D&D 5E Ummm... Multiclass Rules?

[Warbringer]

There are a lot of people who would take issue with that assessment. I found 3e multiclassing to be generally better with the exception of dealing with spellcasting. In 1e/2e, multiclassing as a spellcaster was usually too good with PCs gaining most of the benefits of being a fighter and a wizard only 1 level behind (in both) compared to his single-class companions, while in 3e multiclassing with a spellcaster was generally too weak.

So only a small exception then

As there is still no unified source of "magic" in 5e we are running headlong into the same situation. By unified I mean that "combat" is unified in that everyone has a BAB equivalent and hit point die with an feat like system into weapon and armor proficiencies. Magic needs a mirror to this to a a fluid multicast system:

MagicBAB, dice based mana system (sum of which could determine spell slots for vancian system, straight mana for power system), and spells/schools/domains as proficiencies ....

That's my take, FWIW

 

[the Jester]

1E multiclassing FTW!

Seriously, 1E and 2E are the only editions in which multiclassing really worked.

Wow- I can't really agree with that. 1e and 2e multiclassed characters were simply better, in most cases, than a pc with the same xp who had only a single class.

3e, OTOH, led itself to combo abuse, one-level-dip abuse, and underpowered combos.

I'm thinking having attack bonus overlap would be a decent solution, but "everyone gets the same attack bonus and some classes get extra bonus to their attacks at certain levels" works for me.

 

[Starfox]

There are a lot of people who would take issue with that assessment. I found 3e multiclassing to be generally better with the exception of dealing with spellcasting. In 1e/2e, multiclassing as a spellcaster was usually too good with PCs gaining most of the benefits of being a fighter and a wizard only 1 level behind (in both) compared to his single-class companions, while in 3e multiclassing with a spellcaster was generally too weak.

Pretty good summing up. My spin on it is that multiclassing in 3E was almost only used to dip and gain the entry capabilities of several non-spellcaster classes. It was mainly abused, not used. The only version that allowed spellcasters to multiclass well was 1E/2E. And yes, you were only one elvel behind a pure caster - but the benefits were not that great either unless you were a cleric/magic user (which only half-elves were allowed to be, IIR, and with pretty low maximum levels).