Worst Possible Party Combinations

[Remathilis]

A pair of characters, both male, both white, both middle aged, both divorced, one a fastidious slightly effeminate conservative, the other a slovenly excessively masculine liberal and they live together in a smallish apartment.

They Fight Crime!TM

 

[Seeten]

Is the above a description of your living situation?!

 

[Seeten]

Worst party I have been involved in:

Necromancer/Pale Master
Fighter
Half-Giant Druid

No skill monkey, spell caster with LA...on the plus side, the Necromancer had tons of minions, and could meet most fights head on, alone.

I admit it, I was the necromancer.

Also, I reanimated the Druid as a Ghoul when he died, and he dutifully rolled up a new character, a ninja/assassin. *sigh*

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Is the above a description of your living situation?!

I'm showing my age, I suppose. It was a reference to The Odd Couple. It just amuses me the think of Felix and Oscar as an adventuring pair.

 

[Andor]

I can't believe an Odd Couple reference had to be explained. Very very sad.

Lesse...

Felix would be a disturbingly androgynous and finicky elf archivist of the Silver Flame.

Oscar would be a slovenly half-orc rogue/inqusitive who sidelined for the Korranberg Chronicle.

 

[Lodow MoBo]

I can't believe an Odd Couple reference had to be explained. Very very sad.

agreed We are getting older. There are actually people out there who don't know the star trek red shirt concept.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I think it really depends on the game. In a game with a minimal amount of combat .. having any tank at all makes it suboptimal. In a game where the DM doesn't use traps then things like Disable Device and trapfinding are wasted character options.

I know those situations are in the extreme minority of games, but I also like to think that there are no real suboptimal parties. There are parties that do not fit well into certain adventures. But any party that is formed can turn out to be a good game if the DM is willing to create an adventure that suits the party.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Halfling Barbarian (need I say more)

You laugh now, buddy boy. Just wait until you fail your spot check (and you will, believe me) and I chop you in half with my greataxe. A half-orc with maxed out Str does d12+7 damage when raging. My halfling does d10+5 damage. Average damage of 11.5 vs. 13.5, with a bonus round attacking when I surprise you. You won't even know what hit you.

 

[hong]

You laugh now, buddy boy. Just wait until you fail your spot check (and you will, believe me) and I chop you in half with my greataxe. A half-orc with maxed out Str does d12+7 damage when raging. My halfling does d10+5 damage. Average damage of 11.5 vs. 13.5, with a bonus round attacking when I surprise you. You won't even know what hit you.

"AAHH!!! My knees! My knees!"

 

[airwalkrr]

It seems like a joke, but just about every "worst-party" scenario I could imagine somehow involves a bard. And I don't even think bards are weak. There is just something about the name "bard" that sounds weak.

Anyway, I would have to go with:

Samurai (warrior)
Paladin (priest)
Hexblade (mage)
Swashbuckler (expert)

Ironically, this party uses all three classes from the Complete Warrior.