So when you read a mystery novel, you don't know what's going to happen. When you watch an action movie you are invested in the scene because you don't know if the hero is going to make it (well... ok).
One of the most prevalent motivators in game design is exploration (see the Bartle test for more on that). This is overcoming the unknown, reacting to something you are unfamiliar with, finding out what lays beyond the horizon.
How interesting would it be to retain that sense of mystery and discovery within Pathfinder? We are all familiar with how a fighter plays on a mechanical level. Heck, you can pre-plan your character from level 1 to 20. We all know a medusa can turn you to stone with a glare or a dragon breaths fire. Wouldn't it interesting to play in a campaign where you didn't know what the next level would bring (but you knew the theme and the general required stats/abilities?) Fight enemies where you didn't know what they did?
Just a thought.
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When I play a PC. I don't touch the bestiary. There is enough there that outside of monsters I have used, I don't really know what they all do. One time I lost a character to flail-snails because we failed the Knowledge check that told us they reflect magic... There was lots of unknown there :p
As a DM, I throw in the occasional monster that no-one has seen or I make my own creations.
Other than that, as a player I don't plan out my builds. I just have a vague idea of what I will need in the next level.
Your sense of discovery is in your control.
That's just it though. When it's in your control doesn't that dampen the experience? (And by the way, I am aware that this approach is not for everyone)
So basically you're suggesting what? Randomly assigned feats every level up? I don't really see the surprise factor there compensating for being unable to have a strong theme to your character.
Besides which, if you want to deal with adapting tactics to sudden newfound abilities, stumbling across magic items and spellbooks has that pretty well-covered.
I'm not suggesting anything in particular. I'm posing this more as a thought experiment. If it was to be implemented though maybe build an alternate version of some base classes to be used in a single campaign or have everyone enter an unknown prestige class. Maybe give them 1 or 2 levels ahead of where they currently are to represent Nymor's input.
-Scott
PS: I actually outright ban bestiary use in my games to my players.
How do you handle characters with Summon Monster or Summon Natural Ally spells? Are they allowed to look up the entries for the creatures that they can summon?
Generally that's ok. They are low CR creatures anyway. Personally I normally just ask that they tell me they are looking them up.
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Here's a quick tip for helping even seasoned players not metagame what monsters they're fighting (and it's a fun surprise afterwards): don't tell them what they're fighting! At least, not exactly. Just use a brief description, like "tentacled monster", "large humanoid", or "flying thing with claws". They may still guess, but they won't be sure -- there's enough ambiguity to remove that level of confidence. Ask for knowledge checks, then reveal information based on that. It might almost feel like you're constructing custom monsters.
That wasn't related to classes and levels, of course, so I'll get to the main track. Personally, I like planning my character's levels out in advance, to make sure I can get important feats that I want. Let's say you try to grow your character organically, and then decide you like disarming. So you want to do that without provoking attacks of opportunity. Wait, can't get that feat yet, it needs Combat Expertise. And that needs... INT 13? That's a little unexpected, as INT does not contribute to combat maneuvers, and drat, you only have INT 10, and no headband is immediately available.
That's a rough situation. But that's one of the great things about this game being human-run: you can ask for permission to fix your character build, maybe fix your point buy, and/or retrain feats. Many reasonable GMs would allow a fix like that. But still, it's better not to assume that safety net is there, IMO.
On the other hand, planning out a character too much is bad as well. You might want to change something, then it all comes crumbling down if you really tightened up your feats too much. So, it's a delicate balance.