Multiclassing Sorcerer/Wizard

[Asmotherion]

So, as usual with 5e, I aggree it's always up to the DM. However, as I am the DM and I'm making some Major NPCs for my campain, I wanted people's oppinion on this one. So, eventhough the restriction exists that "you don't get new spells from your class if you multyclass", there seems to be a loophole with the Wizard Spellbook. A loophole that not only my players, but even I, as a DM are more than willing to use/abuse.

The entry on the Wizard Spellbook specifically says that " When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a level for which you have spell slots and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. ". The way I read it, it means that, whatever the source, if you have a spell slot of, let's say, 9th level (for example from a LV 17 Sorcerer/Bard, or even non Arcane spellcasters, such as Clerics), you may add any Wizard Spell of up to 9th level to your Spellbook (as long as you can pay for it/take your time to decifer it). You may cast it as a Wizard spell or a [other class] spell. An exception to this is the Worlock, as Invocations do not count as spell slots, but spell-like abilities, thus you do not gain the benefit described.

I am unsure about the last part, but that is how I made it in my game. The controler of the Worlock however has told me that he intends to multiclass into Wizard. What should I do?

[SharkForce]

what you should have done is not give every other caster access to the entire wizard spell list (and extra spells known, and ability to use rituals from the spellbook) just from taking a single level of wizard in the first place for the sake of blindly following a rules loophole (seriously, the fact that you called it a loophole combined with the fact that no other class in the game works remotely like that combined with the fact that you have to use some pretty sketchy logic on what the text was supposed to mean should have told you not to do it in the first place. particularly when you're letting the single-class rules override the multiclass rules on the subject of what happens when you multiclass). now you've gone and borked that, there isn't much you can do to fix it without taking away the ridiculous power increase you handed out to all of the other casters.

if you're unwilling to do that, then it's time to break out your homebrew creation kit and give all the other classes ridiculous goodies too, including making something up for the warlock, i suppose. or just accept that anything other than a full caster with a single level of wizard is going to be really lackluster, and tell your warlock player that.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Warlocks never get spell slots above 5th level. It's on their table on pg. 106. Mystic Arcanum gives them once a day access to some higher level spells, but not spell slots.

Copying higher level wizard spells would give a warlock more options with their limited pool of spell slots but I don't think it would be the end of the world since they'd still never be able to cast more than 4 of those spells between short rests. (Rituals aside, of course.)

[TopCheese]

So, as usual with 5e, I aggree it's always up to the DM. However, as I am the DM and I'm making some Major NPCs for my campain, I wanted people's oppinion on this one. So, eventhough the restriction exists that "you don't get new spells from your class if you multyclass", there seems to be a loophole with the Wizard Spellbook. A loophole that not only my players, but even I, as a DM are more than willing to use/abuse.

The entry on the Wizard Spellbook specifically says that " When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a level for which you have spell slots and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. ". The way I read it, it means that, whatever the source, if you have a spell slot of, let's say, 9th level (for example from a LV 17 Sorcerer/Bard, or even non Arcane spellcasters, such as Clerics), you may add any Wizard Spell of up to 9th level to your Spellbook (as long as you can pay for it/take your time to decifer it). You may cast it as a Wizard spell or a [other class] spell. An exception to this is the Worlock, as Invocations do not count as spell slots, but spell-like abilities, thus you do not gain the benefit described.

I am unsure about the last part, but that is how I made it in my game. The controler of the Worlock however has told me that he intends to multiclass into Wizard. What should I do?

By raw and what the Devs said, you can only put spells up to level X into your spell book based on your wizard level.

There is no loophole unless you as a DM decide to break the game even more.

So a Wizard 5/Cleric 15 can only put spells in their spell book up to 3rd level.

[Demonic Spoon]

However, as I am the DM and I'm making some Major NPCs for my campain
Stop right there.

NPCs are not players, and do not need to have player classes. Classes and levels are a mechanism that exists for the players' benefit to create a balanced and structured mechanism by which a player character can grow in power.

If it's an NPC, the interaction of different player classes and the multiclassing rules is meaningless. You can just create an NPC that has whatever wizard/sorcerer features that are thematically appropriate.


That said, you always learn spells based on the level of the class you're getting the spell from. A level 1 wizard cannot ever have wizard spells of level 2 or higher.

[Daehron]

This was somewhat cleared up in the PHB errata. A wizard can add a spell to their spell book that meets the following requirements:


On the Wizard Spell List
Of a spell level they can cast using their wizard levels
Have the time / money to scribe the spells


A Bard 18/Wizard 2 can only scribe 1st level spells on the Wizard list. They could not scribe "Cure Wounds," a spell on the Bard 1st lvl spell list, for instance. Nor can they scribe "Web" from the Wizard list, as they do not have the mastery of wizard spells as yet.