D&D 5E Can you share your experience with a featless/multiclassless game?

[Flamestrike]

I've seen it so many times.

Some dude rocks up to the table with a Sorlock and then begs for a do-over once 5th level comes around and the real casters start tossing out the big boy spells.

 

[Azzy]

Especially considering the Trident has the SAME stats as the Simple Weapon Spear. It's heavier and more expensive but it has the same damage and special attributes. By all account it didn't need to exist as a separate game unit and just be some a spear could just... ya know, BE!

I think they only exist in 5e because of the iconic magic item, the trident of fish command.

 

[Azzy]

I rarely see SS or GWM, Sentinel is used by rogues more than anyone else to get a second SA every once in a while...Don't think I've ever seen PAM on any character in my main group.

My experience, and comments I've seen from the design team bck this up, is that most players are not optimizers.

I haven't seem GWF or PAM at all. I do have a character with SS, but there aren't a whole lot of feat choices for a dedicated archer.

 

[Flamestrike]

Especially considering the Trident has the SAME stats as the Simple Weapon Spear.

I let you initiate a grapple with a trident using it as the 'free hand' you need to grapple.

 

[Undrave]

I let you initiate a grapple with a trident using it as the 'free hand' you need to grapple.

Pretty cool, but that feels more like something a Whip should let you do no?

 

[Flamestrike]

Pretty cool, but that feels more like something a Whip should let you do no?

Its what the barbs are for.

In my head canon anywway.

 

[jsaving]

If you as a DM are going to judge your players because of your perception that people only multiclass for reasons you deem illegitimate, then you should absolutely not allow multiclassing in your game.

However, I would push back a little bit on the sentiment that "3e/5e multiclassing" is unbalanced, or even that "3e/5e multiclassing" is a sensible way to talk about the issue. 5e multiclassing may be "3e-style" in the sense that you can pick whatever class you want when leveling up, but the mechanical gains from multiclassing are a lot lower in 5e than they were in 3e. Which is a good thing in my opinion, as it makes multiclassing a sometimes-entertaining option rather than something every powergamer feels obliged to do.

 

[Minigiant]

I've seen it so many times.

Some dude rocks up to the table with a Sorlock and then begs for a do-over once 5th level comes around and the real casters start tossing out the big boy spells.

Sorlocks, old school Stab Fighters, and Hexladins ae what my friends call video game PCs. PCs who are usually only fun when playing a whole party in a video game or if you start the complain at the midlevels. At the table,they get abandoned.

 

[Flamestrike]

Sorlocks, old school Stab Fighters, and Hexladins ae what my friends call video game PCs. PCs who are usually only fun when playing a whole party in a video game or ofyou start the complain at the midlevels. At the table,they get abandoned.

Being 2 levels behind a feat is bad (even if its just +1 to saves/ hit etc). Being 2 levels behind the exponential leaps in power at 5th level (revivify, fireball, fly, spirit guardians, bardic inspiration on a short rest, extra attack, stunning fist, uncanny dodge) and again at 11th level (improved divine smite, arcanum, extra attack [2]) is really bad. Being 2 levels behind your next highest level spell level is really really bad.

Not a sacrifice I would make for a better at will cantrip that's for sure.

 

[Minigiant]

Being 2 levels behind a feat is bad (even if its just +1 to saves/ hit etc). Being 2 levels behind the exponential leaps in power at 5th level (revivify, fireball, fly, spirit guardians, bardic inspiration on a short rest, extra attack, stunning fist, uncanny dodge) and again at 11th level (improved divine smite, arcanum, extra attack [2]) is really bad. Being 2 levels behind your next highest level spell level is really really bad.

Not a sacrifice I would make for a better at will cantrip that's for sure.

Exactly. 5e uses a tier system. When you hit a new tier, your power and flexibility skyrockets. The second tier starts at level 5. Third at level 11. MCing slows this down by 1-3 levels. Since most campaigns barely get to third tier, a MC character usually never gets their 3rd tier power boost. And they only getting a short time with the 2nd if they don't single class to level 5 first. Enter disappointment.

The result is Multiclassing only being good for "weaker classes" post level 5 or 6as the campaign usually ends before you feel punished for it.