Kira Nerys: Soldier or Starship Officer? and other queries

[PGoodman13]

I thought I'd take Dan up on his invitation to start a different thread on some of the conversation in other threads.

Originally posted by Siroth

Originally posted by PGoodman13
Siroth, as I pointed out in that other thread, it's not Starfleet Officer. The profession in question is Starship Officer. They can be Starfleet. They can be Romulan Star Navy. They can be Klingon Defense Force. They can even be Bajoran Militia. Just because all of the pictures in the section are folks from Starfleet doesn't mean that they're the only ones who can be in the profession.

You're missing my point or else I'm not making mine.

Oh, and that's never happened here before....

You're arguing rules while I'm arguing their consequences. In short, we're not having the same conversation. Let me try to rephrase.

It sure looked like you were arguing rules. As we've both noted, it's not like it's the first time either one of us has made a mistake.

Yes, Kira is not a Starfleet officer. She is in the Bajoran militia. However, I don't think she should be a soldier anymore, although I think she was one during the resistance.

Ah, I think I see what you're talking about. In rules terms, you think she should be in a different base profession. I disagree. I'm a veteran; I still consider myself an airman, even though I don't put the uniform on anymore. In more generic, non-service-specific terms...I'm still a soldier.

Kira's most certainly still a soldier. If you were to ask her, I feel fairly certain she'd say the same thing. It's how she grew up, it's what she knows, it's essentially the core of her being. She's done a lot of things since then that weren't strictly what some would consider "soldiering," but I've discovered in my life that a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions of what being a soldier (whether you call him a soldier, a sailor, an airman, or a marine) is all about.

But what if we took another Bajoran, a younger one who entered the militia after the Occupation. Would this person be a Soldier? He could be, but what if he studied, say, to work with a Warp Core? After all, Bajorans have starships. Would he be a Starship Officer or a Soldier? He should be a Starship Officer, I think (and you seem to agree with me).

I'm with you so far.

By the same notion I think Kira, in CODA game terms, is no longer a Soldier. She was once, but when she was assigned to DS9, she stopped being one and became a Command Officer instead. Was she trained for this? No, but she had the qualifications, or she wouldn't be a Major (and later Colonel) in the Bajoran Militia. She has genuine command authority in that organization.

Here's where I'm not quite sure I'm with you. Just because she gets put on a starbase, she's not a soldier anymore? So I wasn't an airman when I got stationed on an army post in Germany for six months? One of my roomies at Offutt AFB was from the Navy; he wasn't a sailor because he was stationed on an air force base? We'd all of us, me and Jackson and Kira, disagree with you.

In game terms, there's nothing to say that she couldn't become a Command Officer and still be a Soldier. We've been down this road, though, so I won't revisit it that much.

So what's my problem? My problem is that some people argue that the same is true for Odo. I don't agree with that since Odo never had any formal training as a Soldier - he has no background as a soldier. He was 'raised' by Mora Pol in a science lab until he left and was made a 'mediator' on Terok Nor (now DS9) by the Cardassians.

Kira never had any formal training flying a starship, but she did a tolerable job on Defiant and any number of runabouts. ON a similar note, every cop I know (and I work for the county government here, so I know a lot of them through the sheriff's office) is a soldier. They think like soldiers, they act like soldiers, they train like soldiers. None of them have had any formal training as soldiers, but the profession is demanding in the same way as the military is. Perhaps more.

It doesn't take or require formal training to be a soldier, especially in the Star Trek universe. Kira didn't receive formal training as a soldier; she grew up that way. Same with the Constable. Odo grew up (under the same Cardassian occupation Kira did) with an innate sense of order, which is an intrinsic trait of cops and soldiers. He chose, through no fault of his own, to apply that sense of order to the maintenance of law under the Cardassians. Like Kira, he was thrust into the profession rather than choosing it of his own accord, though I get the impression that he would have chosen a similar path if Destiny had dealt him a different hand.

Besides, if being a "mediator" for the Cardassians doesn't count as some military training, then I'm not sure what does.

What does that make him? Some say Soldier and refuse to consider he might be a Starship Officer, yet he never had any training for either of them until he began his career as a Constable. That being the case, I would rather put him in the profession that fits him best, and looking at the Professional Abilities that looks to me to be Starship Officer/Security rather than Soldier. That he is still cast as a Soldier seems to imply to me that people in the Bajoran Militia cannot be Starship Officers. If that is correct, then I disagree with it.

I think we're casting him as a Soldier because that's where he started out, and at his core that's still what he is. The text in the book aside, it's not a matter of being able to pick up a weapon and kill with it on the battlefield. I will agree, though, that it wouldn't be out of place for him to have some advancements in the Starship Security Officer elite profession.

You're still straight-jacketing yourself, I think, by seeing the Professions in CODA as hard, rigid lines that can't be crossed. They're really somewhat more amorphous than you're making them out to be. However, if you still think that people should be able to change their base profession (something I'm not sure is really necessary, but circumstances have kept me from being able to actually play the bloody game), you might consider taking a look at the Lord of the Rings RPG, which also uses CODA, but has a provision for changing your base Order (as they term Professions), which should port to Star Trek with just about zero effort. I haven't found a logical reason yet why that rule couldn't port over to Trek without harm.

But don't take it as quite so iron-bound as you seem to be. I can assure you, if I can make a spy into a starship security officer, you can make just about anything.

[Siroth]

Originally posted by PGoodman13

You're missing my point or else I'm not making mine.

Oh, and that's never happened here before....[/B]

No, it hasn't since this is my first post in this thread

Ah, I think I see what you're talking about. In rules terms, you think she should be in a different base profession. I disagree.

That argument was based on the perception that she would not be able to be in command unless she became a Starship Officer. Since I have admitted that was incorrect, I have to alter my position on this accordingly. I could argue that I don't like seeing characters restricted from taking a second base profession, but I actually wouldn't have a problem in Kira's case.

Kira never had any formal training flying a starship, but she did a tolerable job on Defiant and any number of runabouts.

She also commanded the fleet (such as it was) of Bajoran ships preventing the Romulans from reaching Derna in "Shadows and Symbols". Granted, it was a bluff, but she did command them, and Admiral Ross certainly showed a lot of respect for her as an officer. I think that qualifies her as a Starship Command Officer. Not to mention that she took over Sisko's position and functions while he was away in that and the previous episode.

Kira didn't receive formal training as a soldier; she grew up that way. Same with the Constable. Odo grew up (under the same Cardassian occupation Kira did) with an innate sense of order, which is an intrinsic trait of cops and soldiers.

Actually, that 'sense of order' came from him being a Founder/Changeling more than it grew out of the occupation. Odo didn't realize that himself until he met his people, but it is still just as valid, particularly since it answered a lot of questions for him.

As for similarities between Odo and Kira, I'm not so sure... We don't know when Odo was found or how long Mora Pol experimented on him, but we do know that he was still being studied in 2363 when he first met Dukat and that he became a Constable on Terok Nor two years later ("Necessary Evil"). I really doubt he received any training or 'grew into' being a soldier in that time. Mora tells us in "The Begotten" that Odo just decided to leave one day, and there is no indication that he was involved in the Bajoran/Cardassian conflict at all until Dukat made him a Constable. In fact, his actions established in "Things Past" seem to suggest that he was determined neutral on the whole matter for a long time. He certainly did not side with the Bajorans, and they wouldn't have let him remain Chief of Security on DS9 if he had moved against them in the past.

Kira joined the Bajoran Resistance in 2355 at age 12 and then fought for it until Bajor was free in 2369, at which point she was assigned to DS9 as a Major in the Bajoran Militia.

I see lots of differences in their backgrounds there. Kira was definitely a soldier. Odo I'm not so sure about. There is nothing to suggest that he ever fought for either side, quite the contrary in fact - he avoided choosing one. So what sort of training, formal or practical, did he ever receive? Given that he was sent out by the Founders to explore the galaxy as one of 'The Hundred', you might rather make a case for him being a diplomat or some such, but obviously this is further back than he remembered himself, so that probably doesn't apply...

Besides, if being a "mediator" for the Cardassians doesn't count as some military training, then I'm not sure what does.

Well, would Cardassian officers be Starship Officers or Soldiers? I'd tend to say the former, which tends to make me say the same for Odo.

You're still straight-jacketing yourself, I think, by seeing the Professions in CODA as hard, rigid lines that can't be crossed. They're really somewhat more amorphous than you're making them out to be. However, if you still think that people should be able to change their base profession (something I'm not sure is really necessary, but circumstances have kept me from being able to actually play the bloody game), you might consider taking a look at the Lord of the Rings RPG, which also uses CODA, but has a provision for changing your base Order (as they term Professions), which should port to Star Trek with just about zero effort. I haven't found a logical reason yet why that rule couldn't port over to Trek without harm.

But don't take it as quite so iron-bound as you seem to be. I can assure you, if I can make a spy into a starship security officer, you can make just about anything.

Well, let's consider a real Cardassian then: Garak.

What would Garak be? He could be a lot of things. He could be a soldier since he was in the Cardassian Military. He could be a Starship Officer for the same reason, and I'd say that is more appropriate since I don't see the son of Enabran Tain being a 'mere soldier'. He could be a rogue! He seems to be one on the show. He could be a merchant, since he just a plain and simple tailor

Well, he definitely worked in the Obsidian order for the Cardassians. I'd say that equals a Starship Officer in either Security or Command. And whatever else we make him, he certainly has to take the Spy elite profession at some point, maybe even Assassin.

Of course, Garak is hard to define since one of the main things about him is that we know very little about him. What we do know already makes him a rather complicated character to deal with, though, doesn't it? And if anyone has read 'A Stitch in Time' (which I haven't), fitting him in might be even more difficult given how he is certainly a man of 'diverse education'

[PGoodman13]

Originally posted by Siroth

Oh, and that's never happened here before....

No, it hasn't since this is my first post in this thread

{Stooge Style="Moe"} Remind me to slap you later. {/Stooge} (Tried to do that with standard angle brackets, and the whole "Stooge" thing disappeared in preview; that would have sucked....)

Well, would Cardassian officers be Starship Officers or Soldiers? I'd tend to say the former, which tends to make me say the same for Odo.

There's logic in your approach, but I'm inclined to think that the Cardassians occupying Bajor and running Terok Nor would have been both soldiers and starship officers, with the former significantly outnumbering the latter, in my estimation.

There's a reasonable argument to be made either way.

Well, let's consider a real Cardassian then: Garak.

Ah, plain, simple Garak. What a joy it would be to consider him in this light.

What would Garak be? He could be a lot of things. He could be a soldier since he was in the Cardassian Military. He could be a Starship Officer for the same reason, and I'd say that is more appropriate since I don't see the son of Enabran Tain being a 'mere soldier'. He could be a rogue! He seems to be one on the show. He could be a merchant, since he just a plain and simple tailor

Okay, here's where we're having a little bit of difficulty. "Mere soldier." There's nothing "mere" about being a soldier, to start with, but that's my own personal bias showing here.

You seem to be approaching things thinking that some professions are better, or of a higher social status, than others. This isn't really the case. They're categories, not indicators of status. Soldiers are no better than rogues are no better than diplomats are no different than starship officers, and so on ad infinitum (or until you run out of professions, whichever comes first). All they do is give people a way to file them away more easily.

In any event, he could have been a soldier, or a starship officer as you say. But he was the son of Enabran Tain, leader of the Obsidian Order, and was born and bred to that organization. You'll find that most of your spy organizations are inhabited by rogues, and this is where I think that plain, simple Elim fits in.

Well, he definitely worked in the Obsidian order for the Cardassians. I'd say that equals a Starship Officer in either Security or Command. And whatever else we make him, he certainly has to take the Spy elite profession at some point, maybe even Assassin.

Why does the Obsidian Order, a spy organization par excellance, equal a bunch of Starship Officers? They're rogues, pure and simple. They frequently take on a variety of Elite Professions, many of them from the Starship Officer base profession, but they're rogues. It's part of their nature.

The Spy elite profession is a given, but he doesn't strike me as having much to do with the Assassin profession. As Dan pointed out in another thread, spend an advancement or two on buying some tailoring Craft skills, maybe let him hit the Free Trader elite profession for an advancement or two to pick up a professional ability or two, but in general a Rogue with advancements in the Spy profession will get you pretty far. Add in some extensive use of Innovative (and you can't deny, he is that) to pick up professional abilities from professions not his own, and.... Garak's not, IMHO, too difficult. The problem comes in adding up what you think the advancements should look like, and that can be pretty interesting. I mean, look at Kirk in the Narrator's Guide....

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by PGoodman13
You seem to be approaching things thinking that some professions are better, or of a higher social status, than others. This isn't really the case. They're categories, not indicators of status. Soldiers are no better than rogues are no better than diplomats are no different than starship officers, and so on ad infinitum (or until you run out of professions, whichever comes first). All they do is give people a way to file them away more easily.

Back in the original 10 page thread I have to admit at becoming more than a little amused at how the conversation had degenerated into something of “Coda fails because…” and then the preponderance of focusing solely on the current professions as a limiter. This seems to be the second (if not first) most frequent “hang up” of people turning to Coda. They want a ridged strata of where they can say “Odo was this,” “Kira was this,” and “Spock was this.” Fact is that several strong arguments can be made on both sides to support a variety of character designs. This was an intentional design consideration.

The professions were given easily delineating names to allow players to have something to “hang their hat on.” Everyone understands what a soldier is by the name. It’s an easy point of reference. What a soldier does, however, is a much more complex issue. A soldier need not be a front-line combatant or someone whose sole occupation is warfare. What it can be is the defining foundation that shapes a character’s life and perspective—and one the character can then move onward from.

Star Trek continually reinforces several important lessons, one of which is the growth of the individual—becoming more or overcoming one’s limitations. That’s why you can pick any skill or have your character grow beyond their initial realm of expertise into any number of elite professions.

I think Patrick’s post captures fairly eloquently the purpose behind the professions and an understanding of their purpose. The profession examples list Spock as a Diplomat and Science Officer. Garak as both a Merchant and a Rogue. These are intentional, to demonstrate how the same characters could be built differently depending on the focus or concept of the player making the character.

In any event, I refer Siroth to page 52 (I double-checked my page number just for you!) and the sidebar that covers this very topic.

So, Siroth, your complaint is you don’t like the professions and find them too limiting? Can we back up two steps and lay down in a concise thesis statement what exactly the problem is?

[PGoodman13]

Siroth, a quick question in order for me to better understand something: You seem to be approaching things from the standpoint that one organization (say, Starfleet, or to keep in line with some of the other parts of the conversation, the military of the Cardassian Union) must be composed solely of a single profession, be it starship officer, soldier, tinker, tailor, spy, or what have you. Were the Cardassian occupation forces soldiers or starship officers? Are members of the Bajoran militia soldiers or starship officers? Those kinds of questions.

Is this, in fact, the case? It certainly appears that way from your arguments to date, but I'd like to be sure.

[Champions Guru]

Soldier.

Da Guru

[Siroth]

Originally posted by PGoodman13
No, it hasn't since this is my first post in this thread

{Stooge Style="Moe"} Remind me to slap you later. {/Stooge} (Tried to do that with standard angle brackets, and the whole "Stooge" thing disappeared in preview; that would have sucked....)

You will slap me later for that comment? I'm honored

Okay, here's where we're having a little bit of difficulty. "Mere soldier." There's nothing "mere" about being a soldier, to start with, but that's my own personal bias showing here.

Which is why I put it in quotation marks as well. I'm not trying to call soldier plain or common rabble, but I think Enabran Tain might have, at least to some extent.

Why does the Obsidian Order, a spy organization par excellance, equal a bunch of Starship Officers?

They don't equal Starship Officers, but I do think their members are chosen among the finest of the officers of their fleets. I mean, how does Starfleet Intelligence choose its operations? I certainly don't think they pull them in from the street, nor do I think you may gain direct entry to their ranks. If you want to be a member you'll probably have to prove that you have potential for it first by serving for years in command or security. Until you do you won't even be considered. I think the same practice is true for the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar - their operatives are chosen among promising officers in their various fleets. If that is the case then Garak's fastest way into the order would be as an officer for a while...

The Spy elite profession is a given, but he doesn't strike me as having much to do with the Assassin profession.

Unless you count all the Romulans who died while he was stationed there.... ("Broken Link") He certainly seems to know a lot about how to kill people except with weapons, apparently, as he doesn't seem to know that most energy weapons have a setting other than "kill"

[Siroth]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
In any event, I refer Siroth to page 52 (I double-checked my page number just for you!) and the sidebar that covers this very topic.

Thanks, but this is actually one of the parts I've read. However, whatever it says, the professions are still there so I have to consider why. That leaves me with two options:

Option 1: Professions are fixed and limiting classes.

My reaction: I don't like being limited in my choices by the rules.

Option 2 (which is the relevant one here): Professions are not fixed and rigid but only starting points for characters.

My reaction: Well, then why do I need them in the first place?

Somebody argued that the multiple d6 tests of ICON were dropped in favor of the 2d6 plus modifiers because people found it very difficult to not automatically add things up rather than just taking the best die.

Well, isn't the same argument just as relevant here? I mean, if rules are changed because people even perceive them to be odd and "can't quite get used to them", then doesn't that principle apply to every part of the game?

And aren't people just as likely to suspect Professions of being the restricted classes of D&D and see it as a limitation?

I certainly suspected it, and not having read the NG I still don't know that they aren't except that people here tell me otherwise.

All that being the case, does that make professions a benefit or a problem?

[Siroth]

Originally posted by PGoodman13
Siroth, a quick question in order for me to better understand something: You seem to be approaching things from the standpoint that one organization (say, Starfleet, or to keep in line with some of the other parts of the conversation, the military of the Cardassian Union) must be composed solely of a single profession, be it starship officer, soldier, tinker, tailor, spy, or what have you. Were the Cardassian occupation forces soldiers or starship officers? Are members of the Bajoran militia soldiers or starship officers? Those kinds of questions.

Is this, in fact, the case? It certainly appears that way from your arguments to date, but I'd like to be sure.

Actually, I may seem to have tried to drive my point home a little too much in that I've now managed to give you the opposite impression of the point I was trying to make.

There are doubtlessly both Starship Officers and Soldiers in most, if not all, space organations. At least that is my opinion. Starfleet might actually be the one exception since their "armed forces" always seem to be security officers. Then again, we did see ground troops in DS9's "Nor the Battle to the Strong", so maybe they do have soldiers, only we don't see them very often... Not having soldiers would fit with the principle of Starfleet not being a military organization (although they did build the Defiant and Prometheus class starships... ), but I digress.

No, my point was the reverse, namely that every time I argued Kira should be a Starship Command Officer, people seemed to say "no, that doesn't fit all - she's a soldier!" When I made a case for Odo being a Starship Security Officer, people seemed to reject the very notion of it as well. Thus I found myself wondering why, and it suddenly seemed as if anyone in the Bajoran Militia couldn't be anything but a soldier. I don't agree with that.

Yes, Kira is a soldier, at least at the base. She became a soldier during her time with the Resistance, but when she was accepted into the Militia and sent to DS9 she became a (Starship) Command Officer as well (note her problems with accepting her new responsibilities in "Progress", for example). She may still be a soldier, but she grew to become more.

As we've discussed, Odo is a little more difficult to place into the system (he could be a lot of things), but I certainly think he became a (Starship) Security Officer at some point during the first couple of seasons of the show if not sooner.

When people then seem to dismiss those possibilities out of hand, it makes me think "what, there can't be Starship Officers in the Bajoran Militia? That's just wrong".

[Dan Stack]

While I could give a long post, I think brief will serve me better.

My group has been using Coda-Trek for a long while, both in playtest and beyond. We've had smuggling engineers, Tal Shiar agents doubling as tactical officers, Starfleet officers of every species and era, the crew of a Klingon Bird of Prey, you name it. Not once that I can recall have we found the profession system, as presented in Coda, limiting our options.

[Edit - Corrected description slightly]

[Ineti]

I'm coming in late to this party, but I'll throw some stuff into the mix...

Option 2 (which is the relevant one here): Professions are not fixed and rigid but only starting points for characters.

My reaction: Well, then why do I need them in the first place?

Gotta start developing a character somewhere.

Well, isn't the same argument just as relevant here? I mean, if rules are changed because people even perceive them to be odd and "can't quite get used to them", then doesn't that principle apply to every part of the game?

Not sure what your point is here, but there isn't a game system out there that's above a GM's tinkering. If you don't like a rule, change it or discard it.

And aren't people just as likely to suspect Professions of being the restricted classes of D&D and see it as a limitation?

I can't speak for "people," only myself. When I first read the PG, I saw "Professions" and thought "classes". As I read on, I came to believe that the Professions and the advancement system in Coda are far superior and encouragingly different than the classes and XP system in D&D 3e. That's my opinion, though.

I see this system as elegant and flexible. Any character concept my players come up with should be able to be created from these rules. If I can't make it work, I'll ask the group at large here and see if someone can help me.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Siroth
Actually, I may seem to have tried to drive my point home a little too much in that I've now managed to give you the opposite impression of the point I was trying to make.

Actually, at the risk of embarassment, I have no idea what your point is. I'll echo Don and ask if you could restate your issues, ideally in a new thread.

Originally posted by Siroth
When people then seem to dismiss those possibilities out of hand, it makes me think "what, there can't be Starship Officers in the Bajoran Militia? That's just wrong".

Sure, there can be starship officers in the Bajoran militia. No problem.

Kira started her life as a Soldier, though, at least, IMO. In your campaign universe, maybe she started as a starship officer. The great thing about Coda is that if you ask four people to create Kira, you'll come up with four different versions of her, but I'll bet each one has the "Kiraness" about her.

IDIC. Infinite Diversity In Coda.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Siroth
Option 2 (which is the relevant one here): Professions are not fixed and rigid but only starting points for characters.

My reaction: Well, then why do I need them in the first place?

If you ask me, you see things too much in black and white here. Character Classes, if they are too rigid, can indeed be a limit to character development. OTOH classes can provide a certain 'focus' for character development and go a long way to emphasize the differences between characters. To illustrate what I mean please consider the following two situations:

(1) Character Creation
My (CODA) game has been joined by a new (and relatively unexperienced) player 3 weeks ago. When we worked on his character he decided to play a Starship Security Officer, without even looking at the skills or professional abilities. He wanted a few skills that aren't professional skills, so we covered them during his personal development and with the 6 advancements I gave him. It didn't take long and he got the character he wanted.
Without the classes we would have had two options: For one I could have lend him the rulebook saying: "Read pages 20-70. You can choose from all of these options, 'cause we have no character classes in this game. Just get back to we when you made your picks."
The other way would have been for him to give me an outline of what he wanted and let me make the game-mechanics choices for him, because he didn't want to read 50 pages just to get the character creation done.

In both cases it's highly likely that he would have ended up with most of the same skill, skill levels and abilities he has now, as they are either usefull and/or necessary for a Security Officer or support his character concept.
The professions in this case served as a usefull guideline, or if you will a "shortcut", to shorten the character creation by a considerable amount of time.

(2) Character Advancement
During play classes can serve a usefull purpose as well. Let's say you have a game that allows everyone to choose from all skills and abilities without restrictions. Now let's assume a character who wanted to spent all his Experience Points/Option Points/Whateveryoucallthem Points on the skill "Piloting". Whitout any restrictions he would be able to do that, even if his character had never even seen a plane up close.
I can see two solutions to this dilema: Either the player is allowed to advance his character in whatever direction he chooses - regardless of how unrealistic that might turn out to be - or the Narrator imposes certain restrictions on character development, either by outright denying certain options to some characters or at least requiring some prerequisites to be met.

Classes (or in this case Professions) take care of this dilema by setting certain limits for character advancements. And the Coda professions allow to to take almost all skills or abilities for you character with enough time and experience, so I would consider it one of the least limiting class-based systems around.

Sure, you can even consider that as an unacceptable restriction, but seen from another POV the same limitations provide a certain degree of realism to character development, by allowing you to advance some skills and abilities (those related to your job, i.e. Profession) faster than others.

Well, isn't the same argument just as relevant here? I mean, if rules are changed because people even perceive them to be odd and "can't quite get used to them", then doesn't that principle apply to every part of the game?

I am not sure what your point is.
Unless it is "The ICON dice mechanics were dropped because some considered them odd and some think professions are odd, so why haven't they been dropped."

And aren't people just as likely to suspect Professions of being the restricted classes of D&D and see it as a limitation?

No.

Okay, longer answer:
D&D may be the most widely used game system on this planet, but not everyone who picks up a copy of CODA has played it, so there will be at least some people who can't even draw that comparison.
And, what may be even more important, not everybody views classes, be it in D&D or other games, as a limitation or considers them to be restrictive.

So if by "people" you mean "some people" the answer is Yes, but if you mean "everybody" or even "a majority of players" I would say the answer is No.

All that being the case, does that make professions a benefit or a problem?

From where I sit it's not the case, since there are a lot of greys between the black and white that could be called class-based and no-classes-at-all. But even if it where the case I'd say the only real answer is "It's in the way that you use it."

I'll admit that some class-based systems could be a problem for someone who expects the greatest possible amount of freedom from an RPG, but class-based games can have their benefits (see above for some examples) and Coda is IMHO on of the more 'beneficial' systems.

Personaly I consider Coda a quite adaptable tool for roleplaying, even if it is class-based. So if you are asking about all class-based games I can only say that each game should be judged on it's own merits and shortcomings. But if your question was specifically about Coda my answer would be that the Professions are a benefit and not a hindrance.