Favorite builds with three (or more) classes?

[Wasp]

Hi everyone!

I am currently thinking about creating an Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger/Artficer and struggling abit coming up with something that doesn't completely nerfs the character due to late or not gaining higher level class stuff. But this got me thinking about three class builds in general.

Therefore: Do you have any favorite multiclass builds with three or more classes? And do they work in play? Or should one just avoid doing this kind of multiclassing?

[Sorinth]

Not really sure what Arcane Trickster is bringing to your build. But my favourite 3 class build is Moon Druid/Monk/Barbarian. It's fun and comes online fairly early.

[quindraco]

Hi everyone!

I am currently thinking about creating an Arcane Trickster/Bladesinger/Artficer and struggling abit coming up with something that doesn't completely nerfs the character due to late or not gaining higher level class stuff. But this got me thinking about three class builds in general.

Therefore: Do you have any favorite multiclass builds with three or more classes? And do they work in play? Or should one just avoid doing this kind of multiclassing?

One of the most famous builds I know of is Battle Master 11 / Assassin 3 / Gloom Stalker 3, and you allocate the remaining three levels based on priorities for things like Pass Without Trace or more ASIs. It's not a personal favorite, but it's famous for its strong combat opener.

If you stick to below 20, so you don't have to give up Archdruid as you'd never have it anyway, Monk 1/Bladesinger 2/Moon Druid X is theoretically excellent. You only need enough Dex to legally be a Monk, and the rest can go into Int and Wis, for a truly obnoxious AC in wild shape form that doesn't rely on DM house rules for how the heck barding works and whether or not to allow a Druid access to the armor we know WOTC intended for them to be allowed to wear.

I don't have any personal favorites - I've never played a campaign at a high enough starting level to be worth triple-classing to me. Usually triple-class builds need longer to "come online" just because each class often offers an ability so character-defining the character can't function early. A great example is anything mixed with Artificer (Armorer), where the L3 ability changes the entire build so radically you often suddenly want to dump Dex to 8.

[nickl_2000]

Swarmkeeper Ranger 5/Shadow Monk 5+/Battlemaster Fighter 3 archer build

Sharpshooter for damage
2 attacks
Bow as a dedicated weapon
Teleport at will as a bonus action
Maneuvers (goading, pushing, precision)
Deflect missile is someone shoots at you
Good AC from Monk
Ki Dodge/Disengage when you are pinned down
Monk Ki pass without a trace, darkness, and darkvision
Focused Aim to help you hit with Ki while using sharpshooter, and when you do you get a bonus action attack with the bow.
Hunters Mark to help you do more damage
Some battlefield control with Swarmkeeper
Extra damage from Swarmkeeper.
Great Extra Movement from Ranger and Monk.
Spike Growth from Ranger with Swarmkeeper movement and Pushing Attack


There is a lot that can be gotten from this and you still only need to focus on Dex and Wisdom. You can drop your con lower since you aren't going to be spending a lot of time in combat.

[ff7hero]

I've had a lot of fun playing a Sorcerer1/Hexblade1/Lore BardX, with Ritual Caster (Wizard). Truly the king of at-will magic. 8+ cantrips at level 3, plus access to all those sweet sweet Wizard rituals. It's mostly a support build, but it can fill most roles adequately.

[Yukito01]

Not really sure what Arcane Trickster is bringing to your build. But my favourite 3 class build is Moon Druid/Monk/Barbarian. It's fun and comes online fairly early.

That druid/monk/barbarian sounds fun! Could you share the build? At what level it comes online? Thanks!

[Gignere]

I haven’t played it yet but I’m theorycrafting a “powder mage build” that would be my replacement character in the current campaign eventually 12 Battlemaster / 5 hexblade / 3 gloomstalker unfortunately for most part it plays like a straight fighter for 11 levels before multiclassing into hexblade and doesn’t even take a level of ranger until the last 3 levels. So may not be exactly what you are looking for.

[MrStabby]

One I am looking at is a Master of the Shadows themes build with monk 6, Twilight cleric 2, Gloomstalker 3 to start with. Then add levels as suits my whims.

One I have played and loved was gloom stalker 6, knowledge cleric 1, rogue 2 as a Vampire Hunter. Good scholarly skills from the cleric; good scouting skills from the rogue - a feeling for the divine from the cleric and the favoured enemy of undead to flesh out the character. It was a blast to play.

[Man_Over_Game]

The trick to making a good, multiclassed character is quite simple:

Pick Attack or Cast A Spell as your main action. That determines the rest of your build.

If you picked Cast A Spell, now pick a primary casting class. For any multiclassing from here, try to pick things that uses your main casting stat and benefits you while you're still using your Cast A Spell Action with spells from your main class. This means you're looking at things like Bardic Inspiration, increased AC, Quicken Spell, etc. Don't invest too much into those other classes, 80% of all of your class levels should be in one class.

If you picked the Attack Action, pick a martial class that has Extra Attack. That is the only class that should go past level 4 (unless you MC Rogue). From there, pick things that benefit you while you're using the Attack Action. Barbarian Rage, Sneak Attack, Bonus Action Spells, or even defensive spells that you can cast prior to spamming the Attack Action (if you're melee).

That's it. Follow those rules and you can make an effective MC character with pretty much class (except Monk, they're hard to MC correctly because of their limitations).

For instance, your character can go in either direction:


If you were to pick the Attack Action, you're taking 2 levels into Bladesinger, 1-2 levels of Artificer, and the rest into Arcane Trickster.
If you're going the casting option, you'd probably want to divide about 4 levels between Artificer and Rogue (whatever feels right for you) and put the rest into Bladesinger.

[Pex]

My barbarian.

Bear totem to level 8. It is all about strength for him. His goal was to be recognized as the strongest man in the world. He would eventually succeed in that. Because I went Shield Master feat route, by 8th level his offensive power began to wane in comparison to what we were fighting. I needed more, so I multiclassed Fighter for 4 levels. Dueling Style gave me a little damage boost, and I went Battle Master for the extra damage plus tactics. I did not take level 5 Fighter because it would be a dead level. Fighter 6 and above would be nice, but I could not stand getting nothing. Therefore, from character level 13 onward I went Rogue. I didn't even care about sneak attack. My main weapon was a long sword that had Campaign History. At this point it was more about tactics. I wanted Expertise in Athletics to continue the Strongest Man In The World theme as well as Acrobatics. Cunning Action gave me flexibility in combat. I went Thief so I could Use An Object as a bonus action, say disarm my opponent with Disarming Strike then toss the weapon far away but it also proved helpful in other situations. I could also Climb without losing speed furthering the idea of perfect physical fitness.

Eventually sneak attack would become significant to care about. I would acquire a magical short sword and can sneak attack whenever I want with Reckless Attack. Later levels proved great synergy. Uncanny Dodge stacks with rage resistance since it's a different named thing and not resistance anyway. When I take quarter damage from a critical hit, that's staying power. Evasion, better than what Shield Master brings, stacks with Bear Totem resistance because it's also a different named thing that's not resistance, again taking quarter damage on a failed saving throw. I do not die. We played from levels 3 to 20. I only dropped three times the entire campaign. The first was bad luck saving throw against a banshee. The second was a long slog of damage having to travel within a humongous gelatinous cube, but I didn't have to if the cleric didn't make a major clerical error. The cleric did a brilliant move of casting Wall of Fire that cleared a path where I wouldn't take damage, but then he made a dumb move 2 rounds later trying to gain glory by casting another Concentration spell against the BBEG of the fight, forcing me to take damage again. The third time I dropped the DM finally learned :smallbiggrin: he should be attacking me with psychic damage, cursed githyanki.

His weakness in Wisdom saves proved the need to take Resilient. His lack of archery prowess was a factor from time to time. The character was an absolute blast to play. The campaign is over now, and I miss playing him terribly.

[Wasp]

Oh I find this really interesting. Seems like 3 class builds that work may often be a late game thing when the other classes do not provide much anymore. Makes sense.

And to address the build idea that triggered this:

Not really sure what Arcane Trickster is bringing to your build.

This is coming from the idea to use a a rapier and hand crossbow at the same time, meaning it needs Crossbow Expert and at least Artificer 1 gor the repeating shot infusion. And in order to make enough damage I was thinking to get sneak attack from rogue and then have gfb/bb for the rapier attack.


The trick to making a good, multiclassed character is quite simple:

<snip>

That's it. Follow those rules and you can make an effective MC character with pretty much class (except Monk, they're hard to MC correctly because of their limitations).
Thank you for this guide, very much appreciated.


For instance, your character can go in either direction:


If you were to pick the Attack Action, you're taking 2 levels into Bladesinger, 1-2 levels of Artificer, and the rest into Arcane Trickster.
If you're going the casting option, you'd probably want to divide about 4 levels between Artificer and Rogue (whatever feels right for you) and put the rest into Bladesinger.

Thanks, I would be more interested in the Attack Action build (as stated above I would like to attack with Raper and Hand Crossbow at the same time). The question is if it would be worth it to take Artificer beyond the recommended 1 or 2 to 3 and get the Battle Smith INT feature to combine with blade song and go hard on INT with DEX second. But then You get the necessary feats way late... Ah well.

[Waazraath]

Fighter/ranger/cleric is fun!

This of course next to the obvious and sheer endless combination of the 4 charisma (half)casters Paladin/Sorcerer/Warlock/Bard (potentially 2 of these with a splash of Swashbuckler 3 for charisma to initiative). Not one specific favorite here, but the amount of synergy makes sure you can do a lot of stuff with these, and have fun making builds.

[MrStabby]

The trick to making a good, multiclassed character is quite simple:

Pick Attack or Cast A Spell as your main action. That determines the rest of your build.

If you picked Cast A Spell, now pick a primary casting class. For any multiclassing from here, try to pick things that uses your main casting stat and benefits you while you're still using your Cast A Spell Action with spells from your main class. This means you're looking at things like Bardic Inspiration, increased AC, Quicken Spell, etc. Don't invest too much into those other classes, 80% of all of your class levels should be in one class.

If you picked the Attack Action, pick a martial class that has Extra Attack. That is the only class that should go past level 4 (unless you MC Rogue). From there, pick things that benefit you while you're using the Attack Action. Barbarian Rage, Sneak Attack, Bonus Action Spells, or even defensive spells that you can cast prior to spamming the Attack Action (if you're melee).

That's it. Follow those rules and you can make an effective MC character with pretty much class (except Monk, they're hard to MC correctly because of their limitations).

For instance, your character can go in either direction:


If you were to pick the Attack Action, you're taking 2 levels into Bladesinger, 1-2 levels of Artificer, and the rest into Arcane Trickster.
If you're going the casting option, you'd probably want to divide about 4 levels between Artificer and Rogue (whatever feels right for you) and put the rest into Bladesinger.


I think that this is a good start, but there is more to it than this.

For a start, there is the passive side. A 1 level dip into cleric can give heavy armour, martial weapons some cool abilities and for many charaters a way to use concentration that otherwise may have been unused. I find a level of cleric very efective on rogues for example.

Then there is breadth of capability. Focusing on one action is usually good, but you miss other opportunities for powerful multiclasses if this is all you think about. Consider something like healing word - most turns it is useless, but when you need it it can be by far the most useful thing you can do to get someone back into the fight. With the afforementioned cleric dip you can bless, healing word, protection from evil and good on a character that is all about the attack action. The cleric thing is intended just as an example, there are plenty of other casting dips that bring something.

I think broadly, I would add that buff spells are worth adding to an MC build - in the OPs case it is less relavent as all classes use the same casting stat, but buff spells not needing a save or an attack roll makes them easy to add and spells like shield, bless, misty step etc. are both powerful and low level.

[Naanomi]

I had fun with a Warlock/Sorcerer/Fighter/Rogue 'eldritch sniper' character... Nova strike a ton of Eldritch Blasts from huge distances for big damage, be sneaky, have decent AC and a handful of utility spellpoints. I'd have to puzzle out what the build would look like with access to newer books

[Mork]

My charachters so far:

half elf Rogue1/knowledge cleric1/lore bard X - you get all the skills and 6 expertises. And a bard with a level of cleric gives you a bunch of buffing abilities and spells. Out of combat you are most usefull and comes online very quickly, in combat.. you help others. At level 8 you can throw fireballs so you can finally help deal damage.

wood elf - gloomstalker 5/twilight cleric1/assasin X - a bunch of skills, great sneaking and going through the darkness, getting you that first attack whenever possible, doing all criticals and an extra attack. First couple of levels you are just a ranger. I would put the twilight cleric at level 2, so you are slightly behind, but everyone darkvision, and advantage on initiative is cool. Starting level 4 lots of goodies start coming in. untill level 9, after that it's mostly more sneak attack.

half-orc bear totem barbarian8/champion 4/palladin x - I had 16/14/16/8/8/14 for stats, there were enough magic items in the campaign that I was reasonable certain that I could get belts of giant STR. GWM is obligatory. 19-20 crits, with advantage whenever you want it (19% change for a crit per attack), thats a lot of crits with smites with gives extra attacks themselves. Plays very much like a barbarian througout. (the way I went with the charachter it went 8barb/4fighter/4warmage/4palladin. The wizard was because my backstory basically came down to "I want to find a headband of intelect". but the reaction +4 on save has saved my beacon a couple of times, and extra spell slots is more smite.)

[Man_Over_Game]

Thanks, I would be more interested in the Attack Action build (as stated above I would like to attack with Raper and Hand Crossbow at the same time). The question is if it would be worth it to take Artificer beyond the recommended 1 or 2 to 3 and get the Battle Smith INT feature to combine with blade song and go hard on INT with DEX second. But then You get the necessary feats way late... Ah well.

It'd be necessary to go Artificer without Warcaster, since both hands would be too occupied for most spells, anyway.

And if you're already focusing on the attack action, your Intelligence is doing less than you think it does. Most of the spells you'll be using probably aren't going to be relying on your Intelligence all that much.

[Sorinth]

This is coming from the idea to use a a rapier and hand crossbow at the same time, meaning it needs Crossbow Expert and at least Artificer 1 gor the repeating shot infusion. And in order to make enough damage I was thinking to get sneak attack from rogue and then have gfb/bb for the rapier attack.

In this case I would probably go Artificer 3 then Bladesinger 6, then take your Rogue levels. But I don't think you'll really need the Rogue levels to keep up damage wise so personally I would probably just continue Bladesinger or Battle Smith if I wanted a better steel defender.

Anyways good luck.

[RogueJK]

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 5 or 6/Battle Master Fighter 3 (or 4 for ASI)/Phantom Rogue X - Haunted kiting striker with added Maneuver effects to further hamper your target. Works just as well (if not better) as a ranged attacker too. Also can be built as Barb3/Ftr6/RogX if you want the Fighter's extra ASI/Feat more than the Barbarian's Fast Movement and 2d6 Spirit Shield reaction.

Hexblade 1/Vengeance Paladin 6/Divine Soul Sorcerer X - CHA-SAD boss-killing smiter and buffer (especially good with PAM, utilizing Spear+Shield+Dueling)

Swarmkeeper Ranger 3 (or 4 for ASI)/Stars Druid 2/Arcana Cleric X - WIS-SAD caster and switch-hitter, utilizing Shillelagh + Booming Blade for melee, and Guiding Bolt or Arcana Cantrip + BA Archer Form for ranged, with added damage/effects to either option from Gathered Swarm. This one also works well in various combos of 2 classes: Swarmkeeper 3 or 4/Arcana Cleric X for Shillelagh+SCAGtrip melee (similar to Ludic Savant's Arcana Frontliner build, with added Swarm effect). Arcana Cleric 1/Stars Druid X or Stars Druid 2/Arcana Cleric X for ranged spell attacks. Swarmkeeper 5/Stars Druid X for archery + Archer form. Etc.

[Sorinth]

That druid/monk/barbarian sounds fun! Could you share the build? At what level it comes online? Thanks!

It comes online at level 4 where you'd be Druid 2/Monk 1/Barbarian 1. You are generally wildshaped into a Dire Wolf with a boosted AC, a BA unarmed attack, and Rage.

After that head to Druid 10 for elemental forms and then you choose between focusing on Monk or Barbarian the rest of the way. I generally prefer Monk (Long Death), but Barbarian works just as well as there certainly are some cool subclass abilities for Barbarian.

As a note it's very BA heavy build, so whenever you can try to be wildshaped before the battle (Usually by simply not reverting out of form at the end of battles and healing up the wildshaped form). Also check with your DM about whether Multiattack counts as taking the Attack Action. Not required but my build was a Beasthide shifter (Further muddies up the BA) but worked thematically.

[Menji]

Paladin6/Hexblade1/WarWizardX. Yuan-ti works really well, or any elf/half-elf if you want to crit fish with Elven Accuracy.

You'll never fail a save, but it's very MAD soo works better if you're rolling and roll well. Technically doable with a point buy though. Use wizard spells for which your save DC doesn't matter, or throw on some swords bard or sorcerer levels.

[Ettina]

I tried to make a build mimicking Jinx from League of Legends, and played a level 9 version of it in a one-shot and found it pretty effective.

Fighter (battlemaster) 4/rogue (scout) 3/artificer 2, starting with fighter. Vuman with Con and Int +1. We used 4d6 drop lowest for stats and I got Dex 18, Con 11, Int 15, Wis 8, Cha 13 and Str 11. (I would have assigned the stats differently if I was prioritizing optimization over mimicking Jinx, but Dex followed by Int should be highest regardless.) Feats gunner and sharpshooter. DM must allow firearms.

For fighter, I picked the archery fighting style, and parry, trip and snipe as maneuvers. When selecting maneuvers, pay careful attention to whether they say melee, ranged or just weapon attack, since this build is focused around ranged and tries to never be in melee.

For artificer infusions, I picked enhanced weapon and repeating shot. Her spells are mending, thorn whip, disguise self and entangle.

For gear, I got a rifle (called "Pow-Pow" - Jinx names all her weapons) which I enhanced, and put repeating shot on my grenade launcher ("Fishbones"). I also got a taser gun ("Zapper"). It's a super expensive loadout, though, so you might not be able to afford all of that unless the DM is generous. The items come from this modern magic handbook (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4jAv0Wgv9taMzRYc3ZFZzl4X28/view?resourcekey=0-Ve6xOmASxT9U0ppkImhMaw), which is homebrew, so you'd need DM approval, but I believe the build would work with a pistol, it'd just be lower damage. If you're using hand crossbows instead, I'd swap gunner for crossbow expert.

Use parry when you're stuck in melee, particularly as a replacement for disengaging so you can dash out of melee instead. With snipe and extra attack you can shoot three times in a round, one of the sneak attacking for 2d6 and one adding a d8 superiority dice. Pow-Pow does 2d8 + Dex + 1 from enhanced weapon, so you're hitting for 2d8 + 5, 3d8 + 5 and 2d8 + 2d6 + 5, for an average of 53.5 damage spread between up to three targets up to 100ft away (or 300ft with disadvantage). Or you could use Fishbones for AoE. Zapper can paralyze them, and this would be the only time I'd consider closing to melee, so you can shoot them in the head for an auto-crit (with advantage, since gunner negates disadvantage on ranged attacks in melee) - or you could stay out of melee and let an ally finish them off for you.

[elyktsorb]

I once played a character with 7 classes.

Warlock 2 (Hexblade), Wizard 1, Bard 1, Cleric (Knowledge) 1, Fighter 1, Rogue 1, and Sorcerer (Wild) 1.

I won't lie, this thing is pretty abysmal and is entirely flavor over mechanics. The entire point of the character is that he's a detective and he would basically learn classes as he focused on crime work.

Though I also made this dude before Xanathar's was even a thing so there's probably way more room to make this work now-a-days. I mostly took Wild Sorcerer for lulz. (Also completely forgetting that Wild Surges only proc off of Sorcerer Spells)

Dude's got 14 Cantrips which I think is just hilarious.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

I still like my paladin (vengeance) 6, Hexblade 1, sorcerer (divine soul) 6(or maybe it was 5?) bard (whispers) 6

Great nova, very fun to crit fish with, very high survivability.

Was a half drow with an oath to destroy the drow believing in Loth.

[XmonkTad]

I've seen a few Sorc/Pal/Hexblade mixes already, and considering how strong the Sorcadin in general is, having a smattering of hexblade just makes it all that much better. Although if I were doing the split I would make it something like Hexblade 9/Paladin 2/Divine Sorc 9. Since Eldritch Smite can be used at the same time as Divine Smite you can get some pretty nasty nova coming from the two short-rest recharging 5th level spell slots Warlock 9 gives.


Otherwise I love the flavor of a Death Cleric 6/Undead Warlock 6/Conquest Paladin 8. Your necrotic damage is penetrates resistances, lets you roll extra dice, and when you hit someone you can lock them down with fear thanks to conquest paladin.

[BoutsofInsanity]

Rogue 3 (Assassin or Scout) - Expertise in Perception and Stealth

Monk 6 (Shadow)

Ranger at least 3 (Gloomstalker)

The rest of the build is up to whether you want more Ranger or more Monk. You have made essentially, an excellent flanking, scout, assassin switch hitter. The only two feats I recommend are Observant and Sharpshooter.

You have so many options for any scenario.

Stunning Fist
Wisdom to initiative
Extra Attack
Archery Fighting style
Umbral Sight
Cunning Action
Pass without Trace
Shadow Teleport
Darkvision
Hunter's Mark
Short and Long rest abilities


You have a mix of d10/d8 hit dice, melee abilities from Monk that allow for hunter's mark interactions, long range options, teleports, party support, scouting, traditional rogue skills, insane perception and stealth rolls etc.

You may not be able to smoke someone in a straight fight. But that's not why you are there. If the DM is allowing terrain, distance, scouting, and a more free form adventure where you can approach enemies sideways, this is the ultimate combination.

[RogueJK]

How about the triple-class of Battle Smith Artificer 3/Bladesinger Wizard 6/Eldritch Knight Fighter 11

Eventually gets 4x attacks per turn (or 7x attacks per turn with Action Surge). Uses INT for attack and damage on an upcast 5th level Shadow Blade (4d8+5 psychic each) plus Booming Blade (another 3d8 thunder plus rider damage), for a potential total of 19d8+20 damage per turn if all 4 attacks hit. (Or 31d8+35 with Action Surge.)

While it's likely more ideal for a high level one shot, it has relatively smooth progression through the levels. Start Artificer 3 for CON save proficiency and INT-based attack/damage ASAP. Then rely on Booming Blade's added damage to keep up while going for Bladesinger 6, getting Shadow Blade online at Level 6, and eventually Attack+Booming Blade online at Level 9. Then Eldritch Knight from there with a third Bonus Action attack coming online at Level 16, and a fourth attack coming online at Level 20 (just like a straight-classed Fighter would).

This build doesn't necessarily have to utilize Bladesong, so could wear medium/heavy armor and even use a shield if you want. Or use a Greatsword with Great Weapon Master instead of Shadow Blade for almost the same damage output of 8d6+3d8+60 damage if all four attacks hit (or 14d6+3d8+105 with Action Surge), and spend your Concentration and spell slots on something else.


Also works as an Arcane Trickster 3/Bladesinger Wizard 6/Eldritch Knight 11, trading INT-SAD attack/damage for another 2d6 Sneak Attack per turn. (But this route, medium/heavy armor or Greatsword/GWM aren't really an option.) Start Fighter 1, then go Bladesinger 6, then Eldritch Knight 11, and take the Arcane Trickster levels either after Bladesinger 6 or after EK 11. If you wait on the AT levels until the very end, you can actually get the 4th attack online at Level 17, three levels before a straight-classed Fighter. Again, likely works better for a high level one-shot, but still workable through lower level progression if needed.

[Dork_Forge]

How about the triple-class of Battle Smith Artificer 3/Bladesinger Wizard 6/Eldritch Knight Fighter 11

Eventually gets 4x attacks per turn (or 7x attacks per turn with Action Surge). Uses INT for attack and damage on an upcast 5th level Shadow Blade (4d8+5 psychic each) plus Booming Blade (another 3d8 thunder plus rider damage), for a potential total of 19d8+20 damage per turn if all 4 attacks hit. (Or 31d8+35 with Action Surge.)

While it's likely more ideal for a high level one shot, it has relatively smooth progression through the levels. Start Artificer 3 for CON save proficiency and INT-based attack/damage ASAP. Then rely on Booming Blade's added damage to keep up while going for Bladesinger 6, getting Shadow Blade online at Level 6, and eventually Attack+Booming Blade online at Level 9. Then Eldritch Knight from there with a third Bonus Action attack coming online at Level 16, and a fourth attack coming online at Level 20 (just like a straight-classed Fighter would).

This build doesn't necessarily have to utilize Bladesong, so could wear medium/heavy armor and even use a shield if you want. Or use a Greatsword with Great Weapon Master instead of Shadow Blade for almost the same damage output of 8d6+3d8+60 damage if all four attacks hit (or 14d6+3d8+105 with Action Surge), and spend your Concentration and spell slots on something else.


Also works as an Arcane Trickster 3/Bladesinger Wizard 6/Eldritch Knight 11, trading INT-SAD attack/damage for another 2d6 Sneak Attack per turn. (But this route, medium/heavy armor or Greatsword/GWM aren't really an option.) Start Fighter 1, then go Bladesinger 6, then Eldritch Knight 11, and take the Arcane Trickster levels either after Bladesinger 6 or after EK 11. If you wait on the AT levels until the very end, you can actually get the 4th attack online at Level 17, three levels before a straight-classed Fighter. Again, likely works better for a high level one-shot, but still workable through lower level progression if needed.

Is it actually confirmed that you can combine Bladesinger and Fighter Extra Attacks? It very much seems like a choose one or the other kind of situation since they're both called Extra Attack but with different text.

You didn't factor in the Steel Defender from the look of it, so you could actually be getting bonus action damage straight from 3rd level along with a +1 weapon.

[sambojin]

Moon Druid 2/ Monk 1/ War Cleric 2/ Druid X

Started at lvl3, so I was an overpowered beast at the beginning. The War cleric levels were kind of an afterthought, though Bless, the occasional extra attack, and the +10to-hit per short rest were very nice. Just more whacky things to do in wildshape and having them stick reliably. And we did feel reliably overpowered, even with just this stuff helping out. No level-up ever felt completed dead/ wasted (there was a bit of downtime/RP for lvl4 and 6, which was used in the "why have I gotten better at stuff" sense. That DM usually tries to give in-world opportunities for your reasons for character progression, which was really fun), it just felt kind-of slow in the "I can do heaps of stuff already, these are just bonuses to that" way, but that's essentially Moon druids with any build anyway.

The slower spellcasting progression didn't really feel too bad due to Druid's huge variety of good lvl2 spells that I got at lvl6, although waiting until lvl9 for CR2 beasts was very noticeable (because the build is an amazing restrainer at that point). Only went to lvl10, so getting lvl4 spells as a "campaign capstone" was still plenty powerful, and I could upcast to lvl5 slots for Conjure Animals as well. Having two sets of spells prepared helped make it not feel too boring magic-wise at earlier levels, even though they were all lvl1, and it gave me a great selection at character lvl6.

Didn't really miss elemental forms, Moons are powerful enough for this level range anyway, especially with the more reliable to-hit. Was pre-Tasha's, so it would have been a tiny bit more flexible these days, and had earlier summoning too. Never got flying forms either, which was a bummer, but it also wasn't necessary in the adventure (we had a Wizard in the party anyway, which helped lead me down the "can you pump wildshape for proper combat?" route in the first place. You can, but it's not as good as actual martial characters). Conjure Animals covered a lot near the end of the campaign on that front anyway.

Probably would have been better with just one/two classes, but it was never awful. Probably should have gone straight to Moon 3/4/5/6, then started messing around with multiclassing, but I wasn't sure if the campaign would go the distance. Moon druids aren't a great example, because they're so front loaded and already have so many options, but because of this it's hard to feel like you're truly off-the-curve when you decide to mess around with slightly unoptimized concepts.

The DM did let me wear metal armour in caster-form as a "divine right" at lvl5 (War 2), but I didn't really start caster forming a lot until lvl7-8, it was just prep work for wildshape before then. I wasn't as experienced at 5e back then, and I actually rate Moons as third or fourth on the power-list of Druid subclasses these days, while still enjoying playing them immensely. Didn't have the joys of Firbolg'ing or even telepathy from my racials, so I really was a wildshape munchkin, but it was fun to see how +AC and better to-hit worked on a Moon chassis. It worked ok, but more druid levels would have probably been better than War 2, and Monk 1 just gives one/two things, but AC is always good to have. Was a v.human with Alert at creation, and just went +2Wis at lvl7 (18Wis), so it still felt fine, but kind of slow on ASIs (but quick-as on initiative :))

Party was me, a BM fighter, an AT Rogue and a Div Wizard. So there was a ridiculous amount of combat synergy and magic floating around each session, which made my character feel way better as well. My restrains/ charges/ trips worked great for the other martials, their manoeuvres/-5+10's and mage hands and stabs worked great for me, my buff magic/ summoning/ DoTs/ wildshapes and the wizard's all-the-magics/ rerolls covered virtually all the bases on the "how shall we approach this situation?" end of things, and being a bless/guidance/heal bot could cover a huge amount of skill/ resist/ HP/ combat things for us in combat/ skill-monkeying/ long-day-sustain too. It was just as much of a party composition thing that made the build feel great, as it was on the build actually being truly good at any particular level. It wasn't, but it mixed into the party really well.

Probably wasn't that much different than @Sorinth's druid/monk/barb build, with a tad more magic and shenanigans, and my DM didn't let me martial arts for BA attacks in wildshape (at all, not even on non-multiattacks. Would have been a grapple-monster if he did). Worked in a fair few different forms though (could do ranged BA attacks wis-mod times per day, and we did have dinos in the world that I'd seen pre-adventure. Pirate background ftw!).

[5eNeedsDarksun]

One of the most famous builds I know of is Battle Master 11 / Assassin 3 / Gloom Stalker 3, and you allocate the remaining three levels based on priorities for things like Pass Without Trace or more ASIs. It's not a personal favorite, but it's famous for its strong combat opener.

If you stick to below 20, so you don't have to give up Archdruid as you'd never have it anyway, Monk 1/Bladesinger 2/Moon Druid X is theoretically excellent. You only need enough Dex to legally be a Monk, and the rest can go into Int and Wis, for a truly obnoxious AC in wild shape form that doesn't rely on DM house rules for how the heck barding works and whether or not to allow a Druid access to the armor we know WOTC intended for them to be allowed to wear.

I don't have any personal favorites - I've never played a campaign at a high enough starting level to be worth triple-classing to me. Usually triple-class builds need longer to "come online" just because each class often offers an ability so character-defining the character can't function early. A great example is anything mixed with Artificer (Armorer), where the L3 ability changes the entire build so radically you often suddenly want to dump Dex to 8.

Not surprised it only took a couple of responses here to get the Gloomstalker/Ftr/Rogue suggestion. Does anyone play a single classed ranger into tier 3? I played Gloomstalker 9/Battlemaster 4/ Assassin 3. Would have kept going with Assassin levels if we hadn't killed Tiamat and finished the campaign. Gloomstalker 9 was good to get the 3rd level spells.

[Menji]

Is it actually confirmed that you can combine Bladesinger and Fighter Extra Attacks? It very much seems like a choose one or the other kind of situation since they're both called Extra Attack but with different text.

You didn't factor in the Steel Defender from the look of it, so you could actually be getting bonus action damage straight from 3rd level along with a +1 weapon.

They don't stack.

[jojosskul]

I just came up with my first triple class build that I might actually want to play. I've been trying to optimize the fact that Clockwork Soul Sorcerers can get Armor of Agathys, meaning you can now get access to it as an Abjuration Wizard without hurting spell slot progression or using Mark of Warding Dwarf (which no DM I play with will allow unless it's an eberron campaign, and we don't play eberron.

The triple class comes in because you can't, RAW, swap one of your Clockwork Spells if your first level is Clockwork Soul. So, instead of taking two levels of Clockwork Soul before going into Abjuration Wizard, you start with Artificer 1 instead. That lets you keep con saves, pick up armor/shield, get a prepared spell list to pick, and doesn't hurt your spell slot progression. And since most of your high level spell slots are used on Armor of Agathys, the delay in spell level progression doesn't hurt as much. Take Clockwork Soul for level 2 to swap into Armor of Agathys, then all Abjuration Wizard from there. You get a lot more from the one level of artificer in this build than from the 2nd level of Clockwork Soul.

TL:DR: Artificer 1/Clockwork Soul 1/Abjuration Wizard X, in that order. Take warcaster to be threatening with your Op attacks, perhaps eldritch adept for Armor of Shadows at some point for easy Arcane Ward refills.

There are alternative versions of this where you just start wizard using Custom Race/VHuman and take Warcaster, trusting that to cover you for concentration checks. Second level Clockwork Soul, then all wizard. Or, if your DM is benevolent and lets you swap a spell at level one, just start Clockwork Soul and go wizard from there.

All three options have their upsides, but since I've never done one before I am actually leaning towards the triple class option.

[Nerdguy88]

Artificer/Warlock/Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard/Cleric/Paladin

Talk your DM into being cool with a mizzium apparatus and have a decently high arcana check. You now have access to pretty much every spell in the game at all times.

[Draz74]

One of my playtest builds is a "ranger" who doesn't actually get levels in the Ranger Class until Level 12.

Final build: Scout Rogue 6 / Battle Smith Artificer 9 / Gloom Stalker Ranger 5.

In order:
Rogue 1 / Artificer 1-7 / Rogue 2-4 / Ranger 1-4 / Rogue 5-6 / Ranger 5 / Artificer 8-9.

[quindraco]

The triple class comes in because you can't, RAW, swap one of your Clockwork Spells if your first level is Clockwork Soul.

You can, unless your DM is deliberately misreading the rules. You gain every level you gain, including your first one.

[quindraco]

Artificer/Warlock/Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard/Cleric/Paladin

Talk your DM into being cool with a mizzium apparatus and have a decently high arcana check. You now have access to pretty much every spell in the game at all times.

That's unnecessary - spell lists already have a lot of overlap (once you have Cleric, Druid, and Wizard, you have Artificer - taking it adds nothing). Also, just as you left out Ranger, some spell lists aren't worth the trouble - Sorcerer's Chaos Bolt is hot garbage (although you might want metamagic), and the Ranger spells you can pick up all require you to land a weapon strike (which you're bad at) or suck.

I made a mizzium apparatuse based build once, and I can assure you there's no good way to include Paladin in the mess, partially because you need Druid 2 to make the whole thing work at a credible level. I settled on this:

Racial stats: Int, Wis, and Con (swapping Con for Cha will let you pick up Cha casters), Vedalken for +1d4 to Arcana.
Background: Rakdos Cultist
Class: Stars Druid 2/Peace Cleric 1 (you can do a Knowledge cleric instead, but you can get Expertise from a feat, unlike +1d4 from Emboldening Bond)/Scribes Wizard 14/any 3 levels you want (I ended up grabbing Artificer for medium armor proficiency and proficiency in Con saves, because 1 level of Artificer gets you full slot progression, which is all this build needs - your spells "known" is infinite provided you can pass the check)

Stars Druid + Intelligence 16 + Expertise + Vedalken guarantees you will pass the Arcana check for even your highest level slots from levels 2 (not 1, since you have no access to Stars Druid) to 14, so you have plenty of time to invest in Int. Assuming you get it up to 20 in a credible timeframe, the only level where you need any help passing is 1, and you do have access to Guidance, of course. You can also easily have access to the Emboldening Bond for another consumable +1d4.

Scribes Wizard is for permanent advantage on Arcana checks, so you can more reliably cast while your Starry Form isn't on tap. If your DM lets your familiar grant this, you don't need Scribes wizard, but I have no idea how common it is for DMs to allow that. Intelligence-based casting at all is because you need Int anyway for the skillcheck, so it makes a lot of sense. If there's some other hoop your DM will allow for permanent advantage on Arcana checks - maybe a Primal Companion, since they're proficient in Arcana - jumping through that hoop might be better than Scribes Wizard.

You end up missing a total of 33 spells, most of which you won't miss - don't forget, the MA doesn't fix your casting stat, so you still cast your prepared Cleric and Druid spells with Wisdom, so spreading yourself thin is challenging. If you grab Dexterity rather than Constitution, you can sweep in a bunch of Ranger spells (you only need a 1-dip for the spells to be on your spell list), and if you go Charisma, you can sweep in mostly Warlock spells that you're missing.

Int/Cha/Con is much harder, mostly because there's no Charisma equivalent to the Stars Druid - Eloquence Bards get Reliable on the wrong skills for our purpose here.

[Keravath]

Paladin 6/ Warlock 1 or 2 or 3/ Sorcerer X is another that can be fun to play though at early levels (until 6) it is usually played as primarily a paladin so won't have that multiclass flavour until later (though some folks take a level of hexblade at level 1 or 2 to use cha for attack rolls).

[Gtdead]

Swords Bard-Assassin- BM Fighter-Paladin

Upcast shadowblade, add flourishes, BM dice and smites, actionsurge on a surprise round and deal a trillion damage. It does okish even without surprise though. And it's a bard for the most part (12 levels total) so it's playable from level 1.
Pick GWM because it adds a bonus action attack on crit. Also steelwind strike is ridiculous with assassin on a surprise round. Fairly high level build, comes online in T3.

[kaervaak]

Artificer/Warlock/Druid/Sorcerer/Wizard/Cleric/Paladin

Talk your DM into being cool with a mizzium apparatus and have a decently high arcana check. You now have access to pretty much every spell in the game at all times.

How about the Dragon Form Omni-Caster? It requires a mizzium apparatus and enables you to cast any spell from the wizard, cleric, and druid spell lists.

Stars Druid 2/ Knowledge Cleric 1/ Wizard X

At level 20 with Dragon form, +5 Int, and expertise in arcana, the lowest you can roll on an arcana check is 21. This lets you auto-succeed on Mizzium checks to cast 5th level or lower spells. Make your race a Vedalkin or Mark of Making Dragonmarked Human and you're up to 22, guaranteeing success on 6th level spells.

[Mordecai]

As a veteran player among new-to-D&D friends attempting Curse of Strahd, I prioritized the ability to intervene on behalf of an isolated party member. Wound up finding a beautiful 4-class. Eldritch Knight (to max of 5), Arcane Trickster (to max of 3), Diviner 3, Forge Cleric for everything else. Tons of utility, able to put down single targets picking on party members at range out to 600. Crazy number of cantrips. (I was actually stuck as a trickster cleric in the campaign, but that’s because Forge Cleric hadn’t yet come out….)

[Kane0]

Therefore: Do you have any favorite multiclass builds with three or more classes? And do they work in play? Or should one just avoid doing this kind of multiclassing?

EK 7+, then dip into Warlock for 2 or more then finish with Rogue. Use a bow as your primary until you get EB and the associated invocations then you can EB + Bowshot.

Yeah its ridiculous but its also perfectly functional as long as you have average dex and good cha.

For tier 1 you're a standard dex fighter, EK doesnt need since you can pick up things like magic missile, shield, absorb elements and utility spells. Middling Dex hurts a little but at low levels it doesnt sting too badly, archery style offsets it and you have ASIs to boost it or pick up additional feats if you rolled well or minmaxed. You can also pick up a shield and tank for you party when needed free of charge.

Warlock gives you a great cantrip to pair with your EK combo, short rest spell slots and whatever other gravy on top from patron (there are some awesome options)

Then after that rogue gives you sneak attack for steady damage boosts, expertise, a get out of jail card with cunning action and whatever else you get from subclass.

Its not a powerhouse because your bonus action os so cluttered, but its respectable damage output, great for having a big toolbox and the ability to multirole in a party.