Arek's Medium BAB peeve (and fix)

[Arek]

Multiclassing into a medium BAB class really grates on my nerves.

As written, you're supposed to start that class's BAB progression.

So...

If I were to take 6 levels of Rogue, it'd give me a BAB of 4.

If I were to take another level of Rogue, I'd get a BAB of 5.

BUT.

If I were to pick up some other medium BAB class, like Cleric or Bard or something for my 7th level, my BAB stays at 4.

Despite reason suggesting that the person's using the same attack moves.

And that's just dumb and crippling to a character.

Therefore, I suggest this simple fix:

If you start on a class with Medium or Poor BAB, and you multiclass to something with the same BAB, you stay on the same track. If you're switching between them...
-If switching to Poor BAB, you gain a point on your first level, and then go into the 1/2 progression from there. Yes, I know that's generous. Merry Christmas.
-If switching to Medium, you 'break into' the progression starting at what's listed for your level.
-Good BAB always gains you a point every level, just like it works now.
-Switching from Good BAB to one of the lower ones follows the rules above.

There's probably some potential abuses of this, but I don't really care because if you're going to take levels in a class with lower BAB for multiple levels, you're still going to be wrecking your BAB compared to what it could have been.

And, this way, you don't lose combat ability for being a Medium BAB person and multiclassing into one of those ubercool Medium BAB PrCs.

[CharlieRock]

I was just making a joke to a co-worker last night about how if someone were to multiclass enough you could probably get to level 20 and have BAB +0.

[Arek]

I was just making a joke to a co-worker last night about how if someone were to multiclass enough you could probably get to level 20 and have BAB +0.

That's nothing. Hypothetically, if you multiclass enough and choose the classes right, the rules as written let you have a base save of +40

Let's see.

I start off with Monk. That makes my saves +2/+2/+2
Then I do Favored soul. Now, at level 2, they're +4/+4/+4
Then I take Cleric. Now my saves are +6/+4/+6
Then I take Druid. Now they're +8/+4/+6
Then I take Ranger. Now they're +10/+6/+6
Then I take a level of Psychic Warrior. Now they're +12/+6/+6.
Thanks to that Psychic Warrior level, I can take Elocator. Now they're +12/+8/+8
Oh, I also picked up Psicrystal Affinity as a feat, which gives me +2 to a save of my choice (and a pet rock)
I take a level of Bard at this point, which gives me +12/+10/+10 at level 8.
And because I'm chaotic and can't make up what class I want to be, I take Pyrokineticist to give me saves of +14/+12/+10.

At this point, I start dipping into the Tome of Battle and the rest of the Complete series for whatever classes have more than one good save.

[Nahat Anoj]

Yeah, multiclassing in 3e can give you bad BAB's but awesome saves. It's one of the things they say will be fixed in 4e, so hopefully they deliver.

If you have a copy of Unearthed Arcana, you might try using the fractional BAB and save rules. I think they will give you "mathematically correct" scores.

[CharlieRock]

Yeah, multiclassing in 3e can give you bad BAB's but awesome saves. It's one of the things they say will be fixed in 4e, so hopefully they deliver.

If you have a copy of Unearthed Arcana, you might try using the fractional BAB and save rules. I think they will give you "mathematically correct" scores.

They didn't "fix" it. They got rid of saves. That's not technically the same thing.