Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General For those of you wanting to multiclass Arcane Trickster and Wizard

As title, I did some calcs.

I'm sure you all noticed that with a cap of 12th level, Arcane Tricksters can only ever cast max level 2 spells. This sucks.

I want to make a sneaky/stabby rogue that can cast mirror image, blur, invis, haste, stoneskin, misty step, improved invis, etc.. The base 12/0 AT just seems too underpowered in the spell casting department.

Assuming that multiclassing spell casters will add our caster levels (not confirmed, but likely) I came up with these numbers (AT are 1/3 level caster class):

12 AT / 0 Wiz = Caster level 4, level 2 spells, 4 Ability Score Increases, 6 sneak attack dice
11 AT / 1 Wiz = Caster level 5, level 3 spells, 3 ASI, 6 sneak attack dice
10 AT / 2 Wiz = caster level 6, level 3 spells, 3 ASI, 5 sneak attack dice
9 AT / 3 Wiz = caster level 6 , level 3 spells, 2 ASI, 5 sneak attack dice
8 AT / 4 Wiz = caster level 7, level 4 spells, 3 ASI, 4 sneak attack dice

What I got from this table:
11/1 seems almost a no-brainer. Getting a level 3 spell slot for 1 less ASI. Still have max sneak attack dice.
10/2 seems worse than 11/1, loses a sneak attack die for only an additional 3rd level spell slot, no increase in max spell level.
9/3 is just bad.
8/4 is interesting. 4 sneak attack dice compared to 6, but gets 4th level spells. This should unlock stoneskin and improved invis.

The good thing about AT and Wiz multiclass is that you don't have to worry about 'known' spells since you can learn from scrolls and they both use INT.

The ability to respec means I'll prob try out a mix.

Caveat: It's possible my assumptions are all wrong. It's been difficult trying to figure out the differences between 5e, BG3, early access, and what is known about the full release.

We don't know how multiclassing will work in BG3...we know that it will not work as it does in D&D 5e...they are doing some funny stuff, especially with multiclassing into spellcaster classes. It seems as though they are trying to separate the levels of each class individually and correlate them more to player level as opposed to how many levels of a class you took before but we really don't know. Don't plan anything to do with multiclassing at all yet because it probably won't work as you expect. This will really not be the same as 5e at all.

It's not as if PnP rules are perfectly clear about this...

Per 5e rules, you would get higher level spell slots, but not higher level spells. You could upcast a 1st or 2nd level spell, but not learn a 3rd level spell.

It is possible that Larian has made it so you can learn spells at the highest level that you have spell slots for, but I wouldn’t necessarily assume it to be true.

Ah, but what about wizards learning higher level spells from scrolls?

Precisely.

Per 5e rules:

"When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it."

"You determine what spells you know and can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class."

Brrr. That would be a drag. So then adding your spell casting levels from two mult classed spell casters only gives you higher level spell slots to allow you to upcast the lower level spells? Maybe this is what Larian was referring to when the talked about giving access to higher level spells than normal. One can hope.

Multiclassing has always had a downside - throwing that downside away is a bad idea for reasons that have been pointed out by many people in many places on these forums. I seriously hope they haven't flushed these long-standing constraints down the toilet of populism (I would say "sacrificed at the altar of populism", but that makes it sound somewhat acceptable...)

Correct, as per 5e.

Larian's statements imply that they're implementing different rules, that [paraphrasing] "allow mutliclassed spellcasters access to higher level spells [fireball was specifically mentioned] earlier than normal." For more speculation on exactly how the above will be implemented, I'd suggest one of the other open threads about this topic.

Going back to your specific post: it would make sense if a multiclassed Wizard/Arcane Trickster *could* simply add their casting levels and use that to calculate spells known and prepared, as they both use basically the same spellset. Given ^ and Larian's stated desire to change multiclassing, I think it's likely that it'll work how your post describes.