First of all for my idea to work you would basically have a new tab in the change Job menu. Switching tabs makes that Hearthling a Combat Unit and defaults to the footman. From there footmen would be able to take one of three paths, that being a ranged path, melee path, or Magic path.
In the ranged path you could start out as an archer, from there either become a Ballista/Turret operator,and be more defensive, or become a huntsman/beast-master, which would tame animals and use them to fight.
In the melee path you could have a soldier, hitting faster and harder and being able to hold out in a fight longer health wise, but only by a little. You then could upgrade them into either Paladins who would mainly use defensive abilities and boost morale and courage of all other combat units, or a berserker/raider type class that hits like a train going at 120 MPH but has little defense.
Magic is the one i put most thought into. I think the starter magic class could be a simple wizard, casting weak(ish) spells using runes which are crafted by a Mason using stone and copper/silver/gold depending on the rune. Every spell would require a certain amount of runes of the proper type to work, otherwise the wizard would just cast a simple ranged magic bolt. after being a wizard a hearthling could become a golemancer, using runes to create cores that are used to summon one golem at apprentice level, the amount of golems increasing every level. Golems would have different attributes depending on the core. you could have a fast core or a sturdy core for example, creating faster attacking golems, or higher armor golems. a wizard could also become a tempest/elementalist. casting spells without the need for runes, instead using runes to create a focus for a certain spell. that focus would work like an archer’s quivers dealing different types of damage, like a fire focus hitting normal speed and dealing normal damage but leaving a damage over time effect, or an earth focus hitting really slow, but really hard.
Lastly i think that herbalists should be classed in this tree. they would become priests, who could then become either paragons or necromancers. the paragons doing more healing from the sidelines and providing a holy offensive, perhaps buffing your units speed, armor, and attack, all in addition to the stuff a normal cleric would do, where as a necromancer would debuff the enemies stats, and perhaps even steal health to give to wounded allies, maybe even ressurecting fallen soldiers through the use of some kind of totem.
That’s all i got. What do you guys think?