D&D 5E Is my party balanced

[ccs]

So I have a party consisting of the following characters

Half Elf Swashbuckler Rogue (Urban bounty hunter background)
Half Orc Oath of the Ancients Paladin (Defense fighting style, Soldier Background)
Hill Dwarf Life Cleric (Acolyte Background)
Variant Human Abjuration Wizard (Cloistered Scholar background)
Variant Human Hunter Ranger (Revised, Archery Fighting Style, Outlander Background)

Is this a balanced party, or is it lacking something necessary for it to function properly?

Is this a rhetorical question?
You've got a Wizard, Cleric, Rogue + 2 fighting types (melee & ranged).....

But the question that really matters is: Are the players having fun? If yes, then it doesn't matter.

 

[Shiroiken]

"Balanced" isn't a big deal anymore, as most important aspects can be covered by multiple characters. There are some aspects are helpful to consider for optimization: Tank, Healer, Striker/DPR, Support, Exploration, Social/Face, with a balance between melee and ranged characters.

Half Elf Swashbuckler Rogue (Urban bounty hunter background)
Half Orc Oath of the Ancients Paladin (Defense fighting style, Soldier Background)
Hill Dwarf Life Cleric (Acolyte Background)
Variant Human Abjuration Wizard (Cloistered Scholar background)
Variant Human Hunter Ranger (Revised, Archery Fighting Style, Outlander Background)

Tank: Paladin, with help from Life Cleric
Healer: Cleric, with help from Paladin
Striker: Rogue and Ranger, possibly Wizard
Support: Wizard, with help from Life Cleric
Exploration: Rogue and Ranger, depending on build and environment
Social: Paladin, or possibly Rogue

Melee: Paladin, Rogue, and probably Cleric (if only to block enemies)
Ranged: Wizard and Ranger

This is an exceptionally balanced party, depending on the various builds, that can cover all the common needs any party needs without tripping over each other.

 

[Tyler Dunn]

How are you fitting a face in the party? Pally; or did the rogue pick up persuasion?

Rogue picked up persuasion

 

[Ashrym]

Rogue picked up persuasion

I'm not sure how much more balance the party could get then, lol. Social skills were the only thing that looked like they could be shored up.

 

[Mistwell]

Have them roll an acrobatics check to find out.

 

[ad_hoc]

The only thing I look for in party 'balance' is avoiding duplicating classes.

It makes it much harder to have spotlight time if characters share the same class.

Otherwise don't worry about it.

As far as a party face...

Remember too that all characters can make all ability checks. Everyone can talk in a social situation if they want to regardless of their Charisma score. Most of the time you probably won't even be making any rolls anyway.

At our table when there are discussions with NPCs we go around the table and everyone says something (just like any other encounter, everyone does a thing).

 

[Coroc]

Sounds very balanced, fills all roles and is pretty strong on the healing side. It still would be balanced if the pally was a fighter, which would allow for more tanking quality on the cost of some healing and some burst damgage but I think this is more versatile over all and stronger. The rogue should focus on getting high AC soon so he can reliably offtank.