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

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

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.

A single class cleric doesn't use the multiclass spellcasting table to determine spell slots, but the cleric table. So when preparing spells for a Cleric 10/Druid 10, you can prepare up to level 5 spells from both classes, because that's the highest slot you have available at level 10 for either class.

 

[TwoSix]

A single class cleric doesn't use the multiclass spellcasting table to determine spell slots, but the cleric table. So when preparing spells for a Cleric 10/Druid 10, you can prepare up to level 5 spells from both classes, because that's the highest slot you have available at level 10 for either class.

If you need it to be more official, here's a tweet about it from Mike Mearls. I think it was addressed in Sage Advice, too.

 

[TwoSix]

Also, although the stereotypical Sorlock is Warlock 2/Sorcerer X, going split Warlock/Sorcerer also works pretty well. Feylock/wild sorc is even thematically coherent, as is celestial warlock/favored soul sorcerer (if your DM allows UA material).

 

[Hillsy7]

My GM is a "Story Teller" GM and hates things not built from story. I am a "Design" Player

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 they are gimp because of all the waste they hemorrhage.

Could you not get inventive and feed it to him narratively....so during the course of the XP level, make notes of all the things that have happened that tie in with the level you want to multiclass to, and narrate your "levelling" with overtones of that. So say you want to get to level 5 of Ranger, then dip monk for 3 levels......could you perhaps take a moment to do a quick training montage which sounds a lot like you're practicing martial arts and meditation.....so when you do slip into multi-classing, its a much more narrative, story based process (an example would be Percy's multiclassing into Warlock in Critical hit where the backstory provides the narrative....)

Just an idea that might work depending on how militant he is about it.....

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.

I think a Monk would be a decent anchor as you get the extra attack feature straight off the bat and abilities pretty much every level. Rogue would be a good synergy, but druid too possibly would provided tonnes of versatility and the DEX/WIS synergy works there too, and possibly with shillelagh (quarterstaff)? Monk/Fighter could be good if you can get the right feats to cover gaps in ability progression.

Would you as a GM have any problem with these multi-classes?

For me, a GM who is so caught up in story they can't let certain types of players build characters how they want and then bring those players into the atmosphere of the game (e.g. "build what the hell you like, but I want good character, backstory and a narrative that works before I'll let you in the door"), I think lacks some important flexibility. IMO.

 

[Seramus]

You get the high level slots, but cannot cast any of the high level spells.
So at level 20 you could cast Cure Wounds as a 9th level spell, but you couldn't cast True Ressurection.

As for builds, Bard/Rogue could be fun just for all the expertise. Barbarian/Rogue is basically Conan and works great. You might be able to sell Fighter/Warlock since Warlock is not really about training. Or Paladin/Warlock if you use the Celestial Warlock from Unearthed Arcana. Sorcerer/Warlock is really thematic if your pact is with the same thing as your Sorcerer blood.

And if you want to get really weird, Warlock/Warlock and be torn between a Fiend Pact and a Celestial Pact as you battle for your very soul!

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

I agree with some of the earlier posters in that having to multi-class under with bad restrictions is a bad idea. Your DM has some odd restrictions and issues with multi-classing. The multi-classing system doesn't take into account randomly imposed restrictions and it can lead to unsatisfying character results as you have already noted.

Finding a teacher sort of makes sense, but once you do, how a character advances in said classes after that should be up to the character. I believe the D&D experience system is an abstraction, just like the combat system. A character learns things as they go and the leveling process is a representation of learning enough things that you get new features/spells/etc. I believe how a character spends their downtime should be up to them which in turn controls how they advance their classes.

It doesn't make sense to restrict how a character multi-classes because it is more efficient then another way. I hope your DM can be reasoned with rather then you have have a poorly made character to satisfy their quirk.

 

[Blue]

The issue I see with this is how far behind other classes you'll lag until rather high levels.

At character level 6 (X 3/Y 3), you still will not have had a single ASI, and all of the other characters will have gotten their level 5 power bump. You won't get it until 9th & 10th.

I like the 5e multiclassing rules, but it does make it easier to accidentally play a character that's a lot weaker then a single classed character. Your goal where you must even advance pretty much forces you into that place until you get to be sufficiently high level. You won't really be holding your own with single classed characters until tier 3 & 4.

Options that probably minimize that ... hmm, spellcasters known spells lag too far behind, so I wouldn't suggest that. You need level 5 power bumps that play well together.

Fighter / Rogue archer (or TWF) could work. Both can use DEX to fulfill multiclass requirements, attack and defense. SA will progress at half speed, but at 9th or 10th when you get an extra attack it'll catch up some as well as giving you an additional chance to land your SA. Fighter gets lots of goodies even at low levels like action surge. Fighter extra ASI at 6th will come in at 11th or 12th to help you fall not too far behind.

Paladin/Sorcerer - your lack of extra attack for a bunch of levels can be offset with Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade, your improved number of spell slots helps you smite more, and shield never hurt a melee character. Paladin/Warlock may work similarly but with your specific DM as you described you'd need a heck of a backstory to make it fly where you are both an active paladin of a god and yet have made a pact with some other force.

 

[KarinsDad]

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.

If you can convince your DM that it works this way, then yes, alternating levels would be ok.

But as others have mentioned, the sentence "You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class." doesn't mean that Cleric 4/Druid 5 can prepare spells as if s/he were level 9 Cleric and a level 9 Druid. In fact the example immediately after that sentence illustrates that the Wizard prepares spells as if he were a 3rd level Wizard, not a 5th level Wizard.

 

[Ordrek]

Bard/ Warlock is amazing mechanically (can do many things very well) and can easily be made thematic. Sold your soul for fame/ talent, etc.

 

[Sacrosanct]

As many times you used the word "gimp" in your OP, I think there's an inherent conflict between playing styles that you'll probably never reconcile. I certainly came away with the impression that any PC not optimized (or near optimized), you consider gimped, which is a strong pejorative.

If you want my advice, it would be to not plan anything at all. What class you decide to level in when the time comes should be a natural progression of what happened in the actual game. If that ends up being a X1/Y19, or whatever, that's what ends up happening. And that's what it seems like your DM prefers (it's a style I prefer as well--to be natural and not preplanned on a strict template for meta gaming reasons).

If that doesn't work for you or him/her, then find another DM or DM yourself.