So, I know it matters which class a character chooses first because you do not gain all of the second classes abilities but ..............
Does it matter what level you take in either class after that.
For sake of argument say I am making a railroad engineer in a fantasy game so I want a Hill Dwarf with level the fighter and level four artificer. At 3rd level he takes the fire rune which while wearing to doubles his proficiency bonus to smithing. Since his job is running and fixing the Engine of the railroad this helps him. Naturally he takes four levels of Artificer, the subclass that grants him the Steel Robot thing because he fixes and makes stuff. Ok whatever, this is the concept but this question is about the mechanics. If he starts as an Artificer to get all the bennys of that class and does not need heavy armor fine but after that does it matter.
IF the level progression is four levels Artificer and then three levels Rune knight or One level Artificer, one level Rune Kinght, One Artificer, etc
I know that on the way to 7th level there are different power levels and abilities but my question is
Does each character at 7th level all other things being equal have the same options and choices and abilities or does the order in which the subsequent levels matter also.
This is a general question so don't focus only on the example. If say it is true there is no difference for this combination is there a difference for another ... just asking
It generally only matters in the progression of your abilities and for your hit points. Subclasses are generally chosen at level 3, so it would seem to me less than optimal to delay getting to level 3, though starting with 1 level in the other class (like 1 lvl Fighter, then lvls 2-4 being Artificer levels) can make sense for slightly higher hp (+2 starting hp) in the early levels and getting the lvl 1 abilities for both classes at lvl 2, with your first subclass then picked at lvl 4 instead of lvl 3.
As I plan for higher levels, my thinking goes in that same line of hitting milestones in one class or the other rather than evenly alternating levels between both classes.
You level in both classes independently. So at each level up you gain the features associated with that class. So if you are level 7 total for your character, but level 3 in Fighter and level 4 in Artificer, then you gain access to all the features of a level 3 fighter; you can't willingly forego lower level features and instead take a feature from level 7. The order you level them in does not matter, except for things like redundant features... for example, playing as both a Fighter and a Battlesmith Artificer each give you extra attack at level 5 in those classes... so if you reach level 10 in your character with 5 levels in Fighter and 5 levels in Artificer, you only get the benefits of Extra Attack once.
However, the interesting thing that you bring up is your Proficiency bonus. Anything that keys off of Proficiency will increase regardless of what class you play as.
I hope I understood your question... it seems fairly complex.
first the choice at Level 1 - this matters big time since the powers/abilities/skills of the second class are seldom recoverable so be careful in this selection. This can affect the synergies you may be interested. As to the order of the later levels - this much harder as each possible combination has its own detailed answer. That said there are some common guides: 1) many classes are fairly front loaded so getting them both early can be good move especially if both classes are frontloaded. 2) the next big questions are growing both evenly or focusing on one through levels 3 or 4. Like all this is very dependant on just how the classes/subclasses develop. If both develop fairly slowly then you have the problem of getting your L4 stat boosts. Growing them evenly means you actually wait to L7 to get that boost. If one class builds a lot of abilities in by L3 and the other less so then you want to focus on it first and then go to L4 as well if that is the class you wanted it in. 3) if one of the classes is a fighter/ranger/Paladin/etc that gets an extra attack at L5 you need think deeply about not going straight 1-5 then only 1-2 (and not 3) in the second class.
personally, since most of my multiclasses are gishes I go L1-5 in the martial class and then play catch-up with the casting class but that is just me.
It doesn’t matter much at the end, really, but it does matter along the way. The big thing I’m thinking of are features like asi or maybe extra attack for melee types. If you alternate one level then the other, you don’t hit level 4 in either until level 7, so you don’t get an asi until level 7. If you keep up the pattern, you get another at level 8, so it evens out at that point, an 8th level character with 2 asi. But getting there, you waited a while to get your first one. Ditto subclass features, depending on class, which end up getting pushed back.
Its one of the bigger differences between theory crafting a multi class level 20 character and actually playing one. So many of those builds don’t really turn on until much later, like if your gimmick doesn’t work until level 14, you’ve still got to play through 13 levels before you can actually do what you are trying to do.
WHich saves you get is important, yes - however, other things can be more important at level 1 such as HPs - you are at your least survivable at L1 so those few extra HPs can make a world of difference. Similarly, Armor types - if your a Gish and go mage first you need a feat to get heavy armor, if you go fighter first you don't - that can matter.
I don't think anyone's mentioned one of the biggest points to know when multiclassing, that you gain ASIs relative to individual classes, not your overall character level.
If you have 3 levels in one class and 3 levels in another, you still won't have gotten your first ASI yet, because each class gets their first one at L4. That does mean that for this hypothetical scenario, that if your next two levels were one in each of those classes, that you'd get the L4 ASI for each of them, back to back.
Your first level is extremely important for determining proficiencies and class features you'll use until your multiclass build comes online at a later level. After that, it's a balancing act of making sure you have the abilities to keep your character alive until you have the features you're working towards (A character build that really comes together at L10 isn't any good if you're so far behind single-class builds before that, that you end up dying by L5). And getting your first ASI is usually a significant part of keeping your character up to pace, especially if you're using Standard Array or Point Buy.
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So, I know it matters which class a character chooses first because you do not gain all of the second classes abilities but ..............
Does it matter what level you take in either class after that.
For sake of argument say I am making a railroad engineer in a fantasy game so I want a Hill Dwarf with level the fighter and level four artificer. At 3rd level he takes the fire rune which while wearing to doubles his proficiency bonus to smithing. Since his job is running and fixing the Engine of the railroad this helps him. Naturally he takes four levels of Artificer, the subclass that grants him the Steel Robot thing because he fixes and makes stuff. Ok whatever, this is the concept but this question is about the mechanics. If he starts as an Artificer to get all the bennys of that class and does not need heavy armor fine but after that does it matter.
IF the level progression is four levels Artificer and then three levels Rune knight or One level Artificer, one level Rune Kinght, One Artificer, etc
I know that on the way to 7th level there are different power levels and abilities but my question is
Does each character at 7th level all other things being equal have the same options and choices and abilities or does the order in which the subsequent levels matter also.
This is a general question so don't focus only on the example. If say it is true there is no difference for this combination is there a difference for another ... just asking
It generally only matters in the progression of your abilities and for your hit points. Subclasses are generally chosen at level 3, so it would seem to me less than optimal to delay getting to level 3, though starting with 1 level in the other class (like 1 lvl Fighter, then lvls 2-4 being Artificer levels) can make sense for slightly higher hp (+2 starting hp) in the early levels and getting the lvl 1 abilities for both classes at lvl 2, with your first subclass then picked at lvl 4 instead of lvl 3.
As I plan for higher levels, my thinking goes in that same line of hitting milestones in one class or the other rather than evenly alternating levels between both classes.
You level in both classes independently. So at each level up you gain the features associated with that class. So if you are level 7 total for your character, but level 3 in Fighter and level 4 in Artificer, then you gain access to all the features of a level 3 fighter; you can't willingly forego lower level features and instead take a feature from level 7. The order you level them in does not matter, except for things like redundant features... for example, playing as both a Fighter and a Battlesmith Artificer each give you extra attack at level 5 in those classes... so if you reach level 10 in your character with 5 levels in Fighter and 5 levels in Artificer, you only get the benefits of Extra Attack once.
However, the interesting thing that you bring up is your Proficiency bonus. Anything that keys off of Proficiency will increase regardless of what class you play as.
I hope I understood your question... it seems fairly complex.
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first the choice at Level 1 - this matters big time since the powers/abilities/skills of the second class are seldom recoverable so be careful in this selection. This can affect the synergies you may be interested.
As to the order of the later levels - this much harder as each possible combination has its own detailed answer. That said there are some common guides:
1) many classes are fairly front loaded so getting them both early can be good move especially if both classes are frontloaded.
2) the next big questions are growing both evenly or focusing on one through levels 3 or 4. Like all this is very dependant on just how the classes/subclasses develop. If both develop fairly slowly then you have the problem of getting your L4 stat boosts. Growing them evenly means you actually wait to L7 to get that boost. If one class builds a lot of abilities in by L3 and the other less so then you want to focus on it first and then go to L4 as well if that is the class you wanted it in.
3) if one of the classes is a fighter/ranger/Paladin/etc that gets an extra attack at L5 you need think deeply about not going straight 1-5 then only 1-2 (and not 3) in the second class.
personally, since most of my multiclasses are gishes I go L1-5 in the martial class and then play catch-up with the casting class but that is just me.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It doesn’t matter much at the end, really, but it does matter along the way. The big thing I’m thinking of are features like asi or maybe extra attack for melee types. If you alternate one level then the other, you don’t hit level 4 in either until level 7, so you don’t get an asi until level 7. If you keep up the pattern, you get another at level 8, so it evens out at that point, an 8th level character with 2 asi. But getting there, you waited a while to get your first one. Ditto subclass features, depending on class, which end up getting pushed back.
Its one of the bigger differences between theory crafting a multi class level 20 character and actually playing one. So many of those builds don’t really turn on until much later, like if your gimmick doesn’t work until level 14, you’ve still got to play through 13 levels before you can actually do what you are trying to do.
WHich saves you get is important, yes - however, other things can be more important at level 1 such as HPs - you are at your least survivable at L1 so those few extra HPs can make a world of difference. Similarly, Armor types - if your a Gish and go mage first you need a feat to get heavy armor, if you go fighter first you don't - that can matter.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I don't think anyone's mentioned one of the biggest points to know when multiclassing, that you gain ASIs relative to individual classes, not your overall character level.
If you have 3 levels in one class and 3 levels in another, you still won't have gotten your first ASI yet, because each class gets their first one at L4. That does mean that for this hypothetical scenario, that if your next two levels were one in each of those classes, that you'd get the L4 ASI for each of them, back to back.
Your first level is extremely important for determining proficiencies and class features you'll use until your multiclass build comes online at a later level. After that, it's a balancing act of making sure you have the abilities to keep your character alive until you have the features you're working towards (A character build that really comes together at L10 isn't any good if you're so far behind single-class builds before that, that you end up dying by L5). And getting your first ASI is usually a significant part of keeping your character up to pace, especially if you're using Standard Array or Point Buy.