The ideal 4 member party in 3.5

[Trainz]

About the charismatic party...

There is a HUGE incentive now to give your PC a 15 in Charisma: Book of Exalted Deeds. There are VERY COOL and numerous feats that have a 15 cha prereq.

I'm currently playing a 2nd level Paladin, and bought BoED. My jaw made a loud *clonk* when it hit the floor.

 

[Kichwas]

Ideal 4 member party?

Bard - the face of the party, and able to handle any rogue-like task that a log can't handle.

Sorcerer - the magic of the group. Not likely to leave her spells on the coffee table or get them picked by the Bard to fund his new hair style... Able to maximize the use of all her abilities and save the party's butts if they lose all their swag to a band of Goblin merchants...

Ranger - Why kill them at 5 feet when you can do it at 1500? This fighter can also keep you from getting lost, and find those Goblin Merchants so you can get your swag back.

Druid - Why just heal, when you can heal and lay out the black bear smackdown? This 'cleric' can supply an army of 'expendable' fighters for the frontline. Let her 'brew up' some cure potions for a rainy day.

If you have it, swap the Druid for the the Evangilist. I belive she's known as the 'Mystic' in Dragonlance and the 'Favored Soul' in the Miniatures Handbook. Now your cleric works like a Sorcerer - all her spells are spontaneous. This 'cleric' can heal 4 times per day at level one if she did her stats right and still has a great level one offensive spell: light crossbow.

 

[WattsHumphrey]

I may be a total cynic for saying this... but I think the best party is the same in 3.0 or in 3.5.

4 clerics.

1 - cleric of melee beatdown
2 - cleric of stealth/divination/trap disarming
3 - cleric of offensive spellcasting (dispel, readying counterspells if needed)
4 - cleric of ranged attacks. This cleric also serves as a backup to the others if needed.

There are so few situations that I can see clerics not being able to handle. Especially if some suppliments like Magic of Faerun are allowed. (Not that they always are, but with wieldskill, who needs skill points?)

 

[green slime]

The charisma of oyur party has essentially no influence upon the quests it gets. The quests come from what the DM has time to write up coupled with player choice. The DM isn't ever going to bother writing up quests that your party can't get - so essentially your options are limited by DM spare time and enthusiasm - not by player character charisma, or anything else.

-Frank

By this logic any combination of four characters are equally capable as the DM will adopt the adventure to the player's choice of characters. Thus I select the party of 4 Commoners. Because there is no "optimal" party, just good roleplay.

Charisma has an influence in my game. It affects how the NPCs treat the PCs. For a while, there wasn't a PC with a Charisma above 8. They paid more for rooms, and nobody wanted to talk to them, (least of all the 6 Charisma Dwarf). Rivalling adventuring parties were given credit by the townsfolk for their hard work. Uncharismatic parties are not only uncouth, but they wear their motives on their sleeves.

For optimal "enjoyment" you need 4 diverse characters that can fill different roles, and a DM that challenges each player's character equally (over time). Therefore:

Tank
Healer
Artillery
Sneak

In various forms has a good chance of succeeding.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I may be a total cynic for saying this... but I think the best party is the same in 3.0 or in 3.5.

4 clerics.

1 - cleric of melee beatdown
2 - cleric of stealth/divination/trap disarming
3 - cleric of offensive spellcasting (dispel, readying counterspells if needed)
4 - cleric of ranged attacks. This cleric also serves as a backup to the others if needed.

I dicovered this seems to be true at least in computer game called Temple of Elemental Evil (uses 3.5 edition rules).

My party

1. cleric/paladin (goes for cleric levels)
2. cleric/paladin (takes more paledin levels)
3. cleric/ranger (more ranger levels, melee combat beatdown & stealth)
4. cleric/barbarian (more barbarian levels) when making it dwarf I trade barbarian levels for fighter levels
5. wizard (magic blaster)

Trap stuff I leave for npc:s

In table top games, I've noticed best combo depends much on dm and game style. However, clerics do seem to always kick ass (even if their buffing potential has been reduced from 3.0 to 3.5).

Unless of course one's dm has some weird house rulings concidering divane powers. In one particular game it's best to stay away from any spellcasting/semi-mystic classes. Ranger with too low wisdom to ever cast spell (10 is fine), is quite ok.

Better just be aware of quirks of your fellow players and dm, and best group synergy to beat beasties or social situations or whatever, isn't so hard to come by.

 

[Gez]

Marshal
Favored Soul
Warmage
Rogue

Rogue are necessary for disarming traps. Otherwise, the warmage is an artillery's artillery, the favored soul is a cleric with more spells per day, and the marshal is a good tank that also gives bonuses to all his allies in combat.

 

[diaglo]

Fighting Man
Cleric
Magic-user
and with Supplement Thief

 

[Westwind]

Do Evangelists cast off Wis or Cha? On page 52 (of Dragon 311) it states, "His spellcasting ability is based on his Wisdom score." On page 47, "[e]xcept in the case of the evangelist, specialist clerics cast divine spells based on Wisdom." Charisma makes more thematic sense to me, but I was wondering if there was any official word on this.

 

[Westwind]

Double Post

 

[Voadam]

Four roles

Tank (high hit points, high AC, High damage)
Healer
Artillery and utility spells
Traps

Core four best

Tank, fighter (better than Paladin at fighting, better AC than barbarian, slightly lower damage though
Healer Clerics still rule
Artillery and utility magic, wizards' flexibility in utility spells edge out sorcerous artillery advantage.
Traps Rogues rule. they can also fill scout and face man uses which would be the next niches youd want filled.