Multiclass Feats in 4e have Prerequisites. Plus, these Prereqs aren't hard to hit, since characters can bump their stats by a decent ammount every few levels.
This is also what I thought, but too-easy-to-meet prerequisites become pointless. They are just going to hurt the player who was unlucky to roll low (however, also see my last comment).
It needs to be said however, that while they are probably too easy for having 2 classes, the more classes you combine the harder it will be to raise your stats, because ability
increases are granted by each class, not total levels. So if you need 15 in
all stats for your crazy combo, you probably need to have them since the start.
I do NOT want them to "spread out" first level abilities or delay them for later levels to inhibit "dipping" the way 3.5 did. I never saw the problem with dips. It's not like it hurt anybody's feelings that somebody took 1 level in another class.
The problem is that you can't have these 3 at the same time:
- a single-class character that has plenty of stuff since level 1
- multiclass dipping that isn't worth more than continuing in your existing classes
- 3e style multiclassing where you just pick the 1st level of another class
I would be ok to reduce the stuff at level 1, for instance spreading the proficiencies over the first 3 levels. After all, at least for weapons the chances are that you ain't going to need all the martial proficiencies until you start finding cool magic weapons and thus you want to swap. What could be done, is to give e.g. 2-3 martial weapon proficiencies + 1
specific armor proficiency per armor category at 1st level, then again at 2nd level, and when reaching 3rd level you just gain all the remaining weapons and armor proficiencies. This way at least you can't dip for too many weapon/armor proficiencies. This is not a problem about PC with more than 2 classes, it's usually a trick by taking 1 level in your second class. For example, a Wizard taking 1 level in Fighter will get not only proficiency with all weapons but more importantly proficiency with all armors (remember that a 5e Wizard has no penalties or restrictions for casting spells in armor if proficient).
Another option would be to change the third point e.g. by making you pay more XP for the 1st level in a new class.
I like them. They discourage casual multi-classing to pick up proficiencies (say, a rogue dipping into fighter to get martial weapons or a wizard dipping into rogue to get skills). If you want to change professions, you need to have sufficient aptitude to do it.
You want to dip barbarian1/fighter1/rogue3/ranger1? Good. Have a 15 strength, 15 dex, 13 con, and 13 wisdom ready to go.
It sounds very old-school: you need to have rolled high to get the best class (but in this case, to get free access to crazy combos). I don't know how many people would like this principle tho, that if you roll good stats you are rewarded by something even extra to the stats themselves.
All in all, I think multiclassing prerequisites in terms of minimum abilities are a goof. They will practically hurt/annoy players at random, and mean nothing to other players. Their only positive is that they are very easy to adjudicate (in fact, they are automatic), compared to more complicated concepts like requiring a trainer, which depends on the DM to make it happen.
