I'm a big fan of meta-humor so my characters tend to be as familiar with game mechanics as we are with gravity.
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People refer to themselves however they want. Character classes are NOT considered RP terms. Three fighters on a battlefield might be a warrior, a fighter, and a barbarian, but they might all call themselves fighters. Or soldiers, or warriors, or centurions, or whatever.
As for the lass features, they probably call them what they are. When a barbarian rages, he probably says "Now I'm REALLY pissed off!" and the wizard next to him might say "Crap, now you've done it, you've enraged Conan!". The paladin probably actually says "I shall lay my hands upon thee and make your wounds whole again" or some such thing. Etc. They're just words. We have game terms for them to help us find them in the rules index, but the characters call them what they want - however, using a descriptive term helps them speak clearly about what they do and most of the time the characters' descriptive terms might very well match our game term.
Item ans spell names are probably the same. A wizard might actually talk about his Fireballs and his Magic Missiles and his Headband of Intellect. People call them these things so they can speak clearly and descriptively. It would be confusing at the wizard's academy if this happened:
Teacher: Now I shall teach you to create a ball of fire.
Student: You mean the little one that hovers by your head and gives off light?
Teacher: No, bigger than that.
Student: Oh, you mean the one you throw hundreds of feet away and it explodes and kills a bunch of orcs?
Teacher: No, smaller than that.
Student: Oh, so you mean the one that rolls around and burns your enemies if you bump into them?
Teacher: Yeah! That one!
Student: Damn, teach, we need different names for all these spells!
No, it's not tricky in tame to describe a multiclass or prestiged character. What does that guy do? He fights monsters with his sword? He's a fighting man. A fighter. A warrior. A hero. Whatever. The people talking about him won't say "He's a part fighter, part rogue, part dragon desciple, and part stalwart defender". They'll just say he's a fighter. "Hey, look at that fighter over there."
"I'm with the Pathfinder Society" is descriptive enough - the listener might say "Oh, look, that mage is a Pathfinder" and now he knows all he likely needs to know.
It depends on the mechanics. Paladins are definitely a thing in the game world. Sneak attack however is not thing. It is known that some people know how to hurt, more than they normally could, if they are not given your full attention, but it is not known as "sneak attack".
As for things like +2 magical weapons, I just assume the character knows how to describe in game, but he does not say "+2".
As far as magic items go I used to have my own naming system for them. Instead of saying you have found a longsword +1 I would say you found an imbued long sword. I had a different word for each plus. It's been awhile since I've used it I mainly did that when I was running D&D back in the day but I think it was something like imbued for +1, +2 blessed, +3 enchanted, +4 empowered and +5 legendary. I may start incorporating that in my Pathfinder games soon.
Wouldn't the same argument about the "ball of fire" apply to casters?
He's a mage!
You mean one of those born with magic in their blood?
No. The other kind.
You mean those scholarly ones, with the spell books and all?
Yeah, them.
Quick, get in close. Those are lousy in a melee!
<stabbity - Zap!>
Oh you meant the ones who cast spells through their swords. Ouch.
Damn. We need names.
Sure, there's multiclasses and archetypes too, but there's also metamagics and other things to confuse the spell names.
Sure.
But first, if that's a conversation between two orcs, or two bandits, or two owlbears, or two dragons, or two...
Whatever they are, they won't know. Maybe, with enough knowledge, they might see the weapon and arcane trappings and figure it out. Maybe. Otherwise, he's a mage. At least until they see him in action. Then he's a Magus.
But if that conversation went a little differently, like two mages describing their different combat styles, then they would probably use more descriptive words than "mage". But even if it's two wizards talking, one might have a fondness for blowing things up and call himself an evoker while the other might have no such preferences and simply call himself a wizard. Or a "Master of the arcane arts" if he is so inclined. Or whatever. And if one of them is a magus, he might say "I'm a magus" in which case everyone in the conversation would know that he has a special kind of magic, or he might say "I'm a master of the arcane arts but I sure love blowing people up from the inside after a stab 'em with my sword!" and people would know. Or he might just say "I'm a mage" and not give a damn about whether people know.
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I'd say that the spellcasters tend to be somewhat more distinct in-game.
Wizards are defined by their spellbooks, while sorcerors get their powers naturally. A martial character probably just refers to both as 'mages'.
Clerics are devoted to a god, and paladins are obvious, though many might actually get oracles & sorcerors mixed up a bit, since both get their spellcasting naturally. At least for those not 'in the know'.
Most probably don't know exactly where someone might fall on the ranger-hunter-druid continum.
Pure martials though - are called whatever they want to be called. (except perhaps monks since they're more distinctive - though it's been a bit more iffy since the brawler was introduced)
As for arcane schools, a wizard who favors the necromancy school might very well call himself a necromancer, but so could a sorcerer who likes those spells, or a cleric who likes those spells...
Likewise with all the schools.
"Hey, let's go ask the old enchanter down the road if he can teach us some cool new wizard spells."
"Sorry kids, I am an enchanter, but I channel my enchantments from my deity and I can't really teach you that. Unless you want to come pray with me?"
As for clerics referring to domains, it's probably just like in real life: "I am a priest of Poseidon, god of the sea and master of horses." Of course, the guy saying that could be a cleric, an oracle, or even a paladin or druid, or any archetype thereof.
The flashier and more obvious it is, the easier it is for the common man to recognize.
Lay on hands- yes, he instantly healed your wounds and removed your ills. People will recognize that.
Rage? How you do measure a +4 str with just your eyes? Maybe he was always that strong, and he simply wasn't serious before.
Spell casters though- since they have very distinct spell lists, ways of preparing spells, sources of power, and various unique features, it is not hard for anyone putting in effort to make the distinction. And wizards would be very interested in such research (trying to learn the secrets to an oracle's spells, in order to get famous when he publishes it in a thesis, for instance).
Bloodlines and mysteries- people might not be able to recognize it since they have little frame of reference (since sorcerers and oracles are rare), but I think they can see the difference between an aberrant sorcerer whose arm suddenly stretches out when doing touch spells and a draconic sorcerer who grows claws, breaths fire, and sprouts wings
Most martial classes though...they would most likely not be distinct or unified terms. A swashbuckler might get referred to based on their fighting style/school ('a swordsman of the Aldori schools, eh?'). You might also get people referenced culturally ('you fight like a numarian boy. Hitting hard and fast, but leaving yourself rather open'). But a fighter could be a halberdier, a crossbowman, a pikeman, zweihand user, etc. etc. based upon their specialty that ends up making the distinction when there is none in system.
