How many available skills per class should I set my limit to?

[JonL]

Um, I'm new here and I noticed that most content here is game-related RPGs. But I figured it would be acceptable to ask about RPG-related stuff anyway.

So, I'm currently working on a book. Right now, I'm focusing on its outline: the important characters - the personalities and classes they have. As I was making the classes, I was stuck on how many skills I should set per class. I plan to make the level cap of this RPG to 125 (or more depending on how it's going). Right now I have 12 classes:
Warrior Classes: Paladin, Juggernaut, Brawler
P. Attack Classes: Sniper, Rogue, Fighter
Support Classes: Oracle, Enchanter, Druid
M. Attack Classes: Mage, Summoner, Magical Swordsman (all skills focus on having mana enveloping the sword so it majorly deals magic damage instead of physical)

All advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you very much to all.

 

[ArcaneEli]

Advice you don't wanna hear: as much or as little as needed for your game.

My actual advice between 10-13 including like ultimate skills or the like.

 

[JonL]

Advice you don't wanna hear: as much or as little as needed for your game.

My actual advice between 10-13 including like ultimate skills or the like.

I see... thank you for your input!

 

[eomereolsson]

Why would this question be relevant if you are not developing an RPG but rather writing a book?
Like, if you read Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, it is not like there are pages where it is well defined "Aragorn is from the Ranger class. His skills are Athelas, Sword Swing and Dwarf Toss." or "Harry Potter is from the Auror class. His skills are Expecto Patronum, Sectusempra and Petrificus Totalus."
Instead skills (and to a lesser extent classes) come up when they are relevant to a scene.

 

[ATT_Turan]

Um, I'm new here and I noticed that most content here is game-related RPGs.

Possibly because these are the forums for RPG Maker, a piece of software for making video games

But welcome, anyway!

I plan to make the level cap of this RPG to 125 (or more depending on how it's going)

No one can answer this for you. You need to know how you want your game to play.

I do find your post confusing, but if you're talking about a tabletop RPG, you need to consider how much stuff you expect the players to remember and manage. If you look at D&D for comparison, over the course of 20 levels most classes get ~10 discrete abilities (not counting different spells) - and that's considered one of the more complex TTRPGs.

So that gives you two things to consider:
- You probably want your players to ultimately have ~10 or fewer abilities to have to keep track of
- If you're spreading that over 125 levels, that's a lot of levels for them to gain without getting anything significant for their character. That can make progression feel very slow/pointless.

Why would this question be relevant if you are not developing an RPG but rather writing a book?

I'm also confused by this. At first when the OP said "working on a book" I presumed they're writing a rulebook for their own tabletop RPG system.

But then the "important characters...personalities" part came up and made it sound like a novel.

I know there's a niche genre of writing books based on RPG rules, but those are typically using the actual rules from an established game other people would know. There's not much point in writing that kind of book and making up your own rules since the readers wouldn't understand the references.

So, yeah...I dunno what's going on, either...

 

[Popoto_milk]

Yeah, this question might be better asked on a writing forum. Assuming it's an actual book/LN/whatever and not a tabletop manual.

That said, you could go by the far more ubiquitous route of "whatever's convenient/relevant to the plot" rather than making them well defined. I don't see the need unless it's an isekai type thing and even then, most manga doesn't go that far.