Multiclass Casters that prepare from a list - how does this work?

[Monster Manuel]

Hi, all.

From looking through the Captain Cantrip thread from earlier, I was putting together a cantrip-heavy caster as an intellectual exercise, and realized that I'm not clear on how all this works.

Let's say, for sake of example, that I'm building a variant human Sorc 1/War 3/Clr 16.

*note: I know there are multifarious reasons NOT to do it this way. Just bear with me*

So, calculating spell slots, the Warlock levels don't count towards the total, but you add the levels in Sorc and Clr together (because both are full casters) and compare to the multiclass spell slot table. This would put the character at level 17 spell slots. This gives our example guy a 9th level slot. They only get to learn the spells of a lvl 1 sorcerer, but they could upcast any of their 1st level sorcerer spells all the way as high as that 9th level slot. Right so far?

What gets me is how to address the cleric levels and spells. My initial understanding is that the 20th level character, who is also a 16th level cleric, could only prepare up to 8th level spells off of the cleric spell list because that's all the cleric levels they have (with the ability to upcast something into that 9th level slot).

Re-reading the rules about how a cleric prepares spells, though, I'm not sure that's the case. The cleric description of how to prepare your cleric spells says "The spells must be for levels in which you have spell slots". It never says that your level limits the Cleric spells you can prepare, just the slots.

So, now I'm thinking that Exemplar the Impractical COULD prepare a 9th level cleric spell. He does have a 9th level spell slot, and it doesn't say anywhere that the slot has to come from the cleric class (I don't see how it could, since the multiclass rules don't make a distinction about the source of the spell slots, you just have 'em). It's different for casters that have to Learn spells (sorc, bard, ranger), but for classes that prepare from the entire spell list, it seems to me that they can prepare anything up to their highest multiclass slot.

Is this right? Is there an errata that I'm missing that clarifies/fixes this?

Let me know what your experience with this has been.

Thanks,

[Man_Over_Game]

You're missing this, Multiclassing rules, 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."

[Monster Manuel]

You're missing this, Multiclassing rules, 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."

Yes, there is that. That's why I initially thought he would be limited to 8th level spells, as a 16th level cleric would be. I think that's how it SHOULD be.

But, a single-classed cleric prepares spells based on their available spell slots. And this character has a 9th level spell slot.

Are we saying that the line that was quoted means that the total spell slots that you get from multiclassing don't apply to spell preparation? I wish it were clearer. I was hoping maybe there was errata or something that spelled it out more straightforwardly.

The classes were written and balanced without multiclassing in mind. Also, the rule is "specific supersedes generic". So, while the generic rule for clerics is that they prepare spells based on the highest spell slot they have available, the specific rule for multiclassing, that they only count their cleric levels, overrides it.

I think I'm good. Thanks.

[Man_Over_Game]

Yes, there is that. That's why I initially thought he would be limited to 8th level spells, as a 16th level cleric would be. I think that's how it SHOULD be.

But, a single-classed cleric prepares spells based on their available spell slots. And this character has a 9th level spell slot.

Are we saying that the line that was quoted means that the total spell slots that you get from multiclassing don't apply to spell preparation? I wish it were clearer. I was hoping maybe there was errata or something that spelled it out more straightforwardly.

The classes were written and balanced without multiclassing in mind. Also, the rule is "specific supersedes generic". So, while the generic rule for clerics is that they prepare spells based on the highest spell slot they have available, the specific rule for multiclassing, that they only count their cleric levels, overrides it.

I think I'm good. Thanks.

No problem! Yours was the same order of thinking that mine was:

Cleric says they base their spells off of spell slots, but the spell slots being considered are changed because of multiclassing, and there are explicit rules on how to determine prepared spells when multiclassing is involved. Since the Cleric doesn't require multiclassing, but the multiclassing rules do, it's better to obey the more explicit multiclassing rules than the Cleric rules.