How do you multiclass 3.5e

[Cohuge]

I am a new player, I know most of the basics and I heard about multiclassing. I don't know how it works. Do I spend one of my feats / levels on another class and gain the stuff from it? How would it look on the character sheet? I searched it on Google and did not find anything helpful.

[Golden Ladybug]

Well, basically the way to Multiclass is that, when you are about to level up you decide to take a level in a different class than the one you are currently leveling in. So, lets say that you are a 6th level Fighter, and you don't feel like taking the 7th level of Fighter. So, when it becomes time to level up, you instead take a level of Barbarian. From this point on, you have all the abilities of both a 6th Level Fighter and a 1st Level Barbarian.

[The Dark Fiddler]

You take a level in a class other than what you started at, and you gain whatever that class gains at the level you're taking. So if you were a Fighter 2, and multiclassed into Monk, you'd have everything a Fighter 2 would have and everything a Monk 1 would have (with the exception of the skill points times 4 and the full HP, that's only you first level, period).

Feats and the XP it takes to level up is still counted by your total character level, but Base Attack Bonus, Base Saving Throws, and stuff like that is based off of your class levels (so the above Fighter 2/Monk 1 would have 2 BAB, +5 Fort, and +2 Reflex/Will, along with 2 bonus feats from fighter, a bonus feat from monk, the monk's unarmed strike ability, flurry of blows, and the AC bonus).

[Nich_Critic]

Note that this doesn't affect the feat that you gain at all. You gain feats based on the total level of your classes, not the individual levels. The exception, of course, is if you gain feats as a class feature, like a fighter does.

By the standard rules, there's an exp penalty for multiclassing too much, but I've never actually seen anyone enforce it.

Also, prestige classes work almost exactly the same, except there are no multiclass penalties, and you must meet some requirements to start taking levels.

[Myth]

Here you go. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/multiclass.htm)

[Eldan]

Are you certain that you don't mean fourth edition multiclassing? That's where you spend feats to gain one class power.

In a bit more detail:
A character with two classes gains most features of both classes.

His base attack for both what he already has and the first level of the new class is added up, as are his saves. He gains the skill points of his new class for that level, as well as hit points, both of which are added to what he already has. Then he gains all class features of the new class.

So, a fighter 1/cleric 1 would have:
10+1d8+2*con mod HP (full fighter HP on level 1, one cleric hit die), +1 base attack (+1 fighter, +0 cleric), Saves of +4/+0/+2 (+2/+0/+0 from fighter, +2/+0/+2 from cleric), one bonus feat from the fighter and the spells, turn undead and domain power of a first level cleric.

[Cohuge]

Thank you all for the responses. That cleared up multiclassing for me. Just one more question, How would I put this on my character sheet? In the feats section?

@Eldan : No, I am interested in 3.5 multiclassing.

[Eldan]

Wherever it says class on the sheet.

Normally, it would say "Class X", now you mark it as "Class X/Class Y"

[Cohuge]

Wherever it says class on the sheet.

Normally, it would say "Class X", now you mark it as "Class X/Class Y"

Oh, okay. A bit to simple a solution than what I was expecting :) Thank you.

[Reluctance]

The basics of 3.5 are all very simple. Simplicity was, at least in theory, one of the design goals.

It's the interactions between powers that are anything but simple. Easy access to a wide variety of powers unfortunately also being a design goal.

[Eldariel]

To make an illustrative example:

We have Fighter 2 with stats 10 Str/10 Dex/10 Con/10 Int/10 Wis/10 Cha.

15 HP (2d10, first HD maximized, average of the rest, rounded down; so 15.5 > 15), 2 BAB, +3 Fort, +0 Ref, +0 Will

3 Feats (Level 1 + two Fighter bonus feats)
8 Skill Points (Quadruple on the first level, so 2x4 = 8; +2 second level)


If he takes Fighter 3 he gets:
21 HP (3d10), 3 BAB, +3 Fort, +1 Ref, +1 Will

4 Feats (+1 from level 3)
12 Skill Points


He can take any other base class level instead of Fighter. Instead of Fighter 3, he could go Fighter 2/Barbarian 1. This would mean that instead of Fighter 3 abilities, he'd get Barbarian 1 abilities and add them on Fighter 2 (and be considered a level 3 character). As such:

If he takes Fighter 2/Barbarian 1 he gets:
22 HP (2d10 + 1d12), 3 BAB, +5 Fort, +0 Ref, +0 Will

Rage
Fast Movement
4 Feats (+1 from level 3)
14 Skill Points (4x2 Fighter 1 + 2 from Fighter 2 and +4 from Barbarian 1)


That's the gist of it; instead of taking the next level in your current class you can take the first level in any other class (and then advance them or your old class). Advancing classes is unrestricted in 3.5; if you want to, you can take a new class every level (no, it's not very good) and you can go back to advancing any of your old classes at any point.

For example, our Fighter 2/Barbarian 1 could take Fighter 3 as his next level. He could also take Barbarian 2, or e.g. Ranger 1. And yes, some combinations are better than others. That's the nature of open systems.

EDIT: I was too slow, I see. Ah well.

[Cohuge]

To make an illustrative example:

We have Fighter 2 with stats 10 Str/10 Dex/10 Con/10 Int/10 Wis/10 Cha.

15 HP (2d10, first HD maximized, average of the rest, rounded down; so 15.5 > 15), 2 BAB, +3 Fort, +0 Ref, +0 Will

3 Feats
8 Skill Points (Quadruple on the first level, so 2x4 = 8; +2 second level)


If he takes Fighter 3 he gets:
21 HP (3d10), 3 BAB, +3 Fort, +1 Ref, +1 Will

3 Feats
12 Skill Points


He can take any other base class level instead of Fighter. Instead of Fighter 3, he could go Fighter 2/Barbarian 1. This would mean that instead of Fighter 3 abilities, he'd get Barbarian 1 abilities and add them on Fighter 2 (and be considered a level 3 character). As such:

If he takes Fighter 2/Barbarian 1 he gets:
22 HP (2d10 + 1d12), 3 BAB, +5 Fort, +0 Ref, +0 Will

Rage
Fast Movement
3 Feats
14 Skill Points (4x2 Fighter 1 + 2 from Fighter 2 and +4 from Barbarian 1)


That's the gist of it; instead of taking the next level in your current class you can take the first level in any other class (and then advance them or your old class). Advancing classes is unrestricted in 3.5; if you want to, you can take a new class every level (no, it's not very good) and you can go back to advancing any of your old classes at any point.

For example, our Fighter 2/Barbarian 1 could take Fighter 3 as his next level. He could also take Barbarian 2, or e.g. Ranger 1. And yes, some combinations are better than others. That's the nature of open systems.

EDIT: I was too slow, I see. Ah well.

Thank you anways. haha

[Snowbluff]

We've always done the multiplied skills for my group, presumably to cut penalties for skill dependent classes. This is broken and don't ever do it.