In my head, it felt like each new edition of the game has taken more of what used to be Class in 1e and 2e parsed those out into things that aren't quite class but their own separate things. So in 3e and 3.5 skills and feats are separated out, and race is basically ditched, all chars become multiclass essentially. In 4e this was even more pronounced where class became like a collection of mix and match powers. In 5e they started running back in the other direction again, so we have backgrounds that blurr into class skills, and classes that have these branch paths with a specialization. I don't know really where they run with it in 6e, but there always seems to be this tension between class archetype and wanting the grab bag. I think 3e had a fun build your own thing out of legos kind of vibe for characterization, but the novelty there kind of wares thin over time, just since it was around for so long.
Not to bring too much into it, but just that idea there of feeling pressure to juice an attribute because the class association is so strong. Like Str or Con if playing a brawler, Dex if a thief, Wisdom as a priest or whatever. It's hard to overcome the push of many successive editions still saying that attributes are core to class and having a high prime is key just for the mechanics to work. Like nobody wants to play a fighter who can't really fight, so they have to dangle some pretty compelling feats in front of you to pass on pushing up the prime attributes.
Last edited by Black_Elk; 14/08/21 08:05 PM.
