[C&C] Multiclassing

[LibraryOgre]

For those not in the know, C&C means "Castles and Crusades". Picture 1st edition AD&D with a unified mechanic, and you're not too far off.

However, C&C doesn't have any multiclassing rules standard. I've been thinking about them, though, and want to toss the following out for consideration:

If you choose to multiclass, your primes must match the primes of your two classes. You advance at the normal speed for someone of your most expensive class (so a fighter/wizard advances as a wizard), BUT your primes are set at +4, instead of +6 (or have a base success of 14 instead of 12, if you prefer that method). You can choose any two classes, but your two primes will be set at +4... even if both classes have the same primes. For example, a fighter/ranger has both the primes as Strength, and strength actions are done at +4 (not +8); unless he is a human, this is his only prime. A fighter/wizard would have his primes be Strength and Intelligence, and gain a +4 for actions pertaining to each.

A human may use his "free" prime to either choose a third prime, as normal, or may reselect one of his "gimped" primes, boosting it to +6. For example, the Fighter/Ranger may choose to have Strength as all three primes, allowing him to perform Strength actions at +6. Or he may choose to have something else as prime (Dexterity or Wisdom, for example), giving him a +4 to Strength and a +6 Wisdom. Humans may also choose to triple-class, but that results in all three primes being +2.

My main issue with this is that it seems relatively "cheap" in terms of XP, especially if your classes synergize well (like a Ranger/Cleric, who loses about 10% efficiency against a straight ranger, but gets a bunch of cleric spells and the ability to turn undead). However, a straight "pay both costs" option is pretty unsatisfying, as leads to really slow advancement at first.

Another option is to simply import a variant of d20 multiclassing. You can multiclass into anything whose Prime is Prime for you, and you take the best available options from them. So, a Fighter with the primes of Strength and Dexterity, upon reaching 2001 XP, could choose to multiclass into Assassin. Instead of becoming a 2nd level fighter, he becomes a 1st level fighter/1st level assassin, using the better HD and BtH of the two. Upon reaching 1751 XP as an assassin, he can choose to become a 2nd level fighter, a 2nd level Assassin, a 1st level Ranger, or a 1st level Thief. He would continue to use the best of each line... as a 1 fighter/1 ranger/1 assassin, he would have 1D10 HP, +1 BtH, and the abilities of all three classes... but when using a ranger ability, he only adds his ranger level (and relevant attribute modifiers) to his SIEGE roll.

Any thoughts?

[Matthew]

Sounds interesting. I think your last option is the most workable, with characters being able to switch classes when they hit the appropriate experience point requirement as long as their primary attributes are appropriate to both classes, and always using the highest value of any classes taken to gain a new level. So a human with intelligence and dexterity as primary attributes would be able to start off as a rogue and reach level three after ,

So, he could take three levels of rogue after gaining 2,501 EP, but to become a Rogue 3/Wizard 1 he would need to earn 7,900 more EP [i.e. to reach 10,401 EP]. If he wanted to take another level in rogue, he would still have to use the experience progression of a wizard.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm not so sure about that one, Matthew. It looks like it would result in a lot of complexity to follow things. By saying that, at 2001 XP, a fighter can take a level in some other class, or a 2nd level of fighter, you can keep track of separate XP totals for each class, rather than fighting with "which class am I ready to level in" and fluctuating xp requirements.

[Matthew]

I dunno, doesn't sound too complicated to me; A progression would basically look something like:

Fighter 1: 0- (Fighter Progression)
Rogue 2: 2,001- (Fighter Progression)
Fighter 3: 4,001- (Fighter Progression)
Wizard 4: 10,400- (Wizard Progression)

= Fighter 2/Wizard 1/Rogue 1

or

Rogue 1: 0- (Rogue Progression)
Rogue 2: 1,251- (Rogue Progression)
Fighter 3: 4,001- (Fighter Progression)
Rogue 4: 8,501- (Fighter Progression)

= Fighter 1/Rogue 3

or

Wizard 1: 0- (Wizard Progression)
Fighter 2: 2.601- (Wizard Progression)
Rogue 3: 5.201- (Wizard Progression)
Wizard 4: 10,4001 (Wizard Progression)

= Fighter 1/Wizard 2/Rogue 1

Sure, it would be a bad idea for a rogue to take one level of fighter, but otherwise you're tracking multiple totals or looking for the average EP at each level...

Of course, you could just use the AD&D Dualclass or Multiclass rules, or else create a new class that contains the desired elements and a clean level advancement. The last is my personal preference.