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1) Humans become slightly less attractive as PCs. Not a big deal, since humans would still have some nice bennies and are arguably slightly too good right now.
2) Half-elves become even less attractive as PCs. (And they're already very weak.)
3) You'll likely see some players playing less-coherent class combinations. I don't see this as a problem, but some find characters with 5 base classes (say) to be a problem.
4) Characters who play many classes may have some really high saving throws (or some really low saving throws, for that matter). This is possible even by RAW if you use care, though.
5) You are likely to have more power differences between the characters of good optimizers and the characters of poor optimizers. (Done well, this can increase power, but done poorly it can cripple a character.)
FWIW, I don't see it as a problem.
I don't know about that. Those first level feats are important to some characters, and a lot of good ones need at least a BAB +1. Everyone taking rogue as 1st level would just mean no one has an attack bonus above their Str (or Dex if Weapon Finesse is chosen). At least that was my experience when creating a 1st level swashbuckler/rogue. I wanted those skills, but I really, really wanted to fight better. And that max HP at 1st level was a consideration as well. I wound up chosing Swashbuckler.
I'm playing in a game right now that house-ruled out the XP penalty. I haven't seen any problems, but then again, none of us are the kind of players that WOULD seek to break the game... so I don't know enough if it would fit for your group.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Anyone houserule multiclassing differently than RAW?
In my campaign, a player can declare at the beginning any level which class she intends for the character's next level. Once she completes that level, the declared class is her "favored class". So are the class in which she just advanced and her race's favored class. Anything else, including prestige classes, incur the non-favored penalty.
(Example: my dwarf PC has earned 10,000 xp and becomes a 5th Level Rogue. On that day, I declare that my intention is for the character's next level to be sorcerer. Once the character earns 15,000 xp, he can take a level in rogue (the previous class), fighter (the favored class of dwarves) or sorcerer.)
Characters can mix-and-match favored classes among any monk and paladin levels. (For example: on the day your character becomes a 3rd Level monk, you could declare that the character's 4th Level would be ranger, at which point you could then declare that the character's level after that would be a return to monk.)
I find that this encourages continuity and long-range planning.
I completely ignore multiclassing penalties, along with class-specific alignment and multiclassing restrictions. It makes min-maxing slightly easier but not significantly so. The standard multiclassing penalties are just too easy to get around by any serious power gamer, and in the end all they do is arbitrarily restrict player freedom.
TS
In my own games, the multiclass xp penalty is applied like a hammer, but only for:
Taking more than one *Prestige* class
Swithcing classes after taking less than 5 levels. If you take 5 levels of rogue and then switch to fighter, your fine. If you;re hopping back and forth between 3, youre in trouble.
And humans still get to ignore that.
I always forget to levy the penalty, so it has essentially been "houseruled" away through negligence on my part. Yes, a lot of people take rogue 2/fighter 2/xxx, but then again, in my non-AP campaigns skill points count a LOT more than raw combat ability. It all comes out in the wash.
I eliminate the normal XP penalties, and instead apply a bonus skill point (similar and stackable with the human one, including the x4 at level 1) whenever you take a level of your favored class.
But thats because I though favored class should be a carrot rather than a stick.
EDIT: To answer the above question: No, Prestige classes are effectively "off the grid" as far as multiclassing penalties go. You can take 14 of them and suffer no penalties, besides driving your DM up the wall.
EDIT: To answer the above question: No, Prestige classes are effectively "off the grid" as far as multiclassing penalties go. You can take 14 of them and suffer no penalties, besides driving your DM up the wall.
Which my group always saw as backwards. IOts PrCs we restrict multiples of the most. You can train as a rogue/fighter/ranger if you want to, but not an arcane archer/eldricth knight/hortizxon walker without taking a penalty.
Multiclassing penalties are not as restrictive as some make them out to be, anyway. They only come into play if 1) there is a difference of more than one level between base classes and 2) that difference does not include the "favored class" of the race (fighter for dwarf, wizard for elf, bard for gnome, barbarian for half-orc, rogue for halfling, or whatever base class has the highest number of levels for human and half-elf). Prestige classes, per the RAW, do not count for multiclass penalties. Considering that it's usually counterproductive to take levels in more than two base classes, it's pretty easy to sidestep having to take the penalty with most character concepts.