Worst Possible Party Combinations

[Kafkonia]

Ignoring the obvious one-class party problems, what are some of the worst possible parties you could construct?

For instance, you could follow the traditional "4 role" party and wind up with:

A Healer (divine)
A Warmage (arcane)
A Samurai (fighter)
A Scout (skilled)

You have a party with divine magic for healing and nothing else, arcane magic for blasting and nothing else, a fighter who is more limited than a normal fighter and has no additional benefits, and a skilled-type for whom disable device and open lock are cross-class skills!

 

[Crothian]

So, by bad you are just looking at the mechanics and limits of the class?

 

[hamishspence]

DD is now a core skill for scout

This is made clear in PHII. Yes, said party would be very inflexible. But, in the right #### (Beat-em-up like Diablo) they might not do so bad. it's really a case of what is the DM offering. The healer is a little too fragile for most campaigns, the Swahbuckler has a worse rep than the samurai, and so on. if you are playing in said #####, encourage the DM to tailor it to your party.

 

[Kafkonia]

So, by bad you are just looking at the mechanics and limits of the class?

Well, things that don't rely on the players themselves. So, for instance, a party with a heavy divide between alignments -- for instance, a Paladin and an ur-Priest walk into a bar...

 

[solkan_uk]

I'd say most groups can be used with a good core of players, but then we tend to play non-dungeon adventures.

Perhaps it would've been better to state worst party combination for a dungeon crawl?

In my games we've had all sorts of groups, most notable was no straight spellcasters, with the Paladin & Bard making the healing up between them, and doing without mage-style arcane support.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I'd have to say it depends on the campaign, but IMHO, it'd be a party that leaves out 1 of the 4 "fundamental" classes for purposes of class abilities:

• Good BAB and large class Hit Die (Fighter & other warrior classes)
• Trapfinding & Disable Device (Rogue & other scoundrel classes)
• 0-9 Divine spells & Healing (Cleric & other divine major spellcasting classes)
• 0-9 Arcane spells (Wizard & other arcane major spellcasting classes)

I'd say this is very important with a lot of modules (unless the module says otherwise) because there's a certain built-in level of expectation for these abilities to be present in one way or another.

Now, if you have a limited number of base classes, then this makes things tough, because there'll be an expectation for someone to play one of the classes that has one of these abilities (like rogue or cleric, for example). The increased number of base classes provides a bit more options, in some instances, but it places new limits as well (while a Beguiler has trapfinding & 0-9 spells, the spell list is more illusion-oriented, & doesn't do well for creatures immune to such spells).

 

[Andor]

Commoner, Magewright, Aristocrat, Adept.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Commoner, Magewright, Aristocrat, Adept.

That could be a very fun campaign, though.

 

[howandwhy99]

Pacifist Assassin
Quadriplegic Fighter
Rhabdophobic Wizard
Atheist Cleric
Tone deaf Bard
Mindless undead Psionicist

This is fun...

 

[Nifft]

3.0e:
Reincarnated Toad Fighter
Reincarnated Toad Rogue
Reincarnated Toad Cleric
Reincarnated Toad Wizard

-- N