Challenge: Best 4-man Party

[Sindri Balrog]

I challenge you to create the best 4-man team.

These are the (extremely arbitrary) requirements:
- sources: PHB, XGE and SCAG
- playable from level 1 through 20
- not dependent on magic items access
- "combos" are good but each character must be able to stand on its own
- races/classes/feats can only be used once (e.g. only 1 variant Human)
- multi-classing is fine (but limited to 2 classes/PC)
- every role covered: tanking / damage (melee, ranged & area) / healing / control / utility / scouting / social (any others?)
- at least one member has high bonus (prof.& 16+stat) on each skill, except the "useless" ones (animal handling & performance, mostly)
- Wizard-like ritual casting
- thieves tools proficiency (yes, I know)

Bonus points if all characters are eclectic/fun to play and not one-trick-ponies.
I'm really curious to see what you guys come up with!

[CTurbo]

Hmmm I don't have time to get in depth with these characters but I'll go....

Ancients Paladin with PAM
Tempest Cleric with Warcaster
Lore Bard with Inspiring Leader
Arcane Trickster Rogue with Ritual Caster: Wizard

[Mikal]

EDIT: I'll probably be expanding on these in future edits. I'll try to note when I do so.
Here's what I'd go with off hand, based on personal play preference and trying to meet your requirements. Decided against mutliclassing since you didn't specify it, though I'd tweak things if I did so. Using Point Buy:

Half-Elf Hexblade blade pact: Ranged and Melee Damage, Control, Social.
The face of the party, with high proficiency in social skills. PAM and GWM for melee damage and to add control. Potentially Sentinel as well to combo with the next class. Ranged damage via spells and Eldritch blast, and limited AOE from Cone of Cold.
Level 1 stats after racial- 8-14-16-10-10-17
Level 4: Elven Accuracy (+1 Cha)
Level 8: Cha to 20
Level 12: GWM
Level 16: PAM
Level 19: Sentinel


Half-Orc Cavalier Fighter: Tanking, Melee Damage
Does NOT take Sentinel, but combos with the Hexblade by marking enemies and forcing them to either hit the AG and get hit by the Hexblade, or attack the Hexblade and eat stuff from the Cavalier Marking ability. High skills with Athletics, Survival, Perception.
Level 1 stats after racial: 17-10-16-8-14-8
Level 4: Orcish Fury (Str to 18)
Level 6: Great Weapon Master
Level 8: Str to 20
Level 12: Con to 18
Level 14: Con to 20
Level 16: Lucky
Level 19: Prodigy


High Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue: Ranged and Melee Damage, Scouting, Control, Utility, thieves tools, skills expertise
Standard AT rogue, with expertise in several skills and proficiency in as many dexterity and intelligence skills as possible. Thieves tool use per your requirement, and fulfills the scouting and arcana/knowledge roles.
Level 1 stats after racial: 8-17-14-16-8-8
Level 4: Elven Accuracy (+1 Dex)
Level 8: Dex to 20
Level 10: Warcaster
Level 12: Int to 18
Level 16: Con to 16
Level 19: Int or Con boost


Variant Human Arcana Cleric: Healing, Control, Utility, Damage, ritual caster feat at level 1
Our healer role, also fulfills the mixture of arcane and clerical magic. Uses the first level feat to gain wizard ritual caster per your requirements, and can provide control via cleric spells and utility via clerical and wizard ritual casting. MAY take ritual caster cleric as well so it doesn't have to waste prepared spells on ritual spells.
Level 1 stats after racial: 8-14-16-10-16-8 and ritual caster (wizard)
Level 4: Wis to 18
Level 8: Wis to 20
Level 12: Warcaster
Level 16: Lucky
Level 19: Con to 18

[Bannan_mantis]

Moon druid (ritual utility, tanking, wisdom utility and some healing)
Rogue, any really (dex utility, damage, movement, range, doesn't need much recovering, could also have some extra mental utility)
Lore Bard (cha utility, controller, healer, extra utility spells)
Fighter BM or champion or samurai (main frontliner, high damage, good recovery, good tanking, short rest based)

[Sindri Balrog]

Sorry, I did not specify that multi-classing is indeed possible.
I will update the first post with this point, to avoid the confusion, thanks!

I think I will limit it to two classes though.

[stoutstien]

rock Gnome paladin of ancient. (War caster)
V human abjuration wizard(res con+ alert)
Half elf celestial tome warlock(prodigy)
Wood elf knowledge cleric. (Wood elf magic)

-You have redundant proficiency in every skill plus floating one with knowledge cleric.
-Party wide save boosts and arcane Ward stacking with free THP from celestial lock lv 10 feature.
-Every ritual in the game on tap
-wood elf magic gets you pass without a trace
-solid no spell slot heals between paladin and warlock.
-who need multi-class

[KyleG]

Following this, my Kids are about to suffer a tpk for various reasons but they have expressed interest in a new party comprised of their favourite animal races.
A loxodon, a tortle, and a tabaxi. As per the last campaign ill run a background character to provide cover in areas they dont have, probably a kenku without the learning difficulties but with mimicry of sorts to assist with advice as required.
So I was thinking I would encourage a sorcerer for the Loxodon, a barbarian for the tortle, a bard or warlock for the tabaxi and possibly a warlock or cleric for the kenku for some range or healing.

[KOLE]

Make a party of 4 purely priest clerics, call it the A-men and go take Tiamat’s lunch money.

[nickl_2000]

Following this, my Kids are about to suffer a tpk for various reasons but they have expressed interest in a new party comprised of their favourite animal races.
A loxodon, a tortle, and a tabaxi. As per the last campaign ill run a background character to provide cover in areas they dont have, probably a kenku without the learning difficulties but with mimicry of sorts to assist with advice as required.
So I was thinking I would encourage a sorcerer for the Loxodon, a barbarian for the tortle, a bard or warlock for the tabaxi and possibly a warlock or cleric for the kenku for some range or healing.

This sounds like a joke. A loxodon, a tabaxi , and a tortle walk into a tavern. :)

Note:my autocorrect really hates D&D

[KyleG]

This sounds like a joke. A loxodon, a tabaxi , and a tortle walk into a tavern. :)

Note:my autocorrect really hates D&D

There they meet a kenku. Lol

[Corran]

One ranged dpr with good escape options.
One wizard for trying to win encounters without fighting them or bypassing them, or starting them with considerable advantage (so basically out of combat utility -among whatever else wizards can do). Maybe druid could cover that role.
And two melee characters (pick any combination of barbarian, cleric, moon druid, fighter, paladin) with fairly good ranged attacks.
If you can make them all stealthy, even better. Squeezing a bard in place of one of the melee fighters is tempting but risky. Can work if between everyone there are very good control options and if the sole tank is built to take a lot of beating.

[Skylivedk]

EDIT: I'll probably be expanding on these in future edits. I'll try to note when I do so.
Here's what I'd go with off hand, based on personal play preference and trying to meet your requirements. Decided against mutliclassing since you didn't specify it, though I'd tweak things if I did so. Using Point Buy:

Half-Elf Hexblade blade pact: Ranged and Melee Damage, Control, Social.
The face of the party, with high proficiency in social skills. PAM and GWM for melee damage and to add control. Potentially Sentinel as well to combo with the next class. Ranged damage via spells and Eldritch blast, and limited AOE from Cone of Cold.
Level 1 stats after racial- 8-14-16-10-10-17
Level 4: Elven Accuracy (+1 Cha)
Level 8: Cha to 20
Level 12: GWM
Level 16: PAM
Level 19: Sentinel


Half-Orc Cavalier Fighter: Tanking, Melee Damage
Does NOT take Sentinel, but combos with the Hexblade by marking enemies and forcing them to either hit the AG and get hit by the Hexblade, or attack the Hexblade and eat stuff from the Cavalier Marking ability. High skills with Athletics, Survival, Perception.
Level 1 stats after racial: 17-10-16-8-14-8
Level 4: Orcish Fury (Str to 18)
Level 6: Great Weapon Master
Level 8: Str to 20
Level 12: Con to 18
Level 14: Con to 20
Level 16: Lucky
Level 19: Prodigy


High Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue: Ranged and Melee Damage, Scouting, Control, Utility, thieves tools, skills expertise
Standard AT rogue, with expertise in several skills and proficiency in as many dexterity and intelligence skills as possible. Thieves tool use per your requirement, and fulfills the scouting and arcana/knowledge roles.
Level 1 stats after racial: 8-17-14-16-8-8
Level 4: Elven Accuracy (+1 Dex)
Level 8: Dex to 20
Level 10: Warcaster
Level 12: Int to 18
Level 16: Con to 16
Level 19: Int or Con boost


Variant Human Arcana Cleric: Healing, Control, Utility, Damage, ritual caster feat at level 1
Our healer role, also fulfills the mixture of arcane and clerical magic. Uses the first level feat to gain wizard ritual caster per your requirements, and can provide control via cleric spells and utility via clerical and wizard ritual casting. MAY take ritual caster cleric as well so it doesn't have to waste prepared spells on ritual spells.
Level 1 stats after racial: 8-14-16-10-16-8 and ritual caster (wizard)
Level 4: Wis to 18
Level 8: Wis to 20
Level 12: Warcaster
Level 16: Lucky
Level 19: Con to 18

There's many things I like about your build, but:
A) overall the sequencing is really weird. I suggest getting GWM and then Elven Accuracy on your hexblade, and maybe drop Sentinel (which you want on the Arcane Trickster!) for Warcaster or resilient con. Playing one and having just made a Sorcadin for a friend, I might suggest the Sorcadin instead. They're that good. All of Devotion, Vengeance and Ancient are solid and so is 2/18.
B) Warcaster on Arcane Trickster before Elven Accuracy!! Maybe also Sentinel. Maybe also a dip in either Diviner or Bladesinger.
C) Cleric needs Warcaster or Resilient: Con earlier
D) the fighter combos nicely with the Hexblade. Besides that, I think Wolf Totem next to a Sorcadin (esp if he got aura) and Arcane Trickster is solid gold. The four of them become a proper murder cloud if wolf and Pala go PAM and you flip the tanking roles, so AT and Arcana are the tanks. In this case, AT might consider going Iron Scoundrel.

[sithlordnergal]

I challenge you to create the best 4-man team.

These are the (extremely arbitrary) requirements:
- sources: PHB, XGE and SCAG
- playable from level 1 through 20
- not dependent on magic items access
- "combos" are good but each character must be able to stand on its own
- races/classes/feats can only be used once (e.g. only 1 variant Human)
- multi-classing is fine (but limited to 2 classes/PC)
- every role covered: tanking / damage (melee, ranged & area) / healing / control / utility / scouting / social (any others?)
- at least one member has high bonus (prof.& 16+stat) on each skill, except the "useless" ones (animal handling & performance, mostly)
- Wizard-like ritual casting
- thieves tools proficiency (yes, I know)

Bonus points if all characters are eclectic/fun to play and not one-trick-ponies.
I'm really curious to see what you guys come up with!


I'll be using the customized Background rules for this, which allow me to choose any two skills and either two tools, two languages, or a tool and a language for my background. I should also preface this with the fact that I have played all of these builds in one way or another, and I can assure you they have all been a blast to play from level 1 and onward. I based these builds off of things I made for AL, which when I make an AL character I do my best to make sure they can be both fun and able to fit as many roles as possible since you never know what your party composition will be in AL.

----Oath of the Ancients Paladin/Divine Soul Sorcerer----

Race: Half Elf


Str: 16

Dex: 8

Con: 14

Int: 10

Wis: 12

Cha: 16



- Athletics

- Medicine

- Intimidation

- Persuasion

- Performance

- Deception


Warcaster


Levels 1-8 are straight Paladin. Take the Defense fighting Style for higher AC, and use a Sword and Shield

Levels 9 through 20 are Divine Soul Sorcerer. Make sure to grab spells like Firebolt, Chill Touch, Booming Blade, Healing Word, Haste, Fireball, Shield, Mirror Image, and Spiritual Guardians. For Metamagic grab Quicken Spell, Twinned Spell, and Heightened Spell.

Put Charisma to 18 as your first ASI, then snag War Caster. Use the remaining ASI's to max out Strength and Charisma.



Primary Roles: Tank, Melee Damage, Control, Social

Secondary Roles: Healer, Buffer, Utility(depending on chosen spells), Area Damage


Here we have your standard Ancients Soradin. Having Divine Soul Sorcerer will allow you to up your Control spells, especially once you have access to Spirit Guardians, Fireball, and Plant Growth. Ancients Paladins are fun and strong enough as it is, and you'll be shoring up most of their weaknesses with Divine Soul. You can act as the party tank, buffer, healer, and main frontline DPS, while also being the guy who can NOVA a boss into nothingness. You even have ranged options, so you'll almost never be out of the fight

As someone who has played a similar build all the way to 20, though I had to use Wild Magic Sorcerer since Xanathar's hadn't been written yet, if you enjoy being a Paladin you will enjoy this build from start to finish. Honestly, it only starts dropping off above level 16, which is the point when AC no longer matters. But even then I found my role tended to switch from melee to caster, while also occasionally getting in the thick of things and ending battles. Though that could also have just been my playstyle changing, as I don't want to over shadow anyone...
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----Circle of the Shepard Druid/Grave Cleric----

Race: Hill Dwarf


Str: 8

Dex: 14

Con: 16

Int: 10

Wis: 16

Cha: 10



- Perception

- Survival

- Insight

- Stealth


Healer, Mobile


Level 1-2: Druid, grab Thorn Whip and Primal Savagery. This will be your primary damage dealing cantrips

Level 3: A single level of Grave Cleric, take Guidance, Toll of the Dead, and Sacred Flame. For your spells, always have Guiding Bolt on hand.

Levels 4 - 20: Finish off with Shepard Druid, grab Mold Earth and Produce Flame for your final two cantrips. Max out your Wisdom, grab Mobile and Healer, then toss the final ASI into Con.



Primary Roles: Healing, Utility, Control, Scouting, Damage (Melee/Area?), Buffing

Secondary Role: Tanking


So, this build is sort of a Jack of All Trades, and another fun one I have played. It can provide massive healing, sometimes equal to and better then the Life Cleric, it has a crapload of Utility and Scouting potential, you'll have access to some excellent buffs and debuffs, you are the King of Battlefield control, and your damage is top notch, though not in a way you'd expect.

Your main damage is going to come from spells like Guiding Bolt, Ice Knife, and Moon Beam for a little while. However, once you get 3rd level Druid spells, that will change. Unsurprisingly for a Shepard Druid, a lot of your damage will come from Conjure Animals. I doubt I need to go over just how strong this spell is, but needless to say the fact it is buffed by the Shepard Druid's skills makes it insane. Not to mention you get spells like Polymorph, one of the best buff/debuff spells in the game, Plant Growth, Spike Growth, Entangle, Faerie Fire, Bane, Command, Bless...the list of Control/Utility/Buff spells just goes on. And to top it off, you have Wild Shape for scouting.

But that's not the really interesting part, ohhhh no. The fun part comes in with the Grave Cleric's Circle of Mortality mixed with the Shepard Druid's Unicorn Spirit. You will be the undisputed king of bringing people back into the fight with those two things. The Life Cleric? Bah, who needs it. You can heal a K.O.ed ally up to 28 HP with a single level one Healing Word at level 20, and heal every ally within your 30ft aura by 19, including yourself.

But wait, there's even more!! Along with insane summoning powers and incredible healing abilities, you gain the ability to cast Spare the Dying as a bonus action at 30ft, the ability to sense Undead in the area a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier, and your Spirit can do things like give Temp HP, advantage on Perception checks while standing in the aura, or advantage on perception checks when trying to percieve something in the aura. And that last one is key for scouting. You can send your aura into a room, giving you and your allies advantage on perception checks on anything within that room...without having the be in the aura itself.
---------


----Hexblade Warlock/Lore Bard----

Race: Human Variant


Str: 8

Dex: 16

Con: 12

Int: 10

Wis: 12

Cha: 16



- Acrobatics

- Deception

- Persuasion

- Slight of Hand

- Stealth

- Insight

- Arcana

- History

- Nature

-Thieve's Tools



Inspiring Leader, Medium Armor Master



Level 1: Bard, I'd take Vicious Mockery and Minor Illusion

Level 2-3: Warlock, take Hexblade. For spells snag Shield, Hex, Eldritch Blast, and Booming Blade. For Invocations grab Agonizing Blast and a useful utility Invocation, probably the one that gives you Darkvision

Levels 4 through 20: Pure Lore Bard.

Get an 18 in Charisma first and foremost, then grab Medium Armor Master. This will make it so you no longer have disadvantage on Stealth Rolls in medium armor, and makes you as tanky as a character in Heavy Armor. After that max out Charisma and toss your final ASI into Con for more HP.

As for spells, you'll want Counterspell as soon as you reach Lore Bard 6, and snag Revivify while you're at it. Make sure you eventually take Circle of Power as it is one of the best defensive buffs in the game. Finally, put Expertise into Persuasion, Stealth, and Acrobatics. Also, make sure you eventually grab Message and Mending. They're both great utility cantrips that you'll be happy to have.


Control, Utility, Skill Monkey, Ranged damage, social, Scout


This is probably the most "One-Trick-Pony" build out of this group. But then again, that trick is being an all around skill monkey. You're mostly going to be a standard Lore Bard, doing all your Lore Bard things like lowering damage to the party or making attacks miss with Cutting Words, giving allies Bardic Inspiration, being the one who handles most of the skills, and being in the back supporting the Druid with control spells. Once you get Counterspell, you will be the party's best Counterspeller, since Jack of all Trades will add half your proficiency to any Counterspell checks you might make.

You'll be sneaky enough to keep up with the Druid without having to worry about being seen, and once you get Circle of Power you will be the ultimate Buff God. But you aren't relegated to the back row, not at all. With Medium Armor Master, the Hexblade class, and Booming Blade you can easily join the front lines. Your HP might not be as high as the Paladin's, but your AC will be nearly identical thanks to Medium Armor Master. You will do better at ranged combat though, thanks to Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast. If you really feel the need, you can take the Eldritch Spear invocation, which I believe doubles the Range of Eldritch Blast, along with Agonizing Blast to become an excellent blaster. Though I'd only take Agonizing Blast.
---------


----Fighter/Divination Wizard----

Race: High Elf


Str: 8

Dex: 16

Con: 14

Int: 16

Wis: 10

Cha: 10



-Arcana

-History

-Religion

-Investigation



Lucky


Levels 1-5: Wizard, grab Firebolt, Ray of Frost, Minor Illusion, and Booming Blade as your High Elf cantrip

Levels 6-7: Fighter, you'll want the Defense Fighting Style for extra AC

Levels 8-20: Wizard. Make sure you snag Mind Spike at some point, as it is a useful Divination spell that deals damage, and can be used to recover spell slots.


Last but not least is the Wizard/Fighter. I know, another standard build, but this build works so well together. You'll be the smart one of the group, rounding out the Bard's lack of Int based skills with your own. You'll also be the primary Arcane Ritual Caster, and have all the roles a normal Wizard could want and have. And to top it off, you have Action Surge to allow you to cast twice in one round.
--------

[Sindri Balrog]

I'll be using the customized Background rules for this, which allow me to choose any two skills and either two tools, two languages, or a tool and a language for my background. I should also preface this with the fact that I have played all of these builds in one way or another, and I can assure you they have all been a blast to play from level 1 and onward. I based these builds off of things I made for AL, which when I make an AL character I do my best to make sure they can be both fun and able to fit as many roles as possible since you never know what your party composition will be in AL.

----Oath of the Ancients Paladin/Divine Soul Sorcerer----

****************
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This is what I was hoping to get and more, thanks!

[sithlordnergal]

This is what I was hoping to get and more, thanks!

Thanks, though thinking about it Life Cleric might be better for the Druid since it turns Healing Spirit into an insane healing spell if I am reading everything correctly

[Yakmala]

Four Warlocks with Agonizing and Repelling Blast and the Spell Sniper feat. Pick up Lance of Lethargy for 3rd invocation at level 5.

Stick to outdoor adventures with good lines of sight.

Enjoy your coordinated artillery barrages. With any luck, none of the baddies will get anywhere near you.

[Waazraath]

This is what I was hoping to get and more, thanks!

Patience, patience... you're asking quite a lot, 4 optimized builds with synergy between them and a whole list of requirements ;-)

[Timur18]

Personally, I’d go with...

HalfOrc Wolf Totem Barbarian

Human Champion Fighter

Dwarf Life Cleric

Half Elf Bard

The barbarian, fighter, and cleric can mow enemies down and bard can mop up with a bow. Various feats would allow bard to be more of a spellcaster.

I’m a huge fan of building a melee line around a wolf totem barbarian and going ham with the advantage provided. The cleric and bard would have ranged options if the need arises for it.

[ChiefBigFeather]

Well, I don't think really finding the "best" will be pretty hard, as there are several variables in play-style that can change what is most effective. The rest ratios also make a big difference.

I would probably go for a stealth team, as suprised is a very nasty condition. This probably means decent dex too, so the team can often gain two rounds before any opponent acts, which trivializes most encounters. If there is also lots of good control in the group, tanking and healing can be neglected to some degree.

For control and ritual caster I would definitely slot a god wizard. Either a svirfniblin abjurer or winged tiefling flying war wizard. Abjurer is doubly desirable as he can circumvent concentration checks, so we do not need to burn Resilience (Con) or Warcaster here.

For tanking/healing I would probably go for a moon druid. He is stealthy and tanky until the spellcasting power of the team make tanking mostly obsolete. He should take Resilience (Con).

Next I would probably go for a dragon sorcerer x/hexblade 1 striker. This is where I'd allocate variant human, as this build requires warcaster. He is good at dealing area and burst damage.

Lastly I would go for an Aarakocra Archer, probably Eldritch Knight. Depending on the campaign a Doomstalker archer can be very devastating too, as he essentially has permanent improved invisibility in the right environment.

Honorable mentions: The Arcane Trickster with SCAG cantrips is another superb striker. With the right spells he can be quite resilient too.
The Bear Totem Barbarian is a wonderful lone melee character. He can take a lot of punishment, has great initiative and can dish out lots of damage.

[Waazraath]

Nice, an optimization challenge!

The tl;dr version of my party is:

Lightfoot halfling, Ancients Paladin 20 (bountiful luck)
Variant Human, Glamour Bard 5, Hexblade Warlock 3, Bard + 12 (inspiring leader, Shield Bash, Alert)
High Elf Tempest Cleric 20 (resilience: con)
Half Elf, Fighter 11 Shadow Sorcerer 9 dex based, Elven accuracy, War caster

We have a very survivable, high damage, stealthy party. All roles described are fulfilled, as well as all skill requirements (though ‘athletics’ is brought to the appropriate number by having the bard take expertise in it). The party can stealth, talk or fight through encounters. The Pally gives very strong defensive buffs, the party has loads of extra hp and temporary hp, and between the pally going nova, the tempest cleric maximizing AoE spells and the Fighter / Sorcerer using Shadow Blade, there is a lot of damage to be done.

Now the longer version!

Let’s start with some problems your list of requirements has for me.
To start, I miss some things that are important for me in team optimization. These are:
o An obligatory paladin (+5 saves just too good)
o One or more sources of temporary HP or extra HP (aid / heroes feast)
o The option to solve encounters trough fight, talk and stealth. The latter requires all characters to be at least somewhat proficient and have a decent dex.

Further, I don’t think all skills are needed for a good team, nor do I think ‘wizard like ritual casting’ is really necessary. So these complicate things, but hey, that’s part of the challenge so I won’t complain :)

More in depth, the party:
Lightfoot halfling, Ancients Paladin 20. The mandatory paladin. Dex based, rapier & shield wielding. Party buffer, healer, melee (nova) damage dealer. With defense fighting style and shield it is quite tanky, can lock down enemies with ensnaring strike and nature’s wrath channel divinity.

ASI’s: max out cha, dex, Bountiful luck from Xanathar’s for more crazy good bufffness.
Skills: Acrobatics, stealth, persuasion, intimidation,

Variant Human, Glamour Bard 5, Hexblade Warlock 3, Bard + 12. To complement the paladin, we need a character that has wizard rituals (through 'tome' ), does ranged damage (eldrith blast), provide (addition) control with spells like Hold person, Animate objects, Stinking cloud, or by beating down enemies with a shield bash. It can buff stealth with Bardic inspiration, Enhance ability, later also with Pass without trace as a magical secret, if needed. Warlock further provides strong defences (med armor, shield, shield spell). Can also learn Counter spell.

ASI’s: inspiring leader (vhuman), max cha, shield bash, alert
Skills: arcana, investigation, athletics, sleight of hand, stealth, deception

High Elf Tempest Cleric 20 dex based. Buffer, secondary melee fighter, quite tanky, healer, area damage dealer, some control, and ranged damage (through spells).

ASI’s: max out wis, raise dex, resilience (con)
Skills: insight, perception (elf), survival, stealth, medicine

Half Elf, Fighter 11 Shadow Sorcerer 9; complements the party with brutal melee power, tankyness, and options for stealth and utility. It has 3 attacks, a quickend SCAG cantrip as bonus action, and can action surge, all with a shadow blade. Has advantage (in dim light or with a prone opponent) turned to triple advantage due to Elven accuracy. Ignore charisma (13 is high enough), just use spells that don’t require a save.

ASI’s: max dex, Elven accuracy, War caster, ?
Skills: history, stealth, nature, religion, ?, ?

Group synergy:
- All partymembers get extra hp and temporary hp, while all of them have high AC’s as well. All of them have dex, light armor, shield, some defensive fighting style, or the shield spell.
- They can stick close, within the 10 ft paladin aura, giving a great buff on saves and against spells. When separated in combat, the Mantle of inspiration power can bring the party easily together again.
- Being close could be dangerous against Area’s of Effect, but 1) all have high dex scores 2) there is the bonus on saving throws 3) spell damage is halved anyway due to Ancients aura. So it’s not a big deal, especially with all the extra hp going around. Also with also Shield Master and Absorb elements in the party.
- Even without a high strength, our Glamour bard is quite likely to bash somebody prone with her shield after shooting a few Eldritch Blast rays, having expertise on athletics. Attacking a prone opponent is very nice for the rest of the party, which are competent melee fighters (at least). The Glamour Bard often goes first, due to alert + Jack of All trades.
- All partymembers have high dex, together with spells and bardic inspiration, “sneaking” becomes a viable party strategy, instead of something that is just for the scout. It also enables lethal first strikes (the entire party going first in combat can take care of a part of a threat before it can respond).

A lot of this party hasn't been filled in yet; specific spells, most magical secrets, an invocation, metamagics (except quicken).... so the party can be adapted a bit, to what a specific campaign asks.

[Guy Lombard-O]

Personally, I’d go with...

HalfOrc Wolf Totem Barbarian

Human Champion Fighter

Dwarf Life Cleric

Half Elf Bard

The barbarian, fighter, and cleric can mow enemies down and bard can mop up with a bow. Various feats would allow bard to be more of a spellcaster.

I’m a huge fan of building a melee line around a wolf totem barbarian and going ham with the advantage provided. The cleric and bard would have ranged options if the need arises for it.

I agree with the wolf totem advantage barb, but maybe instead of fighter a half-elf hexblade/paladin with elven advantage?

Also agree with cleric and bard

[ChiefBigFeather]

Let’s start with some problems your list of requirements has for me.
To start, I miss some things that are important for me in team optimization. These are:
o An obligatory paladin (+5 saves just too good)
o One or more sources of temporary HP or extra HP (aid / heroes feast)
o The option to solve encounters trough fight, talk and stealth. The latter requires all characters to be at least somewhat proficient and have a decent dex.

I like the inclusion of a dex paladin. I would generally multiclass a paladin to sorcerer after level 6 though, as that gets the paladin so much more then additional paladin levels.

I do think that early access to no save control is really important though. So I would definitely go for a wizard or a lore bard.

[Ogre Mage]

Wood Elf Moon Druid 20 (tanking, ranged, healing)
Variant Human Oath of the Ancients Paladin 20 (tanking, damage, healing)
Half-Elf Lore Bard 19 / Hexblade 1 with criminal background (utility, social, ranged)
Gnome Diviner Wizard 19 / Knowledge Domain Cleric 1 (control, healing, ranged)

[strangebloke]

Shepherd Druid provides masses of wolves to deal with any large physical threats and keeps everyone healed.
Samurai fighter destroys stuff at range, and also specs into stealth. The target for most buffs when there's a ranged enemy.
Conquest Paladin is honestly mostly there for his aura, but he can also deal with large crowds in a manner that will make the Shepherd wolves unstoppable. He's also good for the occasional ping-pong heal. He's also a dominating force in melee.
Abjuration Wizard counterspells, provides ritual magic, and focuses on buffing the fighter or Crowd Control as needed. Urchin Background so he can find and disable traps if that's relevant.


Clerics and Bards are both strong but I don't really feel like they have a strong niche. The Druid edges them both out as a support class due to having better healing and access to ludicrously overpowered summons.

[Waazraath]

I like the inclusion of a dex paladin. I would generally multiclass a paladin to sorcerer after level 6 though, as that gets the paladin so much more then additional paladin levels.

For this challange, it wasn't possible, given the 'only 1 race/feat/class' parameter; I already had a Sorcerer. But besides that, I'm not so sure they gain more. Especially an Ancients paladin, going for pally 7 is a given, the aura is just too strong. After that, +2 cha (mostly: +1 to all saves of the entire party) or Bountiful luck (ignore rolls of 1 for the party) is also stronger than sorcerer 1. After that, pally level 3 spells, which are very strong. The earliest break point I see is level 10, and even then I'm not so sure if the Sorcerer goodies (though very strong) are compensating enough for the loss of HP, healing, Greater steed, improved divine smite and the brilliant capstone, to name a few.


I do think that early access to no save control is really important though. So I would definitely go for a wizard or a lore bard.

Yeah, I think you are right that this is one of the main weaknesess of this party setup. The 'hard' ones come online only late game (Forcecage), though there are 'soft' ones like Blade barrier, Sleet storm, Major Image, and Fog Cloud. But no, no as early as possible wall of stone or wall of force.

I don't mind (think the advantages more than compensate), but the party set up could be altered by exchanging the bard/warlock for a shepard druid. It still gives temporary hp (though not as many as the Glamour Bard), and adds a bit more controll and direct damage. It would lose out on single target ranged damage though (in this party maybe compensated through the fact that everybody can use a bow decently), and on wizard rituals (would require a feat somewhere), and it would fail against the skill requirement the OP set (since there is no STR based character, and we'd loose the character with expertise) - this would require further tweaking (maybe prodigy).



Shepherd Druid provides masses of wolves to deal with any large physical threats and keeps everyone healed.
Samurai fighter destroys stuff at range, and also specs into stealth. The target for most buffs when there's a ranged enemy.
Conquest Paladin is honestly mostly there for his aura, but he can also deal with large crowds in a manner that will make the Shepherd wolves unstoppable. He's also good for the occasional ping-pong heal. He's also a dominating force in melee.
Abjuration Wizard counterspells, provides ritual magic, and focuses on buffing the fighter or Crowd Control as needed. Urchin Background so he can find and disable traps if that's relevant.


Clerics and Bards are both strong but I don't really feel like they have a strong niche. The Druid edges them both out as a support class due to having better healing and access to ludicrously overpowered summons.

Nice setup. Nitpick though: the Druid only gets the masses of wolves if the DM gives them, the exact result of Conjure spells is set by the DM, both RAW and RAI.

As for the Clerics and Bards: I agree with your assessment, but they are very good all rounders, and with party optimization, I'm not sure if you need every character to have one specific niche; covering a role with two party members who are only good at something, can imo work just as well as 1 being very good.