Most ridiculous multiclass?

[ChaseC311]

Ok, so basically I've been thinking to myself about NPC ideas for a campaign I might start up, and one of the ideas that has lingered in my head is as follows:

A young YuanTi woman who's been afflicted with an ancient curse destined to cut her life short. Until then, she has decided to wonder the realms as a traveling vagabond, selling off any magical trinkets she finds as she makes the most out of her life.

Essentially she'll be the magic item salesman. And to incorporate her "Live life to the fullest" attitude, I wanted to make her a multiclass. But not just a 2/3 class dip, no no no, I want to find out what would be the most cohesive multiclass combination that combines as many *spellcasting* classes as possible. And I figured I'd ask around to see what the community would come up with, if it's possible to even have a cohesive multiclass between like 8 classes. I thought it'd be more interesting than just making her a bard/warlock. If any of you guys have ideas, I'd love to hear them!

[OldTrees1]

Does Knowledge Cleric 1 / Arcane Trickster X / Lore Bard Y count? Probably not, that is just a magical rogue with a thematically appropriate spell list.

[Bobthewizard]

I would never recommend this as a PC, but for an NPC it could be interesting if she could cast almost all of the first level spells. Since she's an NPC you don't have to worry about pulling your weight so she can be well behind the power curve.

13's in Int, Wis, and Cha. Dump Str, 12 Dex and the rest in CON. I'd stick to just the full casters since that will definitely give you the flavor you want. Take just enough in each class to get the subclasses.

Bard - lore
Cleric - knowledge
Druid - moon, because why not
Sorcerer - aberrant mind for telepathy
Warlock - archfey for the charm, take to level 2 for misty visions and mask of many faces
Wizard - I'd go conjuration for minor conjuration, or transmutation for minor alchemy, either could be useful for a merchant.

So let's say cleric 1, sorcerer 1, wizard 2, druid 2, warlock 2, lore bard x

[elyktsorb]

if it's possible to even have a cohesive multiclass between like 8 classes


Well due to cantrip scaling as long as your primary casting stat for your main attacking cantrip is decent you'll be fine enough.

I did a 7 class multiclass one time. The idea was this character was a detective that sort of just took classes as they learned about certain cases.

As far as spellcasting classes go, just max your CHA because Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock all use it as opposed to Cleric and Druid with WIS, and Wizard with INT. Then you just need bare minimum stats to multiclass, just make you spell selection based on having your CHA spells dealing damage or causing saves, while the others are either buffs or debuffs.

[Melphizard]

I'm going to frame this question in the sense of "how crazy can I theme this?"

Imo I think she could be Eloquence bard 14, Alchemist Artificer 3, Zealot Barbarian 3 let me explain the methodology starting from left.

Eloquence Bard 14: Being an Eloquence bard makes one the master of deception and persuasion, perfect tools for a trader. She can masterfully sell her wares for the best GP or convince onlookers that they don't just want her trident of fish command, they NEED it! Additionally, it lets her learn 2 spells that will help us later :smallcool:.

Alchemist Artificer 3: Being an Artificer shall allow her to know the tools of the trade for magic item crafting and as an Alchemist she has the added benefit to be able to make some potions.... though she may not know what they do either.

Zealot Barbarian 3: You may be wondering why this subclass I would add to such a straightforward character. This seems out of character you may say! However, Zealot Barbarians have an interesting ability to make resurrection spells such as Raise Dead have no material cost when cast on you..... ohhhh boy. So let's say for instance that she was too near death one day and needs a way to not. With her 14th level magical secrets she is prepared as has the spell Contingency set up with the spell Raise Dead.

The funny thing about Raise Dead is that unlike every other resurrection spell it has no restrictions on being used on those who've simply died of being elderly. Thus here is my, or rather, her theory. If she is ever to die of old age or to whatever other means she can have a Contingency with Raise Dead each day. As a Zealot Barbarian, she can ignore the gold cost to cast the spell every day, allowing a practically infinite uptime for Contingency assuming she casts it each night.

In summary, she is a traveling merchant with a silver tongue who can create magic items and potions with ease. Though she knows the curse upon her has shortened her life span she has laid the cards for her final gamble with Tempus, ensuring that if she is to die, maybe, just maybe, the curse will vanish with her and that when she steps out of Tempuss' halls, she can live her life free of its burden.

That or it doesn't work and then I don't know what happens. At least to say that's my idea for a ridiculous multiclass to circumnavigate her approaching death. 14th level Bard and 3rd level Zealot Barbarian is required for this concept but if you have friends with you that know Raise Dead then you can just stick to 3rd level Zealot and X whatever you want.

[Grod_The_Giant]

And I figured I'd ask around to see what the community would come up with, if it's possible to even have a cohesive multiclass between like 8 classes.
Honestly, as long as you have a good Charisma and at least two levels of Warlock, the rest of your build can be as dumb as possible and you'll be fine-- Agonizing Blast is just that good, especially with a couple Hexes added to the mix. A third level for Pact of the Tome, Shillelagh, and Booming Blade/Green Flame Blade gets you a vaguely acceptable melee attack too, if you want it. You'll play something like a Rogue, without much in the way of spike damage but a solid, consistent "attack" action that's always worth using.

From a dip perspective, then, I think what you're looking for is the minimum level you need to get key interesting class features. Mix-and-match to your pleasure.

Artificer: Infusions are nifty, especially the Homunculus. It's not much more fragile for you than for a full-class Artificer, and Force Strike is a useful bonus-action attack that doesn't care about class level at all. 2 levels are plenty, but if you want to invest the third, Armorer and Artillerist both have their uses-- the former lets you rock full plate without needing Strength, while the latter lets you upgrade your homunculus to the marginally punchier Eldritch Cannon.
Barbarian: Probably the least useful dip. You're not going to get a solid weapon attack without five levels of a martial class, so Rage and Reckless Attack aren't that useful, and if you're doing nothing but dips you won't have the ASIs to make Unarmored Defense useful either.
Bard: One level for Bardic Inspiration, or two for Jack of All Trades. I don't think any of the subclasses are worth sticking around for, except possible College of Eloquence-- and that more because it's crazy powerful than because it's fun.
Cleric: One level is enough to get you domain abilities and always-useful spells like Bless and Healing Word. Not really worth going beyond that, I don't think, although the Harness Divine Power option in Tasha's does give you a way to regain higher-level spell slots.
Druid: Two levels for Wild Shape. Too cool to pass up. I'd probably go for Circle of the Moon to expand my options on that, but the Shepherd's Hawk Spirit is useful regardless of level, and Stars and Wildfire both give you another solid bonus-action-spell-attack option (the former requiring Wisdom, while the latter is going to be pretty fragile).
Fighter: Action Surge looks like a nice way to get some spike damage when you need it, but Quicken Spell will probably serve you better in the long run. Just take one level for a fighting style.
Monk: Might actually be less useful for an Eldritch Blast dabbler than Barbarian--you're not going to be making weapon attacks anyway, and you'd probably prefer a high Con (and a shield!) over Wis.
Paladin: Two levels is the standard, but you're not going to get much use out of Smite without the weapon attacks you're not using. One level for Divine Sense isn't bad; two probably isn't worth it unless you took that third Warlock level and find yourself piling up high-level spell slots from caster multiclassing.
Ranger: With the Tasha's alternate class features, one level is actually decent. Favored Foe is a decent fill-in for when you don't want to waste a spell slot, and Canny gives you an Expertise. The subclasses mostly aren't that exciting... except for Swarmkeeper. Gathered Swarm isn't limited to weapon attacks, which means it plays nicely with Eldritch Blast, and moving yourself/your target/an object with swarming nature spirits is a pretty unique and nifty bit of magic to have up your sleeve.
Rogue: Two levels are great, and mean you'll always have a use for your bonus action; three levels lets you add the Arcane Trickster's mage hand shenanigans, but I'd probably stick with two.
Sorcerer: I mean, Sorlocks are a thing for a reason. Three levels for Quicken Spell is real tempting, and gives you all the spike damage potential you could ask for. Divine Soul and Shadow Magic are probably the top two subclass choices for their "save-your-ass-when-it-counts" features, but Wild Magic sure does suit the sort of dedicated dabbler you're describing.
Warlock: You're taking two levels for Eldritch Blast, obviously. As for your patron... Hexblade is hard to argue with, since it gives you an extra Hex-equivalent/short rest and the ability to make accurate weapon attacks, and things like Great Old One for telepathy are classic, but I'd urge you to consider Genie. Genie's Wrath is (proficiency) bonus damage every turn, all day long, no questions asked, and Bottled Respite is just... I took a Genie Warlock 1 dip recently, and I've gotten so much use out of having a completely secure interdimensional storage area/refuge.
Wizard: Probably worth two levels, given the power of subclass abilities like Portent and Minor Conjuration. Minor Conjuration/Alchemy are flavorful as hell, too.

In conclusion? Hexblade Warlock 2/Divine Soul Sorcerer 3/Paladin 2/Artificer 3 probably wins for power, but for sheer "lots of tricks"-ness, I'd go Genie Tome Warlock 3/Moon Druid 2/Swarmkeeper Ranger 3/Conjuration Wizard 2.

[RogueJK]

Here's what I came up with for a build that combines all of the full casters:

Divine Soul Sorcerer 5/Bladesinger 6/Hexblade 2/Eloquence Bard 4/Peace Cleric 1/Stars Druid 2
Yuan-Ti Pureblood with Point Buy stats of:
STR 8
DEX 13
CON 13
INT 13+1
WIS 13
CHA 14+2
ASIs: +1 DEX/CON, +2 CHA, +2 CHA
CHA-based melee: Attack plus Booming Blade Extra Attack, all boosted with upcast 5/7/9 Spirit Shroud or upcast 4/5/6/7/8/9 Spirit Guardians + Bonus Action upcast 4/6/8 Spiritual Weapon
CHA-based ranged: Agonizing Eldritch Blast + Quickened Agonizing Eldritch Blast, all boosted with Hex

You can use Emboldening Bond and Dragon Form as further non-concentration buffs during combat.

Also happens to be a gifted speaker, with 20 CHA, Expertise, and Silver Tongue combining to give them a minimum of 27 on all Persuasion/Deception checks.

[Theodoxus]

Zealot Barbarian 3: You may be wondering why this subclass I would add to such a straightforward character. This seems out of character you may say! However, Zealot Barbarians have an interesting ability to make resurrection spells such as Raise Dead have no material cost when cast on you..... ohhhh boy. So let's say for instance that she was too near death one day and needs a way to not. With her 14th level magical secrets she is prepared as has the spell Contingency set up with the spell Raise Dead.

The funny thing about Raise Dead is that unlike every other resurrection spell it has no restrictions on being used on those who've simply died of being elderly. Thus here is my, or rather, her theory. If she is ever to die of old age or to whatever other means she can have a Contingency with Raise Dead each day. As a Zealot Barbarian, she can ignore the gold cost to cast the spell every day, allowing a practically infinite uptime for Contingency assuming she casts it each night.

Sadly, Contingency requires the spell that is contingenced to have a casting time of 1 action, and raise dead requires an hour... But otherwise, this would be nifty. Too bad revivify has that note about old age...

[Bphill561]

There are certainly a number of multi-classed builds focused on Mizzium Apparatus letting you cast spells from many different classes. Since she is an NPC, I would be tempted by something like Arcane Trickster 12 with 7 levels split between druid/cleric/wizard/bard leaving 1 level left for a martial or artificer level. With reliable talent, expertise in Knowledge Arcane, and high Int you should be able to cast any 6th level spell letting her make anything she wants.

You could go the other way and make her paranoid to stave off "accidents" to live as long as possible until she figures out her affliction. Something like undead warlock 10 (reduced aging), War wiz 2 (better saves), etc. Take the hermit background to give her a hint to where to start to unravel the curse.

My DM is pushing my 3 class character into 4 or 5. Instead of Revived Rogue 17/ Undying Light Warlock 2/ Knowledge cleric 1; I am looking at 12 Revived Rogue level with 4 levels of Spirit bard and 1 level of something else added to the above. You could have her gain glimpses of all lineages past lives and how the curse effected it.

[8wGremlin]

I did something similar for a game, trying to keep a level or 2 only, this was the chassis

Custom Linage (small, proficiency, +2 Cha, feat: telekinetic(cha) ) give 18 cha, 14 in Wis and Int.
Twilight Cleric 1 > Undead Warlock 2 > Wyldfire Druid 2 > Divine Soul Sorcerer 2

it's fun and effective, with a lot to offer. (basic chassis here - https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/8wGremlin/characters/57466276 ) I'd possibly head into Wizard (either Scribe, or War) for 2 levels.

you could swap the Int to Dex and wear medium armour, to keep the weight down, in combat you casting Eldritch blast and upcast magic missiles etc. you have a tonne of healing and versatility.

=== Features you get ===

Eyes of NightTCoE, pg. 34
You have darkvision out to a range of 300 feet. As an action, you can share this darkvision with up to 2 willing creatures you can see within 10 ft. of you, lasting for 1 hour. Once you share it, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to share it again.

You gain proficiency with martial weapons and heavy armor.

Eyes of Night TCoE, pg. 34
You have darkvision out to a range of 300 feet. As an action, you can share this darkvision with up to 2 willing creatures you can see within 10 ft. of you, lasting for 1 hour. Once you share it, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend a spell slot of any level to share it again.
Eyes of Night: 1 Action

Vigilant Blessing TCoE, pg. 35
As an action, you give one creature you touch (including possibly yourself) advantage on the next initiative roll the creature makes. This benefit ends immediately after the roll or if you use this feature again.
Vigilant Blessing: 1 Action

Wild Companion TCoE, pg. 35
As an action, you can expend a use of your Wild Shape feature to cast the find familiar spell, without material components.
When you cast the spell in this way, the familiar is a fey instead of a beast, and the familiar disappears after 1 hours.

Wild Shape PHB, pg. 66
As an action, you can magically assume the shape of a beast that you have seen before twice per short rest.
You can stay in beast shape for 1 hours before reverting back to your normal form (or as a bonus action earlier or if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die).

Wild Shape: 1 Action

Summon Wildfire Spirit TCoE, pg. 40 (depending upon you weight, this can carry you aloft!)
As an action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon your wildfire spirit, rather than assuming a beast form. Each creature within 10 ft. of the spirit (other than you) when it appears must succeed on a DEX saving throw (DC:13) or take 2d6 fire damage.

Summon Wildfire Spirit: 1 Action
Summon Wildfire Spirit: Command: 1 Bonus Action

Divine Soul
Divine MagicXGtE, pg. 50
You can learn or replace a sorcerer cantrip or a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher from the cleric spell list or the sorcerer spell list. You also learn an additional spell based on your chosen affinity.
Law Bless(1st)

Favored by the GodsXGtE, pg. 50
Once per short rest, if you fail a saving throw or miss with an attack roll, you can roll 2d4 and add it to the total, possibly changing the outcome.

Font of Magic PHB, pg. 101
You have 2 sorcery points that you regain when you finish a long rest. You can use your sorcery points to gain additional spell slots or sacrifice spell slots to gain additional sorcery points as a bonus action.
Convert Sorcery Points: 1 Bonus Action

The Undead
Form of Dread VRGtR, pg. 30
As a bonus action, you can transform to manifest an aspect of your patron’s dread. For 1 minute you gain the following benefits:
- You gain temp HP equal to 1d10+2.
- Once on each of your turns, if you hit a creature you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 15). On a fail, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
- You are immune to the frightened condition.
You can use this 3 per long rest.

Form of Dread: Transform: 1 Bonus Action


Eldritch Invocations PHB, pg. 107
You learn fragments of forbidden knowledge that imbue you with an abiding magical ability.

Agonizing Blast PHB110
When you cast eldritch blast, add +4 to the damage it deals on a hit. (+7 to hit, 1d10+4 force damage, 2 shots)

Small
Proficiency in one skill of your choice. (perception)

Telekinetic (Charisma) TCoE, pg. 81
You learn the mage hand spell and can make this mage hand invisible. You can also attempt to shove a creature with your mind.

Telekinetic - Shove: 1 Bonus Action
Mage Hand(Cantrip)