The World of Avlis

I'm a 5th level elven ranger and want to become an AA. My question is this: do prestige classes cause the same xp penalty for multiclassing that regular classes do? Secondly, if I advance them equally to 10th AA, 9th ranger/1 wizard, would I have less total attacks than if I advanced ranger or AA much higher than the other? Thanks in advance

Maximinus_Thrax wrote:do prestige classes cause the same xp penalty for multiclassing that regular classes do?

No, they don't count for muticlassing xp loss.

Secondly, if I advance them equally to 10th AA, 9th ranger/1 wizard, would I have less total attacks than if I advanced ranger or AA much higher than the other?

No both get +1 BAB per level. So 10/9 AA/Ranger or 15/4 Ranger/AA or any other combo is the same thing attack wise.

PrC's arent suppose to count for XP penalties due to multiclassing. I'm not sure if Bioware implemented this or not.

A 10 aa/9 ranger/1 wizard would have 4 attacks around, and a BAB of 19. (as opposed to 20, of a level 20 ranger). AA's have the same BAB of a ranger, so as far as number of attacks, they would be equivalent.

Although, the more AA you take, the higher enchantment your arrows get, so that would give you a higher modified AB while using a bow.

Question 1: PrC do not count towards multiclass penalties

Quesion 2: You would have the max of 4 attacks. Both Ranger and AA are on the Fighter BAB progression chart.

From recent discussions though I think you would have to have a good rp reason why your character has reached lvl20 with only one level of wizard. I am sure others that have taken the class could tell you more about that.

Fire Monkey wrote:From recent discussions though I think you would have to have a good rp reason why your character has reached lvl20 with only one level of wizard. I am sure others that have taken the class could tell you more about that.

Technically, you should have a good RP reason to reach level 20 with ANY group of classes.

Fire Monkey wrote:From recent discussions though I think you would have to have a good rp reason why your character has reached lvl20 with only one level of wizard. I am sure others that have taken the class could tell you more about that.

"I wanted to become an arcane archer."

If your character wants to become an arcane archer, that reason should be good enough.

Just a comment if anyone else considers this path - if you play a half-elf you do get the multiclass penalty once the PrC get to be your highest level.
Bioware bug.

(it goes for humans too but as they can't be AAs...)

thanks for all your help..
The rp reason was the reason I asked actually. While I have two reasons to study wizard in character, one being the AA, I have yet to face either of them ic. i assume if a pc explains the AA class to me that will be sufficient. The other is more, personal. I just realized it would take me time to set this other one up, and needed to know if I needed to force the issue a bit. Thanks again for all your help.

Even if you went 5 ranger, 10 AA and 5 wizard you would still have 4 attacks.

I actualy would suggest that, because just 1 lvl of wizard is almost completely useless, while 5 levels would get you some useful spells, like haste, cat's grace, and ghostly visage. AND you would still have 4 attacks, but a 17bab instead of 19.

I also think, that this would open up some options for roleplay, that is if you are really looking to roleplay having some mage ability.

In this case... taking 1 level of wizard just for arcane archer doesn't seem that bad... the whole point of arcane archery is that you use magic to enhance your archery. So you go to school and take that Wizards 101 course to get yourself in the door and then specialize into knocking your arrows rather than chucking fireballs.

Though I believe the real pnp class requires more levels of arcane to even make sense... wasn't it supposed to be you can put any spell you know into any arrow you have for a ranged cast?

yeoua wrote:wasn't it supposed to be you can put any spell you know into any arrow you have for a ranged cast?

Basicly yes. In PnP an Arcane archer with only 1 lvl of Wizard lacked a bit in power over all. They still would get +5 arrows, seaker arrows, ect... But their imbue arrow would be very lacking.

Fifth level mage would be nice, but I fear I lack the intellegence (only have an 11 int). I will consider it as I add to my attributes though. Mostly, we'll just see where the character's experiences lead, and react to that. Thanks again though.