How to balance 3 man party?

[Thurbane]

In the classic "4-man party", you generally need the following 4 roles:

Tank (Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian etc.)
Healer/buffer (Cleric, Druid etc.)
Blaster/utility spellcaster (Wizard, Sorcerer etc.)
Stealth/scout (Rogue, Ranger, Monk)

...and of those 4, the easiest to do without is generally the stealth/scout type.

 

[Klaus]

A 3.x group has 9 roles to fill:

9 roles.

Primary Combat: High BAB, High AC, High hp, High damage output
Secondary Combat: Helps Primary Combat
Opportunistic Combat: Archery or mobility oriented, but low staying power
Magic Artillery: Big BOOM spells
Support Magic: Buffs, counterspells, divination, transport
Reconaissance: Sneaks around and/or asks questions, wilderness survival, avoids party being surprised
Healing: Cure wounds, removes poison, dispels adverse effects
Trap-dealing: Finds and disarms traps, mundane and magical
Undead-dealing: Turns undead and/or protects party from undead abilities

Your party has:
human wizard/psion - Magic Artillery, Support Magic, Reconnaissance (in varying degrees based on how he balances the two classes, as psion has more Recon stuff and wizard is more Artillery/Support)

whisper gnome rouge/sneak-attack thrower - Opportunistic Combat, Reconnaissance and Trap-Dealing (with the usual skill allotments)

raptoran paladin/fighter - Seems like Primary Combat, with just a tiny bit of Healing and Undead-dealing (both already small in Paladin, even smaller from Fighter levels). Of course, this is assuming he goes for the tank route. If he focus on the racial advantages of a raptoran (i.e., flight + ranged), he becomes Opportunistic Combat.

So of all roles, your party seems to lack Secondary Combat (as neither the wiz/psion nor the gnome can withstand melee), some Healing and Undead-Dealing. A lot also hinges on the build of the wiz/psion.

Use Reserve Points (UA), the First Aid rules from Star Wars Saga Edition, go easy on the undead and throw in some three-dimensional combats that will let the raptoran spread his wings.

 

[ruleslawyer]

Yeah, those brute monsters seem to assume the tank is in front doing damage and taking damage and the cleric is pouring the best healing he has into said tank.

I don't necessarily find this to be the case, actually. My experience has been that the party that concentrates on quick take-down instead of expending valuable actions to heal fellow PCs in combat is much more effective. For that reason, I think that clerics are not necessary *provided that you implement a quick hp recovery system.* Reserve points are a nice way to go; another would be to use vitality and wound points and assume that vitality points all return after a few minutes.

Personally, I think a party with a sufficiently tough fighter/paladin (I don't know the raptoran well enough to know if it makes a good race choice; the FR gold dwarf or human are my faves), a rogue, and any spellcaster other than one who is multiclassed can be fine (provided you change the hp & healing rules as suggested above). That wizard/psion would be much, much better off as one or the other (preferably a wizard). If the player really likes psionics, I might suggest giving him a free wild talent, and awarding the other two PCs something of equal power (something that boosts initiative or enables easier sneak attacking for the rogue, and something in the way of an AC boost for the paladin/fighter, would be my recommendations).