on of the thing i always loved in D&D is the fact that we're not tied to only one class, we could always mix classes together and i'm wondering if 5th will put multiclass in the system.
here is an overview of the old system used up to now: 2nd edition: character leveled both classes at the same time but divided xp in 2, while the penality looked drastic, the experience chart was exponential and the multiclass characters were usually one level behind others pure class characters meaning that on higher tiered level a multiclass character would usually be overpowered compared to single class.
3.x edition: Each time a character gain a level, he would have the choice to either continue gaining level in his actual class or opt to get a new class or prestige class (considering he meets the requirements). This actually gave bigger advantages to pure classes like wizards or cleric since they get their higher spells at a faster pace, but made it fun for other classes like fighter that had more options as they gained levels. but this brought troubles of sometime dump classes like a first level rogue to optimize skill points, two levels of fighters for the extra feats, tools for players that love to take every possible edges.
4th edition: at the core the multiclass system was crap (sorry but this is entirely a personal view on my part), considering of a couple feats that gave you some limited access to another class abilities. Later on they took out the ability to make hybrids and mix two classes together, I only saw it on the character builder and was very confused as to why i could take this and not that, but it seemed well made, planned and balanced.
On a personnal matter, i'd love to see multiclass like 3.x back along with prestige classes. I loved to make characters with a unique feel like my barbarian-druid or my cleric-chameleon.
Why multiclass? What purpose does it serve? Simple: to recreate mechanically different and divergent character concepts.
What purpose does 3.X multiclass serve? It serves the purpose of simulating character growth: being able to branch into different classes as you progress. What flaws does it have? Unbalance, mainly, and a few others.
Character growth can be simulated in other ways too - multiclass feature swap options for instance (trading in your level 11 fighter feature for a level 3 cleric feature, or similar). Do you see other benefits of the 3.X system that warrant the risks (unbalance) involved?
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Reflavoring: the change of flavor without changing any mechanical part of the game, no matter how small, in order to fit the mechanics to an otherwise unsupported concept. Retexturing: the change of flavor (with at most minor mechanical adaptations) in order to effortlessly create support for a concept without inventing anything new. Houseruling: the change, either minor or major, of the mechanics in order to better reflect a certain aspect of the game, including adapting the rules to fit an otherwise unsupported concept. Homebrewing: the complete invention of something new that fits within the system in order to reflect an unsupported concept.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
Personally I love the 4E Multiclass system, less for its mechanical value, and more for its story value.
Explanation: It never really made sense story-wise that a level 1 character with Fighter 1 suddenly got Wizard spell slots just because he had points in INT and got Wizard 1 when he hit level 2 (making him Fighter 1/Wizard 1). I mean, full features of a class within a far shorter timespan than it took to get to your original class? Favored classes were a strange and klunky means of enforcing limitations on multiclassing... which never really worked in the long run. So in effect, multiclassing was a bit more "let's see how we can best represent a certain character that we know is level A, by adding X, Y and Z to existing class C".
In 4E -- with the full recognition of fluff vs. mechanics separation, removing the need to mechanically represent character concepts by using multiclassing rules -- the multiclassing system makes a lot more sense story-wise. For instance, Berta the Militia Farmer decided to go adventuring. During her adventures she acquired a spell tome. She wanted to learn more about it, but didn't have the time to do so, given how magic schools take decades to graduate from (if at all), so she finds someone willing to give a crash course on the matter -- taking hours or days instead of years -- pay her dues, then continue on her way. With what little she learned, she continues to visit various schools of magic from time to time until she finally masters the art (somewhat). She might not be as skilled a warrior as John her fellow Militia companion -- who spent his time honing his fighting skills in the bars -- but she's an adept caster as well, so it evens out.
Mechanical representation: level 1 Thane Barbarian, multiclasses to Warlock at level 4 (and eventually acquiring Arcane Implement Proficiency [tome]), paragon multiclasses or takes a Warlock/Arcane paragon path [like Academy Master] at level 11. Usually takes months to a year in-game (and in real life) to reach that point.
Because seriously, unless we have to represent a person's life in terms of stats (which means we have to take aging, puberty, etc. into account), I'm not seeing that "real" a character development when you gain a secondary class' full class features the moment you multiclass into it.
I'm guessing that D&D Next will take a hybrid approach to the matter: something like pre-4E (choosing class levels each time you level) but with a 4E twist (classes get very few features at level 1, and progressively gain more features as you go along... and multiclassing does not get you the full benefit of the class(es) you multiclass into).
[ Honestly while I do like Hybrid classes in 4E (the closest to pre-4E dual/multiclassing in 4E), I don't like the idea of having to be a certain level to represent a particular character. I'd rather have levels -- levels + category, for monsters -- represent relative strength difference between opponents, as opposed to being a character creation tool. ]
You are both rational and emotional. You value creation and discovery, and feel strongly about what you create. At best, you're innovative and intuitive. At worst, you're scattered and unpredictable.
If you're crossing the street and see a city bus barreling straight toward you with 'GIVE ME YOUR WALLET!' painted across its windshield, you probably won't be reaching for your wallet.
This is what I believe is the spirit of D&D 4E, and my deal breaker for D&D Next: equal opportunities, with distinct specializations, in areas where conflict happens the most often, without having to worry about heavy micromanagement or system mastery.
3rd edition multiclassing was flexible, but definitely had it's problems. Not the least of which was, when taking a level in a 2nd class, characters immediately gained some abilities they had no intention of using, in addition to the abilities they wanted. Which is why there ended up being hundreds of prestige classes, most of which were simply a more effective way of combining 2 or more classes, than was possible w/ multi-classing.
Instead of frontloading classes w/ a bunch of abilities given automatically at 1st level, I think what would work much better is to have different pools of abilites available to each class then giving players a set # of points per level to spend on gaining new/or improving upon class abilities. If a character wanted to pick up abilities from another class, they could multi-class for 1 or more levels, each level exchanging one of the points from their main class to pick up an ability from a secondary class.
Personally I love the 4E Multiclass system, less for its mechanical value, and more for its story value.
The 4e multiclassing system is good for representing dabbling in another craft, situations where a character is 90% main class/10% secondary, while hybrids are good for characters who want to be 50%/50% split between two classes. The system handles anything in between badly.
For example, one of my 3e characters started as a fighter. He died at a low level and had a religious experience. He then became a cleric and never took another level of fighter. The problem is that 4e really has no mechanical way to represent this character. The multiclassing system can't do it because after a couple of levels he is far more cleric then fighter, but he isn't a hybrid because he started as a fighter.
Of course, no system can cover everything. Many 4e hybrids can't really be done in 3e because a 3e character with levels equally split between two classes ends up with all of the powers of both classes but only the low level ones, while a 4e hybrid ends up with a few high level powers from both classes.
Because seriously, unless we have to represent a person's life in terms of stats (which means we have to take aging, puberty, etc. into account), I'm not seeing that "real" a character development when you gain a secondary class' full class features the moment you multiclass into it.
Which was always the problem with 3e multiclassing. People would jump around to several classes to get the initial burst of class powers. D&D next does have to do something to stop this, possible as simple as having levels below 1 so that characters going into another class don't get everything at 1st level.
Ultimately though, there should be a way to represent a characters life in their stats, because that is what the stats are there for. They are a way to quantify a characters life development so they can be used in the game.
For example, one of my 3e characters started as a fighter. He died at a low level and had a religious experience. He then became a cleric and never took another level of fighter.
I would seriously just rebuild as the new class... I mean died physically and reborn emotionally/spiritually both? And at low level that is trivial on wheels.
The 4e multiclassing system is good for representing dabbling in another craft, situations where a character is 90% main class/10% secondary, while hybrids are good for characters who want to be 50%/50% split between two classes. The system handles anything in between badly.
Hybrids can handle 35%/65% easily enough.
But yea... 10-35%/ 90-65% (~25% of all combinations) is missing.
F-111 Interdictor Long (200+ squares) distance ally teleporter. With some warlord stuff. Broken in a plot way, not a power way. Thought Switch Higher level build that grants upto 14 attacks on turn 1. If your allies play along, it's broken. Elven Critters Crit op with crit generation. 5 of these will end anything. Broken. King Fisher Does an excellent job at keeping an enemy disabled in a few ways. Strong. Boominator Fun catch-22 booming blade build with either strong or completely broken damage depending on your reading. Very Distracting Warlock Lot's of dazing and major penalties to hit. Overpowered. Pocket Protector Pixie Stealth Knight. Maximizing the defender's aura by being in an ally's/enemy's square. Yakuza NinjIntimiAdin: Perma-stealth Striker that offers a little protection for ally's, and can intimidate bloodied enemies. Very Strong. Chargeburgler with cheese Ranged attacks at the end of a charge along with perma-stealth. Solid, could be overpowered if tweaked. Void Defender Defends giving a penalty to hit anyone but him, then removing himself from play. Can get somewhat broken in epic. Scry and Die Attacking from around corners, while staying hidden. Moderate to broken, depending on the situation. Skimisher Fly in, attack, and fly away. Also prevents enemies from coming close. Moderate to Broken depending on the enemy, but shouldn't make the game un-fun, as the rest of your team is at risk, and you have enough weaknesses. Indestructible Simply won't die, even if you sleep though combat. Sir Robin (Bravely Charge Away) He automatically slows and pushes an enemy (5 squares), while charging away. Hard to rate it's power level, since it's terrain dependent. Death's Gatekeeper A fun twist on a healic, making your party "unkillable". Overpowered to Broken, but shouldn't actually make the game un-fun, just TPK proof. Death's Gatekeeper mk2, (Stealth Edition) Make your party "unkillable", and you hidden, while doing solid damage. Stronger then the above, but also easier for a DM to shut down. Broken, until your DM get's enough of it. Domination and Death Dominate everything then kill them quickly. Only works @ 30, but is broken multiple ways. Battlemind Mc Prone-Daze Protecting your allies by keeping enemies away. Quite powerful. The Retaliator Getting hit deals more damage to the enemy then you receive yourself, and you can take plenty of hits. Heavy item dependency, Broken. Dead Kobold Transit Teleports 98 squares a turn, and can bring someone along for the ride. Not fully built, so i can't judge the power Psilent Guardian Protect your allies, while being invisible. Overpowered, possibly broken Unnamed Avenger|Runepriest/Hammer of Vengance Do lot's of damage while boosting your teams. Strong to slightly overpowered. Charedent BarrageA charging ardent. Fine in a normal team, overpowered if there are 2 together, and easily broken in teams of 5. Super Knight A tough, sticky, high damage knight. Strong. Super Duper Knight Basically the same as super knight, only far more broken. Mora, the unkillable avenger Solid damage, while being neigh indestuctable. Overpowered, but not broken. Swordburst Maximus At-Will Close Burst 3 that slide and prones. Protects allies with off actions. Strong, possibly over powered with the right party.
The 4e multiclassing system is good for representing dabbling in another craft, situations where a character is 90% main class/10% secondary, while hybrids are good for characters who want to be 50%/50% split between two classes. The system handles anything in between badly.
Hybrids can handle 35%/65% easily enough.
But yea... 10-35%/ 90-65% (~25% of all combinations) is missing.
Are we counting themes , backgrounds and reflavoring in there? ... I mean I can construct a character that really seems to be well who knows what percentages.
Couldn't the alleged problems of 3E multiclassing be quickly fixed by sticking all the 'frontloaded' stuff into a "level 0" of any given class? That's kinda-sorta how Saga Edition did it.
But usually, the biggest reason someone in 3E took a level of a different class was to get some specific skill at x1 instead of x0.5. The biggest reason to do so in Saga Edition (and sometimes also 3e) is to pick up some arbitrary talent (or other class ability) prerequisite for a prestige class. Eliminate the concept of "Class Skills", and loosen up PrC entry requirements, and this particular need to multiclass goes away.
