Originally Posted by Kargor

This I can't confirm or deny; I merely never heard about it, but 1.5% can't be easily tested.



That I can definitely deny for Europe. It's not just that I never heard about it either, but I just tried it out: my lvl 33 Shaman has 996 HP with my usual Doc/Thief subs, and --- guess what --- 996 HP with Merc/Thief subs. And don't tell me I have to wait 3 days for the merc sub to "sink in" :-)

Subbing only gives you skills, nothing else.

EDIT: there are a few classes that have passive bonus skills, which you can sub on another class to get them. Shaman, for example, has "Mega Magic" --- if you sub that tree, you'll get the MP bonus from that skill. I don't have that skill, though (if you think about it and remember that Domo is not Diablo-II you'll see that Mega Magic is completely useless, so the skillpoints are better spent elsewhere).