DCC Multiclassing

 

So, hearken back to the days of AD&D, when you wanted to be a fighter/magic-user … it was a decision made at the beginning of your character creation, and was unmutable.  Once you decided your plucky hero was a fighter/magic-user, that was your class selection, and you advanced at a slower rate, splitting your XP between classes.

Then came 3^rd edition, with the concept of shopping for discrete classes after every point you levelled up – this created all sorts of all sorts of interesting combinations (one of my players created a cleric/ranger that was effectively a Batman-themed archer), but also caused some rule bending with 1-level dipping into classes to build in new abilities, which led to classes not being as front loaded, which led to later rule adjustments through later 3^rd to 5^th edition rules, spreading out class abilities.

The earlier AD&D concept had something to say for it – you picked a combination and lived with it.  No one complained about overpowered combinations, because the combinations were limited, and fairly straight forward.  A fighter/magic-user couldn’t wear armor while casting spells, but could use martial weapons.  In fact, you clearly made a trade-off of power for versatility.  The concept that only demi-humans could multiclass wasn't ideal, and led to a less-human game with the PCs diving for dwarves, elves, half-elves, half-orcs and halflings.

Now, DCC is it’s own interesting creation – you can’t choose a class when you first start out at 0-level, so gaining a class at 1^st level is a heady achievement that really shouldn’t be diluted.  Let that plucky farmer enjoy his moment in the sun as he becomes a lofty 1st-level warrior.  But what about when you make it to 2^nd level?  Capturing the feel of AD&D, maybe this would be a good point to let your players choose to multiclass their characters at this point, and it’s a once-in-a-character-lifetime choice.  It allows interesting varieties such as a Thief/Wizard, or Warrior/Thief, which is a perfect reflection of the Grey Mouser or Fafhrd, or even Conan, so it fits the central premise of being faithful to Appendix N.

As an ancillary effect, it lets you but it also offers some versatility to demi-humans, so they aren't railroaded into one class only, and then you can offer options, like becoming a Dwarf/Thief or an Elf/Warrior.  Frankly, giving demi-humans a choice to branch out seems like a good solution to me.

So, if allowing this, characters get versatility, but they need to stick with their career-altering choice choices, and advance in both of their newfound classes at half-speed.  So here’s my simplified take on multi-classing, as allowed in my campaign.

Enjoy!

  

Multiclassing

Multiclassing may be chosen when a character advances to 2^nd level only, and a second class may be added instead of advancing in the character’s current class (eg. 1^st level Wizard/1^st level Thief instead of 2^nd level Wizard), with experience point requirements to level up are taken from the combined levels of the classes.

When the increased XP goals are met, both classes advance together.   So for example a 0-level Gongfarmer becomes a 1^st-level Thief at 10 XP, a 1^st-level Thief/Wizard at 50 XP, and then a 2^nd level Wizard/2^nd  level Thief at 190 XP.  Each character can advance to a combined maximum of 10 levels (so with this example, a 5^th-Level Thief/5^th-Level Warrior) – and the character gains the following benefits:
 

Ability	Multi-Class Benefits
Hit Points	Combined (one hit die gained for each class, plus STA mod for each)
Weapon Training	Combined
Attack Bonus	Combined
Saving Throws	Highest bonus of either class
Crit Die	Highest table and associated die roll of either class
Action Die	Highest dice of either class
Skills	Highest bonus of either class
Caster Level	Separate for each class
Spells Known	Separate for each class

Thus, a 2^nd level Wizard/2^nd level Thief with a Stamina of 14 would have 1d3+1 hp (for 0-level) plus 2d4+2 (for the Wizard class) and 2d6+2 (for the Thief class), a +2 Attack bonus from both classes combined, saving throws of Fortitude +1, Reflex +1, and Will +1 (the highest of each class), and would use 1d12 on the II Critical Hit Table, and cast spells as a 2^nd level Wizard.