Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aaron L" data-source="post: 7946276" data-attributes="member: 926">I am very thankful for the concept of multiclassing as introduced in 3E, as it allowed characters to be created according to concept, and my brother and I always considered multiclassing in 3E to basically be custom designing our own classes out of bits and pieces of others.  We used this to support the character concepts that we wanted to play; not to try to create the most powerful characters... even if we did usually end up with the most powerful PCs, if only because we actually took the time to consider what we were doing and what combinations would be most effective at portraying the character concepts we had in mind.  It was always the character roleplaying concept that came first; and any mechanical considerations were used to support that roleplaying concept.We do the same thing in 5E, although in almost all of the 5E campaigns I have taken part in so far I have actually played single-class characters, which is very unusual for me.  I have something of a reputation among my D&D playing friends for being "the Elven Fighter/Mage guy" because Elven Fighter/Magic-Users (or Mages) were my default character type throughout 1E, 2E, and 3E.  Because I love Elves, and because I love playing characters who can fight pretty well but can also use magic fairly well.  In earlier Editions this had to be done through multi-classing but in 5E, thanks to the subclasses such as the Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickster I can do so while remaining a single-classed Fighter.  I am currently playing an Elven Knight, a blademaster who will be a straight-classed Fighter his entire adventuring career without taking a single level of Wizard, and yet still be able to eventually cast Fireball and Lightning Bolt, and that is just ideal to me.  I am still excited by the idea that my PC can be solely a high-level Fighter, a full blademaster without diluting his combat prowess with any other classes, and yet still be able to hurl Lightning Bolts with full efficiency.But for my next PC I am heavily considering playing a multi-classed Hexblade Warlock/Light Domain Cleric, to play with the dichotomy of Light and Shadow in  a single character with a character who worships a God of Light and yet is also beholden to an entity of Shadow.  And also to have a character who can both fight well and be adept at both Witchcraft and Clerical magic (and casts Fireball using Cleric magic!) And I will be able to do all of this thanks, in part, to the concept of cumulative multi-classing as introduced in 3rd Edition.I've said this several times before, but "game balance" is all about character spotlighting; balancing the amount of time in which any given PC gets to have the spotlight (focus of attention) shining on them.  And so because of this, most people seem to believe that any character that does more damage than others necessarily means that that character will have the spotlight on them more than any others.  But that isn't necessarily true; any good (or even lousy) DM can shift the spotlight to any PC he chooses to, and the most (combat) powerful PC on paper can feel like the most useless if the DM keeps the spotlight on other characters.  "Balance" is achieved through how the DM presents the world and progresses the story and how NPCs react to the PCs.  A good DM will give every PC (and thus, every player) a time in the spotlight game each session, and will have occasional sessions devoted to a single character as "spotlight episodes" like in a TV show.  And in a good group the other players will appreciate the specialness of that PC's (and player's) time to shine and cooperate (and have fun!) in playing up the impressiveness of the PC's actions during their spotlighting, knowing that it is their PC's turn the other players will do the same for them.  Because the players should be friends, and so enjoy seeing their friends have fun with their turn in the spotlight.  And it doesn't matter a bit how much combat power the character has; if a given PC is the center of attention, then they will be the most important character at that time.</blockquote>

Verification