Wizard/fighter multiclass

[Ivas]

I want to play an arcane gish, but I don't like eldrich knight. Is wizard/fighter any good?

Or, alternatively, can I be a pure wizard while being a frontline?

[Angarvin]

pure wizards do not have access neither to armor nor shields. they also have the lowest hp die possible. at the same time any level put into fighter will deminish your spellcasting capability both in terms of quantity and quality of available spell slots.

that being said, eldrich knight is specifically designed to mix casting and melee fighting. this is best shown with level 7 "war magic" that will allow you to both cast and melee strike in the same turn.

alternatively, if wizard is not a principal choice, druids, clerics and warlocks feel much better in melee since they actually have tools for it.

[Agent Chieftain]

Originally posted by Angarvin:

pure wizards do not have access neither to armor nor shields. they also have the lowest hp die possible. at the same time any level put into fighter will deminish your spellcasting capability both in terms of quantity and quality of available spell slots.

that being said, eldrich knight is specifically designed to mix casting and melee fighting. this is best shown with level 7 "war magic" that will allow you to both cast and melee strike in the same turn.

alternatively, if wizard is not a principal choice, druids, clerics and warlocks feel much better in melee since they actually have tools for it.

That sounds really cool. And provides an interesting tradeoff with the level cap of 12. You could go 7 EK and 5 Wizard for Fireball, or 8 EK and 4 Wizard for a total of four feats.

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Ivas:

I want to play an arcane gish, but I don't like eldrich knight. Is wizard/fighter any good?

Or, alternatively, can I be a pure wizard while being a frontline?

There are options, but Wizard/Fighter won’t work well. Your spells won’t scale with fighter levels and you’ll end up meh at both

You could try Paladin Warlock, or Paladin Sorcerer. Those play well together.
There’s also Bard options.

[Angarvin]

Originally posted by Agent Chieftain:

Originally posted by Angarvin:

pure wizards do not have access neither to armor nor shields. they also have the lowest hp die possible. at the same time any level put into fighter will deminish your spellcasting capability both in terms of quantity and quality of available spell slots.

that being said, eldrich knight is specifically designed to mix casting and melee fighting. this is best shown with level 7 "war magic" that will allow you to both cast and melee strike in the same turn.

alternatively, if wizard is not a principal choice, druids, clerics and warlocks feel much better in melee since they actually have tools for it.

That sounds really cool. And provides an interesting tradeoff with the level cap of 12. You could go 7 EK and 5 Wizard for Fireball, or 8 EK and 4 Wizard for a total of four feats.

as eldrich knight you still get casting levels (just very slow). every third level of EK is equal to 1 caster level. thus even EK8/W4 still gets his fireball because it equals 6 caster levels (3 level 3 slots).

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Angarvin:

Originally posted by Agent Chieftain:

That sounds really cool. And provides an interesting tradeoff with the level cap of 12. You could go 7 EK and 5 Wizard for Fireball, or 8 EK and 4 Wizard for a total of four feats.

as eldrich knight you still get casting levels (just very slow). every third level of EK is equal to 1 caster level. thus even EK8/W4 still gets his fireball because it equals 6 caster levels (3 level 3 slots).

Is that how it works?
I’m not so sure that’s how it works. I don’t think there’s “collective caster levels”

Do you get to combine EK with Wizard levels?

[Ivas]

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Originally posted by Ivas:

I want to play an arcane gish, but I don't like eldrich knight. Is wizard/fighter any good?

Or, alternatively, can I be a pure wizard while being a frontline?

There are options, but Wizard/Fighter won’t work well. Your spells won’t scale with fighter levels and you’ll end up meh at both

You could try Paladin Warlock, or Paladin Sorcerer. Those play well together.
There’s also Bard options.

Hmm... Bard actually can work for me. College of swords. I don't know if it's good, but definitely more appealing than EK since it leans a little bit more on the "magic" side.

[Angarvin]

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Originally posted by Angarvin:

as eldrich knight you still get casting levels (just very slow). every third level of EK is equal to 1 caster level. thus even EK8/W4 still gets his fireball because it equals 6 caster levels (3 level 3 slots).

Is that how it works?
I’m not so sure that’s how it works. I don’t think there’s “collective caster levels”

Do you get to combine EK with Wizard levels?

that's how multiclassing works. you combine your caster levels to determine the number and level of spell slots available. wizards, bards, sorcerors, druids and clerics are pure casters so every one of their levels is a caster level. paladins and rangers are half casters, so you divide their level by two to determine what they contribute. arcane tricksters and eldrich knights count only every third level towards this.
warlocks are a special case with their own slots.

[Settings]

So, OP has raised a good question. I want to play a Necromancy Wizard, but i'd like to take a couple of levels in something else to give me better survival/melee options. I was thinking perhaps a Warlock, War Cleric, or a Druid.

[Ivas]

Originally posted by Angarvin:

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Is that how it works?
I’m not so sure that’s how it works. I don’t think there’s “collective caster levels”

Do you get to combine EK with Wizard levels?

that's how multiclassing works. you combine your caster levels to determine the number and level of spell slots available. wizards, sorcerors, druids and clerics are pure casters so every one of their levels is a caster level. paladins, rangers and bards are half casters, so you divide their level by two to determine what they contibute. arcane tricksters and eldrich knights count only every third level towards this.
warlocks are a special case with their own slots.

I believe bards are full casters in 5e, but I could be wrong

[[DOH] Carob]

If you want a fighter wizard I suggest 3 builds:
1) fighter lvl 2 and wizard lvl 10, + action surge (2 spells in one round) + a lot of spells - only one attack - no martial archetype - 2 feats;
2) fighter lvl 4 and wizard lvl 8, + action surge (2 spells in one round) + martial archetype + 3 feats - only one attack;
3) fighter lvl 5 and wizard lvl 7, + action surge (2 spells in one round) + martial archetype + 2 attacks - not so many spells - 2 feats;

I think 1 or 3 are the best choises.

[Angarvin]

Originally posted by Ivas:

Originally posted by Angarvin:

that's how multiclassing works. you combine your caster levels to determine the number and level of spell slots available. wizards, sorcerors, druids and clerics are pure casters so every one of their levels is a caster level. paladins, rangers and bards are half casters, so you divide their level by two to determine what they contibute. arcane tricksters and eldrich knights count only every third level towards this.
warlocks are a special case with their own slots.

I believe bards are full casters in 5e, but I could be wrong

that's true. i corrected myself. thank you

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Angarvin:

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Is that how it works?
I’m not so sure that’s how it works. I don’t think there’s “collective caster levels”

Do you get to combine EK with Wizard levels?

that's how multiclassing works. you combine your caster levels to determine the number and level of spell slots available. wizards, sorcerors, druids and clerics are pure casters so every one of their levels is a caster level. paladins, rangers and bards are half casters, so you divide their level by two to determine what they contribute. arcane tricksters and eldrich knights count only every third level towards this.
warlocks are a special case with their own slots.

That’s not what I mean.

Level 5 Wizard gets Fireball.
If you get level 4 Wizard + level 3 EK, does that give you fireball?

I thought not but I’m not very familiar with this combination

[Angarvin]

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

Originally posted by Angarvin:

that's how multiclassing works. you combine your caster levels to determine the number and level of spell slots available. wizards, sorcerors, druids and clerics are pure casters so every one of their levels is a caster level. paladins, rangers and bards are half casters, so you divide their level by two to determine what they contribute. arcane tricksters and eldrich knights count only every third level towards this.
warlocks are a special case with their own slots.

That’s not what I mean.

Level 5 Wizard gets Fireball.
If you get level 4 Wizard + level 3 EK, does that give you fireball?

I thought not but I’m not very familiar with this combination

oh, you're talknig about learning a fireball spell. well, you can do that from a scroll. you don't have to get it via leveling, so i don't see that as an issue.

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Ivas:

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

There are options, but Wizard/Fighter won’t work well. Your spells won’t scale with fighter levels and you’ll end up meh at both

You could try Paladin Warlock, or Paladin Sorcerer. Those play well together.
There’s also Bard options.

Hmm... Bard actually can work for me. College of swords. I don't know if it's good, but definitely more appealing than EK since it leans a little bit more on the "magic" side.

Bards are legit awesome. And yes, they are full casters

[WeenerTuck813]

Originally posted by Angarvin:

Originally posted by WeenerTuck813:

That’s not what I mean.

Level 5 Wizard gets Fireball.
If you get level 4 Wizard + level 3 EK, does that give you fireball?

I thought not but I’m not very familiar with this combination

oh, you're talknig about learning a fireball spell. well, you can do that from a scroll. you don't have to get it via leveling, so i don't see that as an issue.

Right but you don’t get level 3 spellslots, so you can’t use it.

You listed EK8/Wizard4
Wizard gets level 3 slots at 5, not 4.
And EK8 is a level 2 caster. Neither of these gets you level 3 spellslots

Edit sorry I misread, you said 7/5 before that