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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6273172" data-attributes="member: 5143">Yeah, though I expect those class features to see at least some change before release as well as the numbers for multiclassing.  So, it becomes kind of moot.  There are issues.  I'm not disputing that. I believe archetypes are better because they are simpler to understand and work with.  It is easy for people to say "Wizard, that's the guy who casts fireballs and lightning bolts at people" or "Rogue, that's the sneaky guy with the daggers who stabs people in the back".  These archetypes are intuitive, they are the kind of things even non-gamers thinks of when these words come up.On top of that, it is easier to balance packages than it is to balance random level picks.  Archetypes are almost always more balanced.Probably the biggest reason though is that it encourages teamwork and cooperation.  When you design an archetype you can create them with disadvantages that they can't overcome on their own.  This enables you to give other archetypes the ability to cover these areas creating a situation where players have to mutually rely upon one another.  Almost every game I've ever played that allowed a lot of freedom in character creation inevitably ended with characters who had no weaknesses or whose weaknesses were minimized to the point of barely existing unless explicitly targeted.  I hate the situations created by characters like Achilles.  They are invincible and fighting them becomes useless unless you have an enemy explicitly target their Achilles Heel.  But each time you target it, you are making an explicit choice to attempt to kill them and the player knows that.  Hurt feelings are almost always the result.Not to mention the other player's feelings when these characters are doing well:  "I'll heal you!  I'm a cleric and I specialized in healing!"  "No thanks, I have a class feature that allows me to heal myself.  Did I mention I also have the best AC in the group, the most hitpoints and do the most damage?  It's cute that you think I need your help.  Since all you can do is heal and I don't need that, why don't you sit over there and I'll let you bring me ale when I'm done killing the enemies."It's a team game and archetypes help enforce a team dynamic.  Split archetypes, where you say "I'm essentially taking the role of the Fighter AND the Wizard in the group, but I'm worse at both.", are fine.  I just don't like when you can create an entirely new archetype by mixing and matching.  It slows the game down as characters get more complicated and take much longer to level, it encourages "builds", and it encourages a group full of solo players.I'd imagine that given a Str 3 fighter could barely lift a sword that they'd be really bad at fighting.  Realistically, swinging a sword around all day, practicing with heavy weapons and armor and being physically fit enough to strike blows through armor and do some of the maneuvers required to fight with all the weapons fighters are trained in, there would be a minimum strength required.  It would be above average.Though, I admit it is kind of silly that there aren't single classed stat requirements as well to go along with the multiclassed ones.  It would remove some of the abuses of taking a certain class first.Then again, I think that the point of the system is that your character IS their primary class, they are just dabbling in other classes.  I generally think of someone who starts as a level 1 Wizard, for instance, to be someone who started training at a young age, practiced for years to get everything right and is now a full fledged Wizard.  A Fighter who multiclasses into Wizard is instead the guy who spent his entire life training with weapons and armors and practices martial maneuvers.  He then picks up a spell book one day and says "I'm going to learn magic.  I have 2 weeks, what can you teach me?"  Only people who are exceptionally intelligent can learn magic in such a short period of time.  They have to be able to read and understand advanced topics quickly.  So they need to be REALLY naturally talented.As for the Fighter who is str 3 and Dex 16.  They might be a great fighter according to the rules, but I hate when people refer to the rules for everything.  The rules MEAN something in the game world.  Even though the character is mechanically super awesome, the character in question is a little absurd.  Mechanically a 3 str doesn't hurt this character at all.  That's because the rules are attempting to be abstract and easy to learn.  In the game, the character has a max load of 30 lbs and shouldn't be able to effectively wield a sword at all.  I wouldn't ever make this character.  I'd also look down at someone who tried it for powergaming.</blockquote>

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