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View Full Version : Free multi-classing for diversity



Breaw
2008-03-11, 04:33 PM
My motivations

I'm planning on running a campaign in the next few months and have been toying with the idea of providing free multi-classing to the party in order to promote well rounded characters.

At the end of the day, when a party is 3-7th level and interested more than 2 encounters that day, the optimal way of dealing with a challenge is for everyone to play their role. As nice as teamworky as that sounds, what it really means is that the invisible cleric heals and buff the fighter, while the wizards beats the encounter.

This is certainly not universally true, but I'm sure you can all appreciate what I'm getting at here. It may be possible that the below mentioned ruleset will undermine party teamwork and make a bunch of super heroes. If that is the case then I will have screwed up, but only time will tell.

[U]The rules[U]

The rules here are actually very simple:

1) Divide all classes into those that cast spells at level 1, and those that don't:

Punchies:

Barbarian
Fighter
Monk
Paladin
Ranger
Rogue

Swooshies:

Bard
Cleric
Druid
Sorcerer
Wizard

2) Choose one class from each category.

3) Roll a character with a first level in both classes. That means full HP, full skills, and all class abilities.

4) If both your classes are divine casters, your CLs stack.

5) I strongly encourage players to level progress with your 'primary class', but you can multiclass freely with either class as you level up.

6) Every 4 levels (starting at level 4) you will get a level in both classes simultaneously.


[U]The Hax[U]

I fully expect some ridiculous combinations, off the top of my head...

- Barbarian/Strength domain Cleric with Diehard
- Ranger/Sorceror with expeditious retreat and shot on the run
- Wizard/Rogues that can deliver sneak attacks with touch attack spells (I would probably require improved unarmed and weapon focus ray for this one)
- Ranger/Druids with CL 4 (and CL 4 animal companions) at level 4
- Monk/Sorceror (aka 'touch attack monk')
- Pally/Cleric (Uneadotron 2000)
- Bard/Fighter (O.K. That one would still suck, but you get the idea)

Just curious what the community made of this concept. I personally am having a lot of fun currently playing a ranger/sorc (expeditious retreat, feather fall and truestrike come in handy) in a campaign that is utilizing a ruleset that includes free levels of the DMs choice every now and then.

I am a bit leery to open up the free multi-classing to my players (note, only using PHB and DMG, although am willing to discuss exceptions) as the characters they create may be far more hax than I anticipate.

I'd love it for you guys to 1) Let me know what you think, suggest alterations. 2) Put together a 2x Level 1 character that you feel is off the charts (there are some pretty fun combos out there) so that I can get a better feel for what people may end up making.

Thanks for your time.

Xyk
2008-03-11, 05:17 PM
Have you heard of gestalt? There is already a set of rules for playing 2 classes at once.

Breaw
2008-03-11, 05:39 PM
Have you heard of gestalt? There is already a set of rules for playing 2 classes at once.

I tend to shy away from books past the base 3, perhaps I should seek this 'gestalt' out.

Thanks.

expirement10K14
2008-03-11, 05:41 PM
This provides much, much more flavor than gestalt. It also allows less over-powered characters at the low levels, as gestalt has a much different power curve, and this system makes you level 2 with level 2 power, not level one with level 1.5 power.

Edit- Gestalt can be found here. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm)

Breaw
2008-03-11, 05:53 PM
This provides much, much more flavor than gestalt. It also allows less over-powered characters at the low levels, as gestalt has a much different power curve, and this system makes you level 2 with level 2 power, not level one with level 1.5 power.

I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks for the link! I'll check out both systems and figure out how they compare to one another.

More than anything the fact that something similar is clearly being done by many people means that my players will probably not be uncontrollably powerful.