Am I thinking about these wrong? I think I default to ttrpg conventions where classes are complex and long, and require internal flexibility to be differentiated (you don’t want every Paladin to play identically to every other Paladin, so you introduce subclasses, or feats, or archetypes in pathfinder, etc.). But in a lot of TRPGs the classes are much shorter sets of purchasable abilities, and differentiation comes from the combination of classes. What if classes were shorter, simpler, and arranged in more complex trees - ie these builds/themes like Juggernaut or Vivisectionist become classes into themselves, and Legionnaire/etc have to do less heavy lifting. Would that be more or less satisfying?

Latest idea, to try to give characters a bit more differentiation. But it may be choice overload and extra balance complexity that doesn't accomplish all that much; is the juice worth the squeeze?

These editor flags are what Claude threw up as pertinent questions

These questions are answered, but I figured I'd hold those answers back until later in the process, in case we decide to go a different direction with this and play through it

First off, I'm debating titles - I don't love either of these, but I guess I'm leaning toward "The Long Road Home" - but open to suggestion!