Well, this is weird.
I was just looking up how multi-classed characters are supposed to work in 1st Edition Advanced D&D. The descriptions seem to be scattered all over the place in the PHB and DMG, and worse, I can’t find ANY statement in either book of how XP are supposed to be awarded – and gaining levels handled – with multi-classed characters.
Did I just not look hard enough?
I don’t have the books any more but they’re split evenly across all classes.
Pretty sure it was split evenly, but each class advances based on their own chart, so you ended up with a X-level thief/Y-level magic-user.
And since XP levels almost double each level you end up with a 6th/6th versus everyone else who is a 7th or 8th. Which isn’t as great as it seems cause unlike in 3rd you halve your HP (but get all the other powers commensurate with your level IIRC).
That’s how it worked in 2nd edition at least.
I believe there’s also some DM discretion involved in case a module demanded more, say, thievery skills than magic skills in the case of a dual-classed mage/thief.
Shouldn’t this be in the Game Room?
It’s been 25 years since I played 1E, but I’m fairly sure that XP were split evenly across your classes. As Manda JO notes, since each class had its own advancement table, you could easily have different levels in your different classes (especially if one of your classes was rogue, which advanced the fastest, IIRC).
What is this “rogue” class you speak of? Back in 1st Edition we had Thieves, and liked it.
But yes, XP was split 50-50 between classes, and since the amount of XP needed for advancement nearly doubled for each level, a multi-classed character was typically only 1 or 2 levels behind the single classed.
Humans could not be multi-classed, only demihumans. This came out of the thinking in the original pamphlets and Chainmail, where “Elf” or “Dwarf” was treated as a class in itself, and an Elf was always a Fighter/Magic-user.
My group are still playing 1st Edition (after 33 years 
), so I have all the Manuals.
And you’re right - I can find no mention of splitting xp between classes in either the Players Handbook, the DM Guide or Unearthed Arcana. 
Even my group’s House Rules (with 115 pages covering topics from ‘Dragonskin Armour’, new character classes, social levels and weather tables) just assumes you divide xp by the number of classes.
So an Elf Fighter / Magic User / Thief would divide xp by 3.
(Oh, and Thieves go up levels faster earlier on, so the Elf would be level 3/3/4 at some point…)
But humans could be ‘dual-class’. For that, you would level-up in one class, then switch to another and start it from level one. You couldn’t use any abilities from your first class until your second class was above the highest level you had in the first. If you did, you lost all experience points for that adventure.
I happened to roll a pretty good STR, INT, and CHA on a character back in those days (that DM actually made you stick with what you rolled, in order, though he’d let you reroll if you didn’t get at least one stat at 15 or higher), so I made him a human fighter with a longsword and a longbow. Then I switched him to an illusionist after getting just to 2nd level as a fighter. The extra weapons came in handy, as did the higher hit points at those low levels.
Hope I remembered all that correctly. It’s been 25 years.
I’m pretty sure you remember correctly. There was none of this wussy 3E “I take a level in barbarian” crap…we had to pick a class and LIKE it! And if we did want a change, we had to WORK for it, I tell you…
As long as they’re not talking about the “rouge” class, I’ll be happy. 
When did gamers forget that the placement of letters makes a difference?
Yes, yes it should be in the Game Room rather than GQ. I’ll just move this over there.
Lynn
Yes, that’s all correct!
Only humans could ‘dual class’, and they needed a 15 in the ability associated with their first class (e.g. Strength for Fighters) and a 17 in their second (e.g. Intelligence for Magic Users.)
Interesting…
One case of the AD&D rules being as thorough as those of The Spawn of Fashan.
:smack: You are, of course, correct. (Never played thieves in those days, though I had a number of magic-users. 
)
It’s not too shabby, though. A 6th/6th fighter/magic-user would have far more hit points than a straight 7th m-u, better combat numbers and weapon selection, in exchange for a level of casting ability. The real problem long-term was that, by the book, demi-humans hit some severe level limits and that 6th/6th F/MU has gone about as far as he can go and will look pig sick next to an 11th level Wizard.
Yes, multi-class non-humans were a genuine alternative (as was dual class for a human.)
And Malacandra is right about the level limits. There was usually only one choice for each race e.g. an Elf could reach 6 Fighter / 11 MU, whilst any class could be unlimited in their Thief class.
But nobody ever actually did that, did they? And the problem of the multi-class character being so much more powerful became self-correcting at high levels when the XP per level flattened out because for every level the multi-class character gained, the single-class character gained 2 or 3, at least in the level-unlimited classes. Single-class Assassins and Druids had big problems when they reached their level caps.
Thank heavens for 3rd Edition.