Single-Class Parties

[Dan'L]

Well, discussion about what single-race parties would work the best got me thinking... What about single class parties?

I know that this was certainly achievable in 3.5, but with the more role-focused nature of 4e, is it still possible? I think so, but let's look.

My thoughts:
CLERIC - good balance of ranged and melee powers; access to lots of healing and saves; good range of targeting different defenses; different deities for different Channel Divinity feats and good gateway for establishing different flavors for the different members. Light on area effects, poor on control.

FIGHTER - In melee they're good, but if they have to close distance under fire of archers, they can get pretty hosed. Poor control, minimal healing, and relative lack of to-hits on other than AC.

PALADIN - See fighter, but add in a little more healing. And like the Cleric, the different deities add a ready way to provide different character flavor. A Divine Challenge nightmare for the DM ("okay, so this ogre's challenged by WHO?), so that's maybe a plus

RANGER - These guys are solid in melee and ranged. Good mobility, some multiple target hits, but relatively weak on control, and weak on non-AC attacks.

ROGUE - a whole team of flankers and snipers? Oh, yeah. Crap on healing though, and light on control. So-so on non-AC attack options. Best basic skill coverage.

WARLOCK - This is the striker that has most versatility, and the most control options. Not great in melee, though.

WARLORD - With the bumps to healing and the battlefield aid and control, this could be a tough group. Like the other "Martial" classes, though, weak on non-AC attacks.

WIZARD - Awesome control, good attack and damage options. Terrible on melee. Healing is poor at best.

Summary: I'd say the Leaders and Strikers are where it's at for overall versatility. Others could be done, but battlefield conditions could quickly become a death-trap.

-Dan'L

 

[Zurai]

Paladins could do it easily if you allowed multiclassing. Two pure paladins, one or two multiclass paladin-clerics or paladin-warlords, and one or two multiclass paladin-rangers or paladin-warlocks.

Even without multiclassing, paladins are still probably your best bet. They have the best mix of the four roles, IMO.

 

[Nifft]

Infernal Warlocks can tank like nobody's business.

I'd probably go with all Clerics, though. Half Strength and half Wisdom, and one of the ranged dudes would be an Elf Cleric Archer, so we'd have a sprinkling of long-range attacks. We'd have at least one Cha-heavy dude to dip into Paladin for Wrath of the Gods.


Dwarf melee cleric
Str 16, Con 16 (14 +2), Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 15 (13 +2), Cha 14
Feat: Dwarven Weapon Training
Weapon of Choice: Halberd. He stands behind...

Dragonborn melee cleric
Str 18 (16 +2), Con 14, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 16 (14 +2)
Feat: Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword

Human laser cleric
Wis 18 (16 +2), Con 14, ...
Feat: Action Surge, Toughness

Elf laser cleric
Wis 18 (16 +2), Dex 18 (16 +2), ...
Feat: Elven Precision

- - -

Between the four of them, they could know literally every Cleric power. That's a lot of flexibility.

Cheers, -- N

 

[RefinedBean]

I just had an image of five Eladrin Warlocks teleporting upon some hapless guy mucking through the woods, and then arguing loudly about whose curse should be on him.

"Well, the Dark Stars of Ynissh declare his soul for the Greater Void, so..."

"I'm sick of your Dark Star stuff, we haven't sacrificed a soul to Haagenti of the Thousand Maws in years."

And so on...

 

[am181d]

Is your question, can you run a single-class party against a set of monsters without adjusting the compositioning or level of the monsters? Probably not. But a clever DM can make anything work.

 

[Duelpersonality]

Not quite a single class party, but one of the games I'm running is composed of a single role among 5 players. 3 rangers, 1 warlock and 1 rogue make for a devastating amount of punishment on tougher enemies, and with all the twin striking going on minions don't last long either. I'm hesitant to even try a single solo monster against them, though one with enough controller could pose serious problems.

 

[Blackbrrd]

The problem with running a single role/class party is the lack of synergy. If you think strikers do hellish amounts of damage, think what strikers do with a +3 to hit bonus from the warlord?

Combat in 4e does a lot of damage. If you don't have anybody to heal that damage you are going DOWN! I ran a level 3 encounter where the effect of the first hit was the player going: "I am bloodied"... He also got knocked prone. The enemy hitting him used a halberd. Knock prone + reach weapon = win. On his turn he used his second wind and inspiring word and was fit for... being hit once more and going bloodied again. Without the healing he would have been a small hit from unconscious.

The conclusion I had after running several level, level +1 and level +2 encounters was that at least one character had taken 1.5x-2x his own hp in damage during the fight. It won't necessarily be the same character every encounter but there will be one taking a lot of heat.

An all out striker party works by killing enemies before the monsters gang up on the weakest of them. This works as long as the encounters are at about the same level as the players, but if its for instance level +2 you might have a problem...

You have human guards doing 1d10+7 damage with +10 to hit. If two of those goes for for instance a typical rogue with AC 16 and 25 hp he will go down if both guards hit 75%*85%* = 64% and they both do slightly above average damage, lets say 40% chance of doing 25+ damage. 64%*40% = 25% chance of taking one striker down the first round.

Now it might just start to unravel. Does the characters use a standard action to make a heal check? Does any of the strikers have heal as a skill? Do they try to take the

Four human guards makes a level 2 encounter for a party of 5 first level characters. It is in the "normal" range. A hard encounter is level +3 or +4, which would mean you could throw about 6 human guards at the party. Any pair of human guards have a 25% chance of taking one striker down. Not good at all...

A more balanced party would have a defender with ac 20 and 30 hp, so you would probably need 3 or 4 of the human guards to take him down. And if you don't take him down he will be healed, he can use his second wind, etc...

Encounters aren't balanced if the monsters are hitting strikers instead of defenders. They get really random.

*The first attack knocks the target prone, so it gives the second attack a +2 bonus, or +10 percentage points.

 

[Dan'L]

The problem with running a single role/class party is the lack of synergy.

Exactly, but some classes are better at filling in for other roles. I think the best single-class party would be Warlords or Clerics, because all that healing can help the party last through the longer battles that you'll have without strikers or controllers, and they can tank moderately well with the right build.

Striker parties might have to employ creative tactics to get through certain encounters. For example, in the case of Human guards, with Rogues I think a viable tactic would be to Bluff through it, and not get into combat in the first place, or to sneak around it. Essentially, replace a combat encounter with a skill encounter.

Obviously not the ideal solution every time, but the point is there are different tactics that a group would need to employ based on it's membership. And this is the same for multi-class/role groups as well. Any group will have it's soft spot or two, the only question is are there enough ways to get around those spots? I think it would be tougher for classes that don't offer a blend of melee and ranged powers, or healing and other mutual buffs, than it would be for classes that have these but offer less per hit damage or battlefield/enemy control.

-Dan'L

 

[med stud]

A bunch of staff- using wizards with enemy- only- affecting spells could be interesting. With the leather- proficiency they can get good AC, they have good Con and by level 2 they can get shield as a utility power.

Otherwise I would go for paladin. They have a defender/leader- combo built in, can do damage and they can heal. Taking them down would be very hard and they can deal damage back.

 

[Corwin]

I think this edition of D&D makes for a great opportunity to run "themed" groups of PCs.

But instead of saying something like, "everyone is a rogue, GO!".

Instead, let everyone play different classes, but have them all take the designated multiclass feat together to symbolize their common path.

So you could have a party consisting of, say, a fighter, warlock, cleric, wizard and (true) rogue. Have them all take the Sneak of Shadows feat (except the true rogue, of course).

Bam! Instant roguish adventuring party. But you get to keep the important, necessary synergies among the various classes.

The idea of a themed group (wizard apprentices, conscripted soldiers, holy acolytes, guerrilla scouts, etc.) has untold possibilities, IMNSHO.