What's your Fifth?

[Belphanior]

In two games I'm in the fifth member is leader. One is warlord/melee bard, the other is ranged bard/melee cleric.

Despite what people might insist about this kind of setup, it's worked very well for us. I'm keenly aware of what a striker would bring to the table instead yet I'm unconvinced either group would get much out of it. Having two leaders is like a constant nitrogen-boost for the entire team, and both groups handle their challenges superbly.

 

[Noir le Lotus]

The groups I play with usualy have :

Strikers x2, Defenders x2, Leader
or Strikers x2, Defender, Leader, Multiclass Defender/Leader.

Controllers are quite rare.

 

[avin]

Always the striker.

 

[Davachido]

Striker, always striker if not double usually triple. Though this year (campaigns are always a year for us) ain't so bad because there are 6-7 people in each group so more than one doubling:

gp 1) Defender, Defender, Striker, Striker, Leader, Leader, Controller
gp 2) Defender, Striker, Striker, Striker, Controller-ish (fey pact w/ multi to controller), Leader

Though strikers still are the most popular.

 

[Bluenose]

Current FtF group has one Defender, one Controller, one Striker, and two Leaders (both Bards).

In a PbP here we have one Defender, one Controller, one Leader and two Strikers.

I can't judge how the two groups compare in combat, since the second game has only just started. The first group has struggled against enemies with lot's of hit points due to lack of high damage. On the other hand, we're very hard to drop and can do a lot to make enemies fight poorly.

 

[Wik]

two defenders, two strikers, a leader that acts like a striker, and no controller. And we haven't had a controller for a while (though one of the defenders is planning to become a controller and retiring his current PC).

I voted Striker because it seems we've always had two strikers. In fact, both strikers are rogues - with artful dodger being the slightly "better" of the two (but not really by much).

 

[karlindel]

One party has the main roles and an extra striker.

A second party had the main roles and an extra striker, but then we lost the player of the extra striker.

One party started with the main roles and an extra leader, but we recently lost the player of the controller and the new player made a striker.

A previous game had six, with an extra defender and an extra striker.

I disagree that the best fifth is a striker, as I think it depends on the particular classes and builds involved. For example, our group that has an extra leader has worked out very well, as we had a battlerage vigor fighter, a Str cleric with a fullblade, and a resourceful warlord. The second leader adds significant damage and buffs as well as the healing. With a rogue in the party, it also adds an extra person to provide flanking to get the sneak attack damage in.

 

[Dausuul]

We only have 4 players, so the question is moot. Gimme cake.

(We had a prospective 5th player who probably would have been a barbarian, hence a striker. But we didn't twist his arm to make him so. In general, our feeling is that the 5th player can be anything s/he likes; although we might gently discourage a second defender, because the defender role doesn't usually work well doubling up - they step on each other's toes too much.)

 

[ExploderWizard]

I had to vote for cake, my new heroic tier campaign now has 7 players:

Goliath Warden
Dragonborn Paladin
Dwarven Paladin
Gnome Bard
Human Ranger
Human Rogue
Human Druid

We are a bit heavy on the defenders. I have not gotten to see the full party dynamics because we have not had a session where all 7 showed up.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Defender in 3 out of 4 parties. The last part has an extra Striker.

I have found that I really like playing defenders myself and will choose them over other classes if possible.