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I don't think that there is a perfect formula, but a you need to at least emulate the 4 most basic classes (fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue).
The group I am DMing is currently composed of a ranger, a cleric, a rogue, a wilder and a wizard. The wizard is actually an NPC that I introduced when it became clear that the group was hurting for the lack of one.
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The power-gamer in me came up with the following:
4 character party (prestige class):
- Dwarven Fighter (Wormhunter)
- Human Rogue (Wormhunter)
- Human Cleric of Pelor (Radiant Servant of Pelor)
- Grey Elf Wizard (Loremaster)
5 characters:
- Human Paladin (Wormhunter)
- Human Ranger (Wormhunter)
- Elven Rogue (Wormhunter)
- Human Cleric of Pelor (Radiant Servant of Pelor)
- Grey Elf Wizard (Loremaster)
6 characters:
- Human Paladin (Wormhunter)
- Human Ranger (Wormhunter)
- Elven Rogue (Wormhunter)
- Human Cleric of Pelor (Radiant Servant of Pelor)
- Grey Elf Conjurer
- Human Bard
If one can use the "reducing level adjustment" optional rule from Unearthed Arcana, then the Aasimar is a good race choice for clerics, paladins, and bards.
The four core classes give you the best chance, IMHO.
However, I think you can substitute the rogue for a ranger with the right favored enemy choices.
A paladin might substitute for the fighter in certain situations, but over the course of the campaign, a fighter has the edge.
I would stay away from multiclassing with only four PCs.
That said, I think it would be interesting to go with a party of four clerics representing each of the core classes: Heironeous/fighter, Pelor/healer-cleric, Boccob (or Wee Jas)/magic user, and Olidammara (or Fharlangan)/rogue.
Such an ecumenical effort might be mustered by the major churches to combat this growing evil.
Where's the wormhunter from?
Dragon #338.
All I can say is my group tried to go it without a decent rogue and kept getting decimated by traps, particularly in Sodden Hold. If you're going to trade out the rogue, better make sure you have another way to detect/avoid/survive traps.
I would not repeat my group's solution, which is to have the only character with thief levels (a human thief/fighter), take more fighter levels so he would have the hit points to survive the traps after he failed to detect them. When I pointed out that if he had stuck with thief all along, he would have had the skill points in search to find these traps and wouldn't have taken any damage at all, he looked at me like I was certifiable. Sigh.
If you're going to trade out the rogue, better make sure you have another way to detect/avoid/survive traps.
Cohorts make great trap detectors. (Just kidding).
A Ninja has worked out good for our group.
Remember that rouges are no good with undead.
Half dragons on the other hand can breath on them.
Want another way to check for traps?
How about summoned creatures?
The rust Bag of Tricks is not worth much otherwise.
My 2 cents is:
Eye of Horus Re, or Morninglord of Lathander are good, i don't know the radiant servant but believe them to be very similar to the above anti-undead specialists. Also the Doomguide prc from faiths and pantheons.
I personally would swap out the rogue for a 2nd line fighter -ranger or paladin. With a feat like Able Learner or a PRC like Human Paragon, you can get a good search and disable device check with a little multiclassing and at the same time be much better in combat. These adventures have too many undead and other immune to sneak attack critters to make a straight up Rogue. Ranger or Bard-Rogue Multiclasses are better, specifically the Ranger with many points spent on Favored enemy (undead), and the BoED feat Nemesis (undead).
some of the PRC's from the BoED could be very usefull, Fist of Raziel is an obvious one.
I think having a bona fide cleric and a bona fide mage (sorceror or wizard) are pretty important. (PrC's that don't compromise the core abilities of these classes work OK). Otherwise, the usual guidance applies--balance. Given the nature of the adventures, I think paladin swaps OK with fighter, but my crew hasn't made it to Kings of the Rift yet--more oomph may be needed there in the combat department. Traps feature prominently in several of the adventures, but not all--I think a rogue is nice, but wands of find traps might substitute effectively if you wanted to have a ranger with undead as favored enemy for the party scout. My crew doesn't have a proper scout, but the bard/swashbuckler will come in handy in other ways.
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My characters are doing an Eberron variant, so this might not apply. In any case these are the characters that _haven't_ died yet:
Warforged Fighter/Warforged Juggernaught (Meat Shield without meat)
Changeling Rouge (To be guide and trap specialist)
Elven Bard/Master Inquisitor (Knowledge and 'leader' for group. Also has the healing spells needed)
Human Chaotic Sorcerer/Heir of Khyber (Offensive spellcaster)
You can see that we stuck pretty close to the basic construction of a party. That's because the fighter and bard were filling the needs that the other two couldn't fill.
P.S. The Chaotic Sorc/Heir of Khyber is a variant on the Heir of Syberis that specializes in being a randomly powerful, otherwise weak spellcaster created by me.
I don't know about weird classes from supplements, but my group is a cleric, a ranger (favored enemy: undead), a wizard and a rogue, with a fighter cohort. And it's gone very well, I think. There have been sticking points up until the rogue joined recently, and everyone has had some really close calls.
A cleric is rather essential. Turn undead can be very helpful, more spells than a druid, better armor class than a druid, and Three Faces of Evil does a good job of setting up the party with Cure Light Wounds wands early on. And until Library of Last Resort, there aren't too many wilderness encounters for a druid to shine in.
I hate bards. But there are situations where a diplomat may come in handy. In fact, an entire adventure requires a diplomatic character, be they a cleric, paladin, sorcerer, bard or rogue.
Sorcerers have something of an edge over Wizards, simply due to the as-written lack of Wizard spellbooks as treasure or reward.
A dual-wielding fighter/ranger/barbarian/paladin would have something special to look forward to at the end of A Gathering of Winds.
Also, rogues are very helpful but they are a somewhat difficult class to play, since sneak attack is only really rewarding if that delicate d6 hit die character gets within 30 ft. of a flanked enemy. With the right wands, spells and scrolls, they can be replaced, but it may end up being expensive.
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Also, rogues are very helpful but they are a somewhat difficult class to play, since sneak attack is only really rewarding if that delicate d6 hit die character gets within 30 ft. of a flanked enemy. With the right wands, spells and scrolls, they can be replaced, but it may end up being expensive.
The only way to get sneak attack at range is if the rogue's opponent is denied its dexterity bonus. Flanking only works for melee.
As far as wands and scrolls are concerned, they are used at their lowest caster levels, which makes most spells less than useful. Certain spells such as Cure Light Wounds, Lesser Vigor, Knock, Remove Paralysis, and Detect Secret Doors work great as wands or scrolls. Others, like fireballs doing 3d6 damage or charm person with a save of 11, aren't so good.
My game is also set in Eberron with a few house rules, so not everything will apply.
The party consists of an admantiumn bodied warforged fighter, a kobold shinobi (house variant ninja), a human battle dancer (from the Dragon Compendium), a half-elf archavist (Heroes of Horror)/Savant (Dragon Compendium), and a human marshal (minatures handbook).
In many ways, the marshal and the archavist/savant have been the most responsible for keeping the party alive. The marshal has an 18 Charisma and took modivate Charisma as his minor aura. With the maxed out ranks and the free Skill Focus (diplomacy) feat the marshal gets, at 1st level he could take 10 in Diplomacy and get 25. He has continued to keep the skill maxed out.
At 2nd level he took the Major aura that grants DR (currently it provides DR 1/-). That one point of DR has made the difference on a couple of occasions.
The Dark knowledge ability of the archivist has provided bonuses to attack rolls against almost every combat encounter. The academic lore ability of the savant comes into play here by providing a second chance on the knowledge check needed to use dark knowledge if the first roll fails.
The result of this combination has the party working as a team in combat.
My group of six (6) players consists of the following characters: a dwarven ranger, a dwarven fighter/rogue, a dwarven cleric, a dwarven fighter/wizard, an sun elf warmage and my character, a human favored soul. We are using the Forgotten Realms setting, we are currently around 5th level and we have just completed the Dire Stone mine portion. An interesting party dynamic is shapeing up in that the dwarven cleric character apparently thinks that my favored soul of Waukeen is luring the dwarven faithful away from proper veneration of the dwarven pantheon. Now can I help it if the favored soul has have more cure spells available than the dwarven cleric?
The Age of Worms game I'm running is set in Greyhawk. The four player party currently consists of a human fighter from Diamond Lake, a human rogue/fighter from Diamond Lake, a human cleric of St. Cuthbert from the free city of Greyhawk, and an elan kineticist from parts unrevealed. So aside from the multi-classed rogue and a psion instead of a wizard it is a standard party.
The human fighter and human cleric are original members. A human warmage from the college of Tarth Moorda in the Duchy of Urnst and a human fighter from Diamond Lake did not survive the encounter in the Whispering Cairn with the mad slasher and the acid beetle swarm.
The current party has done a good job of surviving, though they almost lost the fight with Filge and his undead minions. They used trickery and diplomacy to bypass a fight with Kullen and his gang while still getting the information on Filge they needed. All in all, I've been impressed with how they've responded since the HPK (half-party kill) in the Cairn. The party handled the wind warriors in impressive fashion.
The players all chose those classes and races. I did not sway or limit their decisions at all.
Perhaps more important than actual classes are the skills/abilities needed to move smoothly along the adventure path. These are rather obvious but I'll mention those that immediately come to mind -
ability to turn/rebuke or at least seriously damage undead
ability to detect/disarm traps
diplomacy and/or ability to influence others
knowledge of history/religion/planes
good dexterity (lots of climbing, balancing, etc)
spell-casting (especially area or group effect spells)
access to healing
at least one PC who is mostly a meat-shield (someone to absorb mass damage while others aid/organize)