Mutl-Class Min/Maxing

[JoeGKushner]

Are there any rules outside of the 20% penalty to restrict multi-classing? I don't mind a little bit of it but I see way too much of it and it doesn't fit too well with some of my attitude on classes. After all, if it takes years of study to learn the foundations, which frontload some of the classes, how is a character going to learn such abilities in a few weeks?

 

[Aust Diamondew]

Two weeks?

2 weeks to learn a new class? It's all up to the DM how long it takes someone to "learn" a new class. In my campaign it all depends on what class you're changing to determines how long it takes to train to get it, for example a wizard requires much more training than fighter.

 

[mikebr99]

Are there any rules outside of the 20% penalty to restrict multi-classing? I don't mind a little bit of it but I see way too much of it and it doesn't fit too well with some of my attitude on classes. After all, if it takes years of study to learn the foundations, which frontload some of the classes, how is a character going to learn such abilities in a few weeks?

The Dm has the final say on anything that goes on in his/her game.

But don't think of it as picking up a totally different class, just a different set of skills. A 5th Fighter/1st Wizard, isn't a Mage, he's a fighter with a few spells.

A 5th Fighter/1st Ranger, isn't a Ranger, he's a fighter with some woodsman training.

A Ranger/Thief could be considered a scout, and could be played that way with any mix of these two classes.

Picking up a few levels of something - or a few somethings - does NOT a something make.

It's all in the development, if you see yourself as a scout, and want to progress that way by mixing in some ranger, fighter, thief, and shadowdancer levels... go right ahead, you are just adding skill sets to the character. you wouldn't describe yourself as a fighter or a thief... you'd say "I'm a scout!"

 

[kengar]

Other than the XP penalty, the only restrictions I'm aware of (beyond racial for some PrC's) is alignment. In other words, you can't be a Bard/Paladin, etc.

I've always approached the idea that a character is learning more about the "new" class as they are ganing XP before leveling up. Some players are better about playing this out than others.

In my first campaign, one player with a fighter character picked up a prayer book of Kord and a wooden holy symbol in town while he was still about 1500xp from leveling. He would mention that his character would read a little from the book every night when they camped, etc. He had the symbol of Kord painted onto his shield, too. When he leveled -big surprise- he took the level in cleric. This was also the guy who kept mentioning that he would practice footwork every evening so when he got to 4th, he took a point in DEX.

In the next campaign I ran (FRCS) my wife's character was a moon elf ranger from the Silver Marches. She wanted to be an arcane archer, so when they were in Silverymoon (at about 5th level) she "picked up" some books on magical theory from the college to study on the road. The idea being that she would take a level of wizard for her AA prereqs. She wouldn't take sorcerer because she thought it made no sense to suddenly "develop" this innate magical ability. (I knew I married her for a reason! ).

I have also had players just "decide" as they level that they now are also a 1st level Fighter, or Rogue, etc. But I try to discourage that. The way the above two players handled it worked great for me. It provided enough justification that the new class made sense.