D&D 5E 4d6 Messed Up Party Composition?

[Les Moore]

Your party needs balance. This is something your players have to work out amongst their PCs, as somebody mentioned earlier.
Spell-casters should have alternatives to using spells, which are going to be rare, in the first few levels, and might not be best used
in constant confrontation.
Ranged attacks should be available to almost, if not every member of the party. You should have a healer, or two. Without this balance, your next Thread Title may be
"5D6, and it's STILL a messed up party composition".

 

[iserith]

And the challenges you present have nothing to do with the characters, and their backgrounds, their histories?

Those things inform their choices perhaps, but doesn't inform my design. I have a player pool with more players than seats per session and each player has more than one character. I quite literally can't design with these things in mind. I can only guess who will attend each session and which character they will choose to bring. I might have a good idea, sometimes, but that's not a good enough guarantee to prep in any particular sort of direction other than working on the adventure location itself without regard to the PCs.

So you don't ever think about how often you throw ranged encounters at them versus melee encounters? Do you just select types of encounters and the monsters in them at random?

No and yes (sometimes), respectively.

I mean, if you are a "sandbox DM" like I mentioned above, I can understand where you'd be coming from-- your map has encounter locations with set monsters and set terrain and whatever happens, happens. But if not... then I don't see really why you'd (for instance) throw 2, 3, 5 ranged fights against your party in a row? Without "tailoring" things those numbers would certainly be a possibility. And your group is okay with that?

I would say I'm a "sandbox DM," but that sandbox can vary quite widely in size and scope. I don't tend to do plot-based adventures like adventure paths. "Sandbox" tends to be one of those words that gets thrown around that means something different to everyone.

To each their own, of course... but I just find deliberately thumbing your nose at your own players' desires for the types of stories they want to experience just because you can (or because "the world" is unchangeable) to be cutting it off while you are thumbing it, just to spite your face.

The players are completely in charge of the types of "stories" they want to experience in the context of the presented challenges. Sometimes they have to work harder at succeeding than other times.

 

[Keravath]

I’m a bit confused by the OP comments.

1) As mentioned, the method of determining stats really doesn’t have an impact on character classes chosen

2) the OP seemed to be concerned about a lack of healing which I don’t understand. The party has a cleric and a bard and both can and should have healing word which covers most in combat healing requirements.

3) the bard can cover much of the skills needed and with the proper choice of background can be proficient with thieves tools.

4) the biggest lack is AoE damage. The bard can help here with AoE crowd control like hypnotic pattern .. and could cover AoE damage by taking fireball as a magical secret.

5) the fighter and the cleric can cover tanking. The bard can do crowd control and back up damage

6) the last character can be either ranged dps... crossbow expert/sharpshooter ranger or ranger/rogue multiclass perhaps .. or dps+utility with a wizard ..if you want to tank and cover backup healing then take one level of cleric along with the wizard levels

 

[cbwjm]

Is this because it was 4k3 in order which led the party to be built in the current set up?

 

[Zardnaar]

Is this because it was 4k3 in order which led the party to be built in the current set up?

4d6 assign how you like. Stats were a bit higher so things like arcane cleric melee beat down was chosen.

It's more level 1 to 5 I am worried about. Bards planning on taking fireball and healing spirit and the cleric will have a few spirit guardians

 

[CTurbo]

4d6 assign how you like. Stats were a bit higher so things like arcane cleric melee beat down was chosen.

It's more level 1 to 5 I am worried about. Bards planning on taking fireball and healing spirit and the cleric will have a few spirit guardians

Well at least 1-4 is when TWF is probably strongest.

From my experiences, high rolled stats don't really change character makeup too much. Really it just opens up a surplus of feats that players like, but normally wouldn't take like Mobile, Alert, Lucky, etc...

Or normally overly complicated combos like PAM, Spell Sniper, Warcaster, and Magic Initiate

 

[Zardnaar]

Well at least 1-4 is when TWF is probably strongest.

From my experiences, high rolled stats don't really change character makeup too much. Really it just opens up a surplus of feats that players like, but normally wouldn't take like Mobile, Alert, Lucky, etc...

Or normally overly complicated combos like PAM, Spell Sniper, Warcaster, and Magic Initiate

If we get good stats we do something similar with the "weaker" feats as you in effect get bonus ASI if you roll well.

Its my wife doing the arcane cleric thing. To many eggs in the basket perhaps. We often do not take the usual suspect as well a rolled 18 might be something like a mountain Dwarf Sorcerer.