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Most abilities in the game are available to any class. Taking combat as an example, a rogue can pick from all the same fighting styles as a warrior. The differences are that a warrior learns more styles and masters them more easily. For example, by 10th level, a warrior will master at least 2 styles and at least 2 grand styles, and he will know several variations on each. A rogue will likely master only 1 style and 1 grand style and know only a single variation or two. [Edit: just to be clear, that's "master" as in know at the master level. Warriors and rogues at 10th level both will probably know more styles at the apprentice level.] Taking social encounters as an example, a warrior can learn all the tricks and talents that a noble or a courtesan can. But a noble or courtesan learns more, and learns them sooner (at lower level).

There are a few exceptions in each class. I think it's important for class distinction and fun. The biggest is probably magic, which is learned by just under half the classes in the game (noble, witch/wizard, fixer, and the chosen). But multiclassing is very much possible - and it works well for every class. In fact, if you decide to play using the scene structure and plot/pacing aids of the game, hybrid characters are arguably the most effective. This is because the scene structure and pacing aids require many different scene types (social, chase, combat, war, investigation, etc.).

It's tough to discuss without the full game being laid out. The bottom line is that class matters significantly for a few important abilities. Your choice of class definitely matters. But multiclassing is easy and unrestricted, and outside of a few signature abilities like spellcasting, pretty much every ability can be learned by every class, albeit at a different pace. Also, currently, in an appendix, there are rules for creating a custom class. We'll see if that appendix makes the cut for the final game.

Are chosen, noble, witch/wizard, fixer, rogue, and warrior the only classes?

Do the classes get set abilities at each level (e.g. every warrior gets 1 combat style at 3rd level) or a pool of points that can be used to purchase whatever the player wants?

I hail from a tiny little village called Manitou Beach. :) Which is about two hours West of Detroit and an hour south of Lansing. It sucks. @_@

Sounds like you have a pretty ambitious goal for magic, and it all sounds good. :D In my experience, fantasy RPGs don't usually make magic very fun... either by limiting it too much, making it too powerful or by making it feel like just another weapon.

How many schools/traditions do you have planned?

Considering the core classes... are players going to be able to emulate familiar classics like paladin, ranger, druid and bard?

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/*~Matthew Miller~*\

Hm... yeah I can probably post something like that. I have a playtest "table," so to speak, that just lists the name of the class, abilities, etc. So it won't go into too much detail, but I hope you'll be able to see how things fit together. I'll try to get a class or two from that up later today.

As promised, here's that quick look at three or four levels from the noble and the warrior. When it says "X talent," that means you get to pick from a list of talents that fall under the X category. One thing to keep in mind is that classes do have "cross-class" talents available, just not as frequently as "in-class" talents. That is, for example, you can see here that the warrior gets a social talent at level 4, even though he's not a social class. At some point, every class gets at least one entry that simply says "Talent," so you can pick from any talent tree. The trees are Social, Martial, Shadow, Magic, and Doom.

Noble........Level Title..........................Abilities Gained
1..............Lord, Lady..........................Noble house. Peer. Apprentice of a fighting or magic style. Social talent.
2..............-........................................Reputation. Characteristic increase. Neophyte of a Fighting or Magic style. History.
3..............-........................................Reputation. Social talent. History.
4..............(Based on region)................Doom talent. Apprentice of a Fighting or Magic style. History.

Warrior......Level Title............................Abilities Gained
1...............Fighter................................Apprentice of two fighting styles. Live by the sword.
2...............-........................................Fighting style variation. Martial talent. Characteristic increase. History.
3...............-........................................Apprentice of one fighting style. Body increase. History.
4...............Warrior...............................Mastery of a fighting style. Martial talent. Social talent. History.


One more note: you might think, wow, it's great that there are so many choices (or maybe you like the Hero system and you're saying, WHAT!?!?!!! Where are my @#$>!! character points? :) in which case, hey, I like the Hero system too, but we're going for lighter, quicker here). So the potential problem with so many choices is that ability bloat can make NPCs a pain in the GM's butt, especially at high levels. So I've ruthlessly pared out any ability that made things harder on the GM. The talents and class abilities that are left are all easily reflected in the core stat blocks (and not just as a "Class Ability" listing, but within the other stats/inspirations/history etc. that are there) or on a combat style sheet. In other words, there are a lot of choices in character development, but all those choices lead to abilities that aren't difficult to bookkeep at higher levels.

Just to make sure I'm clear, you would choose 1 of the above upon reaching 4th level as a Warrior?

Furthermore, what is the expected level cap?

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/*~Matthew Miller~*\

It all sounds good. =)
I'm guessing at some point you are going to implement a '...every xxx experience points, you may choose (insert stuff)'? I think given the way the level up choices work, people could be playing a character for a long while... Leveling characters up to 100 would be crazy but entertaining.
At what point does a PC become the Lord General or Emperor? Furthermore... will level determine the character's status as a legendary figure capable of insane stunts like high level D&D? Or will they game keep a steady level of deadliness throughout?
For instance... will a level 20 Warrior be capable of taking down 10 or so soldiers all by himself cuz he is such a bad mammy jammy?

I haven't said it yet... so I'll take a moment to do so. I want to say thanks for answering all these questions and being very cooperative. This is the sort of interaction that "big" RPG companies will never have. :D

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/*~Matthew Miller~*\

Indeed! I wish I was around for the early parts of the playtesting... It would have been cool to be apart of that.

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/*~Matthew Miller~*\

Ahhhhhh there's a MacLeod in my brain! Heh, seriously, yes, that is exactly how it goes. Right now for most classes that sort of thing starts to kick in at level 10 and then there is the full transition at level 20. It will probably stay that way for the release version.

Becoming Lord General/Emperor etc. depends on how your organization is doing. Politics and mass combat are separate from the individual character leveling rules. So although there are level titles, I try to keep them fairly neutral, so you don't end up asking, "If my legions just got routed at Dynn and my capital sacked by Nahalites, why am I still called the Liege Royal?" or something like that.

Ah, and as for insane stunts at high levels, well, not so much. I mean, the game is all about stunts like swinging from ship's rigging, tripping your enemy into vats of fixer's acid, or forcing your enemy's dagger to stick into the vendor's gushmelon and throw a blinding fruit spray into his face. But if you mean stunts like 15th- 20th-level D&D characters constantly flying throughout the combat, spending more time invisible than not, and gating in demon princes every other day, no. A high-level SK character can take care of a fair number of low-level combatants, but not ten (especially if they were trained so that the hero didn't get the +1 damage bonus vs. untrained).

Avinar, a, talent samplings. Those are going to have to wait a little bit. Maybe later this week, though. I will see what I can do! FYI shadow, social, and martial are most common, then magic, and finally the very rare Doom talents. Shadow, btw, is not mystical. It refers to the black markets, political espionage, stealth and outlawry of all sorts.