My point would be that there is a major difference between reskinning and house-ruling. Reskinning is a creative process that I believe should be imbraced. In past editions I had to imagine my character as a nordic barbarian, in the current edition I might have to imagine my ranger as a fighter archer. Often, as long as you are not changing fundamental truths about the setting or creating story elements that don't fit the ton of the game, a player should not, IMO, be cut off creatively from making the character concept he wants within the rules.
See this is where I'm getting a little confused...
Imagining your "character" as a nordic barbarian vs. making a ranger when what you want is a character with the hit points, healing surges and skills of a fighter isn't just a matter of reskinning, it has real mechanical effects outside of your combat role. Again there is a lot tied up in class and by attaching combat role to it in 4e they just added one more thing your class dictates... which means less flexibility and less customization.
House-ruling changes the rules of the game and should only occur with approval from the DM. Changing Magic Missile to key its attack and damage off of another statistic holds rules ramifications. Changing your character's magic missiles to rabid pink bunny rabbits has no effect of the rules (although obviously many would balk at the tone).
Emphasis mine: This is why I find permeton's houserule it all solution unsatisfactory.
As to the rest of this paragraph... we are very much talking houseruling because reskinning different classes doesn't give you other things tied up in them. If I'm looking to make a fighter class archer then I am very much looking to create an archer that has greater durability, wider range of armor, no woodland skills or associations, fighter skills, etc.
Me deciding that my 3E Barbarian is actually a noble-born city-dweller who summons the strength of his dragon-blood heritage does not change any rules related to the 3E Barbarian, but it gives me the concept I envision for my character. This is not hyperbole or a thought exercise, this is a real-world example of what I'm referring to.
So wait, your "noble-born", "city-dweller" has the following as class skills...
Climb (Str),
Craft (Int),
Handle Animal (Cha),
Intimidate (Cha),
Jump (Str),
Listen (Wis),
Ride (Dex),
Survival (Wis), and
Swim (Str).
I guess you could squint really hard and come up with some reason he's missing alot of the skills most people would consider trademarks of being born in the city or as a noble... though it's definitely not the skill set I would have pictured for him... Diplomacy, Knowledge(anything), Sense Motive, Speak Language, Profession. Of course since 3.x is a little more flexible picking a different class to represent him won't necessarily dictate your combat role as well. Which is the point that seems to be getting lost in the archer vs. melee fighter debate. It's not about weapon, but about combat role.
It's frustrating for those of us who suggest it too. I honestly don't understand why when someone says "I can't do X with my character" and another person suggests a plausible alternative that people react so negatively. I understand that this is most likely one issue out of many that you do not prefer the system that I do, but I do enjoy positing solutions to the problem even if I know in the bigger pictre that you most likely have other reasons you've decided to play another system. I'm not trying to convert anyone and never would, but I can focus on solutions to particular problems. If nothing else I'm sharing my ideas that maybe someelse can poach no matter what system they play. I've certainly picked up on ideas from ENWorlders who play various editions and games.
Because what you consider "plausible" isn't to some people... why is that so hard to understand. Your Barbarian above is not, IMO, a plausible solution for creating a city-dweller, noble-born, character... no matter how much you "reskin" the Barbarian. The ranger, IMO, is not a plausible hard-as-nails, mercenary archer who grew up in the tent towns of a major city. No matter how much you reskin him. They have actual mechanics that work against the concept.
