"Your Class is Not Your Character": Is this a real problem?

[Phazonfish]

Honestly I've seen the opposite problem. Whenever the topic of multiclassing comes up around here, I see a lot of "I allow multiclassing, but only if they have a story reason to." Why? If I'm a paladin, and I wanna take levels in Warlock, why can't I just take the mechanical benefits of the Warlock class, but in-story attribute the new powers to where ever my Paladin powers come from?

 

[ad_hoc]

Honestly I've seen the opposite problem. Whenever the topic of multiclassing comes up around here, I see a lot of "I allow multiclassing, but only if they have a story reason to." Why? If I'm a paladin, and I wanna take levels in Warlock, why can't I just take the mechanical benefits of the Warlock class, but in-story attribute the new powers to where ever my Paladin powers come from?

If the game is just a bunch of mechanical effects then it loses what makes it special.

I don't want to play such a game.

I am very glad that multiclassing is an optional rule. I will never use it.

 

[tommybahama]

why can't I just take the mechanical benefits of the Warlock class, but in-story attribute the new powers to where ever my Paladin powers come from?

But that is a consistent story and a good explanation of your new powers and abilities. It's more of a problem if you say you are Paladin of Torm but then make a pact with a devil for supernatural powers.

 

[Phazonfish]

If the game is just a bunch of mechanical effects then it loses what makes it special.

I don't want to play such a game.

I am very glad that multiclassing is an optional rule. I will never use it.

Who said anything about the game just being mechanical effects? What I want is to write my character in whatever way makes the best story, as opposed being presented the dilemma of "Take an entirely unnecessary mechanical penalty or insert contrivances into your story so that you fit the stereotype your new class is supposed to."

 

[jmartkdr2]

I've only seen it as a problem when someone else (especially the dm) enforces it on a player, rather than the player enforcing it on themselves.

If you're playing a paladin and want to play him as a big blue boy scout, that's fine. If you want to play him as an old soldier who knows the little things don't always matter but your dm punishes you for playing that way because paladins must be lawful stupid, that's bad.

It's also something I haven't seen in the wild since 3rd edition.

 

[ad_hoc]

Who said anything about the game just being mechanical effects? What I want is to write my character in whatever way makes the best story, as opposed being presented the dilemma of "Take an entirely unnecessary mechanical penalty or insert contrivances into your story so that you fit the stereotype your class is supposed to."

Why even have races or classes? Why have any abilities tied to anything?

Let's just have a bunch of powers to pick and choose from and then write stories from there.

There are games that actually do that.

D&D is a class based game. Throwing out the strengths of a classed base game while playing it is rather silly.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I've mostly seen the opposite problem, with players choosing a class for mechanical reasons, and then jumping through hurdles to justify why they can get away with not acting like the class that they chose.

Classes exist for many reasons. One of them is to tell us more about how the world works, by invoking shared lore. If a paladin isn't even really a paladin, then the class fails at upholding that purpose.

 

[Phazonfish]

Why even have races or classes? Why have any abilities tied to anything?

Let's just have a bunch of powers to pick and choose from and then write stories from there.

There are games that actually do that.

D&D is a class based game. Throwing out the strengths of a classed base game while playing it is rather silly.

I would totally allow my players to refluff races/classes as each other if it helps them make the character concept they want to make. You tout the strengths of a class based game, but don't list any; I wish you would have, as none are apparent to me.

Classes exist for many reasons. One of them is to tell us more about how the world works, by invoking shared lore. If a paladin isn't even really a paladin, then the class fails at upholding that purpose.

I disagree. The lore tells us what Paladins are usually like, we don't need the PC's as an example to know how the world works.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I disagree. The lore tells us what Paladins are usually like, we don't need the PC's as an example to know how the world works.

I strongly disagree. If PCs don't reflect the setting at large, then you aren't really playing in that setting.

If I tell you that I'm playing a Paladin, and that doesn't tell you anything about who my character is or how they act, then you've just squandered the rich history of fantasy tropes. We might as well be playing a sci fi game, at that point.

 

[Panda-s1]

I strongly disagree. If PCs don't reflect the setting at large, then you aren't really playing in that setting.

If I tell you that I'm playing a Paladin, and that doesn't tell you anything about who my character is or how they act, then you've just squandered the rich history of fantasy tropes. We might as well be playing a sci fi game, at that point.

uh, considering your avatar I find that just a little ironic for you to say.

I agree that class does inform abilities and possibly behavior of your character, but I don't see how that means you need to pigeonhole yourself either. especially in this day and age where class based rpg's are no longer the norm, and mutliclassing and archetypes are part of 5e. and really if paladins always acted in line we wouldn't have blackguards.