Viability of Multi-Class Spellcaster?

[WarpedAcorn]

I wanted to get some advice and opinions on building a character that casts both Divine and Arcane spells. My concept for the character is an armored bastion on the battlefield that provides support to the group via control and buffs/debuffs.

For the starting class it makes sense to grab Cleric out of the gate. After that I lean towards Wizard over Warlock or Sorcerer. This way I would have a lot of out of combat options via Rituals and also a full Spellcasting progression (Spell Slots). However, I am not sure what order to take the classes and what the class spread should look like. I am leaning towards Wizard over Cleric due to not seeing many high level Cleric spells that jump out at me. So I am thinking something like a 5/15 level split (which, of course, who would ever make it to 20).

For Domains, Arcana makes the most sense but I don't much care for that if I am going to Multi into Wizard. I am thinking that either Light, Tempest, or Healing would give the most bang for the buck. But Light might fit in better with the Tiefling due to the fire. For Wizard I'm not sure which school would be the best fit, so I'm open to suggestions there as well.

The build will be pretty MAD, I know this. Emphasis early on would be on Int and Wisdom. Str and Con would maybe only have +1 (Str being just so the character would realistically be able to wear Medium/Heavy Armor), and Cha and Dex would be the ones on the bottom or the priority list. The only Feat I am thinking of is Warcaster and maybe Resilient, Constitution. Other than that, Stat bumps would be the priority. Although, I might see an argument for Shield Mastery from a Defensive standpoint.

For Race, I am leaning towards Tiefling purely for a character concept reason and not a mechanical one. Variant Human would probably be better to grab Warcaster right away, but I like the idea of a "Demonic Super-Caster".


What are some thoughts/suggestions?

 

[mellored]

Concentration generally means you can only buff OR control. Not both. You can't use bless and hypnotic pattern at the same time, no matter how many levels you have.

Thus, I would suggest a grapple bard.
Fighter 1 (for Armor, +1 AC, and Con saves)/lore bard. They get a mix of control/support spells, +cutting words that doesn't require concentration, Athletics expertise for grappling for non-concentration control, and can pick up any spell from any list. You only get 5 ABI/feats, and one of those is really late. So I would recommend Ritual Caster (wizard), Inspiring Leader, +2 Cha (18), +2 Cha (20). And not worrying about the last one until you get there.

If your looking for more support than control, just go cleric, with ritual caster (wizard).

Though if you do plan on going Cleric/Wizard, note that many buff spells do not need a casting stat. Bless and Haste works just as well if you have 8 Wis or 80 Wis.

 

[Blue]

I like your character concept, but it may be hard to realize using the 5e ruleset due to the Concentration mechanic. With a few exceptions like Blindness/Deafness, you can really only have up a single buff/control/debuff spell at a time. Now, having one of those up and then supportive via a number of instant cast spells like cures or damage works, but while you'll have full spell slots your spells known will be level restricted and the high level spells are often more efficient then an upcast spell.

Now, a cleric/wizard is viable, just it would need to be more of a mix of one control/buff/debuff and other spells.

If you and your DM/table are okay with it, there was a 3.x prestige class called the Mystic Theurge that advanced two spellcasting classes simultaniously, and there is more than one 5e re-imagining of that on DM's Guild that might fit your needs.

When I was trying to convert over a 4e character who did a lot of buffing/debuffing, I ended up with a reskinned bard because they can both have concentration and also give out bardic inspiration and their subclass special (cutting words in this case). Plus spell mastery let them pick up spells from other lists so they could cover some specifics I wanted.

 

[balzebub]

I would go pure cleric of war or tempest. Pick up war caster and your clerical spells are actually good enough to control the battle field. Multiclassing into other spell casting classes just dilutes your ability to cast higher level spells.

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[WarpedAcorn]

I would go pure cleric of war or tempest. Pick up war caster and your clerical spells are actually good enough to control the battle field. Multiclassing into other spell casting classes just dilutes your ability to cast higher level spells.

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I haven't played a high level caster or seen one played. What high level Cleric spells would you consider to be so crucial as to not miss? Similarly, what Wizard spells?

 

[mellored]

I haven't played a high level caster or seen one played. What high level Cleric spells would you consider to be so crucial as to not miss? Similarly, what Wizard spells?

Mass heal and mass suggestion are ones that come to mind.

 

[Ovarwa]

Hi,

Similar to mellored, I recommend Bard. Your spells are all technically Arcane, but your spell list includes good spells that are typically Divine. Your class feature lets you cherry pick any great spells your list might have missed. 1 level of Fighter or of Stone Sorcerer improves your armor situtation.

Or, 1 level Life (War? Nature?) Cleric followed by Abjurer X. Heavy Armor, a splash of 1st level cleric spells, full spell slot progression. Knowledge cleric is generally considered to be a better combo, but has less armor. I don't recommend a 5/15 split. A level 5 full caster is generally much better off spending the next 2 levels to reach level 7 and real 4th level spells than becoming a 5/2 caster. This remains true for 9 vs 5/4, 11 vs 6/5, etc.


Anyway,

Ken