How to balance 3 man party?

[rawgt3]

The players want to be a human wizard/psion, whisper gnome rouge/sneak-attack thrower, and a raptoran paladin/fighter. The Question is: Would this be a "somewhat balanced party", and if not, how could I run the game to make it easier without making it unrealisticly tailor-made? And while I'm here, What would the ideal 3 man party consist of?

 

[Nifft]

Are they playing Gestalt? (Is that why everyone has two classes listed?)

If so, they're rather missing the point, which is to shore up the weaknesses of each class, not to overlap their strengths.

Paladin // Bard: All good saves, most abilities key of Charisma, huge spell list for charged items, lots of skill points, good HP, full BAB, and bardic music enhances your melee.

Ranger // Psion: All good saves, archery style as backup if your Powers aren't working, lots of skill points, decent HP, full BAB, eventually Evasion.

Rogue // Cleric: Again, all good saves, Evasion, great self & party buff spells, great skill points & skill list, amazing spell list (including silence and, if he takes the Trickery domain, also the invisibility spells), decent HP, and spells which boost you up to full BAB. If you allow access to Spell Compendium, then gravestrike all by itself is a very good reason for this combo.

With those three class combos, they'll survive just fine. (As the DM, you'll have to bend the rules a little to let the Paladin//Bard be a LG Bard, of course.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[Arkhandus]

Well, obviously you're most deficient in healing and stuff to deal with undead. So try not to throw many undead their way (lack of full-power turning ability and lack of a cleric's many undead-harming spells; plus your rogue sneak-attacker will be nearly useless against undead), and try to supply plenty of healing potions (or wands, later). Might want to use the Reserve Points optional rule from Unearthed Arcana, to help mitigate the lack of serious healing.

Ideally? If I were a player in the game and we were expecting to run with just 3 players, I'd suggest we play a crusader, a rogue 3/fighter 1/swordsage, and a wizard 7/cleric 3/mystic theurge. It'd be pretty tough and effective, though maybe tricky for levels 3-6, but still effective.

 

[Lanefan]

If that's what they're set on playing, you'd better chuck an NPC Cleric into the party or be ready to spend a long time waiting for them to recover after any significant battle. Other than that, for a 3-character party they've got the bases about as covered as they can.

Lanefan

 

[AllisterH]

Like others have said, you need a cleric there badly.

It is possible to design adventures that are balanced for a 3 person party (especially at low levels) but not if the missing person is a cleric

 

[Piratecat]

I also have a three person, 1st level party: a barbarian, a scout, and a druid. I bulked up their levels a bit with a free level of expert. I've also made sure that healing magic is relatively plentiful.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I used to be part of a three person party - Psion, Sorcerer and Rogue. I played the Rogue. After a couple of levels, the Psion took a couple of levels of Cleric so we could have a little more healing. The DM made healing potions readily available, so a significant portion of our cash went to these. The most difficult part was the lack of a real front-line fighter. My Rogue got pounded on.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Reserve Points from UA are a nice option to ameliorate a lack of healing. I wouldn't sweat that as much as these other folks though. I've had cleric-free parties do fine.

If you're *not* doing gestalt, I'd be more worried about a character trying the useless multiclss of psion and wizard. Barring that, I'd say you have a decently balanced party. The fighter can take a hit, the rogue handles skills and dishes out damage, and the presumably versatile caster takes care of whatever spells you need.

 

[rawgt3]

OK. I've talked to the players and their all set on it except the rogue. He says he could be a swift hunter char. if that would fit any better. It would provide more fighting strength to the party and the mage could focus on spells like knock. What say you?

 

[GreyWizard77]

I'll be running a 3 person party through Expedition to Ravenloft in the near future. Any ideas on how to balance things? Character's aren't set in stone yet, but so far one player is thinking about a Beguiler and another is thinking cleric/Radiant Servant. There may be a second cleric, also. I have no problem changing the encounters or throwing in an NPC. I've even thought about having each player have a cohort or a couple free feats.

Any suggestions?