was
Adventurer
Rogue = stealth, traps, supplemental melee/ranged damage possible face of the party with good Cha.
Warlock = extra firepower/creative spells to supplement Wizard, possible face of the party.
D&D 5E Ideal Party Composition
- Thread starter SirAntoine
- Start date
Warlock = extra firepower/creative spells to supplement Wizard, possible face of the party.
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
More than 8 players? ummmmm....No, I don't think so. Maybe once or twice, with irregulars/guests we might have gotten up to 10 once in a great while bitd. More than 8 PCs? Oh sure. Not usually too many more...I don't recall ever being in a party of more than 10, or maybe 12, for any extended period of time. But between 6-10 [PCS among 4-7 players] almost always.
The longest running party I can recall from back in our high school years...I might be getting some of these wrong, but what I recall there was (in no particular order)
Fighter, Human
Fighter, Dwarf
Fighter/Thief, Half-Elf
Mage, Elf
Mage, Elf #2 (this might have been a Ftr/MU or MU/Thf, but either of those really downplayed the non-MU side, I just remember it was definitely an MU)
Thief, Halfling
Illusionist/Thief, Gnome
Thief (maybe an assassin? I don't really remember), Elf
Cleric, Human
Ranger/Cleric, Half-Elf
Paladin, Human
Druid, Human (maybe a half-elf?)
The longest running party I can recall from back in our high school years...I might be getting some of these wrong, but what I recall there was (in no particular order)
Fighter, Human
Fighter, Dwarf
Fighter/Thief, Half-Elf
Mage, Elf
Mage, Elf #2 (this might have been a Ftr/MU or MU/Thf, but either of those really downplayed the non-MU side, I just remember it was definitely an MU)
Thief, Halfling
Illusionist/Thief, Gnome
Thief (maybe an assassin? I don't really remember), Elf
Cleric, Human
Ranger/Cleric, Half-Elf
Paladin, Human
Druid, Human (maybe a half-elf?)
The most I've run the game for is eight, but I am thinking of trying to run the game for more at the next game convention I attend. The standard event has eight, and I have in mind a two round tournament where the two best teams get together to play the last round in a sixteen-member party.
Multiple characters for each player is alright with me, especially if I have few players, and I have run many adventures for just one player.
When you run a game at a convention, you typically make all the characters, so it's important to know what makes balanced parties and what's popular.
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Okay, so I'll start on party themes. For the first party, we'll say the theme is diversity.
We start with the core four, a fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue. Then we add a bard for social skills and back-up divine and arcane spell-casting. Then we add a ranger for archery and knowledge of the wild. Then we add a monk to have someone who can go it alone for a time, and last we add a fighter, eldritch knight, with a nod to the elf fighter/ mage.
The next party we'll call the warriors.
Fighter, champion
Fighter, battle master
Fighter, eldritch knight
Ranger
Paladin
Cleric
Rogue
Barbarian
This is an off-shoot of the thread, but does anyone else have a suggestion for a themed eight-member party?
We start with the core four, a fighter, cleric, wizard, and rogue. Then we add a bard for social skills and back-up divine and arcane spell-casting. Then we add a ranger for archery and knowledge of the wild. Then we add a monk to have someone who can go it alone for a time, and last we add a fighter, eldritch knight, with a nod to the elf fighter/ mage.
The next party we'll call the warriors.
Fighter, champion
Fighter, battle master
Fighter, eldritch knight
Ranger
Paladin
Cleric
Rogue
Barbarian
This is an off-shoot of the thread, but does anyone else have a suggestion for a themed eight-member party?
Arcane practitioners, the meta plot has something to do with the fabric of arcane magic is being threatened by technology or divinity.
Fighter Eldritch Knight
Warlock Chain Archfey
Rogue Arcane Trickster
Bard Lore
Four different Wizard specialists
Have the story set up so the specialist are even more focused for niche protection, they have more power in specialty but have limited access to old school style opposed schools.
You could run a Hogwarts style game, and just run 8 different types of Wizard specialists. Put the characters all in the same house/dorm and put them up against rivals and have wizard duels and stuff.
Flip it come up with 8 major gods for your campaign, including one that has druids and fill the party with paladins, clerics, druids, and rangers.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
I still find that a heavy (paladin, fighter, barbarian), a healer (cleric, druid), a damager (anyone really) or a controller (wizard, warlock, sorcerer, druid) and a scout (almost anyone in 5th really) make the best basic party. After that what makes the "best" party really depends on your sort of adventure you're in, because you're just doubling up on roles at this point. You basically create parties within parties. IE: a ranger, a battle cleric and a sorcerer, they're not up to a full adventure on their own, but they can handle some parts of the encounter without the rest of the group.
At 6 people, your best bet is to diversify each character. Instead of one guy who is super tough, one guy who is super smart and one guy who is super sneaky, you get a guy who is moderately tough and moderately smart, a guy who is smart and sneaky, a guy who is clever and quick, etc.. At 8 people you can almost do just whatever you want because I don't really feel the game is designed to handle a party of that size without a lot of custom work.
At 6 people, your best bet is to diversify each character. Instead of one guy who is super tough, one guy who is super smart and one guy who is super sneaky, you get a guy who is moderately tough and moderately smart, a guy who is smart and sneaky, a guy who is clever and quick, etc.. At 8 people you can almost do just whatever you want because I don't really feel the game is designed to handle a party of that size without a lot of custom work.
Herr der Qual
First Post
See in the world of 5e as I've experienced it so far (which is not as much as I'd like), if I was to dream up an ideal party there would be 2 sets, one as a player and one as DM.
DM:
4 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger
6 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger, Rogue, Bard
8 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger, Rogue, Bard, Fighter, Druid
Barbarians make exceptional tanks and with Unarmored Defence, they are a force to be reckoned with, mobile and dangerous, stealthy too.
Life Clerics can now wade into the combat to save wounded friends and heal from a reasonable distance
Sorcerers are well powered and can specialize in doing a lot of damage pretty easily.
Rangers are under powered but with a decent Dex and Wis, they can handle a share of the combat to keep the heat off of the casters, keep the party moving through terrain, allow for some pretty great open world encounters, you can't discount how much an archer can help, and they can emergency heal a couple party members from 2nd level on.
Player:
4 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
6 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Wizard, Rogue
8 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Wizard, Rogue, Fighter (Champion), Druid
I'm not going to explain all my reasons here for the sake of making this post reasonably brief, but can elaborate if you'd like.
DM:
4 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger
6 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger, Rogue, Bard
8 Player - Barbarian, Life Cleric, Sorcerer, Ranger, Rogue, Bard, Fighter, Druid
Barbarians make exceptional tanks and with Unarmored Defence, they are a force to be reckoned with, mobile and dangerous, stealthy too.
Life Clerics can now wade into the combat to save wounded friends and heal from a reasonable distance
Sorcerers are well powered and can specialize in doing a lot of damage pretty easily.
Rangers are under powered but with a decent Dex and Wis, they can handle a share of the combat to keep the heat off of the casters, keep the party moving through terrain, allow for some pretty great open world encounters, you can't discount how much an archer can help, and they can emergency heal a couple party members from 2nd level on.
Player:
4 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight)
6 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Wizard, Rogue
8 Player: Barbarian, Life Cleric, Bard, Fighter (Eldritch Knight), Wizard, Rogue, Fighter (Champion), Druid
I'm not going to explain all my reasons here for the sake of making this post reasonably brief, but can elaborate if you'd like.
It's good to see a nod to the barbarian.
The bard seems to be getting a lot of interest in the new edition.
The bard seems to be getting a lot of interest in the new edition.
Tell us.
Herr der Qual
First Post
So, the Rogue is great to have around due to their support ability, tons of handy utility skills, get you some extra avenues to achieve goals outside of combat and good combat support with a decent tank in the party.
The bard is a great addition, especially in larger groups because he can really give an edge where needed, variety of spells to fill in the blanks in the rest of the party, really useful to have around.
I placed Fighter so far down the list because they are great tanks but I prefer the barbarian, the Champion and Battle Master have a lot of great features for a large party that needs multiple tanks but the Battle Master in particular can help give the party an edge in large scale battles.
The Player list more has to do with a group dynamic that is a lot of fun to play with, I often play the tank in the games I participate in, and having no wizard stealing all my kills (our pulling my butt out of the fire when things get really dicey) is a lot more fun for me, Barbarian makes a great tank, Life Cleric keeps us alive, Bard has awesome aiding spells and abilities to really help a tank heavy party, and a Fighter eventually becoming an Eldritch Knight gives some of that attack power into the party when you really start to need it, in a larger party the Wizard becomes a great guy to have around, there's enough for him to do without killing the fun for the tanks, the rogue always adds some great skills and can really help level out a party. The Champion brings some bravado and brute force to a larger campaign that's always fun to start a tavern brawl with and the Druid brings a lot of useful spells and can actually carry himself/herself in battle without needing a baby sitter which is a bonus.
The bard is a great addition, especially in larger groups because he can really give an edge where needed, variety of spells to fill in the blanks in the rest of the party, really useful to have around.
I placed Fighter so far down the list because they are great tanks but I prefer the barbarian, the Champion and Battle Master have a lot of great features for a large party that needs multiple tanks but the Battle Master in particular can help give the party an edge in large scale battles.
The Player list more has to do with a group dynamic that is a lot of fun to play with, I often play the tank in the games I participate in, and having no wizard stealing all my kills (our pulling my butt out of the fire when things get really dicey) is a lot more fun for me, Barbarian makes a great tank, Life Cleric keeps us alive, Bard has awesome aiding spells and abilities to really help a tank heavy party, and a Fighter eventually becoming an Eldritch Knight gives some of that attack power into the party when you really start to need it, in a larger party the Wizard becomes a great guy to have around, there's enough for him to do without killing the fun for the tanks, the rogue always adds some great skills and can really help level out a party. The Champion brings some bravado and brute force to a larger campaign that's always fun to start a tavern brawl with and the Druid brings a lot of useful spells and can actually carry himself/herself in battle without needing a baby sitter which is a bonus.
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