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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 3431560" data-attributes="member: 1288">It's particular to D&D, to the extent that classes are specializations by definition. (More on that in a moment). So while it's not unique to D&D by any means, it is particular to D&D's design.And while it's difficult to powergame a strict class system through specialization, the initial argument wasn't about powergaming; it was about specialization in general. A class system is, by its very definition, more specialized than a skill-based system such as GURPS or WoD. In those, you can choose to play someone who's kind of good at magic, and kind of good at stealth, and kind of good at swordplay, but is no master of any of them. In a strict class sytem, you cannot do that. You are forced into a specialization--fighter or caster or stealthy guy--from which you cannot ever emerge.3E has less of that than prior editions of D&D, what with the easier multiclassing rules, the options inherent to feats and skills, and so forth. But that doesn't alter the fundamental fact that classes are specializations, pure and simple. You need no longer remain within said specializations, but they're still where you start, and still where you're best designed to proceed if you want to remain more than marginally effective as compared to others.And again, all I can say is that not only do our experiences differ but I think we must be using different definitions of certain words. Classes are specializations. They're niches. They're archetypes. They are a collection of prechosen skills and abilities and functionalities whose entire purpose is to ensure that a character who takes Class X remains at least marginally focused on abilities specific to Class X.But then, I don't consider specialization to equal or equate to powergaming, though they certainly can and do go hand-in-hand, nor do I consider specialization to be a bad thing, when the game is constructed with the multi-person party in mind from the get-go.</blockquote>

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