Multiclassing just isn't fair!
Cast
Transcript
- Panel 1
Elan: So, you got your level. Another level of ranger, then?
Belkar: Actually, I was thinking of multiclassing.
- Panel 2
Elan: Oh yeah? To what class?
Belkar: Barbarian. Figured it'd be a good way to burn off some excess aggression.
Elan: I completely support that decision.
- Panel 3
Belkar: What about you? Throwing good levels after bad with another bard level?
Elan: Maybe. I was also considering taking a level of wizard, though.
- Panel 4
Belkar: Wizard? Really? I didn't know you've been studying wizardry.
Elan: I haven't been.
- Panel 5
Elan: But if I multiclass to wizard, it's retroactively assumed that I've been looking over Vaarsuvius' shoulder this whole time and taking notes about magic.
- Panel 6
Belkar: But you haven't been.
Elan: But it's assumed that I have been. Get it?
Belkar: Nice.
- Panel 7
Vaarsuvius: What? You have never studied magic under me!!
Elan: Yeah, but that doesn't matter because I started my career as a bard. All I have to do is decide to take a level of wizard, and BOOM! Instant knowledge.
- Panel 8
Vaarsuvius: Are you serious?? I studied for a century before I even mastered my first 1st level spell!
Elan: Well, gee, you should have taken your first level in something easier, like bard or rogue.
Belkar: Seriously.
- Panel 9
Elan: I mean, if you've started as a bard, like me, you could have cruised through a few weeks of Bard Camp to get your first level, and then pick up the wizard class later.
- Panel 10
Vaarsuvius: That hardly seems fair.
Elan: Hey, nobody forced you to study hard and make something of yourself.
Belkar: Yeah, I never studied nothing, and last I checked we're the same level.
- Panel 11
Vaarsuvius: This—that's—ARRRGHH!
Elan: It's true what theys say: "Hard work may pay off in the long run, but laziness always pays off right now!"
Belkar: True dat.
D&D Context
- When a character levels up they can take levels in any class they wish. Taking levels in a class other than your base class is called "multiclassing" and comes with an experience point penalty sometimes.
- A new character takes all of his youth to get the first level of its class. The manuals go as far as defining that some classes take more years than others to master (randomly rolled at character creation). Wizard is among the ones who need more years if taken at creation and just the same amount of adventuring time as any other class (usually just a few days of dungeon delving) to take when multiclassing.
- When a player takes a level in a new class it's often retroactively assumed he had been preparing for his new skills the entire campaign, even when that is infeasible, such as the decades long preparation of a Wizard.
- Wizards require a sufficiently high Intelligence score to cast spells; at least 10 + the spell level. Therefore, Elan would be able to cast only 0th level spells, if any. A much more viable class for Elan would be a Sorcerer, whose ability to cast spells is reliant on their Charisma, rather than Intelligence.
Trivia
- The title plays on the Marxist theory of class struggle and the D&D concept of a multi-class character.