Multiclassing Moritorium

[I'm A Banana]

If multiclassing goes the way of the dodo I will not shed a single tear. One of the more annoying aspects of D&D in any form and has, ime, always been used as a way of power gaming your character like nobody's business.

Also a way of realizing an archetype that the rules don't give you right away.

Also a way of describing your character's history.

Also a way to allow a player to choose what they'd like to do, rather than having their class spell it out for them.

Power gaming is an overblown fear.

 

[Pinotage]

What I got from that interview is that there will be a difference between a Wizard 1/Fighter 1 and a Fighter 1/Wizard. The former is essentially a Wizard with some Fighterly abilities, while the latter is basically a Fighter with some Wizardly abilities. This is perfectly acceptable to me, and in fact resembles True20's approach to multiclassing.

Yes. Except that I hope the system would still allow the classic multiclassing stereotypes as well.

Pinotage

 

[Dausuul]

Ok, so they've let out a few more details on multiclassing in Podcast 20. Apparently:

-You won't get the same benefts as someone who took the core class at 1st level all at once.
-You start out with specific bonuses from your first multiclass level, then get more as you progress 'deeper' into the class, but probably not on a per-level basis.

At least, at the moment, that's how I'm reading it.

So, Class Training feats are probably for those people who want to dabble, while multiclassing is more 'hardcore', as we guessed or was hinted at.

Haven't listened to the podcast yet, but... is there anything to indicate that 3E-style multiclassing even exists any more? To me, everything points to "class training feats = multiclassing." They totally changed the definition of multiclassing from 2E to 3E, no reason they couldn't do it again from 3E to 4E.

(For those who don't know, in 2E they handled multiclassing by splitting your XP total between your classes. So if you were a fighter/mage with 80K experience, you'd be a fighter of the same level as a single-class fighter with 40K, and a mage of the same level as a single-class mage with 40K. Since XP per level typically doubled for the first eight levels or so, this meant you were usually just a level or two behind. For saving throws and THAC0, you took the best value for each; for hit points, you got half what you normally would each time one of your classes went up a level. It actually worked better than 3E multiclassing where casters were concerned, although it broke down around level 9-12, when the exponential curve of the XP chart suddenly went linear.)

 

[Holy Bovine]

Also a way of realizing an archetype that the rules don't give you right away.

Also a way of describing your character's history.

Also a way to allow a player to choose what they'd like to do, rather than having their class spell it out for them.

Power gaming is an overblown fear.

Ah, hence why I added 'ime' in my experience. Your experience differs from mine obviously as I have never had a player state any of those as his reason for multi-classing. And you would fear power gaming if you had some of the players I have had. Believe me.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Yes. Except that I hope the system would still allow the classic multiclassing stereotypes as well.

What are those? I ask because IMO multiclassing changed so much between 2e and 3e that the stereotypes also changed quite a bit.

 

[lukelightning]

I don't understand the "moratorium" part of the thread title. There is no temporary ban on multiclassing, is there?

 

[malraux]

My impression from the podcast was that perhaps each class entry will include a multiclassing section, which will talk about what you get each time you multiclass into it. This way, you don't necessarily get the level 1 abilities, but do get to pick from some of thematic elements of the class. Just a guess though.

 

[Dausuul]

Ah, hence why I added 'ime' in my experience. Your experience differs from mine obviously as I have never had a player state any of those as his reason for multi-classing. And you would fear power gaming if you had some of the players I have had. Believe me.

Thing about 3E multi-classing is that half the time it's a powergamer's wet dream, and the other half...

 

[Pinotage]

What are those? I ask because IMO multiclassing changed so much between 2e and 3e that the stereotypes also changed quite a bit.

The 'gish' for starters - the warrior/mage. Or the holy warrior, warrior/cleric. Or what about the magical trickster, the rogue/mage. There are loads of them - I'm hoping that the while you don't get all the abilities of a particular class, you get enough to make these viable.

Pinotage

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Hum.... Well, I am intrigated. My first character would be an Human Cleric of Ioun, and considering a scholarly side to him, I would at least train him sideway as Wizard - the credo of knowledge and all that.

So, it is of interest to me. Tell me more on how training work, if you get news.