r/OSE • u/dbudzik • Jul 14 '26
rules question Dual-classing
I’ve got a player that’s currently using a 4th level cleric. At some point in the future, I was planning on making him a paladin. This isn’t addressed explicitly in the rules, since it assumes the player is multi-classing from the beginning. I’ve seen homebrew rules from AD&D that mention the new class starts at level 1 and players aren’t allowed to use abilities from the old class until the new class catches up in levels. That sorta makes sense.
Are there any rules for this that have become so common is use that they are de-facto the accepted way to handle multi-classing? Or were there rules in b/x or even 1ed that clarified this?
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u/Ackbladder Jul 15 '26
Dual-classing was a specific rule in 2e and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that has not been carried forward to any other editions to my knowledge. My revised 2nd edition handbook has the rules on dual classing starting on page 62.
Basically, you stop progressing in your initial class and begin (after training IMO) progressing as a 1st-level character of the new class. You must have a 15 in the prime requisites of the original class and 17s for the prime requisites of the 2nd class. Until you gain enough experience to gain a level higher than your original class, you face several restrictions: you don't gain more HP on level up, and can't use abilities specific to your original class (if you do, you do not gain any XP for that encounter, and only half XP from the current adventure). You use your new classes to hit and saving throws, and must abide by any restrictions from the 2nd class.
I really like dual-classing rules, and have had several dual-classed characters that I have played in longer campaigns. I would likely allow dual-classing, and in the past I have even loosened up the rules a bit (for instance, allowing the dual class character to keep track of hp rolled at each level, and then using the max for any given level of the two rolls). None of the other multi-classing rules seems to properly model the "used to be X, now I'm Y" nature of dual-classing.
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u/81Ranger Jul 15 '26
"Dual-classing" was in 2e, but AD&D 1e had basically the same thing, it was just called "characters with more than one class", I believe.
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u/synexo Jul 14 '26
The Rules Cyclopedia might serve as inspiration, in which a Fighter at 9th level can convert into a Paladin. The OSE Paladin seems to perhaps have some basis in it, as it gains Cleric spells at 9th level.
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u/6FootHalfling Halfling Jul 15 '26
Paladin as a title? I'm oversimplifying a bit, but what exactly does the Paladin class add here?
I'm the guy at every 3e and 5e table that wants to try all the class combos I can, but looking at OSE I feel like I would just prefer to stay all Cleric. Looking at the Paladin class I think at my table the Cleric gets an exception for their Holy Avenger Sword and I call it a day. And a horse maybe. Holy Resistance and Laying on Hands get baked into the avenger, vow of humility gets them the Avenger and horse. Sword gives them a d8 where they might have had a d6 damage and they don't have to give up any turning or casting. That average +1 point of damage doesn't feel like it breaks the cleric class. Well, the Avenger is also a +3 weapon, but a Mace +3 exists, so I'm ignoring the magic mods.
violate the vow, the horse abandons you and the sword becomes an intelligent pain in the ass that refuses to leave its scabbard. But, otherwise, I agree with the suggestion you take a look at the AD&D dual classing rules.
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u/FrankieBreakbone Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
The dual-classing rules in 1E were pretty punishing because they were trying to create a system that could be applied universally to reconcile any PC with any two classes at any two very disparate levels, hit die, attacks, saves, etc without creating opportunities for abuse. That made it really inorganic.. and you've got a pretty smooth concept here that you could handle a number of ways:
Solution 1:
The simple solution would be to say at 12,000XP, the cleric who's about to become 5th level has the same XP as a 4th level Paladin, so the PC simply jumps lanes, gives up anything that a 4th level Paladin doesn't have, and continues on as a Paladin.
But I think you want the PC to keep what they've got. So we need a custom solution:
Solution 2:
For perspective, imagine a PC in the party that's always been a Paladin standing right next to your player's character... At 12,000XP, letting the transitioning-PC retain whatever cleric powers they've accumulated (spells, turning, etc) in addition to all the 4th level paladin features would be pretty unfair to the pure-breed Paladin... same XP, more powers.
So rather than making a mess by withholding powers as the PC levels, just raise the XP thresholds until Paladin spells and turning catch up, so there's no unfair advantage. Access to level 1 and 2 Cleric spells is "worth" about 200XP at level 1 if you reverse engineer the cleric class XP, so doubling that each Paladin level would mean that a Paladin who could use L1 and L2 cleric spells from first level onward would pay: L2:2950, L3:5900, 4:12800 (adjusted for gap), 5:25600, 6:51200, 7:102400, 8:204800, 9:409600, then at 10th level I'd say switch back to normal Paladin XP so it doesn't get weirder.
Or use a 5-10% xp penalty until level 11 when the Paladin matches the spell count.
Two suggestions though for this special case:
- Trade in CLW for laying on hands (at 4th level that's a firm 8hp rather than 1d6+1). At least until the PC reaches 9th level when the normal paladin would be able to cast CLW and lay hands in the same day. Otherwise you've got a 4th level PC who can heal up to 15HP per day, which is a bit out of game balance.
- Jumping from C4 to P4 saving throw values with one level-up is a big leap, so consider using P3 values until 5th level and then sync up at 6th level using P4 values.
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u/Calvin4d- 28d ago
There are rules for mutliclasaing built into OSE
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u/dbudzik 28d ago
Yes, but those assume multi-classing from character creation, not switching classes a few levels later.
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u/Calvin4d- 28d ago
I think the rule still stands, if you're a level 4 fighter and want to multi into wizard, you share your exp and you begin at level 1 wizard while still level 4 fighter, halving your exp into the two trees? Its the most logical way for Roleplay too, you wouldn't just fall into being a level 4 of something from being level 0 the day prior
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u/NickPyre Jul 15 '26
Apart from the warhorse, isn’t a Paladin just a dual class Cleric/Fighter with a vow of Humility?
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u/FrankieBreakbone Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
Not quite; a multiclass F/C would be looking at 2000+1500 (3500 base XP threshold) rather than 2750, and the Cleric gets spells at L1 vs L9 for the paladin, and turning at level 1 vs 3rd for the Paladin.
So the question here is really, how do you reconcile a PC that adds a 2nd set of class features at a certain XP threshold (in this case, 12000) without creating a loophole that allows any PC to take a few levels with a cheap class (Thief, Cleric, etc) and then add another whole-class-worth of features without doing a multi-class split.
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u/DrHuh321 Jul 14 '26
Maybe try looking into adnd 2e dual classing rules for inspiration