Level Based Games vs. Character Builders

I like Community 5E; I really do. It works well for stories with larger groups with more cookie-cutter characters. But the entire "level track" with "pre-picked options" really sucks for me. I still find myself drifting away from 5E and towards games that allow me to build a character through play.

I don't like how 5E "forces you to get better at killing" and how it puts classes in tightly restrictive boxes. The designers tell you, "This will be all that you can do," and there is no freedom or ability to grow in ways outside of that box.

If all my bard does is social stuff, why is he getting better at killing and casting magic?

Character Builder games like Runequest, BRP, Open Quest, GURPS, and Dungeon Fantasy capture my imagination. I can play these solo and have my character progress organically; if all they do is social roleplay, they will start growing in those areas. If all they do is combat, they will grow there. I will spend points on thief skills if they only do stealth and roguish activities. If they need to be skilled in culture, history, and specialized knowledge, guess what? That is where they focus their improvement. And they can fall behind in every one of those areas. If they only use magic and concentrate there, that is what they become better at. 

They can choose to be "good enough" in combat and defense if that is their thing.

They can fall behind in every area, too, but improving those abilities requires using them. Even in a point-based game such as GURPS, it is easy to say, "If you did not use it, pay for training, or somehow find a reason to say why you got better in an area - you can't improve it." BRP is a more direct system of putting checkboxes by things you used and rolling for improvement.

5E sucks like AD&D sucked, especially in forcing characters down "set paths." It sucked in the 1980s, and it still sucks today. There was a reason everyone quit AD&D and played GURPS through the 1990s. Class-based games sucked. They were relics of the 1970s. That is the way almost everyone saw them back then.

If you play D&D for the "nostalgia flashback" to the 1980s, you will eventually drop the game for GURPS. We all got sick of D&D. Roll your retro-flashback clocks forward to 1988, and you will see what I mean. And many were playing Runequest and Rolemaster, too. Oh, and there was always Rifts. The Stranger Things kids would be playing Rifts in the sequel series. You play Rifts because everyone you know hates it, making you the cool kid.

By the end of the 1990s, you will have given it all up for Vampire, BattleTech, and Magic the Gathering. Most just left for video games and MMOs and never looked back.

Character-builder games are superior in every way to class-based games. With a class-based game, I can "see" the progression ahead of time. It is boring. I know what I am getting. I look at the next level, and nothing surprises me. In fact, I look at the next level and see how I will not improve in an area - such as social skills - so I give up doing social-skill stuff. Let the bard do it. I will never get any better at it as a fighter. Even with the "new style" background, heritage, etc., generation systems in 5E still fall short. So I can pick a few things before I get on the rollercoaster; it is still the same ride.

With a character-builder game, the adventures I have will shape my character.

With a class-based game, my class tells me what adventures I should go on.