Multiclass query!

[Hackenslash]

What Apprentice Rules ?

Hello All,

Well at the risk of appearing extremely ignorant, unenlightend or just plain old Dumb ! What are these "Apprentice Rules" and where can I find them. Someone said that "they barely made it in to 3.0 edition" if so what book are they in. I quite like the Idea of a Barbarian/Sorceror, that definitely has potential, but I would play it with a Human I think. Cheers All.

 

[shilsen]

Re: What Apprentice Rules ?

Hello All,

Well at the risk of appearing extremely ignorant, unenlightend or just plain old Dumb ! What are these "Apprentice Rules" and where can I find them. Someone said that "they barely made it in to 3.0 edition" if so what book are they in. I quite like the Idea of a Barbarian/Sorceror, that definitely has potential, but I would play it with a Human I think. Cheers All.

DMG, pg. 40-41.

 

[DreamChaser]

Re: What Apprentice Rules ?

Hello All,

Well at the risk of appearing extremely ignorant, unenlightend or just plain old Dumb ! What are these "Apprentice Rules" and where can I find them. Someone said that "they barely made it in to 3.0 edition" if so what book are they in. I quite like the Idea of a Barbarian/Sorceror, that definitely has potential, but I would play it with a Human I think. Cheers All.

Nothing is stopping you from playing a sorcerer barbarian. The apprentice level rules were created to attempt to allow characters to start at 1st level with more than one class.

Even at the time, most of the playtesters who were posting news and feedback during the development of 3.0 were dubious about the apprentice levels. They were difficult to translate, poorly balanced, and unnecessary since if you wait for 1,000 experience points, you gain the abilities anyway.

I, personally, don't allow apprentice levels. I don't know if most of my players are even aware of the option.

DC

 

[Hackenslash]

OOps !! musta skipped those pages....Doh !!!

Thanks to Shilsen and DreamChaser for clearing that "Apprentice Rules" whereabouts for me. I might look into that a little more now. Cheers all

 

[Christian]

I kind of like the apprentice-level rules myself. Roleplaying, mostly-the fighter/wizard can start with both martial weapon proficiencies and spellcasting rather than dealing with the weirdness of suddenly learning how to use fifty weapons or cast spells two weeks into the game ...

 

[Spatula]

Re: Re: What Apprentice Rules ?

Even at the time, most of the playtesters who were posting news and feedback during the development of 3.0 were dubious about the apprentice levels. They were difficult to translate, poorly balanced, and unnecessary since if you wait for 1,000 experience points, you gain the abilities anyway.

I don't recall ever hearing "poorly balanced" in the pre-3E days, just that the rules were a little complex, so they were placed in the DMG in case the DM didn't want to bother with it. If anything, the rules are sub-optimal. A 1st level human fighter/X, for example, gets two general feats and one fighter feat, but has a BAB of +0, which rules out taking a lot of basic combat feats until the character is at least 3rd level. Most powergamers wouldn't settle for that sort of situation.

To me, the apprentice-level rules are there as a roleplaying tool. You end up with the same basic capabilities by 2nd level whether you use apprentice levels or not, but if you do use them you don't have to explain in-game how your rogue suddenly learned magic or how your wizard suddenly learned how to use most weapons and armor. This is especially handy with DMs that don't let players add a level of a new class without first finding a teacher and spending time studying.