Class Roles and Gear Dependency

ArchivedUser

"Any class can wear any gear or wield any weapon" that to me sounds like you better try to get a hold two players that plans to go in to full Gatherer and a Master Crafter to make gear you like but right im just waiting on more info and the Alpha/Betas to start and then we will hawe more info on howe the gear system will work

And on the "Meta Build" Topic my own guess will be that every one of the topp guild/Clans will hawe this as a requirement like this just like any other game out there hawe but this will depend alot on howe Intrapid plan the gear system to work there is just not much information out yett to make any guess on this yett

ArchivedUser

MonarckGaming said:
The best tanks in D&D from release was Monk (arguably any high dex class) because early D&D always had this problem where getting hit was pretty much death, evasion based tanks wore no armor, cloth, or leather so yeah take your BS somewhere else! Also if you happen to have a 2.0 guide laying around go read paladin literally calls him a heavily armored tank able to withstand devastating attacks. So idk if you just remember your numbers wrong or talking out the butt! so yeah GET OUTTA HERE!

Edit: obviously this changed from DM to DM but if you followed the standard of fighting things 1-2 CR over you then good luck.mister 1.0 tank

The D&D Monk was not a tank.
I'm not aware of tanks being known for maneuverability or dexterity.
Tanks are known for strength, stamina and high durability.

When Monks were first introduced to D&D, they were the weakest class.
D&D Monks are great Fighters, sure. And rely on Dex to avoid damage, sure.
In Ashes, expect Monk to more likely be a combo of Fighter/Cleric or Cleric/Fighter.

Paladin is a heavily armored "tank" because paladins are heavily armored and tanks are heavily armored. That's the definition of a tank - a heavily armored combat unit.
Show me a D&D quote from before 2001 that calls a Monk a Tank, and you will have proved that point.

ArchivedUser

NolonDragard said:

It is not and should never be a goal to kill the concept of the "Meta Build". Any character that is specifically spec'ed for a specific task should be astonishingly amazing at that one thing. I, for one do want my brain surgeon to be astonishingly amazing at brain surgery. I do not want him sacrificing his brain surgery skills to be any good at any thing else; that would be terrifying. But although the "Meta" should never be quashed the players that want to diversify their characters should also never be penalized for adopting diversity. Having diversity should be rewarded just like rock solid single purpose builds should be. They both can be viable as long as the game mechanics reward accomplishment and do not penalized to discourage variation. 

Which is a great concept for the real world where there is no magic and no severe size diversity/advantage.

In a high fantasy setting there may be many different ways to accomplish the same objective - there might be a wide variety of brain surgeons without an objective meta that is best.
I might want an Orc "brain surgeon" with the Strength to push through tough tissue and bone to operate on an Orc, but not on a Halfling. I might want a Halfling "brain surgeon" with the Dexterity to maneuver around delicate nerves and blood vessels to operate on a Halfling.
The Halfling brain surgeon might not have the Strength to wield the mallet necessary to crack an Orc patient's skull and a halfling patient might not have the Constitution to survive a slip of the Orc surgeon's hand.
The Orc brain surgeon might not have the Dexterity to wield the fine jaws required for microsurgery without causing irreparable nerve damage to a Halfling patient.
Or maybe you just rely on a Cleric for all of that.

We should expect each race to have their own version of a Tank.
Most likely the best Tank/Tank will be one of the Orc races.
But, we should also expect to find Dwarf Tanks and Elf Tanks.
The best Elf Tank will probably not be a Tank/Tank.
And while I expect that the best Elf tank would be an evasion Tank, I don't expect the best evasion Tank will merely be wearing cloth.

There will always be some people striving to play the optimal build for their race/class combo, sure.
Regardless of what the devs do, players will always claim to find the one best build.
More importantly, RPGs should have a wide range of viable builds that don't have to be objectively optimal.

I need to have a competent brain surgeon; not the best brain surgeon in the world.
I need to have a competent dentist; not the best dentist in the world.

Is the Elven Tank capable of successfully tanking the boss?
If so, I don't particularly care about the specific abilities or gear or tactics they use.
What I care about is whether they can adequately pull off their role.
And, actually, my preference would probably be to see them do it with a fair bit of flair rather than seeing the same old cookie-cutter methods most people use.

(Race-locking professions is inherently racist - so, we should avoid that as much as possible.)