CapnZapp
Legend
1) Tell that to the denialists!IMO:
(1) the-5/+10 mechanic is broken, there's been lots of threads on this issue
(2) multiclassing is also broken if you allow 1 level dips
Not sure about the rest, but just these two aspects, if you eliminate them, may well fix your issues.
2) our party has two singleclassed (Cleric and Warlock) and three multiclassed characters.
The "fighter" is actually an Eldritch Knight, so you could call that a multiclass of its own. Her only multiclass is quite recent, and is because for some reason the other PCs let her have all the ability score related magic items. She's originally a finesse dualwielder, but now, with Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and Intelligence all at +4 or more, her player dipped a level of Barbarian. Stylistically this allows the character to ditch any armor, but the real value is getting damage resistance twice a day. (Yes, even though rage precludes spellcasting)
The monk is a shadow monk with 4(?) levels of battlemaster fighter. A clear example of how WotC forgot their lesson: there are few to no high level martial abilities that come close to the utility and nova-enabling power of Action Surge. I predict most if not all fighters, rangers, barbarians, even paladins and bards will at one point realize two fighter levels give them far more than their next two levels of their main class. (That's not an actual complaint, since Action Surge is a wonderfully cool, elegant, simple yet powerful and enabling ability!)
The "ranger" is actually a fighter (battlemaster). The player wanted to play a Ranger, but decided the class just didn't deliver (with all the niggling clashes in action economy, Hunter's Mark and so on) so he asked to be called a Ranger but to really build a Fighter. After all, the Outdoors background really gives you all you need to at least pose as a ranger.
Then he has taken actual Ranger levels to his credit, but only after reaching level 6 of Fighter (to grab Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert asap). I believe he's now Fighter 8/Ranger 6 (but don't quote me on that). After picking up that ranger ability to make an extra attack on the target's buddy (horde breaker?) he decided the Ranger class could no longer give anything useful enough*, and so he went back to Fighter.
The main minmaxing claim for this PC is getting four attacks earlier than a dualwielding Fighter would have. Now his regular three attacks isn't as special as it was back then, but still: making attacks at 120 ft range with +10 damage not including poison makes him the group's damage dealer. (We all know that feat is overpowered, but since the player now playing the fighter got to use GWM in the last campaign, we let him use SS in this one. That feat seriously needs to be errataed, though)
*) One factor in this is that we all know the campaign OotA is listed at ending at 15th level or so. Thus the Ranger level 11 ability would have been cool, but he didn't want to build towards an ability that would only see any use at the very end of the campaign. After all, I had my doubts I would be capable of stretching the campaign out as much as I have - I made no promises it wouldn't have ended at level 13 or 14.
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