D&D (2024) How should multiclassing be implemented for ODnD?

I'd like to see more like 3.x with real prerequisites & such that need to be met for the really interesting options rather than just "poof I'm a sorlockadin now, back to my main class & archetype."

Seeing a minimum 3(or more) levels for a dip would be nice & seems like a plausible thing for wotc to actually implement.

I'd love to see a " before or just after you first reach a level in your current class you must tell your GM that you want to take levels in a different class next level & get approval" ie bob reaches sorcerer 4 & wants to take a level of warlock so talks to the gm between games to explain & get approval for the desire to take warloock1 at level 5.
 

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The thing is you’ll never come up with a solution that pleases everyone, and WotC is looking for what is simple and appeals to the broadest audience. I don’t foresee it happening, but ideally there would be a simple standard system in the PHB, and some more granular optional alternatives in the DMG for those who want something different (Hybrids, feat-based, etc.).
 

I’m currently playing a sorlock, and I like to make sure the multi-classing game mechanics are supported by the story.

I told the GM the broad strokes of what I wanted for my character journey. My PC would start as a Shadow sorcerer, who’s power came from a failed ritual where he was to be sacrificed as a young boy. In the process, the tip of a strange dagger was broken off in his chest, and he has a wound that won’t heal. While he develops a few useful magical tricks for his initial career as a gang member in the poorer part of town, he was never comfortable with his powers.

After a few levels, he would find a reason to take a fey patron and become a warlock (knowing the fey Courts are of significance in the campaign world). The goal was to eventually get a Book of Shadows, primarily to get a raven familiar to complete his Sandman aesthetic (this was a few years before the current Netflix adaptation).

Then, his patron would do something to betray him. My PC would turn his back on his patron, essentially stealing his Book of Shadows, and embrace his “natural” arcane ability.

Long story short, the GM made all of this into a relevant part of the campaign, and eventually the party actually had to battle my former patron to banish him back to the fey realms.

Did I take Eldritch Blast? Of course, as that’s the main weapon of most Warlocks. I did skip Agonizing Blast though in favor of Repelling Blast, which is way more fun. I also got my raven, so it all worked out.

So, yeah, I think one thing about the current multi-class system is it also opens up some interesting story telling options. My next character, which we’re talking about using the campaign to playtest the upcoming UAs, is going to start as a bard, part of a tavern’s house band, who eventually becomes a paladin of Vengeance. (The party will be based on the image below) I have no idea if there’s a “power build” for a … bardalin?… but it’s the story I want to tell with my character.
That's great! It's true that I've met a couple of people who consider the story implications of their pact. I've also seen plenty of people take a level of Warlock for the mechanical power boost without giving a single thought to what it means for their character. (At least beyond acknowledging that they did the deal).

I'm glad that your multiclassing made it into the game in a way that made the overall story richer. That's a fine feature of D&D in general, IMO. Collaborative storytelling is awesome.
 

I'd love to see a " before or just after you first reach a level in your current class you must tell your GM that you want to take levels in a different class next level & get approval" ie bob reaches sorcerer 4 & wants to take a level of warlock so talks to the gm between games to explain & get approval for the desire to take warloock1 at level 5.

Yes, it would be nice to work into the story some natural reason (and perhaps training, NPC "teachers", etc) for the class change.
 

All those solutions are a bit too complicated to implement.
As an alternate to 3.x style multiclass I would have liked to forfeit subclasses in favour of adding the base of a different class at slower rate.
And then being able to use feats to either enhance the first class, enhance the second or even add a 3rd.
A lot of the are forgetting that 5E is suppose to be EASY to play Easy to create PCs.
 

The thing is you’ll never come up with a solution that pleases everyone, and WotC is looking for what is simple and appeals to the broadest audience. I don’t foresee it happening, but ideally there would be a simple standard system in the PHB, and some more granular optional alternatives in the DMG for those who want something different (Hybrids, feat-based, etc.).
The trouble is that 5e took a feature that many many players very much do not consider to be an "optional" part of d&d character building & then put only one single set of multiclassing rules that contain basically no limits or restrictions that a gm might be asked to rule on in a player facing book. You wind up where the GM needs to overcome "wtf why are you nerfing us" in order to make any decision & just saying no has problems of its own

Placing a couple forms of MC rules in the DMG & simply noting that "the DMG contains rules that the GM can decide on which if any multiclassing rules that fit their game or your character" or similar would have added room for the GM to actually rule on them & have input on what's right for their table or bob's character
 

Dual classing.


you can only have 2 classes.

classes must be within one level of each other, that is, 3rd level is your last chance to take a level in 2nd class.
multiclass rules for proficiency as normal.

at levels 5,8,11,14,17 and 20 you get class features of both classes, but HPs and HDs of only one class.
at levels 5,11,17 you get lower HP and higher HD and at levels 8,14 and 20 you get higher HPs and lower HD.

I.E. Fighter/wizard 5 would have class levels of 3rd level fighter and 3rd level wizard.
if fighter was 1st level class, then HPs would be 10+6(for two levels of fighter) and 4+4+4(for 3 levels of wizard) and character would have 3d10 HDs and 2d6 HDs.

at 8th level character would be 5/5 split with HPs of 4th level fighter and 4th level wizard with 4d10 and 4d6 HDs

...

up to 20th level where character would be 13/13 split with HPs of 10th level fighter and 10th level wizard with 10d10 and 10d6 HDs.

While I do have some criticisms for this idea, it does improve the even split multi without needing any additional design work. So on a work vs. result basis, it's a solid idea. My largest problem with the idea is that it wouldn't fix the big underlining issue with 5.0's multi-classing. That being most class level combinations are very underpowered, while a select few are overpowered, with basically no in between. I do think you pushed the level split about as far as you could, any farther and you'd start having more overpowered options than underpowered ones. It also feels a little homebrewy, a little hacked together. Not something I could see being in an official book.

I like the ‘half classes’ approach with supplementary feats

Your basic power budget has four ‘slots’ but each full class is only worth 3/4 of that and is divided up into distinct thirds, so to fill out that last chunk of power budget you can either take chunks from another class or a prestige class which is designed to fit in that last 1/4 class power budget but is a distinct whole thematic package.

Class dipping (wizard 3/3, cleric 1/3)
Balance multiclass (wizard 2/3, cleric 2/3)
Or Prestige class (wizard 3/3, archmage 1/1)

First off, a character made by rules like this would clearly be more powerful than a 5.0 equivalent. That would break back compatibility and would be against the stated goals of the One revision.

That out of the way, as a basis of a multi-class system for a future real edition, this is a bit inspired. All the multi-class systems for D&D to date really are just subsystems bolted onto a pre-existing game. Even 4th's initial feat based system still felt like the class design came first and the multi-class system was bolted on after the fact. Really, the best way to do multi-classing is to bake the necessary power into the class design itself. Have the system built from the ground up to account for it. Having an option to take a powerful specialization or instead use that power budget to multi-class is how I'd want it. I don't know how the system as you describe it would work level by level, but here is one idea from me. First, the next edition has no 5e style multiclassing. Everyone picks a single class and at level one you also get to pick a subclass. These subclasses would be very similar to 5th's, maybe a little more powerful. Alternatively, you could choose to multi-class and every class entry would have a sub-class variant. Then somewhere around level 8-12 you get to choose another even more powerful specialization, like the Archmage you mention, or you could choose to improve your multi-class abilities further.

The real beauty of an approach like this is that you could keep the main books simple by not showing the multi-class options, and then release the multi rules in the DMG or even in a later supplement.

Here is what one of the Synergy feat trees for A5e looks like:​

BLADECHANTER​

Prerequisites: 3 levels in fighter, 3 levels in wizard, Fighting Style (Two-Weapon Fighting)

Bladechanting is the art of unifying and maintaining intense physical and intellectual strains, allowing movement and thought to become one as a beautiful and deadly dance of blades.

If you wield a melee weapon in each hand, you may use them to perform seen spell components and as a spellcasting focus for wizard spells. In addition, whenever you are concentrating on a spell while using melee weapons as a spellcasting focus in this way, you enter a special trance-like state called bladechanting. If you lose concentration on your spell while bladechanting, you also stop bladechanting. While bladechanting you gain the following benefits:

  • While you are wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, you gain a bonus to your Armor Class equal to your Intelligence modifier.
  • Whenever you would need to make a concentration check to maintain a spell due to taking damage, you may spend 2 exertion to automatically succeed.
  • When you hit a target with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction and choose a spell of 1st-level or higher, casting it through your weapon. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and target a single creature or have a range of Touch. If a spell cast in this way requires an attack roll and targets the same target as the triggering melee weapon attack, it also hits as part of that attack. You may choose not to deal damage with a melee weapon attack used to cast a spell.

WHIRLING INCANTOR​

Prerequisites: Bladechanter feat

You train to move by thought and incant with your body’s flowing motion, becoming nearly unassailable as you whirl and dance, escaping fatal blows and seamlessly blending the lines between mind and body. While bladechanting you gain the following additional benefits:

  • Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
  • You gain a bonus to Dexterity checks and saving throws equal to your Intelligence modifier.
  • You gain a bonus to Intelligence checks and saving throws equal to your Dexterity modifier.
  • When you are targeted by an attack but before the attack is rolled, you may expend a spell slot to attempt a whirling arcane evasion. If you do, make a Dexterity saving throw and add a +2 bonus for every spell slot level above 1st spent this way. If this Dexterity saving throw exceeds the triggering attack roll the attack becomes a miss, and you may immediately move up to 10 feet in any direction. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

ELDRITCH WHIRLWIND MASTER​

Prerequisites: Whirling Incantor feat

With a blade’s sweep you pull and spin the arcane power, surrounding yourself in a cyclone of arcane energy as your spell's power tries to match the speed of your sword.

Whenever you use your reaction to cast a spell through a melee weapon attack using bladechanting, you may choose up to a number of additional targets for that spell equal to the spell level of the spell slot used to cast it. These additional targets must all be within 10 feet of you and are each treated as if they were the spell’s original target.

Is that really all A5E does to improve multi-classing? I've got to say I'm very unimpressed. The feats really don't do anything to make multi-classing beyond a few level dips worthwhile, and on top of that burn through your very limited feat/ASI budget significantly. They're nice flavorful effects in and of themselves, but feel like sacrificing character power for flavor. In a multi-class system that is already underpowered for most combinations. If that's it for changes, then I'm really not feeling this one.
 


First off, a character made by rules like this would clearly be more powerful than a 5.0 equivalent. That would break back compatibility and would be against the stated goals of the One revision.

That out of the way, as a basis of a multi-class system for a future real edition, this is a bit inspired. All the multi-class systems for D&D to date really are just subsystems bolted onto a pre-existing game. Even 4th's initial feat based system still felt like the class design came first and the multi-class system was bolted on after the fact. Really, the best way to do multi-classing is to bake the necessary power into the class design itself. Have the system built from the ground up to account for it. Having an option to take a powerful specialization or instead use that power budget to multi-class is how I'd want it. I don't know how the system as you describe it would work level by level, but here is one idea from me. First, the next edition has no 5e style multiclassing. Everyone picks a single class and at level one you also get to pick a subclass. These subclasses would be very similar to 5th's, maybe a little more powerful. Alternatively, you could choose to multi-class and every class entry would have a sub-class variant. Then somewhere around level 8-12 you get to choose another even more powerful specialization, like the Archmage you mention, or you could choose to improve your multi-class abilities further.

The real beauty of an approach like this is that you could keep the main books simple by not showing the multi-class options, and then release the multi rules in the DMG or even in a later supplement.
Oh yeah a system like this really wouldn’t be compatible with the existing system, I forgot to account for that and just made ‘my multiclass concept’

Functionally all the base classes progression would get built on a foundation of having things in 3s or 3+x format, a 1st level full 3/3 cleric can use cure wounds 3 times and a 1/3 cleric has 1 use, a 3/3 fighter knows 4(3+1) different manoeuvres, a 1/3 and a 3/3 bard both have 2 uses of inspiration but the 1/3 inspiration gives a +1 while the 3/3 gives a +3, so it’s more a matter of how much or how potent of a class resource you’re getting rather than which parts of it you get.

Subclasses function the same way just being an extension of base classes, you still get all the features of your subclass if you go 1/3 or 3/3 it’ just a matter of the quantity/quality you’ll get of it.

Prestige classes would be exempt from this 3 based format due to only being able to be taken as a whole.

Considering this entire system is meant to account for multiclassing as integrated into the standard progression the closest thing to a ‘pure track non-multiclass’ character would be a single 3/3 with a thematically appropriate prestige class.
 

I have a 1e-ish character who "died" becoming a werewolf.

In 5e, this character concept is playable. I can create a feat to add the werewolf mechanics.

The character was an elf magic-user/fighter/thief. Conceptually, he is a magic-user with some gishy capability. I plan on porting this character into 5e. The way I will do it is: high elf Bladesinger Wizard with solid Stealth skill proficiency, plus homebrew Werewolf feat.

Actually, this is how I would do any multiclass. Find the closest class archetype, and finesse other options, if necessary.
 

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