Synergies.

[kandrathe]

Adding mine to the other voices; You want to avoid the extremes of nonsensical skill allocation, while also not forcing all characters down narrow paths.

It reminds me of the problems of balance in classic RPG's. The Fighter-Mage really was a less than exceptional fighter (90%), with the ability to add a smattering of low level magic spells. A level 20 Mage would be tossing around high level (7-8) spells, while the level 20 Fighter Mage was still learning level 3 spells.

To me; each tree already represents a focal point of study for that character. One may then choose 1, 2 or 3 areas of study. Should they focus on all 3 equally, then they must realize they will not be as powerful as one who chooses a major. It seems the synergies now allow for further specialization within each tree. Typically in the realms of RPG magical studies one does not seek skills in more than a few of these skills; Conjuror (sympathetic magic), a Summoner (of spiritual forces), a Necromancer (animating the dead), Enchanter (Charmer, Mentalist), Illusionist, or Alchmist. Usually one.

For instance, for the necro to become a Golem master he must devote points into Clay, Blood, Iron, Fire, Golem Mastery, and Skeleton Mastery -- that to me is far too broad to accomplish. But say one dedicated Golem Master were to put nearly all their points into those 6 skills, then I would think those Golems had better be able to help the necro as much as a sorceress devoting 80 points into Fire skills. Curses are like traps, or warcries, a useful addition to the kit, but not neccesary to maximize all of them.

Same with the Druid summons, if you focus on summoning wolves, and bear then they should be pretty good offensively, and very good as tanks. I like what Blizzard did with the Druid elemental tree, as it seems well thought out. In the shape shifting tree, I think "Fire Claws" really needs to work more like "Vengeance" giving the Druid the capability to fight Fire Immunes. Other than that, it should be pretty straght forward to focus on being a werewolf or a werebear

With the sorceress and amazon, the hard part will be to have synergies that do not get their skills exceptionally overpowered. Will a trimentalist be powerful enough to navigate the hardest parts of the game?

The poor Paladin and Baba are the odd ducks out because their tree themes are not mutually exclusive. It does not make sense for him to only focus on one or even two trees.

Also, the Assassins and barbarian skills mostly likely need to be spread across at least two trees, so for these two at least cross tree synergies seem neccesary. Traps and Warcries would not neccesarily need any cross tree synergies. But, for warcries, you could adopt the Eastern tradition of a vocal "Chi" to focus ones mental energies upon their physical tasks.

In doing an task like this I always find it is easiest to start at the end point, then work backwards. Start with high level characters, say all level 70. Make sure they are balanced at that point, and then work them backwards to zero skills.