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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Viktyr Gehrig" data-source="post: 6020145" data-attributes="member: 9249">So, yeah. Anyone that knows me, knows that the multiclassing rules in Pathfinder are my personal pet peeve and that fixing them is my Great White Whale-- if I die before finding a way to make the Pathfinder multiclassing rules work, my broken spirit will wander the Earth tormenting the living until they accomplish what I could not.My main complaints are as follows:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> The Pathfinder multiclassing rules do not allow accurate translations of AD&D multiclass characters or allow for effective multiclass spellcasters outside of very narrowly supported Prestige Class builds.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> The Pathfinder multiclassing rules encourage dipping for 1-2 levels in many different classes, rather than developing in one or two core classes. (This is less of a problem than in 3.X, but still prevalent.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> The combination of these two complaints leads to the 'class system' not feeling much like a 'class system' at all, but rather like a skill-based building block system with arbitrary prerequisites.</li> </ul>The most obvious solution, as concerns replicating AD&D multiclassing, is to use some variant of the <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm" target="_blank">Gestalt</a> rules. I've tried multiple versions of this, and while I think they've been well balanced they've suffered from an even more fatal flaw-- they've been entirely too complicated.Thus, I've come up with a simpler version:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> You may advance in one or more classes simultaneously, per <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm" target="_blank">Gestalt</a>. When you gain a level, you do not select a new class; you automatically gain a level in each of the classes you currently possess.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Multiclass characters have a Level Adjustment based on the number and type of classes they possess.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Characters may change classes at any time. Their XP reverts to zero and their Level Adjustment is changed to reflect their new class. Characters gain 1st level class abilities in their new class when they've reached enough XP to reach level 1 with their new Level Adjustment.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Characters may stop advancing in a class at any time by changing classes and choosing not to advance in one or more old classes, but they lose one level of class features in the classes they have forsaken for each level they gain in their new classes.</li> </ul>Now, I mentioned a Level Adjustment for multi-classing. This is fairly simple. Each base class after the first is +2 LA, while each NPC or Prestige Class is +1 LA. (The former because they have no class features, and the latter because Prestige Classes largely overlap with base classes.) The exceptions to these are 'related classes' and 'racial favored classes', which are base classes that characters receive a discount on, either because of overlap with other similar classes or because their race has a predisposition to that class.For the racial favored classes, see the 3.X SRD. As a variant, characters may be allowed to select one Favored Class from a list specific to their race.For the related classes, each class within one of these groups is related to all of the other classes from that group:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All classes that cast Arcane spells.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cleric, Oracle, Inquisitor, Paladin.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Druid, Ranger. (Reclassified as Primal.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All classes that grant psionic powers, plus Monk, Aegis, and Soulknife.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ranger, Rogue, Inquisitor.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Barbarian, Rogue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fighter, Magus.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fighter, Paladin, Cavalier.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fighter, Rogue, Monk, Ninja.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fighter, Aegis, Soulknife.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Bard, Rogue.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Various Sorcerer bloodlines attach to different classes.</li> </ul>In addition, there are some rules for combining classes:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Characters may advance in overlapping archetypes for +1 LA per additional archetype. They gain all of the class features from both archetypes and may use the more favorable version of modified abilities.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spellcasters may add +1 Spell Known/level and +1 Spell per Day/level for +1 LA. Clerics and Inquisitors may select an additional Domain, Wizards may specialize in a second school, and so forth. This is included with selecting a secondary archetype.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Characters who advance in more than one class that grants the same type (arcane, divine, primal) of spellcasting combine their spellcasting progressions, gaining +1 Spell Known/level and +1 Spell per Day/level in the class with the greater progression and combining their class spell lists. (Needs rule for prepared/spontaneous.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionic characters combine progressions similarly, but I need to work the math out for it.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Class features that allow spellcasting in armor apply to all spells of the same kind, so multiclass Bards and Maguses gain the full benefit of their class features.</li> </ul>Critiques welcome.</blockquote>

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