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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6769965" data-attributes="member: 12731">The thing is that for a combat-centric campaign, "glass cannons" and "strikers" are sidelined. That is because they do not deal more damage than tanks. Even the utility of something as versatile as a Wizard is much less in this edition than previously. That is because 5E adventures do not presume the existence of an arcane caster, and offers much fewer challenges that only spells can deal with. Monte Cook, for instance, was a strong proponent of the idea that (high level) adventures should offer challenges that only smart use of high level spells could defeat, circumvent or considerably lessen. The adventures would let you use spells like Prismatic Orb to activate ancient thingamagogs. BBEGs would be protected by force fields only magic could defeat, or make their lairs in exotic protodimensions only wizards could access.Not to mention how the old chestnut of the scry-buff-buff-buff-teleport-timestop-bloodbath-word of recall-afternoon tea sequence made life much easier for the adventurers!All of the above means that unless your campaign actively incorporates challenges from the other "pillars of play" social and exploration, there is nothing that speaks in favor of those "glass cannons", "strikers", "skill monkeys" and "versatiles".That's old baggage of previous edition thinking. What you need in 5th edition is a strong core of fighters. Not even melee fighters. Let's assume a party of ranged fighters centred around a paladin and a barbarian (for that extra toughness) is the optimal.Then it follows that each bard, thief or warlock you add can only weaken the party. But you know what? That would be missing the point! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Since the only reward for "beating" the game by making up a "too strong" party is... boredom.If you instead optimize on player fun, a party of precisely those classes you find most fun to play, is the best. As an added bonus, combats will probably be more exciting and fun!</blockquote>

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