New GM here and I have a 2nd lvl Barbarian who wants to take some Ranger levels.
Now, when calculatit BAB do the bonuses stack or do we take the lower one from the list? The level 2 barbarian has BAB of +2 and 1st lvl ranger +1. So does the multiclasser get +2 (the higher from the barbarian) or do they add up for +3?
What about the saves then?
Also when calculating barbarian's rage, do the ranger levels count or only the barbarian levels?
And the class skills. Does the character have the old profession class skills active or do they change according to the class?
Thanks in advance, this is very confusing...
Basically, everything stacks but class features.
BAB stacks to +3, saves stack, he gets class skills from both classes.
things like rage, favoured enemy etc are class features, and dont stack unless they specify otherwise, like the oracles curse
Welcome to the forums! I hope you're having fun.
I just want to chime in that, while there are a lot of gray areas that come up, for the majority of basic situations the answer is in exactly how the Core Rulebook words things. So you'll want to read the rules carefully and see if that answers your questions.
Here's a quote from the CRB on multiclassing:
"He adds all of the hit points, base attack bonuses, and saving throw bonuses from a 1st-level wizard on top of those gained from being a 5th-level fighter."
So basically you do basic arithmetic in all those areas.
When adding a level from another class, just look at the class's description in the CRB (including the chart), and "add" what your character doesn't already have.
Here is a very important definition to memorize for multiclassing:
"Level: A character's level represents his overall ability and power. There are three types of levels. Class level is the number of levels of a specific class possessed by a character. Character level is the sum of all of the levels possessed by a character in all of his classes..."
So under the class abilities you will want to watch out for what kind of levels they mean. If they say "barbarian levels" this means class levels.
I can't find a quote regarding adding class skills, but I believe you just add those class skills from the new class to your current class skills: check off the class-skill boxes you haven't checked off already. You add the number of skill points corresponding to that class: so if decide you want to get a bunch of skill points you can gain a level in Rogue.
Here's the CRB quote on Rage:
"The increase to Constitution grants the barbarian 2 hit points per Hit Dice"
Hit Dice is the number of levels of hit points you have. It's functionally the same as character levels. (The reason there is a different word is that monsters have Hit Dice also.)
I hope this helps!
Thanks for the answers, this helped a lot. I did read through the Core Rulebook, but to me the explanation was vague. When you level normally then you "apply" the new scores, when you multiclass you "add" the new scores. English isn't my first language so you can see why this can be confusing.
But now I know how to do it thanks to you guys. Cheers!
Edit: Still the rage part is a bit foggy. The rulebook says: "At each level after 1st, she can rage for 2 additional rounds." Since they don't say "barbarian levels" it would mean that the rage increases even with other classes. The previous sentence talks about barbarian raging though: "Starting at 1st level, a barbarian can rage for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 + her Constitution modifier.", so am I supposed to assume that although they only say "level" in the first quoted sentence, they actually mean "barbarian levels" and that the barbarian rage-time is increased only by barbarian levels, not the overall level?
Phew!
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so am I supposed to assume that although they only say "level" in the first quoted sentence, they actually mean "barbarian levels" and that the barbarian rage-time is increased only by barbarian levels, not the overall level?
Yes.
For the special abilities a character gets from a class, only levels in that specific class unless an ability specifically says otherwise.
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Class Levels and Character Levels are different. There is a section that addresses it. p30. Basically Class Levels in XYZ Class. Character Level is the total of all Class Levels.
And, yeh all bonuses/plusses stack. You can make a player with a BAB +4 and 10/4/4 saves at 5th level (equivalent to a 14-16th level fighter's saves) by multiclassing fighter/barbarian/monk/ranger/paladin. All at first Class Levels. But your Character Level would be 5.
RE Rage: It is a CLASS FEATURE... so you only increase it's duration when the Class Level (Barbarian) goes up (unless it specifically says otherwise).