Is it worth it to multiclass Cleric 12/Wizard 8

[bcby02]

OK let me start by explaining the character. Human variant. He has high Wis and high Int. The character uses his skills to find where evil hides and destroy it. The concept being that he comes to town where rumor has it evil things are happening, uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to find more information and then uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to end it (or call in the brute squad; he is a bookish chap).

This character could work just fine being a straight up cleric, but I can't help but wonder about adding another class.

So the first question, is it worth it to go multiclass cleric/wizard in the first place if you have the stats for it? If so, what kind of spread, as in Cleric 17/Wiz3 or some other combo.

I was actually planning on Cleric 12/Wiz 8. Light domain and Divination school specialty. This way I keep most of the features I really like.

I'm not sure if its worth giving up 7th 8th and 9th level spells though. I'm not that impressed with the cleric 17 capstone and the divination bonuses seem well worth the wizard levels. A character like this would have less raw casting power I think but a huge amount of utility. I don't have much experience playing at high levels though and am wondering if those high level spells are really that indispensable or not. My best spell slot would be a single 6th level one, and I do miss out on some of the best wizard spells. Maybe go wizard 12/cleric 8?

Basically I'm asking is there something I missed here? Will the character wind up underpowered when dealing with high level threats or will the added versatility be enough to offset those kind of situations from coming up at all?

Would a different domain be more beneficial (Lore would work for my guy too), or perhaps a different wizard school?

As a bonus question: which class do i level first and how many levels before I switch? I was thinking 6th level cleric then go wiz for four levels then back to cleric until 8, back to wiz until 8 then finish cleric off until 12.

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions in your replies, any input would be helpful. Thanks in advance guys!

[Pex]

Since you are getting over not casting the big boomba spells there's nothing to worry about. Caster level doesn't exist. Monster spell resistance just means they have advantage on saving throws. There's nothing for you to roll against. Your spell DCs are based on your already high ability scores. You still get access to 7th level and higher spell slots which allows you to cast various lower level spells in those slots for bigger oomphs on those spells. Personally that's what I think casting lower level spells in higher slots are for, to facilitate spellcaster multi-classing for those players who don't care about casting the high level spells but still need to have potent magic at the levels those spell slots are available. Your main concern is being happy with the class features aside from casting spells that you are getting and not getting the class features single class characters would be getting.

[Eslin]

OK let me start by explaining the character. Human variant. He has high Wis and high Int. The character uses his skills to find where evil hides and destroy it. The concept being that he comes to town where rumor has it evil things are happening, uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to find more information and then uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to end it (or call in the brute squad; he is a bookish chap).

This character could work just fine being a straight up cleric, but I can't help but wonder about adding another class.

So the first question, is it worth it to go multiclass cleric/wizard in the first place if you have the stats for it? If so, what kind of spread, as in Cleric 17/Wiz3 or some other combo.

I was actually planning on Cleric 12/Wiz 8. Light domain and Divination school specialty. This way I keep most of the features I really like.

I'm not sure if its worth giving up 7th 8th and 9th level spells though. I'm not that impressed with the cleric 17 capstone and the divination bonuses seem well worth the wizard levels. A character like this would have less raw casting power I think but a huge amount of utility. I don't have much experience playing at high levels though and am wondering if those high level spells are really that indispensable or not. My best spell slot would be a single 6th level one, and I do miss out on some of the best wizard spells. Maybe go wizard 12/cleric 8?

Basically I'm asking is there something I missed here? Will the character wind up underpowered when dealing with high level threats or will the added versatility be enough to offset those kind of situations from coming up at all?

Would a different domain be more beneficial (Lore would work for my guy too), or perhaps a different wizard school?

As a bonus question: which class do i level first and how many levels before I switch? I was thinking 6th level cleric then go wiz for four levels then back to cleric until 8, back to wiz until 8 then finish cleric off until 12.

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions in your replies, any input would be helpful. Thanks in advance guys!

Be aware that what you're doing is deeply suboptimal - divination wizard's nice, but high level spells are insanely useful. I'd advise either going straight wizard with a level in cleric or straight cleric, there's not a lot of synergy between the two and while having class abilities from both is nice the high level spells are much nicer. If you're going high wizard, almost certainly don't take a bunch of levels of cleric since losing spells like true polymorph and foresight is not worth the abilities you'll get, and light domain cleric is basically just evoker light (heh). That said if you're married to the idea it's not terrible, it just won't do as well as a full classed character would.

[Balor777]

OK let me start by explaining the character. Human variant. He has high Wis and high Int. The character uses his skills to find where evil hides and destroy it. The concept being that he comes to town where rumor has it evil things are happening, uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to find more information and then uses his skills spells and stern demeanor to end it (or call in the brute squad; he is a bookish chap).

This character could work just fine being a straight up cleric, but I can't help but wonder about adding another class.

So the first question, is it worth it to go multiclass cleric/wizard in the first place if you have the stats for it? If so, what kind of spread, as in Cleric 17/Wiz3 or some other combo.

I was actually planning on Cleric 12/Wiz 8. Light domain and Divination school specialty. This way I keep most of the features I really like.

I'm not sure if its worth giving up 7th 8th and 9th level spells though. I'm not that impressed with the cleric 17 capstone and the divination bonuses seem well worth the wizard levels. A character like this would have less raw casting power I think but a huge amount of utility. I don't have much experience playing at high levels though and am wondering if those high level spells are really that indispensable or not. My best spell slot would be a single 6th level one, and I do miss out on some of the best wizard spells. Maybe go wizard 12/cleric 8?

Basically I'm asking is there something I missed here? Will the character wind up underpowered when dealing with high level threats or will the added versatility be enough to offset those kind of situations from coming up at all?

Would a different domain be more beneficial (Lore would work for my guy too), or perhaps a different wizard school?

As a bonus question: which class do i level first and how many levels before I switch? I was thinking 6th level cleric then go wiz for four levels then back to cleric until 8, back to wiz until 8 then finish cleric off until 12.

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions in your replies, any input would be helpful. Thanks in advance guys!

Altho a high level spell might make your day, its just that once per day.

A very nice combo is
1st Tempest cleric
2nd cleric
3rd-8th Sorcrrer,Lightning dragon blood, you are now 2CL/6SORC
9-16 Cleric (10cl/6sorc)(5th level CL spells)
17-20 sorc(5th level sorc spells too)
for 10CL/10sorc final level.

If you want Light domain you can stop gaining levels in sorc at 6th level and pick Fire blood sorc instead of Lightning, so you add your CHA to fire spells.
Get 1-3 cleric(scroching ray) 4-9 sorc , and from there its your choice.


Sorc whil help you do some niffty stuff, like creating spell slots burning 1/2 level slots(4x2 + 3x3 = 17 mm points) to make twined spells/quickened spells, twinned cantrips(lets say 2x 3d10+cha) with only 1mm cost and nice damage,you add you CHA to lightning spells etc etc.Your spell list will be very nice too.

[Eslin]

Altho a high level spell might make your day, its just that once per day.

A very nice combo is
1st Tempest cleric
2nd cleric
3rd-8th Sorcrrer,Lightning dragon blood, you are now 2CL/6SORC
9-16 Cleric (10cl/6sorc)(5th level CL spells)
17-20 sorc(5th level sorc spells too)
for 10CL/10sorc final level.

If you want Light domain you can stop gaining levels in sorc at 6th level and pick Fire blood sorc instead of Lightning, so you add your CHA to fire spells.
Get 1-3 cleric(scroching ray) 4-9 sorc , and from there its your choice.


Sorc whil help you do some niffty stuff, like creating spell slots burning 1/2 level slots(4x2 + 3x3 = 17 mm points) to make twined spells/quickened spells, twinned cantrips(lets say 2x 3d10+cha) with only 1mm cost and nice damage,you add you CHA to lightning spells etc etc.Your spell list will be very nice too.

Not necessarily - I mentioned foresight and true polymorph, those don't exactly last a minute.

[Person_Man]

There's little synergy between Cleric and Wizard. You're giving up access to high level spells for access to a greater variety of low level spells. You're giving up access to high level class abilities in exchange for low level class abilities.

I would personally just go strait Wizard or strait Cleric, or at most just pick up one levels of Cleric for the armor proficiency and Cantrips and then go strait Wizard.

[Spacehamster]

My opinion on multiclassing full caster is that it can work np as long as you focus on picking a few spells here and there that scales well with beeing cast as higher level spells to compensate for the lack of actual high lvl spells. Just make a list on what you gain and what you loose and see what's better for what you had in mind for the char. :)

[bcby02]

Ok so it seems like yes and no. I'm glad to know I'm not crazy for trying this, and its good to know although I won't be optimized I'll still be able to be effective. I think I have the answer I was looking for. Thanks guys, this has been helpful. I'll check back in again to see if anyone else comes up with any good ideas. :smallsmile:

[Dalebert]

It's going to be very hard to filter out our personal biases from our answers. I can say that I've almost consistently regretted multi-classing when I've done it, even just a one level dip. I'm watching all my teammates get really fun stuff at key levels and realizing I'm not getting that stuff for another level. I have to remind myself that I'm benefiting from things I dipped for like access to spells I would otherwise not have. It's easy to start over-looking those benefits. Level dipping feels a little short-sighted to me. It feels like more goodies early on that you pay for later with interest, e.g. more cantrips and low-level spells right now, maybe an extra skill or two, but at the cost of waiting longer for higher level spells and class abilities later. Having those things hovering a level or two out of your reach when everyone else has them can be painful.

Disclaimer: This post is absolutely loaded with personal bias. You should absolutely play what seems fun for you.

[Spacehamster]

Would also suggest starting with 5 levels wizard to unlock lvl 3 spells right away since at least to me it has always seemed like that's the spell level where spells starts getting fairly powerful. :)

[Balor777]

It's going to be very hard to filter out our personal biases from our answers. I can say that I've almost consistently regretted multi-classing when I've done it, even just a one level dip. I'm watching all my teammates get really fun stuff at key levels and realizing I'm not getting that stuff for another level. I have to remind myself that I'm benefiting from things I dipped for like access to spells I would otherwise not have. It's easy to start over-looking those benefits. Level dipping feels a little short-sighted to me. It feels like more goodies early on that you pay for later with interest, e.g. more cantrips and low-level spells right now, maybe an extra skill or two, but at the cost of waiting longer for higher level spells and class abilities later. Having those things hovering a level or two out of your reach when everyone else has them can be painful.

Disclaimer: This post is absolutely loaded with personal bias. You should absolutely play what seems fun for you.

Can you gives a little more info on your character/multiclass setup?