Ideal four PC party in 3.5?

[Rashak Mani]

You need the basics covered... arcane magic and divine magic (healing). Without these two what might have been a medium difficulty encounter becomes a hard one.

Mages tend to exploit more easily the weakness of creatures that give Tanks a hard time and vice versa. Unless you have 2 clerics... then you need a Tank. Either Fighter or Barbarian... possibly a Paladin too.

The Rogue is a good choice if he is combat worthy... but in a small group they have less chances of sneak attacking. Scouting ahead which should make the rogue much more useful isn't well used though. A group can do well without a rogue...

1. Cleric
2. Arcane Spellcaster
3. Tank (or Tank Cleric)
4. Multi Class Rogue/Fighter

 

[Li Shenron]

Not that I can really say an ideal party exists, but this might be my candidate:

- Fighter/Paladin OR Fighter/Barbarian
- Rogue/Fighter OR Rogue/Ranger
- Cleric
- Wizard

 

[Silvr_Dragon]

Okay, well first off, you're gonna need to stay alive, so you'll probably want a cleric in your party. Paladins just don't have enough power to cover the entire healing role.

Second, you need muscle. While technically you COULD use your cleric as the combatant, it's not very useful to have your healer surrounded my 3 ogres while another party member is being eaten by a carrion crawler. So you should have something with good fighting skills. Fighter works for this role, or you could use a ranger, and take advantage of his other skills as well. Rangers are also good for Dual-Classing into rogues, which is helpful for navigating dungeons.

For the third member, I would say a spellcaster, my preference being a Wizard. This will give you some support, and as the game progresses, some good assault power.

The fourth member can really be almost anything, since you've got a nice foundation. You have your assault, support, and healing all taken care of, so you can be slightly more slexible about your fourth member. I would recommend adding another fighter of some sort, maybe a Paladin, since he has both good offensive power, and some healing skills.

So, to summarize;
Cleric
Ranger-Rogue
Wizard
Paladin
That's my prefered 4-member party.

 

[Silvr_Dragon]

Okay, well first off, you're gonna need to stay alive, so you'll probably want a cleric in your party. Paladins just don't have enough power to cover the entire healing role.

Second, you need muscle. While technically you COULD use your cleric as the combatant, it's not very useful to have your healer surrounded my 3 ogres while another party member is being eaten by a carrion crawler. So you should have something with good fighting skills. Fighter works for this role, or you could use a ranger, and take advantage of his other skills as well. Rangers are also good for Dual-Classing into rogues, which is helpful for navigating dungeons.

For the third member, I would say a spellcaster, my preference being a Wizard. This will give you some support, and as the game progresses, some good assault power.

The fourth member can really be almost anything, since you've got a nice foundation. You have your assault, support, and healing all taken care of, so you can be slightly more slexible about your fourth member. I would recommend adding another fighter of some sort, maybe a Paladin, since he has both good offensive power, and some healing skills.

So, to summarize;
Cleric
Ranger-Rogue
Wizard
Paladin
That's my prefered 4-member party.

 

[JesterPoet]

Bard
Bard
Bard
Rogue


C'mon... it's the obvious choice.

 

[jonesy]

Mystic
WoHS
Knight
Noble

Tons of versatility.

 

[Ogre Mage]

4 cleric party

One of my concerns about a 4 cleric party is that since spot and listen are not class skills, they would be bad at detecting ambushes, something that happens frequently. Just having a high wisdom alone isn't going to cut it. If they were caught flat footed again and again and again it seems at some point something terrible would happen.

Mixing clerics with druids solves this problem, though.

 

[Nightfall]

My prefer party, a cowed but willing to take risks cause they know if they don't they die anyway.

Classes...well so long as they aren't all the same classes, I'm good with that.

 

[Ottergame]

4 fighters with cure potions and maxed out UMD and wands of cure. Boring, but it works well.

One fighter with a sword and shield who focuses on defense. One with two weapons who focuses on damage. One with a two handed weapon to do trips and sunders. One who focuses on a bow.

 

[Derulbaskul]

1. Druid
2. Druid
3. Cleric
4. Rog/Bbn/Rgr or Rog/Rgr multiclass

I think 3.5E druids may just shade the cleric for both power and utility.