GURPS vs. Class Based Designs

I have a few versions of 5E, and they are great for what they are. You know, the "guided options" sort of game where the designers give you an "urban background," and they provide you with street smarts, immunity to surprise, and a history skill. In another 5E game, they provide you with weapon concealment for the same background, plus a streetwise-like skill.

At this point, I am rubbing my face, asking, "Is that all the designers of these games could think of?"

Is this it?

This is all we get?

5E leans heavily into stereotypes. The people who criticize races in past versions of the D&D game as stereotyped turn right around and say, "Well, these here city folk are all the same!" These here cloud folk are all like this one way! These nomads? They are all like each other.

You just can't stop yourselves, 5E designers, can you? You gamify everything to the point where you never ask if you should. They can't stop themselves since the game forces them to think along these "choice stereotypes," which mirror the stereotypes of classes.

When GURPS is pulled off the shelf, I open the book and can imagine a thousand "urban background" template packages. It shames these silly 5E "limited choice of a stereotype" games. Do I want a down-and-out street wanderer? A high-class socialite? A blue-collar tradesperson? A well-to-do person who works in the finance district? A ruffian from the docks? A scholar or student? A sailor or town guard? A tavern-goer?

5E says streetwise, weapon concealment, surprise immunity, and history should cover them all.

What?

I use Tales of the Valiant and Level Up A5E as my baselines since those are the leading 5E alternative games. They are excellent, but the 5E overdesign everything bug bites them both hard.

I can design a million things in GURPS from every one of modern 5E's limited background choices that give you a handful of the same options. Nomad cultures? A world of choices. Sailing cultures? I've got a million choices there, too. Desert cultures? A million choices there.

All my designs respect cultures and backgrounds, including race templates. These problems don't exist in GURPS since stereotypes are not a part of the design. You can also provide options in each template to give them diversity and customization.

I get advantages and disadvantages (or create a choose-from list); the templates are built to give my character background, skills, and a complete package for role-playing. Oh, and that character does not have to be a combat class. I can design a cartographer and explorer who can survey and make the world's finest maps. I still have challenges, and I enjoy playing that character.

Combat? I hire people to do that for me. My maps make enough money to cover it. In 5E? Do I need to be a rogue who stabs people in the back? Some investigator class that gets magic powers I never want or use? A wizard? A ranger with a pet bear? I don't want any of that! That is not how I see my character!

But play 5E, and you are forced down a designer's "choice path." Professional game designers know best!

I end up with a 5E character with powers I don't want and will never use, and afterward, I want to redesign that character in GURPS to see the "real person."

I have outgrown 5E, and in some ways, I outgrew it before I even started.