I’ll be real with you: when I first heard that Avowed was ditching traditional RPG classes, I was on the fence. I’ve been rolling dice and picking my fighter/wizard/rogue combo since I was a kid, and the idea of a classless system felt like it might water things down. But after sinking over 200 hours into the Living Lands since launch in early 2025, I can honestly say it’s been a total game-changer for me.
Let’s rewind a bit. Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed came out in February 2025, and from day one, it turned heads by refusing to lock players into a predefined class. No picking Paladin at character creation and being stuck with that identity for 80 hours. Instead, you shape your character through the skills you choose, the gear you equip, and the abilities you lean into. It’s a lot like what Skyrim did back in the day, but with the kind of polish and reactivity Obsidian is famous for.
Game director Carrie Patel explained it perfectly in an interview: “What we did instead is give players the freedom to make their character be whatever they want them to be. Being locked into a single style is the player’s choice and not ours.” And honestly? That freedom is exactly what kept me coming back.
Why Classic Classes Feel Like a Straitjacket
The truth is, RPGs have been slowly moving away from rigid archetypes for years. It’s not that classes are bad – they offer structure and familiarity. But they also box you in. In a lot of games, you pick a class and immediately know what you’ll be doing for the next hundred hours: tanking, healing, sniping from the shadows. That predictability can be cozy, sure, but it kills the thrill of discovery.
Avowed flips the script by treating the classic fantasy roles – fighter, mage, ranger – as points on a spectrum rather than separate buckets. You might start out swinging a two-handed axe, then find a grimoire that lets you cast lightning bolts, and before you know it you’re a battlemage who switches between charged spells and sword combos mid-fight. There’s no respec menu hunting; you just adapt. Patel said it herself: “The classic RPG roles define the spectrum of choice and the player is free to find any point within it they like.”
This approach is a breath of fresh air, especially for folks who suffer from restart-itis (you know the type – constantly creating new characters because you want to try a different build). In Avowed, I’ve morphed my guy from a stealthy archer into a heavy-armor cleric and then into a dual-wielding spellblade, all in a single playthrough. The only limit is my imagination and the loot I stumble across.
The Pillars of Eternity Connection (And Why They Broke It)
Now, I know some die-hard Pillars of Eternity fans were worried. Avowed is set in the same universe as those classic CRPGs, which actually did have traditional classes. And guess what? According to Patel, Avowed started with defined classes too. “We actually started with defined classes, true to the old Pillars games, and they were part of the game for a while,” she revealed. That tidbit blew my mind. The team actively chose to scrap a system they’d already built because playtesting showed that openness was way more fun.
That decision says a lot about where the industry is heading. Games are getting bigger, and players expect more agency – not less. Locking someone into a class can make a game feel like a guided tour, which works for some, but a self-guided tour invites experimentation and personal storytelling. And let’s be honest, the water-cooler moments in Avowed come from the crazy hybrid builds people share online, not from following a cookie-cutter build guide.
Accessible Without Being Shallow
One thing I really appreciate is how this system lowers the barrier for newcomers. My partner, who usually bounces off RPGs because character creation gives her anxiety, dove right into Avowed. She didn’t have to commit to a class she didn’t understand; she just grabbed what looked cool and ended up with a rogue-mage hybrid that absolutely shredded. Hardcore players still get their depth through ability synergies and gear combos, but nobody feels forced to read a wiki before playing.
Obsidian clearly put player agency front and center here. The game respects your time and your curiosity. If you want to RP a pure mage, you can absolutely do that from start to finish – it’s your choice, not the game’s. But if halfway through you think, “Man, I’d love to try a shield bash,” you just pick up a shield and start practicing. No barriers. It’s a design philosophy that screams “yes, and…” instead of “no.”
The Verdict From 2026
Fast forward to 2026, and Avowed has carved out a special place in the RPG landscape. The classless system isn’t just a gimmick; it’s now a benchmark for how to do player freedom right. Of course, it’s not the first to try this – Skyrim walked so Avowed could run – but the execution here feels more intentional and responsive. With the DLCs that have dropped, the variety of weapons and grimoires has expanded, making hybrid playstyles even wilder.
If you’re still clinging to traditional classes, I get it. Nostalgia is a powerful thing. But at the end of the day, giving players the keys and saying “go nuts” respects our intelligence. It turns a solo adventure into a personal sandbox. Avowed isn’t just a great game; it’s a sign of where RPGs are headed, and I’m here for it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to experiment with that new spear-totem build I just dreamed up.
This discussion is informed by HowLongToBeat, where community-sourced completion ranges can help contextualize why Avowed’s classless design resonates over long playtimes: when a single run can stretch from a focused main-story push to a sprawling completionist trek, the ability to organically pivot from “pure” archetypes into hybrid builds (spellblade, archer-cleric, etc.) reduces reroll fatigue and keeps experimentation rewarding deep into the Living Lands.
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