Turning favored class into a bonus, not a penalty

[trav_laney]

I've never liked, or used, multiclass penalties, meaning that favored classes were totally irrelevant for me. I've long wanted a way to make them relevant again, and...:

I agree. Multiclassing in my games is rarely an issue, since my players prefer to play humans (they are all about bonus feats) and don't care for multiclassing. Of all the suggested revisions to the Favored Class rule, I like Fruthatka's "XP Bonus" one best...but I would curb it a little bit like this.

If a character only has levels of his favored class, he gains a flat +10% bonus to all experience points gained. He loses this bonus if he takes levels of any other class (even prestige classes,) and takes the standard -10% XP multiclassing penalty when taking levels of other core classes.

So an elf who only has levels of wizard gains +10% XP. If that same elf later decides to take the Loremaster prestige class, he loses his bonus but doesn't suffer any penalties. And if he decides to later take a few levels of Fighter (possibly to get those crunchy bonus feats for ray-type spells), he takes a -10% XP penalty until he can bring his Fighter level up to within one level of his Wizard level.

This will reward characters who stay within their favored class, and will still function normally for characters who decide to take levels of prestige classes or other core classes. After all, Loremaster is not the favored class of elves, and the fact that prestige classes are exempt from the XP penalty should not imply they qualify for an XP bonus.

My two cents.

 

[solkan_uk]

Back when I used to play D&D more often I had a house rule that gave PC's an extra skill point whenever they levelled in a favoured class.
Humans and Half-Elves always counted their highest level class as favoured (as they do normally) meaning a Fighter who decides to become a Rogue doesn't get the bonus until his rogue levels exceed his fighter level.

 

[szilard]

I agree. Multiclassing in my games is rarely an issue, since my players prefer to play humans (they are all about bonus feats) and don't care for multiclassing. Of all the suggested revisions to the Favored Class rule, I like Fruthatka's "XP Bonus" one best...but I would curb it a little bit like this.

If a character only has levels of his favored class, he gains a flat +10% bonus to all experience points gained. He loses this bonus if he takes levels of any other class (even prestige classes,) and takes the standard -10% XP multiclassing penalty when taking levels of other core classes.

See... this is one of the things that I most want to get away from when it comes to the favored class rules. I want xp to be as simple as possible - it is already overcomplicated.

-Stuart

 

[trav_laney]

See... this is one of the things that I most want to get away from when it comes to the favored class rules. I want xp to be as simple as possible - it is already overcomplicated.

In that case, ignore it altogether. I don't think it would unbalance the game, and it certainly isn't important enough to need to "replace it" with some other kind of bonus.

Sure, a -10% penalty on XP might sound like a big deal on paper, but it's really not...compare that amount to other "lost XP" from crafting magic items, or from permanent level drain, for example. A -10% XP is roughly the equivalent of missing two out of every 30 average battles. No. Big. Deal. Heck, a wizard loses more XP than that when he casts wish or crafts a staff of power.

 

[Felnar]

the problem i see with bonuses for favored classes is they make classes even more tightly associated with a specific race

say you want to play a barbarian. choosing halforc would be that much more attractive than it already was compared to choosing elf or halfing.

favored classes are already good choices because those race/class abilities already complement each other (less so for elf). Why should that compliment be made even better?