Multi-Class Spellcasting

[AnthonyKuch]

I have a question about general multi-class spellcasting. On p.165 of the Player's Handbook it states: "Once you have the spellcasting feature from more than one class, use the rules below". Then on p.166 it has a nice big Spell Slot table showing how many spell slots you have to use. Here's what I'm curious about. Let's say you level as follows: 1 level cleric, 1 level druid, 8 levels fighter. Because you have the 1 level of cleric and 1 level of druid, you now have access to the nice big multi-class spell table. So now you're level 10 and have access to four 1st level spells, three 2nd level spells, three 3rd level spells, three 4th level spells, and two 5th level spells. Now of course you only have access to 1st level spells because you only have 1 level of cleric and 1 level of druid, but you have 15 spell slots to cast spells like "healing word", "bless", "guiding bolt", and "entangle", in not only 1st level spell slots but 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th.
To me that seems like an amazing option for a fighter who normally wouldn't have access to much spellcasting. Am I reading the rules correctly? Am I breaking the game?

[Tanarii]

Reread the paragraph on what to do if you have he Spellcasting feature. (Not meant to be insulting I'm AFB and can't quote it word for word.)

It says, roughly:
- add up all whole levels of classes that gain spells at a 1-1 ratio (Clerics, Druids, Bard, Wizards, Sorcerers)
- 1/2 the levels of Paladins & Rangers
- 1/3 the levels of Eldritch Knight Fighters (only) and Arcane Tricker Rogues (only).
- Round down before adding the fractional levels
- reference the table

Edit: I guess I should be specific
- ignore levels of classes that don't have the Spellcasting class feature (Barbarians, Monks, non-EK Fighters, non-AT Rogues, Warlocks)

[AnthonyKuch]

[QUOTE=Tanarii;23780382]
It says, roughly:
- add up all whole levels of classes that gain spells at a 1-1 ratio (Clerics, Druids, Bard, Wizards, Sorcerers)
- 1/2 the levels of Paladins & Rangers
- 1/3 the levels of Eldritch Knight Fighters (only) and Arcane Tricker Rogues (only).
- Round down before adding the fractional levels
- reference the table



That makes WAY more sense. I was thinking it was much too overpowered. I've only been playing D&D for 2 months so I'm very new. But I've multiclassed already for role-playing reasons. I'm currently level 5: Cleric 3/Ranger 2. I have a WIS/DEX build because I'm somewhat trying to recreate a character I made in a different online (MMORPG) video game. It's good to know how many spell slots I should actually have. I count as a level 4 spellcaster. Many thanks Tanarii!

[Chronos]

Also note that you count your spells known and spells prepared separately for all of your classes, as if you only had those levels.

To put it all together: You have as many spell slots as a 4th-level cleric would have, because you have three levels of cleric casting, and two half-levels of ranger casting.

As a 2nd-level ranger, you know two spells from the ranger list. Since a Ranger 2 can only cast 1st-level spells, those spells have to be 1st-level spells.

As a 3rd-level cleric, each day you get to choose 3+wis spells (probably about 6), plus the first two lines of your domain spell list. Since a 3rd-level cleric can cast 1st and 2nd level spells, those spells you choose can be any combination of 1st and 2nd level.

As long as you have any spell slots left, you can use them to cast any of those available spells of the spell slot's level or lower. If you cast a lower-level spell in a higher-level slot, then it might have an improved effect (more damage, more targets, longer duration, etc.), or it might not, depending on the individual spell. This is important, because...

If you were to take another level of cleric, you'd now have the spell slots of a 5th-level caster, which would include 3rd level spell slots. But you still wouldn't have any 3rd level spells available, because neither a Ranger 2 nor a Cleric 4 has any 3rd-level slots, so you can't prepare/learn any 3rd-level spells. So the only thing you'd be able to use those 3rd-level spell slots for is casting lower-level spells. So you probably want to make sure that some of the spells you pick do benefit from being upcast.