What is your party composition?

[Chiaroscuro23]

In an Age of Worms Greyhawk game:

Mikel -- female Half-orc barbarian
Tel -- male human cleric of Heironous
Matthew -- male human paladin of St. Cuthbert
Alix -- female elven wizard (one fighter level)
Eren -- male human rogue (1 level swashbuckler)

We just hit third level, and I don't know what the others will take, but I think each will advance in their primary class. This party has some of everything, and I'm actually pretty pleased with it. We're much weaker at range, but it's not awful or anything.

For a four-person party I'd take the Iconic Four unless the campaign isn't dungeon- or trap-heavy (most of my games aren't), in which case a second fighter or cleric is good. I like at least one person to have track, which can be anyone with Survival, basically. For six person parties you want an extra spellcaster who can do some buffing, and maybe a second cleric. But I just let people play what they want. Nobody likes being forced to be the sidekick.

-C.

 

[Morrow]

Age of Worms (We just finished Hall of Harsh Reflections)

Elf Paladin 9
Dwarf Conjurer 6/ Alienist 3
Gnome Rogue 9
Dwarf Cleric 9

This would be a pretty ideal composition for this campaign, except for the cleric. Although the player insists he wants to play a cleric, he plays the character like a fighter. We'd be better off with another player who really wanted to play a cleric. Just having another body in the party, whatever the class, would help.


Swashbuckling in Freeport

Human Fighter 9/ Rogue 1
Human Wizard 7 (cohort)
Human Cleric 10
Spellstitched Skeletal Half-Orc Ranger 5 (cohort)
Half-Elf Rogue 4/ Sorcerer 5
Serpent Person Swashbuckler 6 (cohort)
Half-Elf Bard 6/ Freeport Pirate 3

I'm DMing this one. This game works great with four players, and the four PCs would do fine on their own, although they'd be a little short on the arcane firepower. They've gone a little cohort-crazy recently. When the first cohort popped up at 6th level and worked well, but when two more players wanted to pick up cohorts at 9th I didn't feel like I could turn them down. It has become a little unwieldy, but I'm adapting.


Marple, Marlowe, and Spade (Detectives in Eberron)

Shifter Ranger 3
Changeling Rogue 3
Warforged Monk 3

We're great at the investigation part of the game, which is the point. We don't have a lot of oomph when we get into combat, with no tank or any kind of spellcasting. This is the kind of game we set out to play, so I can't really say I'd do anything any different.

 

[Voadam]

Again the questions are:
What is your current party composition?
What do you think an ideal party composition (for 4 players, and 6 players)

Ideal in D&D requires three things IMO, healing, melee combat, and arcane. Secondarily social, traps, scouting.

If reserve points are used that takes care of healing niche entirely.

So an ideal 4 person would be the iconic 4, cleric, fighter, wizard, rogue. With possible subs that fill the same niche such as a barbarian for fighter or bard for rogue.

For a 6 person party you want those core niches filled but have room for a character or two who does not fill those roles so monks can come in or wierd things from supplements like a spellthief.

 

[kenobi65]

I'm currently DMing two campaigns.

#1: Age of Worms
- Human Scout 4
- Human Fighter 4
- Halfling Sorcerer 4
- Halfling Rogue 4
- Half-Orc Barbarian 3
- Human Cleric 4 (NPC, building towards Radiant Servant of Pelor)

The group was originally just 3 players (the scout, the fighter, and the sorcerer), which is why I'm running an NPC cleric with them. When the two newer players joined, neither wanted to fill that role, so the NPC continues.

#2: Forgotten Realms campaign
- Elf Ranger (archer) 14
- Elf Ranger (TWF) 13
- Dwarf Cleric 14
- Halfling Rogue 13
- Human Wizard 9 / Fighter 1 / Mage-Killer (modified) 4
- Human Cleric 5 / Sorcerer 6 / Mystic Theurge 2 *
- Half-Elf Druid 12 *
- Human Fighter 4 / Battle Scion (Unearthed Arcana) 10
- Half-Elf Bard 7 / Sorcerer 4 / Virtuoso 3

* - these two players / characters are with us less than half the time

As you can see, in both campaigns, all the bases are really covered. IME, while a party can succeed if one of the "iconic" roles (fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard) aren't covered, the players usually realize that it's a weakness, and will have to do something to compensate.

 

[S. Baldrick]

I am presently running two campaigns.

Ptolus Campaign

Active members: All 4th level
Male litorian ranger/fighter
Female human paladin
Female half-elf rogue
Female tiefling bard
Male human rogue
Male lizardman cleric (Watcher in the Skies)

Inactive members: All 3rd level
Female human fighter
Male harrow elf sorcerer (currently deceased)

Age of Worms Campaign

Female human paladin/rogue 8th/1st level
Male human cleric (St. Cuthbert) 9th level
Male dwarf fighter 9th level
Female elf sorcerer 8th level
Male human rogue/fighter 7th/2nd (Was killed in last night’s session when he missed his fort save against a slay living glyph trap.)

 

[PaulKemp]

Playing Shackled City and are nearly finished with Chapter 1, Life's Bazaar. Party makeup:

Warforged Fighter
Elven Cleric of Solonor Thelandira (focusing on archery)
Human Warmage
Elan Psion (shaper)
Human Scout
Illumian Spellthief

The group has a good mix of abilities and skills. They are particularly adept at doing damage from a distance -- the psion, the warmage, and the elven archer can dish some damage. They are generally weak in the hit point department, though. The warforged is the only tank by a wide margin. A area effect spell that caught all or most of them could lead to a TPK pretty readily. Also (and again excepting the warforged), they are not good melee combatants. Scout and spellthief rely on precision damage, the cleric is bad without his bow, and the warmage and psion are also poor melee combants.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Current party is only three people:
Man at Arms
Squire
Member of the Guild of Arcane Lore

No ‘levels’ or ‘classes’ or hit points, because I’m not playing DnD

Ars Magica?

Good guess, but although I play in a (currently stalled) Ars Magica campaign my own campaign is on HârnWorld using HârnMaster3

I should probably have said Lyahvi Shek-Pvar rather than Member of the Guild of Arcane Lore

 

[SteelDraco]

The D&D game I'm playing in right now is kinda strange, since it's an all-psionic githzerai game. Magic doesn't exist on the plane, and we're all gestalt githzerai. So we're waaaay out on the end of the bell curve as far as the 'typical party' goes. Everybody's 4th level.

H'ranmar Gith Fighter/Ranger // Psychic Warrior (me, the party tank)
H'ranmar Gith Fighter // Ardent (party healer)
Duk'kar Gith Monk // Psion (telepath) (melee monk, with a few ranged powers)
High Githzerai Monk // Psion (kineticist) (blaster)
High Githzerai Fighter // Soulknife (straight melee guy, TWF)
Duk'kar Gith Scout // Psychic Warrior (skirmish-based, does both melee and ranged)

Duk'kar and H'ranmar are gith subraces, created by illithid genetic tampering. Duk'kar are smarter albinos, bred for their tasty brains. H'ranmar are more physical, with some animalistic features. High githzerai are the typical gith.

As far as typical party roles, we're missing a skill monkey - I cover some of it with my ranger stuff, and the scout has a little, but no one in the party is focused toward stealth, traps, or Charisma-based skills. It's a wilderness exploration game, so only the stealth is really going to hurt us in the long run, I think.

 

[Crothian]

Pooka
Satyr
Troll

That's in the game I'm running

What do you think an ideal party composition (for 4 players, and 6 players)

I think for 4 players what we have is good plus a Sluagh or a Sidhe. For six players I would like to see a Boggan and a knocker or even a Red Cap. One of the great things about the game is that there is no ideal motley composition.

 

[Umbran]

My party's composition is pretty run-of-the-mill:

Oxygen 65.0%
Carbon 18.5%
Hydrogen 9.5%
Nitrogen 3.3%
Calcium 1.5%
Phosphorus 1.0%

Pooka
Satyr
Troll

*sigh*. Always wanted to get into a good Changeling game.