LordBlades said:
Cymbel said:
But please no classless affinity selection, I hate those. It just removes some of the excitement of reaching the next rank and now you can perform this awesome new talent, or know a new skill, with BC, it felt like I was powergaming trying to get the best talents and well, anyone could get anything. I liked how some careers never got some stuff or got it later on. It made the careers different and it was nice looking over a new rank table and seeing what you wanted, how to spend your XP.
On the other hand, a classless system does give more flexiblity. In Dark Heresy there's just a few skills that a given class can't get regardless of circumstances without GM intervention (as elite advances).
Frankly, I find both systems to have their boons and flaws.
A classless system, on one hand, can result in overpowered or unbalanced combinations, simply because you can't test every combination of equipment and abilities before the book hits the shelves. Especially when it comes to the bull of all bull in a freeform system, the "one true build!".
Then there's the thematic aspects involved. I don't think either Deathwatch, Dark Heresy, or Rogue Trader are hindered in anyway by the Rank system. Which is still a lot more freeform than most traditional class-based games, where the benefits of the level are pre-chosen, while each new Rank adds another table of advancements that you can purchase for your character, maintaining a healthy level of flexibility.
