How common are multi or prestige classed PCs?

[NewJeffCT]

I read a lot through these message boards and see it seems like the majority of gamers on here have groups that are filled with numerous multi-classed and/or prestige classed PCs. And, some of these PCs have levels across several different classes.

Are there any groups out there where either multi-classed PCs are rare, or not used at all? And, the same with prestige classes.

The last campaign I was involved in went from level 1 to the mid 20s. We had a large group of 8 PCs. 5 of the group were straight, single classed PCs from level 1 all the way on up… 1 guy had a few PCs die, but was always the same class. We had one guy who started off as a fighter and then around level 12 found out a distant ancestor of his was some legendary ranger, and in honor of this legend, he took up the ranger class with the blessing of his goddess. He stayed with ranger the rest of the campaign.

And, we had another guy who was a rebellious child from a religious family. So, instead of entering the priesthood, he became a rogue. However, after the group had several harrowing battles against the undead, he “saw the light” of his family’s religious ways and became a paladin.

But, I guess our group is strange, as we had guys jumping to be rangers, and one of our few complaints with 3E was that some thought the ranger was OVERpowered.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

My players stick to a single class on average...though every so often they'll multiclass to try out combinations or get PrCs and such.

 

[HellHound]

About a 50/50 mix.

VERY few of my players actually AIM for a prestige class, but every now and then one reaches out and grabs them.

As for multiclassing, slightly under half the characters do it in our games, except my most recent one where everyone started out as rogues.

 

[thundershot]

The characters in the group I DM pretty much have their character's goals set, which ends up leading them to the prestige class or multiclass combo they need to fit the concept.

Except for Jesibelle.

She couldn't decide WHAT she wanted to be, so she tried everything, and ended up settling in, of all classes, Druid.

So she's an Aristocrat/1, Rogue/1, Sorcerer/1, Psion/1, Cleric/1, Fighter/1, Druid/3

Can do almost anything, but is good at nothing. Has the best saves in the party though... She's a fun character to have around, being the spoiled daughter of a rich noble.

I think she's going to prestige into a Shifter when the time comes, to reflect her pattern of change.



Chris

 

[Umbran]

My experience, considering my own games and the games of others I hear about, seems to match HellHound's. About half of all D&D characters I see are multiclassed. That's a broad average - it means some games will have many myulticlassed characters, other games few. All in all, it seems about right to me.

 

[Sleeping Dragon]

I've just started DMing a group of six PCs, and four of them intend to take a prestige class. None of them are multiclassed, and by what I've heard none intend to.

 

[Limper]

One single class out of eight charcaters

2 out of 8 do not have a prestige class... and that is going down to 0 and 0 pretty soon.

 

[apocalypstick]

Out of the six players in my current group (average characer level is 3), four of them are multi-classed and two of them have designed character builds to become Divine Champions of their deities (Tyr and Ilmater, respectively) before hitting L10.

I'm one of those two.

 

[Fenes 2]

One party has 4 Level 12 PCs, 3 of them single classed (1 Bard, 2 fighter), 1 is a paladin with a homebrew-PrC .

Another party has 4 Level 14 PCs, of which 1 is a single classed barbarian while the others have home-brew Prestige Classes (1 sorcerer, 2 fighter).

 

[Davelozzi]

short answer:
My experience matches Hellhound & Umbran's. About half of my players seem interested in multi-classing or picking up a PrC.

detailed answer:
In my current group of nine players (all 5th level so starting to think about PrCs), we have four single classes characters planning to stay that way, two that could go either way, two that are already multiclassed, and one that is definately aiming for a PrC. And the one is aiming for paladin, which is a prestige class in my campaign. He probably would've remained single classed if I had allowed paladin as a core class in my game.