How do you like to structure fighter / warrior classes.
The traditional (1st / 2nd Ed) D&D route is to (a) choose specific weapons (b) put proficiencies into them (c ) maybe choose a subclass or kit and (d) use the right magic items.
It was pretty straightforward and not as interesting as the spell-casting / stealth classes. 3E made things a bit more interesting with kits, allowing you to build a tank, 'light fighter', dual-wielder, berserker or whatever using a menu of symbiotic skills, feats and classes. Then prestige classes came in and killed it.
Then I started thinking about other games and the cultural underpinnings of warrior classes. If you think about it, the culture a warrior comes from will have an enormous influence on his or her class.
* Types of weapons used (tech level / culture / taboo / tactics)
* Codes / ethics (is there an elite warrior caste with rigid codes of chivalric honour or are fighters just mercenary scum?)
* Armies (does the fighter come from a culture with a standing army or one with levies or auxiliaries or just a tribal horde)
* Culture (tribal / developed)
* Class (noble warrior trained in certain weapon types and tactics, or tribal skirmisher with survival skills and tracking?)
Over to you. But I would like a warrior class that allows me to imagine a range of character archetypes, from rapier-armed remittance man through to axe-wielding berserker savage through to professional musketeer / mercenary through to wily and cunning tribal scout / skirmisher. And *without* the need for kits / subclasses.
Is this possible?