Once you hit 20 merit badges you will be unable to achieve any more "class" merit badges and by association you will not get any more "class" abilities.
I don't think this is what they are describing, based on this line from the blog:
And of course, reaching the capstone doesn't mean your character has to retire—you can continue training the same character with a different archetype if you like.
Now, they might be saying "You can keep training in a different archetype but you won't gain any of the abilities of that archetype", but I don't think that's what they mean.
Thanks kryvnus for putting that link up.
Goblin Squad Member
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Can someone give me a recap of what was said? I can't access the blog from work.
Basic summery, skills will train over time, IE you pick a skill to train in it. Many skills will be categorized by an archetype (one for each of the 11 core classes in pathfinder). Reaching the top of the chain of an archtype is expected to take 2.5 years.
Attributes/ability scores, will effect how fast you can learn a skill, and the types of saves you are strong/weak at.
Training in skills does not actually give you anything directly, it basically unlocks tasks that you can accomplish to get the skills.
And there you have it, a 3 page report summarized into 3 paragraphs.
Can someone give me a recap of what was said? I can't access the blog from work.Basic summery, skills will train over time, IE you pick a skill to train in it. Many skills will be categorized by an archetype (one for each of the 11 core classes in pathfinder). Reaching the top of the chain of an archtype is expected to take 2.5 years.
Attributes/ability scores, will effect how fast you can learn a skill, and the types of saves you are strong/weak at.
Training in skills does not actually give you anything directly, it basically unlocks tasks that you can accomplish to get the skills.
And there you have it, a 3 page report summarized into 3 paragraphs.
Thanks for the recap, Onishi. I appreciate it.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think everyone who finds a problem with the suggested capstone system is dead wrong.
A capstone ability is a reward for specializing and dedicating your character to narrow specific path.
Multi-classing is a reward of it's own. You get a wider range of abilities. Most people would not bother to take a level of bard (just an example) with their fighter if they thought it would be less beneficial than just taking a level of fighter.
Sorry to all the min-maxers out there but you can't have your cake and eat it too and that's the vibe I am getting here. You want the versatility and variety of abilities that a multiclassed character can get...but wait - I want to be able to get that super duper fighter capstone that supposed to go to dedicated warriors too.
And I single out min-maxers because someone who is roleplaying a character will choose the path of that character that makes sense for that persons journey through life. Not - hey gotta take that initial level of rogue because I get all of those extra skill points! Woot!
Maybe I am wrong and I am reading it the wrong way, but a lot of the comments seemed to be saying - WHY CAN'T I HAVE EVERYTHING.
Actually I think the complaint is, why does the order matter. Personally I am absolutely fine with "You may only take the equivalent of 20 total levels". I have an issue with someone who takes 20 levels of wizard then 5 levels of barbarian, having an advantage over someone who takes 5 levels of barbarian then 20 levels of wizard. I am absolutely fine with only 1 capstone being available, I am absolutely fine with 20 capstone skills in your archetype and you are now limited to the available to everyone skills. Specialized being better then diversified at his specialization is fine, But when someone specializes and then diversifies, why should he have an advantage over someone who diversifies and then specializes.
What I find odd right now is the unusual absence of Ryan in this thread, Usually he comes in to clear these mysteries up and explain if things are typos etc... the day after a blog post. (note this is not a slam against you guys, the mere fact that you do regularly come in to check what your fans at the frequency that you do puts you guys leaps and bounds above almost every game developer I have ever dealt with).
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I think everyone who finds a problem with the suggested capstone system is dead wrong.
A capstone ability is a reward for specializing and dedicating your character to narrow specific path.
Multi-classing is a reward of it's own. You get a wider range of abilities. Most people would not bother to take a level of bard (just an example) with their fighter if they thought it would be less beneficial than just taking a level of fighter.
Sorry to all the min-maxers out there but you can't have your cake and eat it too and that's the vibe I am getting here. You want the versatility and variety of abilities that a multiclassed character can get...but wait - I want to be able to get that super duper fighter capstone that supposed to go to dedicated warriors too.
And I single out min-maxers because someone who is roleplaying a character will choose the path of that character that makes sense for that persons journey through life. Not - hey gotta take that initial level of rogue because I get all of those extra skill points! Woot!
Maybe I am wrong and I am reading it the wrong way, but a lot of the comments seemed to be saying - WHY CAN'T I HAVE EVERYTHING.
You're missing one key element in this analysis. There's no level cap.
In a system like Pathfinder, where you stop once you hit 20, denying the capstone to someone who went for versatility instead of dedicating to a path makes sense. But the moment you allow a 21st level character in a system where the capstone comes at level 20, you know that the character will have one level that isn't in their primary class. They have to in order to have 21 levels in a 20 level system.
Given that, everyone agrees that you should get the capstone if you spend 20 levels in one class, then take one level of a second. No question there. But then you're a multi-class character with 20 levels in one class and 1 level in another.
What most of us are saying is that you should be able to get the same rewards as 20 levels/1 level as you can if you do 1 level/20 levels. You'll get every ability from the 20th level class one level later than the one who went straight for it, but that's the price you pay for having the one level of another class. But you should get that capstone when you get the 20th level in that class, regardless of whether you multiclass before or after reaching it.
Edit: Just to clarify, this has nothing to do with min-maxing, or trying to get everything. As I said in my own post, I'd be perfectly fine with saying you get the first capstone you qualify for and never any others, even if you reach level 20 in that class. It's simply about allowing everyone the ability to get the same number of capstones, whenever they want to put in the effort to get them. If some players can get one, and some can get zero, then you force exactly the "role-play vs powergame" split you are decrying. Some people will say "This make sense for my character" or "this sounds fun" and lose out on the power, while others will say "This is/isn't fun, but it's what I need to do to get this ability. Once I have it, I can do something else fun." Whereas, if it's available equally to everyone, then you can do whatever makes sense or fun, without locking yourself out of anything permanently.
Edit2, because I can't stop thinking of more to say:
You say "You want the versatility and variety of abilities that a multiclassed character can get...but wait - I want to be able to get that super duper fighter capstone that supposed to go to dedicated warriors too." Why is a character who takes 20 levels of fighter then one of rogue more dedicated to being a fighter than one who takes one level of rogue then 20 levels of fighter? They're both Fighter 20/Rogue 1 characters who took 20 levels of fighter in a row.
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Goblin Squad Member
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and our 3 unique companions have all tranformed into identicla cookie cutter 20A/20B builds with exactly the same capabilties.
True, but we do also factor in, there are 11 classes, assuming they are liniar and not branched out within themselves for variety (which I consider a rather bogus assumption that I hope is not true), then we are talking 27.5 years before everyone hits the exact same capabilities, and even then there is the high possibility that you cannot be everything at the same time (I doubt wizards will be particularly good at casting in full plate armor with a heavy shield).
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Goblin Squad Member
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...
If it goes ahead that way, who's going to be the first 19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19 character to have that choice of which one to finalise first :P
i can guarantee you that someone WILL go for it. that's beauty of the sandbox. people make their own goals. no matter how silly it may seem.
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Goblin Squad Member
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@Bobson - I see where you are coming from now. You're positing the enabling of a single capstone ability from your first archetype to reach 20 merits regardless of actual character level.
This has merit, I still prefer the vanilla PFRPG option (reqwarding the specialist) but if you're suggestion has an appropriately extended time commitment then I could see that happening.If it goes ahead that way, who's going to be the first 19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19/19 character to have that choice of which one to finalise first :P
Lol, an amusing goal, but I highly doubt the game will be alive long enough to do that if they are implementing 11 classes and it takes 2 years to reach 19.
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What I find odd right now is the unusual absence of Ryan in this thread
I'm reading along. So far I haven't seen anything that I felt needed to be corrected. I guess the question of "can you have more than one capstone" is "yes", you just have to do 20 levels in series instead of parallel in more than one archetype.
As to the issue of why capstones come to those who do 20 levels in a row, as opposed to multiclassing, it's really an attempt to preserve one of the features of the Pathfinder tabletop game, an homage, if you will.
The design is far from set in stone and if we decide to allow some form of multiclassing to achieve capstone abilities that will be a decision that comes much later. But I can tell you my bias is against it for now.
One thing I've learned over the years is that making consequential choices adds value to gaming. The choice to focus on one path of development while resisting the tempation to dabble with other paths is an interesting one. The captsone abilities won't be game breakers. The intention is not to make capstone "uber", just "a bit more fun/interesting/spectacular". Think of it as icing rather than cake.
Except for the Bard capstone, of course, which will create a swirling votex of suck and remove them from the game. Who needs 20th level Bards?
(I kid! I kid!)
RyanD
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Also think on this, as long as the pitfalls and limitations are made "ABSOLUTELY CLEAR" on day one of character inception.
What is wrong with your choices having lasting consequences?TBH that is something that is also missing from most MMO's.
Well in the blog they did seem to make it very clear that they were aware of the importance of that
Don't worry—if you accidentally start to train a skill tree outside your archetype, you'll be warned, the consequences will be explained, and you'll have a chance to change that decision before it's irrevocable!)
How will your hit points be determined? A level 20 Fighter would normally have many more hit points than a level 1 Wizard; but if he's a level 20 Fighter that just decided to start being a Wizard, does he lose his former "beefiness"?
It's been decades since I played D&D, so I may be asking obvious questions. But I'm still interested how mechanics like this will apply to a never-ending MMO. If my hit points increase as my Archetype level increases, will they stop growing at some point? Go down?
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I do have a question for Ryan. If I start a hypothetical character and achieve the first three paladin merit badges then decided that smiting evil isn't all its cracked up to be and start progressing along the barbarian path is it now possible for me to get the barbarian capstone?
If this is the case and I can now work toward the barbarian capstone it does reduce some of the angst of actually wanting to be an alchemist in that I would be able to abandon the previous build and shift into the new one when APG classes / archetypes become available.
Similarly it might not be the worst idea in the world to have an anual refocusing ceremony such that a character who made unfortunately bad choices can recover and resume progressing toward an earlier capstone.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I do have a question for Ryan. If I start a hypothetical character and achieve the first three paladin merit badges then decided that smiting evil isn't all its cracked up to be and start progressing along the barbarian path is it now possible for me to get the barbarian capstone?
If this is the case and I can now work toward the barbarian capstone it does reduce some of the angst of actually wanting to be an alchemist in that I would be able to abandon the previous build and shift into the new one when APG classes / archetypes become available.
Similarly it might not be the worst idea in the world to have an anual refocusing ceremony such that a character who made unfortunately bad choices can recover and resume progressing toward an earlier capstone.
From the sounds and descriptions, Ryan seemed to imply you get the capstone for progressing 20 levels in a row in that class, so by making the switch, you are qualified for the barbarian capstone, but permanently disqualified for the paladin capstone, and assuming you go barbarian through to 20, once you get to 20 as a barb, you can work towards the capstone on any class except paladin from then on. Unless they offer a mechanic to completely forget and start over in the paladin skills.
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Goblin Squad Member
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And what about the inevitable player-base deciding capstone X isn't worth giving up Y and Z for 2.5 years, until some meta-level changes make X a "must have" for said class.
Well at least in my experience, most games offer free compensation when they drastically change an ability. IE WoW would blank your tallent points out and let you re-chose when they drastically changed the talent tree, ragnarok online had no respec mechanism, but after they majorly re-ballanced all of the abilities in the game, they added a temporary system. I think we can assume that in the event of the game changing, they will offer a system to make it up.
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I was about to say "Hopefully, there will be a way to reset your progress" but then I realized that wouldn't really be a good thing. If you take 3 levels of Fighter and then 20 levels of Mage, you've already benefited. To let you reset your Fighter advancement and then get 20 more levels and the capstone feels almost like cheating.
Of course, in my heart of hearts, I really believe you ought to be able to get the capstone ability for getting 20 levels, regardless of whether they were serial or in parallel. Especially if it's going to take years to get 20 levels, and I've just gotten 3 levels of X and am really not liking it, I would hate to *have to* get the rest of my levels in X before moving on or being forever barred from some ability, regardless of how trivial it might actually be.
Goblinworks Founder
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I loved the old West End Games Star Wars RPG D6 system. My first character died so I brought in a new character, which had less skill points than anyone else. But, I was able to find a skill no one else had maxed out, put my starting skills in there, and still contribute to the game. Despite having less skills than my friends, I always had my tag skill, and was able to invest in enough secondary skills to keep myself alive.
To translate to PF, a character should start with several months worth of skill points, which you can dump in an area none of your friends have yet. Then if the experienced players want to catch you, it'll take them months. Of course, you'll never overtake them in their speciality either unless you dedicate even longer, but that's the point. Only the longest running characters should be better at everything than a first level and they'd want to be horribly multi-classed to do that too.
The other thing D6 had was the XP system. Higher skills would cost more to take up. This encouraged knocking up smaller skills and rounding the character, but never so much that you wanted to give up on your best skill.
I think it would be great to slow progression as you get more powerful, just a bit. It'd be a real hard choice whether to go for a 20th level single class or a 15/15 multiclass if they both took the same time.
I was a massive fan of the D6 system as well which is why I think that Pathfinder online will work. 30 months to reach level 20 is an admirable goal and they can set it up as a hard target with real time skill training.
Another good thing that the WEG D6 rules used was the force point. This could translate well into an MMO, much like a heroic ability on a long cooldown timer. For those that don't know, In D6 rules the force point would allow you to double your dice rolls for that round. This could translate into giving an extra 5 actions or one super hero-like action; The difference between a regular jump or a force jump like a jedi action, or it could be firing rapid fire on your blaster while maintaining steady cover.
I love the idea that PFO will continue to maintain the illusion of a class system with the Archtypes and the merit badges seem like a solid concept that has been proven to work with the battlefield series.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I do have a question for Ryan. If I start a hypothetical character and achieve the first three paladin merit badges then decided that smiting evil isn't all its cracked up to be and start progressing along the barbarian path is it now possible for me to get the barbarian capstone?
Yes.
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Goblin Squad Member
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On the subject of the 'Great Capstone Debate':
I think many people are missing a greater point here. What this system gives players is choice. And real choice, not some resemblance of choosing. But with choice comes consequences. You have the freedom to branch out in all directions, which is a short term advantage. But there is a long term advantage of staying in the one direction. This satisfies not only different play styles but different personalities as well.
I think its wonderful that game designers are finally thinking along these lines.
Just a few quick questions for Ryan, and if this has already been covered in replies my apologies. You mentioned alignment in the blog. How do you envisage implementing this if the world will be player driven? SWTOR has attempted to use a darkside/lightside alignment system but this is only possible with a huge storyline, something which is more suited to a single player RPG than an MMO.
How do you intend to handle attribute generation? Because if this is some random roll then you'll be seeing a lot of characters with very high scores as everyone is going to sit there and hit reroll until they get what they want.
The merit badge system sound nice, but it also has uncomfortable images of being like the awful achievement systems which are so prevalent nowadays. Any comment on this?
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Goblin Squad Member
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thenoisyrogue, I imagine that the merit badge system will be more varied than that. There will be some merit badges which are simply a case of spending time training to achieve. This is something you'll do in the due course of playing the game anyway. Then, you'll also get those achievements that give some kind of visual reward/bragging rights for getting but if you're not personally interested in getting them, you haven't lost out on anything vital.
I'd also point out that something like this will be needed for the hardcore. When you remove the achievement people will get from levelling up ridiculously quickly, you need something that will take a stab at keeping them interested.
Using crafting as an example, let's say that there is a merit badge line for Blacksmithing. I roll up a Blacksmith and start training my various skills required for smelting and smithing various metals. One of the merit badge lines might be "Craft 100 iron daggers to learn how to make them masterwork" (I'm making it up here, so don't be too picky on the numbers). Now, I have two choices here. I can either play the game and I'll probably eventually get 100 iron daggers crafted and I get my badge. Or, I can focus all of my efforts on grinding out those 100 daggers and get the badge earlier. Both are valid playstyles that are supported by this system.
You could argue that it will reward those with more time to play quicker, but there isn't much that can be done and to be fair, penalising them for having more play time isn't really something you want to do.
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Goblin Squad Member
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One thing I've learned over the years is that making consequential choices adds value to gaming. The choice to focus on one path of development while resisting the tempation to dabble with other paths is an interesting one. The captsone abilities won't be game breakers. The intention is not to make capstone "uber", just "a bit more fun/interesting/spectacular". Think of it as icing rather than cake.
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RyanD
Okay, thanks for that Ryan. I guess we were all worried it would be "God no, get out of the group, you can't do X!" if X was the Capstone.
Something else I have been thinking about, will there be some variation in the 'Archetype' skills, so that not all Barbarians are two-handed bliztkriegers, not all Fighters need walk around in a mountain of armor and melee, etc, that there can be variations in the Archetypes so that people can make their 'vision' of their character without it becoming a cookie-cutter like WoW?
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General reaction: Looks like a very fun game. Increasingly so with each blog.
On attribute generation: I assume it will be a point buy?
On attributes affecting skill speed: A simple solution to the concern that this will encourage people to stat stack is to cap the effect at a reasonable score, say 16. That way, people can get the skill speed boost and still be able to make choices about how to stat their character.
On capstones: I am in favor of getting capstones for getting to 20 rather than for taking the "narrow path." Having to decide to stick to the archetype or forego the capstone is an interesting choice, I grant you that. But being able to go back to an archetype later for the capstone is also an interesting choice. You are choosing to postpone that capstone even more in exchange for a little diversity. So if the idea is to reward the willingness to delay gratification, the multi-classer actually deserves the reward more than the single-classer.
I understand wanting to pay homage to the RPG, but I find this particular method arbitrary. And if psychology serves me, people will follow the reward. Restricted capstones will incentivize people to single-class, and make multi-classing feel like a punishment, which clashes with the tone of the rest of the game--to play in the sandbox. I think this would lead to single-class players feeling entitled, and multi-class players feeling disenfranchised. (It already has in this thread.)
One last thing on this point. If things like crafting and other "non-adventurer" activities get some significant development time, will there ever be crafting capstones? And if so, will they follow the same rules--get 20 levels of blacksmithing in a row or forego the capstone? My point is, as the game diversifies, this capstone restriction will make the player's choices feel like either 1) a series of extremely long grinds, or 2) do what I want but be punished for it.
I think the richness and diversity of the skill system can stand on its own and be its own generator of interesting choices.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Hudax, by the same token, if I elected to go down the Cleric line only for someone who had chosen to take 17 'levels' of Wizard only to take 3 of Cleric to open that capstone and take my place in a group, I'd feel quite incensed.
I can understand wanting to diversify your character, but we have to draw a line somewhere. Those people who don't want to diversify need to get something that is unique for their hard work. The multi-class route opens up it's own rewards in being able to do things you couldn't do before.
Ryan, I assume that only the capstone abilities will be affected? For example, I take it that for three levels I could choose the Barbarian archetype, then take five levels in Bard and then return to Barbarian if I wanted? From what I have read, the only thing I lose then is the ability to select the capstone ability for both classes.
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Goblin Squad Member
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You mentioned alignment in the blog. How do you envisage implementing this if the world will be player driven?
This will be a topic of a future blog post
How do you intend to handle attribute generation?
I expect to use one of the Pathfinder TRPG point-buy mechanisms.
Any comment on this?
We'll work real hard to do better. :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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, I assume that only the capstone abilities will be affected? For example, I take it that for three levels I could choose the Barbarian archetype, then take five levels in Bard and then return to Barbarian if I wanted? From what I have read, the only thing I lose then is the ability to select the capstone ability for both classes.
Exactly correct.
Hudax, by the same token, if I elected to go down the Cleric line only for someone who had chosen to take 17 'levels' of Wizard only to take 3 of Cleric to open that capstone and take my place in a group, I'd feel quite incensed.
I'm not suggesting anything of the sort.
Obviously the capstone is for getting 20 in one archetype, not 20 of any random thing.
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Goblin Squad Member
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thenoisyrogue, I imagine that the merit badge system will be more varied than that. There will be some merit badges which are simply a case of spending time training to achieve. This is something you'll do in the due course of playing the game anyway. Then, you'll also get those achievements that give some kind of visual reward/bragging rights for getting but if you're not personally interested in getting them, you haven't lost out on anything vital.
I'd also point out that something like this will be needed for the hardcore. When you remove the achievement people will get from levelling up ridiculously quickly, you need something that will take a stab at keeping them interested.
Hey John,
Keeping them interested is the problem. What other games have been doing with achievements is using them as a substitute for developing an inspiring game world. However, Ryan has responded that they intend to do much better so one must place their faith in the devs that they are aware of this.
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Goblin Squad Member
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First off I was very excited when i read the first blog post about Pathfinder Online. It's looking like a developer is finally making a good game instead of repackaging the same garbage and adding shiny new voice acting.
So far I am liking everything I see, except the way "Capstone" abilities are handled. In a game like this where you have a, for lack of a better word, "leveling" period, that is as long as you suggest. You cannot deny players of anything. If going from Zero to Capstone is going to take 2.5 years, I would assume taking 2 paths at once would take around 4 years to reach the 20th merit. Getting to the 20th alone should be trial enough to get the Capstone ability. Or you should only be able to know one Capstone ability, and have the option to "drop" the ability and pick up another, with significant cost (time/training/xp/coin/whatever)
Don't forget to look at SWG, There where some great ideas (and a lot of bad ones) that came out of that game. I wouldn't take the idea off the shelf of limiting "total knowledge" and allowing players to shuffle their skills around and dip into many different skills, but not become all powerful. Players should be able to dip into around 2.5 classes. One big complaint i see is when games force players into a specific niche in the game.
I'll just say again: Never make anything impossible for any player to get, or have an action that permanently removes a possibility.
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Goblinworks Founder
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I've taken the time to read the blog and then this message board. I like some of what I heard, but I have some reservations with others. I like the merit system and if I raise the skills required to achieve it that I should get it. I don't like the fact that in the first 2.5 years, I get a desire to play like a rogue while working on my fighter that I would get penalized and not get my fighter capstone. In addition, what in the world would be challenging to a capstoned fighter, wizard, cleric...20/20/20 (after 7.5 years of play of course)?
Here are my suggestions:
1) Define skills that make up a class. e.g. Fighter might be...melee weapon, shield, combat awareness, defender, and fighter skills and cleric might be melee, shield, religion, healing, and cleric skills. By raising these skills to a certain level grants you level 2 fighter merit badge. One or two of these skills are fighter specific, but a few can be used in another class. After you finish raising a fighter to level 20, it will be easier to raise a cleric to 20. Next, raising a paladin would be even easier.
2) Grant anyone that earns a level 20 merit badge, the capstone skill.
3) Allow only a max of 20 merit badges to be active at any given time. This will limit the max level of anyone in the game to level 20. Whether it is a level 20 fighter or a level 10 fighter/10 cleric that is all you can ever be.
Before everyone starts to yell, let me explain. Let's say I work towards getting my capstone in fighter and achieve all 20 fighter merit badges. Now I want to work on levels of cleric. I inactive my level 20 fighter merit badge and activate a level 1 cleric badge. Now I'm a level 19 fighter/level 1 cleric. I can start to work on cleric skills. I get my cleric skills to the point that I can get the level 2 cleric merit badge and can no longer work on improving to level 3 cleric. I would have to inactive level 19 fighter merit badge and now I can active my level 2 cleric badge. I am now a level 18 fighter/level 2 cleric and can resume improving my cleric skills. Eventually, I can get to the level 20 cleric merit badge and get the cleric capstone. Also, at any point...lets say I am level 10 fighter/level 10 cleric and I feel like doing something with a capstone fighter, all I would have to do is inactivate my cleric merit badges and activate the fighter ones (which I had already earned) now, I'm a level 20 fighter with it's capstone for the evening. I can't work on cleric levels, but I will be having fun bashing monsters heads in for a few hours.
I like this method because it doesn't penalize you for achieving a few levels of another class as you are working on your skills. Let's say you start and get level 1 fighter and level 1 cleric merit badges. When you get to level 19 fighter/level 1 cleric, all you would need to do is inactivate the level 1 cleric merit badge and then be able to earn the level 20 fighter merit badge and capstone.
I know this is long and I hope that I explained my thoughts well enough.
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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I would like to add to my earlier comments and to the Capstone debate in general:
I don't think there has ever been a mainstream game that has ever even suggested taking 2.5 years to reach a maximum level. And nobody hear seems to be complaining about that either. I, for one, appreciate the fact that it will take that long since I assume the journey there will be full of mostly unique experiences.
But it is very telling that in this age of instant gratification and high speed everything, the thing people aren't complaining about isn't the wait. It's that if they take an alternate path on their long journey it will be less fulfilling at the end. Seems an entirely reasonable complaint for a group of people willing to dish out more than 2.5 years for this game.
Okay, I’d like some clarification on this Capstone idea. I’m going to present 4 scenarios as I understand them and hopefully Ryan will respond and let me/us know which are correct.
“Butters”, Butters has severe ADD but LOVES the Pathfinder setting and buys PFO day 1. Butters creates a character and takes a single level of Fighter but then Butters ADD kicks and then switches to the Paladin skill tree in which he then takes a single level in before switching to the Cleric skill tree and takes a single level in it. Over the next 7.5 years Butters switches sporadically between these three classes sometimes taking a few level in one before switching to one of the others and inevitably ending up with 20 levels in each of the three classes listed at the end of this period.
Game time spent: 7.5 years. End Levels: Level 20 Fighter, Level 20 Paladin, Level 20 Cleric. Total Capstones: 0.
“Stan” creates a character and takes a single level of Fighter, he then switches to the Paladin skill tree where he takes a single level in before then switching to Cleric in which he then takes 20 levels in and gains his first Capstone. Then Stan goes back and starts to take skill points in Fighter again and after a little over 5 years of playing PFO makes it to level 20 in Fighter but does not get a Capstone for the Fighter class. Eric then returns to the Paladin skill tree and after a little under 2.5 years reaches level 20 but does not gain in a Capstone for the Palidin class.
Game time spent: 7.5 years. End Levels: Level 20 Fighter, Level 20 Paladin, Level 20 Cleric. Total Capstones: 1.
“Eric” creates a character and takes a single level of Fighter, he then switches to the Paladin skill tree in which he takes 20 levels in and gets his first Capstone. Then Eric goes back and starts to take skill points in Fighter again and after 5 years of playing PFO makes it to level 20 in Fighter but does not get a Capstone for the Fighter class. Eric then starts down the Cleric skill tree and after another 2.5 years reaches level 20 and gain a Capstone for the Cleric class.
Game time spent: 7.5 years. End Levels: Level 20 Fighter, Level 20 Paladin, Level 20 Cleric. Total Capstones: 2.
“Kyle” creates a character and starts with the Fighter skill tree, and after 2.5 years Kyle makes it to level 20 and gets his first Capstone. He then starts down the Paladin skill tree, and after 2.5 years Kyle makes it to level 20 and gets his second Capstone. Finally takes the Paladin skill tree, and after 2.5 years Kyle makes it to level 20 and gets his third Capstone.
Game time spent: 7.5 years. End Levels: Level 20 Fighter, Level 20 Paladin, Level 20 Cleric. Total Capstones: 3.
Ryan, are the above scenarios correct? Which of the four imaginary people are “multi-classing” and which are not?