Hiya!
TL;DR the thread...but this is a quick "one main reason" why I don't like MC in 3.x+ editions.
You know that scene in the Matrix? The first movie?
[Neo laying in chair...Morpheus next to him]
Neo: [opens eyes] "I know kung-fu".
Same thing when the last thing the PC's did was stagger off to their rooms at the inn.
DM: You are all awoken in the morning by repeated caw'ing from the roosters outside in the back fields, and the smell of bacon and eggs from downstairs. I assume you each grab your gear and make your way downstiars?
Player: Well, I don't wear my scale-mail. I also want to leap over the bannister into the common room, with a sumersault in the air...for flourish.
DM: Uh...you're a hulking brute of a fighter. Are you sure?
Player: Oh, I gained a level of Monk. I know kung-fu now.
DM: ...er... ...and that makes sense
how exactly?
Player: Multiclassing, ftw!
THAT is why MC sucks in 3.x+ editions, at least in my opinion. The second major culprit is...
Player: "Ok, I gained a level? Sweet! That makes me 12th now. I think I'll add another level of Wizard to my Assassin/Wizard".
DM: Huh? That makes no sense. At all. You've been assassinating things, sneaking around, picking locks, removing traps...I think you cast Flame Burst, like, three times in the last two months. I remember you casting Mirror Image once..other than that, I'm drawing a blank.
Player: Yeah, that's because I don't have any of the really good spells yet, like Fly or Invisibility. Once I gain enough levels in Wizard to get those, then you'll see a lot more spellcasting!
DM: So, basically, you assassinated, stealthed, and picked locks soooo much, that you understand more about magic?
Player: Yup. Pretty much.
:fume: In effect, from my perspective, a MC character is NEVER
actually multiclassed...they are just "adventuring" and when they gain a level
then they decide what to add to. A Fighter/Wizard is never an actual Ftr/Wiz...because when they gain a level, and add it to Fighter or Wizard, it effectively means they didn't learn ANYTHING in their other class. Add it to Fighter, and all those spells you cast were for naught. Add it to Wizard, and all those toe-to-to battles with critical's and whatnot...pointless. Didn't learn a thing. Or, worse, my example; Ftr/Wiz doesn't cast a single spell...but still can add a level to Wizard. Because he killed a lot of orcs with his sword while decked out in Platemail.
^_^
Paul L. Ming