My take on it -- there are five critical functions in a party:
1) Combat Hog -- dish out lots of damage on the front line; since he/she *is* on the front line, needs to be able to absorb lots of damage (lots of hp) or avoid the damage (high AC). Barbarian, fighter, ranger, paladin.
2) Offensive spells -- no substitute for the awesome might of a fireball :) Wizard or sorceror.
3) Deal with traps and locks. Rogue. If you can't get past the front door and the trap just after it, the group won't get much done.
4) Heal. Cleric or lots of potions.
5) Deal with undead. Cleric. Or the Run feat :)
If the players can deal with these with other classes, I encourage and applaud them, and I've seen it done -- but it can be hard to pull off.
In my book, Druids and Bards are good for roleplaying, but can't adequately fill any of the fundamental roles; in the end they are mediocre at everything they do. Finally, Monks can fill the combat role if they are tough.
My two cents.
Regards,
Jack
Good-aligned druids become considerably more useful if they invest in the Spontaneous Healer feat in Complete Divine. If the party druid has access to spontaneous cure spells, they make flavorful replacements for clerics.
If any campaign needed a balanced party, the AP is it. Every class will have plenty to do but having one of each of the iconic classes - fighter, cleric, rogue, wizard - is incredibly helpful.
If you have some of the "complete" books, the new base classes included in them make for some interesting selections. The warlock is an interesting new class that brings a different edge to the game, and the hexblade is a good arcane fighter combination. The spellthief combines the rogue and wizard classes to good effect, and the favored soul takes the standard healing cleric in a new direction.
The "Miniatures Handbook" includes the marshal, who can hold a sword and dress in heavy armor, and possesses a number of unusual abilities, and is where you can also find stats for the favored soul and warmage (a spellcasting class with some martial ability).
If you can get access to the EBERRON campaign setting book it has the artificer in it, a new class that is good at creating magic items, possesses infusions instead of spells, and can find and disable traps like a rogue.
You could also try some of the core classes created by other gaming companies. Malhavoc Press has the Arcana Unearthed setting that introduces several interesting core classes with several unique abilities (and the akashic is like no class in the PHB).
I am intrigued about why your players are bored? Are they bored with the classes, or just with having to cast healing spells, disable traps, and fight monsters? There is a heap of variety in the PHB, and with multiclassing there are lots of combinations to explore. None of my characters have ever been the same in 3.5. They should be thankful they're not playing 1st or 2nd Edition!
Now that last statement should get on some people's nerves ;)
When we ran through Shackled City we had a Rogue/Temple Raider, a Fighter/Dwarven Defender, a Favored Soul, and a Warmage. The Rogue was the only character who died more than once (and the Rogue's player is probably to blame for both; he tried some crazy stuff). No one died at all until the third adventure. Even though our party wasn't exactly an iconic party, we had all the primary roles filled. Beatstick, scout, healer, blaster. In order to more effectively deal with undead, my Favored Soul had spells like searing light and cure spells. Based on my experience, I wouldn't suggest deviating from the formula too much. We had an incredibly difficult time with some situations because we didn't have the versatility of spell-casting provided by a wizard or a cleric. But at least we had the primary benefit those classes provide.
3) Deal with traps and locks. Rogue. If you can't get past the front door and the trap just after it, the group won't get much done.
After some email passing with my group seems there's a need for a rogue (I already filled the offensive spellcaster with my battle sorcerer.) That'll mean a second character for me to play, seems most of us are playing 2 characters each. I'm figuring on rolling up a standard rogue focusing on lock-picking and trap-springing. A couple of the guys mentioned the ninja class in Complete Adventurer (a book I don't yet have) as something to run with. Is there anything out there, class- or PrC-wise, that's built as a trapspringer?
- Chris Shadowens
The party I am running through the AP has made it all the way to Lords of Oblivion without an arcane caster. The party is currently a duelist (with a few levels of rogue for trap-finding), a cleric/reaping mauler, a druid (with the Spontaneous Healing feat from Complete Divine), and a dwarven defender.
The fights are a little rougher without an arcane caster, but they plan and fight together pretty well. The only classes I would say was absolutely needed is a rogue so that the party can find traps, and someone who can heal. Beyond that, any party configuration will work.
EDIT: I fixed my spelling of "Spontaneous."
Guttermage from the Book of Roguish luck. Not sure if they get the rogues ability to search for traps higher than 20, but if not just get one level of rogue and your golden. The gutter mage mixes your typical thief with an arcane caster, kinda like the spellthief from Complete Adventurer (even getting an ability to pick pocket spells from arcane casters). One great thing about this class is the ability to see magical glyphs and traps. Definetly something to check out if your interested in making a good anti-trap/burglar type. Not a substatute for having a wizard or sorcerer in the party howerver.
I hear a lot about parties needing a cleric to handle undead. Is this seriously a problem? Half the time when my group gets together and actualy has a cleric in the party whoevers playing it forgets they can turn undead in the first place. Then when they do remember it doesn't work. Normaly I would think my group just doesn't fight that many undead, or at least less than most groups, but we're currently going through a pretty good sized pyramid thing that was nothing but undead and the occassional daemon.
Also, seems to me the need for the big buff front line fighter is a myth. At least it has been in my experience. A tacticly sound and relatively sneaky party can get through just as much as one with a lumbering meat shield. At least that's how its been in the games I've playd. Most of the time the fighter guy winds up as either a nearly useless background character, or more often, winds up as a liability due to the heavy armor, poor dex, limited skills.
Thanks for the tip on the Guttermage. I'll have to see if I can find the book to give it a peep (or just shell out the $9 for the PDF though I don't know who buys whole PDF books.) I may just build a relatively stock rogue and just dump as many points into trapspringing abilities (disable device, open lock, search, spot) as I can. Maybe some magical thieves tools? Can that be done or just masterwork?
...A tacticly sound and relatively sneaky party can get through just as much as one with a lumbering meat shield...
A great quote!
- Chris Shadowens
To answer your question, the only role that you absolutely MUST fill is the Fighter type; fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin, whatever. The Shackled City campaign is bristling with fight after fight, battle after battle. In many cases, killing or defeating the foe is your only option before you can proceed. Now, having said that, all other classes are purely optional.
"Optional?" you say. "Clerics, optional? Rogue, optional? Maveric, you poor demented fool, what have you been smokin'? Your players have been spiking your Dr. Pepper again, haven't they?" (Yes, again... long story...)
No, I really mean it... true, having a traditional party of Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, and Wizard/Sorcerer makes things much simpler, but they're really not all that necessary in the long run. I don't want to write a novel here, but let me just point out a few things. First, a few basic premises... you NEED a cleric to heal, a rogue to find and disarm traps, and a wizard to cast arcane spells and use arcane items. Not necessarily true... what you really need is healing, a way of dealing with traps, and some method of using magic to deal with unique or interesting challenges. In this manner, anyone can drink a potion, and the Church of St. Cuthbert is having a sale just for you. As soon as you can swing the 375 gp, buy a fully charged Wand of Cure Light Wounds, and any ranger or paladin, bard or druid can use it with impunity. Even a rogue or fighter can do it if they buy some ranks in Use Magic Device. So much for your healing... you'll just have to rest more often, and chop up the undead the old fashioned way.
As for rogues, I rarely see large groups use their scouting skills at all, doors and locks can be broken open if they're not picked, and after the trap does it's damage, that damage can be healed (provided it didn't kill you). As for the doors in Jzadirune, most of those can be gotten around by the automaton tunnels, and the rest can be broken down if you really want to. My own group rarely disarmed the traps anyway... once found, our barbarian pushed through as a show of his contempt for "feeble gnome magicks." Then he'd chug a potion if needed, and push on. True, having a rogue around is much easier... but even they are never guaranteed to disarm the traps safely, and they don't always try to SEarch the areas where they are hidden. So the party needs to deal with the traps on their own much of the time anyway.
As for arcane magics, I have this to say. A Fireball is just like a physical attack with a weapon... it just hits more targets at one time, but it gives them a chance to take only half damage. No one gets to save vs. Power Attacked Greatsword!! And with a party of just warriors, they'll be decked to the nines in magical armor and protective devices, so the AC's should be very high per PC. Most hordes of monsters shouldn't hit more than 20-25% of the time, if you do it right. And the big tough monsters and the bosses usually have high saving throws, so the fighters are usually the ones who have to do the job anyway, no matter whose in your party! The only thing you really need your wizard for are those interesting spells to overcome obstacles that can't be gotten around normally: Invisibility, Fly, Levitate, Knock, etc. For those, you'll just have to have a warrior party buy/use/find more magical devices... if no one has the Use Magic Device skill at reasonable rates, buy potions.
Just my 2 cents, but there it is. Everyone but the Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger type is expendable!!
The Liberators (the group I DM for) include, at the mid-point of "Flood Season":
Human Fighter 2/Cleric 3
Elf Ranger 5
Human Wizard 5
Human Druid 5
Human Rogue 3/Diviner 1 (she's missed a session)
Human Rogue 4 (he's missed a few)
The only individuals that have been sorely missed when the players can't make it in my group are the Rogues - when no Rogues are around, the bashing of doors and setting off of traps tends to be costly - not in the healing time, but in the fighting time, as BANG BANG BANG-ing on a door tends to tell everyone nearby that there are adventurers to be bloodied. Since most of the AP seems to have "if the characters make noise / if the building is on alert / etc." notes, the smash your way through style of playing seems to end up in a lot more larger-group fighting. And since they're a tad low on front-line fighters (the ranger is an archer), that gets harsh on them.
Of course, the Druid tends to just summon stuff like mad and surrounds the baddies with critters so that the Fighter/Cleric can wail on them with his spiked chain from 10' away...
To answer your question, the only role that you absolutely MUST fill is the Fighter type; fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin, whatever. The Shackled City campaign is bristling with fight after fight, battle after battle. In many cases, killing or defeating the foe is your only option before you can proceed. Now, having said that, all other classes are purely optional.
Hmmm...that's not good. I am starting "Life's Baazar" this friday with 3 players:
Elven Druid 2
Human Rogue 2
Human Rogue 1/Psion 2
I assumed they would probably get help from Ruphus, Ferio, and Fellian, which would put them in the "safe zone" of party class makeup. I didn't realize not having a fighter/barbarian/paladin would be so detrimental to the survival of the party. I did boost their respective levels and gave them a tad more starting gold than normal, assuming that it would be enough. I hope this isn't going to be a disaster in the making...