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I'm attempting to build a character that has very high knowledge scores. I thought taking a single level in Cleric (Knowledge domain) and the rest of the levels in Wizard with Unearthed Arcana's archetype Theurgy (also Knowledge) would do the trick.

My DM and I are trying to decide if Blessings of Knowledge could be applied to the character twice — similar to how the multiple Expertises given to a Bard/Rogue multiclass function. Can Blessings of Knowledge be applied to the same character twice — to different skills, of course?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi CSHanzer, and welcome to the site. Check out our tour to see how we work here. Please pose an actual single answerable question to us -- "I'm doing a bunch of stuff. Thoughts?" isn't a question. If the question is something like "Can I apply Blesings of Knowledge twice to {describe character build here}?" please rephrase it as an answerable question. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 13, 2017 at 22:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ I've edited the post to clarify that I'm only concerned with how Blessings of Knowledge might be applied twice. Thank you for letting me know to make the change. \$\endgroup\$
    – CSHanzer
    Aug 13, 2017 at 22:16

2 Answers 2

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Unearthed Arcana is not tuned for multiclassing.

As per this Jeremy Crawford tweet,

Unearthed Arcana material isn't tuned for multiclassing.

Therefore, there is no developer intent underlying these rules, which makes it difficult or impossible to determine the "right" answer. It's always worth noting that UA material is still in progress, and the designers know that much of it might be overpowered:

Reminder about playtest material like Unearthed Arcana: it's not official, and it's usually more powerful than official material.

Ruling: It's probably OK in this case.

In the absence of any official interpretation, we can try to see what a good ruling would be. I think that it's not unreasonable to allow double-dipping in this case.

There's a lot of precedent for getting extra skill proficiencies and bonuses through multiclassing. For example, you could be a multiclass wizard/rogue instead of wizard/cleric, and get a similar effect from the Expertise feature (as long as your background gives you the necessary proficiencies).

Additionally, the benefits of the knowledge domain are rather weak for a multiclass wizard (a slotless Suggestion and object/area reading). When you compare them to other Arcane Traditions, such as the War Magic one in the same UA, choosing to be an Knowledge domain Theurge seems a bit weak, even if you allow this double-dipping of proficiencies.

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From the PHB on multiclassing:

When you gain a new level in a class, you get its features for that level. A few features, however, have additional rules when you're multiclassing: Channel Divinity, Extra Attack, Unarmored Defense, and Spellcasting. (p.164)

So getting all the all the features of your new class level is the norm and the rules explicitly call out the cases where there is a difference. Two features sharing a name is not mentioned and should not be a problem.

Please note, however, that UA is still under testing and thus it can contain unintended combinations. The DM should be careful when allowing UA material, and can decide this is not how it should work. To me it really feels like an exploit and would probably not allow it at my table.

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    \$\begingroup\$ UA content is especially not balanced for multiclassing, as mentioned in every UA article: "As is typical in Unearthed Arcana, the options here haven’t been tuned for multiclassing." \$\endgroup\$
    – Thyzer
    Aug 13, 2017 at 23:09

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