This thread reminds me of an old Dungeon/Dragon magazine article... The main premise was comparing an adventuring party to a modern SWAT team. Unlike the adventuring party (which usually defines individuals by separate roles), on the tactical team everyone has the same role (put the opposition on the ground as efficiently as possible). It's basically the same premise as MaxWilson -- if you optimize for combat, you preserve resources by taking less damage.

Can't seem to find the article again though unfortunately.

One thing I'd throw out there is that theorycrafting optimal parties is way more difficult than optimizing individual characters. The seemingly minor choices players make (ie, spell selection, weapon selection, actions in combat, narrative actions outside of combat), end up having large cumulative swings in how encounters play out.

Quote Originally Posted by Eldariel View Post
Thus for an optimal party of 4, I generally prefer:
- Lore Bard (Cutting Words is irreplaceable)
- Diviner Wizard (Portent is irreplaceable)
- Martialish Cleric (Arcana if going late; Forge, Grave, etc. are all fine choices too)
- Shepherd Druid (or Moon if the early levels are a huge slog)
As a side note, it's interesting how similar this is to a reasonably optimized 3.5 ed. optimal(ish) party. Combat cleric, combat druid, buff/debuff wizard... the only difference is that the bard has replaced the rogue for skill monkey/utility.