IMO, the multi-classing prereqs are a roundabout way to address a problem that should be tackled directly. You want to prevent people from dipping six different classes? Then cap the number of classes you can have at three. Boom, done. I have a very hard time imagining a character concept that you can't build with three classes.
Right now, not only do you have to plan out your stats in advance, but the system invites all kinds of shenanigans around the fact that stat requirements don't apply to your first class. If you want to have a "dip" class that you don't commit to heavily and a "main" class that you sink most of your chargen resources into, the way you do it is to take your first level in the dip class and then multiclass into your main class. So if you want to be a rogue with a dip in wizard, you max out Dexterity, take an Intelligence of 12 or so, spend your first level as a sucky wizard, and then start learning to be a rogue. This is silly.
One of the hazards of game design is the desire to get really clever and do everything with elegant, interlocking mechanics that cause all sorts of fancy emergent properties. The problem with this is that it's a very fragile way to build a game. As soon as players and DMs start tinkering with the rules, or finding combinations of the existing rules you didn't foresee, your emergent properties crash and burn. Likewise, it gets very hard for designers to keep track of all the little interactions that result from any change. It's better to avoid relying on emergent properties and build instead with "dumb" mechanics that don't depend on other systems to work right.
Right now, not only do you have to plan out your stats in advance, but the system invites all kinds of shenanigans around the fact that stat requirements don't apply to your first class. If you want to have a "dip" class that you don't commit to heavily and a "main" class that you sink most of your chargen resources into, the way you do it is to take your first level in the dip class and then multiclass into your main class. So if you want to be a rogue with a dip in wizard, you max out Dexterity, take an Intelligence of 12 or so, spend your first level as a sucky wizard, and then start learning to be a rogue. This is silly.
One of the hazards of game design is the desire to get really clever and do everything with elegant, interlocking mechanics that cause all sorts of fancy emergent properties. The problem with this is that it's a very fragile way to build a game. As soon as players and DMs start tinkering with the rules, or finding combinations of the existing rules you didn't foresee, your emergent properties crash and burn. Likewise, it gets very hard for designers to keep track of all the little interactions that result from any change. It's better to avoid relying on emergent properties and build instead with "dumb" mechanics that don't depend on other systems to work right.
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