[quote=@Rune_Alchemist][@Gowi]

Okay, what if someone decides they want to be a 'defender' to start with, but later on decide they want to play more offensively if they're not satisfied with the 'class?' I assume/hope they'd be able to change that play style to adjust accordingly some manner, through gaining skills/abilities with their desire for such a change? Trade their sword and shield for a lance, for example? And still have the abilities to use said weapon?[/quote]
This is an actually good question— I suppose if this is a concern by the general RP’s population I could shift it to more general settlements of classes or to remove it entirely.

[quote=@Rune_Alchemist]And what I mean by complicated, is that how would one even begin to keep up with all these achievements/skills/ranks and whatnot? There are a [i]lot[/i] of things like that out there, that the list could get comically long and keeping up with them would eventually become a hassle.[/quote]
This… is not a good question. There are no statistics or logs of your abilities unless you mean on the [i]character sheet[/i], which would be pretty clearly cut.

[quote=@Rune_Alchemist]Plus, how would we clearly RP out such levels of skills/ranks and whatnot? How would it inherently 'increase' what you are able to do and how would we quantify that fairly in an RP?[/quote]
I imagine by keeping everyone in the same level of competency— new players, relatively new players. As for how it would inherently increase what you are able to do that all comes to what happens in the RP, so I cannot adequately answer this question without basis.

[quote=@Rune_Alchemist]Also, that achievement system seems incredibly...silly. It would reward achievement hunters, wouldn't it? What about people who don't particularly care for such things? I personally, would hardly care about such arbitrary achievements. I know some people do, but to penalize those who don't, seems odd.
[/quote]
No, it really wouldn’t. Here’s the thing— this whole misunderstanding of the benchmark system is not meant to be the equivalent of achievements in World of Warcraft. There are no [b]leaderboards[/b] in Pariah, there are no atypical statistics in Pariah, and there is definitely nothing that is [i]arbitrary[/i]. The benchmark system rewards accumulated experience; if you keep working to get stronger it will show. It is as described by McHaggis a “virtual reality with game influences” and not the other way around. Ultimately we are reflected on focusing on the characters and what makes them. Their personalities, experiences, tensions, griefs, anxieties, fantasies, and goals. 

The RP is not a stat simulator.