Quote Originally Posted by Yora View Post
It's still a mystery why D&D tried so very hard to make sure that everyone plays the most stereotype characters possible, but it would fit together very well with the spell lists making sure that clerics and wizards are being played according to type with no stepping out of place.
To some extent, that's inherent in any class-based system. The classes are themselves based on existing stereotypes, so that's what they try to emulate. And D&D's version of the class system is really very restrictive - your class determines pretty much everything, including available skill set, spell list, hit points, combat proficiency, even saving throws.