I'm currently playing a game as a level 3 dragonborn eldritch knight, thinking about my character's future, and I'm a little dissatisfied with the amount of magic EKs get from a gameplay and roleplaying perspective. I'm debating methods of getting some more magic in there, and of course multiclassing as a wizard is one of them. I've heard people discuss everything from 18:2 to 11:9 fighter-wizard multiclasses, and a lot of the multiclass appeals to me, but the big elephant in the room is that any appreciable number of wizard levels will generally set you one attack behind normal fighters for most of the game, and even one non-fighter level locks you out of that juicy fourth attack.
Realistically, how much of a loss is this? Am I overestimating how important that extra attack is, and later fighter levels in general?
Don't get to stuck on missing 4 attacks at level 20 it is very unlikely your campaign will get there.
What does matter is that taking levels in Wizard will delay you getting fighter features. For example if you take 3 levels of wizard now, to get access to 2nd evel spells (not just 2nd levels slots) you will be level 8 before you get your first extra attack.
You need to think about what you want to gain from the multiclass and how the features will combine. One or two levels of wizard will give you a lot more spells known (and prepared) but will actually delay the time you get second level spells, you will get 2nd levels slots earlier but what spells do you plan to take that upcast well? What spells will you take will you use them in combat? Is your intelligence high enough to use spells that require an attack roll or saving through or should you concentrate of spells that do not require them?
Unless you have high int and want to go full wizard from now on (Heavy armor, proficiency in con saves and action surge are great for wizards) I would go to at least level 5 in fighter before multiclassing extra attack almost doubles your damage output and is generally the biggest power step up in the game (for all classes)
Don't get to stuck on missing 4 attacks at level 20 it is very unlikely your campaign will get there.
This is the big thing to consider. I am playing an EK Fighter in a campaign and also wanted to plan out my path. The 1st thing I did was ask the DM how high he planned the campaign to go. When he told me between 14th and 16th level max, I knew that even as a pure fighter class I would never get that 4th attack and was able to plan my build around that.
Ask your DM roughly what level the campaign is going to go. If he has an answer, you can start to plan effectively. If they don't know yet (which is also a possibility), what Jegpeg said is true - Most campaigns do not make it to 20th level.
Thanks for the advice. Ultimately while I'm still looking for more ways to get a bit more magic in my EK's kit, mutliclassing is a lot less tempting now that I actually understand the rules and know that a multiclass dip doesn't actually get you any new saving throw proficiencies.
Thanks for the advice. Ultimately while I'm still looking for more ways to get a bit more magic in my EK's kit, mutliclassing is a lot less tempting now that I actually understand the rules and know that a multiclass dip doesn't actually get you any new saving throw proficiencies.
It sounds as if you are fairly new to the game, I would recommend playing your first campaign or two as a single class. Multiclass is full of traps which if you do things wronfg can end up with a weak character.
If you do multiclass even if the DM says he has planned the campaign will go to level 20, does not mean it will. Such a campaign will probably take many years and real life events can cause the game to end or you to be forced to leave it. Even if you do get to level 20 it might just be for the final boss fight, the vast majoity of the campaign will be at lower levels.
As an indicator of how long games last I am currently in one (weekly) game that started in September 2021 and we are currently at level 11. My other campaign has levels marginally quicker starting at level 3 in Feb 2022 we finished our last session levelling up to 13. This small sample would imply reaching level 20 is likely to take 3-5 years of weekly sessions.
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I'm currently playing a game as a level 3 dragonborn eldritch knight, thinking about my character's future, and I'm a little dissatisfied with the amount of magic EKs get from a gameplay and roleplaying perspective. I'm debating methods of getting some more magic in there, and of course multiclassing as a wizard is one of them. I've heard people discuss everything from 18:2 to 11:9 fighter-wizard multiclasses, and a lot of the multiclass appeals to me, but the big elephant in the room is that any appreciable number of wizard levels will generally set you one attack behind normal fighters for most of the game, and even one non-fighter level locks you out of that juicy fourth attack.
Realistically, how much of a loss is this? Am I overestimating how important that extra attack is, and later fighter levels in general?
Don't get to stuck on missing 4 attacks at level 20 it is very unlikely your campaign will get there.
What does matter is that taking levels in Wizard will delay you getting fighter features. For example if you take 3 levels of wizard now, to get access to 2nd evel spells (not just 2nd levels slots) you will be level 8 before you get your first extra attack.
You need to think about what you want to gain from the multiclass and how the features will combine. One or two levels of wizard will give you a lot more spells known (and prepared) but will actually delay the time you get second level spells, you will get 2nd levels slots earlier but what spells do you plan to take that upcast well? What spells will you take will you use them in combat? Is your intelligence high enough to use spells that require an attack roll or saving through or should you concentrate of spells that do not require them?
Unless you have high int and want to go full wizard from now on (Heavy armor, proficiency in con saves and action surge are great for wizards) I would go to at least level 5 in fighter before multiclassing extra attack almost doubles your damage output and is generally the biggest power step up in the game (for all classes)
This is the big thing to consider. I am playing an EK Fighter in a campaign and also wanted to plan out my path. The 1st thing I did was ask the DM how high he planned the campaign to go. When he told me between 14th and 16th level max, I knew that even as a pure fighter class I would never get that 4th attack and was able to plan my build around that.
Ask your DM roughly what level the campaign is going to go. If he has an answer, you can start to plan effectively. If they don't know yet (which is also a possibility), what Jegpeg said is true - Most campaigns do not make it to 20th level.
Thanks for the advice. Ultimately while I'm still looking for more ways to get a bit more magic in my EK's kit, mutliclassing is a lot less tempting now that I actually understand the rules and know that a multiclass dip doesn't actually get you any new saving throw proficiencies.
It sounds as if you are fairly new to the game, I would recommend playing your first campaign or two as a single class. Multiclass is full of traps which if you do things wronfg can end up with a weak character.
If you do multiclass even if the DM says he has planned the campaign will go to level 20, does not mean it will. Such a campaign will probably take many years and real life events can cause the game to end or you to be forced to leave it. Even if you do get to level 20 it might just be for the final boss fight, the vast majoity of the campaign will be at lower levels.
As an indicator of how long games last I am currently in one (weekly) game that started in September 2021 and we are currently at level 11. My other campaign has levels marginally quicker starting at level 3 in Feb 2022 we finished our last session levelling up to 13. This small sample would imply reaching level 20 is likely to take 3-5 years of weekly sessions.