Third Edition D&D Question (Specifically, Icewind Dale 2)

[Madae]

I was looking for a place to ask this question, but I couldn't really find one that I thought would give me a quick response considering the game in question is pretty old now, and this seems like a good place to ask considering the history of Obsidian (Black Isle).

 

Anyway, I was wondering about favored classes for a race. I wanted to make a Tiefling Rogue and then maybe multiclass it to a fighter to grab weapon specialization (I want to make them a good bow-user). Since the Tiefling has a favored class of a Rogue, would I get an exp penalty if I multiclassed from Rogue to Fighter? or if I was going to make a Rogue/Fighter, should I start with Fighter at level 1? Considering the favored class is Rogue, it makes sense that it wouldn't matter... but it's kind of confusing.

 

I guess this actually concerns another class I want, too. I was going to make a Half-Orc Fighter/Barbarian, but the favored class for a Half-Orc is Barbarian.

 

And actually, I think I may have found something that answers my question, though it's still slightly beyond me. One place is saying that a favored class for a race is ignored completely when determining exp penalties. So for a Tiefling and Half-Orc, since their primary classes would be Rogue and Barbarian, respectively, does it matter that Fighter would be level 4 for either of them? And does it still matter what order they're in, or does it really just matter if the multiclass (in this case, Fighter) is higher than their primary class?

 

My head is spinning... I think I'm making this more difficult than it really is.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Madae

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Some people use "houserules" to nullify the XP penalty because they find it a bit cumbersome, so it all depends on who you play with and what the "houserules" are for the group or GM.

 

The XP penalty is applied if you have two base(prestige classes do not count) classes whose levels are more than 1 level away from each other. The favored class simply removes the class from the equation, so if you have a Tiefling Rogue 8/ Fighter 2, there is no XP penalty because the Rogue class is not counted due to Favored class.

[TheDogProfessor]

^ Kaine nailled it: when multi-classing, all classes -- except favoured class -- cannot be more than one level apart without incurring an xp penalty. Although I, personally, don't know any DM that uses the xp penalty rules.

 

EDIT: Grammar

EDIT: In Icewind Dale II, you won't need to worry about any multi-classing xp penalties for the builds you have mentioned.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Ape_Style