Multiclassing 5e - How to Build Your Own Hero
Table of Contents:
How to Build Your Own Hero -
5e D&D has a plethora of options for you to choose from when making a new , but what if they aren't enough? What if you want to don a 's while strumming a bardic lute? Or what if you want to channel the might of your god, while also transforming into a giant eagle? Multiclassing allows you to remix the existing classes into a hero all your own, it takes a few extra steps and a little work, but you'll create something that's synergistic and utterly unique (or potentially a broken mishmash). Grab your #2 pencils and your sheets as we walk you through everything you need to know.
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Why Should You ?
Generally, you don't need to. Many players don't wish to because they don't want to miss the class capstone at . But let's face it, rarely do you play at . 5e classes are designed to fill their roles optimally (mostly) and you don't need to mess with the plan. Most characters will be just fine taking levels in the same class for the entirety of a campaign.
Multiclassing is usually the answer when you want to focus down on something, like damage output, or AC. Through a combination of some very key abilities spread through multiple classes, you can optimize a particular strategy, or create a new strategy altogether. Keep in mind though, you'll be sacrificing many of the high- abilities you would have gained pursuing the same class all the way through.
Multiclassing Basics
Let's go through each chunk of the multiclassing rules piece by piece and go over what they mean:
" With this rule, you have the option of gaining a in a new class whenever you advance in , instead of gaining a in your current class. Your levels in all your classes are added together to determine your . For example, if you have three levels in and two in fighter, you're a 5th- . "
So very simply, whenever you up, you can choose to take a from any class. You can stack these levels up however you like, and in any order. For clarification though, in that example, a with 3 levels in and 2 levels in fighter has all the abilities of a , and a 2nd fighter, no 4th or abilities.
" Prerequisites
To qualify for a new class, you must meet the prerequisites for both your current class and your new one, as shown in the Multiclassing Prerequisites table. For example, a who decides to into the class must have both Strength and Wisdom scores of 13 or higher. Without the full training that a beginning receives, you must be a quick study in your new class, having a natural aptitude that is reflected by higher-than-average ability scores."
Prerequisites
|
Class |
Ability Score Minimum |
|
Intelligence 13 |
|
|
Barbarian |
Strength 13 |
|
Bard |
Charisma 13 |
|
Cleric |
Wisdom 13 |
|
Druid |
Wisdom 13 |
|
Fighter |
Strength 13 or Dexterity 13 |
|
Monk |
Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13 |
|
Paladin |
Strength 13 and Charisma 13 |
|
Ranger |
Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13 |
|
Rogue |
Dexterity 13 |
|
Sorcerer |
Charisma 13 |
|
Warlock |
Charisma 13 |
|
Wizard |
Intelligence 13 |
Basically, they don't want your with 8 Intelligence to suddenly learn spells. Your must be at least somewhat suitable for a new class before starting up in it.
"Experience Points
The experience point cost to gain a is always based on your total , as shown in the Advancement table, not your in a particular class. So, if you are a 6/fighter 1, you must gain enough XP to reach 8th before you can take your second as a fighter or your seventh as a ."
Most DMs nowadays use milestone advancement instead of EXP anyway, so this isn't something you'll need to worry about. But this rule just makes it so you can't cheese the experience point system by multiclassing.
"Hit Points and Hit Dice
You gain the (s) from your new class as described for levels after 1st. You gain the 1st- hit points for a class only when you are a 1st- .
You add together the Hit Dice granted by all your classes to form your pool of Hit Dice. If the Hit Dice are the same die type, you can simply pool them together. For example, both the fighter and the have a d10, so if you are a 5/fighter 5, you have ten d10 Hit Dice. If your classes give you Hit Dice of different types, keep track of them separately. If you are a 5/ 5, for example, you have five d10 Hit Dice and five d8 Hit Dice."
The starting hit points thing is self-explanatory, but the hit die thing can be confusing. Most likely, you haven't been tracking your hit dice much at all, but there are situations that really care about your hit dice and if your classes have different hit dice you'll need to track them separately. This usually only matters for short rests, in which you'll need to choose which hit dice you roll for healing.
"
Your is always based on your total , not your in a particular class. For example, if you are a fighter 3/ 2, you have the of a 5th- , which is +3."
If they didn't have this rule, your would get left in the dust, but thankfully you get to keep up the same as your single class friends.
"Proficiencies
When you gain your first in a class other than your initial class, you gain only some of new class's starting proficiencies, as shown in the Multiclassing Proficiencies table."
Multiclassing Proficiencies
Proficiencies Gained
Light , medium , shields, thieves' tools, tinker's tools
Shields, simple weapons, martial weapons
Light , one skill of your choice, one musical instrument of your choice
Light , medium , shields
Light , medium , shields (druids will not wear or use shields made of metal)
Light , medium , shields, simple weapons, martial weapons
Simple weapons, shortswords
Light , medium , shields, simple weapons, martial weapons, one skill from the class's skill list
Light , one skill from the class's skill list, thieves' tools
-
Light , simple weapons
When you take a in a new class, you don't get absolutely all of the proficiencies they'd get at . Instead you get a sampling of their proficiencies from the table up there. This is mainly to stop everybody grabbing with just 1 dipped into .
As a general tip, if you plan on multiclassing, take your in the class with the most proficiencies, as you'll lose out if you go the other way around.
"Class Features"
When you gain a new in a class, you get its features for that . You don't, however, receive the class's starting equipment, and a few features have additional rules when you're multiclassing: Channel Divinity, , , and ."
Some features get wonky when you , and the official explanations for them are very technical but we can boil them down to something simple:
- Channel Divinity . If you and , you don't gain extra uses of channel divinity, but you can freely choose between your and channel divinity abilities.
- . If you get "" from multiple classes, you don't double up on them.
- . You only get one "", getting it again from another class does nothing.
- . This is the one that's the most complicated, but we can tear it down to 3 points. You keep your Knowledge of your spells separately, your number of spells known never gets mixed together. Secondly, is completely different from all the other classes' . You can use slots from for spells from , and vice versa. Finally, when you have multiple classes, your number of slots gets really wonky. Rather than the number of slots you'd get for each class, you use this following table to determine your slots:
Multiclassing Proficiencies
|
Class |
Proficiencies Gained |
|
Artificer |
Light armor, medium armor, shields, thieves’ tools, tinker’s tools |
|
Barbarian |
Shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
|
Bard |
Light armor, one skill of your choice, one musical instrument of your choice |
|
Cleric |
Light armor, medium armor, shields |
|
Druid |
Light armor, medium armor, shields (druids will not wear armor or use shields made of metal) |
|
Fighter |
Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
|
Monk |
Simple weapons, shortswords |
|
Paladin |
Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
|
Ranger |
Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons, one skill from the class's skill list |
|
Rogue |
Light armor, one skill from the class's skill list, thieves' tools |
|
Sorcerer |
- |
|
Warlock |
Light armor, simple weapons |
|
Wizard |
- |
When you take a level in a new class, you don’t get absolutely all of the proficiencies they’d get at 1st level. Instead you get a sampling of their proficiencies from the table up there. This is mainly to stop everybody grabbing heavy armor with just 1 level dipped into paladin.
As a general tip, if you plan on multiclassing, take your 1st level in the class with the most proficiencies, as you’ll lose out if you go the other way around.
“Class Features"
When you gain a new level in a class, you get its features for that level. You don't, however, receive the class's starting equipment, and a few features have additional rules when you're multiclassing: Channel Divinity, Extra Attack, Unarmored Defense, and Spellcasting.”
Some features get wonky when you multiclass, and the official explanations for them are very technical but we can boil them down to something simple:
- Channel Divinity. If you multiclass cleric and paladin, you don’t gain extra uses of channel divinity, but you can freely choose between your cleric and paladin channel divinity abilities.
- Extra Attack. If you get “extra attack” from multiple classes, you don’t double up on them.
- Unarmored Defense. You only get one “unarmored defense”, getting it again from another class does nothing.
- Spellcasting. This is the one that’s the most complicated, but we can tear it down to 3 points. You keep your Knowledge of your spells separately, your number of spells known never gets mixed together. Secondly, Pact Magic is completely different from all the other classes’ Spellcasting. You can use spell slots from pact magic for spells from spellcasting, and vice versa. Finally, when you have multiple spellcasting classes, your number of spell slots gets really wonky. Rather than the number of slots you’d get for each class, you use this following table to determine your slots:
Multiclass Spellcaster: Spell Slots per Spell Level
|
Caster Level |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
7th |
8th |
9th |
|
1st |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
2nd |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
3rd |
4 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
4th |
4 |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
5th |
4 |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
6th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
7th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
8th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
9th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
10th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
11th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
|
12th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
|
13th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
14th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
- |
- |
|
15th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
16th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
|
17th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
18th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
19th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
20th |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
Your " " is different from just your . You only count class levels from classes to find your " ". To make it even more confusing, some of the classes are sort of "half-casters", and they only count half their levels for determining your slots.
So, to recap:
- Add together all of your levels in the bard , , , , and classes.
- Add together all of your levels in the artificer , , and ranger classes, then cut them in half (rounded down).
- Add those two totals together, that is now your " spellcaster ", check that against the table above to find your total slots.
One last note, there are some weird situations where the table would give you slots higher than spells you know, you can only use those slots for lower spells that you actually know. Which is super weird, we get it.
Finally, when multiclassing remember what you are focusing on; if you're planning to cast a lot of spells, then , elemental adept or similar can help ensure they have maximum value. If you're leading towards martial classes, alert, mobile, etc go well with those styles of classes.
Famous Builds
Furious Beast ( / )
You can use rage while transformed into an animal using wild shape. Take circle of the moon and path of the totem warrior for the best results. You'll be able to rage and wild shape, for a buffed animal form, and you can even sacrifice your spells to heal yourself. You'll want at least 3 levels in each class, but afterwards I recommend advancing with for access to better wild shapes and the primal strike ability which lets your many natural attacks count as magical.
Knight of the Patron ( / )
A 2- dip into gives massive boons to a melee build. You can use your to fuel massive smites, and you can really think of this combination as a smite optimization build. Warlocks regain their slots on a short rest and can really up the number of smites you can do throughout a day. You also gain good and the lay on hands ability. Consider this dip for hexblade builds as it goes a long way towards making you survivable and upping your DPS. Remember too that is a .
Wilderness Stalker (Ranger / )
A 2- dip into ranger gets you a fighting style and access to the ranger hunter's mark which is especially great for two-weapon fighting rogues and stacks with . A in ranger gets you a ranger archetype, take the hunter archetype and choose colossus slayer for maximum DPS. Using this setup, Dexterity 16, and two shortsword attacks, a with 3 levels ranger and 3 levels would deal 6d6 + 1d8 + 3 damage each round.
What else would make a good build in ? with is nice. can do well. , any using (because let's face it, it's really good). Any of the common will do, but an is can work well, especially with some of the new ranger archetypes like gloomstalker.
--
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Last updated: January 27, 2019
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