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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 9861036" data-attributes="member: 20564">Classes and levels are both player-facing constructs for creating player characters that are "balanced" against each other.  We know they are in-world constructs looking at NPCs with the same names that don't follow the same mechanics.  This was established back in 2014 when the MM had NPCs like "Druid" with 4th level casting and no wildshape, and has continued since in every published adventure and monster book since.As words you in-world could call someone a "fighter" just as much as you could call them infantry, or warrior, or whatever word fits, and it will have the connotations of that word -- "barbarian" as a word has a meaning -- but since the classes themselves aren't in-world objects, there's no expectations that anyone except PCs will follow those specifically.Agreed, the ludodissonance when mechanics split from the narrative can be a huge issue.  But remember it's really the effects of the mechanics.  d20 + mod >= DC by itself isn't represented in-world, just the linear nature of skill vs. attempt.  Same with classes, especially since as established the mechanical construct doesn't exist in-world.I played a hunter who mechanically took the rogue class.  I was great at aimed shots with my bow at prey that weren't expecting it or was distracted, could sneak up on them, took expertise in skills useful for an hunter.  That there was a rogue class at a meta-level never touched the fiction, it's how does the effects of that class interacted with the fiction of the world that could work or not, and that was just fine.</blockquote>

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