When you make a character do you chose one specific class and then can you only use abilities of that class or are the classes like guidelines for example can you have both a soldier ability and a medic ability. i sure hope not

You can make a character and give him soldier abilities and medic abilities, but he can't use them at the same time. You can start a game as a soldier and have access to all of the soldier abilities, then switch mid-game to medic and get all of the medic abilities.

You can change your class whenever you like by using command posts. Characters are not stuck using one class, as class changing will be the key to winning.

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OK... Everyone has answered this, but to give you a more thorough explanation...

When you're leveling up, you can buy universal abilities, which you have access to no matter which class you are, or class-specific abilities which are only available when you're the appropriate class.

So your character can have Medic abilities, Soldier abilities, Operative abilities AND Engineer abilities, but if you do that, when you're a Medic, you'll only be able to use the universal abilities and Medic abilities. Even if you have really awesome Soldier abilities, when you're not a Soldier, they do nothing at all.

awesome thanks so much