(3.5, PEACH) Favoured class bonuses

[Pramxnim]

So, D&D 3.x has this concept of a favoured class for every race and subrace imaginable under the sun, but the only benefit it gives you is that you don't suffer XP penalties for multiclassing. I know a lot of DMs houserule away multiclassing penalties, so the benefit you gain from a favoured class is pretty much non-existent anyways.

Here's what I'm proposing, and I'd like some input on the balance issues these changes might have.

Favoured Class: If you enter a favoured class for your race or subrace, you gain a certain benefit depending on that class. Races that may have any class as a favoured class (Humans, Half-Elf, Illumians) choose one class at character creation to gain the benefit from. This choice cannot be changed afterward, but it does not impact multiclassing penalties.

Example: A human PC chooses to gain the benefits of being in the Fighter class. His build is Fighter 2/Ranger 10/Barbarian 1. He gains the benefits from Fighter being his favoured class but still suffers no XP penalty for multiclassing since he excludes Ranger from that consideration (seeing as Ranger is the class he has with the highest number of class levels).




The actual benefits:

Full casters (having access to level 9 spells), Bard and Duskblade: You treat your primary casting stat as 2 higher for the purpose of determining bonus spells per day. If you are in a class that uses 2 different stats for spellcasting, treat the stat that determines bonus spells as 2 higher for that purpose only.

Fighter: You are treated as a fighter of 2 levels higher for the purposes of qualifying for Fighter specific feats (so a Dwarf Fighter 2 qualifies for Weapon Specialization).

And...

Yeah, I'm a bit stumped for now. I'd like to hear what the community has to say on these proposed changes first before I make up some more.

My aim is to make the benefits minor enough to not have a significant impact on gameplay, yet still provide that slight bit of incentive for staying in a favoured class. I'd rather not make the bonuses scale with class level, as that would increase the impact it has on gameplay, and not all classes are good to stay in for long (the Sorcerer is a prime example of this).

[togapika]

No dwarf character would ever take more than 2 levels of fighter again...

[Yora]

Question is: Why?

Why get some players a bonus because they play a character they like and most others not?

[Ashtagon]

That caster benefit grants a bonus for them with no special choice needed in character design. the fighter benefit only grants a *potential* benefit if they build their character in a certain way. These two sets of benefits are inherently unbalanced.

Pathfinder offers a choice of +1 hp or +1 skill point (or is it both?) each time teh character takes a level in the favoured class. I think this works well.

[Pyrusticia]

Pathfinder offers a choice of +1 hp or +1 skill point (or is it both?) each time teh character takes a level in the favoured class. I think this works well.

I like this idea.