Your favorite class(less) system

[Cryomancer]

There are many class systems preset in RPG's, to name some :

• Characters as classes - Very common in mmos from Korea and Japan and in some looter shooters who identify as RPG's like Borderlands 1/2/3.
• Classless - You are what you wear - eg - Albion Online, your character is nothing, what he is wearing determinate his capabilities.
• Classless - You are what you learn/practice - Eg - Dungeon Siege 2 and Gothic 1/2/3.
• Class - Stick with a class in the entire game or maybe dual/multi class - Most SSI D&D adaptations
• Class with promotion - Eg - Might & Magic VI
• Class with branching promotion - Eg - Lineage 2, Might & Magic VII
• Base classes + prestige classes - Most PF1e/D&D 3.xE games
• Races as classes - Eg - M&M VIII
• Other (comment and I will edit)

 

[Maxie]

orbment paths in Trails

 

[Butter]

Grimoire's system is probably best. It takes the fun of branching out a Wiz6/7 character and adds a degree of rigidity so you're encouraged to commit to something. D&D 3.x letting you pick a new class every level is one of the most retarded mechanics in any game ever created.

 

[0sacred]

stick with class. I never got the "class promotion" hype. Also I despise over the top multiclassing, and prestige classes are more crap no game needs.

 

[Tyranicon]

stick with class. The only type of "prestiging" is when you reach level 20 and become some kind of near-godly being.

That being said, I really like subclass variety.

 

[quixotic]

No kingcomrade option? For shame.

 

[Cryomancer]

D&D 3.x letting you pick a new class every level is one of the most retarded mechanics in any game ever created.

Yep. Unless the DM doesn't allow BS.

What I mean by BS? Imagine an wizard in candlekeep. That wizard never was in Thay but going RAW, he can become a Red Wizard of Thay if he meets all requirements. That is pure BS, imagine someone becoming a Baron in a kingdom without even stepping a foot in this kingdom. Becoming a red wizard should require a harsh personal quest and unless the setting is set in Thay, should't be allowed.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Is there a "You are what you eat" game? I feel like there was but i just can't remember.

 

[Lt Broccoli]

I wonder what the Fallout series would be like with strict classes...

 

[laclongquan]

Characters as classes can be seen in FF8.

Fallout Tactic classless system can be played as class system:
Combat role: Divide strictly into Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Guns.
Support role: this divide into smaller subgroup, one really reserve for minor characters that usually get picked up from roster to do support things, then drop back into roster pool. Barter, Bet. And one reserve for a permanent spot in your team, like Doctor/First Aid, Sneak. They trade off their combat ability (and combat kill xp) for class skill xp (heal xp, pick lock xp etc...)

This one rely on a huge roster of personel or it cant be done at all. The necessity to play it like that is due to long game with different waves of enemies
----
Anyway, which system work best depend on how you design your game. FTBOS is the very example of forcing a classless system work like classes.

In a counter example: Morrowind system is classes as you practice. BUt the shenannigans related to leveling make it feel more like a classless system rather than class system... Or is it vice versa? The leveling scheme clash much with the class/race/profession.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Is there a "You are what you eat" game? I feel like there was but i just can't remember.

Legend of Grimrock, Farmer Class; gains XP by eating food.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Is there a "You are what you eat" game? I feel like there was but i just can't remember.

Legend of Grimrock, Farmer Class; gains XP by eating food.

Specifically, Legend of Grimrock II; the original only has three classes (fighter, rogue, mage), while the sequel has eight (fighter, barbarian, knight, rogue, wizard, battle mage, alchemist, farmer).

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Couldn't have hooker or playboy eh?

 

[Hagashager]

I quite like the Fantasy Flight Warhammer 40K leveling system. You choose a main line class, but that class has multiple careers you can spec into. Some of these careers are tiered, one rank after another, while other careers are treated as specialized training that runs parallel to your base career.

Within each career you can buy talents and skills with xp.

So, as a Cleric, you can start as a street preacher, with a little list of skills and talents to buy, but eventually can spec either into an echesiarchical bishop, or spec into an inquisitor.

If you want to get munchkin about it, the splatbooks introduced side careers for each class. Clerics could become Witch-Hunters and learn a kind of "Faith Magic"

 

[Beastro]

D&D 3.x letting you pick a new class every level is one of the most retarded mechanics in any game ever created.

Yep. Unless the DM doesn't allow BS.

What I mean by BS? Imagine an wizard in candlekeep. That wizard never was in Thay but going RAW, he can become a Red Wizard of Thay if he meets all requirements. That is pure BS, imagine someone becoming a Baron in a kingdom without even stepping a foot in this kingdom. Becoming a red wizard should require a harsh personal quest and unless the setting is set in Thay, should't be allowed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukedom_of_Bronte

It was granted on 10 October 1799 at Palermo[1] to the British Royal Navy officer Horatio Nelson by King Ferdinand III of Sicily, in gratitude for Nelson having saved the kingdom of Sicily from conquest by Revolutionary French forces under Napoleon. This was largely achieved by Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile (1798), which extinguished French naval power in the Mediterranean

Nelson never set foot on his estate, as he was killed in action six years later at the Battle of Trafalgar.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Class describes the mindset, training, aspirations, and even prejudices of the character's past upbringing, until the point where the game starts; it's what they were doing with their lives—actually it's their role, in the theatrical sense. Most would continue their chosen path; some (a few) might abandon their past choice for a new start on life.

What I like about Prestige Classes is that they require access and past experience to attain. Bard's Tale was like this with the magic users, where they could only become an Archmage after a broader experience in the four other magic classes.

 

[Lt Broccoli]

Characters as classes can be seen in FF8.

Fallout Tactic classless system can be played as class system:
Combat role: Divide strictly into Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Guns.
Support role: this divide into smaller subgroup, one really reserve for minor characters that usually get picked up from roster to do support things, then drop back into roster pool. Barter, Bet. And one reserve for a permanent spot in your team, like Doctor/First Aid, Sneak. They trade off their combat ability (and combat kill xp) for class skill xp (heal xp, pick lock xp etc...)

This one rely on a huge roster of personel or it cant be done at all. The necessity to play it like that is due to long game with different waves of enemies
----
Anyway, which system work best depend on how you design your game. FTBOS is the very example of forcing a classless system work like classes.

In a counter example: Morrowind system is classes as you practice. BUt the shenannigans related to leveling make it feel more like a classless system rather than class system... Or is it vice versa? The leveling scheme clash much with the class/race/profession.

Mmm...oh yeah, very good point about Fallout Tactics. That reminded me I made my own classes back in the day. Each with their own perk and skill sets so I could try different combinations and then worked out which characters would get each build. Below is an exhaustive list - most were geared to a particular set of perks and allowed different combinations of races and anticipated the option of using perks that changed their evolution like Tag, 'Mutate', Gain (Statistic), but not the Bend the Rules and Break the Rules perks:

Leader & Explorer - Outdoorsman skill and for your main character.
Road Warrior - Driver based build
Master Trader - Barter build
Mr. Fixit - Repair build
Doctor Natural - High luck and assumed they had the base stats to get 'Healer' Perk
Doctor Lucky - Assumed they had to take the Gain (Statistic) Luck perk to get 'Healer'
Thief Demolition Ghost - Focus on Traps
Thief All-Rounder - Focus on getting Pickpocket perk
Sniper - Long range specialist
Bonus Rate of Fire - Long range specialist with Action Boy
Sharpshooter- Long range specialist with high perception but unable to make Sniper or Bonus Rate of Fire
Critical Bonus Ranged Damage - High Luck and all about max damage
Big Gun Psychotic - Super Mutant Big Gun build
Big Gun Strong Back - Human Big Gun build
Grunt Throwing Dodger - Naturally strong humans/ghouls with Small guns/Energy Weapons and throwing
Grunt Throwing Heave Ho - Lower strength Small guns/Energy Weapons and throwing builds
Grunt Throwing Cancerous Growth - Built really just for Harrold as his stats/skill set are odds and sods
Slayer Talon of Fear - Deathclaw Slayer build
Slayer HtH Evade - Human Slayer build
Silent Death - Stealth with focus on Silent Death
Unarmed Soak Hide of Scars - Melee Deathclaw HP soak build
Unarmed Chem Tough Hide- Melee Super Mutant HP soak build
Melee Soak Lucky Adrenaline - Melee Human HP soak build
Melee Pure Damage - Melee build with focus on base HtH Damage (but not slayer/silent death)

 

[mondblut]

Classes with multiclassing. The more exploitable, the better.

 

[mondblut]

Is there a "You are what you eat" game? I feel like there was but i just can't remember.

That was a motto in oldschool roguelikes, where you could eat anything you have killed, often with rather radical consequences.

 

[mondblut]

Grimoire's Wizards & Warriors system is probably best. It takes the fun of branching out a Wiz6/7 character and adds a degree of rigidity so you're encouraged to commit to something.

FTFY. Not unlike Grimoire, you can only branch into a limited number of classes at any given time, and only visit a single class once. However, branching is not arbitrary, rather, all elite classes beyond the starting warrior-rogue-priest-wizard quad are associated with 2-3 "guilds" out of 5 (the 4 starting classes + weeaboo guild), and you can switch to any class that shares one of the guilds with your current one. And you need to complete a quest when you do. Eventually you can vsit all classes, but you'll have to plot your road very carefully, and it's going to be unique for each of the 4 starting classes.

D&D 3.x letting you pick a new class every level is one of the most retarded mechanics in any game ever created.

True.

 

[laclongquan]

YOu are what you eat sound familiar but I dont remember what that game is~

 

[NecroLord]

Class and multi/dual class.
Pure D&D, baby.

 

[Kabas]

Never was a fan of multi-classing and lately i have acquired a strong dislike for rise by use systems.
Rather than characters as classes i would prefer if it was classes as characters.

A good example would be those Drakensang games. You have a very rich selection from various types of warriors, rogues, dwarfs and elves etc. Some parts can be modified but stuff like spells, starting equpment or cultural background are already set in stone.
Absolutely in love with how Conquest of Elysium handles it's classes even if it's technically not an rpg. Each of the classes show so much personality just with their gameplay mechanics alone.
Also in love with the class design of Tales of Maj'eyal.

All in all, i am fine wih the character creation process being a simplistic "pick your race/class" like in MMOs or "choose whoever you like amongst these dudes" like in Diablo or Sacred as long as each option comes with strong character so to speak and some gameplay mechanics to back it up.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

The Wizardry system, with the job system from old FFs as a complement

 

[Cryomancer]

s. I never got the "class promotion" hype.

I like the idea. Is another layer of progression.

Mainly how is presented in Lineage 2, at lv 1, an human can be a fighter or a mystic. A mythic can heal, damage CC but is awful in everything. Then, at lv 20, he chose between specializing into divine magic and becoming a cleric or in arcane magic and becoming a wizard. A wizard can summon monsters, use fire magic, use dark magic but is not great in either. At lv 40, he can become a warlock, all about his pet, a sorcerer, all about fire magic or a necromancer, a in between, with summons and dark magic. I honestly enjoyed the system. In Shadowbane, you start with 4 base classes and promote at lv 10 and a rogue who become an assassin and a mage assassin are vastly different. One uses most poison and sneak attack. Other, most shadowmancy;

Or in M&M VII. Sorcerers become Wizards and in end game good Wizards become archwizards. Evil wizards, liches M&M VIII - Day of the destroyer has races as class and promotion. Creating a golem as a lesson in the college of Wizardry and having the golem created by you protecting your castle in M&M VII was great.

Bard's Tale

Bard's Tale system is hard to describe.