Ideal four PC party in 3.5?

[Ogre Mage]

A heated debate on a similar topic over at the WoTC forums called Ideal four-PC party got me thinking -- what would be an optimal party of 4 PCs in 3.5? Assume the adventures will run from levels 1-20 (not epic) with a good mix of both combat and roleplaying encounters.

A lot of people on the WoTC forum seem to like the 4-cleric party. Personally, I don't agree. My preferred 4 PC party would be:

Cleric
Druid
Wizard
1 discretionary PC

The discretionary PC could be many different things -- probably a non-caster. The key thing is for the 3 casters to structure their spells around the 4th member to compliment him as well as fill any holes in the party. Since they all have different spell lists, they should be able to do this well. If this is done correctly, I believe this party would be extremely formidable at any level.

 

[thullgrim]

campaign type can mean alot in a discussion like this. My preference both as a DM and a player is to be involved in a 2 Fighter, 1 Cleric, 1 Wizard party. If there are 5 pcs then I like as above plus either a second cleric or wizard. At six party member the 6th one can be something oddball.

just my preferences
Thullgrim

 

[ph34r]

1. Fighter/Barbarian
2. Cleric/Heirophant
3. Wizard/Loremaster/Archmage
4. Rogue

Well...I like it...

 

[Dark Jezter]

As thullgrim said, this can depend heavily on the type of campaign you are running. But for a well-balanced party that should be able to handle most situations that come up during a D&D campaign, I'd go...

1. Barbarian (can be substituted with fighter)
2. Rogue
3. Cleric
4. Wizard

 

[MusedFable]

If your going for most effective and munchkiny I'd go with any combination of clerics and druids.

 

[bensei]

Cleric with Fighter cohort
Bard with Rogure cohort
Druid with Ranger cohort
Wizard with Barbarian cohort

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Hmmmm... I'd have to go with the usual mix

1) Warrior (lean toward the Paladin for Detect Evil, healing ability, immunity to fear and disease, good social skills).
2) Priest (Gotta go with the Druid here. Turning Undead is good and all but Wild Shape and a good animal companion are always helpful. In one game our druid player showed us just how effective a Dire Octopus could be).
3) Rogue (Can't trade the Rogue out for anything else. My current party is finding out just how dangerous adventuring can be without a competent Rogue in the party dealing with traps).
4) Mage (Sorcerer or Wizard will work fine though I usually lean towards the Wizard since they can learn every spell in the book and use metamagic feats on them since they are learned spells rather than spontaneous. Anyone who has played D&D for a while will have an easy time figuring out which spells to take every day. They get higher level spells faster and if you specialize you get a decent number of spells per day too).

 

[Snoweel]

The goofballs over at Wizards are right - nothing beats

Cleric
Cleric
Cleric
Cleric

for surviveability.

Unfortunately that's kinda boring.

I like

Paladin
Cleric
Wizard
Bard

but that's got little to do with effectiveness.

 

[Jeremy]

I like:

Shadow Dragon Rogue
Half-Fiend Human Cleric/Thaumatergist
Human Wizard/Red Wizard/Archmage
Firbolg Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker

But that's just me.

 

[Darklone]

The goofballs over at Wizards are right - nothing beats

Cleric
Cleric
Cleric
Cleric

for surviveability.

Unfortunately... I would love to be able to say that kind of group would have a hard time at my table, but my current group features 2 clerics, 2 druids, one rogue/ftr type and one sorcerer type...

With two melee clerics you need no fightertype. And the only thing that may hurt them is an encounter where you will fail without good scouts.