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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 6152775" data-attributes="member: 8461">I suspect that getting away from a class system in the first place would solve most of these issues, but that's an academic argument, because that would never be accepted by the vast majority of D&D's fan base.I've been using a <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product/51255/Eclipse-The-Codex-Persona-Shareware" target="_blank">point-buy class-construction supplement</a> for my Pathfinder game for several months now, and I'm far and away happier with it (and can't resist shilling for it every now and then). Even leaving aside purely practical issues of hunting through various books and online databases, I find that it solves most of these very issues.It does so because 1) Characters can all select from a wide pool of abilities, which are the same for all of them, allowing characters to customize their narrative potential to their own desires, and 2) the system is not only very expansive in the powers it offers, but is highly flexible in modifying those powers, so you can make pretty much anything.Now, I have heard some people complain that a system like that turns everyone into "quasi-spellcasters," because even the dedicated fighter-types tend to grab a few powers that are quite clearly supernatural in nature. I don't think that's necessarily true (since the association for how the power functions in-game can usually be described however the player wants), but even if it is, that's going to be fine for most D&D worlds that I know, since the degree of magic is high enough that you can kludge together a reason for why your character has some mystical power, even if it's not true spellcasting the way a wizard has it (for example, there are over a dozen ways to, say, animate the dead that I can think of using this system).Ultimately, I think that's the only workable solution if you want characters to have the degree of narrative options while still retaining differing thematic roles in the game.</blockquote>

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