Eskero: The pen and paper RPG system

post-thought: Maybe sub-domains would just have skills that are more basic like for the previous example, "Create flame" would have a certain damage modifier, and while alchemists have the choice to create projectiles, braves have the ability to apply songs to their weapons and bodies (Aka flaming fists woo woo!). Maybe a system like this would help encourage creative solutions since the songs themselves need to be applied in certain ways and the different classes have basic rules about how they can use songs themselves.

Was thinking about this bit before having read it, funnily enough. An "easy" way to have different skills across classes would be to have each class have different base mechanics for casting (or singing or Using Skills in general or whatever) such that, though they may all have the same aspect, they still fulfill unique roles. Different ways to apply similar techniques. Basically the thing you just said, yeah.

Running with the sub-domain concept, you could have basic class mechanics modified by details of the sub-domain. Like, yeah, a Flame aspect would be a pretty straight-forward deal... but add to that a conceptual sub-domain like Motion, or... fuck, Iunno, Dreams? Crazy shit happens.

Point being, Braves will operate like other Braves, Alchemists will operate in ways like each other, et al: the basic concept and mechanics of each class should feel distinct from each other class but remain the same within that class. But classes from each domain should be affected by that domain in such a way that they, too, feel unique from other domains, and you can achieve that by having domains alter the basic mechanics of each class in addition to altering what kind of damage they do. A Brave with Wind would probably be much more mobile than a Brave with Earth, for instance.

...Diablo 3's rune system, basically. That sort of... the way two different people can have exactly the same skills but fulfill entirely different roles based on how they've chosen those skills to work, but any Monk still punches people a bajillion times and any Wizard still deals constant damage from far away. That sort of thing.