Multiclass math

[heirodule]

I hope, that somewhere, it will officially say that if you take 1 level of rogue (3/4 BAB and 1 level of bard (3/4 BAB), you end up with a BAB of 2 (3/4 + 3/4 = 2.25 round to 2) IF YOU WANT instead of zero.

Let us do math if it helps us mechanically.

 

[Abisashi]

I hope, that somewhere, it will officially say that if you take 1 level of rogue (3/4 BAB and 1 level of bard (3/4 BAB), you end up with a BAB of 2 (3/4 + 3/4 = 2.25 round to 2) IF YOU WANT instead of zero.

Let us do math if it helps us mechanically.

3/4 + 3/4 = 6/4 = 1.5 ~ 1

Edit: But I agree with your point. My group always plays it this way.

 

[heirodule]

uh, yeah!

 

[Jhaelen]

I hope, that somewhere, it will officially say that if you take 1 level of rogue (3/4 BAB and 1 level of bard (3/4 BAB), you end up with a BAB of 2 (3/4 + 3/4 = 2.25 round to 2) IF YOU WANT instead of zero.

Let us do math if it helps us mechanically.

ROFL, Q.E.D.!
They will NEVER do this, because Joe/Jane D&DPlayer absolutely sucks at math. What they might do, is to use +2 BAB per level for the WORST progression. Then they could use +3 for the average progression and +4 BAB / level for the good progression. No fractions, no problems.

BUT: You'd end up with as much as +120 at level 30. That's another definite NO GO! Numbers with more than two digits are another cause for problems for Joe/Jane D&DPlayer. It's already bad enough as it is right now with hit points and damage...

 

[Abisashi]

They could add levels within a progression without adding between them. That should be pretty simple.

For example: With 1 level each of bard, rogue, wizard, and fighter, a character in 3e would have +1 BAB. If instead of doing BAB by class, we did it by progression, the bard and rogue would be on the same table and thus contribute another +1 BAB, for +2.

The more complete math gives a +3 BAB, but requires fraction addition instead of integer addition and table lookup. I think progression BAB is a good compromise.

 

[reanjr]

I hope, that somewhere, it will officially say that if you take 1 level of rogue (3/4 BAB and 1 level of bard (3/4 BAB), you end up with a BAB of 2 (3/4 + 3/4 = 2.25 round to 2) IF YOU WANT instead of zero.

Let us do math if it helps us mechanically.

(ignoring your incorrect arithmatic) You would have to do the same thing to saves to make it fair. Generally speaking, multiclassed characters get hurt on their BAB but can rack up some fantastic saves.

I do agree, though.

 

[Snapdragyn]

I disagree, in that I hope they do not say 'if you want to' -- that reads like an option, I would not want to be stuck back with the funky BAB rounding error because of a 'no optional rules' DM.

Make it core. Make people do the math (or at least plug their numbers into a calculator, Excel spreadsheet, or the DDI).

 

[The Souljourner]

I would love this as well. This is currently one of the major deficiencies of multiclassing (right behind spellcasting). We do fractional BAB in some of our campaigns, so multiclassing two 3/4 classes doesn't totally screw you and it works out really well.

But, like others have said, they're certainly not going to introduce fractional BAB into D&D, because so many people just wouldn't be able to do the math. This is an unfortunate truth, but even your average D&Der (who I presume have a greater than average intelligence), can't add some simple fractions together. Or if they can, they bitch about it.

One thing that could work is to do the +2 +3 +4 thing and instead of having a possible +120 BAB at 30, you just use that number to look up a chart telling you what your actual BAB is (which would just be that number divided by 4). Unfortunately that's not very elegant.

I'd also like to see how they do saving throws. It was always annoying that multiclass characters got such huge save bonuses because of their +2s at multiple first levels.

What could work for that, is each class effectively giving you iron will, etc, and not having them overlap. So basically, fighter gives you "fortitude focus" which gives you +2 to fort saves. If you then took a level of cleric, it gives you "fortitude focus" and "will focus", but the fort focus wouldn't stack with that of the fighter. That solves the problem that some other solutions have that only give the bonus +2 at first character level, because then it matters in what order you took your classes, which is always annoying.

-Nate