Classes vs professions

[Endorya]

I like the idea of race, class, profession being part of the building of a character, instead of rolling stats.

Race can give some stats, maybe an ability. Like WoW.

Then Class can up some stats, give some broad abilities.

Then profession can further refine things. Like a WoW talent tree perhaps?

For example:
-Dwarf: +1 defense. +1 night vision. +1 see traps, find gold.
  -Fighter: Cleave. Hamstring. +1 blades. +1 shields.
    -Knight: Heavy armor, charge, ride horse.

That works perfectly well for games that have option restriction based on character building choices, which is not my case.

[AgingMinotaur]

You can have race and class, and flesh out the character with virtues/flaws. CoQ does this to an extent with mutations. But it can also be more general traits. I remember the tabletop roleplaying game Ars Magica having a really good section of virtues and flaws, in addition to stats and professions. I think special traits can give the character some personality, from a "fat, literate fighter" to a "claustophobic, fasttalking mage". DoomRL and Infra Arcana spring to mind as using perks in a cool way.

Depending on the kind of character creation system you want, classes/professions can be more or less vague. You can include "archetypes" with a preset assignment of skill points etc. and let the player assign the last points manually. Eg. you pick a race, which sets some stat limits or whatever, and a class, which starts you out with a basic survival skillset, and then let player choose five traits to raise/gain. Gearhead has a system reminiscent of that, with dozens of professions ("fireman", "arena pilot" …). Incursion has a very in-depth character generation system, but I just barely played it, and many years ago.

The possibilites are endless, I guess

As always,
Minotauros

[Endorya]

I'm planning to have: Race / Faction / Social Stratum / Profession / Birth sign / Virtues & flaws.

Race:
You just choose 1 of the 8 unique races available. Defines the base attributes, skills and starting equipment.

Faction:
Changes starting attributes and skills based on the faction's way of living, having into account where it is geographically located within the planet.

Social Stratum:
The social stratum changes your starting wealth and skills. It also restricts the types of professions you can choose in the next step. The higher the social stratum the more wealthy the player will be but also fewer skill points will be available in Skill Groups such as Survival and Gathering. Social Stratum also defines your starting equipment.

Profession:
Changes starting attributes and skills and starting equipment.

Birth Sign:
Changes also the starting attributes and skills

Virtues & flaws
Works similar to Cataclysm roguelike. The player can choose as many flaws and virtues as he wants as long his DNA score remains 0. Virtues add DNA points while Flaws removes them.

[Krice]

It is also not obvious whether it is good to have classes in a roguelike at all. They restrict your character to a specific playstyle

It's called playing a role. You know, as in role-playing games. Restrictions help you in that, but even if you don't have restrictions your choices also dictate what the character is. You might start as a fighter but decide to become a backstabbing thief. No problem, it's just another profession. We as humans can do that too, we can learn to do new things and become something else. Without restrictive professions you also need to remove all skills bonuses, traits etc. related to professions. Maybe then lower stats determine which skills develop faster or slower. But then they could be seen as root for professions so that certain stats are better for some skills and will be trained more than others.

[Kevin Granade]

My favorite example of this:
Conan
Race: Human
Nationality: Sumerian
Class: Fighter
Profession: Thief
Deity: Crom

It's what you make of it.

[reaver]

LOL

Conan
Race: Human
Nationality: Sumerian
Class: Fighter
Profession: Thief
Deity: Crom

[mushroom patch]

lol indeed.