and be there. (Maybe add a level or two of Rogue or Bard, for flavour.) (As the game stands, there are limits to how well you can model the low-armour combat-type, due to the extreme reliance on magic armour. I think this could do with being shaken up. Broadly, I would classify all defences as either "ablative" or "avoidance". Then, set up the system so it's quite easy to get the highest AC with either type of defense, or a quite good defense combining both. Have the two trade off against each other to combat munchkinism - you can't get both a high Dodge bonus and a high Natural bonus, for instance. Oh, and classify all defences this way - so you can't get both Heavy Fortification and Displacement on your armour, because they apply to different types of device.) [/QUOTE]

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