D&D 5E Ideal Party Composition

[Charlaquin]

In my opinion the “best” party from a pure numbers perspective would be one that can make the best use of stackable buffs to break bounded accuracy and insure the highest chance of success at any given roll. That means you would definitely want a bard for Bardic Inspiration and a Cleric for Bless, and probably a Divination Wizard for Portent. For your fourth slot, you could go with a rogue for Reliable Talent, but that doesn’t come online until higher level, you’ve got the “skill monkey” role pretty well covered by the Bard, and the party so far lacks a real frontline combatant, so I think I’d actually go for a Paladin or maybe a Battlemaster Fighter. For a party of 6, I’d add in the rogue and a druid. For 8, I’d round the party out with whichever frontliner you didn’t take in the party of 4, and what the heck, a coffeelock just for the cheese.

That’s all lame though, the actual ideal party in my opinion is either fighter, wizard, cleric, and rogue, or paladin, sorcerer, ranger, and bard.

 

[gyor]

1 person party- Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat, Spy Background.

2 Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat & Knight Background. Divine Soul Sorcerer with RC Cleric with Spy background.


3 Person Party Lore Bard multiclass 1 level with Rogue with Ritual Caster Druid & Entertainer bg, Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat & Knight Background. Divine Soul Sorcerer with RC Cleric with Spy background.

4 Person Party Lore Bard multiclass 1 level with Rogue with Ritual Caster Druid & Entertainer bg, Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat & Knight Background. Divine Soul Sorcerer with RC Cleric with Spy background, Great Old One Patron Tomelock with Acolyte bg.

5 Person Party Lore Bard multiclass 1 level with Rogue with Ritual Caster Druid & Entertainer bg, Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat & Knight Background. Divine Soul Sorcerer with RC Cleric with Spy background, Great Old One Patron Tomelock with Acolyte bg, Circle of the Shepherd Druid with RC Wizard and hermet bg.

6 Person Party Lore Bard multiclass 1 level with Rogue with Ritual Caster Druid & Entertainer bg, Oath of the Ancients Paladin with Ritual Caster: Wizard Feat & Knight Background. Divine Soul Sorcerer with RC Cleric with Spy background, Great Old One Patron Tomelock with Acolyte bg, Circle of the Shepherd Druid with RC Wizard with hermit bg, and Zealot Barbarian with Outlander background.

 

[Fenris-77]

The correct answer is Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Dwarf and Wizard of course. That's not terribly 5e though. Something a little more 5e would be 5 Assassins, all MCd differently to handle spellcasting and whatnot. Everyone sneaks, everyone novas. Or possibly the Luchidor party with 3 grappling Lore Bards, a Diviner Manager, and a Halfling Tank mascot.

 

[Fenris-77]

What definition of ideal are we using again? I think I might be on a different wavelength here.

 

[ccs]

I've always found, whatever the edition, the ideal party to be made up of characters the players enjoy playing.
What the exact mix of classes are doesn't really matter. Whatever the mix, problems & challenges will still be overcome. It's just different flavors of how.