D&D 5E Milticlassing Dip-schticks

[Mathilda]

Multi-classing is a powerful tool in building your character.

For example... I primarily play WoTC organized play Adventure League. I have a character that is 2 levels of Fighter and 13 levels of Wizard.

The two levels of Fighter gives me the following:

Starting with fighter I get Constitution as one of my saving throws proficiencies... this is huge for Concentration checks that I will be making in combat

I get access to heavy armor and shield at 1st level which makes my AC pretty good and better than Mage Armor

I get a Fighter Style which I choose defensive which increases my AC

I get Action Surge which allows me to cast 2 spells in a round and bypasses the normal ruling of casting only one spell and a cantrip in a round

I get Second Wind which gives me free healing and being on Wizard hit die... makes this healing even more effective

I get all this for the loss of a couple of mid level spells once I hit 20th level and a delay when I get my next tier level of spells.

Once I hit 7th level with this character I never looked back and decently formidable when I play this character.

 

[Mathilda]

Also as a personal strong opinion... any Charisma based character would be exponentially better with 2 levels of Warlock

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Also as a personal strong opinion... any Charisma based character would be exponentially better with 2 levels of Warlock

As much as I hate to admit it, the numbers don't lie. In fact, Paladins (of all people!) make some of the best two-level Warlock dippers!

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Our group finds very little benifit for taking any dips (other than...MAYBE...the Rager-Druid for the extra resistance to damage)...

You don't get the benifit of gaining the last few benifits from your base class.

Just curious as to the various thoughts of why people level dip.

Not see why this would be a good thing.

Because some classes are heavily front-loaded, and because cantrip scaling substitutes to a degree for the things that aren't front-loaded.

Barbarians, Rogues, Warlocks, Clerics, and to a certain extent Fighters all offer very attractive benefits for their first level. If you're going to be melee tank, you should strongly consider being a Life Cleric 1/Wizard X instead of a Fighter X. You'll get almost the same AC (missing out only on Defense style) and you'll have a whole bunch of spells on top of that; you can use melee cantrips like Booming Blade to substitute for your anemic melee attack. You don't have all the benefits of being a fighter, but you have a lot of them, and you didn't give up much to get them.

Or consider the difference between a Moon Druid 8 who can wildshape into a Giant Constrictor Snake, vs. a Moon Druid 7/Barbarian 1 who can wildshape into a raging Giant Constrictor Snake with extra damage and resistance to physical damage.

Or look at the difference between a Bladesinger 10 with two extra attacks that are almost entirely useless, vs. a Rogue 2/Bladesinger 8 who can use his two attacks and Athletics Expertise to grapple/prone monsters at will, plus use his Cunning Action + Stealth Expertise in conjunction with his wizard spells like Greater Invisibility/Darkness/Fog Cloud to prevent monsters from attacking him.

Lore Bards benefit from two levels of Warlock to give them a powerful ranged attack, without losing access to their final Magical Secrets that grants Wish.

Etc.

A dip is not always a dominant choice, but when a dip is attractive it is because you are gaining more than you are giving up. So, no one is going to argue in favor of "dips" in the abstract, only in favor of specific dips in a specific context.

 

[SmokingSkull]

I just recently hit level 14 in our game, my character is 11 levels in fighter, the other three barbarian. I chose the Champion and Totem Warrior subclasses respectively, this has allowed me to not only play this specific concept (Think raging shocktrooper) but the truth is base fighter or barbarian alone couldn't have done it. To be honest I even reskinned the totem spirit to Behemoth instead of Bear due to story reasons. I digress, another point is both classes do mesh well together and I only gave up heavy armor, 4th attack, an asi/feat plus Indomitable but I consider it a fair trade for Rage, Unarmored Defense, Reckless Attack, Danger Sense, Spirit Seeker and Totem Spirit but to each their own. Some might view multiclassing as weak, other might see it strong or even OP, imo I view it as a way to play certain characters than cannot be achieved single classed.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

Feats can be a factor in making multiclassing more fun, even at higher levels.

With feats, you can take the aspects of different classes that a character is multiclassed in and combine them in interesting ways, much like prestige classes could do back in 3rd edition or paragon paths in 4th edition.

Here's a link to a book of feats on DMsGuild that has feats like that. An example of one of the feats is a cleric/druid feat that grants special abilities to your wild shape that alter your beast form into a sacred beast like the stag in Princess Mononoke.

http://www.dmsguild.com/product/202906/Multiclass-Feats-5th-Edition?sorttest=true

 

[ccs]

Character concept. If it doesn't fit how I envision the character? Then I don't do it. It doesn't matter what the math has to say concerning wether or not I MC.

 

[cmad1977]

I just recently hit level 14 in our game, my character is 11 levels in fighter, the other three barbarian. I chose the Champion and Totem Warrior subclasses respectively, this has allowed me to not only play this specific concept (Think raging shocktrooper) but the truth is base fighter or barbarian alone couldn't have done it. To be honest I even reskinned the totem spirit to Behemoth instead of Bear due to story reasons. I digress, another point is both classes do mesh well together and I only gave up heavy armor, 4th attack, an asi/feat plus Indomitable but I consider it a fair trade for Rage, Unarmored Defense, Reckless Attack, Danger Sense, Spirit Seeker and Totem Spirit but to each their own. Some might view multiclassing as weak, other might see it strong or even OP, imo I view it as a way to play certain characters than cannot be achieved single classed.

I'm kinda the opposite
My barbarian hit 5th level and every time I've levels I've thought to myself
'Should I take a couple levels of fighter?'

I haven't done it yet despite the advantages but it's always tempting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SmokingSkull]

I'm kinda the opposite
My barbarian hit 5th level and every time I've levels I've thought to myself
'Should I take a couple levels of fighter?'

I haven't done it yet despite the advantages but it's always tempting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All I'll say is do what you want to do, there's certainly no wrong way plus in the end isn't it for fun? Oh the things I can do...ridiculous!

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Deep dips lose benifits from level 15 and up features.

What proportion of poeple get characters to level 15? I've played D&D since the early 80s and never seen a campaign last that long. All high-level play I've seen or been involved in, the characters were created at that level.