Allow Humans to Dual-Class more than once as per P&P
moody_mage
Member Posts: 2,054
In P&P humans can dual-class as many times as they like as long as they reach 2nd level in their current class before changing for a new one and meet both alignment and ability stat requirements.
In BG it seems that humans can only dual-class a single time (at least I'm sure this was true when I attempted this many years ago in BG2). It would fit more closely to P&P if this change was made.
The Players Handbooks says this;
PHB said:Only humans can be dual-classed characters. To be dual-classed, the character must
have scores of 15 or more in the prime requisites of his first class and scores of 17 or
more in the prime requisites of any classes he switches to. The character selects one class
to begin his adventuring life. He can advance in this class as many levels as he desires
before switching to another class; there is no cut-off point beyond which a character
cannot switch. However, he must attain at least 2nd level in his current class before
changing to another class. There is no limit to the number of classes a character can
acquire, as long as he has the ability scores and wants to make the change. (Certain
character classes have alignment restrictions that the character must meet, however.)
Source can be found on page seven of; http://merung.net/DandD/tsr2159---2nd-edition-Players-Handbook-(revised).pdf
Comments
fighter7/thief6/mage7/druid7/pal2/ran2/cle3/sor2/monk3
160k exp. Seems legit and playable.
The link works - however the site is trying to apply an autolink thingie to it and is seemingly confused by the hyphen in the URL. Copy the whole thing line out including the .pdf part and paste it into your browser.
With XP caps in place for BG1 it wouldn't be limitless as you need to gain a higher level in your new class that your old one which means a 2/3/4/5 type class advancement which is far from ideal if you were trying to abuse it somehow.
I'm fine with Dual class as is, but I'm open to a change because I don't think it can ever be abused that badly. A lot of the combinations proposed can never really happen (eg: paladin/monk builds). @decado had it right there. As well, your dual class scores are limited by your stats, which seldom get that high in the early-going. To be a dual class fig/thief/cleric, you'd need str/dex/wis of 15/17/17 or more - a pretty good character. A fig/thief/cleric/mage would require str/dex/wis/int of 17 or more, a very exceptional character. Plus you'd continually have to reboot your character mid-game. Finally, dual class cleric to ranger (ha) requires a str/dex/wis of 17 or more. But those are terrible, stay away from them!
backstab is limited to thief weapons, which is logical, thus one can backstab with a staff actually.
As for backstab and weapon use, I'd be surprised if there were not separate thread on that. I'm not sure about this argument, because thieves can also use bows and crossbows and multi-class thieves can use even any weapon. Do the rules (in 2nd ed) actually specify what's prohibited and why? I don't get why a quarterstaff, which is similar in length to a TH sword, can backstab while the TH sword, which is sharper, cannot. Regardless, I have no need of this feature...I'm just saying...
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs29/f/2008/102/f/4/Sanosuke_by_ToPpeRa_TPR.jpg
* adjusts onion on belt
AD&D 1st Edition had Assassin as a base class. I remember thinking that was awesome. Ah, memories.
To get back on topic, though, I've wanted to try a fighter/bard for ages, so opening up new class combinations would be great, as far as I'm concerned.