Thought Exercise: It's Your Party

[Amphetryon]

If you got to pick all the classes for your 4 person party, assuming 1st level start, what party would you make? Assume 4d6x7 drop lowest, drop lowest stat generation, a reasonable DM who bans Leadership et al and truly broken things, and a plot summary as follows:

"The PCs stumble on an abandoned castle, clear it out, claim titles, war with neighbors, fight off invasions by land, sea, and air and, ultimately, battle dragons."

Because dragons are in the storyline and are supposed to be challenging, Shivering Touch and its lesser cousin are banned. Otherwise, 'truly broken' means 'disallowed by ToS rules.'

I'll start off with my choices:
Hexblade (with the Mearls fix), Dread Necromancer, Wilder, Swordsage.

[PersonMan]

Wizard, Cleric, UMD Rogue, Druid.

[Tavar]

Crusader-TankyMcTanktank, plus some limited healing? Yes please.

Wizard-Cause every party can use Batman. Full caster, but that's probably the only real requirement.

Factotum-Skills, glorious skills. Plus trapfinding. Might go into Chameleons later on.

WildCard-Like I said, a wildcard. Probably a divine caster of some sort, quite possibly homebrew if the DM allows it(Person_Man's Favored Soul Rebuild is a favorite). Maybe Totemist/Barbarian/Totem Rager, or just straight totemist. Perhaps Incarnum. Depends on my mood.

[raitalin]

Factotum, Tank Druid, Conjurer, White Raven focused Crusader

[Tinydwarfman]

GOD - Come one, every party has to have one.
Blasty sorcerer - I do love me the sorcerer specific spells/kobold options.
CoDzilla - Pretty much mandatory as well
GiaMonk - for the other players to laugh at.

[gbprime]

Swashbuckler/Rogue, Paladin/Sorcerer, Druid (no wild shape, dip in cloistered cleric), Wizard (elf generalist).

[Draz74]

Raptoran Warblade, Human Dragonfire Adept, Azurin Ardent, Whisper Gnome Factotum.

Down with Vancian casting! :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Loss]

Gnome BardBabarian (Bard/Barabrian with a Ukelele That has an axe blade attatched to it)

Elven Vampire Favored Soul

Goliath Scout/Ranger

Human Rogue/Avenging Executioner

If the title is a reference to a song, Amphetryon is awesome forever.

[Volthawk]

Raptoran Warblade, Human Dragonfire Adept, Azurin Ardent, Whisper Gnome Factotum.

Down with Vancian casting! :smallbiggrin:

Except Factotum has a bit of Vancian to it :smallbiggrin:.

[dextercorvia]

Wizard, Wizard, Wizard, Wizard

What??? This way no one complains about the 15 minute adventuring day. And, someone always has a rope trick prepared.

[Amphetryon]

Wizard, Wizard, Wizard, Wizard

What??? This way no one complains about the 15 minute adventuring day. And, someone always has a rope trick prepared.At 1st level? I'd like to see that.

EDIT:

If the title is a reference to a song, Amphetryon is awesome forever.
It is a song reference; I suppose I'll live with being awesome. :smalltongue:

[Critical]

Commoner, Commoner, Commoner, Commoner.

Don't forget the Donkey.

[sreservoir]

Spell-to-Power Erudite x4.

nullifies the UPD problem, too.

[dextercorvia]

At 1st level? I'd like to see that.

The rope tricks might be tough at level 1, but by level 2 they could split the cost of Heward's Bedroll. And seriously with four wizards in the party that is a lot of Save or X at first level.

[Amphetryon]

Erudite is on the ToS ban list, sorry.

[Kosjsjach]

Forest Gnome Beguiler with Versatile Spellcaster,
Warforged Crusader with Adamantine Body,
Human (possibly hellbred) Warlock with Mortalbane,
...and some kind of divine caster. I can never seem to get enthusiastic about clerics. :smallfrown:

[Foryn Gilnith]

Archivist, Wizard, Warblade, Factotum. Team Intelligence for the win.

[Draz74]

Except Factotum has a bit of Vancian to it :smallbiggrin:.

Nah, not technically. It's got no spell slots. Different spellcasting system. :smalltongue:

[Aethir]

Warblade, Warlock, Dragon Shaman 1/Cloistered Cleric X, Factotum


The all-day party.

[jindra34]

Crusader, DFA, Warlock, Factotum. My prefrences, but pretty much same as above.

[PId6]

The full caster party:

Lesser Aasimar Dread Necromancer as heal-bot.
Lesser Tiefling Focused Conjurer going into Malconvoker as control.
Anthropomorphic Bat (or whatever) Druid + companion as BSF.
Human Cleric as DMM buff-bot.

Everyone takes Tomb-Tainted Soul.

[Devils_Advocate]

Assume 4d6x7 drop lowest, drop lowest stat generation
So, do I have to pick the classes before rolling the stats? Because, if not, it seems like you should roll up 4 specific sets of stats for us to work with. Just sayin'.

Working with just the PHB, I think that I'd whip up, let's see... an elven Rogue, a dwarven Cleric of Moradin, a gnome Illusionist, and a human Bard.

Outside of Core, I'm thinking... human Artificer, kalashtar Telepath, changeling Factotum, and warforged Warblade. Except that that's more of an Eberron group for what doesn't really sound like an Eberron plot. Hmmm.

Maybe a kobold Sorcerer, goblin Scout, orc Barbarian, and human Archivist? I'm guessing that they'd rule through fear. That could be fun.

Gosh, so many options.

(I decided to cover races in addition to classes, 'cuz I felt like it. :smalltongue:)

[Darkxarth]

Changeling Psychic Rogue (focus on intelligence gathering and spying)
Half-Orc Barbarian
Elf Druid (Shapeshift variant, probably)
Human Bard

Not ideal, perhaps, but I think it would give them options in small combat and a fair chance at making it as the rulers of a small region.

[erikun]

Psychic Warrior
Psychic Rogue
Psion
Ardent

[Milskidasith]

Sorc Druid Wizard Cleric. Wizard focuses on everything, Druid on hitting stuff with BC thrown in, cleric on buffing and protection with some BC thrown in, and Sorc goes with blasty spells with battlefield control. Probably a kobold Sorc, just for the fun of sharing Wings of Cover.

[shadow_archmagi]

Artificer Artificer Artificer Artificer.

First they'll design elaborate defenses and war machines, and arm their troops with the finest arms and armaments.

By the end of the campaign, it won't so much a "Castle" as a "Golden Throne"


Also, kamikazi airships loaded with explosives.

[WildPyre]

Human Fighter with a reach weapon.

Elven Wizard generalized for a variety of spells.

Human Cleric, somebody needs to do it.

Goblin Rogue, sure nobody trusts a goblin, but nobody trusts the rogue anyway and they get the bonuses of a small sized character and still have a 30 foot move speed.

[AslanCross]

Warblade, Cloistered Cleric with Magic Domain, Wizard, Swordsage.

[The Cat Goddess]

Changeling Rogue/Chameleon/Spymaster. Know about your enemies before they know you even exist.

Gnome Beguiler/Mindbender. Your enemies fight each other, not you.

Grey Elf Warlock/Artificier. Make any magic item, anytime, anywhere.

Human Druid/Wizard/Arcane Hirophant. If I can move my castle with an ocean wave or sail my ships underwater, what's the point? :smallbiggrin:

[Curmudgeon]

I'd go with no core classes. Scout, Crusader, Favored Soul, and maybe Wu Jen for fun.

[Irreverent Fool]

Since someone took my wizard x4...

Fighter Warblade
Cleric
Wizard
Rogue

I'm fond of the classics.

obnoxious
sig

[Just_Ice]

Dragon Shaman only.

Final Destination.

[The Glyphstone]

Dragon Shaman only.
Vow of Poverty
Final Destination.

Fixed.:smallsmile:

[Platinum_Mongoose]

I don't have anything valuable to contribute to this thread (fun read, though) but every time someone listed four of the same class, my brain automatically went "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger."

Carry on.

[Harperfan7]

Elf Wilderness Rogue (all dex/int/wis skills) Rapid Shooter/Sniper/TWF-Finesse

Dwarf Fighter/Warblade (Hammer & Board)

Gnome (homebrewed Int bonus tinker type gnomes) Diviner/Loremaster/Archmage (no Necro)

Human Cleric (Pelor - Sun/Strength) radiant servant-esque build w/that turn turn uses into smite feat and Initiate of Pelor feat from Dragon

Your basic party that covers more bases than Tordek/Lidda/Mialee/Jozan, but still adventures in your typical fashion and is still challenged by non-optimized challenges. Also, looks like a lot of fun to me.

[Galileo]

I'd go Human Artificer, Illumian Factotum, Warforged Warblade (Warforgedblade? Warbladeforged?) and Illumian Psion. The Artificer and the Factotum just because they're awesome, the Warforged Warblade because he's basically a Spehss Mehren with permanent armour, and the Psion cause I haven't really had the opportunity to play a psionic character and they sound cool.

[Il_Vec]

Beguiler, Warblade/Wiz/Abjurant champion, Wildshape Ranger/Warshaper/Master of Many Forms, Wiz/Ur-Priest/Prestige Bard/Sublime Chord/Mystic Theurge.

[Optimystik]

Psychic Warrior
Psychic Rogue
Psion
Ardent

This, though I might sub Wilder for Psywar.

[Pluto]

I read the thread title.
Now this song isn't going to leave my head any time soon.
You're a monster.

also: all bards.

[Krazddndfreek]

Druid x 4

Use animal companions as tanks/buff platforms.

[gbprime]

Yeah, I'm hearing "badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger.... mushroom, mushroom..." :smallamused:

[balistafreak]

4x Monk. Just vanilla, core Monks.

... because I like watching train wrecks in slo-mo, John Woo style. :smallcool:

[Escheton]

Gnome beguiler- killer gnome build (the face, the killer)
Human Wiz/druid - eldritch hyrophant or whatever its called (batman/summoner)
int elf Factotum3/warblade2/wiz1/elf paragon 3 -jade phoenix mage martial batman/trapsmasher/ubertripper (with dex to trapskill feat for dex and int, +4 racial to search)
human Archivist full- mister know it all healer

team intel 2

this group spams summons to deal with most foes

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Focused on level 1 dungeon crawl
Crusader/DFA/Beguiler/Druid; more specifically...

Warforged Crusader with Adamantine Body, Stone Power when he can get it.
Human Dragonfire Adept with entangling exhalation and that endure power.
Whisper Gnome Beguiler built out like a skill monkey.
Human Druid with SF:Conj and Augment Summoning

Pros: Will almost surely survive the beginning of the campaign, which is the most likely TPK point from an optimized party's perspective. At higher levels all party members are still strong.
Cons: At higher levels, the Druid will be doing most of the heavy lifting when it comes to spellcasting, army-killing, dragon-killing, et cetera. The beguiler shines when it comes to politics/intrigue at any level, but dragons will save from his effects.

---------

Focused on higher level, with large-scale war and dragons specifically in mind
Wizard/Incantatrix, for persisted party buffs
Sorcerer/Incantatrix, to deliver the mail
Artificer, for war machines, crazy wands, and creating scrolls for...
Achivist, for casting every single buff not covered by the wizard so he can reach/chain/persist it.

Pros: The synergy speaks for itself. All T1-2, so they'll be able to cover most ground.

Cons: Might get TPK'd at first level. Might have to switch out the mailman for a Druid; (oddly) less overall group versatility later on, but you have more healing/tanking early on, and the archivist's duties aren't spread so thin.

[Emmerask]

4x Monk. Just vanilla, core Monks.

... because I like watching train wrecks in slo-mo, John Woo style. :smallcool:


:smallmad: I wanted to do that ^^

hm well okay my 4 monks are going to become drunken masters... all of them :smallbiggrin:
(well if they don´t die before being able to :smallwink:)

[Revlid]

Warlock, Binder, Blackguard, Archivist

Blasphemy for the win.

Alternatively, four Warlocks, for beamspam fun.

[Greenish]

Archivist, Artificer, Crusader, Factotum, Warblade. (Yeah, 5 > 4!)

All warforged.

[Doc Roc]

War-Marked.
War-Marked.
War-Marked.
Penny Dreadful Paladin.

[Amphetryon]

War-Marked.
War-Marked.
War-Marked.
Penny Dreadful Paladin.

What? No PD Monk or Sorcerer? :smalltongue:

[Fortuna]

Archivist x 4, perhaps? Depending on DM lenience in scroll-buying, of course, but fun as hell if they are lenient. Doubly so if you start pooling WBL for scrolls and pulling in assorted spells early, as well as domain spells for added fun.

Otherwise, Wizard, Cleric, Druid and Artificer. Unless animal companions aren't allowed magic items, in which case it's slightly less fun.

[Doc Roc]

What? No PD Monk or Sorcerer? :smalltongue:

Well, I love PD Monk a lot, but I thought it'd be cool to stray pretty close to a mono-party, splashing paladin for the Renewal track. Renewal got a buff, by the way!

Barring that,
4x Archivist -> Hexer

[onthetown]

Ranger, Paladin, Cleric, and Wizard has been my 4-person party for ages and it's worked like a charm so far. There's little optimization and we're still easily able to overcome things. Make the Ranger the skillmonkey, or if you're allowing us to hire on adventurers then we add a Rogue or a Bard for as long as we need them.

[Amphetryon]

Ranger, Paladin, Cleric, and Wizard has been my 4-person party for ages and it's worked like a charm so far. There's little optimization and we're still easily able to overcome things. Make the Ranger the skillmonkey, or if you're allowing us to hire on adventurers then we add a Rogue or a Bard for as long as we need them.The Ranger could use the trapfinding ACF, or the Cleric or Wizard can manage traps, while the Paladin works as the party face. Nifty.

[the humanity]

hmm.

sneak attack ninja or rogue/assassin or rogue/mortal hunter
wu jen/warmage/ultimate magus
fighter/scout
warlock/hellfire warlock/random prestige class

[Rixx]

Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard.

Yeah, that's right.

[imperialspectre]

For long-term power:
Beguiler skillmonkey/utility caster
Cerebremancer offensive caster
Favored Soul/War Weaver buffer/tank
Archivist/Hexer defensive caster/utility caster

For early-level staying power:
Beguiler skillmonkey/utility caster
Crusader tank/support
War-Marked DPS/anti-caster
Dread Necromancer/early-entry Rainbow Servant minion boss/offensive caster

For fun:
Ardent/Ur-Priest/PsyTheurge defensive caster/utility caster/tank
War-Marked anti-caster/DPS
Master Specialist Abjurer/IotSV defensive caster/utility caster/anti-caster
Beguiler skillmonkey/utility caster

[Darkxarth]

I am just wondering, for those of you who put answers like "4 Wizards" or "4 Archivists" or "4 X class," would that really be enjoyable? I understand that it can be easy to diversify classes so that no two Wizards are alike, but presumably in this case you would want all 4 of them to be similarly optimized into the best build you can design. To me, playing 4 identical or nearly identical characters might be fun as a novelty for an hour or two, but I cannot imagine playing an entire campaign that way.

If these answers were not serious, then why insert them at all? Yes, everyone knows that Teir 1 classes are superior to Tier 4 classes (obviously), but there is no need to come into the thread and state that you would play 4 identical Tier 1 classes.

And if it was serious, you would play 4 Wizards or 4 Clerics or 4 Archivists, why? Not to be negative to anyone's choices, but I am curious about what part of that would be interesting?

[Greenish]

I am just wondering, for those of you who put answers like "4 Wizards" or "4 Archivists" or "4 X class," would that really be enjoyable? I understand that it can be easy to diversify classes so that no two Wizards are alike, but presumably in this case you would want all 4 of them to be similarly optimized into the best build you can design.One little wizard to play batman with crowdcontrol.

One little wizard to go malconvoker and summon friends.

One little wizard to build a swiftblade on.

One little wizard to take arcane domain and heal.

One little wizard to polymorph into 12-headed cryohydra.

One little wizard to make a mailman and blast.

One little wizard to be an incantrix to persist buffs and boost others' spells.


Just because you optimize doesn't mean every wizard has to have the same build.

[Volthawk]

I'd have:

Gray Elf Beguiler
Spellscale Dread Necromancer
Neanderthal Paladin of Slaughter
Air Goblin Swordsage

All Gravetouched Ghouls.

[Emmerask]

I am just wondering, for those of you who put answers like "4 Wizards" or "4 Archivists" or "4 X class," would that really be enjoyable? I understand that it can be easy to diversify classes so that no two Wizards are alike, but presumably in this case you would want all 4 of them to be similarly optimized into the best build you can design. To me, playing 4 identical or nearly identical characters might be fun as a novelty for an hour or two, but I cannot imagine playing an entire campaign that way.

If these answers were not serious, then why insert them at all? Yes, everyone knows that Teir 1 classes are superior to Tier 4 classes (obviously), but there is no need to come into the thread and state that you would play 4 identical Tier 1 classes.

And if it was serious, you would play 4 Wizards or 4 Clerics or 4 Archivists, why? Not to be negative to anyone's choices, but I am curious about what part of that would be interesting?


4 underpowered monks going against all odds ? Struggling every single encounter to stay alive?

pure awesome :smallsmile:

You also could make those monks distinctly different fluff wise yeah one uses crane style, the other drunken boxing and the third tiger style... mechanic wise it wouldn´t change a thing but who cares it all boils down to /roll 20 anyway :smallwink:

[Pluto]

I am just wondering, for those of you who put answers like "4 Wizards" or "4 Archivists" or "4 X class," would that really be enjoyable? I understand that it can be easy to diversify classes so that no two Wizards are alike, but presumably in this case you would want all 4 of them to be similarly optimized into the best build you can design. To me, playing 4 identical or nearly identical characters might be fun as a novelty for an hour or two, but I cannot imagine playing an entire campaign that way.
I maintain that 4 Bards would be really ****ing awesome:

One as a Song of the White Raven-based melee powerhouse.
One as an Arcane Archer/Sublime Chord disabler.
One as a straight Bard, using Jack of All Trades, Bardic Knack and Improvisation to be a useful skillmonkey.
One to do whatever's left... maybe going Malconvoker for extra buff platforms.

Of course, every one would be running a different flavor of Dragonfire Inspiration/Inspire Courage simultaneously. The sheer number of dice thrown each round would be hilarious.

[Tinydwarfman]

I am just wondering, for those of you who put answers like "4 Wizards" or "4 Archivists" or "4 X class," would that really be enjoyable? I understand that it can be easy to diversify classes so that no two Wizards are alike, but presumably in this case you would want all 4 of them to be similarly optimized into the best build you can design. To me, playing 4 identical or nearly identical characters might be fun as a novelty for an hour or two, but I cannot imagine playing an entire campaign that way.

If these answers were not serious, then why insert them at all? Yes, everyone knows that Teir 1 classes are superior to Tier 4 classes (obviously), but there is no need to come into the thread and state that you would play 4 identical Tier 1 classes.

And if it was serious, you would play 4 Wizards or 4 Clerics or 4 Archivists, why? Not to be negative to anyone's choices, but I am curious about what part of that would be interesting?

Mostly because tier 1 classes can be so diverse, and always contribute well. And why would it be any less enjoyable than the standard Fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric party? Tier 5 classes are generally considered boring because they can't do much. And I think it would actually be an interesting campaign; Ars Magica is exactly this premise.

Take the party of wizards: One goes into Incantatrix and buffs the party as well as blasts. One does counterspelling and active defense with Iot7FV. One summons big critters with Malconvoker, and one does the whole batman thing. Party of fun, balanced, and diverse characters, and all of them are wizards.

[Emmerask]

Tier 5 classes are only boring in comparison (ie "or I could just summon a horde of angels"). If every one is playing tier 5 then I imagine it would be a very fun campaign, where they have to use every trick in the book and plan really well to stay alive and win :smallwink:

ie this:


http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/2861/asbmxb3.jpg

[tonberrian]

1 Halfling Swordsage/Swashbuckler/Fighter/Bloodstorm Blade/Master Thrower (not necessarily in that order), or Nonpsionic Thri-keen if I could manage it

1 DFI Bard

2 Artificers

The artificers and bard do the skills, bard is the face, artificers heal and buff and do arcane stuff, and class combo of doom cuts things to itty-bitty pieces.

[PId6]

Tier 5 classes are only boring in comparison (ie "or I could just summon a horde of angels"). If every one is playing tier 5 then I imagine it would be a very fun campaign, where they have to use every trick in the book and plan really well to stay alive and win :smallwink:
Everyone playing T5 can be interesting, yes, but everyone playing the same T5 class... likely won't be. A party of optimized monks will probably end up looking very similar. You might have a combat maneuvers guy and a skillmonkey-ish guy and a psionic guy, but in the end they're all going to end up trying to beat things to death with their fists anyhow. A party of all wizards/clerics/druids/T1 whatever just have so many more options to focus on that it's so much easier making them appear different. A Malconvoker will looking nothing at all like an IotSFV, for example, and a Blastificer plays very differently from a Bufficer, even though they are the same class.

[Toliudar]

Hmmm.

Gnome Beguiler - face, trapfinding, possible killer gnome shenanigans
Kobold Sorcerer - arrogant blastiness
Strongheart Halfling Wizard - for everything the others don't do
Goblin Druid - rargh eat your face!

Start out small, get VERY powerful.

[Eldariel]

Mine would obviously be:
- Fire Elf Ranger/Fighter/Barbarian/Warblade/Eternal Blade Archer: Handles melee and range and such quite respectably.
- Star Elf Bard/Arcane Archer/Sublime Chord/Sacred Exorcist/Abjurant Champion Archer: Spell Sniper casting multiple spells on each arrow to wreak havoc at a range. Doubles as a controller as control spells go best on arrows.
- Gray Elf Rogue/Wizard/Unseen Seer/Arcane Trickster Archer: Persists all Snipery spells and Sneak Attacks anything at any range for lots. Oh, and handles some of the skillmonkery left by Warblade and Bard.
- Sun Elf Archivist Archer: Just because there are loose ends to tie together and because Ooh, shiney!


Team of competent archers with melee wallop as necessary. Though Eternal Blade might get left behind, but at least it tends to shoot more arrows when everyone is Polymorphed equally. Average range of engagement is over 1000' and everyone is capable of hiding well enough that Great Wyrms have trouble noticing them (Darkstalkers across the board too). Oh, and everyone is an Elf. That's a definite bonus. And lightly armored. Let's make 'em all female too.

[Zen Master]

I'd go with no core classes. Scout, Crusader, Favored Soul, and maybe Wu Jen for fun.

Heh - I'd go with only core classes.

In a world where the gods are a proven fact, I'd like to emphasize the religious side. The group would be lead by a paladin, whose crusade is supported by a cleric. Along with them are a bard, and a wizard.

There is a certain tradition for the paladin/cleric to be Osmond and Desmond, respectively. The classes change - the names remain.

[druid91]

Mindflayer Psion
Mindflayer Wizard
Mindflayer Artificer
Mindflayer Psychic warrior

then go and hunt me some war trolls....

[TheThan]

A great generic four-person party consists of the following: fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric.

But if want to spice things up we can do something like this: warblade, psion, beguiler, favored soul.

If we want to make the Dm cry we do this: cleric, wizard, druid, sorcerer.

If we want to challenge ourselves then we can make a party like this: ranger, paladin, samurai (CW here), monk.

[balistafreak]

To play Dragonball Z, play 4 Tashalatora Ardents. (Practiced Manifester highly suggested but not required.)

Now they all punch more or less in the same way, but by customizing the mantles you end with 4 completely different characters. All should take the PVS (psicrystal/vigor/sharepain) combo to be practically made of iron with a small expenditure of PP.

However, the raw power of a Practiced Manifester Ardent is so stupid that you can basically pick whatever you want and still make the DM's head hurt, so I suppose that's not really the point here.

No healer, but with PVS you shouldn't need one (much). No skillmonkey either, although I'm sure there's some powers you can take to fix that.

Alternatively, play 4 Corpsecrafted Spellstitched Necropolitans, preferably all Wisdom-based casters to make the most out of Spellstitched (you'll need some way to get Wisdom 20 for 6th level SLAs). Other than that you can take basically WHATEVER class you want if the game's not going over 6th-8th level, because Spellstiched will do all the work for you. :smalltongue:

[Darkxarth]

I guess I was thinking of early levels, at least until level 6 for most Wizards. Of course, after a certain point customization becomes varied enough to have 4 entirely different Wizards.

Of course, with roleplaying, even 4 identically built Wizards could be quite different. But would it really be fun if the same person were running all 4 characters? Again, not to be critical of those of you who made that choice, but I just can't see the novelty lasting more than a session or two.

[balistafreak]

Believe me when I say running one complex character is a chore. 4 complex characters is impossible unless its a one-on-one game between you and the DM. Then you're basically playing Final Fantasy. :smalltongue:

I can manage a complex character (a psionicist), two less complex characters (an Artificer and Iaijutsu Factotum because their roles within combat are relatively limited), and their companions (again, relatively straightforward combatants) within reasonable turn-times, though. The Artificer is a b---h during downtime, though. What'd you expect?

Running even two Wizards or Clerics though is completely beyond me. Having an infinite spell-list causes stupidity extremely easily.

[Tinydwarfman]

I guess I was thinking of early levels, at least until level 6 for most Wizards. Of course, after a certain point customization becomes varied enough to have 4 entirely different Wizards.

Of course, with roleplaying, even 4 identically built Wizards could be quite different. But would it really be fun if the same person were running all 4 characters? Again, not to be critical of those of you who made that choice, but I just can't see the novelty lasting more than a session or two.

You keep saying this, and I don't know why. Why would the wizards all be the same? Yes it would get boring if the characters were exactly the same, but they wouldn't be. They are all focused specialists in different schools, and ta-da! Instant differentiation. Like before, spec tier ones for different things, and you can get two completely different builds.

[Draz74]

Does seem, though, like it would be easier to get a diverse, well-rounded party using different classes, even if you're trying to quadruple-hit with Tier 1's.

So, instead of Wizard, Wizard, Wizard, Wizard,
go Wizard, Artificer, Druid, Cleric.
(Or optionally, switch another T1 class in for one of those.)

[balistafreak]

It's easier to get a well-rounded party with different classes but even harder to play. Playing 4 Wizards maintains at least a few similiarities between them.

Playing 4 of any Tier 1 class though is way over most people's heads though, anyways, so its a moot point. :smalltongue:

[Amphetryon]

Shameless bump.

[Flyingfox]

Crusader, Scout, Druid, Psion. This would probably fail, but I like it anyway.

[Frozen_Feet]

A party which starts out as a collection of variant Monks, and then branches out as everyone prestige and multiclasses differently. Like:

Sleeping Tiger Monk / Shadow Dancer / Assassin, for scouting, trickery and stabbing people in the back.

Passive Way Monk / Paladin (of Tyranny) with Ascetic Knight, who maxes out diplomacy and UMD, playing a peacekeeper role.

Overwhelming Attack Monk / Psionic Warrior with Tashalatora (or Psionic Fist), whose main job is to hit people in the face with Kung Fu.

Drunken Master, who works as comic relief.:smallbiggrin:

[Amphetryon]

Crusader, Scout, Druid, Psion. This would probably fail, but I like it anyway.

Looks pretty strong to me. Scout is 'the weakest link,' but can easily be viable.

[PhoenixRivers]

Class 1: Cleric 2 / Ardent 1 / Mystic Theurge 10 / Church Inquisitor 6 / Contemplative 1

Class 2: Wizard 1 / Psion 3 / Cerebremancer 10 / Psion +6

Class 3: Druid 20

Class 4: Wizard 15/ Archmage 5
or
Class 4: Beguiler 1 / Rainbow Servant 10 / Beguiler +9

[Maryring]

Hrm. For me, I think I'd focus more on the country building aspect of this, so my group would be whom I think could create a nation of culture and science at the highest degree. Therefore...

My group would be lead by Dame Nino Deirdre. LG Paladin responsible for the military tradition of the nation, as well as ensuring a proper legal system is in place.

The one to provide science would be Lady Deneb Tritate. NG Wizard going Loremaster. As a very intelligent woman, Deneb would have the wit to actually organize proper education to those with potential, and her own work would ensure a steady scientific progress in the nation.

The one to provide art would be Sir Arath Idoneus, the CG bard. He'd provide a counterpoint to Dame Nino's strict martial tradition by ensuring that music and other forms of art are prevalent in this glorious new nation.

The last one would be Holy Mother Maria Ignazia Angelus. This Cloistered Cleric would ensure that none of her companions stray from the path of Good, and would ensure that the citizens in this new nation paid proper respect to the Archons, Guardinals and Eladrin, as well as the Good gods.

... now I wanna play a game that crosses Civ with DnD.

[Il_Vec]

All this talk about playing 4x wizard just made me think of this:

Wizard/Fighter/Spellsword/Abjurant Champ/Sacred Exorcist

Wizard/Arcane Trickster/Unseen Seer

Wizard/Master Specialist/Red Wizard/Archmage

Wizard/Master Specialist/Loremaster/IotSV

Spellbook tracking would be... really... extense.

[Volos]

Druid, Druid, Druid, Druid

Because you can't have enough gods in one party. A four team party of druids could destroy nearly anything that was stupid enough to war against them. Especially after they level and start specializing into different types of druids. One could focus on combat and use of the quarterstaff, one could max out the power of their animal companion and help buff their and everyone else's companions, one could focus on healing and party buff, and the final druid would focus on powerful destructive spells and spell combos. And they can all use Wild Shape as they feel is necessary. No need to multiclass.

[Tyrrell]

In 3.0 I played a game with four characters from fiorst level. We had

An enchanter who multiclassed to the 3.0 version of mindbender
An Illusionist
A conjuror
and a diviner who eventually took Loremaster (my character).

That game was one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played in and the fact that everyone was playing a wizard made things significantly more fun rather than less fun. The four players got together frequently to plan how to most efficently spend our money, how to optimize our combined spells memorized list, and what spells each of us should choose to learn for the next level.