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I have a conundrum. I have a multiclassed 6th Paladin/ 5th Warlock character. With 6 levels of paladin, I have 4/2 spell slots, and as a 5th warlock, I have 2 spells that are cast as a 3rd level slot. The character has the Fiend pact, and therefore I have chosen Fireball as one of the spells in my narrow Warlock spell list.

Under the multiclass section, (and I'm paraphrasing here, without a PHB in hand), that spellcasters can share their spell slots with pact magic, and vice versa. Warlocks are not on the multiclassed caster table.

So, that being said, RAW should mean that I can burn a 1st level Paladin slot to cast a Fireball from my Warlock side, since all spells cast from a 5th level Warlock is done at its highest caster level. That means that I should literally be able to cast eight 8d6 fireballs before a long rest.

I've searched high and low to prove my theory wrong, but I think I'm correct. It seems unbalanced, and if I abuse it, no doubt my DM would intervene. What do you all think, is my logic sound? Is there errata on this loophole?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Paladin with a FIEND warlock pact? is that even legit? \$\endgroup\$
    – Mouhgouda
    May 8, 2015 at 14:22
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    \$\begingroup\$ RAW there is no reason why a paladin can't form a warlock pact with a Fiend. OP's paladin could be a fallen paladin. \$\endgroup\$
    – bloodmonarcy
    May 11, 2015 at 17:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ 5e has no alignment restrictions on Paladins (or any class). One of the Paladin Oaths is the Oath of Vengeance, which is rather darker than the stereotype knight-in-shining-armour Paladin of previous editions, and would fit rather well with a fiend patron. \$\endgroup\$
    – anaximander
    Feb 16, 2016 at 10:05

2 Answers 2

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PHB 201:

When a character casts a spell, he or she expends a slot of that spell’s level or higher...

You cannot cast a level 3 spell using a level 1 slot.

PHB 164:

If you have both the Spellcasting class feature and the Pact Magic class feature from the warlock class, you can use the spell slots you gain from the Pact Magic feature to cast spells you know or have prepared from classes with the Spellcasting class feature, and you can use the spell slots you gain from the Spellcasting class feature to cast warlock spells you know.

You still have to follow the rules for spellcasting though.

It seems the confusion comes from your misunderstanding that "all spells cast from a 5th level warlock is done at its highest caster level". That's not the case; all of your warlock spell slots are of the same level. Your paladin slots would not be (PHB 107):

The Warlock table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level.

So just to be clear, as a Paladin 6/Warlock 5 you have the following spell slots:

Four 1st level slots (spellcasting feature),
Two 2nd level slots (spellcasting feature),
Two 3rd level slots (pact magic feature).

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    \$\begingroup\$ Your edit is exactly the answer I was going to write. The OP invented the "all spells cast from a 5th level warlock is done at its highest caster level" rule out of the cloth. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    May 7, 2015 at 22:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ @sevensideddie - so, using a second level paladin slot would allow me to cast either a first or second level warlock spell, which makes sense. Ok, so a witch bolt using a second level paladin slot would do 2d12, and 1d12 using the first level paladin slot? I misunderstood the part that said the warlock cast at its maximum, and ANY slot would be translated like a warlock slot of the maximum level. I appreciate the clarification. \$\endgroup\$
    – Killer_Kelly
    May 8, 2015 at 5:08
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The simplest thing that you missed is that you can't cast a 3rd level spell from a 1st- or 2nd-level slot. If you were a high enough level of Paladin, you might be able to make the argument that you ought to be able to cast fireball from a 3rd level paladin slot, but at no point can you cast a spell from a lesser slot than what is required by the spell in the first place.

The next thing you seem to have overlooked, though you kind of brushed across it in your post, is that the Warlock does not share spell slots with other classes. That's why it's not on the multi-class spellcaster list.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Right. But in the pact magic section underneath it says: "you can use the spell slots you gain from the Spellcasting class feature to cast warlock spells you know." It doesn't say of the same spell level. \$\endgroup\$
    – Killer_Kelly
    May 7, 2015 at 21:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Killer_Kelly: Yes, you can cast warlock spells with those spell slots, but the general spellcasting rules don't let you cast spells with slots that are underlevelled. \$\endgroup\$
    – firedraco
    May 7, 2015 at 22:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ Specific beats general. The general rule is that you cannot cast spells of a higher level than you have spell slots for. There is no specific rule anywhere that allows you to cast a warlock spell using a lower level spell slot gained from a different class. \$\endgroup\$
    – xanderh
    May 7, 2015 at 22:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ " If you were a high enough level of Paladin, you might be able to make the argument that you ought to be able to cast fireball from a 3rd level paladin slot." -- There is no question about this. You absolutely would be able to cast fireball with your 3rd level slot from paladin, no argument required. Your answer would be better if it didn't suggest something other than this being the rule. \$\endgroup\$
    – LegendaryDude
    Feb 26, 2017 at 16:15

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