How many different classes can a Character have?

[FallzQuick]

Could I have a level 5 character with 5 different classes? Is there a cap other than character level and class specific requirements?

[Gauss]

Yes, No.

[Saldiven]

Not really, but I believe that you can't take the sub-classes with the regular class (no ninja levels and rogue levels, for example.)

[DungeonmasterCal]

I guess up to 20, with one level in each class. To-Hit might stink, but your saving throws would be off the charts.

[Voadam]

I count 29 full classes in the PRD currently so plenty of options not even counting alternate, NPC, or prestige classes put out by Paizo.

Add in the 3rd party ones and your options skyrocket again.

[FLite]

Realistically, probably about 10.

At some point about 10th level you are going to cease being effective or relevant, and either get tired of the character or die.

[Chess Pwn]

1)Barb/paladin
2)Ranger
3)Fighter
4)Brawler
5)Bloodrager
6)Slayer
7)Cavalier
8)gunslinger
9)Sacred fist warpriest
10)swashbuckler

You still have full BAB, good HP, Great saves, Rage perhaps quite a bit of rage, flurry of blows in armor, and some bonus feats. And by then you could probably find some prestige classes that have full bab to progress into from there. I'd hardly say this character is not effective or relevant.

[Snorb]

Technically, 29 if you're going by what's in the SRD. (Which I imagine's gonna shoot up to 36 once Occult Adventures and Ultimate Intrigue come out.)

And no, I'm not adding prestige classes into this. =p

[DeathlessOne]

Chess Pwn wrote:

1)Barb/paladin

2)Ranger
3)Fighter
4)Brawler
5)Bloodrager
6)Slayer
7)Cavalier
8)gunslinger
9)Sacred fist warpriest
10)swashbuckler

Drop the Barbarian level and Paladin. Then use the VMC Barbarian to get decent rage for your character level.

[I'm Hiding In Your Closet]

You'll be ultra-weird and (as DungeonmasterCal already pointed out) probably wind up far more oriented toward the defensive rather than the offensive, but I see no reason to think such a character would be "worthless" even so - as a matter of fact, as a rule I don't believe in "worthless/ineffective" characters (outside of obvious no-nos like Wizards who aren't smart enough to cast spells). Creativity is the name of the game, and almost anything can be made to work with the right approach to the adventure.

Such a character would be a great party "backup battery" - not very spectacular most of the time, but in the running when most others would be out of it, and able to at least help a little with almost any challenge.

[Snorb]

When I ran The Harrowing, I had a cleric/paladin who was only wise enough to cast cleric cantrips.

But man, was he great with Channel Positive Energy and paladin spells! (10 Wisdom and 26 Charisma)

[Ciaran Barnes]

Why did you take take levels of cleric if your wisdom was 10?

[Snorb]

I didn't, I only ran the game. (Said game also involved an anthropomorphic penguin whose two primary languages were Penguin and "(slowly imitating throat slashing)."

Ziggy said he took the cleric levels just so he could get more uses of Channel Positive Energy than what the paladin levels he took gave him. (And yes, he had both Extra Channel and Extra Lay on Hands.)

[kyrt-ryder]

Did he follow Paladin/Cleric with Holy Vindicator to get the absolute maximum channel dice?

[kinevon]

Do Cleric and Paladin stack for Channel dice, or did he get lots of extra channels, but weaker channels doing that?

[Archaeik]

kinevon wrote:

Do Cleric and Paladin stack for Channel dice, or did he get lots of extra channels, but weaker channels doing that?

Channel doesn't stack unless it says it does (like Holy Vindicator).

Extra Channel is 2 total uses of channel, not 2 per channeling class.

[jbadams]

I'm currently playing a level 7 character with 5 different classes - Oracle 1, Bloodrager 1, Arcanist 1, Sorcerer 3, Dragon Disciple 1 - with archetypea applied on almost all of them.

I've given up quite a lot of the usual capabilities and am WAY behind on advancing spell casting, but have a pretty versatile set of low-level class features that work together quite well; without the support of other party members I would be in real trouble, but with them I've found so many classes to make the character quite interesting.

There are MUCH better ways to optimise, but you can still be very effective, and if you're setting out for an interesting game rather than an optimised character it's a real goldmine for creating something really unusual.

I'm really tempted to also throw a level or two of Summoner (probably the synthesist archetype) in as well, but probably won't do so in favour of continuing to level Dragon Disciple to get a better caster level and better bloodline powers.

[kestral287]

Is your DM using fractional progression? Otherwise I can't really figure how you'd do... anything. First-level Sorcerer spells at CL3 (5 with Knack) and a BAB of +2 at level 7 do not bode well.

[jbadams]

I'm the party talker with a handy +16 Diplomacy, and generally play a support role in combat with my small but versatile selection of spells and bloodline powers; having access to low level Sorc, Oracle AND Witch spells (via Unlettered Arcanist) gives a fair amount of utility even though all the caster levels are low.

It's certainly a fun character rather than anything even close to optimal, but certainly far from useless. :)

Never heard of fractional progression - I'll look it up and see what it's about! :)

[Randarak]

Snorb wrote:

I didn't, I only ran the game. (Said game also involved an anthropomorphic penguin whose two primary languages were Penguin and "(slowly imitating throat slashing)."

Ziggy said he took the cleric levels just so he could get more uses of Channel Positive Energy than what the paladin levels he took gave him. (And yes, he had both Extra Channel and Extra Lay on Hands.)

Please tell me the penguin's name was Oswald, Cobblepot, Burgess, or Meredith.

[kinevon]

Randarak wrote:

Snorb wrote:

I didn't, I only ran the game. (Said game also involved an anthropomorphic penguin whose two primary languages were Penguin and "(slowly imitating throat slashing)."

Ziggy said he took the cleric levels just so he could get more uses of Channel Positive Energy than what the paladin levels he took gave him. (And yes, he had both Extra Channel and Extra Lay on Hands.)

Please tell me the penguin's name was Oswald, Cobblepot, Burgess, or Meredith.

You Joker, you!

[chbgraphicarts]

Character Level is infinite, albeit it becomes a serious bell-curve of XP getting from one level to another after lv20; getting past lv25 takes a LOOOOOOOOOONG time, as you require gaining literally over 1 BILLION XP to go from lv29 to lv30, just as an example, and the XP needed to gain the next level doubles every time.

But, there are 11 Core Classes, 8 Base Classes, 10 Hybrid Classes, and there will soon be 6 Psychic Classes (3 MAY be Alternate Classes, though), and 1 new Base Class coming the first part of 2016.

So, starting next year, you could take 33-36 1 level dips into different classes, theoretically.

In actuality, you can't take several classes together.

Barbarians can't be Lawful, Monks MUST be Lawful, Paladins must be Lawful Good, Druids must be True Neutral.

You can make Barbarian-Druids and Monk-Paladins, but you can't make Monk-Druids or Barbarian-Paladins.

So, in practice, it's more like 27 different Classes, and next year 31-34.

[Belafon]

chbgraphicarts wrote:

In actuality, you can't take several classes together.

Barbarians can't be Lawful, Monks MUST be Lawful, Paladins must be Lawful Good, Druids must be True Neutral.

You can make Barbarian-Druids and Monk-Paladins, but you can't make Monk-Druids or Barbarian-Paladins.

Druids have to be "any" neutral so LN or NG is fine. The martial artist monk can be any alignment.

Paladin-barbarian and paladin-Druid are the two combos that are mutually exclusive.

(Though you could make an anti-paladin/barbarian/martial artist but you still couldn't squeeze the Druid in there.)

[Seranov]

Druids can be ANY Lawful, so Monk/Druid is definitely a thing.

[Philo Pharynx]

With fractional progression it helps. But I suspect this will work better with fighting/utility/skill based classes. Losing caster level and access to higher-level spells would seriously affect mid to high level play. Having access to 24 1st level spells won't cut it.

[Vanykrye]

My wife is doing something along these lines. I fear for her safety, but I have to admit it's been one hysterical ride.

She's playing a gnome, and at first level she went with bard. From there, she made some rules that she came up with, asked me to flesh them out a little more for her, and together we have this:

(Background required - I hand out XP after every encounter)

When leveling, she must choose either a class she already has or a class based on the encounter that sent her into the next level. If it's an encounter with no character levels, then I grant her access to a class that most closely resembles the creature she killed (ie barbarian if she fought a dire wolverine).

She is currently 1 bard/2 rogue/1 slayer/1 swashbuckler. Also, at every level increase, her name adds an additional syllable and she changes the color of her hair and eyes, and this is again largely dependent on the encounter that sent her over the level threshold.

When she picked up slayer, that encounter saw her perform her first coup de grace, and ranger was one of the available options based on the foes defeated in the encounter. Since she also already had rogue, I allowed her to add slayer to the list of available options for this level. Based on her actions, the little forgetful and innocent gnome "had a brush with her inner darkness" and had a level of being a goth gnome.

But now she thinks she's Zorro.