Would this cause an exp penalty?

[Nuavion]

I'm a Human lvl 12 Fighter and lvl 1 Barbarian. I wanted to take one more class, Cleric, but my DM says that it might cause an exp penalty. I'm a noob, is that true?

[legomaster00156]

Oh, no. Your GM uses multiclassing XP penalties.

[Elkad]

Yes. (Edit: Not immediately, but if your lower classes get out of synch with one another by more than a level)

But that rule is often ignored, as much out of convenience for the DM as anything else.
A 10% xp penalty isn't that big a deal anyway. Go for it if you want.

Say you stayed in Cleric until L20 total. You wouldn't get a penalty until you hit Cleric3 - L16 total.
So for the next 70,000xp to L20 you'd take a 10% penalty. Hitting L20 a mere 7,000 xp behind your groupmates.
And it actually isn't even that bad, as for some encounters you'll be lower level than your groupmates, so you'll get bonus XP.

[Crake]

I'm a Human lvl 12 Fighter and lvl 1 Barbarian. I wanted to take one more class, Cleric, but my DM says that it might cause an exp penalty. I'm a noob, is that true?

It wont, as a human your favoured class is equal to your highest level class, so in this case the fighter. Favoured classes are ignored when calculating multiclass xp penalties. To avoid xp penalties, all your other classes must be within 1 level of each other, so barbarian 1/cleric 1 shouldn't incur any penalties.

However, your DM is using a fairly often ignored, and very widely disliked rule regarding multiclassing and xp penalties.

[OldTrees1]

Human Fighter 12 / Barbarian 1 / Cleric 1 would not suffer the multiclass experience penalty. Human's favored class is whichever class has the highest level (so Fighter). Thus we are left looking at Barbarian 1 & Cleric 1. If any pair of classes(other than the favored class) differ by more than 1 level (Say Barbarian 3 & Cleric 1), then you would suffer an experience penalty for each class in those pairs.

So yes it is possible for you to end up suffering a multiclass penalty if you let your Barbarian and Cleric levels get too far apart. However that will not happen at Barbarian 1 / Cleric 1.



An aside to your DM:
The multiclass experience penalty rules are poorly constructed and were implemented over a fear of something that never manifested. Even if Nuavion ends up triggering a multiclass experience penalty with a Human Fighter 12/Barbarian 1/Cleric 3, you might want to waive the experience penalty. The resulting multiclassed character is going to be weak enough without an experience penalty.

[Nuavion]

Yes.

But that rule is often ignored, as much out of convenience for the DM as anything else.
A 10% xp penalty isn't that big a deal anyway. Go for it if you want.

I think I will anyway. Thank you kind sir.

Human Fighter 12 / Barbarian 1 / Cleric 1 would not suffer the multiclass experience penalty. Human's favored class is whichever class has the highest level (so Fighter). Thus we are left looking at Barbarian 1 & Cleric 1. If any pair of classes(other than the favored class) differ by more than 1 level (Say Barbarian 3 & Cleric 1), then you would suffer an experience penalty for each class in those pairs.

So yes it is possible for you to end up suffering a multiclass penalty if you let your Barbarian and Cleric levels get too far apart. However that will not happen at Barbarian 1 / Cleric 1.



An aside to your DM:
The multiclass experience penalty rules are poorly constructed and were implemented over a fear of something that never manifested. Even if Nuavion ends up triggering a multiclass experience penalty with a Human Fighter 12/Barbarian 1/Cleric 3, you might want to waive the experience penalty. The resulting multiclassed character is going to be weak enough without an experience penalty.

Ahh! This is excellent! Thank you.

...hey, who are you calling weak buddy? jk I know my character sucks but he tries and I love em for it lol

[gooddragon1]

I think I will anyway. Thank you kind sir.



Ahh! This is excellent! Thank you.

...hey, who are you calling weak buddy? jk I know my character sucks but he tries and I love em for it lol

This feeling has a novelty value. Like playing against friends with commons in mtg (not good commons) or very old yugioh cards. A time before the arms race. A better time imo.

[OldTrees1]

Ahh! This is excellent! Thank you.

...hey, who are you calling weak buddy? jk I know my character sucks but he tries and I love em for it lol

It does sound like a fun character.

[Crake]

This feeling has a novelty value. Like playing against friends with commons in mtg (not good commons) or very old yugioh cards. A time before the arms race. A better time imo.

A time when you though "Oh man, if I get far shot and and the ranged enchantment on my bow, and then I get a level in wizard and cast true strike, I COULD SHOOT OUT TO LIKE, a MILE, without penalties!" was the pinnacle of optimization.

[gooddragon1]

A time when you though "Oh man, if I get far shot and and the ranged enchantment on my bow, and then I get a level in wizard and cast true strike, I COULD SHOOT OUT TO LIKE, a MILE, without penalties!" was the pinnacle of optimization.

Or thinking that taking 1 level in every single class (and eligible PrC) with full BAB would be awesome. I still maintain that it would, in fact, be awesome. No EXP penalty btw :D

EDIT: And now I have to make a new thread about it...

[Fouredged Sword]

Or thinking that taking 1 level in every single class (and eligible PrC) with full BAB would be awesome. I still maintain that it would, in fact, be awesome. No EXP penalty btw :D

EDIT: And now I have to make a new thread about it...

I have done this at mid levels. It wasn't bad. Roughly in par with tier 4, maybe 3 if you got really clever with class selection. Sneak attack hit and run fighter 1 / whirl barb 1 / duskblade 1 / paladin 1 / ect.

You need to find all the really front loaded full BAB classes. It can be a pain.

[KillianHawkeye]

Or thinking that taking 1 level in every single class (and eligible PrC) with full BAB would be awesome. I still maintain that it would, in fact, be awesome. No EXP penalty btw :D

EDIT: And now I have to make a new thread about it...

I did something like that back in 3.0, when classes were even more front-loaded than they are now!