Fixed Multiclassing for my game - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Fixed Multiclassing for my game

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
totoro
Aug 12, 2008 22:14:17 I'm a big 4e fan, but I absolutely *hated* the multiclassing rules. There were a lot of little tweaks that I had to make for the multiclassing to really look good. Some of those little changes were
1) Feats every odd level.
2) Utility 1 powers (abbreviated U1).
3) Career Paths... this is the big one.

My broad goal at the outset was for multiclass characters to gain all features of each class. That meant I had to make sure that the singleclass characters were better at what they did. And at the same time I wanted to make sure that the characters were no more powerful than standard characters because I didn't want to have to mess with monster levels. It was a little easier than it sounds, but it was still a ton of work! Most of the magic is in the career paths.

Career Paths include a Multiclass Career Path, a Singleclass Career Path, and a default Career Path. It's probably easier to show than to explain with an example (Cleric). Some notes that are useful to understand what is going on:
1) I don't divide rituals by levels, but rather by tiers. The cost of the ritual is around the cost of a magic item, so I can control access with cost. The Remove Affliction ritual includes the ability to cure disease.
2) Channel Divinity is now usable 2/encounter and includes Healing Word.
3) U1 Powers include the Channel Divinity feat powers (e.g., Armor of Bahamut).
4) At 10th level, you will have every cleric class feature and your lowest level Utility, Encounter, and Daily power is a Cleric power. Thus, you have every power accessible to a 1st level Cleric.
5) At 11th level, you will take a Paragon Path associated with your original class (not the cleric class). At 21st level, you will take a Paragon Path associated with your Cleric class.
6) You gain feats at odd levels, but do not gain ability increases except where indicated (i.e., 14th, 18th, 24th, 28th levels). The ability increases are much more sparse for multiclass characters to ensure a good balance of power.

Level Features
1 Retrain with Cleric class skills; Leather Armor; Simple Weapons; Ritual Casting; Heroic Tier ritual (with Religion Key Skill); [Skill Training: Religion--If your original class has only 3 trained skills, you get Skill Training: Religion for free; if not, you must retrain in the Religion skill]
2 Hide Armor; Chainmail; Channel Divinity (pick one) 1/day; Gentle Repose ritual
4 Clerical Investment; Remove Affliction ritual
6 Retrain with a U1 Cleric power; Channel Divinity (any) 1/day
8 Retrain with an E1 Cleric power (E3 at 13th level); Channel Divinity 2/encounter; +1 minimum base Will defense
10 Retrain with a D1 Cleric power (D5 at 15th level, D9 at 19th level); Healer’s Lore; +2 minimum base Will defense; Minimum of 7 base healing surges, 7 base hit points, and 5 hit points per level
11 Take a Paragon Path for your original class; Freely retrain with Cleric at will powers
12 Freely retrain with Cleric utility powers
14 Increase a first key ability of your original class by 2
16 Freely retrain with Cleric encounter powers
18 Increase a second key ability of your original class by 2
20 Freely retrain with Cleric daily powers
21 Take a Cleric Paragon Path; Gain the 11th level Features and Encounter Power of your Cleric Paragon Path
22 Gain the Utility Power of your Cleric Paragon Path
24 Increase your Wisdom by 2
26 Gain the 16th level Features of your Cleric Paragon Path
28 Increase Strength or Charisma (your choice) by 2
30 Gain the Daily Power of your Cleric Paragon Path

This is getting long; so I'll continue in a separate post.
#2
totoro
Aug 12, 2008 22:24:34 I guess it would help to know the features of the Cleric class in my game:

Cleric (Divine Leader)
Hit Points: Constitution score + 7 + 5/level
Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier
Bonus to Defense: +2 Will
Predetermined Feats: Chainmail Proficiency, Simple Weapons Proficiency, 4 Trained Skills (Religion and 3 other Class Skills)
Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Religion (Int)
Clerics and Deities: All clerics choose a specific faith to which they devote themselves. Usually this faith is the worship of a specific patron deity—for example, Moradin, Pelor, or Erathis. Sometimes clerics are devoted to churches that venerate groups of deities or even philosophies. As a cleric, your deity does not directly grant you powers. Instead, your ordination or investiture as a cleric grants you the ability to wield divine powers. Clerics are usually formally ordained by existing clerics who perform a special ritual to do so, but on rare occasions a deity moves to directly ordain a worthy worshiper with-out any sort of priestly hierarchy involved. What you do with your powers once you are ordained is up to you, although if you flagrantly and openly defy your deity’s tenets, you quickly earn the enmity of the faithful.

Channel Divinity
Clerics can Channel Divinity 2/encounter, but at most 1/round and once each per encounter.

Channel Divinity: Divine Fortune Cleric Class Feature
Encounter . Divine
Free Action Personal
Effect: You gain a +1 bonus to your next attack roll or saving throw before the end of your next turn.

Channel Divinity: Healing Word Cleric Class Feature
Encounter . Divine, Healing
Minor Action Close burst 4 times your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1)
Target: You or one ally
Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain additional hit points equal to your level.

Channel Divinity: Turn Undead Cleric Class Feature
Encounter . Divine, Implement, Radiant
Standard Action Close burst 2 times your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1)
Target: Each undead creature in burst
Attack: Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 1d6 + Wisdom modifier + your level radiant damage, and you push the target a number of squares equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. The target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Miss: Half damage, and the target is not pushed or immobilized.

Healer’s Lore
When you grant healing with one of your cleric powers that has the healing keyword, add your Wisdom modifier to the hit points the recipient regains.

Clerical Investment (includes Ritual Casting and Display Holy Symbol)

Ritual Casting
You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals (see Chapter 10). You possess a ritual book, and it contains three rituals you have mastered: Gentle Repose, Remove Affliction, and one other Heroic Tier ritual of your choice having Religion as a key skill. In addition, rituals with Religion or Heal as a key skill that are cast by Clerics are treated as having a level equal to that of the Cleric (10th level maximum for Heroic, and 20th level maximum for Paragon Tier rituals).

Display Holy Symbol
Choose one of the following:
Adornment of Faith: You can wear your holy symbol anywhere on your person and benefit from its effects.
Beacon of Faith: You must hold your holy symbol in your hand, but gain Military Weapon Group (any except Bow) Proficiency.
Shield of Faith: You gain light shield proficiency. You can emblazon your holy symbol on your shield (or embed a magic holy symbol in your shield).
#3
totoro
Aug 12, 2008 22:41:53 The Singleclass Cleric Career Path:

Level Features
1 +2 Wisdom
2 Skill Focus: Religion;
If you have Adornment of Faith: You can carry multiple holy symbols, and activate one as a minor action; as a standard action, you can create a +1 magic holy symbol that only you can use (the magic fades if you create another)
If you have Beacon of Faith: You gain Weapon Focus (one group);
If you have Shield of Faith: You gain Heavy Shield proficiency;
4 +2 Strength or Charisma
6 Channel Divinity 3/encounter; You can channel the U1 power associated with your god; Retrain in a U1 Cleric power associated with a god other than yours
8 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 4th level)
10 Channel Divinity 4/encounter; You can channel the same power multiple times per encounter
11 +2 Wisdom
12 Channel Divinity 5/encounter; You can transfer the magic of a holy symbol of your level or lower into one of your god during an extended rest
14 +2 Strength or Charisma
16 Channel Divinity at will (at most 1/round)
18 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 14th level)
20 You can channel any one U2 power
21 +2 Wisdom
22 You can channel a second U2 power
24 +2 Strength or Charisma
26 You can channel a third U2 power
28 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 24th level)
30 You can channel a fourth U2 power
#4
jaxgaret
Aug 12, 2008 22:52:33 tl;dr

Looks good, though.
#5
totoro
Aug 12, 2008 22:57:08 Level Default Path
1 +2 to First Ability*
2 +2 to Second Ability*
4 +2 to Third Ability*
6 +2 to Fourth Ability*
8 +2 to Fifth Ability*
10 +2 to Sixth Ability*
11 +2 to First Ability*
12 +2 to Second Ability*
14 +2 to Third Ability*
16 +2 to Fourth Ability*
18 +2 to Fifth Ability*
20 +2 to Sixth Ability*
21 +2 to First Ability*
22 +2 to Second Ability*
24 +2 to Third Ability*
26 +2 to Fourth Ability*
28 +2 to Fifth Ability*
30 +2 to Sixth Ability*

* You can take a feat instead of the ability increase.

Note: RAW gives you +8 to your two key abilities by 28th level, and +2 to the other four abilities, along with 3 more feats than my way. To make up for the slight edge for my way, which gives you +6 to each ability by 30th level, I start characters off with 0 Action Points per day (you can borrow forward and drop to a negative number, which does not go away until you reach a milestone, even if you take an extended rest). I think that makes it about right power-wise since +8 to two key abilities is quite a bit better than +6 to three, and the additional feats and AP make up for the difference (non-key abilities give you rapidly diminishing returns).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 totoro Aug 12, 2008 22:14:17	I'm a big 4e fan, but I absolutely hated the multiclassing rules. There were a lot of little tweaks that I had to make for the multiclassing to really look good. Some of those little changes were 1) Feats every odd level. 2) Utility 1 powers (abbreviated U1). 3) Career Paths... this is the big one. My broad goal at the outset was for multiclass characters to gain all features of each class. That meant I had to make sure that the singleclass characters were better at what they did. And at the same time I wanted to make sure that the characters were no more powerful than standard characters because I didn't want to have to mess with monster levels. It was a little easier than it sounds, but it was still a ton of work! Most of the magic is in the career paths. Career Paths include a Multiclass Career Path, a Singleclass Career Path, and a default Career Path. It's probably easier to show than to explain with an example (Cleric). Some notes that are useful to understand what is going on: 1) I don't divide rituals by levels, but rather by tiers. The cost of the ritual is around the cost of a magic item, so I can control access with cost. The Remove Affliction ritual includes the ability to cure disease. 2) Channel Divinity is now usable 2/encounter and includes Healing Word. 3) U1 Powers include the Channel Divinity feat powers (e.g., Armor of Bahamut). 4) At 10th level, you will have every cleric class feature and your lowest level Utility, Encounter, and Daily power is a Cleric power. Thus, you have every power accessible to a 1st level Cleric. 5) At 11th level, you will take a Paragon Path associated with your original class (not the cleric class). At 21st level, you will take a Paragon Path associated with your Cleric class. 6) You gain feats at odd levels, but do not gain ability increases except where indicated (i.e., 14th, 18th, 24th, 28th levels). The ability increases are much more sparse for multiclass characters to ensure a good balance of power. Level Features 1 Retrain with Cleric class skills; Leather Armor; Simple Weapons; Ritual Casting; Heroic Tier ritual (with Religion Key Skill); [Skill Training: Religion--If your original class has only 3 trained skills, you get Skill Training: Religion for free; if not, you must retrain in the Religion skill] 2 Hide Armor; Chainmail; Channel Divinity (pick one) 1/day; Gentle Repose ritual 4 Clerical Investment; Remove Affliction ritual 6 Retrain with a U1 Cleric power; Channel Divinity (any) 1/day 8 Retrain with an E1 Cleric power (E3 at 13th level); Channel Divinity 2/encounter; +1 minimum base Will defense 10 Retrain with a D1 Cleric power (D5 at 15th level, D9 at 19th level); Healer’s Lore; +2 minimum base Will defense; Minimum of 7 base healing surges, 7 base hit points, and 5 hit points per level 11 Take a Paragon Path for your original class; Freely retrain with Cleric at will powers 12 Freely retrain with Cleric utility powers 14 Increase a first key ability of your original class by 2 16 Freely retrain with Cleric encounter powers 18 Increase a second key ability of your original class by 2 20 Freely retrain with Cleric daily powers 21 Take a Cleric Paragon Path; Gain the 11th level Features and Encounter Power of your Cleric Paragon Path 22 Gain the Utility Power of your Cleric Paragon Path 24 Increase your Wisdom by 2 26 Gain the 16th level Features of your Cleric Paragon Path 28 Increase Strength or Charisma (your choice) by 2 30 Gain the Daily Power of your Cleric Paragon Path This is getting long; so I'll continue in a separate post.
#2 totoro Aug 12, 2008 22:24:34	I guess it would help to know the features of the Cleric class in my game: Cleric (Divine Leader) Hit Points: Constitution score + 7 + 5/level Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier Bonus to Defense: +2 Will Predetermined Feats: Chainmail Proficiency, Simple Weapons Proficiency, 4 Trained Skills (Religion and 3 other Class Skills) Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Religion (Int) Clerics and Deities: All clerics choose a specific faith to which they devote themselves. Usually this faith is the worship of a specific patron deity—for example, Moradin, Pelor, or Erathis. Sometimes clerics are devoted to churches that venerate groups of deities or even philosophies. As a cleric, your deity does not directly grant you powers. Instead, your ordination or investiture as a cleric grants you the ability to wield divine powers. Clerics are usually formally ordained by existing clerics who perform a special ritual to do so, but on rare occasions a deity moves to directly ordain a worthy worshiper with-out any sort of priestly hierarchy involved. What you do with your powers once you are ordained is up to you, although if you flagrantly and openly defy your deity’s tenets, you quickly earn the enmity of the faithful. Channel Divinity Clerics can Channel Divinity 2/encounter, but at most 1/round and once each per encounter. Channel Divinity: Divine Fortune Cleric Class Feature Encounter . Divine Free Action Personal Effect: You gain a +1 bonus to your next attack roll or saving throw before the end of your next turn. Channel Divinity: Healing Word Cleric Class Feature Encounter . Divine, Healing Minor Action Close burst 4 times your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) Target: You or one ally Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain additional hit points equal to your level. Channel Divinity: Turn Undead Cleric Class Feature Encounter . Divine, Implement, Radiant Standard Action Close burst 2 times your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) Target: Each undead creature in burst Attack: Wisdom vs. Will Hit: 1d6 + Wisdom modifier + your level radiant damage, and you push the target a number of squares equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. The target is immobilized until the end of your next turn. Miss: Half damage, and the target is not pushed or immobilized. Healer’s Lore When you grant healing with one of your cleric powers that has the healing keyword, add your Wisdom modifier to the hit points the recipient regains. Clerical Investment (includes Ritual Casting and Display Holy Symbol) Ritual Casting You gain the Ritual Caster feat as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals (see Chapter 10). You possess a ritual book, and it contains three rituals you have mastered: Gentle Repose, Remove Affliction, and one other Heroic Tier ritual of your choice having Religion as a key skill. In addition, rituals with Religion or Heal as a key skill that are cast by Clerics are treated as having a level equal to that of the Cleric (10th level maximum for Heroic, and 20th level maximum for Paragon Tier rituals). Display Holy Symbol Choose one of the following: Adornment of Faith: You can wear your holy symbol anywhere on your person and benefit from its effects. Beacon of Faith: You must hold your holy symbol in your hand, but gain Military Weapon Group (any except Bow) Proficiency. Shield of Faith: You gain light shield proficiency. You can emblazon your holy symbol on your shield (or embed a magic holy symbol in your shield).
#3 totoro Aug 12, 2008 22:41:53	The Singleclass Cleric Career Path: Level Features 1 +2 Wisdom 2 Skill Focus: Religion; If you have Adornment of Faith: You can carry multiple holy symbols, and activate one as a minor action; as a standard action, you can create a +1 magic holy symbol that only you can use (the magic fades if you create another) If you have Beacon of Faith: You gain Weapon Focus (one group); If you have Shield of Faith: You gain Heavy Shield proficiency; 4 +2 Strength or Charisma 6 Channel Divinity 3/encounter; You can channel the U1 power associated with your god; Retrain in a U1 Cleric power associated with a god other than yours 8 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 4th level) 10 Channel Divinity 4/encounter; You can channel the same power multiple times per encounter 11 +2 Wisdom 12 Channel Divinity 5/encounter; You can transfer the magic of a holy symbol of your level or lower into one of your god during an extended rest 14 +2 Strength or Charisma 16 Channel Divinity at will (at most 1/round) 18 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 14th level) 20 You can channel any one U2 power 21 +2 Wisdom 22 You can channel a second U2 power 24 +2 Strength or Charisma 26 You can channel a third U2 power 28 +2 Strength or Charisma (the ability must be different than chosen at 24th level) 30 You can channel a fourth U2 power
#4 jaxgaret Aug 12, 2008 22:52:33	tl;dr Looks good, though.
#5 totoro Aug 12, 2008 22:57:08	Level Default Path 1 +2 to First Ability* 2 +2 to Second Ability* 4 +2 to Third Ability* 6 +2 to Fourth Ability* 8 +2 to Fifth Ability* 10 +2 to Sixth Ability* 11 +2 to First Ability* 12 +2 to Second Ability* 14 +2 to Third Ability* 16 +2 to Fourth Ability* 18 +2 to Fifth Ability* 20 +2 to Sixth Ability* 21 +2 to First Ability* 22 +2 to Second Ability* 24 +2 to Third Ability* 26 +2 to Fourth Ability* 28 +2 to Fifth Ability* 30 +2 to Sixth Ability* * You can take a feat instead of the ability increase. Note: RAW gives you +8 to your two key abilities by 28th level, and +2 to the other four abilities, along with 3 more feats than my way. To make up for the slight edge for my way, which gives you +6 to each ability by 30th level, I start characters off with 0 Action Points per day (you can borrow forward and drop to a negative number, which does not go away until you reach a milestone, even if you take an extended rest). I think that makes it about right power-wise since +8 to two key abilities is quite a bit better than +6 to three, and the additional feats and AP make up for the difference (non-key abilities give you rapidly diminishing returns).