Orion: If this thread said "Rebalancing", I wouldn't be interested in pressing that point. Since it refers to "favored classes and what to do about the idea", I'm pointing it out. So leave the fact the rebalancing project isn't meant to rewrite D&D from the foundations to the threads specifically tied to it.
And again...why should class be so irrelevant? As noted, most people (not unreasonably, necessarily, but nonetheless) multiclass not because its vitally necessary to have fighter levels to better represent how they want to play something, but because fighter levels beef up the character in areas they want to boost.
For instance, take any paladin without access to "majorly rebuilt to rebalance". Has anyone
ever played a paladin without taking fighter levels? Or played a fighter without heading into a prestige ASAP to compensate for the suckiness of the class?
Has anyone seen the fact taking-rogue-at-first-level is a great way to get a huge number of skill points and seriously contemplated taking advantage of that at any game starting at second level or higher?
Etc. Now, that's not to say that "Paladin/fighter" is invalid (it isn't, if fighter is just "ooo, combat stuff"...feats or otherwise.), or that Fighter/Weapon Master is (it -really- isn't...many fighters will wish to master their weapons like that.), but I still prefer this idea.
Being a Fighter means you have chosen that you will dedicate yourself to combat and mastering the art of war. Other things may or may not be dabbled in, but this is the path you have chosen to pursue.
Being a Paladin means that you have been chosen to be one of a God's chosen champions and (small c) crusaders, dedicated to rooting out and purging the enemies of your God whenever and wherever needed. You are a bastion of (traits), an exemplar and model both fearful and inspiring.
Being a Rogue...well, you get the picture.
Now, if a class is merely a "collection of abilities", that there are warriors who should have some abilities related to being sneaky and subtle and crafy, or paladins who are also unusually good swordsmen, or warrior-monks who have put the pursuit of Enlightenment to one side to take up arms for reasons good or nefarious...
That's fine! That's not a problem. The problem is that it means "we don't want to be forced to accept anything as a limitation from our classes, we just want to get the benefits". I am
not saying this is min-maxing. It's more like "focus on crunch and make up some fluff that makes sense after the fact"...and meanwhile, totally ignoring any of the reasons why a class based system makes any sense whatsoever.
Personally, I prefer classless. But as rightfully noted, making D&D classless would be an enormous amount of work. And I'd rather not do it.
So I think we should make "I am a Fighter" or "I am a Cleric" or "I am a Duskblade" or "I am a Monk"
mean something other than "I have a collection of semi-related abilities." If you go into most fantasy novels, while multiclassing may or may not take place, you will generally see characters that can be pointed out as "This is a fighter. This is a mage. This is an assassin. This is a paladin. This is a monk. This is a..." and so on, though the novels of David Gemmell may have different classes represented than the novels of David Eddings. And its unlikely that D&D classes will fit most characters perfectly (because D&D is a different setting).
If you want "I can customize my character", then we need to work on making it possible to have some abilities in a "in exchange for a feat, you can gain (class feature)." like with the generic classes, but keep it so that the core of what makes a Fighter a Fighter requires being a Fighter.
If you want "I want to be able to make exactly the kind of character I want"...classes are a clumsy and clunky and old fashioned method of building characters, and even if allowing totally free multiclassing, I can say with near absolute certainty that a fighter/monk/barbarian/rogue is less effective method of building the kind of character you want from that, if it is "I want this broad a range of abilities", rather than "I want to maximize character power" (which is pure min-maxing, whether that's fundementally actually wrong or not is still not something the system should be designed to support.) and finding a way to get uncanny dodge and evasion and high hit points and a good BAB and...
I know, long post. If you intend to respond to it, please give the respect of giving it a full reading. If you don't intend to respond to it, don't post something obnoxious like:
Really long and boring post that I didn't read because insulting the person who typed it is so much more fun.
Elennsar