Multiclassing is an optional rule that allows you to gain levels in multiple classes. This lets you mix class features to realize a character concept that might not be reflected in one of the standard class options.
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If your GM approves use of this rule, you can gain a level in a new class whenever you advance in level, instead of gaining a level in your current class. Add all your class levels together to determine your character level. For example, if you have three levels in wizard and two in fighter, you’re a 5th-level character.
As you advance in levels, you might remain a member of your original class with a few levels in another class, or you might change course entirely. You might even start in a third or fourth class. Multiclass characters sacrifice focus for versatility.
Prerequisites
To qualify for a new class, you must meet the ability score prerequisites for both your current class and your new one, as shown in the Multiclassing Prerequisites table. For example, a barbarian who decides to multiclass into druid must have both STR and WIS scores of 13 or higher. Without the full training that a beginning character receives, you must be a quick study in your new class, having a natural aptitude that is reflected by above average ability scores.
Multiclassing Prerequisites
| Class | Ability Score Minimum |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | STR 13 |
| Bard | CHA 13 |
| Cleric | WIS 13 |
| Druid | WIS 13 |
| Fighter | STR 13 or DEX 13 |
| Mechanist | INT 13 |
| Monk | DEX 13 and WIS 13 |
| Paladin | STR 13 and CHA 13 |
| Ranger | STR 13 or DEX 13 and WIS 13 |
| Rogue | DEX 13 |
| Sorcerer | CHA 13 |
| Warlock | CHA 13 |
| Wizard | INT 13 |
Experience Points
The experience point (XP) cost to gain a level is always based on your total character level, as shown in the Level Advancement table, not your level in a particular class. So, if you are a 6th-level cleric and 1st-level fighter, you must gain enough XP to reach 8th level before you can take your second level of fighter or your seventh level of cleric.
Hit Points and Hit Dice
You gain hit points from your new class as described for levels after 1st. You don’t use the 1st-level hit point calculation for the 1st level of a multiclass.
Add the hit dice granted by all your classes to form your pool of hit dice. If the hit dice are the same die type, pool them together. For example, both the fighter and the paladin have a d10, so if you are a 5th-level paladin and 5th‑level fighter, you have ten d10 hit dice. If your classes give you hit dice of different types, track them separately. If you are a 5th-level paladin and 5th-level cleric, for example, you have five d10 hit dice and five d8 hit dice.
Proficiency Bonus
Your proficiency bonus (PB) is always based on your total character level, not your level in a class. For example, if you are a 3rd-level fighter and 2nd-level rogue, you have the PB of a 5th-level character, which is +3.
Proficiencies
When you gain your first level in a class other than your initial class, you gain only some of the new class’s starting proficiencies, as shown in the Multiclassing Proficiencies table.
Multiclassing Proficiencies
| Class | Proficiencies Gained |
|---|---|
| Barbarian | Shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
| Bard | Light armor, one tool of your choice |
| Cleric | Light armor, medium armor, shields |
| Druid | Light armor, medium armor, shields |
| Fighter | Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
| Mechanist | Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
| Monk | Simple weapons, shortswords |
| Paladin | Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
| Ranger | Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons |
| Rogue | Light armor, one tool of your choice |
| Sorcerer | — |
| Warlock | Light armor, simple weapons |
| Wizard | — |
Class Features
When you gain a new level in a class, you get its features for that level. You don’t, however, receive the class’s starting equipment, and a few features have additional rules when you’re multiclassing: Channel Divinity, Multiattack, Unarmored Defense, and Spellcasting.
Channel Divinity
If you already have the Channel Divinity feature and gain a level in a different class that grants the feature, you gain the Channel Divinity effects granted by that class, but you don’t get an additional use of it. You gain additional uses only when you reach a class level that explicitly grants them to you, and you don’t add uses from multiple classes together. For example, if you are a 6th-level cleric and 4th‑level paladin, you can use Channel Divinity twice between rests because you are high enough level in the cleric class to have more uses. Whenever you use the feature, you can choose any of the Channel Divinity effects available from any of your classes.
Multiattack
If you gain the Multiattack feature from more than one class, the features don’t add together to give you more attacks. You gain additional uses only when you reach a class level that explicitly grants them to you, and you don’t add uses from multiple classes together. For example, if you are a 9th-level fighter and 5th-level monk, you can use Multiattack to make three attacks, not five.
Unarmored Defense
If you already have the Unarmored Defense feature, you can’t gain it again from another class. For example, if you have levels of barbarian and monk, you only get the benefits of the Unarmored Defense feature from whichever class you chose for your first character level.
Spellcasting
Your capacity for spellcasting depends partly on your combined levels in all your spellcasting classes and partly on your individual levels in those classes. Once you have the Spellcasting feature from more than one class, use the rules below. If you multiclass but have the Spellcasting feature from only one class, follow the rules as described in that class.
Spells Known and Prepared. Determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class. If you are a 4th-level ranger and 3rd-level wizard, for example, you know three 1st-circle Primordial spells based on your ranger class levels. As a 3rd-level wizard, you know three Arcane cantrips, and your spellbook contains ten Arcane spells, two of which (the two you gained when you reached 3rd level as a wizard) can be 2nd-circle spells. If your Intelligence is 16, you can prepare six Arcane spells from your spellbook.
Each spell you know and prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell. Similarly, a spellcasting focus, such as a holy symbol, can be used only for the spells from the class associated with that focus.
Spell Slots. Determine your available spell slots by adding together all your levels in the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard classes, and half your levels (rounded down) in the paladin and ranger classes. Use this total to determine your spell slots by consulting the Multiclass Spellcaster table.
If you have more than one spellcasting class, this table might give you spell slots of a circle that is higher than the spells you know or can prepare. You can use those slots, but only to cast your lower-circle spells. If a lower-circle spell that you cast, like burning hands, has an enhanced effect when cast using a higher-circle slot, you can use the enhanced effect, even though you don’t have spells of that higher circle.
For example, if you are a 4th-level ranger and 3rd level wizard, you count as a 5th-level character when determining your spell slots: you have four 1st-circle slots, three 2nd-circle slots, and two 3rd-circle slots. However, you don’t know any 3rd-circle spells, nor do you know any 2nd-circle Primordial spells. You can use the spell slots of those circles to cast the spells you do know and potentially enhance their effects.