D&D 5E [D&D 5th Edition] Best 50/50 multiclass?

[ClaytonCross]

My GM is a "Story Teller" GM and hates things not built from story.
I am a "Design" Player
--I just want to know what I can do (not a rules lawyer but close)
--I like to play with how things connect together. (I like unusual designs)
--I don't want to gimp my character trying to be unique so I try to eliminate waste.
(That is not max/min its just, a cool idea needs to be playable)

So this causes a problem with my GM because to him mutli-class characters
break immersion because they are often designed in "Meta" (1/19 dips or 12/8 mix
to prevent a feat/stat bump) or the are gimp because of all the waste they hemorrhage.

So I am looking to play a 50/50 class from the beginning in an attempt to solve this.
- Leveling every other level in each class reduces "meta" leveling and acts more like
a new class instead of picking and choosing levels in each to "control" skills.
- The story background is a combine origin, a special sect.
So you don't damage story picking up levels in the "cross class" its just part of your progression.

The problem is that you can't just 50/50 any two classes because you can gimp yourself.
The result will be a resounding "If I have told you once..." speech from my GM.

Example, I tried a Rogue/Druid before and because the Rogue was not spell caster the Druids spell slots and progression was bad and since the Druid provides little to rogue "backstab" mechanic for damage. The result is an underpowered caster with underpowered melee skills.

- So casters need to mix with casters for spell slots.
- Melee need to mix with melee for effective combat.

The best melee mix I can think of is a "Ninja" 50/50 Monk\Rogue because both have scaling damage to off set the lose of scaling damage from the other and you can focus on Dex/Wis for offense/defense/scouting in the form of stealth and perception.

The best caster mix I can think of is the "Disciple of Elnath" 50/50 Cleric/Druid because they use the same caster ability (which so does the Bard/Sorcerer) and you can carry a staff and shield as respective foci at the same time. Making them capable of casting all V and V/S/M spells while being capable of melee combat. Both providing full level spell slots, you get all slots at max level. For known spells both Clerics and Druids know all class spells. Prepared spells, both use Wisdom modifier + class level and you can select up to what you have slot for which as stated above is the same as if you single classed either one. Also, since there is some overlap you can shift which class you prepare a spell under to change options available to you.

Any better 50/50 builds?
Would you as a GM have any problem with these multi-classes?
Why?

Thanks for your input.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

If your DM is a "story teller" type, why does he even care about levels etc? Those are not part of the story, unless he has organizations or such in the game world that award class ranks to members?

 

[cbwjm]

Fighter/rogue might be good. The sneak attack will somewhat make up for the delay in extra attack which won't be available until level 9 at the earliest.

Eldritch knight or arcane trickster might be a good melee mix with a wizard. Although it will be a small addition, they will be adding to the caster levels for spell slots.

Paladin/bard. Make a romantic knight that all the ladies fall for. Divine smite will have more slots to use which should help mitigate the delay in extra attack.

 

[KarinsDad]

So I am looking to play a 50/50 class from the beginning in an attempt to solve this.
- Leveling every other level in each class reduces "meta" leveling and acts more like
a new class instead of picking and choosing levels in each to "control" skills.

Although I understand your desire to keep things steady, an exact 50/50 class (shy of Fighter) as you describe gets an ASI at levels 7/8, 15/16.

So, not only does the PC not get an ASI at level 20 (which is not that big of a deal since most PCs do not get that high in most games), but the PC also gets its 4th level ASI at level 7 and its 12 level ASI at level 15. That's a bit harsh, especially considering that many evenly spaced multiclass builds already are gimped compared to other non-multiclassed or slightly multiclassed PCs.

It's bad enough that a Cleric X / Druid X is limited to X/2 spells as their highest level instead of ~X (and they lose out on the cool level X+1 to 2X abilities), but they also twice get their ability scores or feats 3 levels late.


I would suggest talking to your DM about this so that your PC can go level 1 to 4, 5 to 8, etc. in alternating classes.


The Monk/Rogue combo is fairly nice as multiclassing goes. They gain defensive abilities at much higher levels, but 2 (and quickly 3 and eventually 4) attacks per round with the first one hitting doing bonus Rogue damage is pretty nice, as is the ability to knock a foe down to set up sneak attack so that the PC doesn't need an ally also attacking this foe.

 

[Zardnaar]

Some combination of ranger (hunter), fighter and rogue.

 

[Shiroiken]

Paladin/Warlock, while strange, is a decent split-class if your group regularly takes short rests. Eldritch Blast gives you ranged attacks, and the automatically raising warlock slots make for great smites (you probably won't actually cast non-cantrip warlock spells).

 

[ClaytonCross]

If your DM is a "story teller" type, why does he even care about levels etc? Those are not part of the story, unless he has organizations or such in the game world that award class ranks to members?

Because he expects all leveling to be an organic part of the story. So being able to choose when to level in a class or cross classing out of the blue is to meta to him. The premise being that if you want to cross class you would need to find a teacher and dedicate your self to that. So you would find a trainer when he lets you find one due to connivance of the story then only level in that class because you have dedicated your training to it. If you want to do a 12/8 character and your level 11 for example, you may be in a dungeon etc until you are level 14. He would not let you hold leveling or find a trainer in a dungeon because he doesn't think it makes since. Then you lose at feat/attribute raise and if there was something that you really needed to get at level 8 (like monks unarmed combat becoming magical for example) that chance has passed so your idea will no longer work. More so if your doing like a 1/19 or 4/16 character and you want to cross at level 1 or 4 to the other class since characters level faster at low levels. He deems that level of character planing as too meta. He also does like the idea of training in two classes at once and going back and forth choosing. The idea is that you can only really focus your training effectively on one at a time.

 

[ClaytonCross]

Although I understand your desire to keep things steady, an exact 50/50 class (shy of Fighter) as you describe gets an ASI at levels 7/8, 15/16.

So, not only does the PC not get an ASI at level 20 (which is not that big of a deal since most PCs do not get that high in most games), but the PC also gets its 4th level ASI at level 7 and its 12 level ASI at level 15. That's a bit harsh, especially considering that many evenly spaced multiclass builds already are gimped compared to other non-multiclassed or slightly multiclassed PCs.

It's bad enough that a Cleric X / Druid X is limited to X/2 spells as their highest level instead of ~X (and they lose out on the cool level X+1 to 2X abilities), but they also twice get their ability scores or feats 3 levels late.

I can't under stand your explanation on some of this but a Druids 10 / Cleric 10

PHB: p164

Spell Slots
"You determine your available spell slots by adding together all your levels in the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard classes."
Druids 10 + Cleric 10 = level 20 multi-class caster on the table
Spells slots of a level 20 multi-class are identical to a full Druid or Full Cleric at level 20 (There is no loss)

Known and Prepared Spells
"You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class."
(Assume 20 wisdom at level 20)
Cleric lvl 20 Prepares 25 : When you do so, choose a number of cleric spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your cleric level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Druid lvl 20 Prepares 25 :When you do so, choose a number of druid spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + your druid level (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Druid level 10 Prepares 15 + Cleric level 10 Prepares 15 = Total of 30, so you get 5 more than ether class at 20 but they have to have 15 on each side, which makes over lap is good for flexibility on key spells.

For "known spells" you have access to all Druid and Cleric spells since you have all the way up to a 9th level spell slot per how those to classes work. Because they "Know" all spell inherently.

All that said you are correct in that they do get access to every thing later. The even out at levels 8 and 16 and suffer the lose of the level 20 feat/ability score. However, human variant could help you get the feat back up front which means you get more use out of it. Then your just short capstone abilities in exchange for a huge amount of versatility. A Circle of the moon druid for example would suffer greatly however a Druid from the Circle of the Land would not lose much mechanically. You also open up some options like Good Berries on a Life cleric for 30 hit points of guaranteed out of combat healing from a 1st level spell slot per Sage Advice. ( http://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/09/11/discipline-of-goodberry/ ) So if your want to be one of those healers that only uses heal word in battle and doesn't heal between this gives a cheep option to heal your team between battles if they start getting annoyed by always being left a deaths door. (Which I hate when I am not a healer. Also, if your going to do that take the healer feat so you can still patch player up a bit if you don't want to use your precious spell slots. Just Saying.)

I have not idea what you mean by this --> (and they lose out on the cool level X+1 to 2X abilities) if you could clarify, I would appreciate it.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Because he expects all leveling to be an organic part of the story. So being able to choose when to level in a class or cross classing out of the blue is to meta to him. The premise being that if you want to cross class you would need to find a teacher and dedicate your self to that. So you would find a trainer when he lets you find one due to connivance of the story then only level in that class because you have dedicated your training to it. If you want to do a 12/8 character and your level 11 for example, you may be in a dungeon etc until you are level 14. He would not let you hold leveling or find a trainer in a dungeon because he doesn't think it makes since. Then you lose at feat/attribute raise and if there was something that you really needed to get at level 8 (like monks unarmed combat becoming magical for example) that chance has passed so your idea will no longer work. More so if your doing like a 1/19 or 4/16 character and you want to cross at level 1 or 4 to the other class since characters level faster at low levels. He deems that level of character planing as too meta. He also does like the idea of training in two classes at once and going back and forth choosing. The idea is that you can only really focus your training effectively on one at a time.

Your DM sucks. If you must play in his campaign I'd forget about multiclassing completely and just go with a reliable single class character.

 

[Hillsy7]

You might "know" the spells all the way up to level 9.....but as per the phb section you quoted, you can't prepare them.....rendering the knowledge useless.....