D&D 4E Problem with 4e Multiclassing

[Aristeas]

All right, so let's say I'm playing a warlock, a single-target blaster with high Charisma who derives her power from extraplanar beings. But she's not as selfish as the average warlock- her ultimate aspiration is to found her own House and start a dynasty, and to do that she needs to make a name for herself and get people following her. In other words, she has a splash of Leader ability, for all that her primary combat style is blowing things up from the back rank.

The logical way to do this would be a dip-multiclass into Warlord. But that...requires Strength 13, because it's a martial class, and every inspiration-related power we've seen has required you to bang on things with a weapon, which is not exactly the flavor of the character. Likewise, she's not a cleric- no gods are involved. I could ask the DM to let me reflavor the class, but even then, she'd need a high Wisdom to use any of their powers, which is certainly not appropriate for a stary-eyed kid with delusions of grandeur.

Possibly the unreleased rules will fix that, but I kind of doubt it. The way it seems to be going is that all martial classes use strength and a weapon for every action, and clerics use wisdom for every action. So if you're really charismatic but not strong or wise, forget it. I dunno, maybe they'll eventually release an arcane Leader. Obviously I could just go single class and roleplay like a warlord, but I thought the whole point of the new system was to make combinations feasible.


What would you all do about this in your games?

 

[keterys]

Either
A) Have appropriate stats to dip into other classes
B) Use a different class

Bard, for instance, might be a viable arcane leader that uses charisma.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I dunno, maybe they'll eventually release an arcane Leader.

It's a shame that arcane Leaders were bard from the PHB.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

But she's not as selfish as the average warlock- her ultimate aspiration is to found her own House and start a dynasty, and to do that she needs to make a name for herself and get people following her.

For one thing, we don't yet know whether there is a leadership style feat for this kind of thing.

On the other hand, your class mostly represents combat mechanics. What you describe is story-related. I wouldn't require multiclassing in order to build a Dynasty, but I would require the player to take the right steps in game (acquire and invest funds appropriately, attract apprentices and followers of sorts, etc.). Whether one is a warlord or cleric wouldn't make a difference in my book.

 

[Victim]

Why do you need Leader powers to make a name for yourself? That seems more a function of social skills and such.

However, Warlords might have Utility powers that are useful to characters that don't bang on people with weapons. You'd still need 13 STR for the initial multiclass feat though.

 

[Protagonist]

It's a shame that arcane Leaders were bard from the PHB.

*groans* good one, though!

 

[functionciccio]

Well... I think that the mechanics reflect the difficulty to mix two classes that are quite different even on a conceptual point of view. But as others have said, wait until the bard comes out or work with your DM to "bend" the warlord or the cleric toward your needs.

Cheers.

 

[doctorhook]

It's a shame that arcane Leaders were bard from the PHB.

Yuck, terrible...

 

[beholdsa]

This is an inherent problem with any class/level based character design system. It's one sacred cow I wish they had done away with in 4e.

 

[Mr Jack]

I don't know why they have the stat limits on multiclassing. It seems arbitary and, well, dim. Especially as there's such a poor spread of required stats on them.

Anyone got any inkling why they went that route?