Party Composition - what's your recipe?

[Celebrim]

1) Everyone in the party is a cleric capable of healing and or buffing everyone else (and themselves), and gaining access to the fact that the cleric is maybe the most powerful and most versital class in the game. Unkillable at high levels?
2) Everyone in the party is a twinked out archer of some sort (including an elven archer sorcerer, an elven archer cleric, an archer/rogue and all the prestige classes you can stack on to them), thus producing a party whose potential damage each round is much higher than the the game expects, at ranges above what is usually expected, making many encounters trivial and over before they even really begin. Can kill almost anything that doesn't achieve surprise at high levels?
3) Everyone in the party is a devoted defender who defends other members of the party. Woo Hoo! Make use of broken mechanics!
4) Everyone in the party is some flavor of sneaky rogue, and they solve problems by stealth, suprise, and by tumbling to mutually supportive sneak attack positions.
5) Or maybe best of all, the party is a standard group of power gaming PC specialists, who each complement each other and make up for the other party members weaknesses.

 

[Schmoe]

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).

Hmm, the party that I was most looking forward to play in had the following composition:

Barbarian
Barbarian
Cleric
Conjurer (barred Evocation)
Necromancer (barred Evocation)

Obviously, in combat this group could clean house, with serious melee power complemented nicely by the wizards. With three spellcasters to go around, there was ample magic available for offense, defense, and utility. Two arcanists pose a significant long-range threat, and obviously, two barbarians will dominate in melee.

The group had some weaknesses, probably most notably scouting and stealth, but it figured to be a very enjoyable group to play in.

Alas, we only played three sessions before the game was put on the back-burner.

 

[officeronin]

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).

Here's a pair --

An arcanist (cleric1/wizard3/arcanist) with a fighter who uses polearms, along with combat reflexes, and that feat that stops movement (hold the line?). Along with being a counterspelling machine (with the feats improved initiative/improved counterspelling/reactive counterspelling), the arcanist can use low grade heals through his spectral hand. Meanwhile, the fighter stops anyone from bothering him. Now, any rogues in the party can tumble out into the middle of the enemy to get flanks for backstabs, and get healed even when they're nowhere near the clerics. My experience is that such a pair are huge force multipliers.

OfficeRonin

 

[-Eä-]

In my opinion, the best composed party would consist of:

1 Enchanter (Barred Evocation)
1 Evoker
1 Cleric (Fighter-type)
1 Druid

The druid is essential for buffing animals, animal companions and buffing shapechanging wizards, and of course, himself. Clerics do that himself and fights with animals and if fighting lasts long enough, the druid.
The enchanter deals with social situations (perhaps the cleric also, at times), while the evoker is a flashy caster.

In my experience, the versatility of casters make for a much more potent party, both socially and in fighting.