Well- two stupid questions:
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When should I multiclass? For instance: I have a very low level level cleric that I’d like to try a level or two of Druid with. Is there a specific level where I should take a level of Druid, or does it not matter? Do I do it way later, or earlier?
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If I take a level of Druid, can I go back to leveling cleric? Or does cleric stop at that level?
Thanks in advance!
While everyone else is giving a totally correct answer of “do what you want and what seems fun”, for sake of completion I’ll give an alternative. If you’re looking for an optimal choice with respect to character power, there’s one specific point of the game where multiclassing is not recommended: exactly at level 5. At level 5, each class gets a substantial power boost. Martial classes get extra attack and casters get access to third level spells. Generally, these jumps in power are greater than whatever you’re getting from adding an additional class. Likewise, multiclassing at level 4 delays a feat/ability score increase, but this is a bit more manageable.
That said, this is pretty min-max-y. Yeah, being at Cleric 3 / Druid 2 would be weaker than level 5 in either class alone, it won’t be non-functional. You’ll still be able to play fine even if your build is slightly suboptimal. Even on tactician, as long as everyone in your party isn’t crazy multiclasses, you’ll be fine as the party can cover for any shortcomings on your behalf.
Lastly, you can always respect. At level 3 and want to dabble but still want to be built optimally at 5 or 4? Go for it, and then visit Withers when you level up for a quick respec. Bottom line, play how you want, experiment! You might temporarily miss out on a power jump, but it’s not crippling and you can always readjust if you feel underpowered
I want to add in, though, that these breakpoints also work for multiclassing, as points to shoot for in a class before dipping out. The other thing to add is Subclasses. The subclasses in 5E are pretty powerful, and most classes get their subclass at level three, so that’s another breakpoint.
So what you have to bear in mind are these things:
- Feats/Ability Score Increases come every 4 levels, and you don’t want to miss out entirely. You can get away with one, but shooting for two is recommended, which means ending up with 4+ levels in two different classes, or 8+ levels in one class, or 6+ levels in Fighter (they get a Feat at level 6).
- The big breakpoints mentioned, as in level 3 and level 5 primarily. This is especially important for Martial Classes with their extra attack. If you want to be hitting things with a weapon, you need to get Extra Attack from somewhere.
- Consolidating Attribute dependence. Mixing and matching martial classes is fairly simple because they all rely on either STR or DEX. If you’re mixing caster classes, make sure you know what you’re doing with their casting stats. Druid and Cleric, for example, both use WIS, but if you mix in WIZ-levels you’ll probably have to stick to spells that just work, like Shield, since your casting stat for them (INT) won’t be high enough to land them reliably.
Awesome info! Thank you!
5th lvl isn’t really a fair comparison given the importance of 3rd lvl spells. All it really does is highlight the importance of WHEN you take the multi. For instance, take it at lvl 6 and only Tempest Cleric is going to notice, everyone else is just thankful for Thorn Whip + Spirit Guardians.
Each time you level up you can choose which class to assign that level to, so on your example, if you take druid you can go back to level up your cleric any time.
As for when starting a new class, it depends on what you want to accomplish, there’s a comprehensive guide on the wiki.
I multi classed at lvl 2 taking 2 lbs of druid before continuing deeper in ancients paladin. (I know off meta pick but I find it compelling) you can always respec for 100 gold so just do it when ever you want and tweak the difficulty until you have fun. If you can’t get to that point it’s time to respec.
Everyone has done a good job covering the pros/cons of what you sacrifice at each level. I’d just like to mention that the specific classes can matter too. For example, I like multiclassing monk on everything because punching is fun. In a situation like that, getting tavern brawler at level 4 is my power spike, so I stick with the main class until 4 then throw some levels in monk. It’s possibly to find pretty goofy combinations between classes and only 100 gold to respec so there really isn’t harm in messing around and testing builds out.
What are you looking to get from druid? Will need more details if you want a response on what would be optimal. Also, you can multiclass at any time, but I’d recommend against it unless you know what you’re doing. Then again, this game is probably easy enough that it won’t cripple your playthrough or anything, and you can respec for 100 gold should you mess something up.
And yes, you can choose which class to put a level into each time you level up.
I’d recommend against it unless you know what you’re doing
Why? This is not an MMO where your choices affect other people, it’s fine to experiment and mess up, it’s part of the fun.
I like the idea of Druids, plus- the circle of land is a good sub class I think. Sort of a rp-ish idea. Also- does it matter which class starts? Would it be better to start as Druid then get cleric?
In this case, doesn’t matter which you start with. For some classes, it matters, for example fighter only gives heavy armor proficiency if you start as it, not if you multiclass into it, but there’s nothing like that here. It’s mostly a matter of how much you’re fine with delaying those higher level cleric spells. I’d suggest picking up Shillelagh with your druid levels, getting both your weapons and spells scaling with Wisdom.
Btw, take a look here for more info on the classes: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Classes
I’d suggest picking up Shillelagh with your druid levels
You can do this with a druid initiate feat too, without damaging the spell levels of cleric.
A one lvl dip into Druid is always better than Magic Initiate due to having more spells prepared. If you take it at lvl 6 it doesn’t even delay any important spells.
Magic Initiate Warlock is really the only exception to this since Warlock lvls don’t progress your normal Spell Slots for upcasting. Though Agonizing Blast is super important for basically the only reason someone might want to take it.
And you should never take Magic Initiate Wizard with the current Wizard Spellbook mechanics as a 1 lvl dip can unlock 6th lvl Wizard spells via scrolls on Full Caster multis.
That 1 lvl dip is delaying spells like planar ally (infinite revivifies hello?) and big ones. If you take it at 6 you won’t get wall of fire at 7 (light cleric), fore example, and wall of fire is one of the most cheesiest spell in the game, shsrt did more damage than the tavern thrower karlach or the dual xbow sharpshooter lae’zel, or my warlock lote bard hasted blastspammer, for aoe encounters. Knowing the encounters that happen at lvl 7, wall of fire trivialises them.
Why is your party taking damage with Light Cleric. With the Luminous Armor you get in Act 1 and Warding Flare a Light Cleric can shutdown 90% of incoming damage. Planar Ally isn’t really worth anything at that point. If I’m running a Light Cleric I don’t even keep healing spells prepared.
Also Wall of Fire is a huge no-no for any fight with uncontrolled NPCs ie a ton of Act 2 and 3. Spirit Guardians or a correctly positioned Fireball are way better. I will concede points for Blade Barrier though as it really useful for controlling movement and setting up controlled corridors.
Why is your party taking damage with Light Cleric
Uhhh, there were several late game combats where enemies used big area of effect spells that did 60+, some even 100 damage. Stuff died. That was not really avoidable with warding flare.
You mention act 2 and 3 so spoilers I guess:
A2 spoilers
In the halsin fight, a well placed wall of fire completely trivialises the fight. Spirit guardians do less damage and is not as wide.
Below moonrise, there’s a big fight against a summoner that is triggered on the door, I just went back a bit, walled it, and just waited until the enemy naturally died.
A3 spoilers
In the Minsc fight, taking your party back the tunnel and doinvg a forward wall of fire ensured 2 turns of free damage minimum, completely trivialised the fight, took minsc out with telekinesis to then knock him our ofc.
In the Temple of Grief, same thing as in A2, back the party to the door, place a wall, trivialise the fight with it and the damage of the ranged party.
I did use the wall in the guild fight, and killed 2-3 enemies with it but then one npc went inside so I had to turn it off. still not a bad use anyway.
I used the wall in the cazador fight, where right as it began I misty stepped with a pre-hasted party memeber to help astarion, and then dimension door both out, then cook them out easily with a well placed wall at the entrance, really easy fight.
In the intelect devourer fight in A3, a wall in the stairs again saved the day, since the big devourers would have exploded in the party.
In the fight against Raphael (amazing ost btw), he does a lost of unavoidable areas, where you need to either save against the effect or you just take damage. He killed several party memebers, but the Deva + being able to shoot with bonus actions really made it so much easier. Also, the spike ground did him so much damage too.
In the Ansur fight, his blast did 100-ish damage and killed all my party but my main (who had the amulet of constitution) and the deva, which really helped with the revivs.
I can’t recall more encounters right now, but I usually position my party so that the enemies have to go though the wall to get to me and usually I don’t really take damage from melee enemies, ever.
One amazing thing with the wall is that it has infinite duration, so even if the enemy takes some turns to be brave enough to go in, you can just pass turns or recover your team slowly on the other side and wait.
In general I felt that spirit guardian has its uses, but that there’s way too many ranged enemies, and melee enemies do way more damage than the ranged ones, making the concentration checks harder if you get closer. Good on the A3 rats fight, but so is the light channel divinity. Same thing for the morphic rats.
Thank you!
When should I multiclass
When you are chasing a specific feat, ability, or trait that comes from multi-classing. You should know why you’re doing it, and in knowing why, you’ll know when.
