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Say you are a level 7 cleric and decide to take a level in fighter. Does that mean you are no longer a full caster since you aren’t leveled in just full caster classes and took a level in a non-full caster class?

Or say a Sorcerer/warlock, since pact magic isn’t the same as spell casting in terms of class features, would they not be a full caster either? Or a Sorc/Paladin? Or even an arcane trickster rogue with one level of wizard?

Example of context: a magic item requires attunement by a full caster or a feat requires you to be a full caster.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure the rules even reference "full caster", can you give an example showing that the distinction is made by the rules, and that it matters? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 16:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour and visit the help center in order to have some indication about posting question and answers here. I am a little bit confused about "sorlock" (sorcerer + warlock?) and by the examples: do you have any magic item that requires a "full caster"? \$\endgroup\$
    – Eddymage
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 16:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ I couldn’t find anything referencing it either. I saw a home brew item that required you to be a full caster to attune to it, so my dm, group and I were discussing what would qualify you as a “full caster,” but I noticed almost all magic items required specific classes, the ability to cast spells, certain stats, alignments, etc. I’ve never seen the “full caster” tag and I assumed it meant one of the main spellcasting classes, but some of the others felt different. Like since our sorc multi’d into warlock, he was no longer a full caster. Trying to see what RAW says but couldn’t find anything \$\endgroup\$
    – Petsah
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 16:45

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"Full caster" is not a distinction made in the rules.

The question seems to be built on an incorrect assumption. The rules do not define "full caster", and consequently, there are no requirements based on the concept. Some magic items and feats require you to have a spellcasting class feature or to be a spellcaster, but none of them mention the concept of a "full caster".

This idea comes from the multiclassing rules for determining your available spell slots:

You determine your available spell slots by adding together all your levels in the bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, and wizard classes, half your levels (rounded down) in the paladin and ranger classes, and a third of your fighter or rogue levels (rounded down) if you have the Eldritch Knight or the Arcane Trickster feature.

"Full caster", "half caster", and "one third caster" are terms the community came up with based on the spell slot progression described here, but the rules don't actually use these names to refer to these classes anywhere. In this context, classes and subclasses are categorized based on the number of spell slots they contribute, with Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, and Wizards contributing the full array of spell slots, and so are sometimes referred to as "full casters" (by players, not the rules); Paladins and Rangers contribute approximately half that of a full caster, and Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters have approximately one third the available slots of a so called full caster.

So to make a magic item that requires attunement by a "full caster", the rules-consistent way to write that would be something like:

Requires attunement by a druid, bard, wizard, cleric, or sorcerer

Written this way, multiclassing would present no complications for the item's use, as having even one level in one of these classes is sufficient to meet the requirement.

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