Editing Multiclassing (section)

==5th Edition==
Multiclassing in 5e is essentially a blend of third and fourth edition multiclassing.  Whenever you level up you can choose to take a level in another class, as per third edition rules. However, multiclassing doesn't give the same proficiencies as taking the first level in a class and the earlier class will remain dominant, like in fourth edition non-hybrid classes. For example, a Fighter 1/Bard 1 will have heavy armor, martial weapons, etc, but will only have one instrument and one skill, whereas a Bard 1/Fighter 1 will have ''three'' instrument and skill proficiencies, but no heavy armor. 

It's also a much-more attractive option for spellcasters than in 3rd edition, since you not only add all your full-caster levels, half your half-caster levels, or a third of your archetype-that-gains-casting levels together to determine your spells-per-day, but the reworked spellcasting system means that, even if you don't know any higher-level spells, you can still cast your lower-level spells using those slots to "scale them up."

Of course, multiclassing has been made somewhat less prevalent by the addition of archetypes, though unlike Pathfinder archetypes these are automatic class components rather than optional features that change the class.  Each class splits up into branches (at core most have three, and some have as many as eight, all have at least two) at a certain level that must be chosen from, specializing their abilities in some way. For example, a 3rd level fighter can become a Champion (more likely to crit, better Athletics checks, eventually gains beefy fast healing), a Battlemaster (gets battle maneuvers to trip/disarm/frighten enemies, has more benefits for fighting tactically and being a party leader) or a retooled Eldritch Knight (who can cast spells and eventually learns to do it whenever making attacks).  As a result, mixing two classes' worth of abilities is much easier without true multiclassing, though, as per the Pathfinder equivalent, the spirit of playing a "mixed" character is still there.