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Multi classing Objections: Rules vs. Fluff?
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<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7464043" data-attributes="member: 6683613"><p>I disagree completely. Subclasses (and hybrid classes) are an inelegant way to handle multiclassing because each combination of classes requires a different rules entity, inflating the necessary amount of rules multiplicatively. You said it yourself: to get an uncovered combination, you have to homebrew. It eats up page count or creative time and energy to create each new combination. That is the opposite of leaving design space open. That is a system which makes you reinvent the wheel 12 x 11 times. (More, once you start adding new classes to the game.) A single set of rules which lets you immediately create any class combination is vastly more elegant. If one of my players wants to be a bard/monk, I don't have to do a thing.</p><p></p><p>Subclasses may be thematic for cases when the character truly combines multiple disciplines into a single distinct career path, but they are not thematic at all for cases when a character changes careers. Conan began as a barbarian but spent years living as a thief. The Grey Mouser began as a wizard's apprentice but abandoned it to become a swashbuckler. Neither of character developments would be well modeled by combining the classes with a subclass and thus advancing simultaneously in both.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, using the subclass to multiclass crowds out the ability to take another subclass. I already hinted at this: Conan is a <em>thief</em>. The Mouser is a <em>swashbuckler</em>. Far from being thematic, subclassing would eliminate these themes from the character. Further still, subclasses are a one-and-done deal, preventing a character from changing careers again, which of course Conan did (and the Mouser likely picked up some fighter levels too).</p><p></p><p>Chassis conflicts, too, are exacerbated by the subclass system. A fighter 1/wizard 1 may be somewhat different than a wizard 1/fighter 1, but the differences pale in comparison to those between an eldritch knight and a bladesinger.</p><p></p><p>So those are my clear and specific reasons for disagreeing with almost everything you said. But I'm sure if you just keep repeating empty phrases like "messy complications" and "ugliness", I'll come around to your point of view eventually.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 7464043, member: 6683613"] I disagree completely. Subclasses (and hybrid classes) are an inelegant way to handle multiclassing because each combination of classes requires a different rules entity, inflating the necessary amount of rules multiplicatively. You said it yourself: to get an uncovered combination, you have to homebrew. It eats up page count or creative time and energy to create each new combination. That is the opposite of leaving design space open. That is a system which makes you reinvent the wheel 12 x 11 times. (More, once you start adding new classes to the game.) A single set of rules which lets you immediately create any class combination is vastly more elegant. If one of my players wants to be a bard/monk, I don't have to do a thing. Subclasses may be thematic for cases when the character truly combines multiple disciplines into a single distinct career path, but they are not thematic at all for cases when a character changes careers. Conan began as a barbarian but spent years living as a thief. The Grey Mouser began as a wizard's apprentice but abandoned it to become a swashbuckler. Neither of character developments would be well modeled by combining the classes with a subclass and thus advancing simultaneously in both. Furthermore, using the subclass to multiclass crowds out the ability to take another subclass. I already hinted at this: Conan is a [I]thief[/I]. The Mouser is a [I]swashbuckler[/I]. Far from being thematic, subclassing would eliminate these themes from the character. Further still, subclasses are a one-and-done deal, preventing a character from changing careers again, which of course Conan did (and the Mouser likely picked up some fighter levels too). Chassis conflicts, too, are exacerbated by the subclass system. A fighter 1/wizard 1 may be somewhat different than a wizard 1/fighter 1, but the differences pale in comparison to those between an eldritch knight and a bladesinger. So those are my clear and specific reasons for disagreeing with almost everything you said. But I'm sure if you just keep repeating empty phrases like "messy complications" and "ugliness", I'll come around to your point of view eventually. [/QUOTE]
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