In Divinity there is no selection of classes as we know them from other RPG's. Divinity uses skills to turn your character into what you like best.
The player can select the skills he wants. However before he is able to do so skillpoints need to be acquired, which are awarded to the player when leveling up. Some skills also require a number of prerequisites which must be met before the skill can be acquired.
In addition to the way the player handles his primary statistics, the skill system is predominant in the area of character development. Your choice of skill determines how the game will be played, so you can do it by focussing on roleplaying or on hack&Slash to name some.

The Paths
Skills are divided into three ways which represent different character classes (click on the links to view the skills):

• Way of the Survivor
  • Path of the Thief
  • Path of Lore
  • Path of Talents
  • The Divine Path
• Way of the Warrior
  • Path of the Specialist
  • Path of the Ranger
  • Path of Warrior's Lore
  • Path of the Warrior Gods
• Way of the Wizard
  • Powers of Matter
  • Powers of Body and Spirit
  • Elemental powers
  • Powers of Summoning

These initial ways are available to the player upon startup. The player can gain access to skills represented in the other ways as well, so you can change your character to be whatever you want.

Some arithmetic; each way contains 4 paths, which are different classes of skills. That means there are 12 paths the player can travel and learn. Each path contains 8 skills. In total we therefore have 96 skills. Each skill is again divided in 5 levels. The total amount of levels therefore is 480.
So to summarize, there are:

• 3 Ways
• 4 Paths
• 8 Skills
• 5 Levels

Learning
It is made such that no skill is obsolete, and that one can finish the game using any variety of skills, depending on the preference levels. To learn additional skills, simply click on the Skills icon to bring up the skill list window. The centre of this window shows which skills set you are viewing. To show the other Ways, simply click on the left and right bracket icons.
The skill window shows only those skills that you can choose to learn at your current level. As you gain levels, more skills become available for you to select. You can quickly view all the skills, including those you can't learn yet, by clicking on the book icon to the left of the skill set name. As you move the mouse pointer over each of the skills listed, a description window becomes available showing you detailed information on that particular skill.

To learn a skill, you first need to obtain skill points. You get skill points when your character levels up or when you successfully complete a quest. Sometimes you get one skill point, and if you're lucky, you might get two skill points. Each skill costs one skill point, so a skill point is a very precious thing. If you have a skill point to spend, click on the icon of the skill you want to learn and you will see the skill appear in the box directly below the skill set name box. The numbers below the box show how much skill points you currently have. If you want to learn another skill, just select another skill icon. If you decide to save up your skill points, and not learn a skill at this time, click on the box containing the currently selected skill. If you decide to learn the skill, click on the ok button in the centre of the lower part of the skill plate. The ok button will automatically change into an X if you haven't selected a skill, and clicking on the X will close the skill plate. Although each profession has its own skill set, you can choose to learn a skill from another profession. For example, a warrior may find the survivor's skill, Hide in Shadows, rather handy.

You can also learn skills or improve them by finding a related book or a trainer. For this purpose there are also Guilds where certain skills can be improved. If you find a book on a skill and you have not learned it yet you are able to learn it immediately if you have the right prerequisites. Note that in the beginning you can not select any skill you want. Only a limited selection is available as you wil not have met the prerequisites for all skills.

Once learned you will have active and passive skills. Passive skills are automatically used, without you triggering them. The Identification skill is an example of this. Active skills require you to take an action in order to activate them.

Getting Skill Points
You get one skillpoint per level and twol skillpoints every time you leveled to a level that was divisible by 5, yielding to 60+12=72 skill points (assuming a character can reach level 60) which corresponds with learning 14 skills to their maximum amount (each skill having five points). Add to that the skills you learn by finding/buying skill books and the skill bonusses you get from special items/story, you in the end get the equivalent of two paths at maximum level and some other assorted skills.