Quote Originally Posted by Enoach View Post
FranOhmsford's remembrances of the DnD P&P progression concerning multi-classing differ from mine. Keeping in mind that Multi-Class is an indication of 3 Classes which only the demihuman races could do. Humans could only Dual Class. They are right that classes had limits on how High they could go.

First as far as the leveling scheme anything above level 20 would have been house rules. As the actual time it would take to level that high would require a long time of gaming or a DM who likes to give out lots of XP.

PnP Basic - Redbox
Humans could Duel class - Levels stopped at 10
demihumans where both race and class together, each level gained them specific abilities; ie Elf would get fighter type abilities or mage type abilities as they leveled up

Advanced - Blue Box
Humans still limited to Duel class
demihumans now open to different classes, however, there were still some racial class limits. Such as only a human could be a Paladin and Dwarves could not be mages

Another, restriction came with XP - Which perpetuated itself through 3.5 was that if multiclasses had more than a single level difference between them there were penalties applied to the XP earned and how the XP was divided also had rules.

While I did not play 2nd or 3rd edition I did come back with 3.5 and even played 4th. I have not tried 5th edition.
Obviously I'm not talking Red Box or Blue Box here - Those sets were before I was born {Well I think they were...If not I was barely a toddler.}. And I don't think anyone would go back to when Elf was a Class anyway?

The DMG/PHB only gave XP totals for Lvls 1-20 but we all know players went much higher - Heck when 2nd Ed. Came out Elminster was Lvl 27! {Ed Greenwood played D&D!}, Gygax's own Group's characters were way above Lvl 20!

Dual-Classing did NOT signify two classes!
Multi-Classing did NOT signify three+classes!
These were titles given to two different systems - One for Humans and One for Non-Humans.
A Multiclassed character COULD have just two classes and in fact COULDN'T have any more than 3!
A Dual Classed Human COULD have more than two classes - It was just highly unlikely!

A Human could by the rules be Dual-Classed 7 times! {Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue, Bard}
The restriction was that you'd have to STOP levelling one Class until you had overtook it in the next Class.
So yes 20/20 was certainly possible {at least for one level and you wouldn't be able to use the abilities of the 1st Class at that point}, However 20/20/20 wasn't {It would have to be 20/21/20 and you'd still need to earn two more levels before you'd be able to use the abilities of the first two classes.

Multiclassing was much more restricted Humans couldn't do it Full Stop! And Demi-Humans/Humanoids already had massive restrictions on maximum allowed levels of each class.
An Elf could if I remember correctly go to Lvl 15 as a Wizard but only Lvl 12 as a Fighter YET Multiclassing required each Class to be within one level of the others so a Dual-Classed Elf could never go higher than Lvl 12 Fighter/13 Wizard {If the levels are wrong then fine - The point stands.}...Add a 3rd Class and it gets worse because most Classes had even heavier maximum level restrictions.
BUT
I don't believe a single GM who wanted to have his players run High Level Campaigns took ANY notice of the maximum level restrictions for Demi-Humans anyway! {By 2nd Ed. Those rules were a relic!

Oh and I believe {though I could be wrong here} that Half Elves had ZERO maximum level restrictions.
So 20 Fighter /20 Mage /20 Thief was possible at least for a Half Elf.


XP Requirements were absolutely monstrous for Multi-Classed Characters - You had to earn the TOTAL XP required by all three classes to Level just one level if you treated the classes as one like many did.
Or you had to hold back on levelling one class {say Rogue} with a lower XP requirement per level because the other Class {say Wizard} was lagging behind.