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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7487435" data-attributes="member: 6775031">I can't speak for anyone else on the matter, but my argument against multi-classing is based on its own merits, rather than historical precedent. The degree to which I dislike the mechanic is not respective of how long it's been around, or in which editions. It has been around for quite a while, though, especially if you consider the Elf class to be a multi-class Fighter/Wizard.That's much more straight-forward. Gygax wanted to promote humans as being the best and most important characters, so he created rules where only a human could keep adventuring forever to gain unlimited power. Multi-classing existed for non-humans as a means of off-setting their inherent level restrictions, so that you didn't have to retire your half-orc thief after they reached level 4.I'm not saying that the rules were elegant, or made any sense within the world, but it's easy to understand why they existed as they did. Most weirdness from early editions can be attributed to the designers being pioneers within the field, and thus having no idea what they were doing.*But also, the priests of a god of magic were actually just wizards, and the priest of a nature god was just a druid. The default pantheons (probably until later in 2E) were still very human-centric, and humans couldn't be multi-class wizard/priests. (And nobody but a human or half-elf could be a druid.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7487435, member: 6775031"] I can't speak for anyone else on the matter, but my argument against multi-classing is based on its own merits, rather than historical precedent. The degree to which I dislike the mechanic is not respective of how long it's been around, or in which editions. It has been around for quite a while, though, especially if you consider the Elf class to be a multi-class Fighter/Wizard. That's much more straight-forward. Gygax wanted to promote humans as being the best and most important characters, so he created rules where only a human could keep adventuring forever to gain unlimited power. Multi-classing existed for non-humans as a means of off-setting their inherent level restrictions, so that you didn't have to retire your half-orc thief after they reached level 4. I'm not saying that the rules were elegant, or made any sense within the world, but it's easy to understand why they existed as they did. Most weirdness from early editions can be attributed to the designers being pioneers within the field, and thus having no idea what they were doing. *But also, the priests of a god of magic were actually just wizards, and the priest of a nature god was just a druid. The default pantheons (probably until later in 2E) were still very human-centric, and humans couldn't be multi-class wizard/priests. (And nobody but a human or half-elf could be a druid.) [/QUOTE]

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