I debated for a while on if Fusion Effect ONE would include Player Classes. In a way, the mechanic can pigeon-hole play styles or drive the player to only focus on what their class specializes in. This makes a lot of sense for games where group play needs to be balanced. For example, if you have a fighter and cleric, you'd likely need a stealthy rogue or wizard to help disarm traps or cast protective barriers. FEO doesn't quite lend itself to that type of interaction, so classes where shelved at one point.

Class is back in session!

I got to thinking, how could I introduce some form of uniqueness beyond "create a character" and calling it a day? So I went back to classes. I drew inspiration from many different games, and ultimately, came up with five different classes that wouldn't advantage or disadvantage a player too much. Yes, Some advantages are more noticable early on, while other perks can generally be picked up by those citizens with enough money or time. Ultimately, the class you pick when you create you citizen will only have minor stat advantages and certain things available to them early on.

What are the classes?

Rugged, Militant, Intellect, Glamourist, and Tracer. They each come with their own rhyme and reason as to why their stats are the way they are. Tracers are quick, witty, and like their rogue influence, can be sneaky and rife with espionage. Militants tend to tough it out in the Battle Arena, so they'll be able to do more damage and take a beating way better than a Glamourist. Glamourists being much more keen to entertain their way to riches and seek fame through word-craft. The idea is that there is a 'play style' for everyone, but no strict or enforced mechanics that penalize a player for going off the rails. I imagine there could see an Intellect who dominates anyone they battle, and somehow barely have any acquired skills from the University.

No thanks, I'll stick to my class's playstyle!

For the player that wants to stick striclty to their class's would-be play style, that's perfectly fine and viable. While Tracers are meant to be the cunning and espionage-fueled citizens, they can certainly equip themselves with powerful enough weapons and protective armor to hold their own in the Battle Arena. They'll be fairly disadvantaged against a Militant citizen, who will likely be able to over power them in hand to hand combat, though. The Tracer will need to pick and choose their battles carefully.

Give me the summary

The goal is to add a bit of depth to the game, in the form of real-life influences. Some of us are great at academics and are very well rounded in many areas of knowledge, and some of us can easily camp out in the wilderness for weeks on end with very little that discomforts us. At the end of the day, we, as humans, can still be well-versed across many disciplines. FEO aspires to be a belivable and realistic RPG, this helps encapsulate that in my opinion.