I have a player who goes by Mr. Minimal. This time he made a wizard, and I thought he was going to be a wizard all the way. But he wants to multiclass in all classes. Frankly this is annoying me, because it might work in Shadowrun (where again, he tried to be everyone for every situation); it doesn't work in Pathfinder. My dilemma is how to tell him that he should multiclass in just two, maybe three, classes instead of trying all of them at once?
quote from roll20:
EDIT: Also, I like creating unique characters (y'know, many-armed macedonian marksmen, etc...) Also, my options will be the "jacks-of-all-trades", who can use improvisation as with any weapon as with any tool in their reach... I think, it may be the same wizard, slender and tall, but weak kido, who could improvise with weapon, armor (so, technically, he'll have no penalties for non-proficiency) and even with his spells (he'll be able to use other classes' spells!!! :) Also, my character can be a rogue (who is proficient in Catch Off-Guard and Throw Anything feats), the same slender boy... Or he'll be a monk, who'll live the same improvisational life. Also, guess what?!... His name is Clayrik Gremm-Aton... He hates his birth name, because he thinks that his parents and siblings were killed because of him and Boccob. So, he is serving for Boccob, because his faith in him is the only thing that keep him sane. And "Yes, I'm in love and grammaton cleric and Christian Bale are my love forever". XD
... let him make this catastrophic s%$+ show enforce arcane spell failure in armour, watch as his to hit doesn't keep up, his spells and their DCs drop off in strength and sometimes randomly fizzle and then offer him a rebuild.
Or just tell him pathfinder doesn't favour being an everyman. He can't be a Monk, Rogue, wizard, fighter thing and expect to achieve very much.
Let him do it and see how bad it is. Or see if he manages to pull it off by some miracle. Explain how if he goes cleric, wizard, monk, rogue, bard, he'll have 0 bab, no armor, and only low level spells. If he feels fine casting 2 bless, a small inspire for a short time, and 2 really weak burning hands in a day and not being able to hit with a weapon at lv5 then that's all you can do and he'll probably be complaining in a few levels that he's useless.
Ow. Though if he really wants to do everything that's best done as a specialty on its own - I'd point him at the bard class, archaeologist archetype and the use magic device skill.
Probably the only way to make this work is using the unchained fractional bab: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/unchained-classes#TOC-Fractional-Base-Bonus es
Especially if he sticks to mostly martial classes it should be... okay. I mean a fighter/pally/ranger/barb/swashbuckler/etc would probably work to some extent. You'd need to pick complementary archtypes in a lot of cases to make it really function though.
Oh, taking one level of all the full bab classes works actually really well. Then you can also throw in some classes that get nice stuff at lv1 (like cleric for swift enlarges) or attack boosters to counteract the bab loss (like warpriest getting weapon focus, archaeologist bard getting swift action luck or medium with their spirit bonus).
martials can dip really well and not care.
There are ways to build jacks of all trades in Pathfinder. They're called bards.
I actually rather mean that. A bit of martial proficency, spellcasting thats both arcane and has access to healing and nice skills om top of all that.
There are plent more ways to be decent at more than one thing. Heck, a plain Ranger plays on several strings. Check out Arcane Trickster if you want a bit more than just a wizard, or Mystic Theurge if you want both arcane and divine spells.
Talk to this player. Express your worry. If he does this extreme multiclassing, he won't have fun. And as a GM, you want him to have fun.
Talking to him about it right now. He wants to be a Wizard with the spell sage archetype. I'm trying to tell him that we have a cleric in the party, so he doesn't have to use this archetype.
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Sounds like he isn't thinking in a team mentality.. the issue may go deeper than just the wonkyness of his character concept. May want to spend more time discussing the character he wants to make on a conceptual level.
Ask him what his role in a team is. What is he known for? What might lead him down another path. If his religion is a strong point, explore just how strong, and ask him what might make him question his faith. You really need to figure out if he is just misguided, or wants to be a one-man-show, and address each of those differently.
Mr. Minimal: ((Then, I'll be a backup. If we'll be in need. I'll be a little bit battle wizard... My DEX is ok, 14 CON... Mage Armor, Shield... My AC will be 17-19 maybe... Some magic on our weapons and armor (or clothes) and I'm ready... Yes, it's only 1 attack per round, I'll try to be in the middle between our barbarian and my more fragile colleagues...
((Plus, I think about Twin spells... Or Rapid Shot?... What will be better, what do you think?
((Magic or Weapon I will make more powerful with magic?
He wants to use his wizard as support for our barbarian. Currently, our group has 1 summoner, 1 witch, 2 wizards (his is one of them), a cleric, and a barbarian.
Sounds like he should make a magus.
yes. I hate to admit it, but a magus can suit him a lot better.
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If magus seems too pigeonholed there is also bard, inquisitor, bloodrager, skald, and more (plus archetypes and prestige classes). I would personally recommend bard for this group and the role he wants to fill. Can do combat, has plenty of spells, lots of skills, some utility abilities, and overall could step in to support any member of the group with what they're doing.
You hate Magus? I thought they were reasonably well thought of.
They get flight at 7 Dimension door and black tentacles at 10, they can tattoo scrolls onto their body for further utility. They really need only use their 1st and second level slots for shocking grasp and bladed dash.
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Fair points. I guess I'm mostly saying they are more combat focused than perhaps this player will want, since the "little bit of everything" doesn't tend to be very combat focused of a desire, except when intending "a little bit of combat". I'm projecting here, but he sounds like every player who has ultimately found their love in the bard class, or something similar.
Edit: In all fairness, magus is also a very solid choice. Maybe even a bard/magus multiclass? Sounds kinda bad, but it has to be better than "multiclass in all classes".
I see what you mean honestly, although thanks to INT focus they can have decent skill I mostly thought the magic weapon sttuff he was talking about fitted the Magus.
But yeah I think a Magus can with wayang spell hunter on shocking grasp to fill your LV1 slots with intensified shocking grasp, level two slots with bladed dash.
Perfect spell magicical lineage vampire touch for maximised intensified empowered LV5 vampire touches and fill your level 3,4 and 6 slots with utility.
Okay, I talked him into using the Magus. So the party has two frontline combatants.
At least. :)