Multi-Class Advancement 2

My recommendations in the previous article were based on the assumption that I would be following my standard rule of not imposing level limits on demi-human characters, but perhaps there is a way of preserving level limits in such a way that it does not discriminate against them. Therefore:

Any character, human or demi-human, who has but a single class, has no limit to the level he or she may achieve (and any character can choose any class).

Any character, human or demi-human, who is multi-classed, is limited to the 9th level of experience in any class.

In summary, any character can be multi-classed regardless of species, but will have the same level limits. Any character can be single-classed in any class and will have no level limit.

This does not mean that all classes are equally common to all species. Player characters are exceptional. Non-player characters may very well conform more closely to the D&D standard.

Multi-Class Advancement

I am not the fan of multi-classing that I was when I started playing Dungeons & Dragons in the previous century, but some players are enamored of it and I feel an obligation to appease them rather than to proselytize. I'm just happy to find players willing to give older editions a chance. However, I am not willing to refrain from tinkering if it suits me. Lopsided level advancement for multi-class characters has never felt right to me, and on a purely practical level it's a nuisance. Gaining half-hit dice and half-bonuses are a consequence that I cannot abide. Moreover, there is no in-game excuse for such an arrangement. Unless experience is allocated to the class with which it was earned on a case by case basis (which is a level of bookkeeping in which I refuse to engage), then there are only two alternatives worth considering.

The first is what I call equal level advancement. This means that a multi-class character does not advance until enough experience has been earned to increase all of the character's classes by one level. In other words, instead of dividing earned experience amongst the character's classes (as is done in traditional lopsided level advancement), the experience costs of all of the classes are added together. When enough experience is earned, the character's level increases in all of his or her classes simultaneously. The multi-class character is recast as a single class with multiple facets. If it doesn't matter how the experience is earned, then this is the logical extension.

The second alternative is the OD&D (and Labyrinth Lord Original Edition Characters) method originally used for elves, but we could expand it to include any combination of classes and open it to any player character species. I'll call it separate level advancement. The multi-class combination must be declared when the character is created. [Edit: Or not. Why should it be? Perhaps a character initially plans to be single-classed, but has a change of heart or circumstances.] At the beginning of each adventure, the multi-class character decides which class to operate as, and all experience earned will be applied to that class only. Classes may be switched only between adventures. Characters may freely use the abilities of the class in which they are currently operating and any class in which they have previously gained one or more levels. If there is a difference in saving throws or attack rolls, the best one is used. Armor restrictions, however, remain in effect: thiefly skills cannot be used when wearing armor heavier than leather, and magical spells cannot be cast when wearing non-elven armor.* Of course, the benefits of being multi-classed will not be felt at first level, but the rate of advancement in each class can be customized to taste. If one wanted to be a dabbler in magic at first level, and then lead the life of a swashbuckling thief forever after, that would be a viable option. Likewise, one could alternate as a fighter or a magic-user indefinitely.

This second alternative has the possibility of unbalancing the game, but I'd argue that multi-classing is inherently unbalanced. I'd rather do away with it, but I fear I'm in a minority.

In either equal or separate level advancement, I would take a cue from the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion and allow nearly any class combination for any species (including human).


* Some say that magic-users cannot wear armor, but elves can. In truth, any spellcaster can wear elven armor, but no spellcaster (including elves) can wear non-elven armor. Elves just have a much easier time obtaining elven armor than non-elves do.

For the Multi-Classed

I have been drifting in a decidedly anti-multi-class direction lately, but I have been considering hypoethetical circumstances under which I might find it acceptable or possibly even desirable. What immediately springs to mind is the Renaissance man or woman. I am not, of course, referring to anyone who might exist during the Renaissance, but to those individuals whose talents and skills extended to a wide variety of subjects. They were not mere jacks-of-all-trades, but dedicated experts in multiple fields. For these individuals a multi-class option would make sense. This falls in line with another experiment I was considering when I was planning to write my own Original Fantasy Role-Playing Game-compatible RPG. I wanted to create a neo-retro-whatever-clone that justified all the crazy traditional rules in the context of the game world, just as Empire of the Petal Throne did, but without having to place it in an alien setting. Things such as "level," "alignment," "(character) class," and possibly even "saves" would be utterable in-character at the game table because they would be part of the setting. The only way I could justify it without resorting to a campaign world requiring Tékumel-levels of detail was to frame it in terms of a secret society. Certain rare individuals—Renaissance men and women—are privy to the knowledge that there is more to reality than what is ordinarily perceived by most. They are inducted by secret ceremony into an organization that seeks to deal with this other reality in accordance with their goals, or alignment. As they increase their experience with the unknown, their achievement in each class of endeavor is formally recognized by an increase in their level within the organization. As they rise, their ability to save themselves from worse threats also rises.

Such ultra-competent individuals would be above the constraints of the traditional D&D class system, but the traditional multi-class system also falls short. Instead, I envisioned a system based on the OD&D elf. Just as an elf decides at the beginning of each adventure whether to function as a fighter or magic-user, gaining experience only for that class during that time, a player character in my game would decide at the beginning of each adventure whether to function as a cleric, fighter, magic-user, or thief (although I renamed the classes to better fit the setting). Player characters could remain in one class as long as they like and switch classes as often as they like (as long as the switch occurs at the beginning of an adventure). Abilities gained from a class are retained, and the best available saving throw or attack roll is always used.

Non-player characters who are not part of the conspiracy do not qualify to multi-class, nor do they gain levels. They gain ranks. Functionally, they are the same, but to mention "levels" outside of the organization is to reveal a secret and raise the suspicions of the ignorant, which is almost everyone. Mentioning "alignment" also raises eyebrows amongst non-members, and discussing spells, monsters, demons, or planes of existence will surely get one branded as a witch and burnt at the stake.

In this conceptualization, all player characters are human and the setting is more Renaissance than Middle Ages (to reflect the rebirth of the sciences and to emphasize human achievement), but exceptions could be made for the rare visitor from the realm of faerie or those hidden worlds beneath the earth's surface.

Hm... Maybe I should revisit this idea and publish it.

Against the Multi-Classed

I remember when multi-classed characters appealed to me. I was a beginning role-player, and in Basic/Expert D&D there was only one multi-class option: the elf. Who wouldn't want to wield magic and weaponry and wear armor? One of the greatest attractions of AD&D for me and, I suspect, many others, was the dizzying array of multi-class options. In some ways they made little sense with their arbitrary limits, but the fact that there were so many choices was a strong lure for many gamers. The side effect (at least in my group) was that the ratio of demi-human player characters to human player characters was much higher than their populations in the campaign world. For some players, the preference was based on special capabilities, such as multi-class; for others it was the desire to play an exotic character; for many it was both. I wonder, though, how popular the demi-humans would be if they were functionally identical to humans and differed only in their culture, history, and physical appearance. Perhaps that would be an interesting alternative to explore.

Multi-class options largely bore me now because they water down the classes. Classes are a feature of D&D. If one doesn't like it, one should play a skill-based role-playing game (which is actually my preferred kind). As long as you are using classes at all, you might as well play to their strengths. A character with a class (as opposed to a 0 level character) has a special status in society as well as special capabilities. Let that class inform the development of your character. Instead of the irrational limits of D&D and the multi-class free-for-all of the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion (forgive the hyperbole), try eliminating all multi-class options and level limits, but allow demi-humans to choose any one class just as humans do. Dwarves, elves, and halflings can be clerics, fighters, magic-users, and thieves. They have no limit to their potential advancement, but they can only choose one class. What makes demi-humans special is the way they are role-played. Allow them their minor abilities, such as the elf's heightened ability to detect secret doors, but don't allow them to be experts at everything (or nearly everything). It just might encourage more players to play humans and reserve the playing of demi-humans to those players most interested in playing them for their own sake rather than for the multi-class advantage. That, I think, is where I am headed.

[See also For the Multi-Classed.]