Its a new campaign and your DM offers you the following options

[Mark CMG]

The group must either all be the same race or the same class.

What would you advocate for?

Assume the DM is capable of providing a game that would work for the groups choice.

I agree that same race would be easier to put together for the DM and the players.

 

[frankthedm]

Clerics, paladins, rogues or fighters would be the safest bet for same class group and THAT assumes rogues stay in town to gain some RP' XP before hitting dungeons they have gathered information on to be emptied of everthing except hidden treasures. If starting at higher level, druid might be viable, but a first level, it is going to be a TPK.

 

[Turjan]

See, I'm not sure that all same class would be interesting; everyone's got the same role, more or less.

Sure, with some flexible classes like rogue, you can squeeze three or four roles out of the class itself, but that sounds like a recipe for a boring campaign, IMO.

I don't think so. I agree that some of the classes are more suited than others, but it's actually pretty interesting to beat a campaign from an 'only one class' point of view. This makes inventive.

One of the best games that I know of was with 4 (2e) clerics. They were very different builds, but in principle they showed that a four cleric party was even in 2e a viable concept; they actually had it very easy compared to a group of the 4 standard classes. All fighters doesn't work. All wizards is no fun at low level. All bard wasn't such a good idea in 2e, either. It might work in 3x though .

 

[Aus_Snow]

The group must either all be the same race or the same class.

What would you advocate for?

Assume the DM is capable of providing a game that would work for the groups choice.

same race.

But if the DM insisted on characters being all the same class, then I'd still have no problems playing in the campaign. I like challenges!

 

[Dalprin]

I'd go with all the same race. It's easier to DM. An offbeat choice, such as human/half-celestrial or Ogre Mage, could be fun if you could manage the power curve.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I'd choose same race.

There are really only so many ways to build a class, even one as versatile as the Rogue. A group of 4+ players all playing the same class are going to find it terribly difficult to stand out. And if one of the 4 is a better character builder than the others, he's always going to be the one to shine, while the others simply do what he does, only not so well.

If everyone's the same race, you still the ability to choose different classes and therefore feel more unique and useful within the party.

 

[The_Magician]

I have once created a murder mistery adventure in Calimport for an all wizards party of level 6. They had to find out who murdered the head of the wizards guild. I dont care about party balance. Never cared. Everytime I start a game, table top or online, I tell people to create anything they want and I will DM to whatever party ends up in my hands.

 

[amethal]

I ran an all Gnome campaign in second edition once. We had a lot of fun.

Now, I'd try an all cleric campaign because I'd be interested in seeing if it proves to be as powerful a party as people think.

Its also interesting to see all the different cleric builds which are possible.

You could also use it as a chance to have a very unusual campaign - e.g. an all dragon campaign, or an all archon campaign - which you otherwise would never see.

 

[BSF]

an all archon campaign - which you otherwise would never see.

I just kicked off a _very_ similar concept for a campaign 2 weeks ago. It's a mini-campaign that will run once a month. The PCs all had to start as non-native, good-aligned outsiders with LA 4+. Total ECL of the PC is 13. There are a slew of other character building instructions as well. Not the least of which is that I must approve the entire character concept with fitting in with the campaign flavor.

I figured not all of my players would play. Macbeth decided that he would only focus on one campaign. It was a shame since I wanted to see what he would come up. But I completely understand since it is a 90 mile one-way trip for him to game with us. I figured some of the other players would balk at the heavy good overtones. The first session had three characters ready. The other four players that have expressed interest are close to completion with their characters for next month. The next adventure will have them assaulting a lich in a necropolis to try to free the tortured soul of a cleric, among other things.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

All the same race is pretty easy. I think four out of five parties I play in are almost all human anyway. I played in one all-dwarf campaign for a while too. That's pretty much standard D&D with a little bit stronger hook for getting and keeping the party together. (All the dwarves were from the same clan, etc. An all human party could be from the same tribe or village, etc.)

All the same class could work too but would probably work best if multiclassing or gestalts were allowed. A party with a fighter/cleric, a fighter, a fighter/rogue, and a fighter/wizard could work pretty well (though the fighter/cleric and fighter wizard would probably have most of their levels in the other class). Similarly, a party with a fighter/mage (Eldritch Knight), Arcane Trickster, Mystic Theurge, and straight up arcanist could work quite well. Without multiclassing and staying close to the traditional D&D adventures, an all druid party (shapechanger, offensive spellcasting focussed, healing focussed, summoning focussed, and skills focussed druids) would work well (as long as they had appropriate adventures), as would an all cleric (battle cleric, healing/support cleric, offensive spellcasting focussed cleric, and an archer cleric) party. An all paladin, all ranger, all bard, or all monk party could also work though the limited magic would make it more of a challenge. An all rogue, all fighter, or all barbarian party would pose more of a challenge because the lack of magic would dramatically change the way they had to face some challenges.