Hey, all. I'm a long-time D&D gamer, but never got jiggy with the 3d ed. A little information on how multi- and dual- classing works is what I seek. If I understand correctly, anyone can do it. Is this true, or am I (Joe Human) going to be barred from increasing the levels in my previous class?

As well, I'm curious about skills. If my fighter buys the pick pocket skill, is he as good at picking pockets as a thief (of identical attributes, of course)?

Sorry to ask questions so basic - I feel like such a Nu-B

When multiclassing, your character must have all his classes must be within one level of each others, or he will have a 20% xp penalty per uneven classes. But there is a big exception to this. Each races have a favored class, and this class is ignored when determining if the character get an xp penalty or not.

As an example, thiefling's favored class is the rogue. Lets's say you have a 12 level rogue, and give him a level of fighter, he is now level 12/1, but for multiclassing purpose, it is only a level 1 fighter. If later, the character is a level 12 rogue and level 5 fighter, and you decide to give him a level as a mage, the character will be a level 5 fighter/level 1 mage, so he will get the xp penalty. The humans have an advantage over this. THey have no favored class, their favored class is their highest level class.

As for skills, yes, if you take a Fighter, and raise his pick pocket skill to 10, he will be as good as a thief with 10 skill, but the thief only pay one point to raise that skill, while the fighter must pay 2 points for every point he want to raise in that skill.

There is no "dual classing." Multi-classing is totally different, too.

1. You have two levels "character level" and "class level."
2. Character levels go up by earning experience. 1000 * your character level.
3. On level up, you can chose which class to put the new level.

EX:

Chacter Level 1 at Fighter (class) Level 1
-> Earns 1000XP

Adds MAGE. Now = Character Level 2, Class level FIGHTER 1/MAGE 1.
-> Earns 2000XP.

Adds MAGE. Now = Character Level 2, Class Level FIGHTER 1/MAGE 2.

ALSO, some classes, if you multi-class out of them, you may not be able to multi-class back into them. See Paladins & Monks in the character generation part of the game.

:::

Using skills - Anyone can use any skill they learn, at any time. Only a few skills are class specific. For example, you inquired about pickpocketing with your fighter (and no, I don't buy-off on the "equal stats" arguement, either):

Pickpocket chance = skill level + dex modifier - armor check penalty(ies) +d20 against the difficult chance (DC). Full Plate, Tower Sheild Fighter "Monty Thickfingers" Dex = 10, Skill = 4 tries to lift a necklace from Herminoe the Powerful, LVL 20 Sorc...

Chance modifier = 4 + 0 - 6(full plate) - 3 (tower shield) = -5. Rolls 15. Too bad. Target's DC is 25. Get's turned into a toad. So much for that.

If you are talking about the armor check penalty on armor and shield, those only apply to thief skills, like sneak and pickpocket. It is hard to sneak around and pick pocket people while wearing a full plate and carrying a tower shield.

Thanks for the replies, cleared up much.

Where is the info regarding preferred classes for other races - are they in the book that came w/ the game, or on the character info screen or both?

They are on the character info screen, just below your level. You can also probably see it in the informations section.

It is at page 47 of your instruction manual too.