Why does the paladin multiclassing rule exist?

[frankthedm]

The thorn in my side is the alignment restrictions, particularly when it comes to Rage. (You have to be non-lawful to Rage, you have to be lawful to be a monk or a pallie.) It seems only to exist to neuter Barbarians who multiclass to either of those two classes. I could see it if Rage were some kind of mindless kill-frenzy, or if monks and pallies weren't supposed to be good at knocking heads.

Rage is not about fighting skill. It is about losing oneself to anger. The main reason it is not mindless kill-frenzy was for the Barbarian class to be playable. Also Lawful characters do not make a habit of flying off the handle in combat. Raging is a honing and eventual perfection of emotion surpressing reason and rationality.

Raging may help knocking heads, but it is not supposed to be a requirment. Wotc may have made it a bit too efficent at doing that, but that is another issue.

 

[SlagMortar]

Rage is not about fighting skill. It is about losing oneself to anger. The main reason it is not mindless kill-frenzy was for the Barbarian class to be playable. Also Lawful characters do not make a habit of flying off the handle in combat. Raging is a honing and eventual perfection of emotion surpressing reason and rationality.

As Mousferatu said in the first reply to this thread, alignment restrictions are entirely about flavor.

Suppose I invented a new ability for monks that they get instead of their first two bonus feats. I call it Offensive Ki Focus. It is about ignoring dangers to one's person in order to focus all your mind into dealing powerful blows and being able to temporarily sustain wounds that would kill a normal man. It requires intense concentration, which forces it to only last a short time and leave the character fatigued afterward. A monk that becomes non-Lawful loses the ability to attain Offensive Ki Focus.

Offensive Ki Focus A monk can attain a special offensive state of mind a certain number of times per day. In offensive ki focus, a monk temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves, but he takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class. The increase in Constitution increases the monk’s hit points by 2 points per level, but these hit points go away at the end of the focus when his Constitution score drops back to normal. (These extra hit points are not lost first the way temporary hit points are.) While in offensive ki focus, a monk cannot use <insert a flavorful list of skills dealing with self preservation> He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise. A state of offensive ki focus lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the character’s (newly improved) Constitution modifier. A monk may prematurely end his focus. At the end of the focus, the monk loses the offensive ki focus modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (-2 penalty to Strength, -2 penalty to Dexterity, can’t charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter (unless he is a 17th-level monk, at which point this limitation no longer applies).

This ability is virtually identical to rage, but now flavored for only lawful characters.

 

[hong]

Rage is not about fighting skill. It is about losing oneself to anger. The main reason it is not mindless kill-frenzy was for the Barbarian class to be playable. Also Lawful characters do not make a habit of flying off the handle in combat. Raging is a honing and eventual perfection of emotion surpressing reason and rationality.

The lawful-only sohei in OA gets what's essentially a rage ability, and there are other PrCs in that book that let samurai do the same.

 

[Nifft]

Suppose I invented a new ability for monks that they get instead of their first two bonus feats. I call it Offensive Ki Focus. It is about ignoring dangers to one's person in order to focus all your mind into dealing powerful blows and being able to temporarily sustain wounds that would kill a normal man.

"It's a Buddhist meditation technique. Focuses your aggression." -- Otto

Cheers, -- N

 

[Piratecat]

Quite frankly because some idiots thought that those classes should be "special" and that you should be penalized for not staying with them. In other words for no good reason at all.

As one of the "idiots" who was involved in playtesting 3e, I'll comment that it's fascinating to see the changes that have evolved in the average player since 2e bit the dust. I'm not sure that people nowadays realize exactly how much resistance of change there was. It's kind of a neat change.

One of these days I'll have to dig out all my playtest documents and highlight some of the things that changed during the playtesting process.

 

[Legildur]

Some cows are more sacred than others, I guess.

I hear they make the best burgers...... And put me down for no balance issues in removing the restriction.

 

[Mouseferatu]

One of these days I'll have to dig out all my playtest documents and highlight some of the things that changed during the playtesting process.

I would dearly love to see that.

 

[Beckett]

One of these days I'll have to dig out all my playtest documents and highlight some of the things that changed during the playtesting process.

I would dearly love to see that.

Seconded.

 

[BadMojo]

For what it's worth, the Forgotten Realms setting allows paladins of certain orders to lift the multi-class restriction with a few classes.

For example, a paladin of the Order of Super Sized Fries can freely multiclass as cleric and fighter, while a the Order #28 with a Large Pork Fried Rice can freely multiclass as wizard.

IMO, it's a nice way to get around an annoying rule and also make paladins of different holy orders a little bit different. You can always tailor the specifics according to the portfolios of the deity in question.

 

[RedFox]

Seconded.

Thirded!