User:Borror0/multiclassing

This is my own page for working on the multiclassing page. It is not made to be read. It's a total draft.

If you see any typo/mistake or for any idea, use the talk page. It saved here only to mke it easier for me (no need to open Word and can work on it from anywhere.

In DDO you may play a character belonging to many classes at the same time. This is called multiclassing. You first create your character as a single class. Later, when you obtain enough experience to make a level you may pick a level in another class. You may have a maximum of 3 classes on a single character.

Reasons to multiclass
There are many reasons for multiclassing. You may multiclass to gain more power, for roleplaying purpose or in order to gain an ability that does not make you more powerful, but you still like to have.

Power
Mutliclasing can be used in order to gain more power. All classes have their own strengths and weaknesses. By splashing a few levels of another class, you can sometime gain powers from that class that cover your weakness, making you stronger.

Barbarians
Barbarians currently loose more than they gain by multiclassing. Being a class whose speciality is high damage, the loss of Critical Rage, available at level 14, hurt them a lot. This is why mutliclassed barbarians are rarer.

Bards
Bards have much lower spell points than other dedicated spellcasters such as clerics, sorcerers and wizards. Some bards splash a single sorcerer level in order to gain additional spell points.

Since bard can also melee (or range), the splash of a fighter level is appealing to the battle bards. This fighter level grant them a bonus feat and profiency with all Martial weapons. Sometimes, a second level is added in order to get an additional bonus feat.

Clerics
Some clerics, in the search for more spell points, have decided to splash a single sorcerer level in order to gain additional spell points. Sorcerers offer more base spell points than wizards and since they got an high charisma, most of the time, for Divine Vitality, they gain even more spell points. A Paladin or Ranger splash offers more spell points. Be sure that, once Druids are released, they will also become a good mutliclassing option for clerics. Wizard is much less appealing to them as they tend to have higher charisma, and wizard got lower base spell points, but they get a bonus metamagic feat at level, so it is something to consider.

If a cleric decide to focus on his natural fighting abilities, it is frequent for him to splash a single fighter level. This fighter level grant him a bonus feat and profiency with Martial weapons.

When mutliclassing a Cleric, it is preferable to keep an odd cleric level as they get their spells at odd levels.

Fighters
When seeking better survivability, fighters sometimes choose to splash a few levels of Paladin. From those levels, a fighter may gain better saving throws and Armor Class from Aura of Good, better saving throws from Divine Grace if the fighter decides to take a second Paladin level and immunity to fear from aura of Courage and immunity to diseases from Divine Health if the fighter decides to take a third Paladin level.

Note that, upon taking the first Paladin level, the character gain the ability to use wands of all spells on the Paladin's spell list. Finaly, taking Paladin levels may give you one use per day of Smite Evil and Lay on Hands.

Also, to increase their survability, Fighters may splash two levels Rogues in order to gain access to Evasion, as long as the Fighter is light armor. An other benefit of splashing two levels of Rogue is the additional skill points they get. They can be spent in any skill, but Use Magic Device is a very popular choice as it is a class skill for Rogues. Note that, for Evasion to be useful, the Fighter must have high Reflex saves that can be gotten from feats, high Dexterity or by also splashing Paladin levels to benefit from Divine Grace. However, remember that splashing a few rogue level will lower your BAB.

If a Fighter plans on two-weapon fighting or use bows, it may be interesting for him to splash two levels of ranger. A bow-using fighter would gain Bow Strength and Rapid Shot. A two-weapon fighting fighter would get the Two Weapon Fighting feat. Both Two Weapon Fighting and Rapid Shot are feats any fighter could get, however, a fighter also gain the ability to use wands of all spells on the ranger's spell list, Favored Enemy and Wild Empathy.

It is obvious that fighter is a multiclass-friendly class since all they get is feats. There is only one thing to keep in mind when multiclassing a fighter, beyond the first level, they only gain feats at even levels, this why it is better to stop at even fighter level.

Paladins
Some Paladins splash two levels Rogues in order to gain access to Evasion, as long as the Fighter is light armorand Use Magic Device as a class skill. Since Paladin's got such high Cha, they are able to bypass any race restriction and even use Raise Dead scrolls. However, remember that splashing a few rogue levels will lower your BAB.

It is a fact that Paladins have a very limited spell point pool. Some paladins splash a single sorcerer level in order to gain additional spell points and to be more effective.

Lastly, some paladins splash a few levels of fighter as there are very few reasons to go past level 11 beside the level 4 spells which aren't that great.

Rogues
Rogues that want to focus heavily on melee combat often chooses to splash a single fighter level in order to gain an affidtinnal feat as rogue is a [feat]hungry class. Most player stop at one fighter level as rogues gain their Sneak Attacks at odd levels and they want to keep the most possible.

When seeking better survivability, rogues sometimes choose to splash a few levels of Paladin. From those levels, a rogue may gain better saving throws and Armor Class from Aura of Good, better saving throws from Divine Grace if the rogue decides to take a second Paladin level and immunity to fear from aura of Courage and immunity to diseases from Divine Health if the fighter decides to take a third Paladin level.

Note that, upon taking the first Paladin level, the character gain the ability to use wands of all spells on the Paladin's spell list. Finally, taking Paladin levels may give you one use per day of Smite Evil and Lay on Hands.

If a rogue plans on two-weapon fighting or use bows, it may be interesting for him to splash two levels of ranger. A bow-using rogue would gain Bow Strength and Rapid Shot. A two-weapon fighting rogue would get the Two Weapon Fighting feat. A rogue also gain the ability to use wands of all spells on the ranger's spell list, Favored Enemy and Wild Empathy. Note that the benefit to use wands if is very miimal has UMD is a class skill for rogues. Also, by splashing ranger levels, a rogue looses one Sneak Attack.

Sorcerers
Pal

Bard

Wizards
Wizard rarely multiclass, when they do it is for utiliy.

Utility
However, some warforged barbarians do splash wizard levels in order to be able to self heal

What's more, in DDO it seems much more obvious that a level 10 character that has 5 levels of rogue and 5 levels of wizard is not really up to par with the other level 10's in the party. While taking one or two levels of another class at some point may offer some advantages on the whole unless the two classes really work well together (read rogue/ranger) it's probably best not to split your character evenly as in previous editions of DnD.

On the whole, while I personally like the idea of multiclassing from the standpoint of diversification for your character I find that if your party is properly balanced then its usually best to specialize in a single set of skills and let your comrades watch your back on things you've no skill for. -Gugran

Counterpoint:

The utility of multiclassed characters is heavily dependent on the composition of your adventuring group. If your regular group follows a highly conventional plan (one 'tank' Fighter, one Cleric, one Wizard or Sorcerer, one Rogue, with zero to two others) then you may find multiclassing a liability. The above editor refers to this as 'properly balanced.'

If, on the other hand, your group is eclectic, then you'll likely find a great role for your multiclassed character. For instance, this editor's regular group consists almost entirely of stealthy characters; it's not uncommon for us to adventure with four or five Rangers. The one Ranger among us who has elected to multiclass as a Cleric is valued for his ability to heal (without wands) and recharge others' SPs with Divine Vitality. Another is a part-time Rogue and is in charge of trap work.

Multiclassed characters do need to be careful to pick their characters' levels carefully and plan to concentrate on synergistic skills and feats. A rogue/wizard, for instance, may make an excellent trap disarmer due to a high Intelligence, but might forego the skill Use Magic Devices since his Wizard levels allow him to use wands with ease.

Those who are intent on 'beating' DDO at the Elite levels may wish to multiclass carefully or not at all, however. For instance, the traps in the Elite level of the Vault of Night module require a 35 or higher skill to avoid the possibility of critical failure; this is difficult to obtain unless one has put most or all of one's levels into Rogue.

Max Ranks
If a skill is a class skill for any of your classes, then you can have (character level + 3) ranks in it.

Cost
If a skill is a class skill for the class you are gaining a level in, each rank costs 1 skill point. If the skill is a cross-class skill for the class you are gaining a level in (whether or not it is a class skill for one of your other classes), each rank costs 2 skill point.

Enhancements
DDO adds another avenue of character advancement, the four enhancements. The less useful enhancements open to multiclassers gives another large drawback to that kind of build, multiclass enhancements.