Help needed for multiclassing :)

[herbiehanx]

Hey!

I have played tons and tons cRPGs in my life, but times when I have multiclassed are few. I started the game as a rogue as I always do, at level 5 I decided to dip in to ranger as I was using bow (and there are some great bows) as my main weapon. Now at level 6 I wanted to test if ranger/rogue is better than rogue/ranger.

1. Ranger should have better hit die, is it only if you choose him at the character creation because when I respecced my char to ranger/rogue, his healthpool was the same?

2. I am mainly interested in rogues sneak attack, at level five for ranger you get second attack. I guess I should do 5/1 as I am now level 6 to get the second attack + sneak attack?

3. Stupid question: Can't I just every time I gain a new level, respec my MC so that I get all -1 levels for ranger, and one level for rogue to get the sneak attack? Does this have any drawbacks?

I would be so grateful if someone had time to answer even some of these questions!

Edit. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be better to now respec the first level rogue, and the rest for ranger as it seems I don't get better hit die?

[Ackranome]

Ranger = Bow.

Rogue = Good multi-class partner with bonus actions because bow = Good.

[Tyrendian89]

it does not matter which class is your first - so Ranger 5/Rogue 1 is the exact same as Rogue 1/Ranger 5. Which also means your no. 3 is utterly pointless - just take more levels of Ranger if you want.

That said, yes Ranger 5 is probably a very good idea - Extra Attack is a significant gamechanger. From there onwards, you can if you want just keep going more Rogue, which means more Sneak Attack dice, so you'll end up with Ranger 5/Rogue 7. Misses out on one feat, but still solid.

[Trolleur_Durden]

1) Each class has a hit die. At 1st level, you get the max amount, for example a barbarian with a d12 hit die gets 12HP at lvl 1. Afterwards, you only get the average amount per die, rounded up, ie 7 for d12. So in your case, taking Ranger at lvl 1 will result in a little bit more HP since the Ranger has a better hit die than the Rogue.

2) It's possible to make a sneak attack as part of a multi attack main action, but you can only make 1 sneak attack per turn, no matter how many attacks you do.

3) There is no drawback per se, however keep in mind that the damage of your sneak attack scales with your Rogue levels, so having only one Rogue level results in a +1d6 sneak attack damage bonus.

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by Trolleur_Durden:

1) Each class has a hit die. At 1st level, you get the max amount, for example a barbarian with a d12 hit die gets 12HP at lvl 1. Afterwards, you only get the average amount per die, rounded up, ie 7 for d12. So in your case, taking Ranger at lvl 1 will result in a little bit more HP since the Ranger has a better hit die than the Rogue.

2) It's possible to make a sneak attack as part of a multi attack main action, but you can only make 1 sneak attack per turn, no matter how many attacks you do.

3) There is no drawback per se, however keep in mind that the damage of your sneak attack scales with your Rogue levels, so having only one Rogue level results in a +1d6 sneak attack damage bonus.

Thanks a lot! I am actually now thinking of going pure ranger to get the level 12 feat also. Having "speak with animals" for my charismatic main char is a must and that +1d6 isn't so big of a deal.

Edit. NVM, just realized I can't have profiency in persuasion as a pure ranger. Back to basics I guess.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

Originally posted by Trolleur_Durden:

1) Each class has a hit die. At 1st level, you get the max amount, for example a barbarian with a d12 hit die gets 12HP at lvl 1. Afterwards, you only get the average amount per die, rounded up, ie 7 for d12. So in your case, taking Ranger at lvl 1 will result in a little bit more HP since the Ranger has a better hit die than the Rogue.

2) It's possible to make a sneak attack as part of a multi attack main action, but you can only make 1 sneak attack per turn, no matter how many attacks you do.

3) There is no drawback per se, however keep in mind that the damage of your sneak attack scales with your Rogue levels, so having only one Rogue level results in a +1d6 sneak attack damage bonus.

Thanks a lot! I am actually now thinking of going pure ranger to get the level 12 feat also. Having "speak with animals" for my charismatic main char is a must and that +1d6 isn't so big of a deal.

If you like playing ranged, Rogue with the Thief subclass gets another bonus action, which is pretty useful if you use dual hand crossbows. If you prefer bows, you should stick with Ranger.

[Rommel]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

Hey!

I have played tons and tons cRPGs in my life, but times when I have multiclassed are few. I started the game as a rogue as I always do, at level 5 I decided to dip in to ranger as I was using bow (and there are some great bows) as my main weapon. Now at level 6 I wanted to test if ranger/rogue is better than rogue/ranger.

1. Ranger should have better hit die, is it only if you choose him at the character creation because when I respecced my char to ranger/rogue, his healthpool was the same?

2. I am mainly interested in rogues sneak attack, at level five for ranger you get second attack. I guess I should do 5/1 as I am now level 6 to get the second attack + sneak attack?

3. Stupid question: Can't I just every time I gain a new level, respec my MC so that I get all -1 levels for ranger, and one level for rogue to get the sneak attack? Does this have any drawbacks?

I would be so grateful if someone had time to answer even some of these questions! :nutz:

Edit. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be better to now respec the first level rogue, and the rest for ranger as it seems I don't get better hit die?

Tons of video on YT for every class and multi classing {enjoying my strength monk\thief\fighter right now}

[Zackerie]

if it helps I went gloomstalker 5 for multiattack and the rest are going to assassin for level 7 sneak attack dice.

I don't get the love for hand crossbows. they were only good the first week when sharpshooter feat was glitched and added the extra damage, but didn't do the -5 to attack rolls. 1 heavy crossbow with assassin multiclass is better than 2 hand crossbows with a thief multiclass. assassin does more damage.

[Xiwang]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

...

i recommend ranger hunter or gloomstalker 5 for extra attack archery figthing style and sharp shooter. then rogue 4 for thief bonus action and feat, from here you have 2 choices more sneak attack damage lvling up rogue or more hitpoints.

rogue is a better starter since you can get lvl 3 to get thief and 2 bonus actions and dualwield hand crossbows, then ranger 5 for archery and more extra attacks. however you get less benefits from haste like this. until lvl 8 or 9 when theoretically you get extra attack.

starting ranger 5 gives you extra attack faster that means 4 attacks while in haste, and when you get 3 lvls on rogue you get that single extra attack from bonus action.

right know i have a pure barbarian at lvl 5 and will multiclass it to monk for the next 4 lvls, the going back to barbarian up to lvl 8.

[herbiehanx]

Originally posted by zackerie:

if it helps I went gloomstalker 5 for multiattack and the rest are going to assassin for level 7 sneak attack dice.

I don't get the love for hand crossbows. they were only good the first week when sharpshooter feat was glitched and added the extra damage, but didn't do the -5 to attack rolls. 1 heavy crossbow with assassin multiclass is better than 2 hand crossbows with a thief multiclass. assassin does more damage.

It helps! I have now respecced several times and this seems most viable for me except I will go for thief instead of assassin. I have no desire to dualwield anything else but daggers and those only when I have to.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Originally posted by zackerie:

if it helps I went gloomstalker 5 for multiattack and the rest are going to assassin for level 7 sneak attack dice.

I don't get the love for hand crossbows. they were only good the first week when sharpshooter feat was glitched and added the extra damage, but didn't do the -5 to attack rolls. 1 heavy crossbow with assassin multiclass is better than 2 hand crossbows with a thief multiclass. assassin does more damage.

This might be true in a vacuum, but it's actually not the case in the specific context of BG3, where there's a lot of additive damage bonus on your gear, which allows the secondary attacks to dish out unexpectedly high amount of damage. There's also a more subtle drawback of the assassin's big attacks, which is the overkill damage waste. Since you can't delay your turn order in BG3, more often than not, when it's your assassin's turn to play, he's gonna face one or more low HP enemy and therefore "waste" damage by overkill. A dual crossbow character on the other hand has much more flexibility when it comes to managing their damage. I've tried both during my first playthrough and settled on the dual-wielding approach without a doubt.

[Lily]

Originally posted by herbiehanx:

Hey!

I have played tons and tons cRPGs in my life, but times when I have multiclassed are few. I started the game as a rogue as I always do, at level 5 I decided to dip in to ranger as I was using bow (and there are some great bows) as my main weapon. Now at level 6 I wanted to test if ranger/rogue is better than rogue/ranger.

1. Ranger should have better hit die, is it only if you choose him at the character creation because when I respecced my char to ranger/rogue, his healthpool was the same?

2. I am mainly interested in rogues sneak attack, at level five for ranger you get second attack. I guess I should do 5/1 as I am now level 6 to get the second attack + sneak attack?

3. Stupid question: Can't I just every time I gain a new level, respec my MC so that I get all -1 levels for ranger, and one level for rogue to get the sneak attack? Does this have any drawbacks?

I would be so grateful if someone had time to answer even some of these questions! :nutz:

Edit. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be better to now respec the first level rogue, and the rest for ranger as it seems I don't get better hit die?

No you don't get a better hit die with Rogue. Rogue is a D8, Ranger is a D10. What you get with Rogue is more expertise at level 1 if you start with it.

Ranger as your starting class gets you more health, rogue gets you more expertise. You need to evaluate which you want more.

Multiclassing the way it works is each level you take adds to your Hit points based on the class you're leveling up. So if you have more ranger levels than Rogue you'll have more health overall. If you have more rogue levels you'll have less health. So every level past first is half your hit dice + your constitution modifier. So Rogue each level of rogue will be giving you 4+con while Ranger will be giving 5+con. This is only not the case at level 1 were you get the full hit die +con.

Ranger rogue is a fantastic Multiclass. Typically I'd suggest more levels of ranger than Rogue because the ranger features come online faster than the rogue features and all of the best rogue features are at level 3. But there's no reason you can't go 5 Ranger and 7 rogue. You'll do perfectly fine with that split.

Ranger likes Assassin levels and Thief levels. Assassin for ambush builds and Thief for the extra bonus action. Both builds best weapon is hand crossbows.

However if you want to run something different, Thief Rogue with Ranger using Two weapon fighting isn't too bad in this game. its suboptimal, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective. You'll have 4 attacks in total to work with and you can get a lot of different weapon skills which can make it pretty fun to play. Cunning action dash will help you get into melee and Ranger's access to Medium and heavy armor means you can use strength or dex, your preference.

Ranger is a fantastic class and I'd argue is the best class of the Martials and half casters. They're extremely strong in melee with Great weapon master due to their decent utility spells, they are great for a two weapon fighting build for the same reason and they're great ranged attacks. They have one of the best subclasses in the game, gloomstalker which will improve all of these builds but their other two subclasses are still really strong as well.

[mutantspicy]

I haven't done any multiclassing in 5e myself. But to me you have to consider what you are gaining from doing it. I personally don't think 1 level of rogue is worth it. You need to get at least sub class features IMO. I would go thief instead of assassin personally, because you could either utilize the extra bonus actions for superior positioning on your range attacks or you can dual wield as ranger and have two off hand attacks. So 3 atks per round. Its good either way. Assassin does give you some more power shot and flavor. So in your position I would probably level up theif to 4, get the feat, then go ranger the rest of the way.

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Tyrendian89:

it does not matter which class is your first - so Ranger 5/Rogue 1 is the exact same as Rogue 1/Ranger 5. Which also means your no. 3 is utterly pointless - just take more levels of Ranger if you want.

That said, yes Ranger 5 is probably a very good idea - Extra Attack is a significant gamechanger. From there onwards, you can if you want just keep going more Rogue, which means more Sneak Attack dice, so you'll end up with Ranger 5/Rogue 7. Misses out on one feat, but still solid.

Eh I think this is wrong.
Whatever class you take first at level 1 gives you particular proficiencies with medium or heavy armors and martial weapons.

I could be mistaken, but if you go rogue first you don’t get martial weapons or medium armor

OP;
Go ranger to level 5, then take 4 levels of Thief, then close out with ranger.

Finishing with ranger will give you some reeeeally nice buffs, like another Path allowing you to chose like inherent Poison or fire resistance.

You will also want to go 8/4 so that you get all 3 ASI. These people saying you don’t need all 3 are giving bad advice. There are amazing Feats available - I strongly recommend trying Lucky. If you ask me it’s literally the best feat in the game considering it’s equally awesome regardless of class or spec.

[Elazul]

I'd rather multiclass with Fighter. 1 level dip into Fighter gets you Second Wind and the Archery fighting style. If you dip 2 levels you can get Action Surge granting you an extra action. If you dip 3 levels you can pick one of the subclasses and get Improved Critical Hit or 3 Battle Manuevers.

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Elazul:

I'd rather multiclass with Fighter. 1 level dip into Fighter gets you Second Wind and the Archery fighting style. If you dip 2 levels you can get Action Surge granting you an extra action. If you dip 3 levels you can pick one of the subclasses and get Improved Critical Hit or 3 Battle Manuevers.

Thief works…like REALLY well. The extra bonus actions are crazy useful for Hide/Sneak attack and Hunters mark on the same turn.

You can also wear the boots that give you lightning charges when you dash, it’s Insanely good. It adds a TON of damage and +1 attack and your movement is insane.

There were countless times in my playthrough where I literally hit Dash dash twice, didn’t move, and just got a free +1 attack +1d8 Lightning damage.

The flexibility to do all these things, you really NEED the bonus actions for for Gloomstalker to play free. If you’re gonna go Fighter you’re gonna be really strapped for what to do with your bonus action, and losing out on sneak attack is a LOOOOOT of damage.