D&D 5E Which classes are functionally composite classes to some degree?

[Mind of tempest]

The justification for being able to just be incredible in a world that also contains gods, dragons, abberations, multiple realms/dimensions, elves, dwarves and tieflings, The world is literally teeming with magic on an atomic level, That’s your justification.

okay, how do you balance it, build mechanics around it, and make decent RP around it?

You can't have anything happen without people getting annoyed. The secret is to not care about them because they can and will ruin everything.

true but given we are discussing a game made for profit in a capitalist system having only its makers like it would count as a failure, and you can not say you would like them to make a game you would lack the desire to play?

In fact, Star Wars turned itself into a laughing stock by trying to explain its superpowers. Do you want midichlorian? Because this line of thinking is how you get midichlorians.

fair but it also had the explanation of the force as a mystic energy force that binds all things together and it needs that or the film would be completely worthless and have died on impact as it would be well insane.

I have no idea.

I suspect it is we agree on the basic point but we have differing views on the solution?

Why no indeed? The fighter is the one who hits things with other things, so a class that hits things with other things would use it as a base. You hit things with other things and also you do so by training so hard that your fist can punch people's souls out and you can run up walls also.

at that point you might as well go back to two classes fighter and caster, but we know that is unlikely beside some things have large pools of possible sub-options others do not, hence me seeing druid and barbarian as not fit for full classes but are too big for a singular subclass.

Also, the have to hit him with Two Serious Punches. One for each dumb head.

ah so we are following one punch man logic got it, that fails in a game setting as it only works in a comedy and comedy RPGs suck.
is session 3 out yet?

I use the same reasoning that lets a living napalm tank fly without any magic.

I have no idea what this is from?

 

[CreamCloud0]

okay, how do you balance it, build mechanics around it, and make decent RP around it?

Wait, sorry, what’s ‘it’ meant to be here?

 

[James Gasik]

Did you know that in this fantasy world, there is a process by which individuals become more powerful by going on dangerous adventures and slaying monsters? A Fighter can go into his first dungeon, spend 8 hours doing nothing but stabbing goblins, and emerge twice as tough as he was previously, and mysteriously gained an ability to occasionally make two distinct actions roughly every hour or so!

Wizards just spontaneously know new spells after doing nothing but casting firebolt 18 times or so!

There are plenty of things that "just work" in D&D, and don't have explanations. Experience points exist- nobody in universe knows about them, but they can see their effects. A Halfling can gain a Strength of 20- no one knows why, they just can. Barbarians can become as strong as giants one day. They just do it.

Without any magic but taking short naps, you can undo the effects of hard combat. But not fatigue! That takes 8 hours of sleep!

Hit points themselves are a bizarre mystery- either you accept the "non-meat" narrative, which means everyone magically Matrix dodges attacks without a scratch until they fall down, or, 10th level Fighters can take more arrows than Boromir and still keep fighting full tilt without penalty.

So many things players do are already impossible by normal standards, with no real explanation, that I can't see why we'd need to know why you can punch a dragon.

At that point, ask yourself how a Gnome Rogue with a hand crossbow can dish out a mountain of damage dice each turn to a giant that weighs in excess of 11,000 pounds just because there's an an annoying gnat of a Fighter standing next to them.

Or how said Fighter's shield does a damn thing when the giant swings his axe at him, which has a blade as long as he is tall?

 

[GreyLord]

Well, if we go with the original...

WE have

Fighting Man
Magic-user

Fighting Man + Magic User (but not as powerful as either) = Cleric.

Later...

Fighting Man + Cleric = Paladin
Fighting Man + Magic-User = Ranger
Fighting Man + Thief = Assassin
Cleric + Ranger = Druid
Fighting Man + Thief + Druid = Bard
Monk = Someone's fantasy
Fighting Man - Magic User = Barbarian
Paladin - Common Sense = Cavalier