What do the classes actually do?

[Doktor Oktor]

When creating a character, you could just "choose" to be a "Shadowblade" but change all skills and attributes to be a Cleric. You would start the game with the Shadowblade-specific item.
But are there any other effects?
In a multiplayer game, I once noticed that gear would change its appearance when given to another character....is gear appearance something that is affected by class choice?
Do classes affect NPC interactions?
Or are they just archetypes if I am too lazy to make own character?
I am asking for a friend who wants to create an hydrosophic Fighter-Healer (Cleric) but the Cleric does not have any fighting skills and the Inquisitor has ugly necromancy and my friend cannot decide which class to begin with to change skills and if he could make a cleric that looks and talks like a Huntsman...

[Echsrick]

there more archetypes, a suggestion, and about the armor look, race and gender make the armor look differend depending on race and gender, even if its the same pice of armor

[Veritas]

it's just suggestions. and not exactly a bunch of good ones either. divinity 2 is classless

[Winter]

Change it all when making the character if you want. You pick Cleric and start with all Warfare skills if you want, adding hydro later. As far as I have been able to tell, the "classes" have a hard (unchangeable) impact on exactly 1 thing- the gear you find in the chest in the room where Windigo "source blasts" everyone on the tutorial ship. That's it. Want polymorph skills but 2 handed sword instead of a spear? Don't pick the "metamorph" class, pick "knight" and change skills around. Want to make sure there's a staff-type weapon? pick "battlemage". Want to ensure there's a fire wand? Pick "wizard".

Other than that, there's nothing else you can't change when starting your character. The only other reason to know or care what their default abilities are is to know what abilities companions will start off with if you pick them up in game and request they be a specific class..

[Chaoslink]

They alter the contents of the chest on the other side of the table in the prologue when the ship first starts being attacked.

Aside from that, they determine the starting stats of the companion you recruit.

Otherwise.... Nothing. You can pick Wizard then alter all the stats to that of a knight and play a knight despite picking Wizard. They don't matter.

[6h0$t942]

There arent any classes in the game, it just determines what spells you start with. This can all be changed at will, in act 1 if you have the gift bag or the mod for it or in act 2

[JustinGayme.TTV]

The classes really dont do much in the great scheme of things.

When making a character theyre just guides or templates for how to build your character. You can select wizard and literally make everything about the character non wizard like.

When choosing a role for npcs, it carries a bit more weight as itll come with certain skills and traits, but those too can eventually be respecced.

I think the classes are just a handholder fore new players ( i dont say that judgingly). we are so used to classes in rpgs that i think it could be overwhelming to new players to have to choose 1 or 2 categories out of 15 to put points into.