one-class characters through 20th?

[AuraSeer]

Our longest campaign was almost entirely single-class characters. By the time it was over we had a Pal20, Clr20, Brd20, Ftr20, and Rgr20. The only multiclass was the sorcerer, and for him, taking Elemental Savant level was pure benefit with no tradeoffs.

 

[Gez]

When multiclassing, a theme I like is to have the two classes fill different roles in the character's being. One class reflects what the character is, the other what he's trying to be. One for his natural talent, the other for his formation.

For example, an aristocrat/sorcerer -- sorcerer is her inborn gift, aristocrat is what she was trained to be. Or a druid/rogue -- following the druidic teaching, but being naturally a sneaky and resourceful, but shy, character.

I think that makes for interesting characters -- it builds an inner conflict within the character between what she actually is, what she's meant (by family, circumstances, peer pressure, etc.) to be, and what she actually wants to be.

This is the reason so many of my characters are multiclassed. It helps in defining aims and behaviors more easily -- how would react a young soul that's trained to be a wizard, but who actually feel the call of the Paladin's way? That gives guidelines and provide a modicum of originality.

 

[rowport]

Always Multiclass!

Cool, interesting thread! I multiclass, without fail, and usually with three (or more!) classes. I know that it goes back to my HERO gaming roots, where you build your own very specific character conception. The flexibility added in 3E (and ESPECIALLY with the new Complete class books in 3.5E) make it very possible to essentially point-build characters for d20. For example, in one campaign I play a Druid- but, he came from a norse-like barbarian tribe, so I gave him a couple levels of Barbarian; and, to act as the party tracker, it made sense to add a Ranger level which fits the conception, too. For the most part (except Cleric) core classes are balanced enough that mixing and matching works just fine IMO. It does suck to multiclass with spellcasters, though, even with feats like Practiced Spellcaster helping make it possible. I also like the idea behind several Complete Adventurer feats that allow class-combo characters to continue to grow their base class abilities. For me, I just think it is more fun to design the precise character that you want to play, rather than just the core class at face-value, although feats do help define characters as well.

 

[RFisher]

None of my 3e PCs have multiclassed. (I've made some multiclass 3e PCs that were never played, but everyone I've played has stuck to a single class.) I've never made it to 20th level, but I've always intended to stick with my class to the bitter end.

I'm hard pressed to remember ever playing a multiclassed character in 1e. I did have a couple of 2e dual-class characters. Two of my favorites, in fact.