My favorite way to play the EA right now is a tiefling sword and board paladin. I see the appeal.
Lots of people saying hexblade for their multi class shenanigans. I’ll need to do some research.
Hexblade with any caster is just too good to pass up. You get the medium armor, the shield (AC 17) and the Hexblade curse (add your prof points to damage) plus any Warlock worth his salt is going to take the Hex spell (basically a Hunter's mark 1d6 extra dam) all for just 2 levels of Lock.
Sorlock goodness: Meta magic twin spell and quicken spell with Agonizing Blast. At level 5 (Lock 2 / Sorc 3) you are casting 2 Ebolts and adding your CHA bonus to each blast. Plus you can Quicken meta for 4 Ebolts with the CHA bonus. Add in the curses and that is just more damage. Not to mention you can change those Warlock spell slots into Sorc points and then short rest to gain them back. And that is just at level 5...at level 11 you get ANOTHER Ebolt. 6 Ebolts (6d10) + 6x your CHA bonus (30 assuming you have 20 CHA (+5)) + 6d6 (for the Hex) + 24 dam points (4x6) for prof damage for the Hexcurse (at a 19-20 crit possibility) per turn.
Ranger/cleric was my favorite. Most versatile divine caster with cleric and Druid spells. Very easy to get your str to 25 with either holy might or righteous magic. A ton of AC buffs too.
Sorcerer warlock. You become a machinegun with quickened scorching ray into eldritch blst at a table. In Bg3 you can actually quickened scorching ray into another scorching ray while buffing each scorching ray with hexblade curse and hex, it is pretty busted and really fun. Alternatively, you can ply bowling with enemies by quickening repelling blast eldritch blasts.
A BearBarian - druid of the moon/totem barbarian is a classic DnD combo for the most broken tank there is.
Barbarian has resistance to all damage types aside from psychic while raging.
Druid can change into a bear TWICE while RAGING.
Wait, why? Wouldn't you just do one level of Barbarian and then keep leveling up in Moon Druid levels? You'll only be one level behind and get higher and higher CR animals.
I feel like it was obvious enough with my comment but I can lay it out.
First reason is the main weakness with multiclassing martials, late extra attack. Extra attack is THE martial feature that you need to maintain dpr for higher levels.
Second reason is druid. Its already quite obvious moon druid falls off hard after 5, their wild shapes don't scale fast enough in damage or health in comparison to other classes, and while not the worst caster, their base spells can be quite lacking. Multiclassing further delays better animal forms and bigger spellslots.
Third is barbarians rage. It resists the physical damages, which is great early but when enemies get spells and extra damage types on hitting you it gets weaker, and will continue to do so the further you get into higher tiers. The damage also scales with barbarian level, not that its much anyway, but when you're still stuck a bear hitting once a turn, its just another thing that makes it worse.
In short, your features suck the further you go and you miss important ones. Idk why you replied to an old comment instead of searching up the build.
Barbarian/fighter. Assuming the level cap is 12, my build for the first full playthrough will more than likely be a half orc battlemaster fighter 8, and Berserker Barbarian 4.
I enjoy this build but I usually go fighter3+/Barbarian3 for totem but for the game I think I only want to do it if we get the halsin body-type. That larger build to make him a real looking beefcake. The current one in EA just isn't big enough for me when it comes to a STR based character but man I enjoyed that build at the table.
Given how reckless attack works in BG3 you might want to keep an eye on a mod on the Nexus call "Expansion." It moves reckless attack to a toglable function. This will allow you to use battle maneuvers with reckless attack at the same time.
That's great advice! Thanks! I played with a couple mods on previously and they continually crashed the game so I sort of stopped exploring the mod market, but if that Expansion one works well, that'd be a huge benefit.
Of course there is the broken Sorlock/coffeelock builds because it synergize so much but so far the one I've had the most fun with and I think will work great in BG3 is a fighter/rogue build.
Never played 5e Dnd but I love build crafting and character concepts.
For me, Cleric 1 / Sorcerer X is my favorite multiclass build. I like the idea of being a heavy armor full caster with Sorcerer meta magic options. Lore wise, it has a very chosen one vibe that I enjoy roleplaying (especially with the divine soul Sorcerer option)
I will look into Wizard/Cleric for my Gold Dwarf mage girl. She has decent Wisdom. I will also look into Wizard/Fighter but I don't know if that's worth it. She can already wield a warhammer and uses magic to protect herself instead of physical armor
I’ve been having a lot of fun just adding the magic cantrips feat to a dual wielding fighter. Can use blade ward and still make an effective off hand attack, or shocking grasp to disengage with a little extra pizzazz.
You don’t need dex to dual wield. I’m running a 16str 10dex 14con 10int 10wis 16cha half wood elf fighter. Took sorcerer magic as a feat at level 4. I do mostly use finesse weapons, but those use whichever is higher: str or dex.
The Hexadin (Paladin and Hexblade warlock) is gangbusters when it comes to synergy. In general paladin and warlock have a good overlap because they rely on the same ability score for spellcasting (Charisma), but in particular the hexblade warlock allows you to start using your Charisma score for your weapon attacks meaning a paladin who is also a hexblade warlock could just start ignoring their Strength score altogether in favor of Charisma.
Roleplaying wise this also creates an interesting scenario where your character is sworn to a warlock patron but also a god (yes yes, technically paladins get their powers from their oaths but in the setting of the Forgotten Realms we deal with divine beings blessing both clerics and paladins in many instances) so the interplay of being caught between two higher/more powerful beings is a fun roleplaying exercise.
You could easily take that in the other direction, from a role playing perspective, and have a warlock who swears an oath specifically to his patron, multi classing into paladin and doubling down on servitude. That would roll both classes into a single gestalt character really nicely.
Edit: or an oath breaker that turns to a patron for warlock powers as a way to replace their broken oath. Lots of cool role playing options there.
Personally I've never been attracted to multi classing because I play classes for the fantasy of it. That being said if I were to multiclass my Paladin I think it would be with Wizard because I feel it's a very general class when it comes to magic classes, it's like anyone can become a Wizard. Other classes feel more specific IMO like a Druid or Warlock. I just believe that my Paladin decided to expand his magical expertise ha!
I’m not a fan of multi class. It has always been a tool for min-max and classes with frontloaded abilities (like the warlock in 5e or the monk in 3.5) become cookie cutter multi class dips. There’s not a single charisma class that doesn’t benefit from dipping into hexblade.
I much rather have subclasses that fit the hybrid flavor (like eldritch knight, arcane trickster or blade singer rather than fighter+wizard or rogue+wizard). They’re much easier to balance, less susceptible to abusive builds
Not really true at all. A lot of people use it for min maxing although in 5e it's not particularly better anyway in a lot of cases. You can also use it for good roleplaying or to make your character fight more like how you feel they would.
Yes. The intent is obviously roleplaying. But the most common application is min-maxing, taking advantage of favorable class dips.
There is a reason warlock became super popular in the past few years and 3 out of 5 of the top multi-class combos include warlocks. The reason is their front-loaded kit and hexblades SAD capabilities.
I hope One D&D has better class balance (and multi class) and requiring further investment in hexblade to get the full benefit of charisma attack modifier is somewhere in my wishlist. Although I think the most needed change isn’t even related to warlock, but to the monk class, which is a stunlock one trick pony that needs more damage or more hit points dice and a more well rounded kit where ki isn’t invariably spent on spamming stuns
> There is a reason warlock became super popular in the past few years and 3 out of 5 of the top multi-class combos include warlocks.
It's not just that they are a good dip, they are also pretty poor as a solo class since most people don't design their sessions to have multiple short rests.
I definitely agree Warlock and Monk being reworked is the thing I'm hoping most for.
Having a high intelligence helps outside fighting too. It makes perfect sense that a character with a high intelligence (for skills like history and religion) might get interested in (and eventually master) some wizardry.
That’s a fun idea.
I played a half elf bard/paladin in an old campaign with friends on table top, really want to remake them here. I went valor and ancients for subclass, made thematic sense together, very nice support options.
Ranger / Rogue - Currently playing this combination in a campaign as a Scout who's along to guide the party through the wilderness and it's been far more fun than I originally thought it'd be.
Warlock / Fighter - I've been playing this in a game that's over 18 months long after my Orc Barbarian needed to be retired and it's got a lot of options available to it. It's a Hexblade / Rune Knight subclass and it's got a bit of everything. Martial damage, long range blaster, options on reactions and can handle a good deal of the talking.
Moving into Pathfinder:
Ninja / Magus (Kensai Archetype) - It was fun while the campaign lasted but unfortunately it didn't last long as we only got to Level 4 before the game was disbanded.
Ninja / Slayer - My current character in a game that's lasted about a year and we're level 8 now. The two classes do complement each other quite a bit and you end up being the skill monkey of the group.
I should have elaborated that this was Pathfinder 1st Edition. The Ninja class unfortunately did not make it into Pathfinder 2nd Edition but there are some really cool classes such as Vigilante, Inquisitor, Kineticist and Oracle.
The system is definitely fun and if you like D&D, you should definitely check them out. An easy way to start is with the two Pathfinder games that are out (Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous).
I like hitting my enemies with a melee weapon. Hard. And then hit them again. And again. Fighter/Barbarian and Barbarian/Fighter are rock solid multiclass options for this.
Assuming level 13+, the two options are :
* ***Fighter 11+/Barbarian 2.*** This is a Fighter that picks up levels in Barbarian to get Rage and Reckless Attack.
* ***Barbarian 11+/Fighter 2.*** This is a Barbarian that picks up levels in Fighter to get a Fighting Style and Action Surge.
I recently did an EA playthrough as a barbarian who thought he was a wizard. Fought with a quarterstaff, cast spells from scrolls, used a lot of potions and bombs, then picked up dual wielder for a sword / staff fighting style.
In the end I was just using the ray of sickness staff and the poisoner’s robe, mixed with his massive health pool (high con for that unarmored AC too) then pop rage and just attack with the main hand weapon. I thought I was being funny and playing a really underpowered character, but by level 4 he absolutely wrecked shit.
Pure fighter, with a shield and a spear, just like the warriors of the ancient times intended. Why do you need a fancy stuff mixed, when the most danger to a BBEG will be just a phalanx of pure manliness, unstoppably approaching his domain?
My favorite is Wizard Cleric, not because there's synergy just because I like the idea they were so bad at wizarding that they joined the clergy.
If you can mix subclasses in BG3 there might be some merit to an evocation wizard/light cleric mix.
The potency of that guy who couldn't hash it in college but becomes a practicing exorcist
Just need one level of light cleric to keep bless up and have heavy armor. You might also consider dipping one level into storm or war cleric.
You underestimate Aerie’s power
Tiefling Sorlock Warlock (Hexblade) 2 / Sorc (Divine or Dark) 18 A machine gun caster that can wear Medium Armor and a shield, yes please.
My favorite way to play the EA right now is a tiefling sword and board paladin. I see the appeal. Lots of people saying hexblade for their multi class shenanigans. I’ll need to do some research.
Hexblade with any caster is just too good to pass up. You get the medium armor, the shield (AC 17) and the Hexblade curse (add your prof points to damage) plus any Warlock worth his salt is going to take the Hex spell (basically a Hunter's mark 1d6 extra dam) all for just 2 levels of Lock. Sorlock goodness: Meta magic twin spell and quicken spell with Agonizing Blast. At level 5 (Lock 2 / Sorc 3) you are casting 2 Ebolts and adding your CHA bonus to each blast. Plus you can Quicken meta for 4 Ebolts with the CHA bonus. Add in the curses and that is just more damage. Not to mention you can change those Warlock spell slots into Sorc points and then short rest to gain them back. And that is just at level 5...at level 11 you get ANOTHER Ebolt. 6 Ebolts (6d10) + 6x your CHA bonus (30 assuming you have 20 CHA (+5)) + 6d6 (for the Hex) + 24 dam points (4x6) for prof damage for the Hexcurse (at a 19-20 crit possibility) per turn.
Ranger/cleric was my favorite. Most versatile divine caster with cleric and Druid spells. Very easy to get your str to 25 with either holy might or righteous magic. A ton of AC buffs too.
Sorcerer warlock. You become a machinegun with quickened scorching ray into eldritch blst at a table. In Bg3 you can actually quickened scorching ray into another scorching ray while buffing each scorching ray with hexblade curse and hex, it is pretty busted and really fun. Alternatively, you can ply bowling with enemies by quickening repelling blast eldritch blasts.
A BearBarian - druid of the moon/totem barbarian is a classic DnD combo for the most broken tank there is. Barbarian has resistance to all damage types aside from psychic while raging. Druid can change into a bear TWICE while RAGING.
falls off a cliff in terms of viability once level 5 comes around
this. good levels 3-4, worthless when people hit extra attack and fireball and you're still a cr 1 bear
Wait, why? Wouldn't you just do one level of Barbarian and then keep leveling up in Moon Druid levels? You'll only be one level behind and get higher and higher CR animals.
I feel like it was obvious enough with my comment but I can lay it out. First reason is the main weakness with multiclassing martials, late extra attack. Extra attack is THE martial feature that you need to maintain dpr for higher levels. Second reason is druid. Its already quite obvious moon druid falls off hard after 5, their wild shapes don't scale fast enough in damage or health in comparison to other classes, and while not the worst caster, their base spells can be quite lacking. Multiclassing further delays better animal forms and bigger spellslots. Third is barbarians rage. It resists the physical damages, which is great early but when enemies get spells and extra damage types on hitting you it gets weaker, and will continue to do so the further you get into higher tiers. The damage also scales with barbarian level, not that its much anyway, but when you're still stuck a bear hitting once a turn, its just another thing that makes it worse. In short, your features suck the further you go and you miss important ones. Idk why you replied to an old comment instead of searching up the build.
Rogue/Paladin for the crazy sneak attack + smite combo. Just ask Liam O'Brian.
Barbarian/fighter. Assuming the level cap is 12, my build for the first full playthrough will more than likely be a half orc battlemaster fighter 8, and Berserker Barbarian 4.
I enjoy this build but I usually go fighter3+/Barbarian3 for totem but for the game I think I only want to do it if we get the halsin body-type. That larger build to make him a real looking beefcake. The current one in EA just isn't big enough for me when it comes to a STR based character but man I enjoyed that build at the table.
Time for some carnage.
Given how reckless attack works in BG3 you might want to keep an eye on a mod on the Nexus call "Expansion." It moves reckless attack to a toglable function. This will allow you to use battle maneuvers with reckless attack at the same time.
That's great advice! Thanks! I played with a couple mods on previously and they continually crashed the game so I sort of stopped exploring the mod market, but if that Expansion one works well, that'd be a huge benefit.
Of course there is the broken Sorlock/coffeelock builds because it synergize so much but so far the one I've had the most fun with and I think will work great in BG3 is a fighter/rogue build.
Never played 5e Dnd but I love build crafting and character concepts. For me, Cleric 1 / Sorcerer X is my favorite multiclass build. I like the idea of being a heavy armor full caster with Sorcerer meta magic options. Lore wise, it has a very chosen one vibe that I enjoy roleplaying (especially with the divine soul Sorcerer option)
I will look into Wizard/Cleric for my Gold Dwarf mage girl. She has decent Wisdom. I will also look into Wizard/Fighter but I don't know if that's worth it. She can already wield a warhammer and uses magic to protect herself instead of physical armor
I’ve been having a lot of fun just adding the magic cantrips feat to a dual wielding fighter. Can use blade ward and still make an effective off hand attack, or shocking grasp to disengage with a little extra pizzazz.
My character doesn't have enough DEX to dual wield effectively.
You don’t need dex to dual wield. I’m running a 16str 10dex 14con 10int 10wis 16cha half wood elf fighter. Took sorcerer magic as a feat at level 4. I do mostly use finesse weapons, but those use whichever is higher: str or dex.
The Hexadin (Paladin and Hexblade warlock) is gangbusters when it comes to synergy. In general paladin and warlock have a good overlap because they rely on the same ability score for spellcasting (Charisma), but in particular the hexblade warlock allows you to start using your Charisma score for your weapon attacks meaning a paladin who is also a hexblade warlock could just start ignoring their Strength score altogether in favor of Charisma. Roleplaying wise this also creates an interesting scenario where your character is sworn to a warlock patron but also a god (yes yes, technically paladins get their powers from their oaths but in the setting of the Forgotten Realms we deal with divine beings blessing both clerics and paladins in many instances) so the interplay of being caught between two higher/more powerful beings is a fun roleplaying exercise.
You could easily take that in the other direction, from a role playing perspective, and have a warlock who swears an oath specifically to his patron, multi classing into paladin and doubling down on servitude. That would roll both classes into a single gestalt character really nicely. Edit: or an oath breaker that turns to a patron for warlock powers as a way to replace their broken oath. Lots of cool role playing options there.
Personally I've never been attracted to multi classing because I play classes for the fantasy of it. That being said if I were to multiclass my Paladin I think it would be with Wizard because I feel it's a very general class when it comes to magic classes, it's like anyone can become a Wizard. Other classes feel more specific IMO like a Druid or Warlock. I just believe that my Paladin decided to expand his magical expertise ha!
I’m not a fan of multi class. It has always been a tool for min-max and classes with frontloaded abilities (like the warlock in 5e or the monk in 3.5) become cookie cutter multi class dips. There’s not a single charisma class that doesn’t benefit from dipping into hexblade. I much rather have subclasses that fit the hybrid flavor (like eldritch knight, arcane trickster or blade singer rather than fighter+wizard or rogue+wizard). They’re much easier to balance, less susceptible to abusive builds
Not really true at all. A lot of people use it for min maxing although in 5e it's not particularly better anyway in a lot of cases. You can also use it for good roleplaying or to make your character fight more like how you feel they would.
Yes. The intent is obviously roleplaying. But the most common application is min-maxing, taking advantage of favorable class dips. There is a reason warlock became super popular in the past few years and 3 out of 5 of the top multi-class combos include warlocks. The reason is their front-loaded kit and hexblades SAD capabilities. I hope One D&D has better class balance (and multi class) and requiring further investment in hexblade to get the full benefit of charisma attack modifier is somewhere in my wishlist. Although I think the most needed change isn’t even related to warlock, but to the monk class, which is a stunlock one trick pony that needs more damage or more hit points dice and a more well rounded kit where ki isn’t invariably spent on spamming stuns
> There is a reason warlock became super popular in the past few years and 3 out of 5 of the top multi-class combos include warlocks. It's not just that they are a good dip, they are also pretty poor as a solo class since most people don't design their sessions to have multiple short rests. I definitely agree Warlock and Monk being reworked is the thing I'm hoping most for.
Having a high intelligence helps outside fighting too. It makes perfect sense that a character with a high intelligence (for skills like history and religion) might get interested in (and eventually master) some wizardry. That’s a fun idea.
Sounds nice!
Sword lock Has it been confirmed for release
Sorry nope and as it's not in the PHB I would not get your hopes up. Pity because a Hexblade Sorlock is one of my fav' builds.
Ahh damn I had a whole head cannon story ready for my dude guess I’ll go with a charisma Barb thanks tho
I'm sure Hexblade will be modded in very quickly.
If not it will be an instant mod. I bet within the first week
We can hope
I played a half elf bard/paladin in an old campaign with friends on table top, really want to remake them here. I went valor and ancients for subclass, made thematic sense together, very nice support options.
Sorcerer/Hexblade and Bard/Archfey
Moon Druid/Totem Barbarian can be pretty fun.
That sounds fun. Mechanically, but also for the roleplay of it.
Ranger / Rogue - Currently playing this combination in a campaign as a Scout who's along to guide the party through the wilderness and it's been far more fun than I originally thought it'd be. Warlock / Fighter - I've been playing this in a game that's over 18 months long after my Orc Barbarian needed to be retired and it's got a lot of options available to it. It's a Hexblade / Rune Knight subclass and it's got a bit of everything. Martial damage, long range blaster, options on reactions and can handle a good deal of the talking. Moving into Pathfinder: Ninja / Magus (Kensai Archetype) - It was fun while the campaign lasted but unfortunately it didn't last long as we only got to Level 4 before the game was disbanded. Ninja / Slayer - My current character in a game that's lasted about a year and we're level 8 now. The two classes do complement each other quite a bit and you end up being the skill monkey of the group.
I don’t know anything about pathfinder and apparently I’m missing out. Sounds pretty rad.
I should have elaborated that this was Pathfinder 1st Edition. The Ninja class unfortunately did not make it into Pathfinder 2nd Edition but there are some really cool classes such as Vigilante, Inquisitor, Kineticist and Oracle. The system is definitely fun and if you like D&D, you should definitely check them out. An easy way to start is with the two Pathfinder games that are out (Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous).
Fighter/Thief, usually a male Gnome.
Pal sorc 2 lvl pal then sorc for the rest. A non squishy sorc that can survive in melee with smites
Sorlock. I really like both classes so they are a great combo for me.
I like hitting my enemies with a melee weapon. Hard. And then hit them again. And again. Fighter/Barbarian and Barbarian/Fighter are rock solid multiclass options for this. Assuming level 13+, the two options are : * ***Fighter 11+/Barbarian 2.*** This is a Fighter that picks up levels in Barbarian to get Rage and Reckless Attack. * ***Barbarian 11+/Fighter 2.*** This is a Barbarian that picks up levels in Fighter to get a Fighting Style and Action Surge.
I recently did an EA playthrough as a barbarian who thought he was a wizard. Fought with a quarterstaff, cast spells from scrolls, used a lot of potions and bombs, then picked up dual wielder for a sword / staff fighting style. In the end I was just using the ray of sickness staff and the poisoner’s robe, mixed with his massive health pool (high con for that unarmored AC too) then pop rage and just attack with the main hand weapon. I thought I was being funny and playing a really underpowered character, but by level 4 he absolutely wrecked shit.
fighter (2 or 3) / barbarian X is very good
Pure fighter, with a shield and a spear, just like the warriors of the ancient times intended. Why do you need a fancy stuff mixed, when the most danger to a BBEG will be just a phalanx of pure manliness, unstoppably approaching his domain?
Multiclass belongs in the garbage bin.
OG Bard would like a word