Prior History Mulit-Classing & Feats Question

[theSea]

Hey-- got T20 over the weekend. Great job guys! Okay too many pictures that aren't of ships or guns, but still, great job

I'm starting to create NPC characters for my campaign (and practicing the character generation system so I don't look a fool in front of my players ) and I'm running into some questions that I can't seem to answer from the T20 book or the D20 PHB...

I'm building a character - started out as a belter (14 yrs old) and I did 1 term of belter prior history that got him up to 4th level. Good ship handling skills there - which is nice since he's destined to be an astrogator - but he's a little light on combat, so I want to enlist him in the marines.

Here's where it gets sticky for me:

1) I'm assuming (and you know where that gets you) that the Marine enlistment roll is the same DC as the re-enlistment roll shown on the Marine Prior History page. True or false?

2) The guy is a 4th level belter - I run him through 1st term of marine prior history (age 18 - 24) and resolve basic training and short first term as specified. If he DOES NOT get enough XP to level up (become a 5th level character and thereby a level 1 marine) does he get anything except the XP from 4 years in the marines?

3) If he DOES get enough XP to level up he is now a 5th level character - Belter/4, Marine/1 - does he then get *all* of the first level marine starting feats (that he does not already have) plus a bonus feat (for making level 5) or just the level 5 feat??? Or just the starting feats but not the bonus feat?

Also - as he levels up as a marine does he continue to just receive feats and bonuses (ability increases etc) as per his Marine level from the Marine class page or his overall character level as per the table with the XP totals?

4) Skills - when he reaches level 1 marine does he just get (IIRC) 2 + Int bonus skill points or does he get the full first level skill point allotment?

It seems to me that if he gets all skills and feats as a regular 1st level character then there are a *lot* of benefits to switching classes, which are probably offset by the fact that it is going to take a lot of XP to move him from Marine/1 to Marine/2 and so on....

Thoughts?

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Good Question I'd like to hear the answer to this one myself.

 

[tjoneslo]

2) Correct. No level means no bonuses.

3) Read the PHB (if you have it) section on multiclassing. You get: The bonus feat for 5th level, plus all the marine starting feats.

3b) He recives the Marine feats based upon his Marine level. And get the bonus feats based upon the character level.
Point of confusion for new to D20: Each character has two kinds of levels: Character level and class level. Character level equals sum of all class levels. If you have only one class, the class level and character level are equal.
When the character goes up a character level (based upon experience) the get the character level bonus feat/ability increase. Then they pick a class to increase one level as well, and get the feats, skills, and bonuses for the class.
So going up a level is a two step process. Character level first, then class level.

4) just the 2+int skill points. The *4 is for the first character level only.

 

[theSea]

tjoneslo - thanks for the quick answer!

Let me see if I understand another point then - when he gets bonus character level feats (per the XP table) they can be any feat for which he is qualified while when he gets a feat off of the marine table, it has to be one of the marine feats until or unless he has all of the marine feats already - in which case he may then choose anything he is qualified for - yes?

thanks again,

 

[AllenS]

Originally posted by theSea:
1) I'm assuming (and you know where that gets you) that the Marine enlistment roll is the same DC as the re-enlistment roll shown on the Marine Prior History page. True or false?

Actually, I don't think there is an "enlistment" roll, there are prereq's you have to meet to get in but I think if you do, you can just get in. STAYING in, of course, is a different matter.

Allen

 

[yaskoydray]

Let me see if I understand another point then - when he gets bonus character level feats (per the XP table) they can be any feat for which he is qualified while when he gets a feat off of the marine table, it has to be one of the marine feats until or unless he has all of the marine feats already - in which case he may then choose anything he is qualified for - yes?

Ah, you're close. Think of it in terms of "Character Feats" separate from "Class Feats"--and realize that some, not all, Character Feats also show up as Class Feats (which increases the chance the PC can access those repeated feats). A class' feat listing is designed to be at the advantage/privilege of the class in question--often offering feats unique to the class.

I don't recall what to do exactly if you earn more Class Feats beyond the selection offered for the class in question. It doesn't seem likely to occur--especially when there may be a few Class Feats you can take more than once (look out for that! ). In D&D 3E you "don't" run out of Class Feats, you are only entitled to access the class' feat list with respect to that class leveling up, ex: the Fighter... It can happen that a Class Feat selection coincidences with a Character Feat selection. They are to be dealt with separately. I imagine the same for T20 (I dont' have my book in front of me right now )

In summary, treat the bonus feats earned by character as separate from the bonus feats earned by class; you have 2 independent lists to work with depending upon what's happening to your PC--unless there is a precise rule in the game to the contrary. (Exceptions could exist in a class' rule set.)

Hope that helps...

-Y.

 

[tjoneslo]

Yaskoydray is correct. To be clearer:

The Character Level bonus feats can be any feat in the book, except the ones restricted to a specific class. Usually the restricted ones are listed with the class only.

The Class Level feats are only the ones listed with the class. I believe each class has some text to the effect of "If you have all of these class level feats, you may choose a general one", meaning choose from the Character Level bonus feat list.

 

[theSea]

okay - about what I thought (even if I didn't express it clearly)

Thanks again - much clearer now!

 

[Liam Devlin]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
Yaskoydray is correct. To be clearer:

The Character Level bonus feats can be any feat in the book, except the ones restricted to a specific class. Usually the restricted ones are listed with the class only.

The Class Level feats are only the ones listed with the class. I believe each class has some text to the effect of "If you have all of these class level feats, you may choose a general one", meaning choose from the Character Level bonus feat list.

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Kewl. Awrighty then..saves me from asking th' question. Thank you much as well.!!