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Multiclass Characters in Neverwinter Online?
arontimes
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
My favorite archetype in D&D is the Magic Knight, also known as the Fighter/Mage (1e and 2e), Eldritch Knight (3e), and Swordmage (4e). Basically, why choose between fighter and mage when you can be both?
This amalgam is usually built through multiclassing, which has been implemented in many ways throughout the life of D&D. In 4e in particular, there are two types of multiclass characters:
1. Multiclass characters, introduced in the Player's Handbook, who start out as a full member of one class and then take on some aspects of a second class, and...
2. Hybrid characters, introduced in the Player's Handbook 3, who start out as half of one class and half of another class (basically, they get roughly half the class features and powers of one class and half of the second one).
Both types of multiclass characters can take the paragon paths of either class. For example, one of my earliest 4e characters was Oak Leafblade, a guardian fighter who multiclassed into cleric and then took the Warpriest cleric paragon path, for a 50/50 mix of fighter and cleric.
Another early character of mine was Argent Gish, who was a tactical warlord that multiclassed into wizard, and then took the Battle Captain warlord paragon path, for a 75/25 mix of warlord and wizard. Due to the quirks of the multiclass system, I built Argent so that his highest-level powers were wizard powers; the 75/25 mix refers to how 75% of his powers come from the warlord class and 25% come from the wizard class. The way the character worked in actual play was that he mostly used physical attacks with a handful of wizard spells, but the few wizard spells he had could quickly turn the tide of battle.
Hybrid characters, on the other hand, were introduced in the Player's Handbook 3. You take half of one class and combine it with half of another class. They had special rules that made them distinct from multiclass characters: Hybrid characters' must have one at-will power, encounter power, and daily power from both classes. For example, a hybrid fighter|wizard must have at least one fighter at-will, one wizard at-will, one fighter encounter, one wizard encounter, one fighter daily, and one wizard daily. They also only got roughly half of each class's features. They were proficient in both classes' weapons and implements, but they were only proficient in the worse armor proficiency of their two classes; the abovementioned fighter|wizard could only wear cloth armor.
In actual play, multiclass characters tended to be more powerful than hybrid characters. On the other hand, multiclass characters have fewer feats than hybrid characters, since their feats are used to gain features from their second class. From a video game perspective, that is, from a Neverwinter Online perspective, hybrid characters might be easier to implement than multiclass characters, since they are built as hybrid characters from the beginning, whereas multiclass characters can decide to multiclass at any point in their adventuring careers.
So, I was wondering... Is there room for multiclass or hybrid characters in Neverwinter's future?
This amalgam is usually built through multiclassing, which has been implemented in many ways throughout the life of D&D. In 4e in particular, there are two types of multiclass characters:
1. Multiclass characters, introduced in the Player's Handbook, who start out as a full member of one class and then take on some aspects of a second class, and...
2. Hybrid characters, introduced in the Player's Handbook 3, who start out as half of one class and half of another class (basically, they get roughly half the class features and powers of one class and half of the second one).
Both types of multiclass characters can take the paragon paths of either class. For example, one of my earliest 4e characters was Oak Leafblade, a guardian fighter who multiclassed into cleric and then took the Warpriest cleric paragon path, for a 50/50 mix of fighter and cleric.
Another early character of mine was Argent Gish, who was a tactical warlord that multiclassed into wizard, and then took the Battle Captain warlord paragon path, for a 75/25 mix of warlord and wizard. Due to the quirks of the multiclass system, I built Argent so that his highest-level powers were wizard powers; the 75/25 mix refers to how 75% of his powers come from the warlord class and 25% come from the wizard class. The way the character worked in actual play was that he mostly used physical attacks with a handful of wizard spells, but the few wizard spells he had could quickly turn the tide of battle.
Hybrid characters, on the other hand, were introduced in the Player's Handbook 3. You take half of one class and combine it with half of another class. They had special rules that made them distinct from multiclass characters: Hybrid characters' must have one at-will power, encounter power, and daily power from both classes. For example, a hybrid fighter|wizard must have at least one fighter at-will, one wizard at-will, one fighter encounter, one wizard encounter, one fighter daily, and one wizard daily. They also only got roughly half of each class's features. They were proficient in both classes' weapons and implements, but they were only proficient in the worse armor proficiency of their two classes; the abovementioned fighter|wizard could only wear cloth armor.
In actual play, multiclass characters tended to be more powerful than hybrid characters. On the other hand, multiclass characters have fewer feats than hybrid characters, since their feats are used to gain features from their second class. From a video game perspective, that is, from a Neverwinter Online perspective, hybrid characters might be easier to implement than multiclass characters, since they are built as hybrid characters from the beginning, whereas multiclass characters can decide to multiclass at any point in their adventuring careers.
So, I was wondering... Is there room for multiclass or hybrid characters in Neverwinter's future?
Post edited by arontimes on
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And I just don't see them doing the hybrid class system.