The Fighter / Mage

[hakootoko]

d20 has effectively killed off the Fighter / Mage, because the multiclassing system leaves it so underpowered.

I was wondering what multiclassing modifications people have come up with to make things such as Fighter / Mages and Mage / Clerics more balanced with single classed spellcasters.

hakootoko

[Renus]

Hmmm... Well, just taking half the normal experience for each class that they would get were they single classed means that they level up half as fast as other players, but have the abilities from both classes, would probably leave them fairly balanced.

[hakootoko]

I don't follow you. Could you give an example?

In 2e, the Fighter / Mage probably got too much. He was one level behind in Fighter and Mage, and had the average of their hit points. So he was -1 to hit compared to the Fighter, and could cast spells one level lower than the Mage (sometimes the same level as the Mage).

In 3e, if you take an equal number of Fighter levels and Mage levels, you have the same hp you had in 2e, your attack is level/4 worse than the Fighter, and your highest spell is half the spell level of the Mage. That degree of spellcasting is totally ineffectual, certainly not worth the fighter abilities you gave up to get it.

I would think something like this would be balanced, perhaps not as a modification to the multiclassing rules, but as a core class along the lines of how Rolemaster creates classes for each hybrid PC:

lvl BA
1 +0 spells as wizard 1, wizard feat, familiar
2 +1 spells as wizard 2, fighter feat
3 +2 spells as wizard 3
4 +3 fighter feat
5 +3 spells as wizard 4
6 +4 spells as wizard 5
7 +5 spells as wizard 6, wizard feat
8 +6 fighter feat
9 +6 spells as wizard 7
10 +7 spells as wizard 8

The only increase here over being a multiclassed Fighter / Mage is that it would be a Mage=3/4 * CL, instead of a Mage=1/2 * CL. I didn't write out the saves, but you can do that math yourself.

hakootoko

[Renus]

Actually, what I meant would probably be more accurately called Dual Classing. From the very beggining, the player is a Level 1 Fighter and Level 1 mage. The party he is in gets into a combat with something and wins, and each person gets 200 XP. The Fighter/Mage applies 100 to his Fighter Experience and 100 to his Mage Experience seperately. This system means it takes twice as long to level. but allows him to level up both classes at once.

e.g.

Fighter 1/Mage 1 - All abilities of both classes at character creation

After 2002 total exp (1001 applied to each class)

Fighter 2/ Mage 2 - Took longer to level up, but both classes level at the same time

[hakootoko]

It seems like a decent fix at first glance. Splitting xp in half would make you a Fighter 14 / Mage 14 at level 20, and keep you at about 2/3 of the party level throughout.

Just be careful to not let them take the sum of BA, etc. If you did that, the F/M would have a BA of +21 at 20th level.

hakootoko

[Renus]

No, the B.A.B would be the fighter attack bonus, since they still have to deal with Arcane Spell Failure from armor.

[Tom12]

Out of hand, I would say that the Spellsword is the big fix that WoTC has come up with (reduced spell failure chance and other goodies, but only 50% caster progression).
The little fix would be the Eldritch Knight, who has full BAB progression and almost full caster progression.