PrC's and Multiclassing penalties

[Furry]

Perhaps I haven't managed to read the precise part of the DMG or PHB that explains how multiclassing and PrC's work. Because from strictly adhering to the rules in the PHB, if you're a wizard qualifying for Archmage, you're going to take a XP penalty for a long time as you're likely not going to get your Archmage level within 1 of your Wizard one anytime soon (ever actually).

So how does it work? Do you seperate the two levels of classes and every base class has to be within one and every PrC has to be within 1 of any other PrC to avoid the penalty, or do you just not count PrC's towards XP penalties?

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

No XP penalties for PrCs. It was accidently left out of the 3.5 DMG and I believe is fixed in the erratta...though I don't know about that for sure.

 

[Jdvn1]

Yeah, no XP penalties for PrCs, although some GMs play it that way. For some reason.

 

[Scharlata]

[...] So how does it work? [...]

Hi!

Q: In the previous version of the D&D game, having levels
in a prestige class never caused you to pay the experience
penalty for being a multiclass character without uneven
class levels. (The prestige class levels didn’t count when
checking to see if you had a penalty.) The section on
prestige classes in the new Dungeon Master’s Guide no
longer mentions that you don’t suffer an experience penalty
for having levels in a prestige class. Is this a change or an
error?
A: It’s an error. Having levels in a prestige class won’t give
you an experience penalty.

... as Ankh and Jvdn1 pointed out
Kind regards

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, no XP penalties for PrCs, although some GMs play it that way. For some reason.

We do and it makes favored classes more favored and prestige classes more prestige.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Jdvn1]

We do and it makes favored classes more favored and prestige classes more prestige.

Hm, never considered that. Seems like more trouble than it's worth to me, but I like the concept.

 

[Furry]

So I'm not blind I just didn't read an oddly named PDF file that I downloaded but never got around to. *goes to rename collection of Errata and FAQ PDF's*

Thanks guys.

 

[Darkness]

We do and it makes favored classes more favored and prestige classes more prestige.

And humans and half-elves (even) more desirable.