I'm going to just say it flat out that I really dislike multiclassing. Not just in this edition but pretty much any edition(although for some reason multiclassing/dualclassing from 2e and earlier avoids a lot of this but that might just be rose tinted glasses). Starting off you have a level in a class. Chances are that class had a major effect on the early part of your life. You may have spent years studying at a school of magic or in the seminary or maybe you spent a long time in the military constantly drilling and training or maybe you were the way you were from birth either being born into a barbarian tribe or maybe you manifested special powers since puberty. Chances are your class helps explain your background or maybe your background explains your class. Whatever class you chose for first level has determined anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of your starting skill proficiencies and it has played a large part in determining how physically tough your character is and what weapons and armor you know how to use and what spells you can cast and it may even strongly influence your relationship with various deities or other super natural forces in the world and has possibly shaped your philosophy....
....and a brand new one can be obtained by murder-hoboing 12 kobolds.
It's like two different philosophies on what a class actually is collided into one horrible mess. Are classes these large profession-like things that play a role in fundamentally determining your character's identity or are they abstract bundles of skills and abilities that are materials to build an overarching character concept separate from the fluff of those classes?
Maybe it's bias from starting in 2nd edition, playing a ton in the first half of 4th edition, and having experience with numerous MMOs but to me your class means something far beyond the mechanical benefits of it. In 2e you were stuck with the class you started with until the day you fully gave up on it. In 4e even if you multiclassed you were still primarily one class who dabbled a little into another class. Even in WoW(well vanilla at least) you had some quests that were specific to your class and often both reflected the lore of your class and were important milestones in your character's adventuring career(the quest for Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers for Hunters, or the quests through Dire Maul for your Dreadsteed as a Warlock, etc). In SWTOR you had a massive story spanning practically the entire game that was based on your choice of class with an imperial agent having a drastically different reason for being on a given planet then a jedi or a sith or a bounty hunter or a trooper would have.
What I want to know is what can I do to "soft ban" multiclassing? I of course want to keep multiclassing rules in the game because for the sake of some player's verisimilitude they might be like "how come my character can't learn a new career if they train long enough?" and I wouldn't want to be like "because I said so". Also I understand that a few character concepts out there might possibly not be doable under a single class even with our large selection of subclasses to choose from. So basically I want to find a way to let certain rare characters concepts that require multiclassing through while making the requirements to multiclass for anyone else so horribly inconvenient, awkward, and byzantine that no player would actually want to go through with it. Any suggestions?
The current requirements for multiclassing are such a joke(OMG! you have to have a 13 in your primary attribute for that class? oh noes!) that they might as well not even be there. I was thinking of possibly requiring a DM approved trainer of some kind to become a member of a new class but making them rare, expensive, and the training take many many years such that a PC would have to take a multiple year long break from adventuring to learn a new class and basically have to retire unless the adventuring party wants to wait around half a decade for them to become a first level Wizard. For the rare character concepts I was thinking that maybe they would have to write the concept into their background and also explain why the concept was not doable with current classes through one single class alone and then maybe require them to keep those classes always within one level of each other.
So...just don't allow multi-classing then. Problem solved.
Atheosis wrote:
With those time limits it amounts to a ban anyway. If that is your goal, then you've done a good job of it. Personally I just require players to have in-game means and to roleplay the multi-classing process. Some may be rather straightforward (like a fighter suddenly discovering his own sorcerous potential) while others may be impractical for a PC (like a fighter going of to a wizard's college for a decade). That's how I handle multi-classing. There are no hard rules on the matter though.
The first question is: do your players really want to multi-class? If not, problem solved. Otherwise, just be honest with them: you don't like multiclassing, you'd prefer they don't do it, but if it's the only way they can possibly fulfill their vision for their character, you'll consider it. Then, you'll have to determine for yourself if they're sincerely trying to realize a character concept (10th level fighter with 2 levels of sorcerer), or are minmaxing to squeeze every last iota of "performance" possible out of their chimera (3rd level fighter/6th level barbarian/2nd level thief/1st level cleric).
MusicOfCreation wrote:
I disapprove of this approach. It's always up to you and your group, but you asked for opinions and imma give you one! 
MusicOfCreation wrote:
MusicOfCreation wrote:
Question : do you want your players to begin at first level ?
Mine begun at 3rd level. Third level is where most classes get choices special enough to differenciate two characters from this class.
Third level also means you can have a character that's Barbarian1/Druid2, with a background explaining both the barbarian and the druid part of the character.
Also, what some other have said : Some classes have a fluff that can easily explain a multi-class.
The bard suddenly have a surge of draconic power, that manifest as sorcerer's class of draconic heritage.
Even a wizard's ulticlass can be explained, especially if the character has the Sage background, by finding a special spellbook and making a quest about finding someone that can teach him to apply what he read before.
Given how the classes unlock new abilities when they get a new level, multiclassing is not weirder in half the cases.
@MacV12: There is a difference between someone using their spells and class features enough that they learn new ways to use them and a Rogue spontaneously gaining divine powers from their newly found god.
Macv12 wrote:
I've disliked multi classing rules since 3rd edition, in prior editions you were either locked in to either advance your two or three classes evenly, or never advance you first class again in exchange for advancing in a single other class instead.
3e+ multi classing became finding the optimal minimum amount to put into your dip class(es) to achieve maximum performance out of your character.
I would much prefer if fighter/wizard, for example, required advancing them evenly evenly again. The current mechanics just result in a gimped character that way though. Nobody's going to want to be a fighter class that doesn't get extra attacks until 10th character level, because of 5 levels in wizard being mandatory.
My biggest complaint is all the min/max combos that are massively unrealistic to play through the lower levels. Since you're starting at, say, 8th level, those first levels that your pal/warlock couldn't have meaningfully contributed until they were able to obtain Shillelagh and replace str with cha for melee attacks is just garbage. At least that example requires a 13 str, but many DM's ignore the multi class reqs and allow you to min/max this with an 8 str.
Any build that includes the words "this build matures at X level, and wont really be effective until then" just encourages me to disallow MC chars.
Some Ideas:
Start at a higher level, say 3 or 4.. Don't allow your players to have any more classes then what they have in those levels. They've already experienced the "backstory" necessary to have the multiple classes.
See the rules for learning additional languages/tools, apply something similar for classes. You need to have spend x days and x gold with a trainer in order to pick up a new class, once you have done so your next level can be in the new class. For reference the languages/tools are 250 days at 1 gold per day.
I think it depends on the class. If someone wanted to pick up a level of warlock or paladin, the class's story fits the notion that you can just pick it up; I usually try to work in a triggering event during play. For sorcerer, I think it depends on how much magic is flying around (background radiation triggers latent sorcery genes). For everything else, I ask my players to let me know as soon as possible, so we can set up a mention of prep work in downtime and/or back story.
Charge a feat for it. Cuts down on the temptation to dip just a level or two.
FaerieGodfather wrote:
Hm... Blog-time! ;) Here are some suggestion to house-rule them, maybe one of them might be the one you want.
my blog wrote: