Posting this here so people can already contribute a little bit to what I’ve laid out. And yes, we will still make changes to all this and yes, some of this stuff you might not agree with (“Why is Barbarian set to Plate, have you ever seen Conan?!?!” ), but here goes:
High-Level Class Breakdown
Single-Attribute Classes (16)
Strength (4)
Brute
Description: A savage fighter swinging single-handed axes with brute force.
Weapon: Axes (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Warlord
Description: A battlefield champion wielding colossal great axes to dominate foes.
Weapon: Great Axes (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Barbarian
Description: A raging berserker smashing enemies with massive two-handed clubs.
Weapon: Great Clubs (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Sentinel
Description: A disciplined spear guardian controlling mid-range with greatspears.
Weapon: Greatspears (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Dexterity (4)
Swashbuckler
Description: A flamboyant duelist flourishing one-handed curved swords.
Weapon: Curved Swords (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Fencer
Description: A precise rapier master specialized in pinpoint thrusts.
Weapon: Rapiers (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Archer
Description: A long-range specialist who rains arrows from powerful great bows.
Weapon: Great Bows (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Rogue
Description: A cunning sneak who dual-wields daggers, striking unseen.
Weapon: Double Daggers (Two-Handed, dual-wield)
Armor Type: Cloth
Faith (4)
Cleric
Description: A supportive devotee healing allies and striking with a trusty mace.
Weapon: Maces (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Monk
Description: An unarmed ascetic delivering two-handed gauntlet combos infused with faith.
Weapon: Gauntlets (Two-Handed, dual-wield style)
Armor Type: Cloth
Flagellant
Description: A fervent zealot punishing foes (and self) with a scourge.
Weapon: Scourge (defaulting to One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Exorcist
Description: A holy banisher swinging a censer to repel evil spirits.
Weapon: Censer (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Intelligence (4)
Sorcerer
Description: An elemental mage brandishing single-handed wands for potent spells.
Weapon: Wands (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Mage
Description: A grand conjurer channeling large-scale magic through two-handed staves.
Weapon: Staves (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Priest
Description: A devout caster reading sacred tomes to invoke holy or arcane power.
Weapon: Tomes (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Oracle
Description: A visionary wizard harnessing orbs for swift, fateful spells.
Weapon: Orbs (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Combined-Attribute Classes (24)
Strength + Dexterity (4)
Pugilist
Description: A quick brawler smashing foes with single-handed clubs.
Weapon: Clubs (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Squire
Description: A balanced fighter wielding straight swords for agile-meets-strong combat.
Weapon: Straight Swords (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Lancer
Description: A polearm user controlling crowds with sweeping halberd strikes.
Weapon: Halberds (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Marksman
Description: A crossbow sharpshooter leveraging STR+DEX for lethal ranged attacks.
Weapon: Crossbows (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Dexterity + Faith (4)
Ascetic
Description: A spiritual martial artist dual-wielding nunchucks with fervent skill.
Weapon: Nunchucks (Two-Handed, dual-wield)
Armor Type: Leather
Pilgrim
Description: A wanderer of faith employing a two-handed bo staff for fluid combos.
Weapon: Bo Staffs (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Vanquisher
Description: A holy exorcist controlling mid-range with a single-handed whip.
Weapon: Whips (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Blademaster(Moved here)
Description: A devout swordsman wielding curved great swords for elegant devastation.
Weapon: Curved Great Swords (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Strength + Faith (4)
Knight
Description: A stalwart champion swinging massive two-handed great swords in holy cause.
Weapon: Great Swords (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Paladin
Description: A righteous guardian crushing foes with a single-handed hammer.
Weapon: Hammers (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Crusader
Description: A divine warrior wielding greathammers to smite evil with unwavering zeal.
Weapon: Great Hammers (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Dragoon
Description: A lithe spearman harnessing faith-based leaps to pierce defenses.
Weapon: Spears (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Strength + Intelligence (4)
Templar
Description: A plate-wearing battlemage channeling spells via one-handed scepters.
Weapon: Scepters (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Mystic
Description: A runic swordfighter enchanting a single-handed “mystic blade.”
Weapon: Mystic Swords (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Spellwarden
Description: A sturdy caster brandishing huge greatstaffs for arcane shockwaves.
Weapon: Greatstaffs (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Plate
Contortionist
Description: A flexible martial artist bridging raw brawn with psychic power, dual-wielding extended arm bands.
Weapon: Arm Bands (Two-Handed, dual-wield)
Armor Type: Leather
Dexterity + Intelligence (4)
Assassin
Description: A precision killer reliant on single-handed daggers for lethal strikes.
Weapon: Daggers (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Ninja
Description: A swift shinobi using single-handed wakizashis and ninjutsu.
Weapon: Wakizashis (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Cloth
Samurai
Description: An honorable warrior handling two-handed katanas with disciplined technique.
Weapon: Katanas (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Trickster
Description: A crafty bomb-maker hurling illusions and specialized projectiles from a “trick bag.”
Weapon: Trick Bag (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Leather
Faith + Intelligence (4)
Reaper
Description: A dark harbinger scythe-wielder merging necrotic spells and unholy fervor.
Weapon: Scythes (Two-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Necromancer
Description: A grave conjurer who summons undead via a two-handed bonestaff.
Weapon: Bonestaff (Two-Handed by default)
Armor Type: Cloth
Witch
Description: A hex-caster using a single-handed rod to lay curses and illusions.
Weapon: Hex Rod (One-Handed)
Armor Type: Mesh
Plague Doctor
Description: A masked alchemist spraying toxins or cures at mid-range with two-handed bellows.
I don’t get this. Didn’t you want to remove attribute points? This seems going backwards where the player seems to be more constrained with their choices after choosing a class, and still uses attributes as the base of the system.
I Guess if for each class there is a specific skill tree that maybe adds new combos and specific bonuses that would be pretty cool. But I think this is still a bit restricting given the amount of weapons available in the game right not, and given the fact that you’ve said that even more weapon types are coming. A problem that I have right now is that a lot of weapons seem to have really limited movesets, some with no charge attack or running attack, where the moveset is pretty much one dimensional. I would be all for a combo based combat system.
But this seems a bit too much choice, having a class for each weapon type seems quite a bit of work to pull of, especially if every class comes with its own skill tree
Edit: something like final fantasy 7 rebirth skill tree would be a pretty nice start
Thomas, could you please go into detail how the class system will work how it is planned at the moment? I do not think everyone will know that the classes are not chosen at the start, that they are guidelines to help you make it and so on. And with the change in attribute system it would be interesting for those that know as well.
I can see a lot of fear being born from this just thinking we will now be locked into something from the start.
At face value it doesn’t seem like enough information to provide meaningful feedback based on the current system without knowing what else you intend to change with this class system.
We have attribute scaling weapons, and only know there is intent to rebrand attributes entirely.
There’s no mention on if weapons scaling requirements (required attribute and scaling) would be effected by the class system.
Weapon animations are unique and in addition now we’re stacking unique classes. I assume this limits options. In a system like this I’d be picking my class based on the weapon animations not the “theme” of each class type. Something no one would know on their first playthrough blind.
Can we get more information on if the class weapon type is inclusive of ALL weapons in each subclass or are they restricted by the attribute scaling in your brief description?
Edit:
A thought, class scaling could be nice. I think in LoL they call it adaptive damage which flip flops to whatever your highest damaging stat is… If we could use any weapon in the class category based on the classes main stats that’d be nice. Allows players to try new weapons that drop (assuming they’re in the class type) without issue.
Example you describe the monk to have faith scaling. Say we spec into faith for the class and any 2H fist could be wielded and scales from faith because you’re playing a monk.
Thomas should have given context to this list but he didn’t so I can shed some light based off when he first posted this in Discord.
This is still meant to be a soft class system. These are not set-in-stone but are meant to guide players once the game begins to get a rather large number of weapons and runes. Players are still free to pick and choose as they wish but this will serve more as a guardrail to guide new players until they feel confident to branch out.
What I cannot shed light on are the attributes. I know he wants to overhaul that system but in Discord he said he’s not fully doing away with them, which I would guess is why they’re still included in this list.
Hello, i loved to play the game when the early access started, now im waiting for a official release.
Are classes locked? What are the flexibilities on using a weapon outside the prefered of your class? Isnt this the point system locked behind a set of guided options?
It seems to me that you are afraid of people making a bad choice and blaming the game for it.
There are ways to solve this problem, like restarting stats, sugesting stats, a zone to test builds without consequences of spending resources, the community, etc…
Maybe this could be just a choice for players at start of the game to play either a “guided” or “free” gamestyle.
I don’t understand the point of introducing classes..isn’t the current system simpler where I’m free to choose what to wear and what weapons to play and if necessary respect the points whenever I want?
if the point is that the classes have unique base stats such an implementation could very well be introduced in the armor sets (eg wear all set X to have bonus X)…
having all these classes I think can only generate a lot of confusion in players who maybe chose one and not finding it good they would have to recreate another among all the others with the discouragement of not knowing if they won’t like that class either
You realise if you just dump this with no explanation people will think you’re going to make them choose a specific class which is then going to lock them into one single weapon and one single armour type with no options to mix anything? Right?
Even with no explanation I’m getting ready to complain that you want to take my cool Leather hat away
Need more context about these classes, they looked cool, but
Do we have to choose one in the beginning?
What are the benefit they offer? Do they have their own unique skills/runes? or skill trees?
How flexible are we to change between classes?
Lore wise, hopefully explained to the Cerim itself.
But seeing these amount of classes reminds me of FF Origin Stranger of Paradise’s Jobs system, where basically as players we can choose any job we like, switched them anytime, progressing them by gathering XP. Each jobs also have their own separate skill trees.
Sounds good. The one thing that I really want to emphasize though is that nobody likes being stuck in one specific playstyle with no choice to change in the future. If classes will be implemented, there should still be a way to transition to something else in case you don’t like your current playstyle and want to experiment.
I’m a bit afraid that transitioning off of attributes means either everybody can use everything or you’re locked into one “class” and only one playstyle.
Also, sort of unrelated, but a tip from someone who has some community management experience - don’t tell people things will be massively changing without figuring out how first. There’s a lotta speculation and kneejerk reactions on whether these changes suck or not which just puts a lot of pressure on devs for something that isn’t even in prototyping phase yet.
Thank you, I am looking forward to more information of it to solve the puzzle piece by piece since I find this timing quite interesting. Almost as if this particular topic also holds the key to solve the mystery to the replacement for attribute points
the point is that without having a global vision of what you want to do with the game it is practically impossible to give feedback to the players as they could be favorable in specific but wrong overall.
communication with the players is certainly appreciated but perhaps we have reached the point where for you perhaps it is better to do things your way in order to avoid confusion for both you and us as no one will ever be happy.
I really hope we aren’t locked down to a class. I really love this game but don’t want to roll a bunch of characters. I like the freedom the game currently has. Respecs are not too expensive so if you find an awesome new weapon, you can change fairly easily. But of course, this also requires a significant investment in armor/weapon upgrades and enchantments. I guess we need to see more before conclusions can be drawn.
Possibly you could switch between stats and in result between classes.
We just saw a first info about “in general” idea of class system. So Dev team just need to give us more info about it to prevent misunderstanding between players and Devs class vision.
Im sorry but i just dont feel this is the right play. The souls formula works and i dont think you should fix something that isnt broke.
Attributes give the freedom to truly make what you want in terms of a build. There are people who play elden ring and other souls that also dont understand how they work and that is not a result of the system itself but the lack of teaching.
As soon as you pick up a weapon in the shallows it should force you to learn what the weapon scales with as far as attributes goes and how to allocate points to them. Pigeonholing ppl into a class going to defeat the purpose of what you are trying to create. If i wanted to play a class id go play diablo.
As a true fan of this game and a believer of what this game can become i feel like thid decision could end up altering the course of the game greatly and not for the better.
Im not an expert but first thing i would change is just lowering attribute requirements on weapons to open up more variety. Attribute requirements in the 50+ were only for the most dedicated builds in any other souls. Rather that be a 200lb hammer or the beam from.god himself. Everything shouldnt require 50+ points whrn the max level is 30.
Next redesign your tutorial to grab the players face and rub it over the attribute screen and force them to learn how it works and its purpose in terms of weapons and how it increases damage. Do this and the only demographic youll have to babysit is the last 3 game journalists.
If some players arent understanding it beyond that im sorry but i just dont think the game should be made with those in mind. If you are playing a dex build wielding a two handed mace you probably picked up the game played for an hour then wrote a steam review about it being to hard.
This is just me being honest and realistic. It isnt that difficult to understand and what is can be taught. Please do not remove the system in place. Improve and innovate upon it.
), but here goes: