Fun with Multiclassing

[pawsplay]

Obviously, there is a lack of firm data here; I have no idea what this would really look like. But some class + combinations, for fun.

Gandalf: Wizard, Pact Initiate
Aragorn: Ranger, Soldier of the Faith
Robin Hood: Ranger, Student of Battle
Elric: Fighter, Pact Initiate, Novice, Acolyte, and Adept
Drizzt: Ranger, Sneak of Shadows
Paksenarrion: Paladin, Student of the Sword (eventually retrains this)
Arthur: Warlord, Soldier of the Faith
Grey Mouser: Rogue, Pact Initiate
Fafhrd: Rogue, Student of the Sword
Conan: Fighter, Sneak of Shadows

 

[UngeheuerLich]

its gandalf: Fighter, Arcane initiate...

 

[Mort]

Conan: Fighter, Sneak of Shadows

Guess you're working with what we have since Barbarian won't be out until the next book.

Conan is actually one of those characters that works perfectly with the 3.5 system because he was a barbarian 1st then received formal millitary (fighter) training and supplemented his income as a rogue - showing full use of a good rogue skill set in the various stories. Guess we'll have to see if 4e can approach this kind of flexibility (though as often noted, the 3e/3.5e system worked great as long as spellcasting classes were not included and this is one of those cases).

 

[Jim DelRosso]

Neat.

Though I'm seeing Mouser as rogue (Arcane Initiate) and Fafhrd as fighter (Sneak of Shadows or Warrior of the Wild).

 

[Rechan]

Guess you're working with what we have since Barbarian won't be out until the next book.

Conan is actually one of those characters that works perfectly with the 3.5 system because he was a barbarian 1st then received formal millitary (fighter) training and supplemented his income as a rogue - showing full use of a good rogue skill set in the various stories. Guess we'll have to see if 4e can approach this kind of flexibility (though as often noted, the 3e/3.5e system worked great as long as spellcasting classes were not included and this is one of those cases).

Might also work for retraining in 4e.

 

[pawsplay]

Guess you're working with what we have since Barbarian won't be out until the next book.

Actually, Conan will probably not work ideally as a 4e Barbarian unless they change some of their initial design work.

He worked great under 3e; someone's book-by-book statting of Conan was one of the things that led me to buy 3rd edition.

 

[JohnSnow]

Neat.

Though I'm seeing Mouser as rogue (Arcane Initiate) and Fafhrd as fighter (Sneak of Shadows or Warrior of the Wild).

Agree with you on Mouser. As a matter of fact, he's the quintessential rogue with Arcane Initiate. Of course, he's also spent feats to become proficient with the rapier and learn to fight with two weapons. Personally, I believe Fafhrd works best as a fighter with Warrior of the Wild to represent his survival training and his skill with the bow. He's clearly also trained in Stealth (and maybe thievery as well). On the other hand, I could make a pretty good case for him as a ranger with the toughness feat and either Student of the Sword or Student of Battle...

Interestingly, assuming the general feats are broad enough, it seems to me that most of the "multiclass" characters from fiction can be modeled perfectly well without even touching on the multiclass feats. Conan, for example:

Ranger (or fighter) with Toughness, cross training in the other class, and trained in the classic "rogue" skills, like Thievery, Stealth, Streetwise, and so forth.

 

[Rechan]

Fun Multi-classing time!

I think there's some definite benefit for multi-classing within your role. This is a good illustration: Warlock with some rogue:

stealth eyebite sneak attack misty step feystep curse backstabber feat more then likely a way to make eldrich blast usable for sneak attack sounds like a very good assassin to me.

I could see the same trick via Warlock or Rogue tapped with ranger: you slap Hunter's Quarry onto someone you've all ready cursed, or have combat advantage over, and mm, more damage dice.

Just as juicy, the Fighter with a paladin's Divine Challenge; A normal a paladin can only use the divine challenge on one enemy at a time, so a 1/encounter Divine Challenge isn't too bad. A fighter has his regular marks, but the Divine Challenge is a little extra whammy.

 

[pawsplay]

Neat.

Though I'm seeing Mouser as rogue (Arcane Initiate) and Fafhrd as fighter (Sneak of Shadows or Warrior of the Wild).

I went with Pact Initiate because I remember him calling up spirits of ill will, and most of the magic he does is in the nature of subtle curses or illusion. It could go the other way once we see the complete power lists. Granted, wizards in D&D in general have less connection to spirits than in many works of fiction, but I was trying to capture the flavor of his magical knowledge.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Shea Ohmsford - commoner
Flick Ohmsford - commoner
Menion Leah - ranger
Allanon - Fey-Pact Warlock
Balinor Buckhannah - Fighter
Hendel - Fighter
Panamon Creel - Rogue, m/c with Fighter
Brona a.k.a. the Warlock Lord - Warlock (obviously), with Wraith Template


Vanyel Ashkevron - Gestalt Wizard-Psionicist m/c with Paladin, Gestalt Herald Lord of Valdemar-High Adept of the Tayledras Paragon Paths, Eternal Guardian Epic Destiny (For those who haven't read the books, yes it's as munchkin and broken as it sounds, but there actually was a good thematic reason why, he paid the price for it, and 31st Level Immortal Wizard that was his enemy still gave him a run for his money).


Pug - Wizard (Archmage Epic Destiny)
Tomas - Fighter (Valeheru Template; Dragon Highlord Epic Destiny)
Martin - Ranger
Arutha - Rogue m/c Warlord (Rogue because of the fighting style, not Thievery)
Jimmy the Hand - Rogue
Kulgan - Wizard

 

[PrecociousApprentice]

I see a lot of the Wheel of Time characters using retraining rules in 4e. I think that Matt and Rand probably both start as rangers. Very soon Rand and Matt retrain as a rogues. Within a few books Matt has picked up Student of Battle and Rand has picked up Pact Initiate with the Dead Hero pact (Lews Therin). As time went on both retrained again, Matt to Warlord with Sneak of Shadows, and Rand to Warlock with Student of the Sword. Further retrainings would allow both to modify the mixture of their classes to suit what was going on in the stories. That is the wonderful thing about WoT, you get to see so much growth and change in the characters, and this easily justifies the retraining.

Now both of these characters would have a highly modified Action Surge feat to represent being Taveren, and since WoT neglects race almost entirely, maybe there are some options of templates or subraces of humans to pick from. These could be like Old Blood, Aile, Cairienin, or whatever.

Perrin is obviously a Paladin of Loyalty (Wheel of Time paladin powers are really subtle ) that has taken the Student of Battle feat, and he obviously has the modified Action Surge for Taveren and probably has the Old Blood race with the Brother to Wolves racial feats.

 

[Seule]

Guess you're working with what we have since Barbarian won't be out until the next book.

Barbarian isn't a class, it's a culture and a fighting style. The fighting style is covered by fighter, the skills are covered by ranger.
I'd like to see barbarian covered as a third build for ranger, focussing on two-handed weapons.
Really, that's all a barbarian is, in combat style: a striker with two-handed weapon, and some wilderness skills. The Rage thing is a class feature that doesn't actually factor into what you do, because it doesn't change your tactics much at all, it just makes you better at what you are doing anyway.

The 3.0 and 3.5 barbarian is simply a 1 or 2 level dip for thumpy fighters. It's only popular because it's broken.

--Penn

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

Sorry but I can't really see Elric as a fighter with a few wizard abilities. He's arguably the best wizard (or sorcerer if you prefer) in the whole world. If he isn't a wizard then neither is anyone else in his world.

 

[Seule]

Define 'Wizard' in Elric's world? It doesn't seem to include much on-the-fly spellcasting at all.
Sure he can be the greatest at rituals there has ever been, but presumably that can be accomplished with skills and feats. He doesn't do combat magic, therefore he isn't a wizard. He might not even have any wizard features other than rituals.

Edit: Yes, this means that there might not be anyone classed as a wizard or sorcerer.

--Penn

 

[Atlatl Jones]

its gandalf: Fighter, Arcane initiate...

Heh. Considering that Gandalf's primary role seems to be inspiring others to action, and leading others in melee combat, I'd say he's a Warlord with Arcane Initiate.

His custom designed epic destiny is, of course, Gandalf the White.

 

[Mort]

Barbarian isn't a class, it's a culture and a fighting style. The fighting style is covered by fighter, the skills are covered by ranger. I'd like to see barbarian covered as a third build for ranger, focussing on two-handed weapons.
Really, that's all a barbarian is, in combat style: a striker with two-handed weapon, and some wilderness skills. The Rage thing is a class feature that doesn't actually factor into what you do, because it doesn't change your tactics much at all, it just makes you better at what you are doing anyway.

The 3.0 and 3.5 barbarian is simply a 1 or 2 level dip for thumpy fighters. It's only popular because it's broken.

--Penn

Barbarian certainly doesn't have to be a class - but it can be - with a very different feel than the fighter or ranger. This seems to be what 4e will be going for - especially with the introduction (rumored) of a primal power source. I haven't read the development article - but if this is the way they are going I don't see how it's not like Howard's writing. In the stories Conan is very in touch with nature and at core kind of a controlled wild beast.

That's my hope anyway. Barbarian in 3e/3.5 seemed to just be there to be there (kind of like the paladin really). Hopefully 4e will make it a distinct, viable, balanced class yet capture the essence of a warrior that's in touch with nature (not just one who uses or understands nature like the ranger but one that nature is almost a part of). Note that does not mean berserker in any - hope they dump that part or at least make it only an option.

 

[Jhaelen]

Sorry but I can't really see Elric as a fighter with a few wizard abilities. He's arguably the best wizard (or sorcerer if you prefer) in the whole world. If he isn't a wizard then neither is anyone else in his world.

Exactly! It's been a long time since I read the novels but I cannot remember him ever casting a spell directly. I only remember him summoning entities to do his bidding. So I'd call him a summoner, binder or maybe a theurgist. From what I've seen about them, none of the PHB1 classes seems to be a good fit.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Heh. Considering that Gandalf's primary role seems to be inspiring others to action, and leading others in melee combat, I'd say he's a Warlord with Arcane Initiate.

His custom designed epic destiny is, of course, Gandalf the White.

agreed

 

[Witchfinder General]

Actually, Conan will probably not work ideally as a 4e Barbarian unless they change some of their initial design work.

He worked great under 3e; someone's book-by-book statting of Conan was one of the things that led me to buy 3rd edition.

This one? http://www.enworld.org/Inzeladun/conan.htm

 

[Cirex]

This one? http://www.enworld.org/Inzeladun/conan.htm

Hmm. 10th level by the time he's with Belit. I always pictured him as being a bit lower, while Belit being a rogue.