If you join a group with 4 players alread?

[ForceUser]

I love adding on classes whose strengths are group support so I chose bard. But as others have said, any class works well as a 5th. In a recently begun campaign with the fab four config I chose monk, actually, because I rolled amazing stats, found the monk role appealing, and figured I'd give it a spin. I might have gone bard had the DM not made it a prestige class (boo, hiss). There is no wrong choice for the 5th guy when all the bases are covered.

 

[Chronosome]

Whatever I'm in the mood for. Others in my core group see it the same way. As a result, we've got a party of one fighter/cleric, one fighter, one barbarian, and a fighter/druid. No arcane guy, no rogue.

And we're having a great time.

 

[Greywarden]

Assuming that the Fighter is a melee tank, I would go with a ranged-attack Ranger to back up the tank and do scouting/sniping

 

[Shadowdancer]

Probably a bard, maybe another rogue.

 

[Ibram]

From a purely metagame pov (that is looking to have a balanced party that covers all the baese) I'd chose Ranger, to add both ranged attacks to the party and to fill in those wilderness skills that are most likely absent from the party.

 

[Fiendish Dire Weasel]

I voted Druid, if you do a good job building him up the Druid can be one hell of a team player backing up everyone in whatever needs to be done at any given time.

Me too, for pretty much the same reasons. Maybe add a few ranger levels to add some sneakyness to help scout with the rogue, though the animal companion may be able to do it too. Also, I'm a firm beliver in there being more than 1 healer in the group.

 

[BigAlzBub]

I voted for a bard, when I was faced with this situation, I actually had a rogue (for 2 levels) and then went with bard ever after, the extra healing and bardic music really boosts the power of the party, having said that our group is pretty strange, our sorcerer is a front line fighter ?!?

My character is a two weapon fighter and he wields a pair of bastard swords, an adamantine (or occasionally cold iron) Bastard sword in his primary hand and a sun blade in the off hand (since it counts as a short sword), our group is a wrecking machine, I usually start the fight with an inspire courage and before I get to hit more than a couple of blows its all over.

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

I just joined a group that had the following...

Dwarven Fighter
Human Wizard
1/2 Elven Cleric
Human Monk

I considered playing a rogue, but the class has never appealed to me much, so I went for a Druid instead (with Tracking and a very hight Survival skill).

Don't have any regrets with the choice...

Edited for grammar...

 

[Oni]

From purely the perspective of building a better party I would have to say a druid. You get an ok combatent. A good spellcaster with a unique spell list. A backup healer. You get someone that can track and make their way around in the wilderness. And last but not least at a little higher level you get a decent spy (no one suspects cat/bird/et c.)

 

[Bagpuss]

Probably a fighter with the feats you can have a very different style than the other fighter in the party, and it always helps to have a second tank, but I would probably multiclass later into either Cleric or Rogue (although I might start as a rogue and multiclass into fighter).