D&D 5E Too much arcane in the party?

[ObligatoryHuman]

I'm starting up a new campaign and we have (of varying races and alignments) a multiclassed barbarian/druid, a tempest cleric, a wizard (not sure what tradition), a dragon sorcerer, and a warlock (unsure on the pact or boon). My question is: are there too many arcane magic users in the party? Or am I just reading too much into it? I get the feeling the three will be stepping on each other's toes a lot.

 

[steeldragons]

You're reading too much into it.

If those are the characters that will be fun for those players...then those are the characters. Who steps on whose toes, how they get along, learn to work together or hate each others guts and/or everything in between are all matters for role-playing that will work themselves out as the characters (not players) get to know each other as the campaign progresses.

PS: and WELCOME to ENworld! Have some start up XP.

 

[Ancalagon]

Is it the best balanced party? No. Does it *really* matter? Not really. And it's not that bad balanced either. The druid/barbarian covers "nature stuff", he/she and the tempest cleric will be decent melee combatant *and* healers, the wizard and the warlock can have a lot of utility spells, the warlock could be a "bladelock" and fight or be more of a trickster (ie pseudo rogue), and 4/5 of the characters can deal serious blasting damage via magic... so yeah, you should be able to handle trouble

welcome to EN world!

 

[Shiroiken]

Party Balance is overrated. During the playtest, one Encounters group decided to play all Wizards. They did wind out with a Barbarian, because another player was added, but it really didn't matter. They planned themselves out as a teacher (older PC with Sage background) and his students (younger PCs with various other backgrounds). They were so varied, even at 1st level, that they didn't even step on each others toes. They had a lot of fun, and were fairly powerful (they worked together to manage spell slots, no one ever went "nova," but instead each round 1 PC cast a "real" spell while the others cast cantrips).

 

[cheezitmojo]

Party Balance is overrated. During the playtest, one Encounters group decided to play all Wizards. They did wind out with a Barbarian, because another player was added, but it really didn't matter. They planned themselves out as a teacher (older PC with Sage background) and his students (younger PCs with various other backgrounds). They were so varied, even at 1st level, that they didn't even step on each others toes. They had a lot of fun, and were fairly powerful (they worked together to manage spell slots, no one ever went "nova," but instead each round 1 PC cast a "real" spell while the others cast cantrips).

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Is this something you saw personally, or is there a video/blog somewhere of it?

 

[Ancalagon]

To elaborate on my last reply, it would be very easy to have the sorcerer, warlock and wizard have very different styles of casting and functions in the party. Traditionally the sorcerer would be the blaster, wizard focus utility and battle field control and the warlock more the trickster type... but do whatever is fun and works

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm starting up a new campaign and we have (of varying races and alignments) a multiclassed barbarian/druid, a tempest cleric, a wizard (not sure what tradition), a dragon sorcerer, and a warlock (unsure on the pact or boon). My question is: are there too many arcane magic users in the party? Or am I just reading too much into it? I get the feeling the three will be stepping on each other's toes a lot.

It'll be fine.

It might help to emphasize the different "flavors" of magic. Your Wizard is your only Int-based character, for instance, so stuff like "what school of magic is this" and "what's this magic doodad do?" should go to them. Point out ritual casting - it's something pretty special for wizards. Your dragon sorcerer drops the fatty boom boom better than anyone. Your warlock, depending on pact, might be better at the charms/curses/ongoing stuff, but if nothing else, they'll have more staying power than the others.

I play in a game with two sorcerers currently and we manage to fill very different niches (he's the blasty mage, I'm the controlly mage). Just get folks to talk to each other about what they can do that no one else can do, and they should find their baselines pretty easily.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

The one thing that I always worry about is distribution of magical items. If a cool wand drops, then you'll have 3-5 people who might want it; but if they find a cool bow, then nobody will care in the slightest.

In the game I'm currently running, there's a wizard and a warlock, with exactly one Robe of the Archmagi between them. One character has a decent AC and nigh-unresistable spells, and the other is a punching bag. It is a minor point of contention.

 

[Horwath]

There cannot be too much of a certain thing in D&D as classes go. Usually.

But you should look up if you are missing something.

it's cool to have 3 arcane spellcasters and it's even better that they represent 3 different classes.

But as I see it you're missing a specialist; rogue/ranger/bard. some one who can tinker around traps.

If one of your casters got skills for that great, go for 3 arcanes.

you should have all "ROLES" covered, it doesn't matter what class they come from.

 

[Bera]

I get the argument that whatever character a player wants to play is good for the party, but its a good opportunity to have the player's talk first about their character ideas and concepts, because sometimes after talking it out you get a good sense of how the characters might have bonds with one another and can complement one another without really sacrificing anything. An Illusionist or Enchanter wizard and fey-pact warlock might end up being too similar, but the players might be going back and forth between a few different choices or how to focus their character. By talking it over, the fey warlock might focus less on illusions and more on other trickster powers. Additionally, another player might modify their concept a bit to fit with a party of tricksters.