How to fix 3.5 multiclassing
There's been a lot of talk recently (mostly since Paizo started working on Pathfinder) about how to "fix" multiclassing in 3.5 games. It's a worthwhile topic for discussion, since there's a fairly strong understanding that multiclassing is suboptimal as it exists now. Let's examine what these problems are, and look at ways to fix them in your game.
XP Penalties
Unless you keep all of your classes within a level of each other, and/or make sure to play to your favored class, you're going to be hit with some pretty stiff XP penalties; they start out at -20% and go up from there. In fact, if you play this badly, you could actually end up with a -100% XP penalty!
So what's the best solution for this particular problem? Easy: dump this restriction.
Seriously, there's absolutely no reason to have this particular restriction in the game. It exists solely to limit multiclassing possibilities (I suppose you could consider racial favored classes to show a particular predisposition in a given race, but that's a very thin bit of in-game flavor - and one that you can have anyway without this particular rule). After all, prestige classes aren't held to this. d20 Modern does away with it altogether. Just ditch the rule about taking XP penalties if you have disparate levels in multiple classes and be done with it.
BAB Progression
Another problem is with BAB progression. A character that focuses on melee (or even ranged) combat tends to be hurt if he multiclasses into a class with anything less than a full BAB progression. His bonuses to attack, which the party counts on, start to fall behind. If they fall behind too much, then he may even lose an iterative attack, which is a devastating setback when you think of all the attacks over the course a campaign that he'll be missing out on.
So what do we do about this?
The answer here turns up in Unearthed Arcana. I'm not sure why this particular sidebar was excluded from The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5 d20 System Reference Document) :: d20srd.org but you'll find it over on page 73 of UA: fractional BAB (and base save) increases. Basically, this notes that most classes have a BAB (and saves) that advance by fractions of a whole bonus over each level. Usually, these are rounded away, but if you keep the fractions (and no fraction is worth anything until it's increased to a whole, the same way a half a skill rank is worthless until another half is added to it), then the progression is much faster.
To quickly summarize the sidebar, classes with a full BAB progression (+20 at level 20) gain a full +1 at each and every level. Classes with a good BAB progression (+15 at level 20) gain +0.75 at each level. And classes with a poor BAB progression (+10 at level 20) gain +0.5 at each level. (And, if you want to keep this for base save progression also, good saves begin with a bonus of +2.5 at 1st level and gain +0.5 at each additional level, while poor saves begin with +0.34 at first level, and gain +0.34 at each additional level). Remember, these values go for monsters also.
Having said all that, there are some weaknesses to this particular fix. The big one is that this only going to add minor increases; only rarely will it be more than a +1 adjustment to your BAB, though that can happen. For example, a rogue 9/bard 9 normally has a BAB of +12 - a +6 for each class at 9th level. Under this system, that character has a +13.5 BAB, since each class has +6.75 at 9th level. If the character adds a level of wizard, then under the normal progressions that'd add +0 to the character's +12 BAB. Under this system, it adds +0.5 to the character's +13.5 BAB, bringing it up to +14. That's a not-insignificant increase for the character, particularly at such a high level. Admittedly, it's nowhere near as good as a single-classed fighter, but it gives this rogue 9/bard 9/wizard 1 a +14 BAB, letting him fight on par with a 19th-level rogue, which would also have +14 BAB.
Spellcasting
Perhaps the largest issue is that multiclassing tends to seriously impact spellcasting ability. A wizard 10/cleric 10 is still going to be slinging around 5th-level arcane and divine spells, all with with a caster level of 10, at CR 20 monsters. That's a pretty serious setback.
Much like the last problem, this has a solution given in Unearthed Arcana, this being the Magic Rating system. Essentially the magic equivalent of the fractional BAB system presented above, this works for caster level instead. In fact, we're just going to dispense with referring to this as a "magic rating" and instead call it what it is, gaining fractional caster levels per level.
Under this sytem, all creatures gain a caster level of some amount at each level. The linked page discusses which specific classes gain what "rating" - just treat the rating as a caster level. Thus, bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards gain a +1 to their caster level at each level. Monks, paladins, and rangers gain +0.5 caster levels at each level. And barbarians, fighters, and rogues gain +0.25 caster levels at each level. (Don't forget to consult that page to check out how monsters configure their caster levels also.)
The idea here is that you total up a character's caster levels from all of their classes, and this is their effective caster level for all of their spellcasting classes. It only applies to effects based specifically on caster level; it doesn't grant new spells per day, spells known, or new spell levels. E.g., our wizard 10/cleric 10 can still only caster 5th-level arcane and divine spells from each spell list. However, since each class gives him +10 caster levels, for a total of +20, he casts all his spells as a 20th-level caster. This assures that his spells are a match for CR 20 monsters, though he still can't cast higher-level spells. If the character was a wizard 5/cleric 5/mystic theurge 10, he'd be casting 8th-level arcane and divine spells, all at 20th caster level, which seems more balanced in terms of trading the most powerful spells of each class for being able to cast spells as both a wizard and a cleric.
Note that, while the linked article above uses whole numbers, there's no reason you can't use fractional increases with this particular bonus as well. Doing so gives your multiclass spellcasters a little more kick, which can be very useful when they're multiclassing with a non-spellcasting class (since those tend to have the worst caster level increases).
Another variant here is that you can have this caster level increase apply to all effective spellcasting, similar to how a prestige class's "+1 spellcaster level" increases spells per day/spells known. In this case, our wizard 10/cleric 10 is now a 20th-level spellcaster for both classes, and can whip out 9th-level arcane and divine spells at caster level 20 no problem. The problem with this particular variant is that it actually rewards multiclassing too much. Under this system, it's always far better to play a wizard/cleric than a single-classed wizard or cleric, as you'll end up with full spellcasting progression for both - in fact, the only downside is that you won't have the total BAB and Hit Dice progression of a single-class cleric (though you'll be close). It's basically too attractive of an option.
These changes, unto themselves, probably don't entirely fix multiclassing. But they at least make it a little more viable, and hopefully a little more attractive, in your game.
XP Penalties
Unless you keep all of your classes within a level of each other, and/or make sure to play to your favored class, you're going to be hit with some pretty stiff XP penalties; they start out at -20% and go up from there. In fact, if you play this badly, you could actually end up with a -100% XP penalty!
So what's the best solution for this particular problem? Easy: dump this restriction.
Seriously, there's absolutely no reason to have this particular restriction in the game. It exists solely to limit multiclassing possibilities (I suppose you could consider racial favored classes to show a particular predisposition in a given race, but that's a very thin bit of in-game flavor - and one that you can have anyway without this particular rule). After all, prestige classes aren't held to this. d20 Modern does away with it altogether. Just ditch the rule about taking XP penalties if you have disparate levels in multiple classes and be done with it.
BAB Progression
Another problem is with BAB progression. A character that focuses on melee (or even ranged) combat tends to be hurt if he multiclasses into a class with anything less than a full BAB progression. His bonuses to attack, which the party counts on, start to fall behind. If they fall behind too much, then he may even lose an iterative attack, which is a devastating setback when you think of all the attacks over the course a campaign that he'll be missing out on.
So what do we do about this?
The answer here turns up in Unearthed Arcana. I'm not sure why this particular sidebar was excluded from The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5 d20 System Reference Document) :: d20srd.org but you'll find it over on page 73 of UA: fractional BAB (and base save) increases. Basically, this notes that most classes have a BAB (and saves) that advance by fractions of a whole bonus over each level. Usually, these are rounded away, but if you keep the fractions (and no fraction is worth anything until it's increased to a whole, the same way a half a skill rank is worthless until another half is added to it), then the progression is much faster.
To quickly summarize the sidebar, classes with a full BAB progression (+20 at level 20) gain a full +1 at each and every level. Classes with a good BAB progression (+15 at level 20) gain +0.75 at each level. And classes with a poor BAB progression (+10 at level 20) gain +0.5 at each level. (And, if you want to keep this for base save progression also, good saves begin with a bonus of +2.5 at 1st level and gain +0.5 at each additional level, while poor saves begin with +0.34 at first level, and gain +0.34 at each additional level). Remember, these values go for monsters also.
Having said all that, there are some weaknesses to this particular fix. The big one is that this only going to add minor increases; only rarely will it be more than a +1 adjustment to your BAB, though that can happen. For example, a rogue 9/bard 9 normally has a BAB of +12 - a +6 for each class at 9th level. Under this system, that character has a +13.5 BAB, since each class has +6.75 at 9th level. If the character adds a level of wizard, then under the normal progressions that'd add +0 to the character's +12 BAB. Under this system, it adds +0.5 to the character's +13.5 BAB, bringing it up to +14. That's a not-insignificant increase for the character, particularly at such a high level. Admittedly, it's nowhere near as good as a single-classed fighter, but it gives this rogue 9/bard 9/wizard 1 a +14 BAB, letting him fight on par with a 19th-level rogue, which would also have +14 BAB.
Spellcasting
Perhaps the largest issue is that multiclassing tends to seriously impact spellcasting ability. A wizard 10/cleric 10 is still going to be slinging around 5th-level arcane and divine spells, all with with a caster level of 10, at CR 20 monsters. That's a pretty serious setback.
Much like the last problem, this has a solution given in Unearthed Arcana, this being the Magic Rating system. Essentially the magic equivalent of the fractional BAB system presented above, this works for caster level instead. In fact, we're just going to dispense with referring to this as a "magic rating" and instead call it what it is, gaining fractional caster levels per level.
Under this sytem, all creatures gain a caster level of some amount at each level. The linked page discusses which specific classes gain what "rating" - just treat the rating as a caster level. Thus, bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards gain a +1 to their caster level at each level. Monks, paladins, and rangers gain +0.5 caster levels at each level. And barbarians, fighters, and rogues gain +0.25 caster levels at each level. (Don't forget to consult that page to check out how monsters configure their caster levels also.)
The idea here is that you total up a character's caster levels from all of their classes, and this is their effective caster level for all of their spellcasting classes. It only applies to effects based specifically on caster level; it doesn't grant new spells per day, spells known, or new spell levels. E.g., our wizard 10/cleric 10 can still only caster 5th-level arcane and divine spells from each spell list. However, since each class gives him +10 caster levels, for a total of +20, he casts all his spells as a 20th-level caster. This assures that his spells are a match for CR 20 monsters, though he still can't cast higher-level spells. If the character was a wizard 5/cleric 5/mystic theurge 10, he'd be casting 8th-level arcane and divine spells, all at 20th caster level, which seems more balanced in terms of trading the most powerful spells of each class for being able to cast spells as both a wizard and a cleric.
Note that, while the linked article above uses whole numbers, there's no reason you can't use fractional increases with this particular bonus as well. Doing so gives your multiclass spellcasters a little more kick, which can be very useful when they're multiclassing with a non-spellcasting class (since those tend to have the worst caster level increases).
Another variant here is that you can have this caster level increase apply to all effective spellcasting, similar to how a prestige class's "+1 spellcaster level" increases spells per day/spells known. In this case, our wizard 10/cleric 10 is now a 20th-level spellcaster for both classes, and can whip out 9th-level arcane and divine spells at caster level 20 no problem. The problem with this particular variant is that it actually rewards multiclassing too much. Under this system, it's always far better to play a wizard/cleric than a single-classed wizard or cleric, as you'll end up with full spellcasting progression for both - in fact, the only downside is that you won't have the total BAB and Hit Dice progression of a single-class cleric (though you'll be close). It's basically too attractive of an option.
These changes, unto themselves, probably don't entirely fix multiclassing. But they at least make it a little more viable, and hopefully a little more attractive, in your game.
Tags: 3.5, multiclass
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