Multiclassing is one of the most popular ways to customise a character in Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. It lets a player break free of their character’s fairly rigid confines and blend the abilities of two classes together.

At the same time, multiclassing in D&D 5e is a risky business. Individual classes are reasonably well-built and well-balanced in and of themselves. Taking a single class from level 1-20 is a good way to build an effective character. If you step off these rails, you risk a wrong turn.

For every terrifying Sorlockadin multiclass build in D&D 5e, there are countless ways to blunt a character’s effectiveness and reduce the player’s impact at the table.

Fortunately, it’s easy to avoid this fate. Below, I will detail how to multiclass in D&D 5e while avoiding several common mistakes that have sunk many different builds.

Trying to Go Evenly into Two or More Classes

When D&D 5e players think about multiclassing, they often imagine splitting the difference between two classes perfectly. Becoming a Fighter who is also a Wizard, or a Ranger who is also a Rogue. It’s very easy to assume the best way is to keep the two even and get the best of both worlds.

This is not the best way to multiclass in D&D 5e. Characters get significantly better abilities as they go up in level, regardless of class. If you juggle classes back and forth, you’ll miss out on major milestones and end up a milquetoast jack-of-some-trades.

Spellcasters want their game-changing high-level spells. Martials want multiple attacks and other damage boosts. You put these off far too late if you take one class, and then another, and repeat the process.

Choosing certain thresholds or dips is how to make the best multiclass builds in D&D 5e. You can take a class to a certain level and then move on to another, or pause your main class to get the low-level abilities from a second.

This requires planning and still comes with caveats, but it’s an ideal way to multiclass without missing out on D&D 5e‘s best abilities.

For instance, you might reach a high Paladin level in D&D 5e and then dip three levels into Fighter for Action Surge and Battle Master Maneuvers. This is far more effective than trying to match your Paladin and Fighter levels throughout.

Alternatively, you might take D&D 5e Barbarian to sixth level for a certain number of Rages, Extra Attack, and class features, and then abandon it entirely for something else. Revisiting it every couple of levels will just slow your build down.

Picking Classes with Conflicting Ability Scores

Ability scores determine what your character can and can’t do in D&D 5e. More specifically, they determine what your character is good at and what they’re bad at. Outside of niche roleplaying purposes, you typically don’t want to try and specialise in areas your ability scores flat-out don’t suit.

This is a common mistake in D&D 5e multiclassing. Most classes require specific ability scores to get the most out of their abilities. They can afford to increase these, and maybe Constitution, without becoming overstretched.

If you don’t know how to multiclass in D&D 5e, you might staple another class to your character that wants different ability scores entirely.

Notably, D&D 5e even includes guard rails against this. You can’t multiclass into or out of a class unless its most important ability scores are above 13. However, this is a minimum requirement. In most cases, 13 won’t be enough.

Take a Paladin, who already has to make tough choices between Strength, Charisma, and Constitution. If you take levels in Druid, suddenly you need to worry about Wisdom or risk having significantly sub-par spellcasting.

The best multiclass builds in D&D 5e share ability scores (or at least have the potential to). Sorcerer and Paladin. Barbarian and Fighter. Warlock and Bard. The pattern is clear.

Notably, there are ways to avoid this friction when multiclassing. You can absolutely have the bare minimum stats and still be effective – you just need to make choices where those stats don’t matter. To use the earlier example, Druid can be a powerful Paladin multiclass in D&D 5e if you focus on buff or utility spells that don’t rely on Wisdom.

Choosing an Inconsistent Character Role

D&D 5e doesn’t have de jure party roles like D&D Fourth Edition, where Fighters were Defenders, Wizards were controllers, Clerics were Leaders, and Rogues were Strikers. At the same time, most characters want to focus on one or two things they excel at, and maybe dabble in others.

Classes in D&D 5e naturally lend themselves to roles, even if they can go outside that wheelhouse. Fighters are ideal tanks and damage-dealers (as are Barbarians). Rogues excel at utility while dealing some damage, sharing some or all of these roles with Bards, Artificers, and Rangers. Wizards are premiere spellcasters with heaps of utility and crowd control, similar to Druids.

Some D&D 5e classes, especially versatile ones like Wizard, Cleric, Bard, and Druid, can fill multiple roles. Even then, players will typically gravitate to one or two to excel in while dabbling in others.

It’s easy to make a multiclassing misstep in D&D 5e by stepping too far outside what your character is good at.

Now, taking on new tricks and increasing versatility is one of the main reasons to multiclass in D&D 5e. However, this shouldn’t come at the expense of what your character already does.

If you have seven levels in Fighter already, you’re a battlefield monster who excels in a fight. If you take a sharp right turn to Druid for its wilderness magic and Wild Shape, you’ll lose your edge in combat as enemies get stronger. Furthermore, you’ll never come close to a character who’s been a Druid from the start.

When you multiclass in D&D 5e, try to keep in mind your character’s party role. This doesn’t have to be rigid, and new tools are always fun. But, if possible, get new tools while continuing to improve what your character does best. There’s a reason many martials enjoy a two or three-level dip in Fighter.

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Focusing Too Much on the End Goal

Theorycrafting character builds is one of D&D 5e‘s greatest pleasures. I do it all the time. It’s fantastic to consider characters who can pull off unique feats at 20th, or even 10th, level due to their unique combination of classes.

However, this is very much the end result. In most D&D 5e games, there is a significant journey to get there that will take up dozens (if not hundreds) of hours of your life.

It’s easy to forget when multiclassing in D&D 5e that you have to play your character at every step of the way, every level of their build. If you fall too far behind, the dissatisfaction will outmatch the enjoyment you feel when you destroy stuff later on.

However you build your multiclass in D&D 5e, you want to hit certain milestones. For instance, you want to cast third-level spells or deal damage equivalent to two attacks by 5th (or maybe 6th level). Whether you do this via cantrips, dual-wielding, or staying in one class until that breakpoint, it’s important for keeping pace with enemy stats.

Sometimes, it’s simply the order of your classes you need to consider. A level ten character with five levels of Fighter and five levels of Rogue in D&D 5e is thoroughly enjoyable. However, it’s far better to build it with Fighter first.

If you take five levels of Fighter, you get an excellent damage baseline with two attacks that continues to grow with the Rogue’s Sneak Attack. If you go Rogue first, you reach a middling baseline that plateaus until it’s almost irrelevant by ninth level. Same destination, very different journey.

When thinking of your D&D 5e multiclass build, just make sure it’ll be functional (optimal isn’t necessary) at every step of the way. It’s no fun to be a fourth-level Bard, third-level Druid, and first-level Ranger who is significantly weaker than a lower-level character.

The exception is if you’re doing a one-shot. Then the end result of your D&D 5e multiclass build is all that matters. Please, go absolutely wild.

Not Considering Every Option

For all I seem to be encouraging very practical multiclassing in D&D 5e, it’s easy to tunnel-vision too much on logical pairs. Class mechanics in D&D 5e are varied enough that you can get value from unexpected pairs if you look hard enough.

Let’s say you’re playing a Wizard in D&D 5e and want to multiclass for more durability. Fighter is the obvious choice. It’s a tank class with d10 hit die. One level gets you medium armour, a shield, and Second Wind.

It’s also not the best choice. Despite earlier advice, the best Wizard multiclass in D&D 5e for more durability is probably Cleric – depending on Domain. Taking one level in Tempest Cleric, Life Cleric, or War Cleric gets you heavy armour proficiency and a shield for maximum Armor Class.

On top of that, it keeps the Wizard’s spell slots where they should be (albeit one level behind on prepared spells) and an interesting array of new spells (including healing to outdo Second Wind).

There are many cases like this, where an unexpected class provides exactly what you need for minimal investments. For this particular tip on how to multiclass in D&D 5e, I would simply encourage players to look at every possible option – even if most of them are significantly suboptimal – before ruling any out.

Being Afraid of Multiclassing in the First Place

Many D&D 5e players don’t want to multiclass or prefer singleclassed characters. This is entirely valid. As fond as I am of D&D 5e multiclassing, it’s far from a requirement. I’ve never even played a campaign as a multiclassed character (although that is largely from being a forever DM).

If you want to play a multiclass build in D&D 5e, but find the rules confusing, I get it. It’s probably the most complicated part of character creation. It comes with its own rules section, with tables to consult and charts to cross-reference.

However, I promise that D&D 5e multiclassing is not much more complex than making a single-classed character. Most of the process involves looking at features and adding them to your character sheet, much like any other level-up. Even the daunting spell slot table is mostly a case of straightforward division.

Similarly, articles like this might make D&D 5e multiclassing seem risky, like an easy way to permanently hinder your character’s effectiveness.

As much as I advocate for building your character effectively, none of the guidelines I’ve put here are absolute or mandatory.

Many campaigns aren’t terrifying death marches where optimal character-building is required. Most can accommodate players who make slightly awkward multiclassing choices in D&D 5e.

Fundamentally, if you do drop the ball with multiclassing in D&D 5e, if you fall behind the campaign’s power level or flat-out don’t enjoy your character, talk to your DM. Most will help, up to and including letting you tweak the build to smooth it out.

Multiclassing is a delight in D&D 5e, and players shouldn’t feel put off by complexity or the possibility of mistakes. Experiment. It’s fun.

This has been a handful of tips to make your D&D 5e multiclass builds even better. None of them are cast-iron rules, but they’re worth considering before you take the plunge.

As always, please do leave a like and tell your friends about Artificial Twenty. If you’ve enjoyed this, please also check out some other content, like the suggestions below.

For more multiclass advice, check out ‘Four D&D 5e Gish Multiclasses to Show They’re Not All Hexblade Paladins‘.

If you’re in the market for more straightforward character-building advice, ‘The Best Druid Races in D&D 5e‘ might be the article for you.