Empirate
First Post
The 'classic' party setup could also be described as 'antique'. I.e., nice to look at, but not really the most competent at the job. I believe any party consisting of full casters only (mix and match, Druid, Cleric, Archivist, Wizard, Artificer, Sorcerer, Psion, what-have-you) will be more than able to stay alive and get any kind of job done.
There are no core roles that absolutely need to be filled in D&D 3.5. A party consisting of a Bard, two Druids, and a Dragon Shaman will probably be just fine, as will a party consisting of a Wizard, a Dread Necromancer, a Swordsage, and a Rogue. All these parties will be able to overcome most challenges - some will require a little bit of trickery or lateral thinking, while others will seem very straightforward. All your party composition does is changing which ones will be the tricky ones.
Of course, this idea is dependent on the players having a solid understanding of what their PCs' classes can do, and how to use it in a given situation. Again, lateral thinking comes into this a lot.
For example:
Fighter: 'I can kill a monster in a round!'
Cleric: 'I can kill a monster as a standard action!'
Wizard: 'I can kill a monster as an immediate action!'
Bard: 'I can get three guys to kill monsters for me...'
[shamelessly ripped this off someone's sig]
There are no core roles that absolutely need to be filled in D&D 3.5. A party consisting of a Bard, two Druids, and a Dragon Shaman will probably be just fine, as will a party consisting of a Wizard, a Dread Necromancer, a Swordsage, and a Rogue. All these parties will be able to overcome most challenges - some will require a little bit of trickery or lateral thinking, while others will seem very straightforward. All your party composition does is changing which ones will be the tricky ones.
Of course, this idea is dependent on the players having a solid understanding of what their PCs' classes can do, and how to use it in a given situation. Again, lateral thinking comes into this a lot.
For example:
Fighter: 'I can kill a monster in a round!'
Cleric: 'I can kill a monster as a standard action!'
Wizard: 'I can kill a monster as an immediate action!'
Bard: 'I can get three guys to kill monsters for me...'
[shamelessly ripped this off someone's sig]