Building an Absurd Character (One Level in Every Class) In D&D 5e

[@KidWhoSaysThis]

So 14th level for this character is definitely taking another level of bard. Gets the jack of all trades perk, and I fell that's just really appropriate.

[@nathanielreik6617]

As Puffin Forest said, he want's to be a a jack of ALL trades so it would be perfect for him.

[@neiltobey1746]

A friend of mine (back in 2nd edition) made a character that had a split personality. He was a fighter, but he had three different "characters" he could be: A fighter, a cleric, and a wizard. Every time after a long rest, he would roll a d6 to see which one "woke up" and he would roll play that one. However, all his stats were that of a fighter. I can remember him declairing "I am going to cast fireball!" and nothing happed and he roll played this so well! It was a fun concept for a one off.

[@studynot757]

I did this in my friend's 5e out of the Abyss game... d13 every day at dawn to see which class I was!

[@hannahr3858]

I have a plan for a two in one character kind of like this. But it would be two different PCs stuck in one, not just split personalities. Mental stats changing according which PC is in charge of the body for the day.

[@2993LP]

I had some players who had inconsistent schedules; I considered giving them all a single spirit medium character who was possessed by different ones of them each session.

[@kylec1117]

I once played a character who was a soldier, but he didn’t realize that he was a sorcerer. He thought he was just really lucky. When he flinched, that was the somatic component for Mage Armour, for example. Pretty fun.

[@haydenhill607]

I just made an Eldritch Knight who doesn't realize he is the reason for is magic with the belief of his ancestor's sword being the source of his power. His spells are mostly buffs and no overtly damaging spells. We'll see how it works out!

[@legomaniac213]

"How does it play?" "It doesn't!! Seriously; I'm an fighter who can't fight, a healer who can't heal, an archer who can't shoot, a mage who can't cast. DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A BROKEN CHARACTER TO YOU?!!!!"

[@miguelangelus959]

Absolutely broken

[@Its_whats_his_face]

Puffin Forest makes some funny videos

[@TheWackyWorkbench]

@Jessica Kle BEGONE BOT! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU

[@TheQuilanvos]

ABSEEERD!

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

My lv4 Fighter, lv3 in 5 Classes, and lv1 in one Class, Character: "7 Subclasses sound nice."

[@olivierlipinski]

As a DM I would create a legendary item with requirements in 13 classes, and give it overpowered powers !! That would be a great reward for the patience of the player.

[@michaelallmon1825]

Sounds like an item made for level 14 artificers

[@marklippert3390]

Funnily enough, a level 13 thief rogue could also use that magic item

[@lloydlineske2642]

Overpowered powers... Like a plus 2 to every stat? I mean an item giving 12 points is pretty overpowered.

[@arcphage1636]

Give them the Tome of All Things from Solasta just to help them out 🤣 it sets all stats to 20

[@rpgguyi8076]

Band of everything: If you have 13 classes, you gain all level 2 abilities (not hp) of these classes.

[@briantykelley7617]

I'd like to see the strongest 5e character you could make with the limitation of no more than three levels in each class.

[@pjenner79]

You beat me to it! I wanna see this challenge

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Normal Human with Point Buy: 10/13/13/13/13/13 (+1 to all from Human) >> 11 and 14s. Lv4 Fighter first... Then get a Feat or an ASI +2. 3 levels in 5 different Classes for its Subclasses. 1 level in another Class. Magic Item?... Pick the one which boosts your Con to 19. For me... Unarmed Combat Style with Dual Wielder on the Echo Knight is a good start.

[@pjenner79]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 don’t you need str 13 for Paladin? I mean you could go all 12s and human..

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@pjenner79 True... But the 10/13s is just from Point Buy. So you could pick a Warforged then go full AC build at lv1 with the Fighter Class to start off... 20 AC with Defence Style + Warforged Race Ability + a Shield + Chainmail. All during Character Creation. Then find the Magic Item which boosts your Con to 19 and put the Warforge ASI in Str for 14. Another magic item which boosts Str by +2 will be enough to get full plate from the Shop.

[@nickm9102]

@@pjenner79 they established that the 10 would have to be CON as it is not tied to a class requirement.

[@genrepunk]

Heh, I love how Puffin Forest's video about trolling his party has become such a touchstone. A DM challenged me to do this one time, but thankfully not to suffer through it from level to level. You nailed the best build strategy: CON as a dump stat, which is hilarious, mostly even stats other than that except for one main stat, and focusing on buffs and utility for any spellcasting that isn't based on it. Half-Elf is almost as good Mountain Dwarf. These kinds of limitations are a great exercise for theorycrafting. Making the best of an Abserd situation is solved but I think we'd see more interesting combinations and strategies for optimization with slightly looser build restrictions: no more than 2 levels in a given class, or no more than 3 levels, or a specific combination of level splits that we assign classes to.

[@lahlybird895]

You cannot go past subclass level in any class

[@RoninXDarknight]

Now I actually want to see a one shot campaign with an entire party playing this build.

[@Dirrus]

I was thinking how well it would go over with my group if i told them i had a lvl 13 one shot with premade characters and dropped 3 absurds on them.

[@Sirfinchyyy]

Just no

[@matthewparker9276]

I'm thinking a quick 1-20 campaign (something like double xp, so you level quickly) where every player has to make an abserd character, but have freedom over the order they take the level in.

[@RiddleportRain]

@@matthewparker9276 everyone would have a Character Binder with all their spells and abilities. LOL

[@TheKyleFyles]

A slight variation, a one shot in which the characters have to choose a combination of 4-5 classes, only taking 2-3 levels in each.

[@JasonCorfman]

I'm currently playing a character who is taking (at least) one level in every class. And yes, I've been playing him for months starting at level 1. I wanted a true "jack of all trades, master of none" character. So I named him Jack. Well, I named him Geoqueauby Nomaster XIII (the 13 in honor of the 13 classes), but I nicknamed him Jack. Jack's only up to level 9 so far and is a rogue/shadow magic sorcerer/barbarian/knowledge domain cleric/ranger/wizard/bard/fighter. (I've been alternating between martial and magic classes.) I used point buy and set five 13s and one 10. Then went standard human, so a +1 to each stat. That's all 14s except constitution 11. Fortunately, my DM awarded our whole party with amulets of health early on, so his constitution is 19. I started as a rogue so I get the extra skill proficiency and sneak attack, as well as light armor (both proficiency and a set of) and shortsword along with simple weapon proficiency, knowing that light armor was probably going away soon and that shortsword would work with sneak attack and count as a monk weapon later on. I then went with a level of shadow magic sorcerer, gaining the four cantrips, two first-level spells, and darkvision up to 120 feet. He also has a chance to not be knocked unconscious when reduced to 0 HP. By level 3, Jack had the amulet of health, so I went barbarian, dropped the light armor, and had an unarmored defense AC of 16 (my original plan was to take monk here for unarmored AC of 14, which is higher than his AC with leather armor, but this works better). Because of all the spells he uses, he has only raged a couple of times. That also gave me shield and martial weapon proficiencies. Next was knowledge domain cleric for the extra skills and expertises, as well as three cantrips and three spells. And that gave me medium armor proficiency. I went ranger next and obtained deft explorer, favored foe, and another skill. Next was wizard, so three more cantrips, three prepared spells and three ritual spells, including find familiar, and one level-one spell slot that recovers on short rest thanks to arcane recovery. Paladin was next. It gives me... divine sense and 5 points of healing through lay on hands. Rather weak at this point. I wish multiclassing into paladin gave heavy armor proficiency, but it doesn't. Bard was next with two more cantrips, a skill, an instrument, and bardic inspiration. Fighter next with second wind and a fighting style. I went with superior technique, giving me a battle master maneuver. I went with ambush so I could add a d6 to my initiative roll (or stealth check, but really, initiative) once per short rest. This level up occurred at our last session, so I haven't used those new abilities yet. That's where my character sits now. He knows 9 languages, is proficient in 10 skills plus thieves tools, and has expertise in five of those skills. He has 12 cantrips, 8 rituals, proficiency in light and medium armor, unarmored defense, shields, simple and martial weapons, the lowest skill check or saving throw is +2 but five skills with +10, passive perception of 20, and has 13 prepared spells with second level slots. His stats and lack of any means of having a second attack or action surge or what have you makes him weak in combat, but he is actually a lot of fun to play. (And our party has some serious damage dealers. Seriously. At least three different members have done over 100 damage in one turn. So Jack really isn't needed for damage.) Next up at level 10 will be druid for two more cantrips, druidic, and three more spells. Then monk for... adding a d4 to unarmed strikes and the ability to unarmed strike for a bonus action, I guess. Unfortunately, monk's unarmored defense doesn't stack with barbarian. It would be nice to have 10+dex+con+wis for AC, but oh well. I guess the monk level would provide a backup unarmored defense in case he lost his amulet of health or we hit an anti-magic field. Artificer is next for 2 more cantrips, 3 more spells and magical tinkering. Last up is warlock. I'm going celestial for 3 more cantrips, 2 spells, 1 spell slot that recovers on short rest, and healing light. Our DM has indicated that, if our group sticks together, our campaign will go up to level 20. I decided I'm only taking spellcasters after level 13 so I get as high spell slots as possible, but I have it all planned out, although my plans are subject to change. I will add that at some point, I'm going to beg my DM to let me tweak my point buy stats by dropping my base constitution even further so I can add a point to dexterity. I think she'll let me. So Jack will have a non-amulet score of 8 in constitution, but the amulet of health will keep constitution at 19, and I'll have a dex score of 15. That'll come into play later. At level 14, I'll be taking a second level of bard primarily for the jack of all trades ability. I mean, the character is a jack of all trades, he should have jack of all trades. That will bump his initiative. Level 15 will be war magic wizard so I can add INT to initiative, and get a +4 to saving throws as a reaction. He'll be limited to just cantrips on his next turn if he uses that. Darn. Too bad he'll be swimming in cantrips by then. Level 16 will be paladin for smites and the blindsense fighting style. By this point, I should have fourth level spell slots and be able to max out the smite damage. Level 17 will be a third level of wizard for my first 2nd level spells. Level 18 will be a third level of bard, going with lore bard for 3 more skill proficencies and two expertises. Level 19 will take a fourth level of wizard. I'll be taking skilled expert feat, adding a point into dexterity, bumping it up to 16 (I told you that 15 would come in handy), and then adding a skill proficiency and expertise. Finally, at level 20, I'll take a fifth level of wizard for third level spells. So at level 20, if we get that high, Jack'll know 10 languages, have an unarmored AC of 17 (19 if he decides to grab a shield), 21 cantrips and will be able to do every magical type of damage with just cantrips, 28 prepared spells, mostly at first level but some as high as 3rd level, a 7th level spell slot, 8 skill expertises with six more skill profiencies (not counting thieves tools), half-proficiency with every remaining skill, proficiency with simple and martial weapons as well as light and medium armor (but not heavy armor) and shields, passive perception of 24, and a +8 to initiative before the extra d6 from the ambush fighting style.

[@charlielewis3261]

Jack sounds like he could be a lot of fun in your party especially as it's balanced with some high damage dealing it the other party members , I'm sure he gets to shine with all the other things he brings with al those skills and languages, oh and cantrips. Thanks for describing his build .

[@JasonCorfman]

I realized it might be helpful to know what spells I have taken for my all classes build. Here's what I have so far. Shadow Magic Sorcerer (level 2) Cantrips: fire bolt, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation 1st level: magic missile, shield Knowledge Domain Cleric (level 4) Cantrips: Guidance, thaumaturgy, toll the dead 1st level: Bless, Command, guiding bolt, healing word, identify Wizard (level 6) Cantrips: booming blade, message, shocking grasp 1st level prepared: chromatic orb, detect magic, feather fall 1st level rituals: comprehend languages, find familiar, unseen servant Bard (level 8) Cantrips: minor illusion, viscious mockery 1st level: charm person, disguise self, faerie fire, silent image And here's what I plan on taking through level 13. I don't have all the spells past that planned yet. Druid (level 10) Cantrips: druidcraft, poison spray 1st level: animal friendship, create and destroy water, goodberry Artificer (level 12) Cantrips: frost bite, spare the dying 1st level: absorb elements, longstrider Celestial Warlock (level 13) Cantrips: eldritch blast, light, mind sliver, sacred flame 1st level: cure wounds, hellish rebuke

[@hkfifty871]

Kudos for dedication. I feel like that having party members who who are optimized to pick up the slack in combat is the crucial key to getting that kind of character to work, be fun to play, and actually survive (though that amulet of health certainly helps for surviving as well).

[@Cloudsonlover666]

All magic classes that aren't warlock are supposed to get calculated into the multiclass spellcaster table, it'll help with higher spells slots, that page tells you which go to what, and etc

[@James-fh7kb]

I love it! Have you heard of the magic item Illusionist bracers, they sound perfect for you! They are a very rare wonderous item from Ravnica, that requires attunment(by spellcaster) and they allow you to cast a cantrip again as a bonus action if you use a cantrip. Here is the description of the item. -Illusionist's Bracers -Source: Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica -Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement by a spellcaster) -A powerful illusionist of House Dimir originally developed these bracers. which enabled her to create multiple minor illusions at once. The bracers' power, though, extends far beyond illusions. -While wearing the bracers. whenever you cast a cantrip, you can use a bonus action on the same turn to cast that cantrip a second time.

[@urvidhnarula6362]

Because artificer levels are halved rounded up for the purpose of calculating caster level for multiclassing, one level dip in artificer is the same as one level dip in druid for your spell slot progression. So you could actually exchange the dips in druid and artificer and end up with third level spell slots just as quickly and not worry about the metal armour thing till much later.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Metal Armor restriction rule is weird... ... ... Warforged Druid anyone??? It's made of metal.

[@dmmikerpg]

The rules say Druids "don't" wear metal armor, not that they "can't", it's really just role play flavor.

[@davemorris9368]

As a DM I let druids wear scale mail made from wood or bone. So with a 13 Dex you're only 1 below chain mail.

[@TJWaddle17]

The rule doesn't say Druids CANT wear metal. It says they won't. But ypur character is your own. Who's to say what you will or won't do? And it's a really silly thing anyway, because Druids apparently have no issue wielding metal swords. So why draw the line at armor? But if you really wanna follow this, there's a simple solution. Kill dragon. Collect dragon scales. Take to blacksmith and have him make Dragon scale mail. Or, if you get really large scales, maybe DM would let you make Dragon scale full plate, with similar properties to dragon scale mail in dmg, but its full plate instead.

[@dmmikerpg]

@@TJWaddle17 Agree. Old editions you'd lose your Druid spellslots, but 5e… nope.

[@frostburn3266]

Sorcerers get their subclass at level 1, so if you go Divine Soul Sorcerer, you could pick up Guiding Bolt or Inflict Wounds to get a damaging spell you can upcast and use your Charisma with.

[@StopperJJ]

Have you ever said, "I want to play a recycled quilt in D&D?" Then have I got a build idea for you... 🤣

[@reallybighat]

I had a player who did something similar once in a full campaign: he took a level in each of the spellcasting classes one by one and made it to the point where he started having to take level 2 in some of them to keep the theme going. As you can expect, he was a cantrip machine, but didn't have much else to offer, but he made it through enough of the campaign to where the villain tried to recruit him... and succeeded, thus prompting a new PC who took a level in every martial class lol. (he also eventually was recruited by the bbeg to join his brother, the original character, but that's a whole other story) It was a pretty entertaining experience for me as the DM, and the player enjoyed it too, so I'd call that a success.

[@fragile4408]

Please tell me he went down in your worlds history as the God of Cantrips

[@reallybighat]

@@fragile4408 Ironically enough, the bbeg won that game and his character did in fact become a god. I guess imagining him as the god of cantrips definitely applies lol

[@kadenmw2734]

Now that's a story I want to hear.

[@reallybighat]

@@kadenmw2734 You got it - here's the condensed version: basically the bbeg was this fractured god looking to ascend back to, and perhaps beyond, godhood - and throughout the campaign, the players were actually revealed to all be 'infected' with pieces of the bbeg (they had been collecting mcguffins that all turned out to harbor a piece of the bbeg's godhood and it affected them), so the final confrontation was a test to see whether the bbeg absorbed them all to finalize his ascension... and well, he did. So the players, even though they lost, technically all wound up as part of a new super-god.

[@domstafford1894]

Worth noting artificer rounds its levels up when multiclassing, so it will help with spell progression at least (there's definitely a case to pick it before druid)

[@grayalmeida9622]

One of my favorite character's that I've ever played had four classes! I initially built her to get the highest initiative bonus possible, but after thinking about the logic for each of these classes, I was able to come up with very cool and satisfying reasons for her to be so interested in every multiclass. She was primarily a Swashbuckler Rogue, with 2 levels in War Magic Wizard, 3 levels in Gloomstalker Ranger, and 3 levels in Swords Bard not for initiative, but for some more expertise and almost dance-like combat.

[@yurirobin]

I think you can cast booming blade with a rapier and get scaling, CHA on damage and sneak attack with this character.

[@ericpeterson8732]

yep. and if you went war cleric instead of peace you could get 2 attacks for a number of rounds

[@mme.veronica735]

@@ericpeterson8732 for 1 round unless you want to put that 16 in wisdom instead of charisma

[@VestigialLung]

Doesn’t sneak attack require you to use dex for your attack? Granted, as a DM, I’d be willing to throw a player who was passionate enough to actually try to play something like this a bone and bend a rule here or there to make it remotely viable, but I don’t think sneak attack on a spell attack works RAW.

[@yurirobin]

@@VestigialLung, nope, you need a finesse or ranged weapon, it's not tied to ability scores.

[@PUNishment777]

@@VestigialLung it works raw

[@redhairdavid]

I want you to do this again, but call it "crazy but playable" or something and you can go more than 1 level, max of 4 or something you decide.

[@chris_croissAnt]

Multiclass Madness!

[@andybaxter4442]

I don't know if I really want to signal boost the guy, but there is a bloke here on YT that does some crazy but playable multiclass stuff.

[@peterthompson760]

I guess I would try Point Buy; 13 Strength, 13 Dexterity, 8 Constitution, 13 Intelligence, 13 Wisdom, and 14 Charisma. Mountain Dwarf with + 2 Charisma and + 2 Constitution. Wildspacer Background. 1 Fighter, 2 Hexblade, 4 College of Swords ( + 2 Charisma), 4 Oath of Devotion ( + 2 Charisma), 1 War Domain Cleric, 1 Aberrant Mind, 1 Wizard, 1 Druid, 1 Rogue, 1 Monk, 1 Barbarian, 1 Artificer, and 1 Ranger.

[@agilemind6241]

If you change it simply to 2 levels you can get a pretty decent character. ASIs: 16 Wis + 13 everywhere else Druid - 2 - Wildshape!, Faerie Fire (always good), Take Moondruid to make the most of your WS. Use Shillelagh when you can't WS. Monk - 1 - Unarmoured Defense boosts our AC in WS, and Martial Arts gives us a 3rd attack every round at level 3! Cleric - 1 - Bless, Shield of Faith, Command, Sanctuary, etc... take Peace for Emboldening Bond which can be used in WS Warlock - 1 - Hexblade's Curse can be used while in WS, grab Hex, Armour of Agathys and Booming Blade for later. At Level 5: in WS as a Brown Bear = Bite, Claw + unarmed strike every round (optionally with +3 dmg from Hexblade Curse and/or +1d6 from Hex). Outside of WS we've got AC 17 (Breastplate + 1 Dex + Shield), and dealing 1d8+3+1d8 (thunder) with Booming Blade with a good chance to hit thanks to Emboldening Bond + Bless. Plus we've got some Armour of Agathys rebounding. Spellslots: 5x 1 + 2x2 Barbarian - 1 - Rage can be added in WS for another +2 damage on each of our 3 strikes, and extra survivability, also doubles the efficiency of our Armour of Agathys! Fighter - 2 - Fighting Style: Dueling = +2 damage when using Shillelagh+Booming Blade and Action Surge for a damage spike or to speed up our WS prep rounds. Wizard - 2 - Shield + Absorb Elements + ritual casting so you can avoid spending your precious spellslots and still have a ton of utility. Take Chronurgy or Divination to boost up your chance to land saving-throw based spells. At Level 10: in WS as Brown Bear = Bite, Claw + unarmed strike with +2 (rage) +4 (hex curse) + 1d6 (hex) damage. outside of WS Shillelagh + BB = 1d8+1d8(BB)+1d6+3+2 Spellslots: 5x1 + 3x2 + 2x3 Paladin - 2 - SMITE! arguably both in WS and with our Shillelagh, and we aren't far behind the spell progression of a full paladin. Rogue - 1 - Get expertise in Athletics to make yourself a grapple-master while in WS and Raging. Artificer - 1 - another step up the spell progression Sorcerer -1 - Probably take Divine for more spells that don't use your savingthrow DC Bard - 1 Ranger - 2 - Zephyr Strike (we're going to start needing escape plans) DONE! - at level 18 Caster level 10 = 5x1st, 3x2nd, 3x3rd, 3xth, 2x5th level slots Defense: Medium Armour + Shield + Shield Spell = AC 23 (optionally +2 Shield of Faith), Absorb Elements, 2x34 extra HP from WS (that might get a boost from Rage) + 2x25 temporary hp from Armour of Agathys Offense: Shillelagh + Booming Blade + Zephyr Strike/Hex + Dueling + SMITE + Action Surge Utility: WS, awesome Athletics, 2x other Expertise, Chronurgy/Divination wizard saving throw debuff. It's still definitely worse than anything else at the table once you get past level 11 or so, but it is arguably an actually powerful character up to around level 8-9.

[@joshholmes1372]

@@andybaxter4442 well now I'm curious

[@noisyninj4]

Half-Elf would also be a good option here, giving similar performance to mountain dwarf with more focus on skills.

[@rixaxeno7167]

They should have one great-grandparent of every race to really fit the build

[@JayceeAuth]

I was also wondering about a Half-Elf

[@bcatarino83]

If you dump Str and Int and focus on classes that rely on other scores, you could definitely do that very efficiently

[@Nubbletech]

@@bcatarino83 You can't really dump any stats, because you need every stat (except con) at at least 13 for multiclassing.

[@bcatarino83]

@@Nubbletech no, I get that, what I meant is once you know which classes are not adding much, focus on the ones that do, and dump the two least needed stats. I know it's not what the video is about, but would be a good second step

[@ohthatguy9701]

I kinda wanna try playing a character that every time they level up they roll to see which class they gain a level in.

[@Nubbletech]

Maybe start with one level into wild magic sorcerer for a good explanation why you randomly gain different powers and for even more chaos.

[@ohthatguy9701]

@@Nubbletech Good idea!

[@saanage3892]

I have attempted this, got 1 level in barb, 1 level in bard and 1 level in rogue, then died due to a combination of bad choices and 2 Nat 1s on my death saving throws.

[@mysticmagicsmurfdarklord6844]

It’s pretty cool that they actually are trying to make it work

[@DungeonDudes]

We… tried our best, lol.

[@chrisvossler8795]

@@DungeonDudes Now I'm curious which classes would be most useful to get a second level in... after taking a level of Blood Hunter (and Apothecary), that is! Just as a guess, Paladin and Fighter.

[@Kangstor]

Puffin getting recognition for Absurd is the most wholesome thing

[@sforce1412]

Saw an ad for Sebastian Crowe during last week’s Critical Role . Congrats y’all !

[@magusd]

doing a lvl 20 one shot this upcoming weekend, I was going to finally do an absurd character with a few extra levels

[@_Abjuranax_]

I have a D&D Beyond 20th Level Druid/14 (Circle of Fire), Ranger/5 (Fey Wanderer), Rogue/1 Multi-Class that I recently retired. I wouldn't mind a 1-shot if you have room at the table, thx.

[@Nubbletech]

So what class(es) are you taking extra levels in?

[@Lastofthesigilites]

suggestion 2 levels of fighter 2 levels warlock and the rest in sorcerer so you can: quicken Eldritch Blast 4d10 damage action Eldritch Blast 4d10 action surge Eldritch blast 4d10 all beams getting a +4 if you custom lineage.

[@Olav_Hansen]

6:19 If the mountain dwarf works, then so does the half elf. That one also gives you a total of +4 while all other races give a +3. The standard human does allow for a singular 14 in case that is important. Which I feel like it is because with a strength of 13 you won't be carrying plate, you might as wel take 14 dex and fit yourself with half plate. Okay I had missed that part about dwarfs, that's actually neat. 19:19 I thought that, even if at level 1 they don't get caster levels, they do scale as half caster even at that level. It's just that they are both rounded down. With artificer being rounded up though, that means that their 3 levels give an additional 2 caster levels. When you look at the character and what extra levels would give, 1 level in fighter would give action surge, 1 level in warlock would give warlock invocations (agonizing blast), 1 level in paladin would give SMITE. Seeing these abilities, if this were a 20th level instead of 13th I could see 2 paths. First would be paladin 8, get cha to 20 and hope for the best, and the other one would be warlock 4 and some 'artistic freedom'. Personally I see warlock 4, fighter 2, sorcerer 4 work really well because you'd be able to reach 20 cha and use eldritch blast 12 times in round 1 and 8 times in round 2. Combined with repelling blast that can still become a really effective level 20 character. Also, we finally have something (sorcery points) to use the higher level slots for. For effective multiclassing, even at level 20, the total amount of classes has no practical reason to go beyond 4. For shits and giggles you could, but it wouldn't be because it's good. If I ever could play a 20th level oneshot I would probably play a zealot paladin multiclass where I'd take other classes only to further buff the damage. This might be a workable version -zealot 3 -paladin 6 -champion 3 -sorcerer 4 -bard 4 Sorcerer or bard 8 would be stricly stronger, but if I don't cast spells anyways it doesn't matter. I would probably take half elf with 16str-10dex-16con-8int-8wis-16cha point buy. Then use the 3 asi to buy 20str and gwm. This dude mainly just wants to hit things hard, and be brought back to life if he dies. His fury for smiting evil (barb) is strong enough to give his allies courage during a fight or a short rest (bard), and his aura protects allies on the frontline (paladin). Taking 8th level bard instead of 4 will give renewable bardic inspiration and d8 instead of d6 as well as acces to 4th level spells, but it's not a big difference tbh. I thought a bit more about it, and zealot 4, paladin 7, champion 4 and bard 5 is probably where the build is strongest (or pal6 bard 6 depending on subclass). This gives room for resilient feat and polearm master, and would just generally be better optimised then taking both sorc and bard.

[@goldlink567]

The Paladin and Ranger spellcasting levels don't stack, they don't get spellcasting till second level meaning you don't even add half their level rounded down to your spellcaster level. But I was thinking the same thing with Artificer, so Absurd would be a 6th level caster. Meaning they have 1 3rd level slot more than the Dungeon Dudes were thinking. Not that it matters to much lol.

[@kclubok]

@@goldlink567 The rules say nothing about them not counting until you reach the spellcasting threshold. They simply say you count "half your levels (rounded down) in the paladin and ranger classes." You have two levels in the paladin and ranger classes, so you count one level towards your spell slot progression. Perhaps you are confused by the rules about spells known and prepared. It is true that because neither class individually has spellcasting yet, you won't have access to paladin or ranger spells.

[@goldlink567]

@@kclubok You need the spellcasting feature to add any spellcaster levels. Paladin's and Rangers do not get the spellcasting feature till 2nd level, therefor they do not add anything to your spellcasting level. Also I don't think they stack anyways, To give an example of just a Paladin Ranger multiclass, let's say your a level 6 character, 3 Paladin 3 Ranger. You would only be a 2nd level caster, 3*1/2 rounded down is 1 spellcaster level you gain from Paladin, same goes for Ranger, you add 1 spellcaster level from both classes, not adding your class levels THAN having them. So even if you do add them at level 1 for some unknown reason, it would still be 0 spellcaster levels + 0 spellcaster levels.

[@kclubok]

@@goldlink567 You can always house-rule that way if you like, but the multiclassing rules for counting spell slots make no mention of the spellcasting feature. According to the rules, your 3/3 character has six levels in the paladin and ranger classes, and so would count as a 3rd level caster for spell slots, but would have only have access to 1st level spells.

[@goldlink567]

@@kclubok The multiclassing section does mention you need the spellcasting feature. You also add your spellcaster levels together after you figure out how many levels each class gives you. The 3/3 character is a 2nd level caster because 3 levels of Paladin when multiclassing gives you 1 caster level, same for Ranger. You don't take the character's whole level of 6 and than half even if you're just multiclassing with halfcasters, you take Paladin and Ranger separately and half them, then add the spellcaster levels together. And back to the requirement on the spellcasting feature, looking under the first paragraph of "Spellcasting" in the multiclassing "Class Features" rules section, "Once you have the Spellcasting feature from more than one class, use the rules below. If you multiclass but have the Spellcasting feature from only one class, you follow the rules as described in that class." I don't like how the player's handbook formats the spellcasting rules when multiclassing, what level of spells you can learn/prepare for each class is under the "Spell Slots" paragraph and not the "Spells Known and Prepared" paragraph. It's really dumbly and confusingly formatted in my opinion. When I first tried to make a multiclassed character I didn't bother to read it all and assumed it would mention what level of spells I can know/prepare in the "Spells Known and Prepared" part, it wasn't till I watched a bunch of videos of people mentioning how it delays what spells you can learn that I got confused and read the entire section to find where it mentions what levels of spells you can know/prepare, finding it in the "Spell Slots" paragraph for some reason. I don't understand why they formatted it that way. I realize me arguing this may seem rude. I'm not trying to be so I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be mean or rude at all, just trying to explain how a rule works.

[@Bidniss.]

I would love to see more silly builds on this channel! They don't all need to be as off the wall and mostly unplayable as this one, but I'd love to see your takes on builds that aren't your typical "pick an archetype, the class that performs the best at that role, a feat to make it better, and crank up your stats". Something along the lines of D4 Colby's restrictive builds, like a support that is always invisible in combat, a healer that can only heal using life transference, or a blaster that must use cold damage.

[@LarsaXL]

That sounds fun, I'd love more videos like that. So tired of hearing: "Variant Human, Sharpshooter+Crossbow Expert/Polearm + GW Master and Hexblade" over and over again. I wanna play to have fun, not to win at numbers.

[@Lojeb44]

I can tell you guys had so much fun making this episode! Looking forward to more build ideas

[@dracone4370]

While building out this absurd character, you missed something; sorcerers also choose their subclass at level 1. Granted, most of the 1st level abilities of the Sorcerer subclasses aren't much to take note of, but Darkness sorcerers have the Strength of the Grave feature, which allows them to keep from dying; aberrant Mind has a 1st level feature that allows them to communicate telepathically with others, Draconic bloodline has a few interesting features at level 1 that tie into whatever you decide is their draconic lineage, and Storm sorcerers have a level 1 ability that allows them to fly 10 feet without provoking an attack of opportunity whenever they cast a spell that is level 1 or higher.

[@yoritomokaji]

Also mean you have Con still as a favored save

[@PhoenixNorthstar]

I came to say exactly this, but since their build has a lot of support abilities I was intending to suggest the clockwork soul subclass, whose 1st level ability Restore Balance allows you to negate advantage or disadvantage on any d20 roll made within 60ft of you, and since you can use it a number of times per day equal to your Proficiency bonus it scales with the character.

[@Jhonas2007]

I’d go divine soul. 2d4 on an attack roll or saving throw once per short rest. Could help out our accuracy since or ability scores are so low.

[@PhoenixNorthstar]

@@Jhonas2007 That was going to be my second suggestion, but its usefulness depends on the number of short rests the DM allows the party to take, and since Hexblade allows you to use the 16 charisma for attack and damage it's not that much of an issue. That said they chose healing word over cure wounds, divine soul would allow you to add cure wounds with charisma as the casting stat, allowing you to have both.

[@JasonCorfman]

If you are playing as a human instead of dwarf, the shadow magic sorcerer also adds darkvision.

[@bover-5]

I did a variant of this for a one shot after watching Puffin Forest’s video where I didn’t take ALL classes, but had all but monk, ranger, and the INT-based classes. This gave me extra levels to essentially make a hexadin with CHA main stat for damage/spell DC, then some added utility through heals and ritual spells, and bonus damage through sneak attack, smite, hex/curse, and eldritch invocations. Had some decent burst damage, but wasn’t really better than a straight hexadin, just fun to mess around!

[@Wertsir]

The same concept was used in the D&D based webcomic “Goblins” for the character who is known as Senõr Vorpal Kickass’o to himself, and Fumbles to everybody else. Unfortunately for him since he multiclassed into every class as a level 1 character, he only has 1/11th of a level in each of them, making him functionality useless in comparison to the goblins who picked a single class. This eventually comes back to bite him when he’s captured by a human who tortures him and carved the word “monster” onto his forehead, leaving him deeply traumatized for the rest of the campaign.

[@Desocupad0]

Then he swapped for cleric who can do everything in third edition

[@beckypynigar6719]

The most animated and happy I've seen Kelly in a lot of these videos :) it's great to see you enjoying yourself my guy 😊 love that smile and laugh!

[@sufficientlyadvancedplagiarism]

Follow-up exercises: level this character to 20, with the proviso that you can only take enough levels in each class to get you to pick a subclass, so you can get one more level of druid and wizard, two more of artificer, barbarian, bard, fighter, monk, paladin, or rogue. If you want to maximize depth, that works out to picking one of those first two and three of the latter set. Alternately, if you get the opportunity to level to 20 with no restrictions, do you just pick one class and take it to 8th, or is there some other combination that might work better?

[@IconicDuckling489]

Then you could always go moon druid and just be a dire wolf the whole time

[@MisterDiceGuy]

Funny this comes out today, a couple days ago my group and I talked about what every character in The Office (US) would be. We kept going back and forth on Dwight and we realized he would definitely be a dip in every class.

[@thejammiestjam]

Right? Dwight WISHES he was some sort of monk/barbarian/fighter, but he's got the farm, and weird occult-ish stuff going on, and THINKS he has authority, but he's a mess lolololol

[@shinra528]

Did you pick Warlock for Creed?

[@MisterDiceGuy]

@@shinra528 Rouge

[@joshwalton25]

He's clearly a Warlock (Pact of the Karate Teacher)Druid (Circle of Beets) multi.

[@LovestarVGC]

What an Abserd build 😉

[@ethanadams8109]

I understood that reference!

[@demago3265]

26:33 oh god I have a mess of a character with 4 classes rolled into one (see the bottom of this comment for the TLDR and break down) CONCEPT It all started because I wanted to make fantasy batman, with magic instead of gadgets. The world's greatest detective, expert martial artist, with a quest of vengeance. I call them... Komori. You may be able to see where this is going STORY This character begins their journey as a half-orc/drow custom lineage, picking up Shadow Touched for Invisibility and Cause Fear. They live with their orc father and Drow mother, in a rough, crime-ridden city, as a Level One Rogue Then, Komori discovers that their mother is secretly a witch! She welcomes then into this life. Together, they worship a mysterious figure of unliving power. Komori becomes a Level 5 Undead Warlock, assuming a bat-like Form of Dread, with a Book of Shadows (take Find Familiar, with the form of a bat.) (I took Cloak of Flies but made it bats.) Then, a terrible tragedy strikes! As monsters attack, Komori must flee into the night, separated from their mother. It is here in the wilds that they become dedicated to surviving at all costs, and they swear vengeance on the monsters that attacked. They become a Ranger (using the revised ranger favored enemy, choosing the creatures that attacked.) Adept in shadows, they are a 3rd-level Gloom Stalker After surviving on their own for months, a monk monastery took Komori in, training them in the Way of Mercy. They went on to become a Level 8 Monk Waiting in the Monastery, their obsession for revenge grew too strong. This was worsened by a striking revelation: Komori's mother is alive! They left the monastery behind, pursuing the paper trail to try and discover the truth! This is where they became a 3rd-level Inquisitive Rogue --------- TLDR --------- Inquisitive Rogue 3 / Undead Warlock 5 / Gloom Stalker Ranger 3 / Mercy Monk 8 It's broken, super bonus action heavy, and has way too much to keep track of. Really only works at high levels because you need so many levels in everything FEATS Shadow Touched, Mobile, and Observant. I would also take Elven Accuracy if that is allowed with Custom Lineage at your table TACTICS You are a skirmisher. Activate your Form of Dread, run in with 65 feet of speed (30 + mobile + monk + gloom stalker), make 3 attacks (extra attack + gloom stalker) with 2d6 sneak attack, and run out. Next turn, cast Spirit Shroud and repeat, with a +1d8 to both attacks. From then on, attack + flurry of blows, with utility and control spells where needed. Your familiar rests on your shoulder and takes the Help action to give you advantage for sneak attack (DM's ruling may vary on if this works or not) PROS You're frightening, poisoning, and stunning enemies, making a lot of attacks that do pretty good damage, with a ton of versatility at your disposal. You're highly skilled (expertise in Stealth, Investigation, and Perception), you're fast, and you're very thematic CONS Everything else. Ability Scores aren't great, you have too many bonus actions, and so much to keep track of at once CONCLUSION This is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite character I've ever made. 10/10 do not recommend

[@noisyninj4]

Did something similar to this but instead of 1 level of each class it was gathering as many cantrips as possible. Ended up with 23 by level eight and a decent infiltration/face build.

[@arcxjo]

My favourite was a Wild Magic Divination Twilight Lore Sorclerizard. Look at me, I'm the dice now.

[@Lastofthesigilites]

Custom Lineage + Warlock 3 + divine soul grants all the cantrips you actually need

[@brettotten6648]

I have been waiting for this !

[@jasonstephens6109]

Funny. Puffin forest did a story where he did this for a one-shot... the character's name? "Abserd"

[@DungeonDudes]

Oh, we know! It inspired this video. We wanted to take puffins concept and analyze it mechanically and functionally.

[@jasonstephens6109]

Well I love it. Great video.

[@DrgnDrake]

You mean the Puffin Forest and Abserd they reference in the first 2 minutes of the video?

[@jasonstephens6109]

@@DrgnDrake I didn't hear it at the beginning. I did hear it at the end but I commented about 5 minutes in.

[@lucasliduino1827]

i dont even know how long i have been waiting for this video

[@insertphrasehere15]

You do get additional spell slots from artificer+ranger+paladin. Artificer is half rounded up, and ranger and paladin add together to give you one more. This means you can make it to 4th level slots by the end.

[@LahyriAurbach]

no beause paladin and ranger only get spellcasting at lvl 2

[@matthewparker9276]

@@LahyriAurbach the rules for multiclasssing spell casters don't account for that.

[@LahyriAurbach]

@@matthewparker9276 wow! I always thought that you start counting the spellcasting evel from the moment you gain spellcasting in that class (as you do with eldritch knight or arcane trickster)

[@Peter_Cordes]

@@LahyriAurbach For Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster, you have to be high enough level to actually choose that subclass, otherwise you get no fractional caster level from 1 level of generic-fighter or generic-rogue. But Paladin and Ranger have spell slots as part of the base class, so even 1 level in them counts as a half caster level. That makes some sense I guess. But note that you don't get to prepare spells for those classes, because you haven't unlocked the spellcasting class feature for either class separately. You only get some spell slots that you can do other things with, e.g. if you have the spellcasting feature from a third class. (Some online calculators don't account for this, e.g. letting you put in 1 level of Eldritch Knight and 2 levels of arcane trickster and show you with 2 spell slots. But of course it's impossible to only have 1 level of Eldritch Knight or 2 of Arcane Trickster since you can't have picked that subclass in either until level 3.) Hmm, interesting that the classes with 1/3-caster subclasses get their subclasses at level 3. That's probably intentional design, not be a coincidence, so spell slots could come with the subclass instead of e.g. being a level 2 arcane trickster with just Mage Hand until level 3 or something. And it means they had to tune the other subclasses to work for a level 3 start, not 2 or 1.

[@LahyriAurbach]

@@Peter_Cordes I mean, in the case of 3rd lvl casters , you're only considered a spellcaster at the 3rd lvl(since you're not an Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster before that). I'd personally rule half casters the same way (except for artificer as he gains spellcasting at 1st lvl). But I can see the other perspective.

[@haroldmetz4604]

One thing to consider is that, as a Wizard, you could add spells to your spellbook for which you have a spell slot. That means you can actually get any Wizard spell up to 3rd level, provided your DM allows you to find it in game.

[@Yutah1981]

it's not true. you can only add spells of the level you CAN PREPARE, so only 1st level, sorry.

[@KaitlynBurnellMath]

"What's the most number of multiclasses you can fit into a single character"? -- I think it depends how high level you go. If we're talking a typical campaing that can't be expected to go above level 10...yeah, maybe three? If the campaign really hard stops at 10, arguably two? But if we're going to 20 I've actually seen a level 20 build that reasonably used six classes. Fighter 5 Artificer 2 (so that you can pick up the repeating shot infusion and wear a shield with your hand crossbow) Fighter 11 That gets us to level 13 with two classes, and then we're basically done with fighter, basically done with artificer, and we have 20 DEX crossbow expert and sharpshooter already, don't need more ASIs, so it's just non-stop multiclassing all the way to 20. Gloomstalker 3 (more attacks, invisible while in darkness) Wizard 2 for a subclass, a familiar, and the shield spell (probably War Wizard for saving throws, but Divination is an option too) Peace Cleric 1 (emboldening bond) Rogue 1 (we only have 1 level left, so sure, 1d6 sneak attack and some expertise). That's 6 classes (Fighter, Artificer, Ranger, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue) on a build that...honestly a case could be made that this is one of the best crossbow expert sharpshooter builds from 1-20, so not an unreasonable build. That said, you don't go crazy on multiclassing until very high level. This build doesn't take its third class till level 14. --- As for builds that take three classes by level 10, I mean, they exist, but generally they haven't hit their peak yet. Like...Paladin 6, Hexblade 1, Sorcerer X...obviously very strong combo of classes, you won't be bad at level 10, but you're not really getting the payoff of three classes just yet; at level 10 you would have done better with a two-class build. You still haven't hit your second ASI, you need two more levels before you even know third level spells. Paladin 9 Hexblade 1 already has both of those things. So...still playing catchup for a couple of levels. But obviously nobody's going to look at you weird if you show up to a table with a Paladin Hexblade Sorcerer.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

It's not an actual campaign persay, but Im strongly considering this for my Dark Urge playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3.

[@OpenWorldAddict0]

So, yeah i have a lot to say about this because I have spent a lot of time thinking about multiclassing and even working on a lot of multiclass builds. I think 1x13 (1 level for 13 classes) like you addressed is unreasonable. Out of the 13 classes, you only get to pick 3 specializations (your Cleric, Sorcerer, and Warlock subclasses), you get no ASI's (which means no feats) and no class level 5 power boots (which include extra attacks and 3rd level spells.), and you need to many ability scores at level 13. 2x10 (2 levels for 10 classes) is a bit better, but since it takes you all the way to level 20, it also is just as problematic. You do get a lot of the great second-level abilities, like Barbarian's Reckless attack, Cleric's Channel Divinity, the Druid's Wild Shape, the Fighter's Action Surge, the Monk's Ki, the Paladin's Divine Smite, and a Rogue's Cunning Action.). However, you might be able to get away with this by only having to have 4 or 5 ability scores at 13, which makes getting 1 or 2 to 16 or even 17 a bit easier. The downside is that you will still only have 5 out of 13 specializations (Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard), won't have any ASI"s (which means no feats), and still won't have any level 5 power boots (which include extra attacks and 3rd level spells). 3x6 (3 levels for 6 classes) is quite a bit better. Now you'll get all 6 class specializations, as well as all the 1st and second-level abilities. Furthermore, you can focus your class selections to work with 2 or 3 ability scores instead 4 or 5. You still won't be getting your ASI's or your class level 5 power boosts, but you still have a lot to work with, so i think at this point this is the maddest of characters that start being feasible. I think it is best to pick 1 physical ability score and 1 mental ability score to be your focus. Examples: Wisdom and Dexterity - Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, and Rogue Charisma and Strength - Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Paladin, Sorcerer, and Warlock You are starting to cook with a little bit of gas when you go 4x5 (4 levels for 5 classes) can now you get some ASI's, which allows you to bump up your modifiers, or get feats, and even get half feats which bump the asi a bit, but after 2 half feats, your modifiers will go up. You still will get all 5 specializations, all first and second level abilities, Overall, this could feasibly work. Still like before, it is the works the best with 1 physical ability score and 1 mental ability score: examples: Include the previous examples minus 1 class for each, and the following: Charisma and Dexterity: Bard, Fighter, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Warlock. When you go 5x4, that's when things light on fire. Out of all the mad builds, this is the best. You can focus primarily on 1 stat, get all first and second-level abilities, all class specializations, the ASI's, and class level 5 power boosts. By this point, you can go all in on one ability score, getting it up 17 or even 18, and have a second one at least 13. Bards, Paladins, Sorcerers, and Warlocks are all Charisma-based Clerics, Druids, Rangers, and Monks are all Wisdom Based Artificers, Eldritch Knight Fighters, Arcane Trickster Rogues, and Wizards, are all Intelligence Based.

[@Mwarrior1991]

my "skill monkey" rogue/cleric/ranger/bard was my most multiclassed character. he was this optomistic, curious, knowledge seeker and was really fun.

[@iododendron3416]

Max expertise? I like that.

[@TheKingRiku]

You could play this character and say they have 13 different personalities. You roll every in game hour to see which one takes over... your combat may suffer greatly.

[@nissanfreak22]

That’s actually kind of genius, I love it.

[@h-ideas7217]

The way my group decided this is that the level up based with the average level of the party after they roll. It's for our buddy who doesn't actually care much about the story but just likes playing the game. So we made it he plane shifts and as he does he changes form and soul Everytime.

[@michaeladams5340]

I have had a player that did that once. He had to build 8 different level 8 characters, and depending on the session he woke up as a different class.

[@bradleywilliams1323]

@@michaeladams5340 that’s fucking brilliant. I hope it played out as fun as it sounds. I hope to get into a dnd group soon love these types of gems within the community

[@michaeladams5340]

@@bradleywilliams1323 The player really loved it. It was funny though when the character got knocked out by the boss (went to 0 HP) and when the cleric brought him back up he went from the raging barbarian to the insane wizard who detonated a fireball point blank in the bbeg's face and went unconscious again. Lol.

[@BoToChris]

A build with the first subclass level in every non-caster sounds fun.

[@4thLvGeek]

This got me thinking, what would the actually effective "cantrip master" look like? Divine soul/ lore bard/ pact of the tome warlock?

[@andybaxter4442]

Well, that's what you become when you run a bad multiclass build ... the guy that shoots cantrips every turn. Get Warlock and a level of Arcana Domain Cleric, and it's actually not terrible.

[@studynot757]

Celestial Warlock (4)/Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (5)/Arcana Cleric (5) + V.Human w/ Magic initiate (2) = 16 cantrips by level 3 potentially if all you want are cantrips

[@Lastofthesigilites]

Celestial Book Lock 3 and divine soul the rest is my main choice when I basically wanna be a "Cantrip god"

[@studynot757]

@@Lastofthesigilites Nice! yeah if my 3 level idea up there takes 2 more levels for Book-lock it'd be at 19 cantrips by level 5... which is nuts

[@voidmystic00]

I can't get over Kelly's hair. Dude you look amazing! Whoever your stylist deserves some props.

[@mad-zr8wy]

I remember doing this sort of thing a LONG time ago when there were only 6 classes or so. We called them an ‘Elite’. Every level had all the abilities, but the XP requirements where huge. Fun and silly.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

I forget Exp Requirements are a thing in the early days of 5e. It's an outdated mechanic in today's time.

[@wolfthunderspirit2709]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Nooooo it's not. This is a good thing to cover @DungeonDudes ... So where the XP vs Milestone debate is most often heard or at least challenged is when random encounters come into play. In Milestone, random encounters may kill the party, but they contributed nothing to the PCs benefit. I particularly came across this in Curse of Strahd, where the random encounter table could net a pack of dire wolves that could knock down a level 1 group with relative ease while attacking with advantage. There's not even treasure there, no gold in a coin pouch, not a rusty sword, nothing. So the potential TPK? No point to it. Nope. You gotta go to a creepy house and nearly - if not actually- die to gain a level! Welcome to Milestone, where nothing actually matters. XP is a chore for the DM. And we're all Lazy DMs, and not all of us like adding up and averaging XP payouts. But, those random encounters are now worth risking our characters lives for, in fact, slay all the evil of Barovia, I'll level up sooner than later! So nay, do not get rid of XP, embrace it. I have since converted my games to XP that I play online. I use helpers in Roll20 and Foundry to award it. I'm currently playing Wild Beyond the Witchlight at the table, so I use Milestone for that because it has few to little combat encounters anyway. But I prefer XP and find my players level faster with it up to about 9th-16th level. For some reason those levels seem rough.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@wolfthunderspirit2709 True... But that mechanic is very old and outdated, back in Baldur's Gate 1. Mainly in regard to how it works for Multiclassing Exp and how it's PvE Competitive since Exp is only given to the player who did the finishing blow. There are better ways to do Exp without milestones unless you like the old RPG styles. But it depends on the campaign. Endless fighting for the sake of Exp tends to be boring if it isn't attached to other rewards, in DnD. That's more for video games than anything else since real world time is a heavy factor when playing DnD with 6 other players.

[@wolfthunderspirit2709]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 ok... BG1 is a CRPG, so you kinda lost me. I'm not talking XP grinding of MMORPGs and CRPGs. I'm talking about Random Encounters being relevant. We, as DMs, get these wonderful random encounter tables to harrang our players with (mostly the ones who get bored by too much Role-playing and need something to bloody a sword on). Good DMs can tie them into the story for the ones who love RP. But the net profit of them is null. Using XP makes them viable. You can also award enough XP at milestones to cause standard advancement. As far as killing blow XP, that is pointless. The XP is added and divided among participants, including NPCs (though they never level/ increase their CR from it). Another benefit is Absentee Andy doesn't get to level his character since he never shows up to sessions. XP provides incentive to stay playing. In Milestone, he gets to show up 6 weeks later, not knowing what's happened, but told to level up two levels. Because, you know, that's fair to everyone who actually had to get there by showing up every week...

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@wolfthunderspirit2709 True... Back in Baldur's Gate 1 and old TTRPGs. Exp is based on the killing blow and Multiclass took a long time to obtain, compared to full classes. Modern TTRPGs have done away with the old Exp systems. Random Encounters are always good during down time when the party isn't in a story related combat. And the DM can make it more interesting since IRL game time is about 3 to 4 hours in a full session.

[@maltava4534]

A Plasmoid that eats his enemies to gain their class; buffet style.

[@nickmaynard3079]

Can we see a expansion on this taking it to total level 20 After getting a level in each class where should the last 7 level go

[@Pyrogecko08]

Another thing to consider with the absurd character is that they can use so many different magic items that have class requirements. Find any random scroll from any spell list, or even a holy avenger and this character can use it. Also, having such bad stats means they could really benefit from something like gauntlets of ogre power or a headband of intellect.

[@dankorn]

I'd be interested in a more focused version of this for spellcasters. I have a Wizard/Artificer, and I'm always tempted to take a level of Sorcerer or Warlock to get additional spells.

[@DominoPivot]

If you were to multiclass between casters only, your ability scores could be 8/12/12/14/14/16 (using Point Buy and a +2/+1 bonus). That passes the minimum requirement of 13 for multiclassing across all spellcasting classes while still giving you some DEX and CON. Or you could dump either DEX or CON and go for 8/8/12/14/16/16 if you'd rather have two good spellcasting stats. Starting as a Draconic Sorcerer could give you a base AC of 13+DEX and proficiency in CON saves. Otherwise, keep the classes with lower hit dice for last. You'll probably want to prioritize Warlock (for Eldritch Blast and Hex Warrior), or Cleric (for medium armor, shields, and decent spells). Druid can give you Shillelagh, letting you melee with your WIS if you've applied the Hex Warrior bonus to another weapon. Wizard can also give you melee cantrips that don't rely on INT. But past level 5, you'll probably be using Eldritch Blast more than anything.

[@charleshicks1025]

A character that stands out in my mind that I played way back in the mid-late 80s for 2E literally had only one score high enough to qualify for a class. My DM had us roll 3d6 per ability score. My thief with bare bones dexterity was actually fun to play though the rest of the party hated me. It forced me to be more crafty with everything I did in order to survive. By far the worst character I’ve ever played but one of the most fun. I find too many players want and rely too much on OP characters. Love the vids. Keep up the hard work.

[@nickm9102]

Artificer gives you another level in spell casting on a single level. I would be tempted to start there instead of fighter and plan for heavy armor through Cleric domain. Don't know if that would be better or not.

[@yoritomokaji]

Actually Artificer is a half caster so doesn't contribute a level unless you have 2

[@gregbowen2477]

@@yoritomokaji unlike the other half casters, artificer explicitly states that you use half your level rounded UP for multiclassing spell slots. So you count as 1/2, rounded up to 1.

[@theknight1573]

@@gregbowen2477 good to know! I was looking for this ruling, I expect its in tasha's but can you help me and tell me where I can find it?

[@gregbowen2477]

@@theknight1573 You can find it in either Tasha's or in Eberron Rising from the Late War (where the class was first officially released). It's in a little multiclassing sidebar (p. 10 in Tasha's).

[@nickm9102]

@@gregbowen2477 thanks for addressing that. I'm working at the time of the post so not able to get to it right away. This is the reason that all my Wizard's are now 1Artificer and XX Wizard. Kinda hard to pass up medium Armor several tool profiencies and the option for a healing spell on a Wizard for a slight delay in spell availability. But if I ever get to do a Lvl 20 one shot I want to try a 3 Battlesmith 17 Wizard (haven't decided subclass) I want to play with the steel defender being able to heal a Simulacrum. Just because.

[@Star22233]

I love this I have a character that I did this with and they were a lvl 20 npc characters meet early in a campaign so they felt overpowered but were super week at later levels

[@wraithreaper22]

I literally did this my first week of playing d&d over half a decade ago. Yall are just now getting to it lol

[@reedsmith8975]

At Sorcerer, you can grab divine soul sorcerer which gives you a huge saving throw bonus under Favored of the Gods.

[@AfroditeBell]

With a need of foci of each type, I’ve never seen a character need War Caster so much 😂

[@DurandalsFate]

Get a Ruby of the War Mage. Problem solved.

[@NickMoline]

I'd love to see a couple more realistic versions of this. How many classes can you put together that actually "add" something, and then level it up to 20 (where it isn't 1 in each level). I'm thinking like the ultimate spellcaster where you take on all the full casters (or perhaps some of the half casters) and figure out how to build them together to be the most effective. Same on the martial style, how many different martial classes can you put together to make the most versatile martial character. One thing I remember reading about is how a single level dip in artificer doesn't actually break spell progression because the multiclassing rules for artificer are the only ones that say "Add half your levels (rounded up)" while other ones say to round down when determining spell slots, so taking 1 level in artificer counts the same as taking 1 level as a full caster. I guess what I'm saying is, if you picked a particular type of thing (spellcaster, healer, martial) how many classes can you fit together to make them effective.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Without Race... For Point Buy... 14/14/14/10/10/10... Is my bread and butter. So... Lv4 Fighter/Rogue/Barbarian/Ranger with 5 levels left to spend. Obtain every ASI/Feat location as best as you can if it makes sense to do so. Then boost any of the 14s to 20 and the remaining ASI to the 10s or for Feats. Normal Human will make this easier but a 14 in a main stat is an average dice roll. Unlike 13 or below.

[@grungar3x7]

You guys mean an "Abserd" character, right?

[@justincrowley8787]

I don't know if PuffinForest was the one who first coined "absurd" in this context. But if so, I'm so, so happy to see this.

[@lisliaer7999]

Wizard does allow you to learn spells via the copy spells to your spell book so you could LEARN 3rd level spells

[@kentoncampbell7069]

Not allowable RAW, but a DM could certainly allow it as a house rule. PHB pg 164: "You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class", PHB pg 114: "The spells copied into a spellbook must be of a spell level the wizard can prepare."

[@matthewparker9276]

RAW you do gain a spell casting level once you have both a level of paladin and a level of ranger, though neither of them will grant you any spells with one level. So you will be a 7th level spellcaster. Taking one more level can make the character more playable. For example going up to paladin 2 for divine smites will let you use those 4th level spell slots to deal some damage in melee. If I were to attempt this build, I think taking the variant human and starting as a Warlock is a good alternative. You can make your ability scores 13, 14, 10, 13, 13, 14, which still isn't great, but does give you two scores with +2. For a feat you can take eldrich adept, and if you're a Warlock you can choose agonising blast to boost your eldrich blast, and you can also take armour of shadows for an AC of 15. Since with this build your dex and cha are equal, it might be worth going with the genie Warlock rather than the hexblade. It still does struggle a bit with useless levels, but mage armour means you can use the monks martial Arts feature when you get it, and rage for resistance to physical damage. A lower AC overall, and a couple less hp, but maybe you can survive slightly better in the long run.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

For me, it would be... At lv20 1) Warforged 2) 10 Con and 13 straight, Point Buy (12/14/13/13/13/13 total) 3) 20 AC at lv1 from Warforge Ability, Defence Style, a Shield, and Chainmail. (Amor and shield is bonded to the Warforged.) Lv4 Fighter, first. Lv4 Wizard Lv4 Sorcerer Lv4 Paladin Lv4 Cleric Up to 5 Feats/ASI Option per lv4 in each class. Of which, I'll just turn it all into ASI for 20 str, 18 dex, and 14 Int... Including the Magic Items. Magic Item: (1) The magic item which boosts Con to 19 and (2) a magic item which boosts Str by +2 in order to equip Plate Armor.

[@danguillou713]

When the Goblins realized that the new rules allowed them to take adventurer levels, the concept was new and strange to them, and one of them decided to multiclass into every class at once. Not this one class at a time minmaxing that you are doing. Multi-everything simultaneously. His name is Fumbles and he is epic! Go read Goblins!

[@SleepySlann]

You mean Senor Vorpal Kickass'o! My first first thought as well, although there "only" was 11 classes back then.

[@danguillou713]

@@SleepySlann My mistake. Of course his true name is indeed Senor Vorpal Kickasoo!

[@sdeklev]

I have enjoyed watching your videos for a while now, and it's fun to hear of this build having a serious focus. While Puffin Forest made the build as a joke, I do appreciate the serious take on the character. I do have 1 comment for the video. They made a major point that you will only get 1st level spells. But that is incorrect. With the build that they stated (13 in all stats except constitution and charisma), you can get higher level spells for 3 classes. Artificer, Cleric, and Druid all say that after a long rest you can change your prepared spells. By spending 1 minute per spell level, you can change the spells that you have prepared off of the respective lists. RAW, there is no restriction to the level of spell that you can prepare. So, by RAW, you can get access to higher levels of Artificer, Cleric, and Druid spells. While this build will only gain access to 1-2 spells of each of those classes, you will end up with 5 spells of higher levels. [Artificer is Intelligence+1/2 Artificer level in spells] [Druid is Wisdom+Druid level in spells] [Cleric is Wisdom+Cleric level in spells] So it ends up being 1 Artificer spell, 2 Druid spells, and 2 Cleric spells that can be of higher levels. So you can still gain access to spells like Sleet Storm, Call Lightning, Wall of Fire, Spirit Guardians, Guardian of Faith, Glyph of Warding, and Haste. In character spending a few extra minutes at breakfast wouldn't have an impact on gameplay.

[@michaelcrane3993]

What would that character sheet look like? How would someone keep all the different spells from different classes separate? Sounds to me that just the paper work would get confusing real quick

[@thuggishcone1392]

From Puffin Forests video who actually did this in a oneshot. It was a PACKET of sheets😂

[@daniellins4114]

I can't even keep a single sheet with only 2 caster levels, I have to build the spell lists separately to keep it straight in my head

[@derricksteward4483]

You know it would be "fun" to do a level up campaign were each time a character levels up they spin a weal and take a level in the class it lands on.

[@GoodOldGamer]

Not gonna lie, those first magic level combos were looking pretty good. I'd seriously consider making this up until that Barbarian level, lol. Drop the idea from then on and work on the starting classes, like Kelly said.

[@olivert9906]

The irony is, if you discard the barbarian level, you can dump str instead of con and it would give you quite a bit more HP!😅

[@GoodOldGamer]

@@olivert9906 That's true! A nice bonus, I guess. Definitely makes it more reasonable to play, lol.

[@jemtaylor3738]

With the one dnd news of being able to multi class into other subclasses. I designed a aberrant mind sorcerer + warlock with every contract. A travelling changeling businessman (noble background). Travels through planes to meet wtih otherworldly beings and gain their powers however after travelling to the 9 hells and signing a contract with the devil, he simultaneously broke every contract by dealing with the evil being, now much less powerful the devil took back the power. Now he is trapped in the 9 hells with only the powers of seeing into other planes given to him at birth. He became a patron himself, he offers his aberrant mind powers to anyone on a single condition: he gets their body for a day. Every day I take a character sheet with a random race, background, proficiencies, and physical stat with a multi callas of sorcerer and warlock (pact of the seeker feels like it would match most)

[@pw3829]

Seems like you forgot that sorcerer subclass is picked at level 1. I think that decision really matters for this build.

[@saveordeath2308]

Agreed, imo Clockwork Soul or Divine Soul would be best. "Restore Balance" is great utility that gets more uses as you level up, and "Favored by the Gods" is amazing to save yourself from a critical saving throw per rest. I would personally pick Divine Soul for the lvl 1 ability & being able to use CHA for certain cleric spells is nice.

[@pw3829]

@@saveordeath2308 I would actually go with aberrant mind. The additional spells known (always) and mind sliver, as well as telepathy really lean in to what this whacky character is good at. It’s strength, I would say, is that it has a vast array of cantrips and low level spells so even though it never hits hard, it always has the right cantrip or low level spell to cast at any moment. Your choices are probably better overall… but leaning into low level magic seems good here.

[@saveordeath2308]

@@pw3829 true, aberant mind is great! I think its better as a straight sorcerer or if you dip into 1 other class. The bonus spells from aberrant you can already pick from other CHA classes with the absurd character. Absurd already has too many damaging cantrips & spells so I would value survivability/utility personally. 'Favored by the Gods' doesnt use a reaction and can be used on death saves as well since it doesnt mention that you have to be conscious. Telepathic Speech is a nice trick and could be invaluable depending on the DM/campaign. To each their own :D

[@BoPeep_42]

I proposed an idea for a character a few months ago known as the "Cantrip Collector". It allowed for 32 cantrips by Level 11, 18 of which relied on Charisma, which meant you could get every damage type in the game with your best stat, plus a BUNCH of other utility crap. The build worked as follows: High Half-Elf: +1 cantrip (1 total) 8/14/14/13/13/16, after +1 DEX, +1 CON, +2 CHA L1: Celestial Warlock 1, +4 cantrips (5 total) L2: Aberrant Mind Sorcerer 1, +5 cantrips (10 total) L3: Arcana Cleric 1, +5 cantrips (15 total) L4: Warlock 2, take Misty Visions for an *almost* Minor Illusion (16 total), also take Mask of Many Faces for flavor L5: Warlock 3, Pact of the Tome, +3 cantrips (19 total) L6: Warlock 4, +1 cantrip AND Magic Initiate Sorcerer/Bard/Lock (22 total) L7: Wizard 1, +3 cantrips (25 total) L8: Bard 1, +2 cantrips (27 total) L9: Artificer 1, +2 cantrips (29 total) L10: Druid 1, +2 cantrips (31 total) L11: Land Druid 2, +1 cantrip (32 total) ... after this point, the best course of action was to continue on in Celestial Warlock, but that was the gist. I actually thought it COULD be semi-viable!

[@ryanpeters3812]

See, puffin was lucky two-fold. His dm only required going into being required, not coming out, plus no Artificer. He could dump both Int and Con, easing the requirements. It was still crazy, but easier to make

[@lahlybird895]

Wouldn't you still need intelligence for the wizard

[@ryanpeters3812]

@@lahlybird895 Normally, yes. Puffin's DM allowed him to ignore that requirement for coming out of a class, so starting ignored the entry and the dm ignored the exit requirements. Hence allowing him to ignore it altogether. It was a mistake, sure, but it gave us Abserd, who is so iconic

[@lahlybird895]

@@ryanpeters3812 ah, fair enough

[@t3y2k]

I'm curious how a variant rule of multiclassing multiple different patrons of Warlock would work out, stopping at 3 levels in each for the pact boon before moving on. Like, deals with fey, fiends, undead, Eldritch, and celestials. Get pact of the tome for each and call it, "the Librarian"...

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

I thought Multiclassing into the same class doesn't exist RAW... But if it's homebrew... Then I'll go Fighter/Fighter instead. Lv20 Warforged Lv4 Eldritch Knight Lv4 Echo Knight Lv4 Rune Knight Lv4 Samurai Lv4 Cavalry 5 Feats or 5 ASI 20 AC at lv1 5 different Fighting Styles No double dipping into Extra Attacks and Action Surge. Debate with my DM about Second Wind and Indomitable.

[@t3y2k]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 RAW, it's not legal, but much like the "every class" build, it's meant more for silliness and as a thought experiment than for "super useful"

[@andrewnotrealname848]

I actually have a bard/paladin/barbarian multiclass that’s become the bane of my DM’s existence. It’s the most powerful character my group has ever seen and has been banned from the table due to how severely it’s beaten my DM’s encounters. One such feat is soloing the tarraske , starting from half health, without any help from my party. And I did it in an open field. I didn’t even use my strongest spells to do it. It’s safe to say that it should stay banned, but a triple multiclass can actually be extremely effective

[@theknight1573]

Can you elaborate a bit on this build? Lvls and favo spell interactions and such? Really curious

[@rebeccadurrant5207]

How does a bard/paladin/barbarian work? I heard multiclassing a spellcaster with barbarian is terrible.

[@Lastofthesigilites]

​@@rebeccadurrant5207 blade florist works while raging along with smite.

[@rebeccadurrant5207]

@@Lastofthesigilites I see, a swords bard.

[@andrewnotrealname848]

Think of Barbarian's rage as a concentration spell. With a bear totem rage, that's quite the efficient way to save on spell slots. Smite can be used in tandem with rage, so you aren't losing DPR from the base paladin class. In fact, you have a faster spell progression with the levels in bard so your spell progression is actually better than base. This is an effective option in battle. The true strength, though, is the versatility. I can simply stop raging to switch up my concentration and change my entire playstyle in a single round. Not only that, but this change ends up only being one spell level behind a full caster with how I set it up. It's this ability to switch tactics at a moments notice, combined with the staggering 46 AC and +9 average save, that makes this combo the bane of any DM. Barbarian sucks for a multiclass with a full caster, but the entire setup is mainly a base for a half caster. I've even noted that replacing Bard with Sorcerer can raise Smite efficiency, but I decided that it was more important to gain the OOC benefits from Bard to make an all-rounded character that way surpasses baseline in ALL aspects of the game.

[@LordOz3]

I think triple-plays (three classes) is about as far as you would want to go - and even with that, we're probably talking about cherry-picking two dips with a specific goal in mind.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

5 lv4 classes for a lv20 Character is great too. You get up to 5 Feats/ASI chances without feeling too useless in combat.

[@isaacbenrubi9613]

Awesomely bad and good at the same time! Unrelated: you both look like you've slimmed down a bit. Way to go!

[@aklokoth]

If Monty has been working on his diet, I hope he sticks with it. Remember lads, just cuz your a nerd doesn’t mean you can’t be healthy.

[@quendi5557]

One little note: Artificer does add to your spellcasting progression which means it has some uses compared to the other later pickups.

[@SirSadness]

The character is gonna be a mess anyway, but if I wanted to have a good start, I would go Bard, Roque, Warlock. With a character like this, having as many proficiencies as possible is gonna be the key to success.

[@scottdonohue3379]

We did something similar to this as teens back in the 80’s. I don’t remember the exact story our DM through at us, but it was something along the line of we were all children of the leaders of our hometown and as children we were all somewhat of prodigies due to our very advantaged & privileged family upbringing. Some wandering wizard cursed us to never be able to become truly skilled at anything. As near as I can recall we could only take 2 or 3 levels in any particular class. It was a bit of a mess as near as I can recall, but we were goofy teens just getting baked and having fun so we didn’t care. Of course the rules for D&D were so different then and there weren’t as many classes available.

[@electricorcagaming]

I did the math including counting how many cantrips the game has (thanks DND beyond) this character has 39% of all the cantrips

[@matthewparker9276]

I did a build once where I just prioritised getting as many cantrips as I could.

[@electricorcagaming]

@@matthewparker9276 how many did you get

[@matthewparker9276]

@@electricorcagaming I can't remember off the top of my head, and I think I lost the character sheet. It was a fair number, dipping into a few subclasses that get extra cantrips.

[@thatguywholiveshere]

I would love a follow up where you dicide which classes you would add additional levels too

[@misticsword7561]

A young soldier (Warrior) enter a newly open cave that enter a temple along with his comrades, but he's the only one who managed to get out, all thanks to a strange weapon (Warlock Hexblade). Having to deal with his patron whining all day he turn to the gods to JUST GET SOME PEACE! (Cleric Peace Domain). He finds out that singing seems to calm the weapon down, so he start training with them (Bard). His... weirdness attract the attention of an archwizard that decide to admit him to his school (Wizard), but he gets throw out soon after becouse of an accident involving his patreon weapon and otherwordly summons. On the run, he manage to lay low with the criminality (Rogue), but the aftermath of the accident eventually evoke magic deep into his blood (Sorcerer Aberrant Mind). Escaping, this time to the wild, he train to attune to nature to balance his arcane mess (Druid) and live as a hunter (Ranger), but never really succeding. One day he stumble upon a peacefull hermit and, since his previous attempt on balance didn't really work, he decide to live their life for a few mounths (Monk). Doubting his motives, the head monk sends him in the woods on a test, but unexpectedly the guy meet a Fey on the way. Asking for help in freeing himself from the mess, he's tricked into a promise to help the fey (Paladin), but he does gains a way to free himself from his weapon... or at least the first step, fey are tricky that way (Artificer). In the end, all the magic inside him is so under pressure and at war with each other, that sometimes it just explode randomly with various effect (Barbarian Wild Magic). Pfiuu... All 13 classes, justified for better or worse. The grammar is probably terrible, but i'm not a native english.

[@MultiSteveB]

12:11 "And you're now just blasting people while holding up your shield, praying for peace on the battlefield." This reminds me so much of the line from 'Star Trekkin': "I come in peace, shoot to kill, shoot to kill, shoot to kill."

[@davea6314]

The Dungeon Dudes obviously saw Puffin Forest's episode about the character called Abserd. 🤪

[@indigoblacksteel1176]

I've got a character with 4 classes in Tomb of Annihilation. 20 wisdom, high enough Dex and Cha for multiclassing. Nothing else to speak of so I tried to maximize for Wisdom. I also wanted to do the Lifeberry combo because it was Tomb of Annihilation. Currently Firbolg Moon Druid (3), Astral Monk (4), Life Cleric (1), Shadow Sorcerer (1). First ASI took forever. Tons of Cantrips and 1st level spells, as was mentioned. Astral Monk allows me to take advantage of my only good stat. Wildshape + astral arms turns me into kind of a displacer beast. Took the Shadow Sorcerer because no dark vision was becoming a problem. Took another level of druid for Spike Growth. With just those 3 ability scores, you can do 9 or the 13 classes, so with each level I do consider choosing yet another class, just for fun, but there isn't much more of the campaign left, so I'm getting diminishing returns. I'm pretty effective both in and out of wildshape. Very versatile.

[@MyNameIsNotPa]

Good luck! Tomb is a great campaign. 😁

[@irian42]

How many classes *could* you get and have a viable build?

[@DungeonDudes]

I’d say… at MOST 4-5

[@crownlexicon5225]

I saw a fighter/sorcerer/warlock/cleric that worked well A buddy of mine played a fighter/rogue/ranger/cleric that worked well top.

[@brettotten6648]

Most i ever did was 3. And it was a logistical nightmare

[@jansolo4628]

@@crownlexicon5225 Fighter/Rogue/Ranger/Cleric/Druid seems like a viable option. It's likely not optimal, but I don't see it being any less optimal than just those four. Ranger 5 (Gloomstalker)/Fighter 2/Rogue 3 (Assassin)/Cleric 1 (Life, Twilight, or Peace)/Druid X. Spend turn 1 doing massive nova damage through Dread Ambusher+Assassinate+Action Surge, the rest of the combat will be about casting support or summon spells. Ranger 5 over Fighter 5 because accessing Pass Without Trace and Goodberry early is a massive boost while Entangle and Spike Growth are good spells despite falling off in relative usefulness by later levels, any order that doesn't rush Extra Attack will fall behind.

[@crownlexicon5225]

@@jansolo4628 the fighter/warlock/sorcerer/cleric I saw was The Flamethrower by D4 of you want to look it up. Pretty cool The fighter/ranger/rogue/cleric was a buddy of mine. He was assassin 4?, echo knight 6?, gloomstalker 3, war cleric 1. Could put out 9 attacks on the first round of combat

[@mavindalightscribe9658]

You could be cursed - you can do a lot of things, but you can never be really good at something until you break it, maybe 7-8th, maybe 13th if you're crazy.

[@dcohen1359]

So how does the character play? It doesn't!

[@Doveknight-n8t]

I was planing on doing this but I wasn’t sure where to start. Thanks for the advice!!!

[@HonduranHoneymoonhon]

This would be a great Campaign character for those groups that “don’t see the point in optimizing” You could still end up being the most powerful character

[@kemp6510]

this character is actually perfect for

[@harrywhiteley89]

Paladin 2, Warlock 2, Cleric 8, Fighter 2, Sorcerer 6, Magic Initiate: Druid... Technically that is 6 classes... It is a super fun character to run 1. Paladin 1, 2. Warlock 1, 3. P2, 4. W2, 5-12. Cleric 1-8, 13-18. Sorcerer 1-6, 19-20. Fighter 1-2 No Paladin Oath but Fighting Style: Dueling, Warlock Patron Fiend Invocations are Agonizing Blast, and Devil Sight, Cleric Domain Life... basically you can match the healing as effectively as a normal Cleric and you pick up some damage Sorcerer allows for Meta Magic Fighter gives Defence, Action Surge, and Second Wind. We were playing Out of the Abyss we got to 9th level (Paladin 2, Warlock 2, Cleric 5) and we encountered a Demon Lord on a random Encounter and Ken the PHB Multiclass Madness Cleric was chosen to be the one to hold off the Demogorgon, the Bard threw a Bardic Inspiration, and the Cleric threw a Bless up, and the Wizard DDoored to a safe location to start the Teleportation Circle with the Rogue... Ken drew the Sun Sword and after 7 rounds the Campaign ended.. Ken had solo killed Demogorgon in an attempt to save his friends we didn't even get to the end of the level 13 Campaign where you were supposed to do stuff with a full party, Ken did Crit out a level 3 Divine Smite... But honestly, he didn't really need it as he had a third 3rd level slot to deploy after starting with Spirit Guardians.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

My lv20 Normal Human... Lv4 Fighter Lv3 Paladin Lv3 Cleric Lv3 Wizard Lv3 Sorcerer Lv3 Warlock Lv1 Rogue Feat (lv4 Fighter): Dual Wielder Magic Item: The one which boosts Con to 19.

[@harrywhiteley89]

@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Nice, how do you deal with the lack of Extra attack, personally I sat with Eldritch Blast for Ranged and then I used Booming or Green Flame Blade for Melee, also Spirit Guardians worked a charm for Melee combat vs swarms

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@harrywhiteley89 I only know the Fighter Class but... I would try to perform a Smite Sneak Attack when I can. While Healing and casting Utility Spells. Eldritch Blast is useful in general, and it scales with Character Level too. But in short... I would start off with the lv4 Fighter/Echo Knight. And use Dual Wielder to up my DPR. Once enemy AC becomes a problem. Shove, Prone, Grapple, and restrain them. I'm rolling a flat 1d20+1 Vs AC. I also have Unarmed Combat Style so a d6 to d8 damage with a free d4 grapple damage will be useful. Or ditch Normal Human for either Variant Human or Warforged. An extra Feat on top of the lv4 Fighter Feat/ASI option or high AC at lv1 is much better. I would also carry Spell Scrolls if the Wizard makes any. This build really needs to use everything they can as the campaign goes into lv10+ content.

[@briang3598]

The follow-up to this would be to try to try to salvage this character for the 7 remaining levels, by taking additional levels in any class or classes.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

Lv4 Fighter and lv3 Warlock after lv1 in all 13 official Classes. (Excluding the Blood Hunter). Echo Knight and Warlock Invocations will be good. Take Variant Human for Eldritch Initiate for more Invocation access. But your dice modifier is stuck at +1. Find Magic Items.

[@maxherman3884]

The 1 class in wizard would let you add spells to your spell book: "that you can prepare" you are allowed to prepare spells that you have slots to cast.... This means you can actually get 2nd and 3rd level spells with this character, since the books doesn't specify that the slots for your spells have to come from the wizard class. And because wizards can just find new spells in the wild (or buy them in shops) this character is actually more powerful than you think "Looks like Fireball's back on the menu boys!" This also means that you can add wizard rituals from 1st-3rd level to your book. Suddenly you have infinite castings of detect magic, identify, et cetera. ...Don't forget to add blood hunter :)

[@mme.veronica735]

Technically for preparing any spells you have to be able to cast with that class alone. That's why you can't take one level of cleric as a 17th level wizard and suddenly be able to cast power word heal. Same applies for a 17th level cleric dipping into wizard to be able to add Wish to their spellbook and then prepare it

[@maxherman3884]

@@mme.veronica735 The language of the PHB is vague enough with how wizard spells are prepared. Both rules are fairly specific, so I think it would probably be up to the DM which one works. In most cases, I bet the DM would go with rule of cool, after all, the wizard still has to find and pay for extra spells, it's not like it's suddenly easy mode.

[@thomasstyan2066]

Fun video :) I think I prefer Variant human so you can get tough (+26 HPs) Str 13 Dex 14 Con 10 Int 13 Wis 13 Char 14 Can't wear plate. Half plate+shield AC=19 (If draconic ancestry, if woken from sleep without armor, AC with shield=17) Main disadvantage -2 to charisma, so 1 less to hit with eldritch blast. Alternatives to Protection fighting style: - Duelling for +2 weapon damage - Protection - stand 5 feet behind melee allies but out of range of enemy, so can give disadvantage to an attack with reaction Order Domain Cleric may a good option: extra attack for an ally per 1st level spell cast on ally (so an extra back stab for every bless) (Alternatively, as Gerald says, get Eldritch Adept for +2 damage per eldritch blast)

[@JimFaindel]

Something that came into my mind the second you grabbed that level in druid, mainly because an old DM once forced me to obey this rule, and that you only touched on later: "druids will not wear armor or use shields made of metal". Do you roll with this or handwave it away?

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

That's not by RAW and Multiclassing overwrites that Rule anyways... But it sounds like 1e stuff...

[@JimFaindel]

I'd like to agree, but that quote is right smack on the 5e PHB druid's proficiency list, and I've never seen any published material regarding multiclassing that states it overwrites this.

[@absolstoryoffiction6615]

@@JimFaindel It's Specific Vs Specific so you take the better option. It's like Tavern Brawler (1d4 unarmed strike damage), Unarmed Combat Style (1d6 or 1d8 unarmed strike damage), and Monk Class (1d6 up to 1d8 unarmed strike damage) If you have Unarmed Combat Style, then it replaces all Unarmed Strike damage with its Dice Pool unless you can get another dice pool that's better or equal to it. (5e never explains this in detail because of "common language".)

[@Pyrogecko08]

With a bunch of random spell slots, getting a second level in paladin would be such a boon, turning those all into smites. I can see a character built for utility through cantrips that also has a high armor class and high damage output through smites. Probably wouldn't take any levels in most martial classes, but could benefit a lot from dabbling in all the spellcasting classes.

[@kclubok]

You neglected the fact that sorcerers get their subclass at level one, so there's a choice to be made there. None that will have a huge impact on the game, but I think that thematically for this build, you can't go with anything other than Wild Magic.

[@torunsmok5890]

I think it can make a pretty huge impact if you go for one with a good level 1 feature!

[@kclubok]

@@torunsmok5890 I reviewed the level 1 features, and while a number of them are useful, none of them specifically jumped out at me as being game-changing for this particular build. Do any of them jump out at you?

[@peterkorinek9881]

@@torunsmok5890 no shit

[@TJWaddle17]

What rule says you can only use 1st-level spells? Obviously you can't gain more spells from Bard, Sorcerer, or Warlock. But Clerics and Druids have access to their entire class spell list, and they can change prepared spells after a long rest. As you get higher level spell slots, you can change preparations to get a higher level spell if you want it. You also have a level in Wizard, you can copy higher level spells into your spellbook, and gain as many Wizard spells of 3rd level or lower as you can find.

[@DungeonDudes]

PHB 163: "Spells Known and Prepared. You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class."

[@TJWaddle17]

@@DungeonDudes Right. But if I look at just the Cleric for preparing spells... I can prepare any spell on the Cleric spell list. The only restriction is "The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots." I read that as I can take higher level Cleric spells as long as I have the slots, regardless of what Cleric level I am. Druid and Wizard read similarly.

[@DungeonDudes]

@@TJWaddle17 The Multiclassing rules impose new restrictions. PHB 163: "Once you have the Spellcasting feature from more than one class, use the rules below." There is an example provided in which explicitly states that the multiclass Wizard 4/ Ranger 3 -- a character with 3rd level spell slots -- can only cast 1st level Ranger spells and 2nd level Wizard spells.

[@TJWaddle17]

@@DungeonDudes That example assumes you only have 10 wizard spells total in your spellbook, the free spells from leveling wizard: 6 spells at level 1, and 2 more at levels 2 and 3. Those 10 spells must be 1st or 2nd level. No argument there. If that was all the wizard spells you could ever learn, then you would be correct. But wizards can always add more spells to their spellbook. The only restrictions on adding a spell is it must be of a level you can cast, and on the wizard list. If you have 3rd level slots from mutliclassing, I don't see anything stopping you from copying fireball into your book.

[@DungeonDudes]

@@TJWaddle17 The rules for multiclassing take precedence over the rules for the class entry, and explicitly say: "You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class." In order for a character to learn or prepare Fireball, they must have at least five levels in Wizard (or another class which gets the spell on their spell list), full stop. A Wizard 4/Cleric4 cannot cast Fireball, Spirit Guardians, Counterspell, or any 3rd or 4th level spell whatsoever. They have 3rd and 4th level spell slots, but these may only be used to upcast 1st and 2nd level spells. If you are not satisfied with my explanation, I suggest you consult other sources of information which will confirm this is how the rules work (such as the official Sage Advice Compendium)