XP penalty for multiclassing: do you use it?

[Chacal]

One thing I never liked having messed with as a player was XP. I don't charge wizards XP for creating items even though there is 100% success rate. If there was a chance for failure, I would GIVE them XP for doing the research and experimentation. So the last thing I am going to do is penalize characters for multiclassing, as in the long run it creates a weaker character vs. 'pure class' characters, even if just a little.

How do you balance Item creation, then ? More control on gold, changes in creation times ?
The xp cost for items or spells had worried me in the begining ( so much contrast with 2e), but having played some other RPG were nearly everything costs XP,
I changed my mind and see it as a nice balancing factor.
(though item creation never went wild IMC)

Your assumption about multiclassing being less efficient only really holds with spellcasters or classes with tons of new features at each level.
Ranger/Fighter or barb/fighter trade will save for lots of improvement IMO.

That being said, I always prefered to see the "favored class"
as a mechanism to make racial stereotypes logical from a PC point of view, rather than a way to limit multiclassing.
Thus , I don't like the current rule implementation for favored class.

Chacal

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I don't use the penalty, but instead give +1 Skill Point for gaining a level in favored class. While I agree that Classes are more abstract in 3E, I think it indicates a racial aptitude towards that set of skills and abilities. I also insist on in-game reasons for multiclassing, and that has reinforced uneven leveling more often than prevented it.

 

[Khorod]

If it is part of a truly unified character concept, I don't give a penalty. If it smacks of a career change or a character trying to maintain two divurgent penalties, I use the standard rules.

In that style, a 'class combo' is treated like a single class, which is the point of those schemes.

PrC's are not supposed to be a factor in XP penalties.

 

[GenLang]

Sort of...

I don't apply multiclass XP penalties because I think they're silly.

I answered 'Sort of' because in my games, you can't take a level in a new class (or add ranks to a previously untrained skill that requires training to use)without access to someone with that class (or skill), and furthermore you have to bring this into your roleplay somehow. So the wizard who wants to multiclass to fighter needs to have access toa fighter and spend some time (not a pre-set amount) working on fighting skills (which could happen off-camera, especially if there's a fighter in the party).

 

[der_kluge]

I removed the whole favored class thing. Stupid, IMHO. It's like d20 stereotyping. All halfings are rogues, all elves are wizards, all nuns play guitar; that kind of thing.

Multi-class characters are already going to suffer as a result of multi-classing. I mean, that's partially why some classes have a +0 to some of their abilities. If you multi-class from fighter to wizard, you're getting a +0 to your BAB, even though you've added a level. So, stacking on some kind of XP penalty on top of that just seems cruel to me. Not to mention cumbersome.