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EvilVegan 05-27-07, 12:31 PM

Campaign stuffs: I've divided magic up into 4 categories. Arcane - Interaction and control of interplanar forces, drawing energy from the Shadow Plane to create effects. Divine - Force of will bending reality through the power of collective belief Nature - Understanding the forces and spirits at work in the world allows you to alter reality Psionic - Utilizing your own power you can manipulate the things outside of your body. Each of the first three has a primary casting stat (This factors in to multiclassing later) Arcane - Intelligence Divine - Charisma Nature - Wisdom There are three classes in each division, each has an ability score associated with it as well. This either grants additional benefit or functions as a limiting factor, but isn't important to this particular aspect of my campaign. Arcane - Alchemist (Wis), Beguiler (Cha), Warmage (Int) Divine - Priest (Wis), Necromancer (Int), Summoner (Cha) Nature - Druid (Wis), Healer (Cha), Transmogrifist (Int) Psionic - Psion (Int), Psychic warrior (Wis), Wilder (Cha) Universal - Sorcerer (reworked) (Int, Wis, OR Cha, chosen at 1st level) Ok. Now I'm reworking the non-caster classes to have an associated ability score: Warrior (my reworked fighter replaces fighter and barbarian) can choose one stat at 1st level (Int, Wis, Cha) Warblade (Int) Crusader (Cha) Swordsage (Wis) Rogue (Int) Marshall (reworked) (Cha) Scout (Wis) Ok now for the reason this is important: If you multiclass away from a caster (meaning you have to have at least 1 caster level) you add half your levels from other classes to your caster level for all caster classes. If you multiclass into a class that shares an ability score you add 3/5 levels of other classes to your caster level. The 3/5 advancement is a true 3/5th advancement (0, 1, 1, 2, 3 instead of 0,1,2,3,3) For instance if you are a beguiler 5 (Int/Cha) and you take 5 levels in Marshal (Cha) or rogue (Int) your caster level for beguiler is 8. If you took 5 levels in scout (wis) or swordsage (wis) instead of marshal your caster level for beguiler would only be 7. This also works for multiclass casters. A warmage 5 (Int/Int) / Priest 5 (Cha/Wis) / Transmogrifist 5 (Wis/Int) would have a caster level of 11 for warmage and priest spells, and a caster level of 13 for transmogrifist spells. Of course he'd only have spells known as a 5th level in each. It gets even more confusing. If you take a multicaster PrC, such as mystic theurge or some of my custom ones, they advance caster level faster than normal. I even have a 3-fold caster that requires arcane, divine, and nature spells, by the end of it you should have full caster level in all three of your classes, but spells known as 12th level in each (max 6th level spells). Yes at 20th level your 12/12/12 with 20/20/20 caster level. But that particular class is hard to get into, has terrible hit die and skill points, and doesn't advance anything else. Being 12th level with lots 2nd level spells before entering the class is a big drawback (earliest you can get into it is with 4 levels of 3 classes). Okay so what does this mean? Well lets say your concept is something like a warrior who can get bursts of speed. Be a warblade and pick up a level or two of arcane sorcerer (my sorcerer picks a primary group arcane/divine/nature) and get expeditious retreat and shield. Now instead of having one crappy 1st level spell that never lasts more than a minute you've got a crappy 1st level spell that scales with level. Critique?