[RPG] Would it be unbalanced to allow a ranger to take multiple archetypes as if multiclassing

archetypebalancednd-5ehouse-rulesmulti-classing

I'm DM-ing a game in which one of the players wants to take two ranger archetypes as if multiclassing as a ranger/ranger.

The two archetypes would be treated as if they were separate classes and they would take new levels in one archetype or the other. So for example, at character level 7 they would have everything a level 7 ranger has regardless of archetype and, say they were hunter 4/beast master 3, they would have the features of a level 4 hunter and a level 3 beast master.

Would it break the game to allow them to do this?

Best Answer

It will be fine for Rangers

Rangers are arguably the weakest class in the game. It has virtually no chance to be overpowered, but could end up underpowered.

Is it overpowered?

The strongest combination I was able to find for level 20 is this:

  • Gloom Stalker 11, Stalker's Flurry: Reroll one attack roll
  • Gloom Stalker 3, Dread Ambusher for an extra attack on the first turn
  • Hunter 3, Colossus Slayer for 1d8 damage on one of the attacks
  • Horizon Walker 3, Planar Warrior for 1d8 extra damage on one of the attacks
  • Monster Slayer 3, Slayer's Prey for 1d6 extra damage on one of the attacks

So in the first turn he makes 3 attacks (Extra Attack + Dread Ambusher) +1d8 + 1d6 damage, and 2 attacks for the rest of the encounter with 2d8 + 1d6. He also rerolls one attack. Except for the first turn this is less than the 11th level Fighter without any archetypes. If we add that, it easily compensates for the first turn.

Is it underpowered?

If he does not select Beastmaster as one of his archetypes, he will be a valid character.
Beastmaster is the weakest archetype, delaying its features further could make him seriously behind other characters.

Other classes

It all comes down to how powerful the archetype features are, and how early you get them. You have to examine every combination.
If you reach the level where the final archetype feature normally comes you should probably stop, as any future features would make you stronger than any of the single archetypes. But as the Ranger above shows, some classes are weak enough to cross even this limitation without getting overpowered.

Clerics for example get great things from their domains even on level one, so for them this would be definitely overpowered.
Bards on the other hand would probably become weaker without sticking to any one archetype until level 14. After that any new archetype features would be net gain, because you get the last archetype feature on level 14 normally.