Editing Multiclassing (section)

===[[Legend of the Five Rings]]===
The AEG game is a bit of an unusual situation, because your "class" system is much, much more social-based.  See, instead of Classes you have Schools, which are taught either by one of the various clans and/or families in the setting, or run by some group with very specific requirements on who can join them.  This is based largely on certain aspects of older Japanese society where your position is much more stratified.

As a result of this unusual social aspect to the setting, multiclassing is a much bigger issue than in games like D&D.  In the first place, you have to pick up the Multiple Schools advantage each time you want to switch things up... and this is basically telling your old School that you have learned all you ever intend to learn from them, and you are quite done with them for the rest of your life.  Additionally, you have to have some major allies, connections, or favors in the new place you're going to learn from to justify them teaching you this new way of life, which can mean the GM may require you to take additional advantages or disadvantages to represent these other factors.

Now, you may think this is all arbitrary.  Sorry, but Advantages cost double their point value in XP after character creation, meaning you are definitely falling behind everyone else just to pick up a few new entry-level tricks.  If this doesn't seem a bad thing, keep in mind that some of the Schools have some truly powerful abilities at Rank 3+.  For example, many schools do not give you an extra attack until at least Rank 3 or higher, and dipping out of shugenja to pick up swordsmanship means you'll never be able to call upon the really powerful spells in the game.

There are, naturally, a few exceptions.  You can always learn any of the "basic" Ronin schools that aren't attached to a specific group.  This isn't so bad, to be honest: a lot of Minor Clans do not get their own schools for certain things, so the Ronin schools are essentially the only avenue some of them have to train in roles like bushi or shugenja.  But mechanically, the Ronin schools are definitely inferior in a lot of ways to their Great Clan counterparts: if your Mirumoto Bushi gets kicked out of the Dragon Clan, you are truly fucked if you think Ronin Warrior or Ronin Duelist will ever make up for some of your later techniques.

Having said all of this... it's not actually a big deal.  There's a lot of other tricks you can get to make up certain aspects of the game your character needs to be good at.  Your Kakita Duelist can, in fact, pick up Etiquette and Courtier skills to be almost as socially adept as your Doji Courtier cousins.  There is absolutely nothing stopping your shugenja from stacking up on Crab Hands and weapon skills; in fact, a lot of Kuni witchhunters do precisely this, because they have to engage in as much physical combat as their Warhammer Fantasy counterparts.  And your courtier can certainly learn combat skills like Jiujitsu and Defense, the better to protect themselves against assassins.  (Ninjas actually have it bad in this game: they need almost every skill imaginable for a variety of situations, because they are functionally the James Bonds of the setting, only if they fuck up nobody is going to save them from execution by the authorities.)  Depending on your edition, almost every skill is available to everyone (the earlier editions did occasionally have clan- and even family-locked skills for special effects, but these often were either made more general or incorporated into a school as a technique).

The restrictions DID lift from 2nd edition onwards if you hit rank 5 in a school, since the rules integrated the option to go up to rank 8.  At that point, you actually HAVE learned all they can teach, and can pursue other training with less stigma.  Of course, often the school or a related one had an advanced option, which was moretraditional, but nothing stopped you from applying to another regular school (especially if you married out of the clan).  The standard bushi/shugenja restriction still applied, but as every Great Clan had at least one courtier school, and several had monk, artisan, and non-existant ninja schools, everyone had some choice at that point even without leaving the clan.

In 2nd and 3rd editions, there also were options to use alternative paths to change schools without the merits, through the "egress path." For instance, there was a bridge path from the Doji courtiers into the Otomo, leaving the first fairly early into the alternative path one rank and then taking Rank one in the Otomo school the following rank.  This still meant not getting the higher level techniques for the Doji, though, and delayed getting yheyhem for the Otomo, but it was an option.  Fourth Edition did away with this, since Alternate Paths replaced the rank rather than being a separate rank, and this not having an egress path.

So the long story short here is, you can multiclass, but you shouldn't bother wasting time and XP doing it unless you have a very, very specific reason to do so, or have managed to hit rank 5 and don't have a better option for rank 6.  Just buy more Advantages and Skills and call it a day.

The new version of the RPG does away with multiclassing, but the spirit exists to an extent. You now follow a curriculum set by a school, which also limits the types of techniques you can learn (at least to start).  However, except for a starting ability and pinnacle technique, all techniques are purchased alongside skills and traits, and you can purchase any that are available to you if you have the XP.  This allows you to potentially learn another school's techniques, or develop your own, if given the opportunity without derailing your progression. The curriculum is designed to keep followers on certain paths and styles (i.e. Hida should hit hard and be tough, and their curriculum guides that), but you can buy things outside of advancement sequences if you want and have the chance - they just don't add to your insight.  This can allow said Hida to add swift strikes or spear tricks to their repertoire.