Making super cool unique characters is one of the best aspects of Dungeons and Dragons for many fans of this tabletop game. There are many ways to customize your character- different races, classes, feats, and, in my opinion, one of the most interesting and underrated ones – multiclassing. If you go down this route, you can expand your capabilities by combining two, or even more classes together and create a new, optimized version of your character.
How does it work? Well, the next time you level up, you can choose to add another class and gain a level in that one, instead of your original class. Some players choose to have balanced levels in both of their classes, and others choose to remain members of their original class with only a few levels in another one, it is completely up to you. When is the right time to do it, though? In my opinion, you should multiclass when you either want to add some flavor to your character and switch things up or when you want to fix some obvious imperfections of your class. Many classes work just fine on their own, but sometimes features of a new class can really add a lot to your character.
Let me give you an example. Imagine you’ve been playing a wizard for quite some time in a campaign, usually standing on the outskirts of the battle, casting spells, not engaging enemies directly since you typically don’t have armor and your melee attacks don’t do that much damage. Well, if you decide to multiclass into a wizard/fighter next time you level up, you can have your cake and eat it too, add variety to your playstyle, and start kicking ass in closed-quarters combat too.
Since multiclass may seem daunting, I’m gonna try to simplify it for you. I’m going to go over the rules for DnD 5e multiclassing, give you some advice on how to mesh classes, and even give you some good combos for future inspiration. Let’s get down to business.
1. DMs Word Is Law
I can’t stress this enough, but you have to get a blessing from your DM before combining classes, because “to allow or not allow multiclassing” is a common dilemma. Some DMs don’t allow it since their job is to look at the big picture and keep the power balance in the party. There are times when characters can seemingly get OP after combining classes and leave the rest of the party in the dust, but a more common occurrence is that some rookies bite off more than they can chew when multiclassing and get overwhelmed.
2. You Have to Meet the Prerequisites
After you acquire your DMs permission, and you choose which class you wish to add to your character, you have to check out whether it’s a good fit for you. To qualify for a new class, you have to meet the ability score prerequisites for your current class and also the new one you wish to add. Most of the classes have requirements for one ability score, but some have them for two, which might make multiclassing a bit more difficult. Either way, you can see the prerequisites in the Player’s Handbook and check out which class is a good fit for your character.
3. The Cost of Leveling Up
You might choose to multiclass in hopes to level up quickly because if you’re a wizard 3/fighter 2, you probably think it takes fewer experience points to reach the third fighter level than the fourth wizard one, right? Well, I hate to tell you this, but it doesn’t work that way. In this case, you are considered a fifth-level character and in order to get to a higher level in either of your classes, must have enough points to reach the sixth level. When leveling up, you always have to consider the total level of your character which is the sum of all the individual class levels.
4. Hit Points and Hit Dice
In multiclassing, the great thing about Hit Points is that they stack up. As you level up your multi-classed character, you’ll either roll for hit points or, if you’re not feeling that lucky, take the rounded average, just like you did in your original class. The dice you roll will depend on the class you choose to gain a level in at that moment. So if you are playing a wizard/fighter and you choose to gain a new level as a fighter, you would roll a 1d10 + your Constitution modifier for each fighter level. On the other hand, if you choose to gain a wizard level, you would roll a 1d6 + your Constitution modifier.
As for the Hit Dice, you pool all the ones your classes granted you together. So if you were playing a wizard 5/ fighter 5 character, you would roll five d6 and five d10 Hit Dice.
5. Proficiencies in Multiclassing
Your proficiency bonus is based on your total character level and so it advances based on the sum of your levels, not when you level up in your individual classes. As for the other proficiencies, when you gain a level in another class, you get some, but not all of them. You can see all the details in a table in the Player’s Handbook.
6. Class Features
When you level up in a class, your character also gets its features for that level. There are some stipulations for a few of these features, though : Channel Divinity, Extra Attack, Unarmored Defense and Spellcasting. Fot the first three features I mentioned, the golden rule is that if you already had them, you don’t get additional uses of them with the new class. They don’t add together, it’s as simple as that.
As for Spellcasting, that’s a bit more complicated, your capacity for spellcasting depends on the combined levels of your classes, but also on the individual ones. Firstly, the spells you can use and your spellcasting ability for those spells depend on your individual classes. Similarly, if you have a spellcasting focus, like a holy symbol, you can only use it for spells from the class associated with it.
It’s also important to determine your spell slots, and you do that by adding together all your levels in the typically spellcasting classes like wizard, bard, cleric, druid, and sorcerer, then half your levels (rounded down) in ranger and paladin classes. Additionally, if you have the Eldritch Knight or the Arcane Trickster features you also add a third of your fighter and rogue classes (also rounded down). It may sound a bit complicated, but you can get through it with just some elbow grease and if you’re still having troubles, you can consult the Multiclass Spellcaster table in the Player’s Handbook or ask for some help from your DM.
Classes That Go Great Together
As a conclusion to this mini-guide, I’m going to go over a few classic class combos that go like peanut butter and jelly.
As I’ve previously mentioned, wizard/fighter combination is great because these two classes really complete each other and make for a more rounded character. You get both ranged attacks and also the option for melee. Wizard/artificer is also great if you want to get all the benefits of spellcasting but bypass all the vulnerabilities of that class. As an artificer, you get proficiencies in some armor, shields and also in Constitution saving throws which helps you concentrate on your spells and boosts your AC.
“Class dipping” into the fighter class aka gaining just a couple levels in it, is a safe choice for most, if not all, classes. Fighters have a great range of skills, abilities and proficiencies that would benefit any character, but the limiting factor for multiclassing are the prerequisites for Strength and Dexterity which you might not be able to meet. For example, paladin/fighter is considered to be a great combination by some DnD players. If you choose to gain more levels as a paladin, you can progress with your spells, but if you choose to go the fighter route, you can gain access to even more extra attacks, it only depends on your preferred playstyle.
Another set of classes that go great together are all the Charisma based ones: bard, paladin, sorcerer and warlock. Each one of these has their unique brand of spellcasting which might mixing them very fun.
Since barbarians are usually tanks and their main goal is dealing as much damage as possible on the front lines, multiclassing into a paladin might be a way to switch things up and diversify your character’s abilities. Playing a barbarian/paladin might give you some defensive abilities to help the survival of your party.
I’ve only mentioned some here, but there are endless combinations and many reasons for all of them to work great together, you just have to find one that is a great fit for you.
Conclusion
Even though most of the classes in DnD 5e are completely fine and super interesting to play on their own, I believe that multiclassing gives you the option to shake things up a little bit and add a little bit of spice to your character. It may seem daunting at first, but I hope this little guide I prepared for you makes it seem a little bit more manageable.
