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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Set" data-source="post: 4439513" data-attributes="member: 41584">To take this another direction, a lot of people in the real world change career because they are 'done' with one particular segment of their life. They are 'done' with sports, or 'done' with their military service, or 'done' working on the farm, but they would retain skills and experiences that would make them, in game terms, 'multi-classed.' Others transition to a new role because their previous role no longer suits them. A Fighter might muster out after the Last War and be at odds, turning to the ways of the Rogue just to get by. Or he might be a grizzled veteran turned storytelling Bard, telling stirring tales of the Last War. Or he might have found that his progression in the military was stifled, but that the War Wizards got the best perks and private tents and turned his native intelligence to trying to master the arcane arts, so that he could be in one of those cushy tents in the back, and not sleeping with the grunts in the mud. Surrounded by death and carnage and the futility of war and seeing the last moments of far too many people, he may have 'found religion' and taken up the vows of a Cleric. Impressed by the trackers and scouts, with their own codes and the odd sort of respect they gained from the command staff, he might take up the ways of the Ranger. A street rat growing up on the street is a natural to pick up a level of Rogue to start, but when he makes good and joins the guard, or becomes an adventuring sell-sword, or pilfers a relic from a temple of the goddess of serenity, only to find that a series of incredible coincidences end up saving him from certain death, leading him to believe that the goddess, the same goddess whose temple he robbed, is now looking out for him and returns the relic and takes up the holy ways of the Cleric, or stumbles upon his latent heritage as a Sorcerer, he suddenly finds a new path opening up before him. A Wizard might 'drop out' after a particularly grueling apprenticeship, or after his master perishes unexpectedly and he's forced to 'make do,' or his tuition money for the Arcane Academy runs out when his family is arrested for failing to pay their taxes for the last ten years or so, and turn his skills to becoming a caravan guard or join the clergy of a magic-themed diety or even be forced to pay back some outstanding loans to the Thieves Guild by working as their 'pet spellcaster,' and picking up Rogue skills through his new association. Clerics have all sorts of reasons built in to multiclass. Clerics of the gods of war, honor, chivalry, etc. are natural multi-class Fighters, while Clerics of gods of trickery and shadows are likely thieves and Clerics of gods of magic are probably even encouraged to multiclass as Wizards. A Cleric of the magic goddess / Fighter may not be the most intuitive multiclass, but someone has to guard the temple, and she might have reasons for having stopped her study of the ways of war to become a priest, or having found her divine studies to have 'hit a wall' and be concentrating on her sword-work. A particular area (or even an entire setting) might also have a 'only so much room at the top' situation, like the 1st edition Monks and Druids, who might find themselves unable to advance for social reasons (someone's already got the Grand Druid / Grandmaster of Flowers job, and he ain't givin' it up anytime this century!).  If you're studying Necromancy, and you're a Red Wizard of Thay, you can pretty much kiss any chance of being Zulkir goodbye, and multiclassing begins to look like a way to continue growing your talents, without waiting for Szass Tam to kick the bucket, and, also importantly, without appearing to threaten his primacy and getting on his 'kill' list.</blockquote>

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