D&D General Do We Really Need Multiclassing?

[MGibster]

One day, I will complete my time machine so I can go back and wreck the nerd who decided to segregate the various genres of speculative fiction.

It was probably a publisher. One of the nice thing about having genres is that it really helps you figure out how to market a product. Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, Under the Dome, and (as Bachman) The Running Man should be in the science fiction section but like his other work it's usually in horror.

They say that multiclassing is optional but then often make high-level progression in a dominant class less advantageous than taking those occasional multiclass dips.

To be fair, how many people continue to play in campaigns beyond levels 10-12?

your preaching to the choir. I love steampunk, victorian scif. I liked the original spell jammer. But when you try to give king arthur more modern gear, have psionics, or anything that feels like scifi with your fantasy IME most of the players at the table have some sort of mental disconnect and just can't or won't enjoy it.

Masters of the Universe is probably one of the few franchises I can remember from my youth that had a strong fantasy/science fiction vibe to it.

 

[Gradine]

I loved the idea of multi-classing using Feats in 4e, I just wish it was better implemented in that system (primarily due to the slavish adherence to The Math). I always wished that 5e leaned harder into that given how much more there is to the Feats in it.

 

[payn]

I loved the idea of multi-classing using Feats in 4e, I just wish it was better implemented in that system (primarily due to the slavish adherence to The Math). I always wished that 5e leaned harder into that given how much more there is to the Feats in it.

Have you checked out PF2? They pretty much took the idea and ran with it.

 

[Corinnguard]

Have you checked out PF2? They pretty much took the idea and ran with it.

I have. First you have to dedicate yourself to the class you want to multiclass into by picking up a dedication feat in place of a class feat. And then every time you gain a new class feat, you can pick up another multiclass feat. I had forgotten that this multiclass approach came from 4e though. What other ideas from 4e made it into 5e and PF2?

 

[payn]

I have. First you have to dedicate yourself to the class you want to multiclass into by picking up a dedication feat in place of a class feat. And then every time you gain a new class feat, you can pick up another multiclass feat. I had forgotten that this multiclass approach came from 4e though. What other ideas from 4e made it into 5e and PF2?

PF2 designed in a lot of encounter based abilities and powers. Something 5E toyed with, but is looking to move away from. There are a lot of plucks from 4E in PF2.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I loved the idea of multi-classing using Feats in 4e, I just wish it was better implemented in that system (primarily due to the slavish adherence to The Math). I always wished that 5e leaned harder into that given how much more there is to the Feats in it.

How do you mean, "slavish adherence," here?

 

[Gradine]

How do you mean, "slavish adherence," here?

I had to double-check "Did I actually say that?" Yikes, terrible phrasing on my part.

What I mean is that The Math of 4e meant that the moment you fell behind in your key stat you were toast, and any powers you pick through multi-classing using a less-than-maximized stat is near useless out the gate.

The Math made being less than optimal hurt a lot more than it did in other editions.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I had to double-check "Did I actually say that?" Yikes, terrible phrasing on my part.

What I mean is that The Math of 4e meant that the moment you fell behind in your key stat you were toast, and any powers you pick through multi-classing using a less-than-maximized stat is near useless out the gate.

The Math made being less than optimal hurt a lot more than it did in other editions.

Ah, yeah that's reasonable. Might have been worth making a "you must be a multi class character" feat that patched that.

Or, perhaps that could have been one of the big rewards for paragon MC, getting to use your best modifiers with MC powers. Because paragon MC was...pretty bad otherwise.

 

[Gradine]

Ah, yeah that's reasonable. Might have been worth making a "you must be a multi class character" feat that patched that.

Or, perhaps that could have been one of the big rewards for paragon MC, getting to use your best modifiers with MC powers. Because paragon MC was...pretty bad otherwise.

Yeah, I had a Taclord that Paragon/MC'ed with Wizard and whoo boy did my contributions to the party take a nosedive

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah, I had a Taclord that Paragon/MC'ed with Wizard and whoo boy did my contributions to the party take a nosedive

Ironically, one of strongest 4e characters was a Hybrid Wizard/Warlord, "The Professor", which I guess goes to show how much stronger that option was compared to Feat Multiclassing.