Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Does BG3 have cross-class skills?

I am confused by many things, and one of those is how BG3 skill proficiencies work. In Neverwinter Nights 2 they had a system of cross-class skills, where you gain only half the proficiency points of a cross-class skill. For example, a NWN2 wizard could take a Sleight of Hand type of a skill for picking locks or whatever, but the wizard's proficiency would be half compared to a rogue class. Does BG3 do this as well? And if so, what if I multiclass in BG3 with just one level of rogue and then resume with wizard levels ... will I get full proficiency in Sleight of Hand at every wizard level-up thereafter?

I am thinking of doing a re-spec to give my wizard the Urchin background with its Sleight of Hand skill, but I don't know if that's all I need, or do I need a Rogue level as well?

NWN and NWN 2 used a different edition of the D&D ruleset (3.0 for NWN, 3.5 for NWN 2), cross class skills don't exist anymore in 5E. Taking a level in the rogue class would grant you proficiency with sleight of hand if you took it and your proficiency bonus would apply to it in full, regardless of class.

I'm not sure whether you can actually respec your background. You could also take a feat at level 4 that lets you choose 3 skill proficiencies.

Ah, OK, thanks! I shall make an appointment with Withers tonight and see what can be done via re-specification. Then if I get my Sleight of Hand skill, I will pickpocket back my 100 gp to test it out.

Quick update - indeed you cannot change your origin via re-spec with Withers. Rats.