Excerpt: Multiclassing (merged)

[hong]

As soon as he mentioned swapping powers he lost me. Don't you think this overcomplicates the process? Esp. when creating characters starting at higher levels?

This SIMPLIFIES the process. Say you're creating a 10th level character. Just take the feat, and pick the best 10th level power you can get. No need to worry about what level you got the feat at.

 

[BarkingDeathSquirrel]

Hrm... I'm mostly fine with this approach, but I would have rather had the feat break up be kinda like this:

Inital Multiclassing Feat - As it is currently
Powers Multiclassing Feat - Can take/swap out 1 each of encounter, daily, and utility powers.
Final Multiclassing Feat - Gain a At-Will power from class in question.

I also wish they would have put in the paragon multiclassing option in the article.

 

[Crosswind]

This is glorious. Since I severely doubt that Wizards can balance all the powers at a given level to be comparably good, if feats are common and not great, I think we'll see a decent amount of dabbling.

I would, however, suspect that the +1 to attack for Fighter is 1/encounter. And that the skill training adds the skills to the list of things that you CAN be trained in. Not the list of things that you are trained in. This is simply based on the assumption that there is a Weapon Focus (+1 to attack with a weapon) and a Skill Training feat.

-Cross

 

[el-remmen]

This SIMPLIFIES the process. Say you're creating a 10th level character. Just take the feat, and pick the best 10th level power you can get. No need to worry about what level you got the feat at.

Maybe I haven't been following how all this Power stuff works closely enough, but I was thinking of from my own point of view of how I create PCs/NPCs which tends to be organic (how did this person get to be how they are?)

But my initial response to your suggestion was, what if I don't want to give them a 10th level power? What if another fits the idea of the character better?

 

[nerfherder]

Mearls said it right in the article: This approach lacks the intuitive elegance of the 3e system.

That raised a huge danger flag for me, too.

As soon as he mentioned swapping powers he lost me. Don't you think this overcomplicates the process? Esp. when creating characters starting at higher levels?

I think (hope!) that when we read the full PHB explanation, it will be clearer.

It sounds reasonably straightforward - if you have one of the multiclass feats, then you pick one of that class's powers instead of a main class power. I imagine it like a point-based system where the structure is hidden and constrained by archetypal classes, but some flexibility is reintroduced by allowing you to make limited power swaps.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Healing and Inspiring word are of course, good for anyone. Wizard training is useful, of course, since it allows someone to take a minion-clearance spell or two without anyone in the party saddling himself with the class-role just so the party has a controller.

I think the wizard training is a bit unclear - since it allows a power to be used 1/encounter that seems to imply that it follows the other examples and allows an at-will power to be used 1/encounter - and the minion clearance spells tend to be per-encounter or higher rather than at-will.

(c.f. the pregen warlock which gets the wizard 'at will' ray of frost as a 'per encounter' power).

It is only with the addition of other feats as you reach higher level that you are able to get the minion-clearing spells.

That's how I read it at the moment, anyhow.

Cheers

 

[hong]

Maybe I haven't been following how all this Power stuff works closely enough, but I was thinking of from my own point of view of how I create PCs/NPCs which tends to be organic (how did this person get to be how they are?)

But my initial response to your suggestion was, what if I don't want to give them a 10th level power? What if another fits the idea of the character better?

Then just pick the one you want. The point is, you don't have to worry about what level you got the feat at.

 

[Protagonist]

But my initial response to your suggestion was, what if I don't want to give them a 10th level power? What if another fits the idea of the character better?

then you give him a power with level 1<n<10 ? It's not like they are not explicitly telling you that you can choose any power up to your allowed maximum.

 

[el-remmen]

Eh, well. . . regardless that is academic as the scope of the new classing dabbling that will pass for multi-classing is anything but satisfying.

 

[hong]

I foresee lots of custom classes.