Multi-class experience

[Quintegamer]

Experience for multi-class characters - can be a bit of an issue. Mainly when a character is a thief/anything. You can end up with a thief 6/mage 2 for example. To combat this, our group has adopted a new experience guideline for all multi-class characters.

We add both experience requirements together, multiply by .6 and use the result as the needed experience. For example, a fighter needs 2000xp for 2nd level, a mage needs 2500. Together this is 4500xp times .6 = 2700xp. A little higher than the more expensive class, but not out of reach. This way, they advance a little slower than single-class characters but not so much that they can't handle the same adventures as the rest of the party.

The only discrepancy we've found is with thief combinations (or higher level druids) they tend to bring the total down. For these characters we simply add an additional 10% (ie multiply by .7 instead of .6) and it smooths it out a little more.

Thoughts/comments?

 

[jaz0nj4ckal]

Experience for multi-class characters - can be a bit of an issue. Mainly when a character is a thief/anything. You can end up with a thief 6/mage 2 for example. To combat this, our group has adopted a new experience guideline for all multi-class characters.

We add both experience requirements together, multiply by .6 and use the result as the needed experience. For example, a fighter needs 2000xp for 2nd level, a mage needs 2500. Together this is 4500xp times .6 = 2700xp. A little higher than the more expensive class, but not out of reach. This way, they advance a little slower than single-class characters but not so much that they can't handle the same adventures as the rest of the party.

The only discrepancy we've found is with thief combinations (or higher level druids) they tend to bring the total down. For these characters we simply add an additional 10% (ie multiply by .7 instead of .6) and it smooths it out a little more.

Thoughts/comments?

I seem to remember reading an optional rule somewhere, which detailed something very similar to what you are presenting. I think all non-human races had a multiplier value associated with the XP required to level. However, remember only non-Human characters can be multi-class, but suffer the level cap. So, most of your non-Human PCs will top out around level 12+/- or 15+/-; however, this depends on STAT bonuses.

I played in a while a while back that required all XP Level requirements to be multiplied by 0.15 for non-Human characters. The latter was due to the fact that Humans only received the unlimited class level, but nothing cool like Infravision or any other features from: Elf, Gnomes and/or Dwarves.

 

[MerricB]

I think you're making the mistake that all levels are created equal. Thief levels are notoriously weaker than levels in other classes. Note that although you're getting this multi-class Mage 2/Thief 6, the individual classes *also* have a point when they are Mage 2 and Thief 6. Are you increasing the XP required by single classed thieves to keep them more in check?

In fact, a multi-class character tends to be one or two levels in each class behind a single classed character. This is the price paid for their versatility.

However, the AD&D multi-class system breaks down in the higher levels (9+) as the XP no longer is basically doubling each level. It worked fine in 1E, but with the much higher level limits of 2E, the system isn't so robust.

Cheers!

 

[the Jester]

I am not sure what problem you're trying to address. Why is a m-u 2/thief 4 a bad thing?

By reducing the xp it requires to advance as a multiclass character, you are making multiclassing even better than it is in 1e and 2e already. Multiclassed characters are generally superior to single-classed characters in early D&D already. Making it even better to multiclass- well, let's just say that I have no idea why anyone would ever play a single classed pc in your game, unless you're at the level where demihumans are 'topping out' and you actually use racial level limits.