ALL GUNSLINGERS
"Best" is the party that makes use of what they have. I GM'd for a campaign with a party consisting of:
- Wizard (Diviner)
- Wizard (Transmuter)
- Rogue
Their general strategy was:
- Scrye, wait for opportune moment
- Teleport in
- Rogue slays enemy
They rarely took a single point of damage, and were one of the most effective parties I've ever GM'd for in 35 years.
1. fighter
2. Cleric
3. Bard/Witch (Samsaran)
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In terms of role overlap, Paladin has to be a top choice. Melee, Diplomacy, healing, anti-undead/evil.
I would have a Wizard. We need Arcane anyway, and a Wizard has choice. He also importantly has loads of skill points so he covers knowledge, which a Sorcerer can't.
Druid. They have the outdoorsy skills the Wizard lacks. Loads of spells and animals etc.
Alternately, another survivable party is
Melee/magic Bard, Switch hitter Ranger, caster/summoner/channeller Cleric.
I found that a Fighter, Barbarian, and a Bard do quite well together.
Of course, this was a 3.5 bard with music uses per day. I haven't played a PF version yet so I cant rightfully say that it would work as well.
@ 10th Level I know my Inspire Greatness gave +4to hit and damage to all of us. just that gave me damage every turn, even when I was hiding behind the two big bruisers.
It was quite effective even against casters. I just had to make sure I had spells to remove paralysis, blindness, fatigue, exhaustion, and magic effects. Outside of that, my bard got a heal spell and a few Sonic's at each level. It was a good group that kicked ass.
Personally I would say the best 3 man party is 3 Master Summoners or 2 Master Summoners and 1 Synthesist Summoner... or 3 Synthesist Summoners (because those things are a pain and a half to kill...)
Pathfinder is based on the idea of a four+ man group, but on sometimes you wind up with only three. My question to you is this:
What combination of characters makes up the best three man party? Assume a modest level 5, if that in any way effects your judgement.
3 Druids Are surprisingly strong in a low-count party. The 3 animal companions they get will probably make up for a missing dude. They have a well-rounded set of options for casting including damage, buffs, healing, and problem solving spells. All are spellcasters so they can each take item creation feats to help the party cover painful weaknesses. They are very sturdy (especially with wild shape plus wild armor), have great saves, and can adapt their tactics well. At 4 + Int mod skill points per character, you can cover what needs to be covered just fine.
3 Bards A likely surprising team, 3 bards are quite capable of dealing with whatever comes their way. With a variety of amazing buff spells, bardic performance, arcane strike, use magic device with in-class synergies, the ability to craft their own items, and being superb skill monkies, 3 bards likely have the means of doing whatever you need to be done. Especially since their inspire courage will not be in short supply even at low levels since they can take turns on performances and feats like lingering song can allow them to push their efficiency every well. Bards wielding courageous weapons can be pretty amazing as well, since most of their buffs like heroism, greater heroism and good hope all provide morale bonuses to things like attack, damage, saves, and skill checks (which stack with Arcane Strike, Inspire Courage, and Haste).
3 Clerics Three clerics is a very effective way of brute-forcing through the game. Clerics are incredibly sturdy, have great saves, are quite decent at martial combat, can cast animate dead to turn former enemies into very powerful meat-shields, can cast summon monster spells to get access to all sorts of helpful assistance and some arcane spells in the process, and can answer most any status ailment ever.
3 Summoners This party is just silly. It basically has every good skill in the game as a class skill, cheap +8 racials on a skill of their choice for the eidolon, great buffing / CC, the summoners are sturdy and capable of fighting themselves, and they have access to the strongest spells in the game. Toss the Extra Traits feat on an eidolon and pick up Trap Finder and Seeker and not even magical traps are going to slow you down since with Perception and Disable Device as class skills, a +8 racial to each, +1 trait bonus on both, and then +2 from masterwork tools means that your eidolon begins the game with a +14 Disable Device and +13 Perception modifier, raising it to +16 and +15 after the masterwork tools. Eat your heart out rogue.
Since they have access to planar binding and simulacrum in-house, they don't have to worry much about getting their inherent modifiers to ability scores, which also applies to their eidolons. Likewise, thanks to summoning and planar binding spells, it's very easy for a summoner to get in-house access to things like healing and restoration magics.
1 Ranger, 1 Bard, 1 Druid (or Summoner) This party has skills, healing, a splash of arcane goodness, plenty of martial power (Ranger + Bard + Druid + 2 Animal Companions). Druid could be replaced by a summoner and eidolon, and the party will eventually be stronger for it as they get access to planar binding or simulacrum "in house" which can net them their inherent modifiers without seeking NPCs or tomes.
How about: Urban Ranger, Longspear Reach/Flagbearer Bard with Banner of Ancient Kings, Early entry Mystic Theurge (Wizard 3/Cleric 1/MT 10/Wizard X).
The Urban Ranger with Boon Companion covers most of the Hammer aspect, as well as Scouting, Trap disarming and possibly a few other skills for good measure.
The Reach Bard is another melee combatant who adds significant buffs to themself, the Ranger, Animal Companion and any Summoned critters. Static bonuses of +5 (or more) to hit and damage are nothing to sniff at. Also covering the party's Face role. Here we have both Arm and Hammer, with a side of charismatic effervescence.
Early entry Mystic Theurge is something I've given quite a bit of thought to but not seen in action yet. In exchange for one level of wizard (and minor stat reallocation) this character gets up to level 6 cleric spells. As long as the focus is on battlefield control, summoning and buffing the loss of caster level and slightly lower spell DCs compared to a regular wizard shouldn't be a huge issue. With a high Int and access to a wide variety of skills this PC fills any out-of-combat gap left by the other two, possibly with a side of crafting. This is the Anvil, doubling as an Arm for higher level spells, pulling triple duty as condition removal.