No multiclassing penalties?

[Slaved]

And my character only has ranger levels because he was already a ranger in 2E before we made the switch. I'd gladly dump those levels for more fighter levels.

Wow. I know that this is off topic but I have to ask, why is that? Without a very good reason I would go the other way, trading in fighter levels for ranger levels.

 

[Shade]

Wow. I know that this is off topic but I have to ask, why is that? Without a very good reason I would go the other way, trading in fighter levels for ranger levels.

I envisioned my character as a Dex-based, two weapon fighter. In 2E, ranger was the way to go to achieve that end. In 3E, I'd be much better off with the fighter bonus feats. Track, wild empathy, Endurance, and favored enemy don't really fit the character concept I'd envisioned. Plus, as an elf, I get one of those delightful multiclass penalties we've been discussing since my favored class is wizard.

 

[Slaved]

That does make sense, thanks for telling me.

I guess in 3.5 heading for Dervish would be good for what you are going for, maybe? Levels in ranger and levels in fighter then hop into dervish.

Oh, or the whirling version of barbarian rage.

I like mixing levels in fighter, ranger, and barbarian to form a single character. It is a lot of fun and they fit together very well! Backgrounds practically write themselves.

 

[Shades of Green]

Depends on the flavor desired. If you want (relatively) clear-cut archetypes, use pentalties; if you want a more freeform (but less archetypical) development of character abilities, ignore the penalties.

 

[Shade]

That does make sense, thanks for telling me.

I guess in 3.5 heading for Dervish would be good for what you are going for, maybe? Levels in ranger and levels in fighter then hop into dervish.

I just took my third level of dervish.

 

[Slaved]

I just took my third level of dervish.

And now I am a psychic

 

[Ranger REG]

Multiclassing penalties are a decent bonus for being a human or half-elf.

They never really forbid a character concept, only a character combination of levels/abilities.

Meh. I don't like the idea of penalizing others just to make Humaniti as a PC race look good.

 

[Storyteller01]

I dunno. I personally favored individual benefit for taking favored class. For examples, give elf an additional new spell to add to their spellbook for taking the Wizard class; give dwarf +1 bonus to damage rolls for taking the Fighter class; give half-orc one additional rage attempt per day for taking the barbarian class; and so forth.

I allow players to purchase feats and skills with exp. points. Controlling that is bad enough (I need these six feats! Where can I find a teacher!). Watching my powergamer min-max with that would have given me a heart attack.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I like the Conan multiclass rules where you get bonus feats for taking levels in your favored class.

I liked those rules so much that I used them in my last D&D campaign. Basically every full 5 levels in your favoured class and you gain a bonus feat. Humans and Half-elves get to choose whatever favoured class they want.

The dynamic it creates is that races often tend towards specialising in their favoured class (rather than being more likely to dabble in their favoured class, which is the way the existing rules work, and seems counter-intuitive to me).

Cheers

 

[Glyfair]

I think they are a great tool with two main effects. First, they limit min max players who like to "dip" into classes for abilities. Second, they add flavor to races and serve as additional abilities for two races (the half-elf losing the most from the loss of multi-classing penalties).*

I think if these aren't issues in your game they can easily be discarded. I think the half-elf needs something to replace their "favored class: any" advantage. The human, IMO, is still attractive without it (the bonus feat at first level is possibly the best racial ability in the game).

* Remember that the flavor added means races tend to dip into the class, not focus on it. A race with favored class Sorcerer is a race where most of the members have some innate magical ability, not a race that necessarily has a lot of powerful Sorcerers.