So, just for the heck of it. In your opinion, what would be "best" (for any given value) party of three PCs? Classes is the main focus but if you want to go into more detail with race and background, please go ahead. The point of this thread is come up with fun and interesting combinations and not to talk down other people's suggestions. You are welcome to motivate your answers.
Here are a couple to start off with:
A Paladin, a Rogue and a Bard. Lots of versatility including a tank (Paladin), skills (Rogue and Bard can cover pretty much all bases), ranged and close combat options and you have both divine and arcane magic.
An Artificer, a Cleric and a Sorcerer. Not as skill heavy as the first but with three very different classes you should still be able to get the important stuff. Heavy on the spellcasting and the Artificer can take care of tool proficiencies and, with the right subclass, tanking.
1) Twilight Cleric / Elequence Bard Multiclass. You have bless, guidance, twilight sanctuary, darkvision to 300ft, bardic inspirtion, high AC, excellent face skills, excellent healing options. Jack of all trades.
2) Chronurgy Wizard. The wizard is probably one of the strongest classes in the game. Chronurgy Wizard is the strongest subclass. You have all the useful versatility of a wizard but now you can use things like Chronal Shift which is even more powerful than things like Portent.
3) Vengence Paladin. You have an awesome tank, an excellent healer (lay on hands is probably only beaten by Twilight Sanctuary), and also an excellent damage dealer. Just an all round beast of a class.
Cleric, Bard, and something else. Possibly another Cleric or Bard, but just about anything could fill that in. In a smaller party you want classes that cover multiple bases whenever possible and those are easily the two most versatile classes with the broadest range of abilities.
Clerics have a lot of healing and support spells plus some that are rather potent for damage dealing and are also capable of tanking and dealing solid damage in melee (especially with a heavy armor proficient subclass). As much as a lot of people (mostly who don't and haven't played clerics) bemoan the concept of "healbots" but Life domain clerics are pretty badass; they get most of the "keep people alive" spells automatically prepared as domain spells leaving your other slots open for utility and combat spells. Even without domains granting extra combat oriented spells Clerics get some powerful ones right from first level with guiding bolt and inflict wounds then they get spiritual weapon, hold person, spirit guardians, dispel magic (for removing enemies' protective ward effects), protection from energy, banishment, flame strike, holy weapon, blade barrier, harm, fire storm, earthquake, and sunburst. I've been playing a Life cleric for the better part of a year now and she's usually the centerpiece in most of our combat encounters, fighting first and tossing potent heals when needed. If your third member is another tanky class like a Paladin or Fighter the cleric can go with a more damage oriented domain like Light, War, or Tempest. Grave and Twilight clerics are also great at keeping the party alive while maintaining utility and combat ability. Forge and War are both great for taking a licking and handing out ass kickings in physical combat and still keeping all the general spell options of the core class. Seriously, there isn't much Clerics can't do aside from stealthy stuff which can be covered by a bard or a rogue in the third position if the bard is going with a more martial oriented college like Valor or Swords. Clerics are frikkin' awesome.
Bards are the only other class that rivals Clerics for pure versatility. The only thing that their spell list is generally lacking for is straight up damage dealing combat magic and Magical Secrets can potentially fill in some gaps there (particularly if they're Lore college and get extra ones at 6th level to start chucking fireballs or lightning bolts only one level after Wizards or Sorcerers get them). Bardic Inspiration is always welcome, they have access to a any skills they want and proficiency with three of them rather than the usual two (potentially three more with Lore college), they get expertise with some of those skills, and Jack of All Trades grants at least a slightly better chance of success with non-proficient skills. They can be absurdly good in many Charisma based situations with the colleges of Eloquence and Glamour (in addition to what Bards already get with skill proficiencies and their many available enchantment spells). They can be potent melee combatants with the colleges of Valor and Swords, all while still adding utility and support with spells and other class and subclass features. Oh yeah, Bards get healing spells that can be used to free up the Cleric to kick ass, augment the Cleric's healing if the party gets whammied by a high powered fireball or other wide range damage, or even bring the Cleric back up if the enemy decides to go after the primary healer first. While they might not be able to completely carry the rest of the party in a lot of situations (though they absolutely can in social situations where they can make use of Charisma skills and enchantment magic) they can be competently effective more things than most other classes and serve as a force multiplier for the group.
For the third one you could go for a Wizard to get extra magic damage and utility, or a Rogue for extra sneaky and spike damage if the Bard goes with a more martial oriented college like valor or swords to help more with melee duty. A druid could also fill in that third slot with it's mix of utility, healing, support, some potent combat magic, and (again depending on the subclass) martial/physical combat abilities. Paladins can both be melee tanks and bruisers with some healing and support magic, Rangers are less tanky but can still do a good deal of damage and bring support magic, Fighters and Barbarians generally just beat the crap out of things but that will still take a lot of heat off of your Cleric and Bard to make with the magics and other ways they can jack up the enemy. But you definitely want the versatility of combat/support/utility that a cleric brings and the general versatility of a bard. Or you could just go with three clerics (Light, War, and Trickery domains come to mind as a good mix off the top of my head). Three bards could also work with different colleges to cover the bases.
I mean, if I don't know the first thing about the kind of campaign we're going to play versatility is useful and so is covering the major roles (some healing, some social skills, some damage, some scouting) - clerics and bards are top options, druids as well. But if I know it's going to be a dungeon crawl social skills can go on the backburner and scouting arguably becomes a bigger focus; if it's an urban intrigue campaign the social skills become paramount and the investigation part of scouting becomes more important than the perception part. And usually I do know what kind of campaign I'm getting into, and I always tell my players in general terms about what will be particularly useful to be adept at. I don't really mind this kind of question whenever it pops up again, but for me it's not a particularly useful one.
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The three who remember it's a cooperative game and actively try to support each other instead of all just doing their own thing and ignoring or arguing with each other.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The three who remember it's a cooperative game and actively try to support each other instead of all just doing their own thing and ignoring or arguing with each other.
The three who remember it's a cooperative game and actively try to support each other instead of all just doing their own thing and ignoring or arguing with each other.
Going extremely basic, without getting into subclasses, races, etc...
Fighter, Cleric, Wizard.
You want at least one martial class, and Fighter is the most versatile.
Cleric pulls double duty... clerics are obviously the primary healer class in the game, but Clerics are still solid tanks... not as much as Paladins, but the extra magic a Cleric has access to puts them on a rung above.
Finally, Wizard is your big utility caster. Would a Rogue be useful for picking locks and such? Sure, but a Wizard could just cast knock or use teleportation spells to work around those limitations. Would you rather have a Bard to take the front on social situations? Maybe, but you could always cast Enhance Ability to give whoever has the best CHA in the party enough of an edge to get through most major challenges. A wizard isn't the best at everything, but smart spell choices might not directly solve every problem you come across, but can potentially just sidestep them instead.
Best is pretty subjective and it get's super absurd if you start optimizing and multiclassing. With just going simple and no multiclassing, I'm going to go with:
Chronurgy Wizard. Probably the most OP wizard. Good at making sure spells land.
Eloquence Bard. Probably the most OP bard. Brings skills, face, healing, and basically everything ever. Also good at making sure spells land.
Rune Knight Fighter. Basically a fighter/barbarian that can impose disadvantage on saving throws. Probably not the most OP fighter or tank, but still very strong and fits with the concept.
Paladin (any) or Barbarian (any) with Great Weapon Master feat, Divination Wizard with Lucky feat for insane numbers of rerolls (most powerful class in the game by a mile), Grave Cleric.
plenty of ways to get a variety and a balance. So I’ll ask the obligatory: “what’s the generic campaign setting in mind?” Because the setting can change around all the answers for any answer.
3 compadres intent on forming their own guild, heck with the campaign, we are sandboxing now. No healing? Steal potions. No tank? Reread swashbuckler, give him a cloak of displacement and send him in. No counterspell? The wizards never saw them coming. Roleplay a game of stealth assassin. It is versatility, a good DM should be able to adjust any adventure to the party if it is 1 or 10 PC’s so I am at what is fun. Having 3 of the same class with different subclasses would be entertaining IMO.
Druids- Moon, Stars, Shepherd
Wizards- Bladesinger, Abjuration, Chronurgist
Fighters-all battle masters but 1 is sword and board tank, 1 polearm style and 1 is ranged
3 bards- swords, eloquence, lore
Naw, definitely 3 rogues and a wild imagination and a gift for problem solving. Party name “the goodfellas”
plenty of ways to get a variety and a balance. So I’ll ask the obligatory: “what’s the generic campaign setting in mind?” Because the setting can change around all the answers for any answer.
Up to you. :) As mentioned in the original post the premise was "any given value". Just a thread to see what fun combinations people can come up with.
Once. I DM’d a game with two characters: a firbolg cleric, and a fallen aasimar paladin.
They both took the knight background because of the armour, at level 2 both their armour classes were above 20
The Cleric had taken the domain of life so as to “be moar healz”, the paladin eventually took the Oath of Redemption
They managed to kill just about everything I threw at them so consider this:
- 1-2 life domain clerics (s)
- 2-1 oath of redemption paladin(s)
all of the healz, plus whatever damage they take can be reflected back onto their enemies by the paladin(s). You could probably switch one of the clerics out for a Druid or such if the theme bothers you.
Red Dragon: DIE!!!
Redemption Paladin: No you!
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So, just for the heck of it. In your opinion, what would be "best" (for any given value) party of three PCs? Classes is the main focus but if you want to go into more detail with race and background, please go ahead. The point of this thread is come up with fun and interesting combinations and not to talk down other people's suggestions. You are welcome to motivate your answers.
Here are a couple to start off with:
My choices would be:
1) Twilight Cleric / Elequence Bard Multiclass. You have bless, guidance, twilight sanctuary, darkvision to 300ft, bardic inspirtion, high AC, excellent face skills, excellent healing options. Jack of all trades.
2) Chronurgy Wizard. The wizard is probably one of the strongest classes in the game. Chronurgy Wizard is the strongest subclass. You have all the useful versatility of a wizard but now you can use things like Chronal Shift which is even more powerful than things like Portent.
3) Vengence Paladin. You have an awesome tank, an excellent healer (lay on hands is probably only beaten by Twilight Sanctuary), and also an excellent damage dealer. Just an all round beast of a class.
1) Star Druid/Life Cleric - Can be built to heal very efficiently with tons of utility.
2) Wizard. Whichever is your favorite flavor. Crowd control. Damage. Utility.
3) Vengeance Paladin/Hexblade - Bolsters saves for the group. Extra slots for smites. Face of the party for social encounters.
Cleric, Bard, and something else. Possibly another Cleric or Bard, but just about anything could fill that in. In a smaller party you want classes that cover multiple bases whenever possible and those are easily the two most versatile classes with the broadest range of abilities.
Clerics have a lot of healing and support spells plus some that are rather potent for damage dealing and are also capable of tanking and dealing solid damage in melee (especially with a heavy armor proficient subclass). As much as a lot of people (mostly who don't and haven't played clerics) bemoan the concept of "healbots" but Life domain clerics are pretty badass; they get most of the "keep people alive" spells automatically prepared as domain spells leaving your other slots open for utility and combat spells. Even without domains granting extra combat oriented spells Clerics get some powerful ones right from first level with guiding bolt and inflict wounds then they get spiritual weapon, hold person, spirit guardians, dispel magic (for removing enemies' protective ward effects), protection from energy, banishment, flame strike, holy weapon, blade barrier, harm, fire storm, earthquake, and sunburst. I've been playing a Life cleric for the better part of a year now and she's usually the centerpiece in most of our combat encounters, fighting first and tossing potent heals when needed. If your third member is another tanky class like a Paladin or Fighter the cleric can go with a more damage oriented domain like Light, War, or Tempest. Grave and Twilight clerics are also great at keeping the party alive while maintaining utility and combat ability. Forge and War are both great for taking a licking and handing out ass kickings in physical combat and still keeping all the general spell options of the core class. Seriously, there isn't much Clerics can't do aside from stealthy stuff which can be covered by a bard or a rogue in the third position if the bard is going with a more martial oriented college like Valor or Swords. Clerics are frikkin' awesome.
Bards are the only other class that rivals Clerics for pure versatility. The only thing that their spell list is generally lacking for is straight up damage dealing combat magic and Magical Secrets can potentially fill in some gaps there (particularly if they're Lore college and get extra ones at 6th level to start chucking fireballs or lightning bolts only one level after Wizards or Sorcerers get them). Bardic Inspiration is always welcome, they have access to a any skills they want and proficiency with three of them rather than the usual two (potentially three more with Lore college), they get expertise with some of those skills, and Jack of All Trades grants at least a slightly better chance of success with non-proficient skills. They can be absurdly good in many Charisma based situations with the colleges of Eloquence and Glamour (in addition to what Bards already get with skill proficiencies and their many available enchantment spells). They can be potent melee combatants with the colleges of Valor and Swords, all while still adding utility and support with spells and other class and subclass features. Oh yeah, Bards get healing spells that can be used to free up the Cleric to kick ass, augment the Cleric's healing if the party gets whammied by a high powered fireball or other wide range damage, or even bring the Cleric back up if the enemy decides to go after the primary healer first. While they might not be able to completely carry the rest of the party in a lot of situations (though they absolutely can in social situations where they can make use of Charisma skills and enchantment magic) they can be competently effective more things than most other classes and serve as a force multiplier for the group.
For the third one you could go for a Wizard to get extra magic damage and utility, or a Rogue for extra sneaky and spike damage if the Bard goes with a more martial oriented college like valor or swords to help more with melee duty. A druid could also fill in that third slot with it's mix of utility, healing, support, some potent combat magic, and (again depending on the subclass) martial/physical combat abilities. Paladins can both be melee tanks and bruisers with some healing and support magic, Rangers are less tanky but can still do a good deal of damage and bring support magic, Fighters and Barbarians generally just beat the crap out of things but that will still take a lot of heat off of your Cleric and Bard to make with the magics and other ways they can jack up the enemy. But you definitely want the versatility of combat/support/utility that a cleric brings and the general versatility of a bard. Or you could just go with three clerics (Light, War, and Trickery domains come to mind as a good mix off the top of my head). Three bards could also work with different colleges to cover the bases.
I mean, if I don't know the first thing about the kind of campaign we're going to play versatility is useful and so is covering the major roles (some healing, some social skills, some damage, some scouting) - clerics and bards are top options, druids as well. But if I know it's going to be a dungeon crawl social skills can go on the backburner and scouting arguably becomes a bigger focus; if it's an urban intrigue campaign the social skills become paramount and the investigation part of scouting becomes more important than the perception part. And usually I do know what kind of campaign I'm getting into, and I always tell my players in general terms about what will be particularly useful to be adept at. I don't really mind this kind of question whenever it pops up again, but for me it's not a particularly useful one.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
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My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
I would go with-
Barbarian: Best tank, great damage. Get a dex sub theme and pick up the dex skills to fill the sort of role a rogue would.
Cleric: for healing and supporting the Barbarian, while also dealing decent damage. Covers the wisdom skills.
Sorcerer: good way to round this party with a magical blaster type, brings the arcane spells. Covers the charisma skills.
In the classic style of: Tank/DPS/Heals
Barb, Rogue, Druid
or
Fighter, Wizard, Cleric
Vanilla? Yep. Effective? Yep. I'm a huge believer that the player makes the character work regardless of of the choices.
Moon Druid, Lore Bard and Divination Wizard.
Wis, Cha and Int.
Double Healing, utility, tankness, damage.
Totom warrior Barbarian, arcane trickster Rogue, and a battle smith artificer.
DruidVSAdventure
Check out my Homebrew Class The Evoker
Best three party members?
The three who remember it's a cooperative game and actively try to support each other instead of all just doing their own thing and ignoring or arguing with each other.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Dude, come on. Try to be realistic. ;)
Every DM knows that's not gonna happen lol.
DruidVSAdventure
Check out my Homebrew Class The Evoker
Going extremely basic, without getting into subclasses, races, etc...
Fighter, Cleric, Wizard.
You want at least one martial class, and Fighter is the most versatile.
Cleric pulls double duty... clerics are obviously the primary healer class in the game, but Clerics are still solid tanks... not as much as Paladins, but the extra magic a Cleric has access to puts them on a rung above.
Finally, Wizard is your big utility caster. Would a Rogue be useful for picking locks and such? Sure, but a Wizard could just cast knock or use teleportation spells to work around those limitations. Would you rather have a Bard to take the front on social situations? Maybe, but you could always cast Enhance Ability to give whoever has the best CHA in the party enough of an edge to get through most major challenges. A wizard isn't the best at everything, but smart spell choices might not directly solve every problem you come across, but can potentially just sidestep them instead.
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Best is pretty subjective and it get's super absurd if you start optimizing and multiclassing. With just going simple and no multiclassing, I'm going to go with:
Paladin (any) or Barbarian (any) with Great Weapon Master feat, Divination Wizard with Lucky feat for insane numbers of rerolls (most powerful class in the game by a mile), Grave Cleric.
3 druids.
3 bards.
3 warlocks.
plenty of ways to get a variety and a balance. So I’ll ask the obligatory: “what’s the generic campaign setting in mind?” Because the setting can change around all the answers for any answer.
Blank
1) arcane trickster
2) phantom rogue
3) swashbuckler
3 compadres intent on forming their own guild, heck with the campaign, we are sandboxing now. No healing? Steal potions. No tank? Reread swashbuckler, give him a cloak of displacement and send him in. No counterspell? The wizards never saw them coming. Roleplay a game of stealth assassin.
It is versatility, a good DM should be able to adjust any adventure to the party if it is 1 or 10 PC’s so I am at what is fun. Having 3 of the same class with different subclasses would be entertaining IMO.
Druids- Moon, Stars, Shepherd
Wizards- Bladesinger, Abjuration, Chronurgist
Fighters-all battle masters but 1 is sword and board tank, 1 polearm style and 1 is ranged
3 bards- swords, eloquence, lore
Naw, definitely 3 rogues and a wild imagination and a gift for problem solving. Party name “the goodfellas”
Up to you. :) As mentioned in the original post the premise was "any given value". Just a thread to see what fun combinations people can come up with.
Once. I DM’d a game with two characters: a firbolg cleric, and a fallen aasimar paladin.
They both took the knight background because of the armour, at level 2 both their armour classes were above 20
The Cleric had taken the domain of life so as to “be moar healz”, the paladin eventually took the Oath of Redemption
They managed to kill just about everything I threw at them so consider this:
- 1-2 life domain clerics (s)
- 2-1 oath of redemption paladin(s)
all of the healz, plus whatever damage they take can be reflected back onto their enemies by the paladin(s). You could probably switch one of the clerics out for a Druid or such if the theme bothers you.
Red Dragon: DIE!!!
Redemption Paladin: No you!