The Ideal Party - The Short Version

[mgshamster]

There's another thread talking about the ideal party composition, and it's a cool idea. But that's for a five member party. Not everyone has groups that large!

So for those with smaller groups, this is for you.

What's the best party for a three person group (plus the DM).

For this thread, class duplicates are allowed, but please don't just pick "three wizards;" that's boring. Duplicate classes are more for multiclassing or taking advantage of different archetypes.

[Specter]

Take it from my group:

- Hunter/Assassin (me)
- Diviner/Life Cleric dip
- Vengeance Paladin/Draconic Sorcerer

We need for nothing.

[deathadder99]

Take it from my group:

- Hunter/Assassin (me)
- Diviner/Life Cleric dip
- Vengeance Paladin/Draconic Sorcerer

We need for nothing.

That actually sounds pretty good. I was about to suggest Paladin/Bard/(Rogue or Cleric)

Paladin and Bard together have a ridiculous amount of versatility and can cover the vast majority of skills. Rogue/or Cleric can finish off the remaining skills while having utility in and out of combat. A Pala 6/Sorc14 is probably better than straight paladin.

[Specter]

That actually sounds pretty good. I was about to suggest Paladin/Bard/(Rogue or Cleric)

Paladin and Bard together have a ridiculous amount of versatility and can cover the vast majority of skills. Rogue/or Cleric can finish off the remaining skills while having utility in and out of combat. A Pala 6/Sorc14 is probably better than straight paladin.

Damn straight.

That's how it goes in combat: Diviner casts Bless. I abuse Sharpshooter and Palasorc abuses GWM, so damage is covered. Wizarderic debuffs whoever is too annoying while Palasorc smites and tanks like all hell. If anyone's dealing serious damage, there's always massive heals. Nothing gets wasted. This is considering no surprise, in which case it's practically over before it begun.

[Socratov]

Well, to cover the bases you will wint at least:


1 front line fighter, if only to protect the squishies.
1 person able to scout/sneak/open up doors and disarm traps
1 person able to cast spells that solve non combat and non-skill encounters.


among these roles you will have to divide sustained damage, nova damage and the role of the face. But about that later.

1. This could be any of the following: barbarian, fighter, moon druid and paladin come to mind. The barbarian could be passable at sneaking, the paladin could be passable at being the face. The fighter and paladin could also nova pretty well.
2. This is obviously Rogue, Monk and Bard: dex focused or dex very able classes that don't wear armour that hinders their stealthy prospects. Of these the damage prospects lie a bit low, but rogues can get excellent nova damage through their sneak attack and bards are excellently geared towards being a face.
3. This role is done best by bards, wizards, clerics, druids and sorcerers, you know, the full casters. Bards and sorcerers can make great faces, the sorcerer and druid excellent nova, and clerics and wizards and druids open up more options to solve their puzzles.

Not mentioned are warlock and ranger as they can be really focused or work in a very different way which might not be entirely conductive to a 3-person party.

[Stygofthedump]

Yea you guys nailed it. Now try with no multiclassing...
half elf bard, lore.
Half orc paladin, ancients
Moon Druid.
Yey or nay?

[BillyBobShorton]

Straight class-
Battlemaster with lots of feats-dmg/tank
Shadowmonk-secondary Melee/Stealth
Druid-Healer, AoE, 3rd combat option.

Multiclasses-
Assassin Bardlock-skill monkey w/dmg and stealth
BM3 Pally-sorc-killing machine/some healing
Luck feat Diviner 2 Life Cleric/Druid-rerolls, buffs, healing, magic

[LordVonDerp]

I was expecting a thread about parties that only contain Dwarves, halflings, and gnomes.

But for a part of 3 I'd say a paladin and a bard would be a good baseline.

[Balyano]

A gnome, a halfling, a goblin, a kobold, and ..... this thread isn't about the sort of ''short version'' i first suspected....I am so disappointed. :(

[2D8HP]

Two Fighter/Rogues and one Rogue.

1) Fighter/Rogue with the Defense Fighting Style and Uncanny Dodge to stand next to the antagonist.

2) A Fighter/Rogue with the Archery Fighting Style and Sneak Attack to fill the enemy with arrows.

3) A Rogue with Expertise in Perception and Stealth to be a scout.

At high enough levels the same PC may be all three.

[Citan]

There's another thread talking about the ideal party composition, and it's a cool idea. But that's for a five member party. Not everyone has groups that large!

So for those with smaller groups, this is for you.

What's the best party for a three person group (plus the DM).

For this thread, class duplicates are allowed, but please don't just pick "three wizards;" that's boring. Duplicate classes are more for multiclassing or taking advantage of different archetypes.
Hi!
Interesting take. ;)

My take for a good all-around party
Bladesinger Wizard with starting level 1 dip in Fighter: rituals, AOE, INT skills, big concentration spells.
Swashbuckler Rogue 3 / Dev Paladin 3 / Sorc X, built by starting Sorcerer 1 then Rogue 3, then Paladin 3 and finish Sorcerer: built as DEX with Shield Master, tanking and shoving around.
Life Cleric 1 / Druid 1 / Lore Bard X: good enough WIS skills thanks to Expertise, grab Pass Without Trace with Magic Secrets if needed, maybe grab two levels of Warlock if you really want good cantrip. Cast plenty of Life Goodberries, use Wild Shape paired with Expertise in Stealth and maybe Silence or Invisibility to scout, Counterspell things, Bless otherwise, generally keep people alive.

My take for a stealth party
1. Bladesinger 3 / Arcane Trickster X: start as Rogue then immediately dip Bladesinger then back as Rogue. You are the one dealing with thievery (invisible Mage Hand) and at later level, you can set up nice ambushes. Option to go up to Wizard 5 at some point (Slow, Leomund's Tiny Hut).
2. Life Cleric 1 / Coast (Mirror Image) or Desert (Silence) Druid 3 / Monk X: you are the one providing out of combat healing and some buff. You have Pass Without Trace for everyone. Use Shillelagh to aim for max WIS first for Stunning Strike. Any Monk is good here. I don't suggest Shadow because I prefer dipping Druid as a personal preference. Sun Soul is nice to have some AOE, Long Death has my preference for THP and Fear effect.
3a. GOO Warlock 2 / Lore Bard X: grab Agonizing Repelling Blast and don't look back.
3b. Offensive alternative: Undying Light Warlock 2 / Rogue 1 / Draconic Sorcerer X: Rogue is here mainly for Expertise so can be ditched if needed. Grab Green Flame Blade, metamagic and assorted spells depending on your playstyle (Twin Haste, Heightened debuff, Careful Web, Subtle anything...). If you don't care about ending as a fullcaster, you can grab Paladins levels somewhere on the way for added fun.

EDIT: I kept at least one people getting access to 9th level spells in both cases, because there is no argue that in end campaign not having any of those may feel frustrating and prevent the win of some things...
If we were talking about "one-shot" mid-carreer characters or the likes though... I'd propose much wilder multiclassing ^^

[Dudu]

Straight Classes for AL I would say

Cleric (Nature, Arcana or Tempest, since I believe those 3 are the most versatile)
Lore Bard
Battlemaster Fighter (Dex based)

Pretty good. Awesome healing, very decent battlefield control, two tanks, one skill monkey, one very good and another passable damage dealer, one really good party face. The Battlemaster, being Dex, could also pick some skills like Survival, Perception and Stealth and be a doable scout. Lore Bard could pick some spells that aren't in the list of the group. I say there's few to no gaps left in the party, also completely avaible for Adventure League.

Of course, with UA and multiclass you can go nuts and maybe fill roles with even 2 party members.

[Socratov]

Straight Classes for AL I would say

Cleric (Nature, Arcana or Tempest, since I believe those 3 are the most versatile)
Lore Bard
Battlemaster Fighter (Dex based)

Pretty good. Awesome healing, very decent battlefield control, two tanks, one skill monkey, one very good and another passable damage dealer, one really good party face. The Battlemaster, being Dex, could also pick some skills like Survival, Perception and Stealth and be a doable scout. Lore Bard could pick some spells that aren't in the list of the group. I say there's few to no gaps left in the party, also completely avaible for Adventure League.

Of course, with UA and multiclass you can go nuts and maybe fill roles with even 2 party members.

In the case of 2 I'd say Paladin+Lorebard or Barbarian+Druid and go to town.

[JAL_1138]

Not-entirely-joking-but-not-entirely-serious suggestion:

Paladin 2 / Valor Bard X (PAM+GWM)
Life Cleric 1 / Lore Bard X (Resilient: Con, Warcaster; can yoink GFB or BB as a Secret or SCAG Variant Half-Elf cantrip.)
Valor Bard X (Crossbow Expert + Sharpshooter)

Palabard keeps Bless up constantly, acts as melee/tank, is the tertiary caster (most slots should be reserved to Smite).

Cleribard is the primary caster/healer, off-tank if using heavy armor and/or a shield, can melee a bit if they pick up a weapon cantrip.

Valor Bard shoots, and is the secondary caster until picking up Elemental Weapon as a Magical Secret, after which they can become a single-target damage monster when necessary (EW+Bless from Palabard+Sharpshooter).

Assuming you ever need to fight at all; this party could talk the legs off a mule and then persuade it to get up and go for a walk afterward.

[DragonSorcererX]

The Dragonborn Crusader Team:

Bronze Dragonborn Tempest Cleric Acolyte.
Gold Dragonborn Vengeance Paladin Noble Knight.
Silver Dragonborn Sorcerer of the Silver Dragon Heritage Soldier.

This team is built of a Dragonborn member of the Church of the Platinum Dragon (the Tempest Cleric refflufed as a War Cleric because Bahamut does not have the Tempest domain), a Dragonborn Noble who has recently achieved Knighthood and needs experience, and a Dragonborn Soldier that is part of the Magical Artillery in the Platinum Army and is ready to fight, and the three of them will go in many adventures to dismantle secret cults of Tiamat throught the human, elven and dwarven lands, help the locals fight draconic threats, and maybe one day kick the ass of the Dragon Queen herself back to Hell!

[Foxhound438]

paladin+cleric+rogue or paladin+cleric+fighter.

Probably take the 1/3 caster on the fighter or rogue, that way you have all ability scores covered for skill checks, otherwise pretty much anything goes. Nothing particularly squishy, nothing particularly inflexible in combat (provided you can fight within javelin distance, at least).

[LordVonDerp]

A gnome, a halfling, a goblin, a kobold, and ..... this thread isn't about the sort of ''short version'' i first suspected....I am so disappointed. :(

I already made that joke

[SMac8988]

Current party starting a custom campaign is a High elf frenzy barb, gnome evoc wizard and I am playing a dwarf life cleric.

I've been feeling kinda concerned but this thread is comforting me some.......

[Demonslayer666]

Paladin with sentinel
lore bard (stealthy lots of utility spells)
Cleric

They can all melee, and can all heal, and their's good utility.