The benefits of multi-classing go beyond the combat mechanics of the game, as well. If you develop a character-driven reason for multi-classing, that's character growth in action. Great for role-playing as well as for driving the plot of the campaign forwards.
Great point. This was one of my favorite aspects of it actually.
I started as a rogue and would gradually "harvest" some sort of arcane trophy from various monsters we defeated or quests we went on. I gradually cobbled together a spellbook as I grew my rogue, including some hacked together spells that had some wild magic type surprises at first as I was learning. These were the most fun levels by far.
Re:Being OK with not being extraordinary
by mattmanser on Tuesday August 25, 2020 @05:49AM
(#24269634)
It's designed like that though, and artificially so.
It's not real.
It's like taking dating tips from films, it's made up. And if you copy what they do in films you'd end up being really creepy.
The concept of dual/multi-classing, and what later became prestige classes/archetypes in later editions was all about highlighting that the sum of the parts was greater than the whole.
There was a trade-off of course, especially in the early/mid levels as other solo-class characters started coming into their stride with higher-tier abilities. If you made it past that stage as you continued developing your other class(s), you really ended up with a unique character.