D&D 5E eldritch knight multiclass

[Minsc]

Good point.

Multiclassing is tough in this game. It's not the power grab it was in 2e, that's for sure!

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Assuming you are actually playing this, I think that levels 10-14 are going to be a challenge -- you will be way behind on spells and on attacks. You'll have a flexible range of cantrips available to you, but not as much flexibility as some other classes class combinations.

Plus, if you intend to be a front line warrior you might need to spend an ability score increase on Con or the Toughness feat to catch up in hit points after all of those d6s.

 

[Pickles JG]

I thought that then I thought I could probably mitigate it with one or a half dozen castings of shield.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Of course after you've spent all your spell slots on shield and other defenses you're down to being a crappy fighter with rituals.

That's why I'm really hoping for Gestalt/AD&D/Hybrid rules. I should be able to make a character who is a little better as a front line warrior than a cleric and a little worse as a spellcaster than one--and use the wizard spell list instead.

That's the balance comparison. Take the cleric class, and replace the spell list with the wizard list. Now what changes (if any) are needed to make it balanced with a standard cleric? Apply any. Now pump its melee combat power up and drop it's spellcasting a bit. I still ought to have access to spells from at least the 7th level list. That's about what I want out of my fighter/mage.

 

[Blue]

That's the balance comparison. Take the cleric class, and replace the spell list with the wizard list. Now what changes (if any) are needed to make it balanced with a standard cleric? Apply any. Now pump its melee combat power up and drop it's spellcasting a bit. I still ought to have access to spells from at least the 7th level list. That's about what I want out of my fighter/mage.

If you're looking for blasting spells, the first part of that is a cleric of light. But that specifically isn't fighter oriented - they get no extra armor/weapon proficiencies unlike most of the cleric types. If you want full casting and some combat, how about the Bard of Valor? Not the exact same list but it's arcane and it can poach specific spells you want at higher levels.

I'd say near-full wizard AND near-full fighter probably steps on too many toes players playing pure wizard or pure fighters.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Valor Bard comes closest, but it doesn't really hit the mark. It has a lot of leadery and healing abilities that aren't necessary for a fighter/mage, and it likewise includes skill-monkey action that doesn't need to be there. That is taking up space that could be spent on what a fighter/mage needs. In addition, the spell list isn't right (though ability to take some spells from wizard is useful, but doesn't really do the job).

So let's say we take a baseline of a valor bard, rip out all the class features I mention, and give it the wizard spell list instead of the bard spell list. We still have room to increase its weapon combat capability without making it better than the bard.

 

[Prism]

I thought that then I thought I could probably mitigate it with one or a half dozen castings of shield.

Remember you are giving up the threat of an opportunity attack when you cast shield, which is one of the fighters useful methods of holding the line. Last time I used shield in combat all the creatures, realising that my character was now unhittable and also distracted, ran past and nearly floored the wizard.

Don't worry too much about the loss of hit points - its only a couple per level

 

[Joe Liker]

Of course after you've spent all your spell slots on shield and other defenses you're down to being a crappy fighter with rituals.

In practice, this is not usually how it works out. You don't end up casting shield nearly as often as you might expect. I'm not sure what you mean by "other defenses." Protection from energy? Also doesn't come up very often, but extremely useful when it does.

I wouldn't hold my breath for an official alternative to multiclassing. They totally nailed the power level, and IMO would be extremely foolish to let it get any more "creative" than it is.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I wouldn't hold my breath for an official alternative to multiclassing. They totally nailed the power level, and IMO would be extremely foolish to let it get any more "creative" than it is.

Mike Mearls was still listing gestalt multiclassing in the DMG as of August. It is one of only about 3 things that were explicitly still in at that date, and no change was mentioned later, but which didn't make it into the final product. If I don't see it showing up in the next few months I'll tweet him about whether it's still coming. If not, I sure hope they release the rules from the alpha DMG so we can at least see how they were thinking of implementing it.

 

[Pickles JG]

I should be able to make a character who is a little better as a front line warrior than a cleric and a little worse as a spellcaster than one--and use the wizard spell list instead.

...
I still ought to have access to spells from at least the 7th level list. That's about what I want out of my fighter/mage.

Fighter 6 wizard 14