D&D 5E Effective caster level?

[Farland]

So a character is a 3rd level paladin and a 2nd level warlock. He wants to cast eldritch blast. He only gets one ray, correct, bc he should count as a 4th level character for spellcaster level, right?

 

[Giant2005]

There are no spellcaster levels. He could be a level 2 Warlock and level 3 Barbarian and still get the second ray. That second ray comes in at character level 5 - whatever classes you take during those 5 levels is irrelevant. Hell you could even get that second ray without being a caster class at all if you took the cantrip via a feat.

 

[Farland]

Interesting. Is there a book reference for this or is this just deductive reasoning?

 

[Arial Black]

No. He gets two beams.

There is actually no such thing as 'caster level' in 5E (in contrast to previous editions).

In 5E, there is just the spell slot you use to cast the spell.

The single exception is casting a cantrip. For cantrips, you use your total character level, as opposed to 'class level in the class that gave you the cantrip' (because you can get cantrips without ever having a level in a spellcasting class) or 'caster level' (which doesn't exist in 5E).

Your pal 3/war 2 is a 5th level character, and so gets two beams.

 

[Farland]

Alright, thanks. I thought the effective caster level for spell slots in the multicasting section would apply, but looks like I was wrong.

 

[Giant2005]

Alright, thanks. I thought the effective caster level for spell slots in the multicasting section would apply, but looks like I was wrong.

If you considered the multiclassing spell slot progression to be an effective caster level for cantrips, then Warlocks would be screwed in a big way considering that they don't provide any spell slot progression when multiclassing. Under that system, a Warlock 18/ Paladin 2 would have an effective caster level of 1.

 

[seebs]

Interesting. Is there a book reference for this or is this just deductive reasoning?

Neither; this was confirmed by dev tweets. That said, while it's not explicitly stated, there is no reference to "caster level" in the spell, just "level".

 

[Farland]

Thanks!

 

[Illithidbix]

If you want a quote from the WoTC website, it's in the Sage Advice compendium:
http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/SA_Compendium.pdf

(linked from: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/rules-answers-january-2016 )

If a character has levels in more than one class, do the character’s cantrips scale with character level or with the level in a spellcasting class?
Cantrips scale with character level. For example, a barbarian 2 / cleric 3 casts sacred flame as a 5th-level character.

It does make a high charisma character dipping 2-3 levels into Warlock to get Eldritch Blast, Agonising Blast and Hex to be an effective base for a blasty build.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

It does make a high charisma character dipping 2-3 levels into Warlock to get Eldritch Blast, Agonising Blast and Hex to be an effective base for a blasty build.

Shhh! Don't spread the madness!