A Thought on RPG Character Development

In one of my wandering thoughts I thought about the general definition of 'classes' in a role-playing game. Theres always the 'Holy Trinity' of stereotyped classes, in this case the Tank, the Healer, and the Nuker. All other classes seem to always revolve around those 3, at least for combat purposes. Crafters are generally separated from the combat classes for some reason or another. One thing lead to another and I started to think about how the best class system for an RPG would be. Some RPGs (including MMORPGs) have as little as 4 classes to start with but branches out as their gain levels, some are fixed to a few classes, some have ALOT of fixed classes, while some gives the player the ability to combine multiple classes (multi-class so to speak). All RPGS have the 'Holy Trinity', no doubt about it. Most other classes are extensions of the Holy Trinity with some different abilities most of the time based on a theme (Paladins, Shadow Priests, Battlemage classes come to mind). Some, however, break the mold with different concepts, like Illusionist(Mezzers) classes that hinder instead of damage, Rogue/Assassin classes that has stealth/thievery abilities, Witches/Warlocks that deals with summoning helpers/minions, etc. Really. the possibilities are quite endless once you start thinking about it.

The thing is, you can think of any dream class you want, but the real challenge comes in the balancing of these classes. The more classes you have, the more work in balancing them. Once again this by itself is a topic all by its own. Some balance classes by making any class capable of defeating any other class (very rare), and most balance them by making a RTS-type decision, Counters: eg. Fighter > Mage > Archer > Fighter. It's just a matter of giving certain classes offensive/defensive abilities of varying magnitudes against certain other classes. Sure it works, but kinda boring in my opinion, not to mention its all too easy to unwillingly create an 'uber-class' that seems 'stronger' than all others. There must be other ways to do this.

Balance aside, theres also another facet of classes, class progression (which often equals to character progression). From Skill-Based systems (Ultima Online Skill Points) to Hierarchy-Based systems (Lineage 2 Job Levels) to Tier-Based systems (WoW Talents) to Statistic-Based systems (Dungeons and Dragons or Fallout's S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats) to Traditional LevelPoints-Based systems (DoAC classes), they all have their own pros and cons. I thought about how some systems, for example Lineage 2, uses a realistic modeling of how a character would 'grow' from a simple 'novice adventurer' growing into whatever profession he/she wishes to a step at a time. One instance would be Novice -> Fighter -> Mercenary -> Assassin -> Shadow Master. This hierarchial system is quite linear, where a Fighter (job 1) cannot revert back to a Novice (job 0) and is fixed in his fighter branch although he can choose to be either a Mercenary(Job2) or a Page(Job 2). I thought of a similar system but instead of only advancing in one branch, the adventurer can invest into other branches at the same time, similar to a skill-based setup. In this case, it is entirely possible to be (according to the example above) both a Mercenary and a Page at the same time. Balancing them would be a major headache, but it would prove to be a much more rewarding character/class progression system.

Misc skills like crafting skills can also be fitted into such a system with minimal effort. It would also help make each character quite unique in terms of abilities, something that I'm sure each RPG player would find very welcome. To soothe the transition between this kind of skill-based system and the old tradition class system, and to help players recognise each other's abilities, some kind of class-like title would be assigned to each character based on his character experiences.

In reference from certain MMORPGs in development, I thought of a kind of inheritence system where any subsequent character a player makes (aka alternate character) will have some kind of influence from the player's previous character. To make this point clearer, let me illustrate. The player first enters a game without any existing characters. In the game his character will essentially start with nothing, being something like a total newcomer to the land. This character will be free to do anything he wishes to advance his skills. If the player wants to make a new character, and if he chooses to inherit this new character from his previous character, this new character will have 'free experience' so to speak according to how developed his ancestor is. This would help reduce the 'grind' players experience in one form or another when making an alternate character in an MMORPG.