What is a Character Class?

So, what is a character class? It's a good question.

In the fantasy genre, of which ancient mythology is the roots, and modern conventions have expanded enormously, most stories, if not ALL stories, are essentially about a hero. Books are often about a single hero, who is the main protagonists, ie, the person who Does Stuff that carries the story along.

As a result of their often singular status, Protagonists literally CAN have any skill the author of their story wants them to have, and that can be logically supported by the internal logic of the tale being spun. To put it mildly, many protagonists ARE BADASSES. Which is perfectly acceptable!

However, this free-form, loosely defined way of doing things (while incredibly fun) isn't a very good way of running a shared game. if you are playing with your friends, they ALL want to be badasses, and also stand out in their own unique ways.

In a nutshell, not everybody is allowed to do everything.

And that is what Character Classes are for.

We have over a dozen character classes, and every single one of them, from the simplest to the most complex, is able to be built and played in dozens of unique and interesting ways. BUT, and here's the rub, each of them is distinctly different from the others.

A Fighter can be incredibly awesome, but they will be awesome in a very different way than a Wizard will be awesome. A Paladin will be very awesome, and completely different from an awesome Prowler. A Rogue will be awesome, and completely different from an Alchemist, who will ALSO be awesome.

What this means is that a character class is a set of in-game powers and abilities that are thematically and mechanically tied together, but should feel distinctly different from the play style of any other class.

Yes, it is a hard job to make all that work, but in fairness, D20 games have been around for over 40 years now and played by MILLIONS of talented gamers. We literally stand on the shoulders of giants, and are deeply grateful for it!

To make this even more fun, in Epic Path we have worked very hard to make each individual character class replayable. In other words, there's not one kind of Fighter. There are four pre-defined Fighting Techniques, and Fighters are even allowed to define their own custom Techniques if they want. Barbarians have four different Miens, which play and feel differently. Alchemists must pick and choose Grand Discoveries, Wizards have seven different Schools, etc, etc.

And if that still isn't enough diversity, we have rules for playing more than one character class with the same character!

So, while choosing your character class essentially means that you are not a Protagonist in an Epic Novel, and thus can not have whatever you want to make the story go, it DOES mean that you will be a Hero from the first session you play, and with your friends, you can all work together to do truly amazing things.

So, pick your class wisely, and get out there and play!