Ranger-Cleric Multiclass

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey Playgrounders,

I need some help. I have a 5-player party, consisting of a Beastmaster Ranger, Lore Bard, Fiend Warlock, Storm Barbarian, and Moon Druid. They are all level 3.

The Ranger player is considering multiclassing into cleric due to story. I have no problems there, but are there any mechanical issues I ought to be aware of? I'm looking to avoid a disappointed player. The god they're interested in is Wee Jas (from LudicSavant's excellent remix). Any suggestions as to domains?

[RogueJK]

The main issue with Multiclassing from Ranger is the delay to getting Ranger's Extra Attack. Martial Characters want/need to get to Extra Attack ASAP, while casters want/need to get to 3rd Level spells ASAP, for game balance reasons. (There's a noticeably bump in player combat ability at that point, and monster scaling takes that into account.)

But if they're just dipping 1 level of Cleric before continuing to Ranger 5, it's not that big of a delay and will hardly be noticeable. Ranger 3 -> Ranger 3/Cleric 1 -> Ranger 5/Cleric 1 is fine. I'd be more hesitant to go Ranger 3/Cleric X, as that would mean at Levels 5, 6, and 7 you'd have neither Extra Attack nor higher level spellcasting, and would likely feel underpowered.

In addition, with a Beastmaster specifically, you would want to stick to Ranger levels with just a 1 level Cleric dip. Otherwise, your Companion would suffer due to low HP.

I played a Ranger/Cleric to good effect in a prior campaign. I went Ranger1/Cleric 1 -> Ranger 5/Cleric 1 -> Ranger 5/Cleric 6 when the campaign ended, but that was with a Gloomstalker Ranger and Nature Cleric, so no issues with hampering a Beast Companion's HP. It's was a nice way to have a more melee-focused divine caster, with a good blend of spellcasting ability and martial ability. Probably not optimal in Tiers 3 and 4, but fun for Tiers 1 and 2.


As for Domain, for Wee Jas specifically, Arcana, Death, or Grave would seem to be appropriate flavor-wise. (But if he's going for pure optimization, neither of those are the best options mechanically.)

[nickl_2000]

There is also the issue of the Ranger being a beastmaster. The beast companion is going to be severely weakened by this multi-class.

[RogueJK]

There is also the issue of the Ranger being a beastmaster. The beast companion is going to be severely weakened by this multi-class.

Actually not. The only thing that scales with Ranger level on a Beast Companion is their Hit Points. Everything else scales with Proficiency Bonus, which goes up no matter what class you advance in. So a 1 level dip into Cleric won't put it that far behind... Just 4-5 HP less than otherwise, with every other stat being the same.

The only other impactful delay could be the 1 level delay to making your Companion's attacks count as magical at Ranger 7, if you're facing a lot of enemies with resistance to non-magical damage.


I wouldn't do the Ranger 5/Cleric X split with a Beastmaster, like you could with something like a Hunter or Gloomstalker Ranger who focuses on boosting martial ability, but Cleric 1/Ranger X would work just fine with Beastmaster.

[nickl_2000]

Actually not. With Tasha's, the only thing that scales with Ranger level on a Beast Companion is their Hit Points. Every else scales with Proficiency Bonus. So a 1 level dip into Cleric won't put it that far behind... Just 5 HP less than otherwise.

If it's a 1 level dip, then yes you are completely right. I guess I read the OP as the person was going full Cleric from this point onwards, if that is the case that HP loss is substantial.

[Gtdead]

Mechanically he doesn't get anything meaningful for combat. I guess level 1 cleric spells are always a nice addition and if you run a very social campaign, a dip into Knowledge cleric is fine. There are better levels for such a dip but ranger's high point is lvl 5. At most it will become lvl 6. It could help a bit if you told us the subclasses of the ranger and the dip, so perhaps we can find some synergy there.

If he aims to take more cleric levels, he should wait at least till ranger 5 and then multiclass to his heart's content.

Edit: I was focused on the last paragraph of the OP and missed that the ranger is beastmaster, ignore this post, it's wrong.

[RogueJK]

Mechanically he doesn't get anything meaningful for combat.

He potentially could, even with a 1 level dip. Something like Warding Flare from Light Cleric, or Forge's +1 weapon or armor, or Peace Domain's Emboldening Bond could all be useful in combat, and will be especially meaningful at lower levels when dipping early.

Additionally, Cleric Cantrips (as well as Wizard or Druid Cantrips from Arcana, Death, or Nature) can also do meaningful things in combat, provided he has the WIS to take advantage of it. Especially on something like a STR/WIS-focused melee Ranger who needs a decent ranged attack option besides thrown weapon.


And other domains give you useful out of combat stuff, even with just a 1 level dip, like Twilight, Trickery, or Knowledge.



It could help a bit if you told us the subclasses of the ranger

He stated it's a Beastmaster.


If he aims to take more cleric levels, he should wait at least till ranger 5 and then multiclass to his heart's content.

While that's true of the more martial-focused Rangers like Gloomstalker/Hunter/etc. who only really need 5 levels of Ranger to glean maximum benefit before switching to something totally different, it's not true for Beastmaster (or Drakewarden), who needs Ranger levels to keep Companion HP scaling. 1 or 2 levels in another class wouldn't hurt that much, but being stuck at 30 HP for the remainder of the campaign by totally stopping at Ranger 5 would be quite noticeable as you move into higher levels.

[Selrahc]

Hey Playgrounders,
The Ranger player is considering multiclassing into cleric due to story. I have no problems there, but are there any mechanical issues I ought to be aware of? I'm looking to avoid a disappointed player. The god they're interested in is Wee Jas (from LudicSavant's excellent remix). Any suggestions as to domains?

I think it's worth noting, a multiclass isn't the only way to mechanically represent a deepening connection to their deity.
If they're going to be doing this at level 4 then another way to represent dabbling into cleric is to take the magic initiate feat (Cleric). Or the ritual caster feat (Cleric).

[RogueJK]

Thinking more outside the box, if the player is dead-set on switching exclusively to Cleric from here on out instead of just a 1 level dip, and the idea of a Ranger/Cleric of Wee Jas with an animal companion seems appropriate to you, you could always throw them a bone... For example, have Wee Jas grant them the ability to expend a use of their Channel Divinity to imbue the Beast Companion with 5*Cleric Level Temp HP plus make their attacks magical, for something like 1 hour at a time.

That would allow the companion's HP and magical attack to scale at a moderate cost, while still allowing for Cleric progression. I don't see that breaking things, especially since Beastmaster is a bit weak anyway, and they'd still probably feel a little bit of a lag in power from Levels 5-7 since they'd have neither Extra Attack nor higher level Cleric spells yet.

You said it was for story reasons, so I see no reason to overly hamstring a character who's playing into the story. Mechanically it wouldn't be optimized, even with the Cleric level scaling buff, but I also don't think it would feel totally underpowered either.

[Sparky McDibben]

Thanks, all. This is a new player and she's pretty excited about her Ranger. She, somewhat ironically, doesn't use her beast very often, so the hp loss won't be crippling. However, I do like the idea of an "epic boon" sort of fix to this, making the beast's XP scale off character rather than Ranger levels. Any other great ideas rattling around out there?

By the way, solid mechanical advice on the breakpoints in the build. I really appreciate it!