Ideal four PC party in 3.5?

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Commoner
Commoner
Commoner
Commoner

And the DM needs to take away all the dice. It's the only way to be sure


More seriously...

Wizard.
Druid or Cleric.
Fighter type/Rogue - archery.
Mobile Fighter type - melee.

Is the most effective 4 person team I've seen.

 

[DragonLancer]

I prefer the 5-player party but I think the best mix for a 4-man party is:

Human Fighter.
Halfling Rogue.
Human Cleric.
Human Wizard.

That way, you have all the important base's covered.

 

[S'mon]

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

Hmm... maybe 3 Clerics & a Wizard, or 2 Clerics, Druid & Wizard?

Wizard is good for the arcane-spellcasting versatility, Clerics are the weirdly munchkin-yet-boring class.

In 3.0 I would definitely advocate including a Sorcerer, as soon as they can be Hasted they can pump out AOO spells like fireball 2/round for ages, it got ridiculous and totally overshadowed the fighter types.

Hmm... my experience in 3.5 indicates there's definitely a place for a grunt Fighter or Barb with a big two-handed weapon to power-attack.

Overall, I would suggest 2 Clerics, a Fighter (w 2-h weapon), and a Wizard.

With Rogues, it still seems like as long as you have a Wizard, Rogues still seem underpowered and most of their abilities can be substituted for by a Wiz, or compensated for by having plenty of healing magic available when the trap goes off.

 

[Gez]

The good old cleric/fighter/rogue/wizard is probably the best, as the game is designed for such a party. That said, I personally think the most potent is:

Cleric
Druid
Paladin
Rogue/Bard or Rogue/Ranger (rogue for trapfinding).

The key is to have each member of the party able to perform some healing (a ranger can, eventually). This is the most important factor. Icing to the cake, none will have a poor BAB, and saves will be pretty good. All will have spellcasting capacity, and be able to wear armor without it hampering their spellcasting. None will have too puny a HD (d4 hurts, -- especially if you step on them, but that's beside the point). The druid is nearly a match for the wizard in the destructive elemental blast spells. The paladin is inferior in pure melee to a fighter with all his feats, but this is compensated by the better fighting capacity of a druid over a wizard. Plus the animal companion over the familiar.