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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 6272565" data-attributes="member: 23935">One thing I rarely see discussed is what constitutes versatility depends on the possible actions available to other classes.A versatile Fighter class in a mundane world may have options for command, esoteric knowledge depth, or advanced skills that are (almost) comparable to a master in any individual field of study.When the possible actions of the other classes include detection of threat and reward (pretty much the whole divination school), movement capabilities (plane travel, 3-dimensional movement, teleportation, and magically enhanced running/jumping), environmental survival (water-breathing, environmental immunities), and a host of other capabilities out of reach of plausible non-magical devices (Fabricate, magic item creation,  Magnificent Mansion, etc.) then versatility takes on other meanings.At higher levels, access to several of the fore-mentioned abilities can, and in IMO should, be necessary for adventuring success.  I suggest a class can only be considered versatile if the it is capable of achieving some success at achieving some of these abilities.In many ways, the most versatile fighters I've DMed were under 1e.  The versatility of characters existed to a large degree outside their class abilities and in magic items, henchmen and other hirelings, and world-based organisational allegiances.Magic items were almost completely the result of successful campaigning and successful item creation was rare.  Treasure placement is skewed to help Fighters and Magic-users had strong incentives to angle for shares that involved survivability or improved arcane power (spell books, scrolls, wands, and staves) over miscellaneous "everyman" usable objects like cubic gates or flying carpets.  Likewise a character is more likely to look for complementary hench-folk over duplicating abilities the character provides.Later editions fiddled with this balance with it breaking down under 3.X.  The item creation rules, the magical item cost structure, and other default assumptions led to an environment where it is less likely the Fighter character will want to acquire versatility over further specialisation in direct combat.</blockquote>

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