Interesting perspective, Crit. From my perspective, I simply see so many people having fun with the game as is...I don't really see the advantage of making a change like that. I guess I'm a bit conservative, but there was a time when the paladin was a subclass of the cavalier. Then, the paladin became part of the "warrior" group, along with fighter and ranger. I see things as developing as they did for a reason. I don't really see the advantage of making a paladin or barbarian a subclass. I think there are many players who would be annoyed by that and I am not seeing many people annoyed with the way the game is. At worst, there are changes that certain people would like to see, for example Saelorn's sorcerer-warlock, that can be handled through homebrew customization. I think Saelorn is smart and has good ideas, but there appear to be many people who presently like their warlocks and like their sorcerers.
I agree with this. I don't believe a class restructuring would necessarily change anyone's fun, just the method for how it is reached, while opening up new avenues.
I don't think we have terms to describe how exactly this could work. I want to make an example, but I can't put something through in detail.
A hypothetical- Monk and Sorcerer could be two branches of one class that focuses on using Points for extra combat features, with Monk being the martial half and Sorcerer as the arcane (like boosted Pact Poons). They could have a pool of choosable features, like Prerequisite Invocations/maneuvers/metamagics/fighting styles/subclass features like Totem Warrior. With gameplay features like this in mind, I can imagine how one class can become as different as two- be it Monk and Sorcerer, Paladin and Cleric, Ranger and Druid, Wizard and Artificer, etc. In theory, this would be in service of making room within each class for more varied gameplay insertions or new classes with more significant distinctions. I can't really prove it, but I feel like more out-there things would be published under a class system like this.
Another example: I think Paladin and Cleric can be the martial | arcane halves of one class. The thing that could be fun here is that both "classes" would be able to pick from the same subclasses, though to different effect- much like how Pact Boons+Invocations can have different experiences with the same patrons. Consider, of the subclasses that get published, how many are redundant in theme amongst similar classes? The case I see here is Nature Cleric and Ancient Paladin being "druidic." Under this system, those would be one and perhaps another class can get a new subclass. Also, we already see some Cleric subclasses get much closer to being martial, so I don't see why the jump couldn't be possible.
The most important part to clarify is that the modular features should be able to add up to the exact classes we have now, so in theory nothing is lost and (I would argue) that the system would be more streamlined and flexible.
I'm not a game designer, nor particularly informed on what makes a good game, but I think that there's a way to keep what we have while opening up other avenues.
