Great class combos?

I've been trying to think of some effective but mostly unused class combos for 3e. For example:

Paladin/sorcerer: Get 1 or 2 levels of paladin for the hit point, weapons and armor feats, but most importantly the divine grace bonus which makes your high charisma bonus even more effective!

monk/sorcerer: You don't need any gear to adventure aside from magic items, you're fast, got that wonderful evasion and other passive feats and powers that don't stop you from rocking the house as a sorcerer. Plus, for roleplaying purposes you can say your sorcerer powers result from your years of meditation and inner reflection.

That's all I can think of right now, but what other unusual class combos can you think of?

I don't know about unusual, but three levels of rogue never hurt ANYONE.

EricNoah said:

I don't know about unusual, but three levels of rogue never hurt ANYONE.

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... except the rogue/wizard who's stuck with a caster level 3 below what he could have otherwise.

(This came up in our Arteeteetee'o'ee'ee campaign a few weeks back, when we were fighting a fiendish dire bear with DR 10/+3, and we were stuck with +2 weapons because our mage's GMW spells only had a caster level of 8th instead of 10th.)

It really depnds on the campaign. Right now I'm stuck in a game that will go no higher then level 20 like many people's. I think a game should end when it's done and not becasue characters reach a certain level. So, if you're willing to go to higher levels, a three levels of rogue, four levels of fighter, one level of Ranger would help alot of people.

I want to play a Paladain/Ranger. A character devoted like a paladin to a nature diety. I think that would be fun.

I had a Sorcerer/Wizard NPC. He was born with the power of magic (sorcerer) and wanted to learn as much about magic as he could so he studied it (wizard). Great concept and character.

RP-wise, literally ANY class combo can make a good character. So all I'm discussing is power-gaming issues.

If you want to be a cleric, druid, sorcerer, or wizard of great power, you absolutely, positively MUST NOT multiclass, except for prestige classes that grant you spell progression every level! The almighty "caster level" stat suffers terminal failure if that number is less than your character level (ECL races are bad here for the same reason)!

Dabbling in sorcerer or wizard is a good choice for many classes, as previous posters have noted. Just be careful to pick spells that do not depend on caster level for effect, and remember that you are really the other class with a bit of magic on the side!

A Sor1/Mnk3 can "True Strike, Stunning Attack next round" 3 times a day, while the Sor3/Mnk1 can only do it once. Stay at Sor1 (true strike, mage armor, shield) at low levels, work to Sor 4 at mid levels (bull's strength, cat's grace, endurace), and top it off at Sor 6 at high levels (haste is good!).

Rogues benefit more from Wizard levels than Sorcerer levels. Many of them have high INT anyway, because they can NEVER have too many skill points! And you need only 3 Wiz levels for the almighty Invisibility, not 4. They also have Knock for those really stubborn locks! Wiz1, Wiz3, and Wiz5 are the breakpoints here for low, mid, and high level play.

For the ultimate "munchkin fighter", it's hard to beat the Ftr4/Rog2/Rgr1/Pal1 (or Bar1), especially if he's making Fortitude saves! And humans/half-elves don't need to worry about that pesky XP penalty if they keep advancing as a Fighter... or proceed straight to Order of the Bow Initiaite if appropriate!

I'm partial to cleric/sorcerers. Here's why:

The sorcerer's familiar can deliver touch spells, including cures.

High Charisma helps out both classes.

The cleric's spread of spells compensates for the sorcerer's limited selection. You can focus on sorcerer spells that compensate for the limited selection of offensive divine spells.

Hit points are OK, but the combo isn't very melee-oriented anyway.

The cleric's armor proficiencies are wasted, but you can carry a shield and drop it when using arcane spells.

Most feats help out both classes equally: Spell Focus, metamagic feats, item creation feats.

Good crossover of skills. You can max out Concentration, Knowledge (arcana), and Spellcraft at your total character level.

The only drawback is you sacrifice some of the cleric's combat abilities (since you can't wear normally armor and your BAB lags) and the entire multiclassing thing blows for dedicated spellcasters.

I'm about to play a ranger/monk combo. 4 levels of monk for evasion/stunning attack/movement, etc. Then the rest as ranger. He'll fight with a bastard sword and use unarmed strike for off-hand attacks.

How about a monk/druid? Leaping Tiger Strike and Flying Crane Kick could take on entirely new meanings...

Monk1/Drdx is a nasty combination.

Put your best stat into Wisdom and watch your as your AC jumps. Druid don't wear good armor, and can't wear it while wildshaped, so adding you Wisdom bonus to AC is a seriously good thing.

clockworkjoe said:

Paladin/sorcerer: Get 1 or 2 levels of paladin for the hit point, weapons and armor feats, but most importantly the divine grace bonus which makes your high charisma bonus even more effective!

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I've been playing one of these for a while and I have to tell you the combination sucks. I am currently a Pal2/Sorcerer4 and in terms of effectiveness I'm way behind any of the single class 6th level characters. The second level of sorcerer is pants because you get one whole new cantrip. the third level (as a 5th level character!) you get one whole extra 1st level spell. I'm going to be an 8th level character before I get my first 3rd level spell.

So Paladin 2/Sor x sounds good, but in practice (although fun to role-play) you see everyone race ahead of you in power level.

Sorcerer in a multiclass makes sense (mechanically) if you take 1 level Sor and then stick with the other class. If I was going to major in Sorcerer again, I'd just go Sor all the way.

Other options that I'll consider for my next character include Barbarian/Druid - probably start as Bar1 then go druid, possibly taking Bar2 at some point for uncanny dodge. Benefits include faster movement and rage (which can be used while wildshaped).

I know someone who uses a monk/rogue to good effect, and a wildshaping druid/rogue could be quite nasty - imagine being sneak attacked by a cat which does 1d3-3+5d6 damage

A player in my game is a Monk1/Cleric5 - he is weak, and can't wear much in the way of armour, so being able to add his Wis to his AC is a big help.

Cheers