What spell slots should I have with Paladin 7 / Sorcerer 7? [duplicate]

Question

The basic 5e Roll20 sheet is showing 2 slots for lvl 5 and 3 slots for lvl 4, but that doesn't seem right. I read the section on multiclassing and spell slots and I still don't understand why it shows I have 2 lvl 5 spell slots available on the basic sheet.

Answer 1

You have the following slots:

• 1st level: 4
• 2nd level: 3
• 3rd level: 3
• 4th level: 3
• 5th level: 2

But how did I get there?

The procedure you go through to determine your spells and slots is thus:

1. Build the spells available to the character for each class in the multiclass separately.
2. You do this by taking the levels in the individual class and comparing them to the vanilla class table. So in the case of a Paladin 7/Sorcerer 7:
   • Paladin 7: prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier + half your Paladin level (rounded down) = Charisma modifier + floor(7/2) = Charisma modifier + 3. These spells can be any combination of the 1st & 2nd level Paladin spells available to your character. This will generally be detemined by the Paladin class spell list (Pg 208 of the PHB), but some Paladin subclasses also give the Paladin access to additional spells not on the list (and those spells are considered Paladin spells)
   • Sorcerer 7: your character knows 8 spells (taken from the 7th level line in the Sorcerer table [pg 100 of the PHB]). These spells can be of 1st to 4th level, and must be taken from the Sorcerer spell list (pg 209 PHB). There are additional restrictions on how many of each level you know, due to how swapping out spells works at level up for the sorcerer portion of your character (but those permutations are beyond the scope of this answer).
3. Determine your spell slots by calculating your “spellcaster level” (the procedure for this is given in the Multiclassing section of the Players Handbook [PHB]). For the example we are using this is done by:
   • adding half your Paladin level (rounded down) and your Sorcerer levels together. In our example this would be 3 + 7 = 10.
4. Use this total (10) to read off your per spell level spell slots from the multiclass spellcaster table on page 165 of the Players Handbook.

To cast spells you then choose a spell from your list of spells your character has for the day (that we built in step 2), and combine it with a slot appropriate to the level you wish to cast it at (so you can use your lower level spells with your 5th level spell slots).

Answer 2

The Roll20 sheet is correct.

Though you determine which spells you know and have currently prepared for each class separately, your number of slots available to actually cast those prepared spells is determined by the following rule:

Spell Slots. You determine your available spell slots by adding together all your levels in the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard classes, and half your levels (rounded down) in the paladin and ranger classes. Use this total to determine your spell slots by consulting the Multiclass Spellcaster table.

As a Sorcerer 7/Paladin 7, that gives an effective Multiclass Spellcaster level of 10 - 7 full levels from Sorcerer, and 3 (7/2 rounded down) from Paladin. Consulting the table referred to by this rule, an effective multiclass spellcaster level of 10 grants you:

• 4 1st level slots
• 3 2nd level slots
• 3 3rd level slots
• 3 4th level slots
• 2 5th level slots

Your spell slots are not tied to a particular class and can be used to cast spells from either of your individually prepared lists. You won't know any 5th level spells, but the slots can still be used to cast the lower level spells you do know, and odds are good many of those spells will have a greater effect when cast at a higher level - so it's not as if the slots are wasted.

You can also use the slots to power other abilities that consume spell slots, like the Paladin's Divine Smite class feature, or the Sorcerer's Flexible Casting (converting spell slots into sorcery points). The only respect in which your spellcasting classes are considered separately is when determining your spells known and prepared.