Who's better at Multi-classing?

[breschau]

According to sources the half-elf is the multi-classing giant. But from what we know already, they only get a free MC feat that grants a replacement at-will power. Big deal. The human gets a free feat (pick MC) and an extra at-will slot so he can add his MC at-will power to his arsenal rather than replace one of his main class powers with the MC power. Just from that the human will dominate the MC scene.

Any discussion should focus on what we do know now rather than "we don't have the books, it'll change".

 

[Cadfan]

The half elf doesn't replace an at will power with an at will power from a different class. He gains an at will power from a different class as a per encounter ability. This means that he can stack his half elf racial features with regular multiclassing.

You're thinking of paragon path multiclassing, which includes, amongst other things, that "replace an at will with a different class' at will" feature.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

A playtester posted some information about the half elf's multiclassing here

Half-elves WERE the multi-classing race in the playtest. They were AWESOME. Apparently too awesome as they don't resemble their playtest stats at all. Initially they got a free multiclassing feat at character creation and could multi-class in more than one class if they wanted. Of course, that was also with the original multiclass rules, which arguably were pretty different. Now they're not so hot. They do get a free encounter power (chosen from the at will powers of any class) and get a cool ability to take the feats of both elves and humans (both of which rock - so this is pretty cool.) But there is nothing to them that I can see that make them multiclass focused at all anymore.

They're a spiffy race, but will most likely see play with heavy RPers or minmaxers building CHA heavy classes.

 

[Stogoe]

But there is nothing to them that I can see that make them multiclass focused at all anymore.

To this I can only ask: What about "free encounter power from any class" doesn't seem mulitclassy?

 

[bert1000]

Hmm, not sure about multiclass wonders but they do seem gimped again.

+ 2 con, +2 cha (ok, same as others)
+2 dip, +2 insight (same as other races)

at will as an encounter (decent)
group diplomacy (weak)
can take feats of either human, elf, half-elf (this one could be ok, but maybe should give you an extra feat to take advantage of this at level 1?)

So, I get options for feats and an extra encounter power that may add some versatility but prob isn't adding any raw power. Hmm. Compare this to the Dwarf and Eldrain.

Hmm.

 

[Terramotus]

Depending on how everything shakes out after the books come out, I may end up giving them back the free multiclassing feat. They look weak at first glance compared to the other races. It doesn't seem particularly unbalanced compared to either the elves or humans.

Looking at things from a player's perspective, having played Keep of the Shadowfell and combed all of the sources available for what we know of the rules, that looks like it would be what it would take to make me want to play the race for the mechanics. The potential downsides are that the multiclassing feats may be too powerful, and it may discourage multiclassing amonst other races. We'll see.

 

[Teydyn]

Eldrain

Rouge.





Its E L A D R I N...

 

[rhm001]

Double-post. Deleted.

 

[rhm001]

Big deal. The human gets a free feat (pick MC) and an extra at-will slot so he can add his MC at-will power to his arsenal rather than replace one of his main class powers with the MC power. Just from that the human will dominate the MC scene.

Um, no. Mouseferatu, who did playtesting and has had the rules for contract work, stated in another thread that the RAW only allow the human to take the at will from the base class, rather than the subject of the multiclass feat.

Getting dangerously close to the conjecture the OP asked us to avoid, the text we've seen appears to say that the multiclass feat counts you as the class SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of Paragon paths, rather than for anything else.

 

[Gargoyle]

The human's extra at will power is "from your class".

"A character with a multiclass feat counts as a member of that class for the purpose of meeting prerequisites for taking other feats and qualifying for paragon paths."

So it seems to me that a human fighter could take the Sneak of Shadows feat which gives him the ability to take rogue feats, to be trained in theivery, and to get sneak attack. But it does not allow him to take powers from the rogue class.

edit: and the paragon power swap feats don't seem to allow you to swap powers gained from race, just from class.

Quoting from the PHB, got it this morning.

But I think humans still make the best multiclassers because of the extra feat.