Alpha Protocol - Interview @ Play.tm

Obsidian's Ryan Rucinski fronts up for an interview with Play.tm on Alpha Protocol.  On character development:

How does the new ‘classless’ RPG system work?

In the very beginning we have some suggested archetypes that are geared towards particular playing styles, but we also allow a 'Freelance' character where a player can put points wherever they want. Later, they can choose to change their skills or specialize in the high-end abilities.

This allows the player to put advancement points into the skills that they want to use. For example, the player could put advancement points into technologies and stealth. They could then use their abilities to remotely hack into computers, lay traps, and skirt around sentries without ever being detected.

Conversely, the same player could get to a point where they might prefer a different play style and instead of putting points into stealth skills, they could easily put them into assault rifles and then specialize into the top tier abilities. They would be loud but deadly from a distance.

We basically just let the player make the kind of character they want to play but we do reward focusing into the higher end of the abilities. The Jack of All Trades is the master of none.