D&D General Multiclassing Shouldn't be Treated as the Default

[Willie the Duck]

Sorc1 has always gotten you Con save proficiency. Then you just go on with your actual main caster class.

If you start with sorcerer, which I think was the part that wasn't clear.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Well, I think you are off the mark when you say character generation was "built around" multiclassing.

that phrasing may put the effects in too much of an extreme light but you can't deny class design is influenced by the existence of multiclassing, having to accomodate the possibility that anyone could dip a few levels and come away with a whole bunch of goodies, or combine class A's feature with class B's ability

 

[ezo]

Sorc1 has always gotten you Con save proficiency. Then you just go on with your actual main caster class.

If you start with sorcerer, which I think was the part that wasn't clear.

Yep, this. A dip into a class is (IMO usually) thought of as departing from your original class to "dip" into a new class before returning to your original class...

If you are some other class, and then "dip" into Sorcerer, you aren't getting CON saves...

2024 Cleric picks between cantrip+knowledge checks or heavy armor+martial weapons at lv1.


2024 Warlocks get to pick an invocation at lv1, and Blade Pact is an invocation.

Which is a deviation from 2014... which is why I said things changed:

They must have changed multiclassing a lot in 2024! Since in 2014, multiclassing into...

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

A dip into a class is (IMO usually) thought of as departing from your original class to "dip"

No. A dip is taking few levels (often just the one) in some other class. Order doesn't matter.

You are dipping in to grab what you want from them, then getting the hell out - that is the defining part.

(most dips also don't make sense to make if you take them later - you get the most at lv1)

 

[ezo]

No. A dip is taking few levels (often just the one) in some other class. Order doesn't matter.

You are dipping in to grab what you want from them, then getting the hell out - that is the defining part.

(most dips also don't make sense to make if you take them later - you get the most at lv1)

Well, that is YOUR take on what a dip is...

Generally, it isn't first. You do it within the first few levels, by dipping into another class, and then getting the hell out.

Usually, everything you get from what is your "main class" is important enough that you want that FIRST, not second.

IME, I can't recall a single instance of someone who dipped in a class at level 1, to change for the rest of the game to a different class, without ever returning to the first.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Usually, everything you get from what is your "main class" is important enough that you want that FIRST, not second.

I wish. The only bits you get from the lv1 class that you cannot get later are...
save proficiencies
heavy armor for Fighter/Paladin
1 skill proficiency for Rogue

So, if any caster (including Ranger/Paladin) is going to dip into Fighter/Sorcerer at some point, they are always doing it at lv1 to get that Con(centration) save proficiency.

 

[Umbran]

that phrasing may put the effects in too much of an extreme light but you can't deny class design is influenced by the existence of multiclassing, having to accomodate the possibility that anyone could dip a few levels and come away with a whole bunch of goodies, or combine class A's feature with class B's ability

Nobody is denying anything. I am merely pushing back on that extreme light - overstatement or hyperbole may get emotional reaction, but they do not usually enhance real understanding.

 

[ezo]

I wish. The only bits you get from the lv1 class that you cannot get later are...
save proficiencies
heavy armor for Fighter/Paladin
1 skill proficiency for Rogue

So, if any caster (including Ranger/Paladin) is going to dip into Fighter/Sorcerer at some point, they are always doing it at lv1 to get that Con(centration) save proficiency.

Meh... YMMV but proficiency for concentration is way over-rated. The DC is nearly always 10. Because of that, and the fact any Ranger/Paladin is going to have CON 14+, you usually only need an 8 (or even lower), giving you the 65% target for success in making the concentration check. Paladins adding their CHA to saves at 6th level make it even less important IME.

But as I said, YMMV.

 

[Nefermandias]

There are rules on how to multiclass in the new PHB. Still optional.

Just read the Multiclassing entry in the new PHB. It is not optional in the same sense it was back in 2014. Thank you for the non answer though.

 

[The Sigil]

IMO part of the perceived problem with Multi-classing is that people often use it for "dipping to get cool new powers" - more meta-gaming than role-playing. As a thought experiment, if Multiclassing rules included a clause like "all levels taken in a class must be taken consecutively" (i.e., once you leave a class to level in another one, you can never again level in the original class, similar to dual-classing in 1E) would multi-classing be nearly as popular?