Unless they multiclass into another Martial, cleric or druid it is relatively rare that they will double their damage compared to a multiclass. A melee fighter 4 with a 1-level Wizard, Sorcerer or Warlock dip will generally do roughly the same damage as an identical fighter at 5th level would do because of cantrip scaling and spell boosts.
Can you run the math on what you claim the general case is here? Especially in the cantrip case. Are you doing something like assuming that Greenflame Blade gets two targets most of the time.
A 4/1 Fighter-Monk and a 4/1 Fighter-Rogue is not very far behind due to sneak attack and martial arts.
Only a dex based fighter - which is giving up a lot of the fighter's power.
For example a 4/1 Fighter- undead Warlock with booming blade and Hex will generally do slightly more damage than the same fighter at 5th level using multi attack and can throw down the frightened condition on top of that.
Because Hex is well known to be free and concentration checks always pass.
And no. Assuming one handed duelist style booming blade + hex = 1d6 + 1d8 damage. On the other hand a longsword + duelist attack = 1d8 STR + 2 = 1d8 + 5 or 1d8+6 depending on the STR boost. You do more damage
if and only if the booming blade rider triggers.
Yes, an Undead Warlock in specific has a really strong multiclass.
Third level spells can be huge, but new 1st level class abilities can be huge to. Things like unarmored defense,
Unarmoured defence is just bad if you don't start with it. And unless your stats are utterly unreasonable you're normally getting a studded leather equivalent or possibly +1AC over that. Nope.
Is useful - but not utterly overwhelming.
Useful - but the idea is to knock them down
before they do you. Possibly worth it for barbarians.
martial weapon proficiency
Lol. One handed weapons go up from 1d6 to 1d8. Two handed weapons are a weird choice for classes that don't have them.
not to mention spells ..... These are all pretty big buffs you can get through a 1st-level dip.
And an extra attack is
huge.
When weighing the benefits you need to consider explicitly what you are giving up with the class you are leaving and what you are getting with a new class and there are a lot more things to consider than combat, especially when you bring spells and skill-classes into the mix
Of course. Which is why if you were looking at a skill based class with two attacks (and you want expertise) you should treat the
ranger as the baseline. Level 5 is, of course, when they get Pass Without Trace.
If I am going to multiclass it is usually before that because The character is designed to be multiclassed and by level 11 many campaigns are ending. Even campaigns that are going to 20 you are halfway complete.
So why did you pick the class you did?
You also need to consider your ability score in this. A high level spell with a save against a lower ability score is usually going to be less effective than a good upcast 1st level spell upcast with a high spell casting ability. For example I have a 4th level sorcerer with a 13 charisma and an 18 intelligence. Fear is a great 3rd level spell in general, but going on to 5th level for Fear with a Sorcerer DC of 12 is not going to be very effective. The player is probably better off multiclassing to Wizard and picking up 1st level Cause Fear and upcasting it at 3rd level with the Wizard DC of 15.
And if you have a 4th level sorcerer with 13 Cha and 18 Int I can only ask
why????
Yes, it's possible to make characters that are obviously optimised for one class and then go into another for the sake of argument. But the character would have been best advised to not go into sorcerer in the first place and instead been a wizard or artificer all along.
I'm sorry but "Multiclassing from Sorcerer to Wizard with a 13 Cha and 18 Int character can work" is a silly argument.
If they multiclass into another caster they are actually always ahead on spells known/prepared as each class prepares a full slate of spells for their level. The 5th level sorcerer above has 6 spells known (just class spells). A 4/1 Sorcerer Wizard with 18 int has 10 Known/Prepared.
They have more spells known - but know precisely zero top level spells. And once more this is cherry picking; the sorcerer is known to be the weakest full spellcaster because they have too few spells known.
And just adding to that a level 5 sorcerer with either the Aberrant Mind or Clockwork Soul subclass would know 12 spells.
Also seriously. "An 18 Int 13 Cha sorcerer" and then criticising spells known. You know what would be more effective with Int 18 Cha 13 than Wizard 1/Sorcerer 4? Wizard 2/Sorcerer 3. You know what would be more effective still with that stat spread? Wizard 3/Sorcerer 2. You know what would be even more effective? Wizard 4/Sorcerer 1. And you know the most effective full caster with that stat spread? Wizard 5 and never having gone into sorcerer. And if you are going to multiclass out of wizard it's either a level of cleric or one of artificer for spells known and spell versatility. And armour (which sorcerers don't get)
So better late than never. But your argument here boils down to "If you picked the wrong class for your stat spread it's better to go in later than never".
There are some
very edge cases where multiclassing before 5 can work. Like making an objectively bad choice for your opening class. But they are few and far between and you need to either make a mess of your math or find pretty cherry-picked situations for most of them.
