D&D 5E Multi-Multi-classing

[jurrubin]

You literally said you were the best tank in the party, able to do so much nova damage it's shocked your DM on the regular, and healing good enough for it to be one of your main contributions. Oh! And you have the sneaky skills of a Rogue on top. How is that not describing being extremely powerful at basically everything?

Again, wrong. Here's my exact words from my original post:

"What he IS able to do is keep up with any other character build (front line, stealth, healer), heal them of wounds and disease, zip around the battlefield massively disrupting enemy attacks, survive attacks that have trashed single-class members of his party (yay, Shield spell!), and, more often than not, dish out a nova attack that can shock a DM."

There is nothing in the above about the character being "the best tank in the party"; the single-class member was a fighter in medium armor (AC18) who got bitten by a dragon. My character had AC 20 armor, backed up by a Shield spell (which other posters have already explained to you is available to warlocks), for a total AC of 25 for one turn. So the roll of 20-22 range the dragon used to bite the single-class character with an AC of 19 bounced off my character with his AC of 25. Also, "keep up" doesn't mean be better than a dedicated one-class character. It means "help out".

And, yes, being able to cast Cure Light Wound immediately after using a paladin's Lay On Hands has been extremely useful to the party. As has the ability to combine damage from Smite, Sneak Attack, and Hexblade's Curse simultaneously. And he can stealth while wearing light armor, as any character with at least one level of Rogue can.

The character will always be outclassed in any one ability by a single-class character that has specialized in that ability. But the versatility of combining lower level abilities from multiple classes allow my character to accomplish some things single-class characters simply can't. That doesn't make the character a god but it does give him a chance to be useful in most (but not all) situations.

If you want to call this "extremely powerful", fine. You haven't see my rotten dice rolls.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You literally said you were the best tank in the party, able to do so much nova damage it's shocked your DM on the regular, and healing good enough for it to be one of your main contributions. Oh! And you have the sneaky skills of a Rogue on top. How is that not describing being extremely powerful at basically everything?

I did not read that into it.

 

[jurrubin]

But their experience is objectively not representative of most multiclassing choices, and even accounting for that component, I strongly suspect that there are other reasons their experience isn't representative.

Absolutely correct. I started playing D&D 'way back in 1977 and since then I gained a few decades experience in GM'ing games using the RuneQuest/D100 game engine, which is skill-based rather than level-based. Since RQ/D100 allows characters to learn/gain any skills they put the necessary effort and resources into, I'm used to character builds with lots of different abilities. I wanted to push the envelope with 5e just to see what it's really capable of.

So I studied which triple-class character class combinations work as well as single class characters for me with literally weeks of prototyping and playtesting. Due to my personal tastes and preferences, the Paladin/Rogue/Warlock is the only one that I personally can make work well. And even then, I have to be very careful, use tactics unexpected by a DM (teleport 25 feet up to grapple a flying oni, anyone?), and stay very, very in tune with how the abilities of all three classes can work together synergistically. It is definitely not an easy character to run and is fraught with all sorts of opportunities to get dead if I don't pay attention. Or roll badly.

But when it all comes together with excellent dice rolls...ooh, BAYbee! Still, for people who want to a taste of multiclassing, I personally recommend they stay with only two classes. There are plenty of dual class combinations that provide lots of versatility and fun while avoiding some of the complexity and high level ability loss any triple class combo brings to the table.

 

[ECMO3]

I would not really call Barbarians or Paladins as being high on sustained damage. Paladins are very limited by spell slots and Barbarian damage is low.

I also think you need to apply a level range to this. In terms of highest sustained damage from level 8-15, the best I have seen is a level 6 Bladesinger with the rest of levels in Hexblade, agonizing blast, crossbow expert and charsima ASIs

With bladesinger extra attack you are doing a hand crossbow attack, 2-3 Eldritch blasts and then another crossbow attack as a bonus action with Charisma bonus added to every one of those. You can run spirit shroud, Hex and Hexblade curse to have some pretty serious damage above that and have enough slots to do that a lot.

The main problem with this build is it is tough going until level 8 when it comes online. If you dip fighter at start you can dump dex and go heavy armor and take Archery, that makes it a bit better for levels 2-8, but means it does not come online until level 9 in that case.

 

[Redwizard007]

I would not really call Barbarians or Paladins as being high on sustained damage. Paladins are very limited by spell slots and Barbarian damage is low.

I also think you need to apply a level range to this. In terms of highest sustained damage from level 8-15, the best I have seen is a level 6 Bladesinger with the rest of levels in Hexblade, agonizing blast, crossbow expert and charsima ASIs

With bladesinger extra attack you are doing a hand crossbow attack, 2-3 Eldritch blasts and then another crossbow attack as a bonus action with Charisma bonus added to every one of those. You can run spirit shroud, Hex and Hexblade curse to have some pretty serious damage above that and have enough slots to do that a lot.

The main problem with this build is it is tough going until level 8 when it comes online. If you dip fighter at start you can dump dex and go heavy armor and take Archery, that makes it a bit better for levels 2-8, but means it does not come online until level 9 in that case.

2d6+17 a few times per round (at advantage) is great damage for most levels of play.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I've gotta say, I've never seen any characters multiclassed for "versatility", it's always because class A has some ability that synergizes with something class B and boosts the core performance of the build. Any versatility is mostly a bonus.

There is a trade off in being behind the curve at certain levels, but being ahead of the curve on most other levels makes up for it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

In my 2-year 1-20 level game I played a female elven Cleric (Knowledge)/ Rogue (Scout)/ Wizard (War Mage).

It was a lot of fun, with tons of utility, proficiency in every skill, expertise in eight or nine I think, spoke over 10 languages IIRC, with decent spell capability as well. Fantastic as our group scout and good in combat.

Whenever I multiclass, which is practically all the time, it is always for versatility. I have to say I would rather play a character with tons of breadth than more focused/depth.

 

[mellored]

I've gotta say, I've never seen any characters multiclassed for "versatility", it's always because class A has some ability that synergizes with something class B and boosts the core performance of the build. Any versatility is mostly a bonus.

There is a trade off in being behind the curve at certain levels, but being ahead of the curve on most other levels makes up for it.

I've taken a single level of wizard for several characters. Lots of good rituals, fun familiar, and the shield spell is good too.

I've also occasionally took a level of cleric to get healing word.

 

[see]

When it comes to triple-classing, there's just one word:

Sorlockadin®.

Accept no substitutes.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

When it comes to triple-classing, there's just one word:

Sorlockadin®.

Accept no substitutes.

Honestly, with Eldritch Smite, I'm not sure the Paladin part is even required anymore!

Now imagine if we lived in a world where the playtest sorcerer survived into actual published 5e. SO MUCH MORE FLAVOR in a wonderful combo.

But yes, the "coffeelock" is a great combination.