LogFAQs > #896861974

shadowsword87 posted...

More that when you're rolling around punching orcs and smooth talking people, and the next level you get sweet new spells and some new class abilities, you instead decide to de-power yourself for flavor reasons while everyone else gets fun stuff.

Yeah, but the trick is, you're not really "de-powering" yourself per se.

As an example, I'll use my Paladin again. But while the "canon" version of it multiclasses out of Sorcerer and into Paladin at character level 2, for comparison's sake I'll present it as if a level 3 Paladin multiclasses into Sorcerer at character level 4.

Essentially, a lvl 3 Paladin leveling up to a lvl 4 Paladin gains another d10 hit die, an extra Paladin spell (but not a new spell slot), and an Ability Score Improvement/Feat. These are, admittedly, all nice things.

Conversely, a lvl 3 Paladin leveling up to a lvl 1 Divine Soul Sorcerer gains a d6 hit die, but also gets 4 cantrips (from either the Cleric or Sorcerer list), as well as 2 Sorcerer (or Cleric) spells, an extra Cleric spell that doesn't count against their limit, AND the ability to add 2d4 to a failed attack or saving throw once every short or long rest. On top of two more Skill proficiencies and an extra saving throw proficiency. That is a LOT of power.

Yes, the multiclassed Paladin will always potentially have from 1-4 HP less than the "pure" Paladin of the same level (though if you're using random rolls that might be absolutely meaningless), but the trade off is a much greater degree of flexibility (and potential ability synergy).

If we look at it from the other perspective, where the Paladin effectively "multiclasses" at first level before starting on their Paladin path, you have a character who starts out with a TON of advantages that other players lack, in exchange for slightly slower power gains later. The multiclassed Paladin never really "loses" anything the pure Paladin has (except for the lvl 20 power), but simply gets all of the same things one level slower.

Or to put it another way, you're still getting fun stuff at the same time everyone else is getting fun stuff. You're just getting your level X fun stuff while they're getting their level X+1 fun stuff. But you also have your extra fun toys on the side that you got earlier. You've traded a slightly slower start for much greater versatility.

On a side note, this is why I find what Patrick Rothfuss is doing in the Penny Arcade Acq Inc C-Team games interesting - he's basically playing a guest character who appears periodically, and every time he shows up he's taken another class. So when the main party was level 5, he showed up as a Bard 1/Paladin 1/Rogue 1/Sorcerer 1/Wizard 1. And he's said he fully intends to go through every class before he's done.

At a certain point the synergy stops being useful (ie, he's already proficient in every saving throw other than Str, and he's eventually going to run out of skills to take), but I'm kind of curious to see whether or not a character that spread out can still be useful, or if there's eventually a point of diminishing returns where they kind of become completely useless.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
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