Cross classing

[Shadowbane13]

Hey guys I'm sure this is a repeat question but when you cross class two caster types, in my case eldritch knight and tempest cleric, do their cantrips and spell slots stack or does it just give me those slots accordingly with the class spells?

[MrStabby]

1/3 of the EK class levels rounded down. Add your cleric levels. Slots equal to a cleric of that number of levels.

EK spells cast using int from any spell slot. Cleric spells still use wisdom.

[MeimuHakurei]

You gain the multiclass spell slots, which can give you slots of a higher level than you're able to cast. But you still only know/prepare spells for each class seperately, which do not benefit from the progression of other classes.

[Ninja_Prawn]

For the full explanation, see pages 164/5 in the PHB.

You do get the full complement of cantrips from both classes, and they scale according to total level. That's the good news. The bad news is that your spell slots are determined by the multiclass spellcasting table, while your spells known are determined on a class-by-class basis. So if you're a cleric 4 / eldritch knight 3, you have 3rd level slots but can't prepare or know any 3rd level spells.

[nickl_2000]

Hey guys I'm sure this is a repeat question but when you cross class two caster types, in my case eldritch knight and tempest cleric, do their cantrips and spell slots stack or does it just give me those slots accordingly with the class spells?

It has, but this is a much confused rule in the game. So don't worry about asking again :smallbiggrin:

[Shadowbane13]

So my current plan is to go EK 10 levels then swap over to cleric for remaining 10 levels. So for that i just use the multi class spell table?

[MaxWilson]

So my current plan is to go EK 10 levels then swap over to cleric for remaining 10 levels. So for that i just use the multi class spell table?

Yes, but here's how you use it.

Levels 1-10, ignore the multiclass table and just look up your slots on the Eldritch Knight table.

Levels 11-20, you become multiclassed. From here on, ignore the EK table. Look up (your level - 7) on the multiclass table and those are your slots.

For example, at level 11 use level 4 on the multiclass table. At level 20 you'll use multiclass level 13.

I.e. your EK levels only count as 1/3 of a level each, rounded down.

[ImproperJustice]

On the upswing, you can use those higher level slots to get more oomph from your lower level spells.

Example: Thunderwave using a level 3 slot is gonna hit for 4d8 damage which isn’t too shabby for a heavy melee type like yourself.

When to switch from EK is a tough call:
Level 11 gets you 3 attacks
Level 12 gets you an ASI and 4 levels of spellcasting.

But if you are happy with two attacks, level 10 lets you leave with Eldritch Strike (which is incredible), and you end level 20 with Divine Intervention which is the Cleric version of Wish.
You would also cap out as a level 13 Multiclass caster (level 10 EK/ 3= 3 + 10 levels of Cleric)
Which leaves you with a level 7 spell slot.

For an 8d8 Thunderwave maybe?

[MaxWilson]

Which leaves you with a level 7 spell slot.

For an 8d8 Thunderwave maybe?

7d8/round Spirit Guardians seems more likely, though Aid VII and Spiritual Weapon VII are also plausible.

[ImproperJustice]

7d8/round Spirit Guardians seems more likely, though Aid VII and Spiritual Weapon VII are also plausible.

Those are excellent.
Hold Person that nabs 6 targets at once is pretty good too, especially if you have some fellow heavy hitters to max those criticals.

Bottom line is that the multi-class spellcasting system with the ability to upcast spells is a really generous to players in 5e, making this kind of build viable long term.

[MaxWilson]

Those are excellent.
Hold Person that nabs 6 targets at once is pretty good too, especially if you have some fellow heavy hitters to max those criticals.

Bottom line is that the multi-class spellcasting system with the ability to upcast spells is a really generous to players in 5e, making this kind of build viable long term.

I mean, don't forget that we're talking about a 20th level character here. Being able to cast Spirit Guardians VII once a day for 7d8 (31) damage doesn't seem out of line when a regular Eldritch Knight 20 is doing a Polearm Master + GWM + Prodigy combo to shove prone (at +17 to Athletics) + attack eight times for 7d10+d4+160 (201) damage (at "only" +6 to hit but at advantage for a prone target) two times per short rest, and 3d10+d4+80 (99) every round all the rest of the time.

[Shadowbane13]

All this info has been really helpful. Thanks guys. I'm gonna play it by ear till approx 10/11 with the EK then most likely go tempest cleric for the remainder of the campaign. I'll have plenty of time to play with some spells. But I appreciate you guys straightening out my slight confusion.

[MaxWilson]

All this info has been really helpful. Thanks guys. I'm gonna play it by ear till approx 10/11 with the EK then most likely go tempest cleric for the remainder of the campaign. I'll have plenty of time to play with some spells. But I appreciate you guys straightening out my slight confusion.

Can I make a suggestion? Play up to level 7-8 with an Eldritch Knight, then switch to Tempest Cleric. If you find that you have some cool spells that you'd really like enemies to fail more often, THEN take EK 9-10 to get Eldritch Strike.

Either that, or just beeline straight for EK 11 for Extra Attack 2 if you'd rather use weapons than offensive spells.

The point though is that there's nothing exciting about levels 9 and 10 unless you already have good spells.