D&D General What is the right amount of Classes for Dungeons and Dragons?

[Neonchameleon]

Which is why classless point buy systems are inherently superior to class systems. But D&D will remain a class/species/level system due to tradition.

Not even close. A good classless system will still have polarising features due to imbalances. You'll end up with something where you have a range like a 5.24 warlock (anything from a bookish psychic illusionist to a bullying Gish with a demon patron to a crossbow wielding priest with a holy book) but going too far outside the synergies is ... underwhelming.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The classes have been one of the sacred cows. It is not only a list of features, skills or powers but each class was like a mark of identity, a sub-brand within the IP.

Is it possible? Yes, something like the survivor classes from Van Ritchen's Guide 5Ed but these would be designed more for investigation than defeating monsters or other type of enemies.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Building on an earlier post, I would potentially consider a setup like this for the full-casters:

• Arcanist (arcane/order): astral, mana, time, gravity, sigils, etc.
• Warlock (shadow): necromancy, shadow, void, dark arts, blood, etc.
• Mystic (mental): mind magic, illusions, enchantment, psionics, etc.
• Druid (nature): animals, plants, weather, land, etc.
• Elementalist (primal/chaos): air, earth, fire, water, etc.
• Cleric (divine): holy, healing, buffing, abjuration, etc.

it was this part that i had interpreted as implementing 'exclusivity of spell schools (and similar such classifications)', i'm not sure what caused me at the time to read this in such a these are the classes allowed to cast these types of spells and no cross-contamination but it is what it is.