BAB clarification needed

[redking]

Wizard 20 Fighter 10 vs Fighter 10 Wizard 20.

Does the latter have a higher BAB than the former simply because it's Fighter levels came first, or can the player choose how the BAB is calculated?

[Tzardok]

The order you take your levels in matters. You aren't allowed to just re-arrange stuff like that without using an optional rule like retraining.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Wizard 20 Fighter 10 vs Fighter 10 Wizard 20.

Does the latter have a higher BAB than the former simply because it's Fighter levels came first, or can the player choose how the BAB is calculated?

The first one has 10 BAB, 2 attacks in a full attack and +15+Str to-hit, the second has 15 BAB, 3 attacks in a full attack and +20+Str to-hit. That's one way to reward people who take martial classes pre-epic.

[Khedrac]

The first one has 10 BAB, 2 attacks in a full attack and +15+Str to-hit, the second has 15 BAB, 3 attacks in a full attack and +20+Str to-hit. That's one way to reward people who take martial classes pre-epic.

To expand on the above - there is a real difference between Base Attack Bonus and Epic Attack Bonus.

Base Attack Bonus (BAB) determines the number of attacks as comes from your class levels pre-epic.
Epic Attack Bonus simply comes from your epic levels (class does not matter) and simply helps your "to hit" - it has no effect on the number of attacks.

[Biggus]

It was clarified in the ELH FAQ that the order does matter. Personally I think it's a silly rule and let them take their best 20 levels for BAB, but officially it works as the others have said.

[XionUnborn01]

It was clarified in the ELH FAQ that the order does matter. Personally I think it's a silly rule and let them take their best 20 levels for BAB, but officially it works as the others have said.

Why do you think it's silly? If a player is planning on going wiz20/ftr10, would you let them have +1bab at first level, even if it's a wizard level? Would you allow a +10bab at level 10 because they plan to take ten levels of fighter eventually?

[Biggus]

Why do you think it's silly?

Firstly, it's out of step with how things generally work in 3.5. A Wizard 10/Fighter10 has exactly the same abilities regardless of which order they took their levels in, except for what class skills they have at level 1. Secondly, it makes no sense to me that a Wizard20/Fighter100 has a worse attack bonus than a Fighter20/Wizard 100. Thirdly, other than simplifying attack bonus calculations, there's no good reason why your first 20 levels should be the only ones that count for BAB purposes.


If a player is planning on going wiz20/ftr10, would you let them have +1bab at first level, even if it's a wizard level? Would you allow a +10bab at level 10 because they plan to take ten levels of fighter eventually?

No, that's a totally different situation. They don't have the Fighter levels yet, so they don't get the benefit of them. A Wizard20/Fighter20 has the Fighter levels but doesn't get one of the most important benefits of them.