Design diary for Triskelion Space where I immodestly state how I would have done the class and level system for Pathfinder instead.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1059971838/triskelion-space-tabletop-rpg/posts/2279014

I think you lost me a bit there with the terminology. So you have a combat class and an out of combat class and then two flavors (which can include races but not necessarily) that you overlay onto the classes?

Personally I'd prefer to avoid siloing between combat and out of combat (spells do fun stuff in combt and out, as do skills, and if the game is set up right fighter-types can be useful out of combat being point man due to their high HPs) but I could see how that works for a lot of games.

Those four elements combine to create a single class. So you could take Face (negotiator guy) and Damage (DPS), and be charming outside of combat and brutal inside of combat. Your Party role determines your HD (because whether you spend your time in the outdoors as an Explorer or in the library as a Scholar has an effect on your hardiness) and has a small list of abilities to choose from. Combat Role gives your damage and personal armor rating, plus there is another short list of abilities.

So if you're an Explorer and a Sneak you'd have d8 HD, d6 Armed/d4 Unarmed Damage and have d4 natural Armor. The Explorer Party Role lets you start with (and choose from when leveling up) abilities that reduce damage taken from environmental factors, prolong your rations or get more favorable rolls when traveling overland. The Sneak Combat Role lets you start with (and choose from when leveling up) abilities that allow you to vanish from sight into cover, sneak attack and hide things on your person. In a fantasy game if you chose these two roles then you'd probably be a ranger or a bandit of some sort.

The Flavors overlay into this, too. If you play Pathfinder, you know the "class features" like a barbarian's rage or a bard's performances? Flavors basically are those. They're also very similar to Foci in Numenera. There are five different abilities in each Flavor. You can start the game with one of them from each of your Flavors. You don't have to take them in any order, and most of them you can take more than once for a more powerful effect. I put in enough different abilities to where you can't have them all on a single character, so even if you happen to get two Scholar/Healer Elder Alien/Star Mystic's in the party, they can each be distinct from one another.,

Let's say you wanted to play the Doctor from Doctor Who. Me personally, I'd choose (depending on the regeneration) Explorer, Face or Scholar for the Party Role, and either Healer or Controller for Combat. Using just Flavors from Triskelion Space I'd pick Elder Alien and Cosmic Voyager. Cosmic Voyager has "regeneration" and some other abilities that are on-point for Time Lords, and Elder Aliens are in the Yoda/Spock vein.

Quote from: DiscoSoup;1055428So if you're an Explorer and a Sneak you'd have d8 HD, d6 Armed/d4 Unarmed Damage and have d4 natural Armor. The Explorer Party Role lets you start with (and choose from when leveling up) abilities that reduce damage taken from environmental factors, prolong your rations or get more favorable rolls when traveling overland. The Sneak Combat Role lets you start with (and choose from when leveling up) abilities that allow you to vanish from sight into cover, sneak attack and hide things on your person. In a fantasy game if you chose these two roles then you'd probably be a ranger or a bandit of some sort.

The Flavors overlay into this, too. If you play Pathfinder, you know the "class features" like a barbarian's rage or a bard's performances? Flavors basically are those. They're also very similar to Foci in Numenera. There are five different abilities in each Flavor. You can start the game with one of them from each of your Flavors. You don't have to take them in any order, and most of them you can take more than once for a more powerful effect. I put in enough different abilities to where you can't have them all on a single character, so even if you happen to get two Scholar/Healer Elder Alien/Star Mystic's in the party, they can each be distinct from one another.

I strongly suggest you have a read of Shadow of the Demon Lord. It handles your objective of having multiple "sub-classes" synthesized together over time in a simple, effective manner. You have three-tier class hierarchy: a foundation class, a standard class and a specialist class. You do not have to take any of the latter two, can take one foundation and two standards or just three foundations if you really want. Each one provide an outlay of abilities which become more concentrated and which resonate strongly with what you may be trying to accomplish but ensures a strong progression structure instead of ending up with a sort of "HERO-lite". And it does away with "stacking syndrome" where you end up with sub-optimal characters because they're min-max'd in a specific area because there are no enforced limits or natural boundaries against it (which is what the "flavors" end up causing naturally by their implementation).

Interesting. Can you "stack" the same role/flavor to make a more focused but limited character?

If I was in charge of Pathfinder, I'd probably try to set the building on fire to claim insurance.