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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Timespike" data-source="post: 8376282" data-attributes="member: 29665">This discussion is good because it covers a number of things I cut from previous drafts for space reasons. To pull back the curtain a little bit, these articles have a length maximum that we need to stay under; this particular topic probably could have almost been a two-parter!The extra attack, unarmored defense, and ASI timing are all fairly common traps in their own right, and those were solid observations on the part of those who mentioned them. Extra attacks in particular can sometimes catch people out when they assume it stacks (it doesn't).However, as far as outlook goes, that's a whole discussion unto itself. (And also a good observation, but one I'd like to weigh in on a little more heavily.)I think from a pure mechanical effectiveness standpoint, there are very few RPGs indeed (and none that I know of that are D&D editions or even similar games like OSR products or 13th Age) that don't benefit from advance planning where character builds are concerned. If you're looking to maximize the mechanical effectiveness of a PC, the better you know the rules (and the more experience you have actually using them in play) the better off you will be. I ran into this early on in my own time with 5e; my very first 5e PC was a Nature cleric, and aside from the thorn whip cantrip and heavy armor proficiency, I didn't use any of his subclass abilities. I never cast one of the nature domain spells, and I never used the ability to charm animals or plants. I'd have been much better off building him as a Life cleric instead because that's how I was playing him. (The GM let me respec him as a life cleric later in the campaign, which was nice of him.)All this to say: while it's nice to be able to "follow one's heart" in character progression, that approach will usually fall behind careful advance planning in terms of raw mechanical power. The trade-off may still be worth it for other reasons pertaining to the game's fiction, however! That said, there's a wide spectrum of mechanical effectiveness and sometimes a specific player goal can be worth a slightly sub-optimal choice if it makes the game more enjoyable to that player; for example, in my Saturday group, the player playing the warlock multiclassed into cleric (I forget whether she took just one level or two) just for the sake of variety, even though sticking with warlock or going into another Charisma-based class like sorcerer or paladin would have been a more "optimal" choice. She's still been plenty effective, though.None of this is to disregard the observation that if one isn't careful, the game can get away from you and you can wind up locked out of things you wish you had access to. It's absolutely true that you can paint yourself into a proverbial corner. However, you can often recover at least somewhat with ASIs if you're willing to delay your multiclass gratification. But if you're seriously considering multiclassing your PC, the sooner you start planning, the better chance you have of being able to actually accomplish what you want to.</blockquote>

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