Class Skills and Regression

[Shalewind]

Apologies if this one has been hit before.

I've always had the question of what a class skill really is, and wheter or not you get them permenently.

For instance, if you are a fighter, do you always have Jump even if you multiclass to a druid?

Or. Do you treat skills as class skills only when leveling in a class. For instance, a fighter 3/druid 3 when leveling up again as a fighter would not be able to take any ranks in Animal Empathy, but he would be able to raise his ranks in Jump to a 7, instead of a 3.5 if he picked another level in druid.

On another note: Skill points do not regress, right?

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Apologies if this one has been hit before.

I've always had the question of what a class skill really is, and wheter or not you get them permenently.

For instance, if you are a fighter, do you always have Jump even if you multiclass to a druid?

Yes, you do. If it is on your class skill list for any of your classes, it is a class skill for you.

Or. Do you treat skills as class skills only when leveling in a class. For instance, a fighter 3/druid 3 when leveling up again as a fighter would not be able to take any ranks in Animal Empathy, but he would be able to raise his ranks in Jump to a 7, instead of a 3.5 if he picked another level in druid.

For purposes of max ranks, both your druid and fighter skills use character level + 3, except for any exclusive skills, which are class level + 3. So the Animal Empathy skill has a max ranks of 6, but the Jump skill has a max ranks of 9, for a Druid3/Fighter3.

When you gain a level, you purchase skills according to the class in which you gained the level. If you level up as a fighter (druid3/fighter4), then the fighter class skills are 1:1, and the rest are 2:1. And you could not spend any points on druid exclusive skills, like Animal Empathy.

On another note: Skill points do not regress, right?

Right.

 

[Henrix]

The maximum skill ranks you can have are always treated as if the skill was a class skill if the character has at least one level of a class that has it.

But you always pay the cost according to the class you go up in level as.

This means that a Ftr3/Drd3 taking a level of druid cannot take Animal Empathy, as it is an exclusive skill, but he could raise his Jump to 10 ranks (level+3).

If the same Ftr3/Drd3 elected to take a level of druid instead, he could raise his Animal Empathy to 10. He could even raise his Jump to 10, but would have to pay two points for each rank.

 

[Shalewind]

Alrighty. I have a contradiction!

For purposes of max ranks, both your druid and fighter skills use character level + 3, except for any exclusive skills, which are class level + 3.

---OR---

If the same Ftr3/Drd3 elected to take a level of druid instead, he could raise his Animal Empathy to 10. He could even raise his Jump to 10, but would have to pay two points for each rank.

Question 1: Are Class Skills always at Character Level +3?

Question 1a: Class skills are permenent once gotten, right?

Question 2: Are Exclusive Skills

a) Level of Highest Exclusive Giving Class +3?

b) Character Level +3?

c) Sum of Exclusive Giving Classes Levels +3?

Does any one have page and verse?

Edit: Side Note: This might make a BIG difference to those epic spell casters that are both multiclassed and uping their spellcraft score....?

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Henrix is exactly right, although more careful editing would make his examples more clear.

The character is built level by level, buying skills at each new level as the class taken. The max ranks is determined by character level +3.

Exclusive skills are different.

It is all spelled out in the PHB section on multiclassing. Not an easy read, but clear enough the third time through.

 

[dcollins]

As other posters have said:

For the purpose of maximum ranks, a skill is in-class if any of the character's classes provides it (unless prohibited).

For the purpose of how many points a rank costs, a skill is in-class if the last level taken provides it.

The rule is on PH p. 56, under "Skills" (first two paragraphs, complete with example).