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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ourph" data-source="post: 4715045" data-attributes="member: 20239">In the longest lasting 3.5 game I played in, the party ended up being around 14th level when we quit.  IIRC, the party consisted of:1) Half-Ogre Fighter/Barbarian2) Human Warlock3) Dwarf Cleric (heavily min-maxed for melee)4) Human Rogue/Scout (heavily min-maxed for melee)5) Human WarmageNote: There were probably some prestige classes mixed in there, but I can't remember any of them, so I just listed base-classes I was sure about.If the DM prepped encounters that were balanced for the whole 5 PC party and then one player didn't show up, it heavily depended on which PC was missing from the group as to whether the encounter was still doable.If the Warlock wasn't there, it wasn't a big deal. Fights might last a couple of rounds longer.  We rarely felt it much at all.If the Rogue/Scout or Fighter/Barb wasn't there, we noticed it, but we could get through the encounters just fine. We spent more healing resources because the front lines were weaker and fights would last a little longer.If the Cleric or the Warmage didnt' show up, we just didn't play because without them, any encounter designed with the entire party in mind would have been a total PC wipe. Lack of Cleric meant no healing resources during combat, no 3rd spellcaster (for fights where the melee guys couldn't be effective like vs. flying targets or incorporeal monsters) and of course, no buffs.  The Warmage usually accounted for about 1/2 of the total damage dealt in any encounter, so losing him basically halved the party's damage output. Any encounter that would challenge the whole 5-person party would have killed an entire 4 PC party which lacked either the Cleric or the Warmage.On the other hand, any 3 PC party that included both the Cleric and the Warmage plus one of the melee guys could have probably handled at least 1 encounter designed for the entire 5-man party. It would probably be the only encounter they could get through that day, but they would likely have survived it.So I wouldn't go so far as to say that Fighters and other non-caster types were useless after 11th level, but there is no question in my mind that they played 2nd fiddle to the casters in almost every way (I would argue that this started as early as 5th level actually).</blockquote>

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