Cross class XP Penalty

[Tim Proctor]

Can someone explain how this works?

I was under the impression that if you have a favored class, it doesn't count. Or if the levels are within 1 it doesn't count. Also Prestige classes don't count.

I see people post builds where they splash two or three times and that seems like a horrible idea because the XP penalty. Am I missing something here?

[Ranting Fool]

Can someone explain how this works?

I was under the impression that if you have a favored class, it doesn't count. Or if the levels are within 1 it doesn't count. Also Prestige classes don't count.

I see people post builds where they splash two or three times and that seems like a horrible idea because the XP penalty. Am I missing something here?

XP Penalty means slightly longer to level up (XP is always there so people don't seem to care) that and a lot of people house rule away the whole Favored class thing.

Favored class does not count nor do Prestige classes.

So say you are Human (first class is always favored)
4 levels Fighter
4 Levels cleric
4 levels cleric Prc
= No XP pen.
1 fighter, 3 cleric, 4 Prc = no pen.
Halfling
1 Figher, 3 Cleric, 4 Prc = Pen (As favored class is Rogue)

2 Fighter, 2 Cleric, 4 Rogue = 10% XP pen. Oh no how ever will we cope :smallbiggrin:

Mostly builds ignore how long it takes to get there and/or remove the Cross class pen despite the fact that if you are a level or two behind your party that could be a pain :smallbiggrin:

[Story]

Incidently, many people recommend ignoring XP penalties, becase they're bad for balance. All they do is penalize low op mundanes.

They don't even prevent "cheesy sounding" builds. A Changeling Totemist 2/Barbarian 1/Warblade 1/Crusader 1/Warshaper 3 has no XP penalties, while a Fighter 5/Rogue 3 does despite being much weaker.

[Amphetryon]

The build order for Characters can also influence whether or not they receive an XP penalty; in many cases, I suspect folks either assume the Characters are being constructed in the most beneficial order (when they aren't ignoring the penalty altogether).

Incoming horrible build example:

Gnome Bard 1/Ranger 4/Barbarian 3. Gnomes have Favored Class: Bard. So, regardless of when I took Bard, it wouldn't influence whether or not I got an XP penalty. If I alternate when I take Ranger and Barbarian, I can avoid XP penalties altogether, despite having 3 different base Classes. On the other hand, if I took all 3 levels of Barbarian in a row before picking up any Ranger levels (or vice versa), the Character would suffer XP penalties until Ranger and Barbarian were within a single level of each other.

[Keld Denar]

Just ignore them. They shouldn't have made the transition from 3.0 to 3.5. It was an editing error. Or at least thats what I like to blame it on.

[Telonius]

Can someone explain how this works?

I was under the impression that if you have a favored class, it doesn't count. Or if the levels are within 1 it doesn't count. Also Prestige classes don't count.

I see people post builds where they splash two or three times and that seems like a horrible idea because the XP penalty. Am I missing something here?

How it works in every game I've played...


This rule is stupid. Ignore it.

[skyth]

So say you are Human (first class is always favored)

I thought it was that the highest class was always favored.


Halfling
1 Figher, 3 Cleric, 4 Prc = Pen (As favored class is Rogue)

2 Fighter, 2 Cleric, 4 Rogue = 10% XP pen.

The Fighter/Cleric/Rogue has no penalty. The Halfling's favorite class is rogue, to it is ignored. The remaining classes are within 1 of each other, so no penalty.

[Ranting Fool]

doh! Brain fart there, that's what I get from 4 hours sleep