Abstract
Problem: The RPG design community has long debated whether class-based or skill-based character systems are superior, with strong advocates on both sides.
Approach: Tim Cain, having shipped both class-based RPGs (Temple of Elemental Evil, Vampire: Bloodlines, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, South Park) and skill-based RPGs (Fallout, Arcanum, The Outer Worlds), lays out the pros and cons of each system and explains when he reaches for one over the other.
Findings: Every advantage of class-based systems is a disadvantage of skill-based systems, and vice versa. Classes excel at bundling, clarity, ease of choice, item distribution, and designer balance. Skills excel at creative freedom, extreme characters, and playing exactly the character you imagine. The right choice depends on game structure.
Key insight: Use classes for multiplayer and party-based games where role clarity matters; use skills for single-player, single-character games where player expression is paramount.
1. Advantages of Class-based Systems
1.1. Pre-bundled and Balanced
Classes provide a curated bundle of skills, feats, and abilities that the designer has already balanced together. When you pick a fighter, it's good for fighting. When you pick a wizard, it's good for magic. The designer is saying: "I've already picked things that work well together."
1.2. Easy to Understand
Fantasy RPG tropes make classes immediately legible. A new player sees "fighter" and knows the role. Party members instantly understand what everyone brings. A fighter tanks, a wizard hangs back and casts — the social contract of the party is built into the system.
1.3. Easy to Pick and Level Up
Choosing from 6–15 classes is far simpler than scanning hundreds of skills and wondering which ones will actually matter in the campaign. Leveling up is similarly guided — classes come with restricted skill lists and class-specific feat progressions that steer advancement.
1.4. Easy Item Distribution
In a class-based party, loot allocation is straightforward. Items are often class-restricted ("Wizard only"), and even unrestricted items have obvious owners — the magic sword goes to the fighter first.
1.5. Much Easier to Balance
With a small number of classes, designers can exhaustively test and tune matchups. This is "almost impossible" with hundreds of skills, where some combinations will inevitably be over- or under-powered.
2. Disadvantages of Class-based Systems (Advantages of Skill-based)
2.1. Forced Early Commitment
You have to decide how you want to play immediately. Want to cast spells? Don't pick a fighter. Party needs a healer? Someone's stuck playing that role.
2.2. Can't Play the Character You Imagine
Tim gives the Indiana Jones example: gun, whip, archaeology — no D&D class cleanly covers that concept. You end up with a class that has irrelevant abilities, and the game tells you how to act rather than your conception of the character driving play.
2.3. No Extreme Characters
Balance is a constraint as much as a feature. Tim loves extreme characters — like his GURPS character with 18 Dexterity who spent almost all points on rapier skill. Nearly unhittable, terrible damage, went down if anything got past his parry. That kind of build is impossible in most class-based systems.
3. The GURPS Savoir-Faire Story
Tim recounts running a GURPS campaign where a friend put most of her points into Savoir-Faire, envisioning an elegant uptown lady. When combat broke out, she asked: "Can I Savoir-Faire them?" Tim told her to roleplay it. Her attempt — telling a gunman "that's a really low-class way of acting, don't you think?" — illustrates the danger of skill-based systems without bundled guidance. With a few classes to choose from, she'd have had a much easier time building a functional character.
4. Fantasy vs. Sci-Fi Parallel
The class/skill divide mirrors the fantasy/sci-fi divide. Fantasy benefits from universal tropes — everyone knows what a vampire is. Sci-fi is "incredibly setting-specific." What's a Dalek? A Reaper? Those terms mean wildly different things across Doctor Who, XCOM, and Mass Effect. Just as sci-fi settings require more teaching, skill-based systems demand more player education and GM intervention.
5. Tim Cain's Personal Rule
After shipping games on both sides, Tim uses a clear heuristic:
- Class-based → Multiplayer games, or single-player games where the player controls a party. Classes define roles, make characters distinct, and communicate to other players what role you're filling.
- Skill-based → Single-player, single-character games. No class restrictions means players can build extreme or unconventional characters freely.
He references GURPS players making "Johnny One-Spell" characters — a mage who dumps every point into Fireball. Devastating against everything except a fire elemental. That kind of creative risk is the joy of skill-based systems.
6. Tim's Preference
If forced to choose with a "bag of money," Tim leans skill-based — single-player, single-character RPGs are where his heart is. But he's clear that this doesn't mean class-based design is inferior. It serves a real and important purpose, especially for multiplayer and party-based games.
7. References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scvCVwGnT2E