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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snoweel" data-source="post: 5073263" data-attributes="member: 4453">The purpose of this thread is to discuss your views on the in-game meaning of the various D&D character classes (which are primarily a game mechanics element).For example, would NPCs in the game world really distinguish a fighter from a warlord from a skilled guardsman? Would they all just be considered different types of swordsmen or warriors?Obviously a character with warlord levels would likely be more talkative in battle than a fighter but that's not necessarily ther case - there may be fighters (and even warrior-types without any class levels) who spend every combat shouting commands, exhortations and war cries without the mechanical benefits of a warlord.Would there really be a marked in-game difference in how these various martial-types are perceived?How about rogues? Not all rogues are sneaky thieves and not all sneaky thieves have levels in the rogue class. Does the term 'rogue' have any in-game meaning beyond its typical use in the English language? I think many D&D rogues would simple be described as 'swordsmen' or even just 'adventurers'. Likewise the ranger; there's an argument for saying that a ranger is recognisable as a 'woodsy warrior' but are all woodsy warriors classed rangers? Do there even need to be ranger organisations to support a ranger PC? Perhaps the PC ranger is the only character in the entire gameworld that displays that particularsuite of skills, but maybe he learned them from different sources - maybe the PC learnt the twin-sword style from his father, an exile from a (non-woodsy) culture that fights with two swords, but he learned his woodscraft from the old elf who tends the sacred grove in the middle of the city. There may be no other 'rangers' anywhere else in that setting.Arcane, divine and primal classes provide less ambiguous displays of in-game characteristics (spellcasting, etc) but still the likelihood of individuals being identified as members of a class isn't so cut and dried.We know that not all priests are clerics, but then what exactly is a cleric? Is it just another type of holy warrior? Could an NPC tell the difference between a cleric and a paladin (and possibly an avenger)? Is their equipment (weapons and armour proficiency) the only reliable indicator?If clerics are holy warriors, imbued with their god's power, then what are paladins?And just like with rangers, are there necessarily other 'clerics' and 'paladins' in the gameworld, or could it be that the PC is the only one? Basically I'm interested to know what in-game meaning character classes have in your game. Have you diverted at all from 4e 'canon'? (And I use the term loosely.)</blockquote>

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