So, I was on the forums a while back with some questions about RTS systems and features that people would like to see. Well... as it turns out, my team and I scrapped the RTS project to go the route of the cliche and over-used RPG. We are still keeping to the storyline we had before, and for now the predominant race will remain human. We will eventually branch out into the discovery of more races, but we are trying to stay away from the common elves and orcs setup. It is still set in a fantasy setting though, with a diverse magic system covering many aspects of life. Your standard fare of weaponry and armor will also be present. All of that aside... I come to you, the GameDev community today to discuss character classes. We have chosen to go with a more set class list with some variations to each class that players can choose (similar to WoW and the talent tree setup). What I would like you guys to do, is discuss the different classes that you want to see in an RPG. Rules for this... not really many. We have an extensive list that we need to cull (28 Physical Combat classes, 52 Magic Combat classes, 17 Stealth Combat classes, and 16 Hybrid & Utility). These classes cover both PC and NPC combat classes, and that's what I'm looking for from you guys too! Cyprus Edited for typos [Edited by - HunterCyprus93 on May 7, 2007 11:23:08 AM]

I enjoy the pre-determined class roles myself, but I do also enjoy free-form classes. I do have to say though, that the pre-determined to me are better because they give me a definite class role. Not only this, but it allows for better and easier class balancing (I only mention this because we would in the future like to do a MMO with this storyline).

But again, the main factor here, is that my team and I like the pre-determined classes, so, this is what we will be working with.

i like classes just because iv never seen a point buy system that actually worked good,
usually if theres enough options to justify using a point buy instead of classes with different predetermined buy combination most are unbalanced, made redundant by another option or just plain useless in the game.

the one thing i hate the most is when during a character build im given a ton of "options" but only one or two "correct" answers

That is true BCullis, and the list will be culled down to a more manageable number. We are getting a lot of ideas from different cultures and while two classes will have only minor differences, yes, the major parts will be the same. We have yet to decide on which to integrate into eachother or remove completely. Right now we are in a brainstorming process for classes, thus this post :D

I'm not sure how many classes you expect to end up with in the end, but I think well thought out talent trees could be essential to providing greater depth in the classes. However, the more complicated or intrinsic you might make these trees, the harder it will become to balance out the classes. Managing less classes would make this easier although you may feel it will degrade the variety of character choices.
I will say that I enjoy making decisions to improve my character throughout any RPG. This allows the player to personalise their class and hopefully keep them interested in progressing throughout the game. Of course, this is only my opinion but I feel advancing the player's character from within the game is the main aspect to focus on.

Again, we are going to cut down the number of classes that will be available to players.

We will be keeping the rest on hand though to be used for NPC's. Since our game will primarily consist of humans, this works very well for us. It gives us a wide range of "baddies" to work with.

Surely the choice of classes should be down to some sort of sensible division of your gameplay elements, rather than an arbitrary external decision based on "what would be cool"?

ie. There's no point me saying "warrior, cleric, mage, thief" if you have no stealth skills for the thief, but plenty of diplomatic skills that need classifying.

If you're just having "the usual" features, just have "the usual" classes.

If not, specify what's different or what's taken out.