Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
Heh.
I heard a story from a friend. The DM wanted to run a gritty game. He told the players to roll up a band of mercenaries.
They all created bards. They were a band, The Mercenaries.
-Hyp.
Party Composition - what's your recipe?
- Thread starter Gaiden
- Start date
Heh.
I heard a story from a friend. The DM wanted to run a gritty game. He told the players to roll up a band of mercenaries.
They all created bards. They were a band, The Mercenaries.
-Hyp.
DiFier
First Post
My group is just 2 of us. Members of the Freeport City Watch. My charachter is a Wizard6/Fighter2/Spellsword2 and the other charachter is a Rogue5/fighter5. We generally do rather well though there have been times when one or the other had to slide across the floor (taking the AoOs) to force a Cure potion into the uncousience one's mouth. or when the battle was over that we were covered with blood and had to limp home.
We had a deal with the Temple of the Merchent God for 6 packs of Cure Lights for a 25gp discount. We would often each buy 2 packs of 6 and they would not last long. Of course there was rarely down time for us. We had to goto work the next day. a few times we requested leave after recieving temporary stat damage. but usually it was: get a few cure potions in you and get up the next morning to patrol the docks. (eventually I seem to have developed a resistance to the cure potions cause I rarely got a higher roll than 3 and if we were both taking a potion my die would always be lower)
eventually we started getting cohorts. we had a cleric. (he died) and then a Special Crimes Unit. and now we've got two new cohorts. plus a bunch of followers. Dru has a ton of followers i have like 6. but you'll have to follow drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour to hear about the current events.
We had a deal with the Temple of the Merchent God for 6 packs of Cure Lights for a 25gp discount. We would often each buy 2 packs of 6 and they would not last long. Of course there was rarely down time for us. We had to goto work the next day. a few times we requested leave after recieving temporary stat damage. but usually it was: get a few cure potions in you and get up the next morning to patrol the docks. (eventually I seem to have developed a resistance to the cure potions cause I rarely got a higher roll than 3 and if we were both taking a potion my die would always be lower)
eventually we started getting cohorts. we had a cleric. (he died) and then a Special Crimes Unit. and now we've got two new cohorts. plus a bunch of followers. Dru has a ton of followers i have like 6. but you'll have to follow drnuncheon's Freeport Story Hour to hear about the current events.
I have found that exact composition of the party is not really that important. Statwise, you should be able to make anything work regardless.
The important thing is making sure that the characters have a reason to be working together, or at the least making sure you can have fun even when you are NOT working together.
We have played a bunch of campaigns since 3E came out. The best ones have involved parties that worked well together, and never focused on party balance.
Forgotten Realms:
Ilsem, Human Evoker Specialist
Drake, Human Bard/Assassin/Fighter (in that order)
Rurik, Dwarf Fighter/Warmaster
Lucian, Aasimar Aristocrat/Spellfire Weilder
Ferryn, Human Psychic Warrior/Fighter/Duelist
Damian, Human Fighter/Sorcorer/Spellsword
Looking at the party, you would probably think that it wasn't built to be a wrecking crew. Perhaps this would be true, but there was not an encounter that they couldn't thresh through in a pinch, even if it should have been way to difficult for them. The versatility was just amazing.
This group got along because they all had similar goals, with only the Bard as a healer, we relied a bit on avoiding and dishing damage in fights, but it was a great campaign because we focused more on the goals of the group instead of fighting constantly. It helped that half the party was Sembian, and the group dynamic was actually improved by Ilsems Waterdhavian arrogance being taken down by the equally arrogant Sembians.
The important thing is making sure that the characters have a reason to be working together, or at the least making sure you can have fun even when you are NOT working together.
We have played a bunch of campaigns since 3E came out. The best ones have involved parties that worked well together, and never focused on party balance.
Forgotten Realms:
Ilsem, Human Evoker Specialist
Drake, Human Bard/Assassin/Fighter (in that order)
Rurik, Dwarf Fighter/Warmaster
Lucian, Aasimar Aristocrat/Spellfire Weilder
Ferryn, Human Psychic Warrior/Fighter/Duelist
Damian, Human Fighter/Sorcorer/Spellsword
Looking at the party, you would probably think that it wasn't built to be a wrecking crew. Perhaps this would be true, but there was not an encounter that they couldn't thresh through in a pinch, even if it should have been way to difficult for them. The versatility was just amazing.
This group got along because they all had similar goals, with only the Bard as a healer, we relied a bit on avoiding and dishing damage in fights, but it was a great campaign because we focused more on the goals of the group instead of fighting constantly. It helped that half the party was Sembian, and the group dynamic was actually improved by Ilsems Waterdhavian arrogance being taken down by the equally arrogant Sembians.
kigmatzomat
Legend
There is no "perfect" formula. A good GM can adjust a game to match the available characters. Should they go too far out of their way to do so? No, not to the point it becomes hard to believe.
There are times where they should feel the pain of their weaknesses. In, for instance, a cleric-less party, it just isn't worthwile to pound them over and over with waves of foes. Not without giving them the time & opportunity to change their character's playing styles; perhaps to something more stealthy. (Or nihilistic. Their choice)
If you can only run trap heavy games they should know that before hand to have someone prepared to deal with them. Don't penalize the players but don't molly coddle them too much. If their characters aren't suited for the setting something should adapt. Either with an NPC hireling/follower or by changing their arena.
One game had a bunch of combat lightweights discover that "Sauron" was returning. They decided, rightly, that victory was impossible directly but that by notifying the locals militaries they could stop it indirectly. With a war brewing the characters were ill-suited to fight, they were turned into ambassadors to try and recruit additional support. Naturally the stealthier minions of evil would be trying to stop them but it would be more ambush and trickery than overwhelming force.
Poof. The party is well aware of their combat limitations but is still valuable to the war. The GM didn't have to significantly alter the plot, simply what roles the "heroes" played.
There are times where they should feel the pain of their weaknesses. In, for instance, a cleric-less party, it just isn't worthwile to pound them over and over with waves of foes. Not without giving them the time & opportunity to change their character's playing styles; perhaps to something more stealthy. (Or nihilistic. Their choice)
If you can only run trap heavy games they should know that before hand to have someone prepared to deal with them. Don't penalize the players but don't molly coddle them too much. If their characters aren't suited for the setting something should adapt. Either with an NPC hireling/follower or by changing their arena.
One game had a bunch of combat lightweights discover that "Sauron" was returning. They decided, rightly, that victory was impossible directly but that by notifying the locals militaries they could stop it indirectly. With a war brewing the characters were ill-suited to fight, they were turned into ambassadors to try and recruit additional support. Naturally the stealthier minions of evil would be trying to stop them but it would be more ambush and trickery than overwhelming force.
Poof. The party is well aware of their combat limitations but is still valuable to the war. The GM didn't have to significantly alter the plot, simply what roles the "heroes" played.
ConcreteBuddha
First Post
Celebrim said:
True, but I would hate to force a PC to play a multiclassed caster.
*Groan*
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.
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Hypersmurf---
We threatened our DM that if she TPWed us, we'd all come back as bards.
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S
shurai
Guest
Here's my favorite:
Fighter
Red Mage
Red Mage
Black Mage
It works pretty well.
Seriously, I like to take the smashy-spelly-healy-sneaky formula and change it up a bit from time to time.
To start with, one can swap out the rogue for a monk. Wait, now the party doesn't have Spot as a class skill! So, you change out the Fighter for a Ranger (don't forget to make a rude gesture to all the Rangers are Weak ranters). Then change out the cleric for a druid, because the druid's spells are more appropriate for monks (magic fang, barkskin, etc).
The following table summarizes the changes:
Lost:
sneak attack
a tiny bit of fighting power
one religious nut
Gained:
kung fu
smelly outdoorsy types and their wild animal friends
Now we've got the same number of skill points but spread around more evenly, and a nice natural vibe to our game, between the tree-huggers and the Taoist. : ]
-S
Fighter
Red Mage
Red Mage
Black Mage
It works pretty well.
Seriously, I like to take the smashy-spelly-healy-sneaky formula and change it up a bit from time to time.
To start with, one can swap out the rogue for a monk. Wait, now the party doesn't have Spot as a class skill! So, you change out the Fighter for a Ranger (don't forget to make a rude gesture to all the Rangers are Weak ranters). Then change out the cleric for a druid, because the druid's spells are more appropriate for monks (magic fang, barkskin, etc).
The following table summarizes the changes:
Lost:
sneak attack
a tiny bit of fighting power
one religious nut
Gained:
kung fu
smelly outdoorsy types and their wild animal friends
Now we've got the same number of skill points but spread around more evenly, and a nice natural vibe to our game, between the tree-huggers and the Taoist. : ]
-S
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So everyone likes the Combatant, Skills, Arcane, and Divine combo.
OBVIOUSLY.
Can anyone give me a party of characters that is a cut above the rest though and reasons why this is the case.
The Druid Monk combo is particularly a good example as many of the druid buff spells work really well with the monk.
Let's put it this way - smackdowns exist for single characters. Can anyone make a party smackdown (that is not simply a sum of character smackdowns).
OBVIOUSLY.
Can anyone give me a party of characters that is a cut above the rest though and reasons why this is the case.
The Druid Monk combo is particularly a good example as many of the druid buff spells work really well with the monk.
Let's put it this way - smackdowns exist for single characters. Can anyone make a party smackdown (that is not simply a sum of character smackdowns).
MadScientist said:
Actually, the party that I'm DM'ing right now is awfully close to being a god squad. 5 out of 8 PC's have divine spells:
Cleric 9
Druid 6/Ranger 3
Cleric 2/Fighter 4/Windslayer 3
Cleric 1/Rogue 1/Sorcerer 2/Bard 3/Virtuoso 2 (don't ask)
Paladin 7/Bard 1
plus a monk, a fighter/barbarian, and a rogue/sorcerer.
Despite the relative lack of arcane power, they can take a serious pounding and still keep on coming. The prodigious healing they have available complements their fighters well, allowing them to keep going pretty much all day. Most of the characters are competent ranged combatants, the fighters and paladin are fearsome in melee, and the bards are incredibly effective in such a large group. They are also quite mobile and support each other well, as the cleric has access to Fly, the paladin is mounted, and the two fighters have Boots of Striding and Springing.
Lately I've been realizing just how tough this group is, as they mow through difficult encounters while hardly breaking a sweat.
Even discounting the monk's healing abilities, the party can heal well over 250 hp of damage in a day. That makes it pretty tough to take one of them out!
