The Best Multiclass Combos in DnD 5e – 39 Powerful Builds

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

Dungeons and Dragons characters have many unique options when it comes to their classes.

Now often overlooked, a feature of the D&D class system is multiclassing.

Multiclassing is a feature by which a character takes levels in more than one main class intending to have twenty total levels over all of their classes.

Players must meet specific stat prerequisites before a character can choose to multiclass into another class. They’ll be forfeiting any class features that they do not ultimately reach the level to obtain.

Still, multiclassing can be a powerful tool utilized by players for both gameplay and roleplay reasons.

If you’re looking for something specific, you can skip to the section on multiclass ideas for your class using the Table of Contents below.

Multiclassing and Our Scoring System

Before we start, let’s clear up the basics of multiclassing.

A multiclassed character has separate levels for each class, all adding up to twenty levels.

This means that a multiclassed character cannot obtain their capstone bonus.

To multiclass, a character must meet certain prerequisites. For instance, to multiclass into Barbarian, a player character must first have at least 13 Strength.

Multiclassed spell casters do not gain a second set of spell slots; they share one set of spell slots between the two classes.

We will score each build on three axes: Optimisation, Creativity, and Absurdity. 

OPTIMISED BUILDS

As advertised, optimized multiclass builds focus on creating an optimal character to fit within a role or to round out some of the weaknesses of an existing class.

While these builds will be forfeiting some of their higher-level class features, they offer more versatility within their designated role than a single-class character.

A highly optimized build in a player’s hands with excellent game knowledge can often tip the scales in the party’s favor just by playing their character correctly.

Still, players should be cognisant that players playing less optimal builds deserve to have their moments and fun as well.

Optimised builds focus on bringing out the very best of each class and complementing for strong gameplay potential.

CREATIVE BUILDS

Creative builds focus on a concept or esoteric ruling whilst still attempting to function reasonably well within their gameplay aspects. They aren’t jokes per se, but they don’t take the game very seriously either.

They choose to forfeit optimization in the efforts of having fun but don’t completely lose the pursuit of being a good character in gameplay either.

They look to be the marriage of “silly” and “optimized” and represent an excellent middle ground between min-maxing and making the character itself into a joke.

 Creative builds make up for what they forfeit in optimisation in uniqueness. They haven’t entirely forsaken gameplay, but they focus on taking advantage of more esoteric rules and interactions.

ABSURDIST BUILDS

Absurdist builds are most potent in the hands of a veteran player who can utilise their strengths, cover their weaknesses, and play in a way that doesn’t dominate or ruin the game to have their fun.

The true mark of an excellent absurdist build enables comedy and brings joy to the campaign without derailing it into a complete circus.

They’re often based on a character from an existing IP or a person in the real world.

Absurdist builds throw caution — and gameplay — to the wind in favour of searching for higher meaning through comedy.

They don’t guarantee you the highest damage, effectiveness of any sort, or that your friends will still be your friends tomorrow.

But in the right hands, an absurdist build can be the most fun a party can have without taking their clothes off.

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Multiclass Combinations Guide

Artificer

Artificers are unique as being one of only two Intelligence-based classes in D&D 5e. They are skilled tinkerers who use a potent combination of magic and engineering to deal damage, heal allies, and whirr and buzz their ways to victory.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your Artificer:

• Artificers are traditionally rather squishy spellcasters. Even taking Battle Smith as your subclass only gets you medium armour so you’re going to want to have a lot of firepower to back up your glass bones and paper skin.
• As primary spellcasters, it’s incredibly difficult to forfeit any points that you can get into your main spellcasting stat, Intelligence. So when choosing how many levels of each class you take, considering whether you will have to forfeit an Ability Score Increase should be at the forefront of your decisio making.

Artillerist Artificer / Evocation Wizard

Optimisation: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Artificer and Wizard are like two peas in a pod. As the only classes that take intelligence as their primary stat, they are closely intertwined in both flavor and concept.

Artillerist, Maverick, and Armourer are going to be the most useful sub-classes for your Artificer levels, granting you extra spells, armor, or even an arcane firearm.

Taking the School of Evocation as your Wizarding school will grant you access to Sculpt Spells to protect your allies from your blaze of glory.

Battle Smith Artificer / Swords Bard

Optimisation: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

You might ask yourself “Did this man really just make a D&D build from a bad pun?” and the answer is yes! The absurdist player does not always need a deeper meaning within in their build; sometimes a pun is enough.

The Bardificer will best benefit from taking Battle Smith for their martial capabilities and College of Swords for similar reasons.

Another good combination of classes for the Bardificer is Alchemist Artificer and College of Lore Bard.

The Lore Bard subclass is a great level dip for some extra proficiencies that give the Alchemist Artificer a bit of a boost.

Battle Smith Artificer / War Cleric

Optimisation: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

War Cleric is easily one of the best single-level dips in 5e. A single level in War Cleric gets you heavy armor, martial weapons, and some extra attacks without the high Wisdom requirements that some of the other Cleric subclasses require to be effective.

The single-level dip is a fantastic boost to the traditionally squishier Artificer.

Barbarian

Barbarians are a classic choice for players who want to tank a ton of damage and bash skulls in with their bare fists.

Flexing a massive d12 hit die with Unarmoured Defense and the ability to go into a Rage, the Barbarian is a staple member of many parties.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your Barbarian:

• You will be forfeiting the Barbarian’s capstone which grants an extra 4 points to both Strength and Constitution while raising the stat point maximum of both to 24, allowing you to go over the 20 point limit. This is an incredibly powerful capstone, so forfeiting it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
• You cannot cast spells while Raging. Dipping into caster classes is highly non-optimal because of this.

Storm Barbarian / Swords Bard

Optimization: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

“Another Bard pun?” You cry, to which I cackle, “Of course it’s another bard pun; I gave up my integrity as both a player and a dungeon master in 3.5!”

The Bardbarian takes most of their levels in Barbarian with a quick dip into College of Swords for that juicy Blade Flourish.

The Barbarian’s Unarmoured Defense makes the usual Dex dips for Bards less of a complete sink, but the lack of the Barbarian Capstone means that not having a strong strength background can be a bit of a hindrance.

That being said, you picked your build based on a pun, I doubt you’re that worried about your optimization.

Storm Barbarian / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Like many martial classes, the Barbarian can strongly benefit from the Echo Knight’s ability to change the point of origin for their melee attacks.

Echo Knight’s Unleash Incarnation is such a fantastic pick-up for basically any martial class character looking for a strong multiclass.

You only need 3 levels in Echo Knight to get access to Unleash Incarnation.

Storm Barbarian / Swashbuckler Rogue

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Rogue is one of the best classes to multiclass into since it gives so much even with very few levels sunk into it.

Just 1 level in Rogue gives, an incredible single-level dip, and going up to 3 levels gives access to Cunning Action and your Roguish Archetype, namely Swashbuckler, which both give a healthy boost to the Barbarian’s damage output and utility.

Bard

The bard is an iconic staple of the fantasy genre and D&D is no stranger to these theatrical magicians whose spells rain down thespian Hell upon their enemies.

D&D sees their bards as primary spellcasters who use the Charisma stat to charm, fireball, and stab their way to victory. 

When multiclassing a bard, consider the following:

• As a primary spellcaster, the physical requirements of martial classes that benefit from heavy armour and weaponry can be hard to balance with the Bard’s need for a high Charisma stat for casting, especially in Standard Array and Point Buy systems.
• You will need at least 15 levels in Bard to get the maximum sized die for Bardic Inspiration.
• You will need at least 17 levels in Bard to get access to 9th level spells, if you desire them.

Valor Bard / Devotion Paladin

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

For clarification, it is not necessary to take all three levels in Paladin to get your Oath. If you, however, desire to do so, Devotion’s Sacred Weapon is a fantastic bonus for the Valor Bard.

Access to Divine Smite on any Charisma-based primary caster makes 2 levels in Paladin a phenomenal level dip, but Bard and Blade-Warlock give the best synergy for those looking to get use out of their Sacred Oath as well.

Glamour Bard / Life Cleric

Optimization:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This build will likely start Cleric and switch to Bard after the 3rd level when they spec entirely into Bard with the College of Glamour.

You must take Purify Food and Water and Create Food and Water. Make sure your character wears a fire-printed short-sleeved button-up and aviators to make them identifiable.

Eloquence Bard / Artificer

Optimization: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This player will be getting 19 levels in Bard taking College of Eloquence and 1 level in Artificer.

You might say “but that forfeits everything that’s good about Artificer!” and you are correct; that is the point, even. Rather than doing things for yourself, use your Silver Tongued ability to convince someone else to do it for you, like a good businessman.

Dress sharp, start a business, and invest in Dogecoin, or try to, to no avail since it doesn’t exist in the Forgotten Realms.

Cleric

Clerics are the classic healing class. Though in terms of actual healing players may prefer to choose a different caster, the Cleric sets itself apart by being a martial class that can wear armour and provide a fantastic living shield for squishier allies and having access to Channel Divinity.

Something to consider when multiclassing your Cleric:

• As a Martial Class, Clerics are most effective with both high Strength and high Wisdom, so multiclassing to a class that does not use either can severely affect your effectiveness.

Cleric (Any) / Paladin (Any)

Optimization: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Cleric/Paladin is either “God’s Favorite” by serving the same God in both classes or they’re cheating on one God with another God by serving two different Gods at the same time.

Taking one or two levels in Paladin can offer a hefty damage boost from Smiting, but the two classes are both very similar and have a lot of overlap in their spell lists, so multiclassing them doesn’t really net you that many bonuses.

War Cleric / Echo Knight Fighter 

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Starting with Fighter will give you proficiency in Constitution saves which can be extremely helpful for making Concentration Saves for your eventual Cleric main class.

Though you’d normally only take one or two levels in Fighter, a Third Level will give you access to Echo Knight’s Unleash Incarnation to bolster your damage output to increase your threat level immensely.

Cleric (Any) / Swashbuckler Rogue

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The first three levels of Rogue are some of the strongest multiclass dips in 5e and we’ll be taking all three here and taking Swashbuckler as our Roguish Archetype.

Fancy Footwork and Rakish Audacity both provide damage and utility to any melee class, and Cleric is no different.

Swashbuckler’s bonus to Initiative rolls also means you’ll be able to throw down heals much higher in the initiative order to protect your teammates.

Druid

Druids are an incredibly versatile class with a vast number of subclass options that the player can take to make their character feel unique.

The versatility of Druid means that multiclassing can bolster many different kinds of playstyles.

Some things to remember when multiclassing your Druid:

• Your Druid Circle can change the playstyle of the character quite a bit. Keep this in mind when selecting your Circle if you’re playing for optimisation.
• One of the key features of the druid spell list is the ability to meditate to change their list of prepared spells. So keep in mind that your spell list isn’t necessarily permanent and you can change your spell list to better suit your multiclass if you need to.

Druid (Any) / Beastmaster Ranger

Optimization: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Turn animal hoarding into a battle tactic by amassing a small (or large!) army of creatures that you encounter. Ranger gives you proficiency in Animal Handling, Nature, and Insight (to understand the unspoken communication of your brood better).

17 levels in Druid gives the character access to the vastly superior Spellcasting abilities and Spell List that provides the much-needed boost that Beastmaster needs to begin to be a well-appreciated member of any team.

Dreams Druid / Life Cleric

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Circle of Dreams Druids are powerful healers in their own rights, but a level or two in Life Cleric opens up whole new worlds of supportive casting to them.

A single level in Life Cleric offers access to supportive spells like Bless and a second level will bolster their healing numbers with access to the Clerics Channel Divinity: Preserve Life.

Moon Druid / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

If you’re sick of me plugging Echo Knight as a multiclass option, you should probably just leave because I will not be stopping any time soon.

Circle of the Moon Druids are Druids looking for fisticuffs and Echo Knight’s Unleash Incarnation will make seeking a fistfight even more effective with a few extra attacks and the ability to change the point of origin of your attacks make it easier to take down your foes with ease.

Fighter

Fighters are, perhaps, amongst the most straightforward of classes. They swing their weapons and then swing them again and again.

Some may even find their mechanics to be somewhat boring in comparison to other classes, but that’s okay because multiclassing is here for those of us who want to play Fighter, but can’t help but distractedly glance over our shoulders at other classes.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your Fighter:

• Fighters can either be Strength or Dexterity-based, so a Dexterity-based Martial Class like Rogue is highly viable.
• Fighters have some casting subclasses like Eldritch Knight and Arcane Archer that can combo well with other casting classes.

Echo Knight Fighter / Battle Smith Artificer

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Creativity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

You might think that this list seems to be a love letter to Echo Knights, and you would be correct.

15 levels in Echo Knight Fighter combined with 5 levels in Battle Smith Artificer give the player access to all of the Echo’s Extra Attacks and Action Surge combined with Artificer’s ability to forge their own magic weapons gives a big innate bonus to Echo Knight’s versatility.

Plus, being able to make cool stuff for their allies is an excellent bonus as well.

Eldritch Knight Fighter / Swords Bard

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This build will be taking 17 levels in Eldritch Knight Fighter and 3 levels in College of Swords Bard.

You will take Dual Wielding as your Fighting Style and will always dual wield Long Swords using Dual Wielding’s ability to dual wield non-light weapons. Get yourself a black tailcoat to round out the look for your character.

Echo Knight Fighter / Swashbuckler Rogue

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Swashbuckler’s value for melee classes isn’t lost on the Fighter. Extra initiative, Rakish Audacity, and Fancy Footwork provide more damage and survivability to the Echo Knight allowing them to get into the fight faster and dodge and weave through their melee combat while dealing bonus damage with Sneak Attack.

Monk

Meditative and calm, monks are agile masters of martial arts and unarmed combat. From shooting bolts of energy from their palms and delivering necrotic vibrations with their strikes, monks are the hand-to-hand combat masters.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your monk:

• One of the key features of the monk class, Ki points, requires a high Wisdom score to be most effective. Combined with the need for a high Dexterity score, it can be hard to make room for other stat point allocations in multiclassing.

Shadow Monk / Assassin Rogue / Ranger

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Though the source text describes Way of the Shadow Monks as being “ninjas”, we can make this concept a bit more historically accurate by taking 3 levels in Assassin Rogue and 2 in Ranger.

Though often overlooked, ninjas were also well-known for their archery and thrown weapon skills, so an extra two points in Ranger for the Archery Fighting Style and the Poisoner’s Kit and Assassinate ability from Assassin Rogue round out the ninja’s historical skill set.

Open Hand Monk / Swashbuckler Rogue

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Blah blah blah, Rogue good level-dip. Though it can be hard to get the full synergy with Rogue since Monks need fairly high Wisdom to really make use of their Ki points, Dexterity being a strong secondary stat makes it nice and easy for Monks to get good use out of a Rogue subclass.

The Monk’s Unarmoured Defense and Unarmoured Movement are well-bolstered by Swashbuckler’s Fancy Footwork and Rakish Audacity making for a strong damage output combined with good survivability.

Open Hand Monk / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimisation: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Yes, it is another Echo Knight combination! As with every other martial-class-plus-Echo-Knight combination, giving the Open Hand Monk access to a few extra attacks and the ability to redirect the point of origin of their attacks gives them a strong ability to deal incredible amounts of damage per turn.

The best way to do this one is actually going to be to take 4 levels in Echo Knight rather than the usual three so that you don’t forfeit any Ability Score Increases.

Paladin

Paladins are easily one of the strongest base classes and come preloaded with all sorts of neat tricks that also make the class a fantastic low-level pickup for multiclassing.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your paladin:

• Paladins are a martial class and a caster class, they need to dip levels into both Charisma and Strength to be effective.
• When dipping with other Charisma-based casters, it is probably best to take Paladin as your multiclass instead of your main class if you are looking to do more spell-slinging.

Paladin / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Yes, yes more Echo Knight. Worry not, there will be even more Echo Knight builds to come!

Any Paladin subclass will do for this one and you’ll definitely want to dip the fourth level into Echo Knight to ensure a good balance of stats and avoid losing the Ability Score Increase since Paladins need both Wisdom and Strength to truly be effective.

Other than that, it’s a very straightforward Echo Knight multiclass.

Paladin / Hexblade Warlock

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Another “two-timing God” build, the Paladin/Warlock has both an Oath and a Patron so they may run the risk of having conflicting orders, but the extra spells and spell slots coming from Warlock can make it a very powerful build.

Hexblade Warlock is great, even at Level 1, and provides a good amount of utility to the Paladin in the form of Hexblade’s Curse and Hex Warrior.

Ranger

Ranger is easily the weakest base class.

Though Unearthed Arcana has sought to rectify this issue, the current iteration of the Ranger is one of the most multiclassable classes since most of its levels don’t give anything and its capstone is hilariously bad, so you really aren’t losing anything by not getting it.

Some things to remember when multiclassing your Ranger:

• The first five levels of Ranger are the best. After that there are a good amount of dead or extremely weak level pickups.
• If you’re multiclassing a Ranger without Unearthed Arcana, you would probably be better off taking Ranger as your multiclass, not as your main class.

Ranger (Any) / Assassin Rogue

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Ranger/Rogue is a really classic multiclass that often comes to mind when we think of the multiclass concept. Ranger and Rogue share a martial stat and there are plenty of Roguish Archetypes that fit well with the Ranger class.

Even before considering the Roguish Archetype, Cunning Action is a fantastic pickup on Ranger, and even just Expertise from the Rogue level 1 is a huge bolster to any Ranger.

Assassin may be the most common pickup since its tendency towards skulking around waiting for a good shot synergizes well with Rangers.

Ranger (Any) / Arcane Archer Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Arcane Archer combined with Ranger is a fairly obvious and straightforward multiclass.

It gives the Ranger access to Action Surge and second fighting style which provides a powerful damage output for the Ranger class.

Fey Wanderer Ranger / Eloquence Bard

Optimization: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

College of Eloquence along with the Fey Wanderer Ranger Conclave. You’ll be taking as many spells that inflict the Charm status as you possibly can.

Seek out a Ruby of the War Mage to implant on your bow so that you can use it as a spellcasting focus. For extra flavour, take the Aasimar race to cement your angelic presence.

Rogue

Rogues often get a bit of a rap sheet for their tendency to sneak around, steal things, and con people, but their high damage output with Sneak Attack and reconnaissance utility shouldn’t be overlooked by players simply because they might end up with a few items that didn’t originally belong to them!

Something to consider when multiclassing your Rogue:

• Sneak Attack is one of the primary reasons to take Rogue as your main class. The highest level of Sneak Attack is gained at Level 19, so taking more than one level in another class will have to be considered for any player looking to deal maximum Sneak Attack Damage without taking Inquisitive. This can also be offset by taking the Inquisitive subclass on your Rogue which gives an extra 3d6 at level 17 which ultimately still brings your Sneak Attack damage above the maximum of any non-Inquisitive Rogue 

Inquisitive Rogue / Gloomstalker Ranger

Optimization: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Absurdity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

This is the sniper build. The character is never actually on the battlefield but suddenly smacks someone for a ton of damage from way up in the trees.

17 levels in Inquisitive Rogue are a must to get Inquisitive’s Eye for Weakness, and taking 3 levels in Gloomstalker Ranger will bestow the player with Darkvision, +2 when using ranged weapons, bonus initiative, and makes themselves invisible to any creature who would rely on Darkvision to see them, making them a powerful sniper with many tools to evade the enemy.

Arcane Trickster Rogue / Artillerist Artificer

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Battle Smith is a great pick up for martial classes who want a bit of magical firepower. Medium armour and shields as well as some extra spellcasting and access to Eldritch Cannon give your Arcane Trickster a little bit of a boost.

Inquisitive Rogue / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

We really should have considered the title “Why You Should Multiclass Into Echo Knight”, but now that we’re here let’s talk about why Echo Knight is a great pickup for Rogues.

Fighting Style, Action Surge and the extra attacks from their Echo seriously boost the damage output for the Rogue already and taking Inquisitive means that you don’t functionally sacrifice any Sneak Attack Damage either.

Thief Rogue / Shadow Sorcerer 

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

As simple as it is absurd:  take Mage Hand and steal everything that isn’t nailed to the floor. Why pay for anything when you could steal it?

Shadow Sorcerer will enhance your Stealth abilities to help you keep from getting caught and help you hide the spoils of your victory from that killjoy paladin your friends keep around.

Sorcerer

Sorcerers in D&D are mages whose magic comes from their heritage. Unlike Wizards who go to school for years to learn magic, Sorcerers have an innate ability towards spellcasting and have access to Metamagic allowing them to bend and shape their spells to their will.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your Sorcerer:

• Sorcerers are an especially powerful primary spellcasting class with Metamagic giving them access to the ability to make their spells fly further, cast on additional targets, or last longer, just to name a few options. As such, dumping Ability Score increases into the requirements to get use out of martial classes can be very difficult to achieve.
• One of the primary strengths of the Sorcerer class is Sorcery Points, which increase based on your Sorcerer level.

Divine Soul Sorcerer / Celestial Warlock

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Creativity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

14 levels in Divine Soul Sorcerer gives you full access to the Cleric Spell List up to Level 7 for spells such as Resurrection and Heal.

6 levels in Celestial Warlock provide you with access to both Healing Light — a bonus action heal up to 30 HP — and Radiant Soul giving you more damage potential especially when dealing radiant or fire damage, rounding out your battle capabilities.

Pyromancer Sorcerer / Evocation Wizard

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

This is an idea that is only creative now because it’s too unknown, in my experience. Pyromancer gives a fairly beefy damage boost to a player who wants to hurl fireballs everywhere.

School of Evocation’s Sculpt Spells gives them the ability to do it without any fear of harming their allies.

18 levels in Sorcerer offers access to all of the best parts of being a sorcerer, and 2 levels in Wizard gives you access to Sculpt Spells so you can sling fireballs, unfettered, with glee.

Divine Soul Sorcerer / Any – Talisman Warlock / Divination Wizard / Bard

Optimization: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Absurdity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The darling of the Creative category is the Luckiest Person On Earth. Most of your levels go into Divine Soul Sorcerer, which gives you Favored by the Gods. The extra levels are to beef up your spell list and give you extra Sorcery Points.

You’ll need 3 levels in Warlock. Your Patron doesn’t matter as much as your Pact, which must be Pact of the Talisman. 2 levels in Wizard then take School of Divination to give you access to Portent.

1 level in Bard will give you access to Bardic Inspiration. It is also an option to switch the positions of Sorcerer and Bard, taking the bulk of your levels in Bard for higher Bardic Inspiration and taking just one level in Divine Soul Sorcerer since Favored by the Gods is a level 1 feature.

Optimally, you’ll want to be a Halfling with the Lucky feat taken at Level 4, but Variant Human to start with the Lucky feat is also a viable option.

Supportive spells like Guidance and Enhance Ability help you extend your Luck to your allies for a surprisingly powerful support build.

Pyromancer Sorcerer / Sun Soul Monk / Druid

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

For this build, you’ll be taking 15 levels in Pyromancer Sorcerer, 3 levels in Monk to get the Sun Soul Monastic Tradition, and 2 levels in Druid for access to their Wild Shape ability, so that you can turn into a monkey.

Sorcerer spells you must have are Fireball, Disintegrate, and Fly; all other spells are players’ choice.

Remember to ask your friends to give you their energy before you cast a spell for optimal flavor!

Warlock

Warlocks are a unique spellcaster class that can only cast their spells at the highest possible level for that spell.

They have a lot of versatility with the combination of Patron and Pact that allow them to fill many different roles in a team.

Something to consider when multiclassing your Warlock:

• Patron and Pact matter a great deal for your build. The combination of Patron and Pact can drastically change a Warlock from being a melee tank to a squishy burst caster.

Hexblade Warlock / Echo Knight Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Creativity: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

5 levels in Echo Knight Fighter and 15 levels in Hexblade – Blade Warlock give the player the ability to combine Echo Knight’s Unleash Incarnation with Fighter’s Extra Attack and Action Surge and Warlock’s Eldritch Invocations such as Lifedrinker and Eldritch Smite to give the player even more melee damage output and utility as well as constant access to a magical weapon to cut down foes who would be resistant or immune to non-magical damage.

Warlock (Any) / College of Eloquence Bard

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Creativity: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Absurdity:  ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The classic joke is that Bards will romance anything that moves, but why not put that to good use?

With 17 levels in Warlock to give you access to all of your Mystic Arcanum spells… and 3 levels in Bard, taking College of Eloquence with Expertise in Persuasion to help you woo your patron, flirt your way to the top and get your patron to give you a little extra, just because they love you.

Who your patron is is less important than your willingness to romance them for the benefits.

Hexblade Warlock / Paladin 

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

In my opinion, this build is best done by dipping just 2 levels into Paladin for Smite to increase the amount of damage that your Hexblade Warlock is putting out.

Taking Pact of the Blade for your Warlock will synergise well with the Paladin class and provide a high damage output for this Warlock.

Wizard

One of the biggest problems with multiclassing a Wizard is that delaying your Wizard levels can have a strong impact on the game… but so can delaying your multiclass levels.

Wizards are one of the strongest base classes with high damage output and survivability built into their kits and a multitude of playstyles to choose from in their Schools of Magic.

Some things to consider when multiclassing your Wizard:

• Wizards are highly dependent on Intelligence, a primary stat shared only with the Artificer. So by nature of multiclassing you will be put in a situation of being dependent on more than one Ability Score.
• Delaying your wizard levels can change your damage output wildly.

Evocation Wizard / Battle Smith Artificer

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Wizards have historically traded their souls for firepower, sometimes literally.

Taking 17 levels in Evocation Wizard and 3 in Battle Smith Artificer gives you the best of both worlds: All the firepower of a Wizard up to their 9th level spells and martial weapons, medium armour, and the ability to use Infusions for yourself and your allies.

Wizard (Any) / Fighter

Optimization: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Creativity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Absurdity: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Grabbing that first level in Fighter gives you more armour options for your Wizard build and then taking a second level in Fighter later to get access to Action Surge will increase the damage output for the Wizard.

There isn’t much reason to go past the first two levels of Fighter as the subclasses don’t really provide anything that the Wizard can’t do better on their own.

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What is Multiclassing?

One of the best ways I’ve ever heard Dungeons & Dragons described is as collaborative storytelling. The explanation likens the TTRPG to when we were little kids pretending to be superheroes or princesses or whatever have you. As children, exploring these characters was one of the best ways to explore our creativity. 

Now I don’t know about you, but sometimes there would be a kid who would consistently create new rules. Citing sudden bulletproof or magic resistance, this kid would suddenly become invincible before our very eyes. The main difference between childhood fantasies and D&D is the fact that there are rules in place that tell us what our characters can and can’t do.

The class that we choose is often the main place where we outline our own adventurer’s ‘rules’. Each of the 13 official classes at the time this article was published contains different abilities for you to explore and unleash upon the world. For further customization, each of these classes contains several options called subclasses, which offer up some further level of specified abilities.

Now here’s where we get to Multiclassing. Multiclassing is a method of further customization for any character. It explores the ability to take different abilities from different classes to create the character that YOU want to play. 

Why Should I Multiclass?

Well, put very simply, you should multiclass if you want to. That’s the basics of anything that exists as an option in D&D. I’m hesitant to even say this is for players who are looking for a more exciting experience in character building. There are 114 subclasses available to you right now, along with plenty of homebrew content floating around the internet waiting for you to experience. 

I don’t want to minimize the excitement of a single class character by saying multiclassing enhances the playability of a character. Instead, I’ll split the reasons you might want to explore a multiclasses character into a few categories.

Fun. Realistically, this should be incorporated in any other reason you might use. We’re talking about a game where you can fight dragons and speak with gods. I’d venture to say that if you’re not having any fun you’re missing out on the spirit of things. 

Someone who plays a wizard but decides to take a level or two in barbarian because they really want to smash some things when they’ve run out of spell slots is a great example of a character who’s in it for a good time. There might not be any specific ability grabs or proficiencies you’re interested in. Just being able to do some cool things and play a unique character is often enough for a player who’s just trying to have fun.

Optimization. There is a large group of players out there who want highly effective characters. They might be very interested in playing a sorcerer, but worried about their squishiness might take a level in cleric to gain proficiency with heavy armor.

Optimization fills in weaknesses and boosts any strengths that might be presented within a single class. Oftentimes these characters are capable of incredible things, like casting an eldritch blast from half a mile away (sorcerer/warlock), or getting 4 sneak attacks in a turn with a ‘sniper’ (rogue/fighter). 

This is an excellent route for creating incredibly powerful characters, but comes with a decent amount of difficulty and planning to pull off successfully.

Character Building. There’s actually two smaller categories within this. The overarching category boils down to using the multiclass option to better explore a character. Each class comes with abilities and roleplay hooks that develop your character. The tenets of a paladin oath for example, or the deity a cleric might serve, provide you with very straightforward ways you interact with the world.

• Immersion. This is hard to pin down, because what it means really differs so much for each possible combo. Combining the plot hooks of different classes to create a new story for your character is the basis of this. 

Maybe your druid started to become furious over how nature was treated and ended up discovering her barbaric rage that was locked deep inside of herself. Maybe your Eldritch Knight fighter was invited to learn at a Gowarths Academy of Magical Arts and came out with a level in wizard.

Whatever the reason, immersion allows you to experience new paths for your character. 

• Emulation. Sometimes, we want to play a character that we’re already familiar with. We can use the multiclassing method to recreate our favorite fictional characters. Ironman might be an artificer/fighter/wizard combination, using the different abilities each of these classes offer to emulate the abilities Tony Stark’s suit allows him. 

There is no right way to bring your favorite character into the worlds of D&D, but we often find that multiclassing better represents those characters who might have varied abilities.

Multiclassing can be incredibly fun and incredibly satisfying. It’s about further exploration of what a character can do, how it interacts with the world around it and what abilities it has. 

Why Shouldn’t I Multiclass?

I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t multiclass. However, I will give you a few things to strongly consider before you do so. 

Strength Progression. As we level up our characters we explore how they grow. All of the official subclasses put out by WotC go through an intense level of playtesting. It’s the goal of this process to create a character whose abilities scale nicely all the way from level 1 to level 20.

Multiclassing gets difficult for this reason. If you take 5 levels in Fighter and then switch over to gain a level in wizard, you’re going to push back all of the fighter abilities you would’ve received. 

A 6th level character in a single class often shares a similar power level with other characters of the same level. Single class characters tend to grow linearly, they get progressively stronger as they level up. Characters who take multiple classes tend to experience more of a bell-curve. They tend to be hugely powerful at mid levels (7-14) and then become less powerful in comparison to others at higher levels.

This brings me to the last piece about strength. Since characters are built to play 20 levels, single class builds gain features up through level 20. We often see the most insane displays of power at the highest levels. By the nature of multiclassing, we don’t get to see those extremely powerful abilities. The more we diverge from a single class, the more we miss out on with higher level abilities,

Ability Scores. There are SAD characters and MAD characters. 

SAD characters are ‘Single Ability Dependent.’ These classes rely on only one ability score for most of their features, such as the Wizard’s dependence on intelligence.

MAD characters are ‘Multiple Ability Dependent.’ A paladin requires charisma and strength to really get out there and do everything they’re capable of.

Generally, SAD multiclass options are much better. A Sorcerer/ Wizard is going to be so much harder than a Sorcerer/ Warlock, because it requires both charisma and intelligence for casting.

When we start trying to pull multiple classes that require different ability scores to work well, we lose a lot of the ability to have a well focused character. This might mean nothing to a character that’s not playing the optimized route, but it does mean you’re going to succeed on those earth shattering moves a lot less often than you might like.

Getting past the difficulty of building a character with multiple classes can be a huge learning curve, and even a wonderfully built character might still have deep flaws. This doesn’t make multiclassing inherently worse, it just makes it more of a challenge. If you’re very new to D&D or you want to focus more on enjoying the game than running numbers and planning your build, this might not be the best option for you.

How Do I Multiclass?

When you gain enough experience to level up, you can decide to take a level in any other class instead of moving forward to the next level in your class. Your character level will then be the combined total of the levels you have in the classes that make up your character.

In the following sections we’ll discuss how each class fits into multiclassing. Specifically, we’ll go over the requirements for taking a level in a class, which classes pair well together, and how many levels in each class will give you the best collection of abilities. This isn’t a guide for the classes themselves, check out our class guides if you have more in-depth questions on specific class features.

First, a couple important things to note. Proficiency bonus and experience needed to gain a level are always based on your total level, not your level in a particular class. When you gain a level in a new class, you add the ‘hit points after 1st level’ to the hit points you have from your primary class. Similarly, your hit die are a collection of the hit die you gain from each level in different classes. You do not gain any starting equipment, but you do gain certain proficiencies as listed below. 

Artificer

The artificer is a class that’s a bit of a ⅔ caster. They rely more heavily on spellcasting than say a paladin, but still get to experience a decent bit of martial combat. As a primary class, the subclass abilities clock out at 15th level. After that you’re getting a couple extra attunements, two 5th-level spell slots, and then a nice boost to health through Soul of Artifice.

If you’re looking to multiclass out of this class, wait until after 5th level. This will let you scale up nicely into the mid levels and 5th level subclass feature before derailing. 

Classes that can benefit the artificer easily are limited, as you are a SAD class which shares its dependent ability with only one other class, the wizard. This makes wizard the most natural pairing, giving you access to some extra spellcasting and whichever abilities you gain through your wizard subclass. 

After that it gets harder to manage, and to have the right ability scores. However, a fighter can be a good pairing. A lot of artificer infusions can improve a weapons effectiveness, and fighter can boost the combat potential of an artificer, providing some nice synergy. Specifically an eldritch knight, who gains a weapon bond at 3rd level and access to some of wizard’s casting potential.

If you’re looking to dip into this class, you’ll gain all the abilities you could want by level 3. Jumping in will give you access to spellcasting, then you’ll get infusions at 2nd level, and finally you’ll see the first abilities of your subclass at 3rd level. Infusions can be a great way to develop just about any class, and each subclass offers something great.

Barbarian

Barbarian multiclassing is not for the faint of heart. They are a class that offer amazing martial abilities, but at a cost not many other classes are willing to pay. The Rage ability central to the barbarian class has two defining characteristics that put up a pretty big multiclass wall. You cannot wear heavy armor, really only heavily effects the cleric, but any heavily armored build would suffer. You cannot cast spells while in a rage. This is the killer. 

Disregarding all of that, the barbarian class offers some great abilities from the jump. Just getting into this class gives you Rage and Unarmored Defense. That means one level in barbarian is going to give you a monstrous AC and some great martial combat abilities.

A barbarian primary class is looking to get up to their 14th level for their subclass capstone. Classing out into a strength based fighter or a paladin at around 5th level once you’ve picked up your Extra Attack is one of the best ways to go. Again you take a maximum of six levels in other classes. 

Taking three levels in barbarian gets you some amazing attacking abilities and a step into your primal path. One of the few subclasses I’ll point out is the Path of the Totem Warrior, for it’s Bear spirit option at third level. This ability gives you resistance to all damage except for psychic, making this worth just about any downside if you’re looking to get some rage on.

Bard

Bards, you either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. The same is true for multiclassing. As a full caster they really want to experience full level progression up to level 20, and don’t want to experience detours along the way to learn how to do fun things. Especially since the different bardic schools allow you to focus yourself in a few key different ways.

As a class they can struggle to deal damage early on, focusing a lot more on inspiration and buffs than anything else. Taking up a few levels in paladin or warlock, classes that share your affinity for charisma, can be a good way to solve this problem. Similarly, grabbing up a few levels in sorcerer will give you access to metamagic, a really nice way to interact with your spells.

The big early level boon for taking a few levels in bard is the inspiration you offer others. If you’ve got the charisma and are looking for a nice way to play a more supportive role you can jump into bard for a bit. The subclasses hold a wide variety of options so check out our guides on those for more information.

Cleric

One of the most common reasons I see people picking up a level in cleric is to boost their AC. Specifically, to boost their AC by choosing the Tempest or War Domain cleric to grab that sweet heavy armor proficiency. Clerics pick up their subclass at 1st level, making them a good option for a lot of multiclassing.

Clerics don’t benefit much from multiclassing. They’re a pretty self contained full-caster with enough martial ability to handle themselves well when they’re out of spells. They’ve got great health and their subclasses give them a lot of range. If you’re planning to multiclass out of a cleric, try considering the paladin class first. 

If you are in any class that uses wisdom, or any class that is having a hard time making it to the end of a fight with more than a couple hit points, consider a level or two in cleric. By level two you’ll have picked up a specialized domain ability and channel divinity, both of which can give you some great options on the battlefield.

Druid

You might think the hippies would play well with others, but they should really avoid multiclassing. There isn’t a lot of sense in picking up a few levels in druid and there isn’t much reason to get out of the class. All of its abilities are highly self-synergistic, they tie into each other well, but don’t make much sense in another character.

Perhaps the only difference here is the circle of the moon druid, which focuses heavily on the wild shape ability. Mixing this with a barbarian can be INSANELY powerful at early levels, although it does taper out quite a bit at the higher end.

Fighter

Fighters are the go-to martial class. They have a myriad of options but are essentially a class that excels greatly in combat. The fact that you can really be an effective fighter with either strength or dexterity means you have just that much more options to explore with multiclassing. 

As a fighter main class you just want to get up to 5th level for your extra attack to be extremely potent before moving elsewhere. At this point, you’re going to have your archetype, action surge, a fighting style, and have already received an ability score improvement. 

Barbarian, Paladin, Monk, Ranger, Wizard, and Artificer are the best options. Another way to look at this is that  half of the available classes fit in here with some level of optimization. Really your path here is up to you.

As for jumping into fighter, a three level dip is sufficient. You’ll be able to flesh out some (or boost some preexisting) martial prowess. Going all the way to 5th level would give the above mentioned benefits, but investing this much time in a secondary class can be hard to justify.

Monk 

Obviously this guide has some opinions in it, if you haven’t already figured that out. Well here’s my big one, and while it may be controversial, I stand by it. Don’t multiclass with a monk. The ki points system belongs to monk and monk alone. It isn’t spellcasting so it doesn’t meld nicely with spell slots, and it isn’t just raw bonuses to a martial class.

Monks rely on getting a continuous advancement to their ki. If you step out of this class for even one level you’re missing out on so much opportunity. If you jump into this class you either get a weird 1st level, or some small amount of virtually useless ki points. 

Do it if you want, but don’t come crying to me afterwards.

Paladin

Paladins already have the feel of being somewhat of a multiclass. They are a great combination of the fighter and cleric classes (in spirit, not literally rules lawyers) and as such they are great half casters. Going all the way in a single class paladin build can give you some really incredible abilities, and dipping into paladin for a few levels feels silly. A full caster would rather dip into a full martial class, and a martial class might prefer dipping into a full caster for spells.

Here’s the thing though, getting to level 6 as a paladin will give you so many bonuses, offensive, defensive, and supportive. Then veering off into another caster for the rest of your levels can let you lean heavily into your spells. 

Specifically, a sorcerer paladin, a sorcadin if you will, is one of the most powerful multiclass builds in the game. Both classes are charisma casters, so you’re leaning heavily on charisma with a solid strength to back you up. Then you get to use all of the benefits of metamagic with all the strength that the body of the paladin class sets you up with.

Warlock echoes most of these sentiments, but instead of metamagic you get access to some powerful invocations and above all, eldritch blast. 

You can even combine all three for a monster of a character since the synergy of charisma casters is so very strong.

Ranger

Rangers often get a bad rep. A lot of this is due to their subpar higher level abilities. They can be very powerful at low levels when a lot of their abilities kick in, such as the Hunter’s Mark spell or any of the 3rd level subclass abilities. As such they make a great option to multiclass with.

They pair well with rogue’s, who can use their sneak attacks to greatly enhance any long ranged ranger. This combination deals a lot of extra damage and often puts the ranger’s spells to better use than a straight up ranger.

The cleric is another great option to consider. As both of these classes cast with wisdom you can create a pretty solid ⅔ caster here, without sacrificing any martial prowess in the meantime. This rounds out the ranger into a much more supportive roll, with some decent tanking capabilities.

Rogue

Rogues are sneaky, this you may already know. Their sneak attack is an impressive way to get extra damage out, and it scales nicely, getting you an extra d6 of damage every other level you take in this class. They also focus primarily on dexterity, which means they can multiclass without too much concern of being spread thin across ability scores. The Arcane Trickster is worth noting because of its dependence on intelligence for casting. Be aware of that if you choose this subclass.

A few levels in rogue will get you a lot of fun abilities. You’ll want to be using some amount of martial abilities, since sneak attack only works on weapon attacks, but other than that it’s your choice. Cunning Action at level two creates a lot of movement for any character, and a 3rd level will get you your choice of subclasses to explore. 

Once you’ve picked up uncanny dodge at level 6 you can jump out of rogue to do a number of things. Either hone in on your martial aspect to create more damage output or use a caster to give you more battlefield control. Any caster that can create darkness already gives you a huge edge, just immediately manifesting more sneak attack opportunities. 

Sorcerer presents itself greatly here with the ability to use the subtle spell metamagic on any of the buffs or damage dealers in its arsenal. Keeping yourself hidden while dealing damage is a great way to keep a rogue active for far longer than the surprise round.

Sorcerer

Well they’ve already been mentioned in quite a few other classes, so you’re probably thinking they make a good multiclass option. You’d be right, but I’m glad you’re thinking. The sorcerer has some faults, and it has some things it does extremely well. Instead of going in depth on which levels to grab and how to jump in and out of this class, I’ll highlight those.

The sorcerer is a squishy class. Right next to wizard, they have the lowest hit die, a d6. They also have an arsenal of spells that can be a bit disappointing at times. Getting better hit die is tough, and the best way to do that solves your other problem as well, with the paladin. We’ve already gone into how these two pair, so I’ll let you jump back up a few classes for more info. Warlock is a great way to deal more damage, giving you eldritch blast as a cantrip that you can modify all you want to deal damage like crazy.

As for what a sorcerer does well, if you haven’t guessed already, we’re looking at their metamagic. Spells in D&D have very specific rules and those can keep us from doing what we want with them. Giving any caster, specifically charisma casters, access to this ability can create some absolutely groundbreaking spells.

The more levels you take in sorcerer, the more metamagic you have access to, any combo will work well. So long as you’re sticking in your first class long enough to flesh out their primary abilities, you’ll do well here.

Warlock

As we near the end of the classes, we’ll start repeating some things. I’ll try not to be too redundant, but if you’re the type to jump to the one paragraph of an article you want to read (like me!) I’ll try to give you what you came here for. 

Warlocks have some amazing early level abilities. The access to eldritch invocations, a pact boons, and a patron, all by third level, is insane. Especially given the fact that each of these have plenty of options that diversify a character, you’re really working with a lot as a warlock. As such, this is one of those classes that does very well on it’s own.

As a base class, you might not want to venture away from the warlock. There isn’t much ground to cover, although a few levels in another charisma focused class might be nice, it isn’t essential.

Because of their top-heavy… bottom-heavy? Because of their early-level-heavy nature, warlocks present themselves an excellent class to dip into. Three levels gets you so much. And one last time I’ll mention how valuable eldritch blast is. 

Wizard

You’re a wizard, Larry! And a wizard you should stay. While you can multiclass with artificer for the reasons mentioned in the artificer section, you really don’t need to. The wizard is an excellent self-contained class that should avoid multiclassing lest they lose out on any of their benefits as a full caster.

FAQ

Q. How do my spell slots work if I multiclass two casters together?

1. Combining casters creates a few unique scenarios the PHB answers. Not only do you have to determine spell slots, you also need to think about prepared spells and/or known spells.

Your Known/Prepared spells are rather simple. You can treat your spell lists as two (or more) separate lists, relating to how many spells you know or prepare for each level in each class. Three levels in sorcerer and three levels in paladin just give you the known/prepared spells for three levels in sorcerer and three levels in paladin, separately.

Spell slots get only a tad more complicated. Each class that cast spells has a certain capacity for casting, full, half, or third, which you use to determine the amount of spell slots you have. 

Full. Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, and Wizard.

Half. Artificer, Paladin, and Ranger

Third. Any martial class that gains spellcasting only through a subclass.

Consider these as multipliers, and use them to multiply your level in the class, rounding down for any fractional answers. Then, add up what you have and use the multiclass spellcaster table for spell slots. 

Q. What about Warlocks, aren’t they casters too?

1. Yes, they are. However, they do not use spellcasting to do so, instead they have their own unique ability known as pact magic. This means you have two different tables of spell slots to be using. You can also use pact magic slots to cast ‘spellcasting’ spells and vice-versa.

Q. I’ve gotten Extra Attack from two classes. Can I attack 4 times in one Attack action?

1. No. Any extra attacks you gain won’t stack. 

Q. How do I determine the AC of my Monk/Barbarian? They both get Unarmored Defense.

1. I told you not to multiclass with a monk. Why are you doing this to me already? The first time you gain unarmored defense is the last time you gain it. Choose wisely because you can only receive this ability once, even though the two classes differ in calculation for this ability.

Q. Are multiclassed characters better?

1. No. There is no better way to play D&D. While this might allow you to do some extra fun things, it isn’t going to change the gameplay so dramatically as to make it unfun for other players.

Multiclassing can be an incredible option for customization in 5e D&D. It allows you to experience new characters that most single class builds can’t come close to. Whether it be for zany purposes, or for optimized combatants, this character building concept is a way for experienced players to have some new types of fun. While new players can certainly venture into multiple classes, it’s often better to familiarize yourself with more linear growth for at least your first campaign. Now that you know more about multiclassing, check out our article on powerful options to go further in depth on some great builds.

From dipping a few levels into a class to mitigate your primary class’s weaknesses to an elaborate collection of classes built around a very specific interaction, building the character you want in the Forgotten Realms is one of the most important parts of Dungeons and Dragons.

So it’s important to think of your multiclass options on many axes to create the best-multiclassed character for you.