Multiclassing and class skills/cross class skills

[Philip_fry]

Hello,

can a multiclass character spend his skill points in a 1:1 ratio on skills that are technically cross-class skills for the class he advances in but are class skills for the ohter class (e.g. a soldier/thief levels and takes another level in soldier, could he spend his skill points 1:1 on disable device)? I would say this isn´t the case since you spend the points on your character class you advance in.

Am I right or wrong?

Greetings Marcel

 

[Raven Blackwell]

I usually say that only the Class skills you are currently leveling in can be bought 1:1- for the ones you get from the class. The bonus skill levels given to you by your Intelligence can be spent on any Skill though. The only question I have is this- what about the maximum Cross Class Skill levels allowed by level? If you have 8 ranks in Hide at fifth level and then take a level in Soldier, than Hide is now a Cross Class skill above its maximum allowed level of ranks. The way I ran that scenario is that I rules the level of skill ranks was 'grandfathered'- and thus not illegal, but they couldn't raise it anymore with the use of the bonus skill ranks granted by your Intelligence bonus while the skill remains a Cross Class skill.

Raven

 

[Neeklus]

I would rule that the skills from a previous class do not automatically become class skills for you when you multiclass into a new profession. Otherwise with just a few levels of mulitclassing would provide every skill available too you. While the rulebook (atleast my rulebook) gives now hard and fast rules on this, I'd allow a player to pay the 2:1 cost for a skill that a previous class could train in yet your current class could not. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Philip_fry]

I usually say that only the Class skills you are currently leveling in can be bought 1:1- for the ones you get from the class. The bonus skill levels given to you by your Intelligence can be spent on any Skill though. The only question I have is this- what about the maximum Cross Class Skill levels allowed by level? If you have 8 ranks in Hide at fifth level and then take a level in Soldier, than Hide is now a Cross Class skill above its maximum allowed level of ranks. The way I ran that scenario is that I rules the level of skill ranks was 'grandfathered'- and thus not illegal, but they couldn't raise it anymore with the use of the bonus skill ranks granted by your Intelligence bonus while the skill remains a Cross Class skill.

Raven

That tought came to me too. On the other hand it´s a little odd that you shouldn´t be able to raise a skill anymore when you haven´t reached the maximum ranks allowed by your other classes yet, which are determined by your character level, not your class level, but are already higher than the maximum for the cross class skills.

Since the character level is the mark for the maximum skill ranks I would allow spending the bonus points for high intelligence on a 1:1 basis. You could justify it by saying, that you grew accustomed to those abilities while learning your new profession.

 

[Sutek]

The max cross class ranks would be rescinded. Basically, if you have tow classes that have differnt Clas Skill sets, then leveling in one Class causes the following:

A) You may only increase Clas Skill ranks on a 1:1 basis for the Class you are currently leveling in. If you level up in Soldier for a Soldier/Barbarian, then 1:1 rank expendature only applies for the Soldier Clas Skill set.

B) If you reach max Cross Class ranks in some of the Barbarian Skills wioth that same character, leveling up in Barbarian where those skills are not considered Cross Class allows those ranks to be higher than the max ranks limit. This is because they are Class Skills for the class you are currently leveling in.

This, in addition to higher saves and BAB/MAB, are some of the huge perks of multi-classing. The downside of course is that more XP is needed to accomplish better skill ranks than single class characters.

Bonus points for INT may always be spent on a 1:1 ratio basis! Check pages 74-75 of Conan:AE under Purchasing Skills. the whole "1/2 point" thing only applies to skill points gained from you class that are being spent on increasing the ranks of Cross Class Skills. INT bonus points (even those multiplied out at 1st level) can be spent 1:1 at all times.

It's probably best to calculate skill points for Class and Skill Points for INT separately each level and spend them accordingly to aleviate confusion.

 

[argo]

The relevant rule is on p.80 under the heading "Purchasing Skills"

If you buy other classes' skills (cross-class skills) with the skill points you gain from your class (ass opposed to your bonus skill points from a high Intelligence) you get 1/2 rank per skill point.

So it doesn't matter if a skill was once a class skill; when advancing a level you spend your class-derrived skill points on your class skill list.

It has long been accepted wisdom that if a skill was ever a class skill that the max-ranks cap for that skill should become the class skill cap. Otherwise you do wind up with wierdness of having to "reduce" a person's skills when they multi-class to a class with a different skill list.

Since in Conan you can spend your bonus skill points from a high Int on any skill at a 1:1 ratio it has seemed to me to be a good idea to do away with the cross-class max-ranks cap entierly. IMC the max-ranks cap for all skills is level+3. I believe the 2:1 purchase cost of cross-class skills is a sufficent penalty. Needless to say that is a houserule.

Hope that helps.