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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 7652918" data-attributes="member: 2067">I think this gets into some interesting questions of cognitive dissonance.Why is a class meaningless in this system, but in, say, the 4e monster system, monsters aren't meaningless? Or in the 4e powers system, powers aren't meaningless? What is the essential conveyer of &quot;meaning&quot; here?I think it's possible to switch it around and remove classes entirely, too, but the authority to make classes is here given to the DMs for a specific reason: because they are usually the ones who determine the setting and structure and thus the relevant conflicts and possibility for heroes (though it can be done the other way around). If the Blackhand Assassins are going to be useful or not is largely up to the kind of enemies and adversaries the DM supplies: dungeon crawl games aren't going to use them, intrigue-laden games might. The ability to decompose this to its base elements is, in my mind, kind of a strength: it allows DMs to roll their own easily. But at any rate, I think the interesting question here becomes: what does it take for a class to have &quot;meaning&quot;? Certainly in the fiction of the game, and in the mechanics they possess, a Blackhand Assassin and a Crystal Seer are distinct...what are they lacking?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 7652918, member: 2067"] I think this gets into some interesting questions of cognitive dissonance. Why is a class meaningless in this system, but in, say, the 4e monster system, monsters aren't meaningless? Or in the 4e powers system, powers aren't meaningless? What is the essential conveyer of "meaning" here? I think it's possible to switch it around and remove classes entirely, too, but the authority to make classes is here given to the DMs for a specific reason: because they are usually the ones who determine the setting and structure and thus the relevant conflicts and possibility for heroes (though it can be done the other way around). If the Blackhand Assassins are going to be useful or not is largely up to the kind of enemies and adversaries the DM supplies: dungeon crawl games aren't going to use them, intrigue-laden games might. The ability to decompose this to its base elements is, in my mind, kind of a strength: it allows DMs to roll their own easily. But at any rate, I think the interesting question here becomes: what does it take for a class to have "meaning"? Certainly in the fiction of the game, and in the mechanics they possess, a Blackhand Assassin and a Crystal Seer are distinct...what are they lacking? [/QUOTE]

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