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View Full Version : [4e] Idea on Multiclassing



Mauril Everleaf
2008-11-26, 11:26 PM
I had an idea the other day about multiclassing. One of the players in the campaign I am in is currently playing a warlock, but has become kind of disenchanted with the class and would like to switch to wizard, but he doesn't want to have to give up the character he is currently playing. So, he has started taking the multiclassing feats to add wizard abilities. My idea, though, was to allow him to, in paragon, instead of paragon multiclassing, to swap his class and multiclass. Essentially, at level eleven, he would go from being a warlock with all four multiclass feats for wizard to a wizard with all four multiclass feats for warlock, which he could slowly retrain for other feats. We are a bit of a roleplay centric group and just switching him from warlock to wizard would just feel....wrong to us, but we still would like to fix the fact that he isn't happy with being a warlock. The problem is, though, does this even work? He is planning on taking a wizard paragon path so we wouldn't run into issues with that. Thoughts? If it does work, would it be a reasonable houserule to implement in the future?

NPCMook
2008-11-26, 11:45 PM
Well WOTC looked at Multiclassing and somewhat reworked it with the release of Martial Power, Paragon Multiclassing you now have additional feats you can take that give you one of the features of the class you are multiclassing into.

clericwithnogod
2008-11-27, 12:38 AM
I don't see that you're gaining anything as far as roleplay by making him stick with the class he isn't enjoying until paragon. I think it is better to pull the band-aid off quickly.

I can be pretty roleplay focused when the campaign is that way, but I'd have a hard time feeling good about making someone keep playing a class they aren't enjoying for months before letting them switch, and then making them spend another few months getting rid of the multiclass feats.

Mechanically, he is probably going to be a crappy Wizard, as his attack stats are different between the two classes and he may not qualitfy for feats that he would want as a Wizard with his current distribution. Hit Points and such, number (and selection) of skills and armor/weapon proficiencies differ as well so you need to klooge all that as well. If the goal of the mechanic is to allow players to get out of playing a class they don't like, then dragging the switch out over months of play makes it a really poor mechanic.

Just have him renounce his pact or something and continue his career using the knowledge and insight he has of the arcane. Get it over with quick, off-camara preferably, and have him rebuild the character from the ground up mechanically as a Wizard.

I'd rather make an out-of-game correction and hand wave some fluff than make up a mechanic for something like this. I consider this type of thing to fall under Mike Mearls Table Rule #1. I look at new material introduction pretty much the same way.

Zeful
2008-11-27, 01:36 AM
I don't see that you're gaining anything as far as roleplay by making him stick with the class he isn't enjoying until paragon. I think it is better to pull the band-aid off quickly.

I can be pretty roleplay focused when the campaign is that way, but I'd have a hard time feeling good about making someone keep playing a class they aren't enjoying for months before letting them switch, and then making them spend another few months getting rid of the multiclass feats.

Mechanically, he is probably going to be a crappy Wizard, as his attack stats are different between the two classes and he may not qualitfy for feats that he would want as a Wizard with his current distribution. Hit Points and such, number (and selection) of skills and armor/weapon proficiencies differ as well so you need to klooge all that as well. If the goal of the mechanic is to allow players to get out of playing a class they don't like, then dragging the switch out over months of play makes it a really poor mechanic.

Just have him renounce his pact or something and continue his career using the knowledge and insight he has of the arcane. Get it over with quick, off-camara preferably, and have him rebuild the character from the ground up mechanically as a Wizard.

I'd rather make an out-of-game correction and hand wave some fluff than make up a mechanic for something like this. I consider this type of thing to fall under Mike Mearls Table Rule #1. I look at new material introduction pretty much the same way.

I do much of my retraining rules in the same way, except less off-camera. You want to change class, let's come up with a way that makes sense (I was planning to send the ghost of an awakened Bear after a PC because he wanted to retrain to Bear Warrior the campaign died though:smallfrown:).

Mauril Everleaf
2008-11-27, 03:18 AM
To be a little more clear, he is not enjoying the class because of the class. He isn't enjoying the class because we lack a way to get rid of the hordes of minions that keep getting tossed at him. So he is taking the multiclass feats to give himself some AoE. He has been asking for ways to expand those abilities but wants to keep the same character. As for level gaining, we tend to ding about every other session, which leaves him about 4 more sessions before the "switch" would take place.

LibraryOgre
2008-11-27, 05:26 PM
To be a little more clear, he is not enjoying the class because of the class. He isn't enjoying the class because we lack a way to get rid of the hordes of minions that keep getting tossed at him. So he is taking the multiclass feats to give himself some AoE. He has been asking for ways to expand those abilities but wants to keep the same character. As for level gaining, we tend to ding about every other session, which leaves him about 4 more sessions before the "switch" would take place.

http://rpg-crank.livejournal.com/25838.html

Try these, actually. He'll have the ability to pick up powers he wants, without leaving is base class.