: I personally think that we are fine with the classes 
: that we already have, because Amtgard is all about
: RP and I think that alternate classes and/or 
: professions can just be played through one of the 
: original classes. (Example) The pirate profession I 
: saw on the Wetlands homepage, that could be played 
: through Warrior, Assassin, Scout, Barbarian. Just Role 
: Play, it is the key to being able to play a class well.


I'm all for roleplaying, but based on this argument, we don't need the Barbarian class -- just let those who want to have barbarian personas just play Warrior. Why do we have the Scout, when we already have the Warrior or Archer (or Druid)? Why do assassins need their own class when they can just as easily roleplay a sneaky Warrior or Monk?

The best reason for alternate classes is, IMHO, the fact that some personas or 'archetypes' cannot be simulated well enough using existing classes. Sure, you can play a duelist persona using Warrior or some existing class, but Warrior itself is limited in ways that a duelist should not be, and the Warrior can do things no duelist would be expected to. Fitting a square peg into a round hole can be done, but it gets really messy.

For the same reason, you *can* play a barbarian using the Warrior class, but it just doesn't have the same effect as when the Barbarian gets all kinds of nifty things when the player goes Berserk. There are times when good RP will suffice, but there are times when a class ability is the best way to go.

As much as a Warrior and Monk tries to be an assassin, they can't overcome the limitations of their class, such as the inability to use poison, make traps, or nonmagically teleport. This is why we have a separate class for Assassin, which can do all of these things.

The Duelist can throw daggers, have luck points that work against *anything* shot or thrown (even spellballs), has the ability to thrust and ignore armor, and can disarm. No other class can do all of these. Sure, a player can play Monk or Barbarian or Assassin and throw things. Yes, a player can always wear Blesses, Protects, Stoneskins, et al to simulate high dexterity. An Archer could simulate the AP thrust with his AP or penetration arrows. A veteran, given sufficient skill, can pull off a 'natural' disarm and cause his opponent to physically drop her weapon wihout breaking any rules of combat. But it's just *not* the same as having a duelist/cavalier/swashbuckler persona be able to play a separate Duelist class and get these if he wants to be a duelist but doesn't have the physical talent or inclination to wear lots of armor, knock a weapon out of hand, or use a bow.

I'll be the first one to say that some alt-classes are cheesy. Some of them are veiled attempts at power-mongering, but others do seriously try to add to and enrich Amtgard class battles without throwing it all out of kilter with 1st level deities running around. It's these classes that deserve some consideration, at least within a group or single kingdom if not on an Amgard-wide level. Alternate classes should be kept to a strict set of guidelines to make sure they don't make any existing classes obsolete or create weird cheese or imbalances, but all of that notwithstanding, alt-classes, if doen properly, are a good thing.