House Rule: Everything is fractional

[Just to Browse]

I normally have a house rule in my games and chargen that I do everything fractionally. Not just BAB and saves, but any class features as well. I've seen it help a lot--a rogue1 can't dip SAfighter for +1d6 sneak attack, and a monk2/scout1 still gets fast movement--but my instincts tell me this could be bad for something.

In what sorts of cases does this hurt character-building? As in nerfing already-weak characters, buffing things that don't need to be buffed, or making things confusing.

[Bakkan]

You'll have to be precise about what you mean by "fractional" in each case. For instance, when using fractional saves, some DM's don't allow you to gain the "extra" +2 for having the good save more than once, while others do. In the case of the Rogue or SA Fighter, the formula for Sneak Attack is 0.5*level + 0.5 dice (round down). The question is whether you allow a multiclass Rogue /SA Fighter to gain that non-level dependent 0.5 dice for both classes or only once. In my opinion, in the case of Sneak Attack you should keep that extra 0.5 from both classes (resulting in the same situation we have now), becasue otherwise you are nerfing an already-weak class.

I can't think of anything strong that this rule (either way) would make stronger, but if you keep the extra non-level dependent bonuses from all classes as I think you should, it will make some weaker class combinations slightly stronger.

[soveliss24]

I'm not sure exactly how your rule is phrased so I can't give a definite answer... but consider this situation:

Class A grants ability X at level 8. Class B grants the ability X at level 2, but the player doesn't want to play Class B.
The player takes one level of Class B, then progresses in Class A. Do they gain the ability at the average of the levels the two classes would have granted it at (level 5)? If so, this player is potentially getting the class ability of a 'Class A 8' at 'Class A 4 / Class B 1'. Dunno if situations like this will actually come up, or whether it would be terrible if they did, but it's food for thought.