In D&D, multiclassing is the act of gaining a level in another class or classes to gain advantages and abilities. When multiclassing, you are choosing to take beginning levels from another class instead of leveling up in your initial choice. If you’re a level 5 Artificer, you might take 2 levels as a Wizard to expand your arcane knowledge. That would look like Artificer 5/Wizard 2 on your character sheet.
Whether you have an exciting new build, or you’re looking for something to add a little spice to an existing build; multiclassing can truly open up a world of possibilities. Note that multiclassing in D&D fifth edition is an optional rule, so be sure to check in with your DM to make sure your build suits your table rules before you dive in.
The Benefits of Multiclassing
- Added customization options
- High-level gameplay opportunities for more combat-focused games
- Creative storytelling opportunities, to describe how you acquired new abilities in roleplay-heavy games
- Diversifying your gameplay experience mid-campaign to keep things fresh
- Being able to utilize that 20/20 hindsight, and add a healer to the party
- The ability to make a barbarian throw an eldritch blast
Sounds great, right? Endless flexibility, new ways to decimate your enemies, multiclassing has it all. Multiclassing can expand and challenge your knowledge of the game, and provide you with immense flexibility in telling your story. And don't forget that D&D Beyond is here to help!
When to Begin Taking Levels in Another Class
Technically, you have the ability to start multiclassing at level 2, reaching outside of your base class. However, in doing so it’s likely your character will be rather limited and not see many of the benefits of either class. It is commonly recommended to hold off on multiclassing until you reach at least level 5 in your base class.
In an ongoing campaign, when you can multiclass will be largely decided based on your DMs leveling structure. Milestone, XP, etc. Additionally, you will have to meet certain prerequisites to take a level in any given class. These prerequisites are determined by important spellcasting and ability modifiers, with the intention of making sure you don’t back yourself into a useless character corner. For instance, a very low INT Wizard sounds hilarious, however, your spellcasting modifier might not be entertained.
Prerequisites for taking a level in the various classes:
Class |
Ability Score Minimum |
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 |
Once you have met those requirements, you’re free to start diving in!
If you’re interested in roleplaying the acquisition of your new-found strengths, here are some thoughts to spark your story integration.
- You could take on a knowledgeable mentor to study under and be shown the ways of their practice.
- Your character could find an ancient amulet imbued with a new kind of magic
- A more aggressive character could have a change of heart, and start taking levels in healing classes to care for those they’ve previously hurt.
Working your multiclass choices into your story can make the benefits you gain so much richer, and give your character a new purpose.
How to Multiclass (And the Practical Implications of Doing So!)
Once you have your sights set on what kind of build you’re interested in, there are a few things to think about.
Take a look at the level tables of the classes you’re interested in, to see how many levels you’ll need in that class for your desired effect.
Example: At 2nd level Monks gain an extra Ki point, you might want to take at least 2 levels when dipping into Monk to really pack a punch.
Remember that:
- Your proficiency bonus and XP are always based on your total character level.
- Your proficiencies will vary based on the classes you choose.
- And lastly, to form your hit points, you’ll add together the Hit Dice granted by all of your classes to form your pool of Hit Dice.
Fortunately, we have long since graduated from the days of only having pen and paper to work out all these specifics, and DnDBeyond can make this progress a whole lot simpler. On your “edit character” page, it’s easy to just add another class and start exploring the benefits.
From there, you could practically spend all day exploring combinations of subclasses and what kind of magic the combinations can create!
However, If spending all day looking through subclasses doesn’t quite suit your needs at the moment, I have a few ideas of creative uses of multiclassing that you could implement into your game.
This is definitely for your benefit, and not just because I have too many ideas and need someone to bring them to life… Promise.
You've Got Your Perfect Sorlock...
When your innate magical abilities are no longer enough, and your character is left craving more, the Sorlock is an incredibly powerful multiclass build.
As a Divine Soul Sorcerer, this character desires control of as much magic as possible. Access to the cleric spell list simply didn’t cut it, and they were willing to take a risky deal to gain the great powers of a Warlock. The Pact of The Tome would be an excellent fit for an extremely diverse casting catalog.
Required levels: Sorcerer 5/Warlock 3
You Got Bard in my Barbarian!
Judged by their appearance this mighty warrior utilizes their intimidating stature to gain respect and captivate audiences. Taking spells that are less damage-focused, would allow the barbarian to do their thing in combat, while your bardic abilities can add flair and charm to any who dare listen.
Consider taking the Path of The Zealot as a Barbarian, and letting your bardic side tell the tales of their own dangerous close calls at the taverns.
Required levels: Barbarian 5/Bard 3
Necro-Druid? Necro-Druid.
A Necromancy Druid giveth and taketh away. This multiclass is built to tamper with nature and challenge mortality. Opting for a Circle of Spores Druid at 3rd level would allow you to take on features like gentle repose, and eventually animate dead. This natural attachment to controlling nature however can only be strengthened by the addition of scholarly understanding of life and death. That’s where the Necromancy Wizard comes in, learning how to draw energy from those lives you tamper with.
Required levels: Druid 5/Wizard 5
If you manage to tear through your 2 class builds, you can continue to add variety by even taking on a third class! There is technically no limit to how times you can diversify your class within your 20 levels, though at some point you might end up with quite the beast if you go overboard.
Whatever you create, may it be powerful enough to win your battles, and interesting enough to bring joy to your table. And let us know what multiclass character you'll be taking to the endlessly mysterious Candlekeep Library and Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, both available for presale on the D&D Beyond Marketplace.
Happy building!
Saige Ryan is a writer, host, and content creator in Los Angeles, California that builds too many Druids. Her love for TTRPGs mostly comes from being a drama nerd in high school. You can find her rolling dice weekly on the PixelCircus Twitch channel, or getting too easily scared in video games @NotSaige everywhere.
i plan on multiclassing my warlock starting at level 7, he'll either be a aberant mind or divine soul sorc, depending on the story at the time. he's a protector aasimar that has a pact of the great old one, so either could easily work.
Currently playing a Sorcerer 6/Wizard 12 in what might be the second campaign I've played in in nearly a decade that actually reaches its conclusion.
Part of the reason I multiclassed was because I was trying to think of a character build that mechanically benefits from both the (pre-Tasha's Cauldron) Tiefling's bonuses to INT and CHA.
The other part is because my DM had a house rule for this campaign due to plot reasons that meant Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers could only go to level 6 in Sorcerer; after that, they had to continue in another class. And whenever I have a DM who's like "talk to me if you want to make this kind of character", there's a 90% chance I will make that kind of character.
The Article: "it is recommended to hold off on multiclassing until you reach at least level 5 in your base class. "
My Barbarian 1/Rogue 1/Wizard 1: "hahaha no"
Who thought it was a good idea to tell new players about the Sorlock as if it’s a great idea? That crap is banned in my campaigns. Or at least the whole “infinite spell slots” manipulation is.
You can't get infinite spell slots. As far as I know, there's a hard limit on how many levels your character can gain, even if you multiclass. The worst possibility would be a character gaining more lower-level spell slots. But not enough to never be worn out. Say you have a Sorc 3/Warlock 17. You probably won't be using first- and second-level spells much anyway since you have better, more powerful spells. If you are using them a lot, you will still be able to exhaust your spell slots. If you use them a moderate amount, again, as I said, they're terrible compared to eighth- and ninth-level spells.
A Bear Totem Barbarian 3/Moon Druid 2. I WILL BE A BEAR TOTEM BEAR! Just wild shape into a bear, then enter rage. It's totally legal and gives you an effective 68 HP at combined level 5. If that isn't epic I don't know what is.
Just imagine, an enormous bear covered in primal druidic markings frothing at the mouth in anger and shrugging off blows that would mortally injure any man. If your poor enemy isn't blanching in fear, I don't know what'll make them do it.
If you can cite book & page for that hard limit on spell slots, the anti-coffeelock crowd will make you their ruler for life.
You only get as many spell slots as a warlock as a DM allows short rests.
This is not a rule.
I think the article missed one very important purpose of multiclassing... to create the character you want!
If you wrote a backstory about a person who was torn between Bane and Bael or Azuth and Azriel, then you could be both a cleric and a warlock, someone who finds themselves literally with a devil and an angel on their proverbial shoulder.
If you have a character concept in mind that is best served with multiclassing, don't think of it as 'you took 1 class then the other' but that you are going to take both classes and the limitations on the game not letting you 'dual class' anymore simply mean you put one foot in front of the other!
Love my Monster Slayer Ranger (3), Inquisitive Rogue (12), Great Old One-Pact of The Tome Warlock (5). A class built to help groups search out and hunt monsters of various kinds.
Support and mobility spell caster (not very high spell casting attributes), investigator with high passive insight (25), investigation (29), and perception (30). Edit: At level 20
Shadow rogue possibly?
Eldritch Knight 4 + War Wizard 4 = Profit
There are some real head-scratchers in here, but I'm a pedant so I'll focus on a tiny one: Pact of the Tome on a Sorlock!? Why do I want a book that gives me more cantrips on a character that has SEVEN (7) cantrips at the point I take it? I guess there's value to Guidance if your party has no one with Druid or Cleric levels. Otherwise, tome is basically a vastly worse way to pick up Find Familiar.
Hmm... Half-Elf, LV3 Scout Rogue / LV1 Knowledge Domain Cleric / LV3 Collage of Lore Bard / LV3 Fey Wanderer Ranger.
DM: 'So who's has proficiency in....'
Me: 'YES. Sorry I should let you finish.'
Most of my characters are dual class.
You can make interesting and powerful builds for sure.
I think you should have noted though somewhere at often times MULTI-CLASSING is NOT the most powerful option.
There are always things you give up to do so, and besides for the high level abilities and potentially spells and slots, if you don't mix and match levels properly you might also miss out on an ASI/Feat.
So one, the article is talking about making characters for flavor or roleplay, not from a pure "LETS MAKE SOME BROKEN OP BUILDS".
Two, depending on what it was going to continue leveling? Taking Tome and eventually, Book of Ancient Secrets allows you to learn rituals which neither class can do. I think it's a wonderful idea to expand on TWO classes that have very limited spells known.
You aren't Truly multiclassing until you build a Cleric 1/Bard 2/Druid 1/Fighter 2/Paladin 2/Ranger 1/Rogue 2/ Sorcerer 1/Warlock 1/Wizard 1.
Don't believe me?
I built him as a fully AL legal character for an Epic several years ago.
Great...a whole new class(s). How about a second archetype in a current class(s)?
Notice each piece of content was written by a different person. Joe has talked about in the Dev Updates that the goal is to assemble a team of content creators for the front page.
My point isn't even really that this is so terrible from the point of optimization. It just seems to do very little for the character overall. Tome rituals: 1) cost you an additional invocation slot and 2) can only be learned up to a spell level of half your Warlock level, rounded down. I don't think this character is going straight Warlock from here, when they're already so invested in Sorc. I guess there are some interesting level 1 rituals other than Find Familiar, but they don't really speak to me very much...
Whereas, even if I'm going for pure fun and flavor, what if I took pact of the chain, getting a really cool familiar that no one else can get (which gives enormous utility by being able to turn invisible at will, talk, and maybe impose status conditions), and then used the extra invocation to do something cool and flavorful like: at-will disguise self, seeing in magical darkness, being able to read all written language no matter what it is, etc., etc.
Plus I forgot it's a Divine Soul, so this character can already learn any cleric spell by taking more Sorcerer levels and probably already has Guidance or whatever other Cleric cantrip they want.