Multi-classing and stat bonuses

[Drop_Bear]

Hello all! I'm new to the Istaria and I have a few questions about multi-classing.

• I got up to Scout 12 and then switch to Druid. First and foremost, I noticed that my character was immediately bare down to his loincloth. Was it just because I failed to meet the minimum Current Level of my gear? Or is it because druids can never use bows and metal armors, regardless of their secondary schools?
  
• I used a couple of crystals jump bump up my Druid level to 8. I noticed that my health and stats remained the same when I leveled. At what point do I start gaining stats again for leveling my school?

[whatbrick]

To the first issue of gear, it's both...a druid cannot wear metallic armor or (I'm assuming) bows (check the bow description for clarification). Regardless, no class can wear a higher rating armor than their current level. A way around this is if you have a high crafter level. Say you are a level 45 mage and a level 43 fletcher...if you multi-class to a level 1 adventure school, then you can continue to wear your cloth armor because your crafting levels would allow it.

To the second issue, you'll start seeing stat changes when your druid levels allow your stats to exceed the bonuses you received as a scout. So if you gain 10 armor per level as a scout, but only 8 as a druid (just using random numbers here) then you would need to be a level 13 druid in order for your armor stat to increase over a level 10 scout. All the other stats and skills work the same way.

Hope this makes some sense.

[Drop_Bear]

Thanks, I think I understand now. The only part of your explanation to which I was unclear concerns the workaround using a high crafter level. I didn't realize the crafting school had any impact on the type or level of armor that you can wear. I'll have to experiment with that.

[whatbrick]

I'll see if I can explain it more clearly using an example:

Bob the Berserker is a level 75 Berserker, so he can use all cloth/padded/hide/leather armor rated at 710, but he's also a level 73 Tailor. Crafters can wear cloth armor (not just cargo armor) so even if Bob decides to try out Druid and starts off at level 1, he can still wear cloth armor rated 710 because his crafting level meets the level requirements, and he already has the armor usage from leveling berserker. Level 71 cloth armor is going to have a much better armor rating than the beginner hide that a Druid would normally wear, and can also accept the higher tier techs (and more of them).

[neva]

Another thing to remember with Multi-classing is your rating is not the same as your school levels. So for example, one of my bipeds has 3 schools in level 12, but his rating is 14.
Rating does impact how much exp you will get off kills, so he has to take on level 14 monsters in order to get the same exp he would if he killed a level 12 if he only leveled one school.

So always keep that in mind. Allot of people don't read the fine-print on that in the starter area and then can later get kinda messed up. So anyone who ever wants to play a biped has to know where they are going first before they can get going or they can really get themselves in a problem.
Only exception to this rule is Dragons, as Dragons only have one adventure school.

Also if I recall correctly, crafting level does not impact your rating, so it does not mess with your adventuring, outside of what was pointed out, it can help you get on some nicer items if one is patient enough to level it up ahead of time.

[whatbrick]

The experience hit you take from a higher adventure rating is more of a factor if your multiple adventure schools are about the same level. My 39 Monk/36 Berserker/28 Druid has a harder time levelling because the power difference between the classes are not that great. My 93 Reaver/52 Healer/36 Mage/32 Monk can level a lot easier (when my active class is not reaver) than a single class can because the power difference allows me to take on creatures with a much higher rating. Once those other classes start to catch up with my reaver level, then the adventure rating will become more of a hindrance.

In either case, the trophy hunters can help aleviate the levelling pains because the experience you get from quests are not affected by the adventure rating.

Also, neva is correct in that the crafting rating does not affect the adventure experience you gain. It also doesn't affect the crafting experience you get either.