Feat that adds another favored class?

[Sheogoroth]

I seem to remember a reading about a feat in Pathfinder/3.5 in which you could add another class as your favored class and in so doing not incur a multitasking penalty.

Can anyone help me out?

[zimmerwald1915]

Well, you could just be a half-elf and not bother with feats, but I think the feat you're looking for is Eclectic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/arg-feats/eclectic).

[Sheogoroth]

Not the feat I was looking for...

I have a specific build in mind that is somewhat dependent on the race and I'd rather not take the massive exp reduction in the long term from diving into a prestige class.

[zimmerwald1915]

Not the feat I was looking for...

I have a specific build in mind that is somewhat dependent on the race and I'd rather not take the massive exp reduction in the long term from diving into a prestige class.
...You don't take an XP penalty from taking a prestige class.

Also, it would be helpful if you could lay out your build.

[erikun]

Taking a prestige class does not incur the experience point penalties normally associated with multiclassing. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/prestigeClasses.htm) I'm sure there is a page number from the actual books, but seeing as prestige classes are in the DMG, I doubt I'd be able to find it for you. (I only have the PHB.)

[Namfuak]

...You don't take an XP penalty from taking a prestige class.

Also, it would be helpful if you could lay out your build.

If he is playing Pathfinder, he does not get the normal bonus for taking levels in favored class if he is taking a prestige class. Under the rules for favored class, however, it explicitly says that prestige classes can never be a favored class, so if a feat did allow you to take a prestige class as a favored class it would be directly contradictory.

[Darrin]

I seem to remember a reading about a feat in Pathfinder/3.5 in which you could add another class as your favored class and in so doing not incur a multitasking penalty.

Additional Favored Class [General]. Unearthed Arcana p. 100.

There are a few other ways to add another or switch favored class. Dragonborn of Bahumat adds Fighter, Orc-Blooded feat adds Barbarian. There may be some racial variants that switch a race's typical favored class to something else. In UA, for example, Jungle Dwarves favor ranger, and Jungle Halflings favor Barbarian. And there are some racial templates in Dragon #306 that can change your favored class: Magic-Blooded -> Sorcerer, Desert-Dweller/Wild -> Ranger.

[sonofzeal]

Or just... don't play with multiclass xp penalties? It's probably the #1 most common houserule in the game, anyway.

[ThiagoMartell]

Or just... don't play with multiclass xp penalties? It's probably the #1 most common houserule in the game, anyway.

That's hardly helpful considering he's not the DM...

[sonofzeal]

That's hardly helpful considering he's not the DM...
Eh. Pretty sure he can talk to the DM about it.

[Answerer]

The multiclass penalty rules are hideous.

1. They don't accomplish what they set out to do. They are by no means any kind of balancing mechanic, and they don't really manage to encourage people to single-class – they just make prestige classes and one-level dips better, neither of which needed the help.

2. They don't make any kind of sense in a lot of campaigns, since many people play with classes as metagame concepts anyway. Playing with classes as actual, in-character things rarely works if you think about it too much.

3. They shaft the already-weaker classes, and barely affect the most powerful classes. Casters almost never multiclass because it costs them spellcasting, which is far too valuable. Meanwhile, there are a ton of martial classes that are "good" for exactly two levels (Fighter, Monk, and Paladin come to mind immediately, for examples). There's just nothing desirable about this.

4. With newer "gish-in-a-can" type classes (Psychic Warrior, Duskblade, etc.), there's extreme internal inconsistency in what is probably the most reasonable case for multiclassing being more difficult than single classing. A Fighter/Wizard takes multiclassing penalties, in theory, because he's trying to learn two very different skill sets. But the PsyWar and Duskblade marry exactly the same two skill sets, and take no such penalties.

Meanwhile, things like Barbarian/Ranger, Barbarian/Fighter, Ranger/Rogue, Fighter/Paladin, Monk/Paladin all involve learning how to fight in slightly different ways. It never made sense that it would be hard to "switch" in these cases, even if you treat classes as in-game constructs.


In other words, these rules are terrible and should never be used. I would never play in a game that did use them.


Also, OP, you should note that Prestige Classes do not count towards multiclass penalties. Neither do one-level dips. So if you're forced to play with these terrible rules, there are ways around them.

Under no circumstances is it ever a good idea to waste a feat getting another Favored Class.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Also, OP, you should note that Prestige Classes do not count towards multiclass penalties. Neither do one-level dips. So if you're forced to play with these terrible rules, there are ways around them.


Bolded for inaccuracy.



Uneven Levels
If any two of your multiclass character's classes are two or more levels apart, the strain of developing and maintaining different skills at different levels takes its toll. Your multiclass character takes a -20% penalty to XP for each class that is not within one level of his or her highest-level class.

The examples in the following section, Races and Multiclass XP, both involve characters taking penalties for one-level dips. In one case, it's a Gnome Rog 9/Brd 2 who adds a level of Fighter (Rog 9/Brd 2/Ftr 1) then a level of Cleric (Rog 9/Brd 2/Ftr 1/Clr 1), taking a -40% penalty for his two one-level dips.

Unless this has been specifically changed in errata or in another sourcebook, I can't see how you're supporting this idea.

[Namfuak]

Bolded for inaccuracy.



The examples in the following section, Races and Multiclass XP, both involve characters taking penalties for one-level dips. In one case, it's a Gnome Rog 9/Brd 2 who adds a level of Fighter (Rog 9/Brd 2/Ftr 1) then a level of Cleric (Rog 9/Brd 2/Ftr 1/Clr 1), taking a -40% penalty for his two one-level dips.

Unless this has been specifically changed in errata or in another sourcebook, I can't see how you're supporting this idea.

I think he means that you have a character doing something like this:

1 Barbarian/1 Ranger/2 Barbarian/2-3 Ranger/(real build then goes to Horizon Walker)

If one is trying to avoid multiclassing, is that atrocious? Yes. But according to the rules, it does not incur a penalty, regardless of whether Barbarian or Ranger is a favored class for you.

[Answerer]

Right you are: there's no penalty for having only one-level dips. A Fighter 1/Ranger 1/Monk 2/Rogue 1/Cleric 1/Paladin 2 takes no multiclass penalties. Because, you know, that's exactly what the rule is trying to encourage.

The rules are awful, because they don't accomplish their goal and because their goal is a bad one to begin with.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

I think he means that you have a character doing something like this:

1 Barbarian/1 Ranger/2 Barbarian/2-3 Ranger/(real build then goes to Horizon Walker)

If one is trying to avoid multiclassing, is that atrocious? Yes. But according to the rules, it does not incur a penalty, regardless of whether Barbarian or Ranger is a favored class for you.

That's a different issue though, covered under the Even Levels section of the multiclassing rules. If you keep your classes within one level of one another (excepting the favored class) then there are no experience penalties. If they get out of sync, then it doesn't matter whether they're dips or not; you incur penalties as appropriate.

Edit: The even levels thing works regardless of the number of levels you take in a class. Dipping has nothing to do with it (though it's more optimal most of the time). I agree with the general point, though, that the multiclassing rules are mostly nonfunctional out of the box. Removing xp penalties and introducing fractional BAB and save progression does a lot to fix that.

[Fitz10019]

...You don't take an XP penalty from taking a prestige class.

Right, but if his Lv1-6 build would incur the penalty, and then he enters a prestige class at Lv7, he'll continue to incur the penalty every level until he balances his base-class 'imbalance'.

That's my interpretation of the OP's dilemma.

I assume the OP's DM likes the multi-class penalty rule. Another solution: talk to your DM about this character being half-human. Give up something from that other race, and take favored-class-any for your human trait. Just a thought.