Reading around on forums and whatnot, people are always talking about characters and they almost always seem to be multiclass. What factors do you generally consider when seeing whether or not to multiclass?
I get that most campaigns never get to level 20, but the high level abilities always sound so cool so I'm never sure about giving them up. Also I know the spellcasting rules for multiclassing two casting classes are a bit of a quagmire.
I never multi-class, mostly because multi-classing rules have always seemed to be more of a pain than they are worth for the end result. Also, my preferred adventure level range is between 1-10 and multi-classing at those levels doesn't seem to pay in enough dividends to give it a shot. That being said, I did try out the older 4th Ed Hybrid class rules once and it was actually kind of nice, but that technology didn't survive the transition.
Anyway, long story short, I've always been something of a class purist. Mixing and matching between classes seems to just lead to trouble much of the time.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
The highest I've ever played in 5e is 11th level and I like playing characters that are spell casters so for me the advantages of the extra abilities that you get by multi classing are outweighed by the higher level spell slots that you lose by multi classing. Plus, ability score increases and/or feats are dependent on your class levels, not your character level, so you lose out on those when you multi class.
What I'm doing with my current character is playing a Variant Human and I'm taking a Feat at 1st level that gives my character a pseudo-multi-class between 2 different classes. I'm starting to play him on Friday, so it will be fun to see how it works out.
I’m not familiar with the 5th Edition. I always played 2nd. I always felt that a thief-mage would be excellent, and a fighter-mage interesting. I’m planning on having an NPC thief-warlock so I suppose I’ll see how it works. It seems many feel it’s not so great in 5th Edition.
Multiclass is a great option if the character you envisage playing is not *precisely* described by a single class. For instance, the Arcana Cleric has a lot of synergy with the Wizard and Sorceror classes. They can even "learn" spells from those lists and cast them as Divine spells at high level. Now that is cool. But what if you wanted a more wizardy cleric? With more lower level spells from the Wizard lists? Or maybe your Sorceror unleashed his inner font of magic? Maybe a deep dive into another class is in order.
Personally, I am not an advocate of mapping out level progressions for PCs (1-20 levels). I instead encourage my players to adopt an organic growth model when leveling. If a player character finds a spell book and talks up how over several sessions how he is studying it and pestering the party mage for tips, I would encourage the player to consider a level of Wizard upon leveling up. (I might suggest the feat- Magical Initiate...but that would depend on what the Player wanted to do with is magic? Did he want a few tricks or start to build an impressive arsenal of magic?)
5e has a great deal of options however baked into the system with subclasses. I was just this weekend blown away when I granted a milestone leveling to my troupe. The Bladesinger Wizard received an Extra Attack action! I was totally unaware that could happen. Moreover, there are a great number of 1/2 and 1/4 caster options in the subclasses. For example, Eldritch Knights (Fighter) are option to add some spell casting to your core class.
TL:DR Multiclassing is great! You can really customize your character with it. As others have mentioned Full casters can get a bit of a shaft on upper level spell slots, but eh, you were never likely going to get to cast those anyway. ;P
I find most capstone abilities to be underwhelming, whereas classes are front loaded with several abilities. A small dip can double number of cantrips, gain armor or weapon proficiency, get a number of spells not on starting class list, or get a useful ability like smite, cunning action, expertise, or eldritch invocations.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Reading around on forums and whatnot, people are always talking about characters and they almost always seem to be multiclass. What factors do you generally consider when seeing whether or not to multiclass?
I get that most campaigns never get to level 20, but the high level abilities always sound so cool so I'm never sure about giving them up. Also I know the spellcasting rules for multiclassing two casting classes are a bit of a quagmire.
What do you all think?
I never multi-class, mostly because multi-classing rules have always seemed to be more of a pain than they are worth for the end result. Also, my preferred adventure level range is between 1-10 and multi-classing at those levels doesn't seem to pay in enough dividends to give it a shot. That being said, I did try out the older 4th Ed Hybrid class rules once and it was actually kind of nice, but that technology didn't survive the transition.
Anyway, long story short, I've always been something of a class purist. Mixing and matching between classes seems to just lead to trouble much of the time.
The highest I've ever played in 5e is 11th level and I like playing characters that are spell casters so for me the advantages of the extra abilities that you get by multi classing are outweighed by the higher level spell slots that you lose by multi classing. Plus, ability score increases and/or feats are dependent on your class levels, not your character level, so you lose out on those when you multi class.
What I'm doing with my current character is playing a Variant Human and I'm taking a Feat at 1st level that gives my character a pseudo-multi-class between 2 different classes. I'm starting to play him on Friday, so it will be fun to see how it works out.
Professional computer geek
I’m not familiar with the 5th Edition. I always played 2nd. I always felt that a thief-mage would be excellent, and a fighter-mage interesting. I’m planning on having an NPC thief-warlock so I suppose I’ll see how it works. It seems many feel it’s not so great in 5th Edition.
Multiclass is a great option if the character you envisage playing is not *precisely* described by a single class. For instance, the Arcana Cleric has a lot of synergy with the Wizard and Sorceror classes. They can even "learn" spells from those lists and cast them as Divine spells at high level. Now that is cool. But what if you wanted a more wizardy cleric? With more lower level spells from the Wizard lists? Or maybe your Sorceror unleashed his inner font of magic? Maybe a deep dive into another class is in order.
Personally, I am not an advocate of mapping out level progressions for PCs (1-20 levels). I instead encourage my players to adopt an organic growth model when leveling. If a player character finds a spell book and talks up how over several sessions how he is studying it and pestering the party mage for tips, I would encourage the player to consider a level of Wizard upon leveling up. (I might suggest the feat- Magical Initiate...but that would depend on what the Player wanted to do with is magic? Did he want a few tricks or start to build an impressive arsenal of magic?)
5e has a great deal of options however baked into the system with subclasses. I was just this weekend blown away when I granted a milestone leveling to my troupe. The Bladesinger Wizard received an Extra Attack action! I was totally unaware that could happen. Moreover, there are a great number of 1/2 and 1/4 caster options in the subclasses. For example, Eldritch Knights (Fighter) are option to add some spell casting to your core class.
TL:DR Multiclassing is great! You can really customize your character with it. As others have mentioned Full casters can get a bit of a shaft on upper level spell slots, but eh, you were never likely going to get to cast those anyway. ;P
I find most capstone abilities to be underwhelming, whereas classes are front loaded with several abilities. A small dip can double number of cantrips, gain armor or weapon proficiency, get a number of spells not on starting class list, or get a useful ability like smite, cunning action, expertise, or eldritch invocations.