Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Does 3E/3.5 dictate a certain style of play?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Storm Raven" data-source="post: 3268346" data-attributes="member: 307"><p>Perhaps, but, on the other hand, when I was playing AD&D, I moved several times and played with literally dozens of groups. The enhanced effectiveness of multiclassed characters was constant throughout every group.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Ultimately, but then again, most campaigns never got to the point where things that were "ultimately" true actually mattered. You might also note that in 1e, fighter/magic-users were not prevented from wearing armor, so your argument there seems to fall apart. And if that were a problem, think of the class not as a fighter with magic-user tacked on, but as a magic-user with fighter tacked on. Compared to a 6th level magic-user, a 5th/5th level fighter/magic-user gains much, and gives up almost nothing.</p><p></p><p>The fact that multiclassed character had to divide their experience equally between two classes was not really a hindrance. The nature of the 1e experience point tables meant that they lagged one level behind (or two levels behind for a triple classed character) the single classed characters. But they added all the abilities of a second class one level below that of the single classed character (and sometimes not even that, at several experience point totals, the single classed character would be matched in level by the multiclasser, entirely eliminating the single classers purported advantage).</p><p></p><p>Given your notes concerning the limitations you think multiclassed characters labored under, I think you are remembering limitations imposed upon them in 2e, many of which appear to have been a direct outgrowth of the abuses they were prone to in 1e. 2e, however, had its own powergaming problems.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They ameliorate it almost not at all. In 1e, especially as played by Gygax and company, it was not uncommon for characters of widely differing levels to adventure together to begin with. The cohesive party of the modern era was not yet developed, and instead parties of dungeon delvers would assemble and set out together, so it was not uncommon for a 5th level character to adventure with some 9th level guys and so on. Further, even if that is not the case, the level ramp up is so fast, that it would take almost no time to bump up to repsetable level in your second class. For a 9th level character, accumulating 2,000 experience points was almost trivial. A fight or two and the resulting plunder probably. That makes you 2nd level. Then third comes quickly too, and before a single night of gaming is done, you probably accumulate enough experience points to beef up to 5th level or so. At that point, solely relying on your new classes abilities for the next couple of weeks or months of gaming is not much of a sacrifice at all.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Storm Raven, post: 3268346, member: 307"] Perhaps, but, on the other hand, when I was playing AD&D, I moved several times and played with literally dozens of groups. The enhanced effectiveness of multiclassed characters was constant throughout every group. Ultimately, but then again, most campaigns never got to the point where things that were "ultimately" true actually mattered. You might also note that in 1e, fighter/magic-users were not prevented from wearing armor, so your argument there seems to fall apart. And if that were a problem, think of the class not as a fighter with magic-user tacked on, but as a magic-user with fighter tacked on. Compared to a 6th level magic-user, a 5th/5th level fighter/magic-user gains much, and gives up almost nothing. The fact that multiclassed character had to divide their experience equally between two classes was not really a hindrance. The nature of the 1e experience point tables meant that they lagged one level behind (or two levels behind for a triple classed character) the single classed characters. But they added all the abilities of a second class one level below that of the single classed character (and sometimes not even that, at several experience point totals, the single classed character would be matched in level by the multiclasser, entirely eliminating the single classers purported advantage). Given your notes concerning the limitations you think multiclassed characters labored under, I think you are remembering limitations imposed upon them in 2e, many of which appear to have been a direct outgrowth of the abuses they were prone to in 1e. 2e, however, had its own powergaming problems. They ameliorate it almost not at all. In 1e, especially as played by Gygax and company, it was not uncommon for characters of widely differing levels to adventure together to begin with. The cohesive party of the modern era was not yet developed, and instead parties of dungeon delvers would assemble and set out together, so it was not uncommon for a 5th level character to adventure with some 9th level guys and so on. Further, even if that is not the case, the level ramp up is so fast, that it would take almost no time to bump up to repsetable level in your second class. For a 9th level character, accumulating 2,000 experience points was almost trivial. A fight or two and the resulting plunder probably. That makes you 2nd level. Then third comes quickly too, and before a single night of gaming is done, you probably accumulate enough experience points to beef up to 5th level or so. At that point, solely relying on your new classes abilities for the next couple of weeks or months of gaming is not much of a sacrifice at all. I agree here. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Does 3E/3.5 dictate a certain style of play?
Top