Best party for BD&D dungeon crawling

Bullgrit · Jun 30, 2010

Say you are organizing a six-member party for dungeon crawling in a Basic D&D game. You will crawl the dungeon from 1st level through 12th level, (a year's worth of weekly sessions).

What is the best* mix of PC classes? And which of the PCs would you want to play?

* By "best," I'm thinking: "most likely to survive all the way as a team." But if you want to address a different definition of "best," explain.

Bullgrit

the Jester · Jun 30, 2010

In Basic, I'd accept that by 12th level I would have gone through multiple pcs, so whatever the party starts off as may not really matter in the long run.

That said- a cleric or two, an elf, a thief, a magic-user and a fighter or two.

ExploderWizard · Jun 30, 2010

Bullgrit said:
Say you are organizing a six-member party for dungeon crawling in a Basic D&D game. You will crawl the dungeon from 1st level through 12th level, (a year's worth of weekly sessions).

What is the best* mix of PC classes? And which of the PCs would you want to play?

* By "best," I'm thinking: "most likely to survive all the way as a team." But if you want to address a different definition of "best," explain.

Bullgrit

Cleric
Fighter
Magic User
Thief
Elf
Dwarf

A great mix of class/racial abilities. A possible change would be to switch out the fighter for a 2nd cleric.

Which one would I play?

Any of them if I got a chance to play in a regular basic game again.

TerraDave · Jun 30, 2010

You must have a magic-user, as over those levels a huge number of your options will come from there. Then you must have a cleric and everyone else guard the MU.

Given that, the classic party is...

Fighter
Dwarf
Magic User
Elf
Cleric
Theif

Edit: Ninja'd! But just.

I would play the...elf

Actually, I don't remember if the halfling gets theif skills, in which case they could be an alternate.

The above party is meant to have MU spells, melee capability, that cleric for healing and turning and back up melee and the dwarf and theif to cover various skills. (don't remember if the theif can act as a back up magic item user at high levels in basic)

Though, if you are really by the book, you need some of the above to have high charisma, as you will need red-shirts.

Also, if these guys do make it, huge, huge ramp up in power. By (the fighters) level 12 they should be ready to rule. Though the theif and dwarf may be feeling a little underpowered.

ExploderWizard · Jun 30, 2010

TerraDave said:
Actually, I don't remember if the halfling gets theif skills, in which case they could be an alternate.

They get some stealth related ability but not the full range of skills.

TerraDave said:
The above party is meant to have MU spells, melee capability, that cleric for healing and turning and back up melee and the dwarf and theif to cover various skills. (don't remember if the theif can act as a back up magic item user at high levels in basic)

A 10th level thief can attempt to use MU scrolls IIRC.

TerraDave said:
Though, if you are really by the book, you need some of the above to have high charisma, as you will need red-shirts.

Always a plus!

TerraDave said:
Also, if these guys do make it, huge, huge ramp up in power. By (the fighters) level 12 they should be ready to rule. Though the theif and dwarf may be feeling a little underpowered.

If level is capped at 12 yeah. If going by XP, by the time the MU hits 12th the thief (and cleric) will be around 14th or perhaps higher.

Fraidnot · Jun 30, 2010

Cleric *6?

pdiddy · Jun 30, 2010

The party:

Magic-user
Dwarf
Elf
Fighter
Cleric
Thief

+ at least another 6 retainers

I would love to play any of the PCs.

Bluenose · Jun 30, 2010

You need:

1. Someone to fight - Fighter, Dwarf, perhaps Elf, most Clerics
2. Someone to do magic - Magic user, perhaps Elf
3. Someone to heal - Cleric
4. Someone with l33t skillz - Thief, Halfling

With a party of six, I'd go for the four basic classes and add a Dwarf and an Elf. And I'd probably play the Fighter, myself - ideally with reasonably good charisma to lead the hirelings.

Bullgrit · Jun 30, 2010

Would it be better to replace the m-u with an elf? The elf would only average one-level lower based on xp.

Would it be better to replace the fighter with a dwarf? The dwarf won't really be noticably behind in level until the very end.

Are thieves really useful? Their skills are so low, especially in the earlier levels.

Bullgrit

Hand of Evil · Jun 30, 2010

Race is not as important as class...

2 Cleric - one for Defensive magic, the other for healing; both would provide support to the fighter
1 Magic User - firepower
1 Fighter - you need a tank
2 Rogues - what ever classes fall into this grouping these days, base it on a rapid strike force or special forces. Basicly moving to support the other party members as needed and provide special skills

Best party for BD&D dungeon crawling

Bullgrit

Adventurer

the Jester

Legend

ExploderWizard

Hero

TerraDave

5ever, or until 2024

ExploderWizard

Hero

Fraidnot

First Post

pdiddy

Explorer

Bluenose

Adventurer

Bullgrit

Adventurer

Hand of Evil

Hero

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