Multiclassing allows you to gain levels in multiple classes. With this rule, you have the option of gaining a level in a new class whenever you advance in level instead of gaining a level in your current class. Doing so lets you mix the abilities of those classes to realize a character concept that might not be reflected in a single class.
To qualify for a new class, you must have a score of at least 13 in the primary ability of the new class and your current classes. For example, a Barbarian who decides to multiclass into the Druid class must have Strength and Wisdom scores of 13 or higher, since Strength is the primary ability for Barbarians and Wisdom is the primary ability for Druids.
The Experience Point cost to gain a level is based on your total character level, not your level in a particular class, as shown in the Character Advancement table in this chapter. For example, if you are a level 6 Cleric / level 1 Fighter, you must gain enough XP to reach level 8 before you can take your second level as a Fighter or your seventh level as a Cleric.
You gain the Hit Points from your new class as described for levels after 1. You gain the level 1 Hit Points for a class only when your total character level is 1.
Add together the Hit Dice granted by all your classes to form your pool of Hit Dice. If these dice are the same die type, you can pool them together. For example, both the Fighter and the Paladin have a d10 Hit Die, so if you are a level 5 Fighter / level 5 Paladin, you have ten d10 Hit Dice. If your classes give you Hit Dice of different types, track them separately. If you are a level 5 Cleric / level 5 Paladin, for example, you have five d8 Hit Dice and five d10 Hit Dice.
Your Proficiency Bonus is based on your total character level, not your level in a particular class, as shown in the Character Advancement table. For example, if you are a level 3 Fighter / level 2 Rogue, you have the Proficiency Bonus of a level 5 character, which is +3.
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 detailed in each class’s description in chapter 3.
When you gain a new level in a class, you get its features for that level. A few features have additional rules when you’re multiclassing. Check the information about multiclassing included in each of your classes’ descriptions.
Special rules apply to Extra Attack, Spellcasting, and features (such as Unarmored Defense) that give you alternative ways to calculate your Armor Class.
If you have multiple ways to calculate your Armor Class, you can benefit from only one at a time. For example, a Monk/Sorcerer with a Monk’s Unarmored Defense feature and a Sorcerer’s Draconic Resilience feature must choose only one of those features as a way to calculate Armor Class.
If you gain the Extra Attack feature from more than one class, the features don’t stack. You can’t make more than two attacks with this feature unless you have a feature that says you can (such as the Fighter’s Two Extra Attacks feature).
Similarly, the Warlock’s Thirsting Blade invocation, which grants you the Extra Attack feature with your pact weapon, doesn’t give you additional attacks if you also have Extra Attack.
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 for that class.
Spells Prepared. You determine what spells you can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class. If you are a level 4 Ranger / level 3 Sorcerer, for example, you can prepare five level 1 Ranger spells, and you can prepare six Sorcerer spells of level 1 or 2 (as well as four Sorcerer cantrips).
Each spell you prepare is associated with one of your classes, and you use the spellcasting ability of that class when you cast the spell.
Cantrips. If a cantrip of yours increases in power at higher levels, the increase is based on your total character level, not your level in a particular class, unless the spell says otherwise.
Spell Slots. You determine your available spell slots by adding together the following:
Then look up this total level in the Level column of the Multiclass Spellcaster table. You use the slots for that level to cast spells of an appropriate level from any class whose Spellcasting feature you have.
This table might give you spell slots of a higher level than the spells you prepare. You can use those slots but only to cast your lower-level spells. If a lower-level spell that you cast, like Burning Hands, has an enhanced effect when cast at a higher level, you can use the enhanced effect as normal.
For example, if you are a level 4 Ranger / level 3 Sorcerer, you count as a level 5 character when determining your spell slots, counting all your levels as a Sorcerer and half your Ranger levels. As shown in the Multiclass Spellcaster table, you have four level 1 spell slots, three level 2 slots, and two level 3 slots. However, you can’t prepare any level 3 spells, nor can you prepare any level 2 Ranger spells. You can use the spell slots of those levels to cast the spells you do prepare—and potentially enhance their effects.
Pact Magic. If you have the Pact Magic feature from the Warlock class and the Spellcasting feature, you can use the spell slots you gain from Pact Magic to cast spells you have prepared from classes with the Spellcasting feature, and you can use the spell slots you gain from the Spellcasting feature to cast Warlock spells you have prepared.
