Optimizing a Party

[Headfirst]

How would you go about optimizing an entire party of adventurers?

Let's assume you have four characters to work with. What races and classes do you pick? What builds do you use for each? How do you equip them?

I'm not looking for exact mathematics here, so I'm going to set the level, gold available, point buys, or anything. All Paizo material is valid.

How do you optimize a party of four characters so that they have the best chances for success on any adventure, considering both the battles and the non-combat scenarios?

[Bacon666]

1: make sure each char have a specific area of expertise, so that each player get some time in the spotlight.

2: as a gm, make sure you know what kind of chars your players created, and make sure your players know what kind of game you want to run...

[Gregory Connolly]

Teamwork feats will help. Making concepts that go together, like in the "FLAB SLAB" thread. Make sure that they always have the benchmark abilities no more than 2 levels late, such as do not get to 8th level without being able to fly. Readying actions to set up powerful effects, for example: Archer readies an action to shoot Sentry 1, triggered when Caster casts a spell on my arrow; Caster casts Silence on the arrow; Sentry 1 gets attacked at flat-food AC and gets no save against the Silence spell.

[Timebomb]

First of all: why do you need to design an entire party? usually other players design their characters.

With that out of the way: I make sure all my bases are covered: Arcane, Divine, melee, ranged, diplomacy, knowledges, potential for crafting, darkvision, different skills, and full casting (if you foresee play after lvl 10).

Ideally I'd probably go with a Zen Archer Monk, Spell Dancer Magus, Thundercaller Bard, and Dual Cursed Lunar Oracle. Races of Archon-Aasimar, Elf, Azata-Aasimar, and Angel-Aasimar. Aasimar is a really good race.

As to "how to optimize", you just make sure that each character compliments the others, making the strengths stronger and the weaknesses less weak, also make sure you have a versatile party that doesn't break when one or more characters get taken out (for instance in my party there are two characters that can use a wand of cure light wounds just in case, and everyone has a way of doing damage).

[Antariuk]

I'd say an optimized setup depends entirely on the adventure being played. Four optimized characters filling the standard roles of arcane magic, melee, skill, and divine magic will certainly be able to cover most, if not all scenarios, but if I know that Council of Thieves is up my idea of an optimized party will look very different than one for Serpent's Skull. But there a few things one might consider regardless of the setting...

- Mixed creature types. Having one, better two character not be of the humanoid type minimizes the exposure to a couple of spells. Aasimar and tieflings are probably the most famous examples here.

- Backup competences. Having a dedicated specialist for something is great, but having another character who can support the specialist or replace him temporarily is even better. Perception, Diplomacy, Survival, Knowledges, and Spellcraft are all skills you want at least on two characters, if possible. Use Magic Device can be a costly investment for some characters, but it allows everyone to use the same wands, scrolls, etc.

- From a player's point of view: surprise the GM and build characters that have unexpected traits, or just work different from the most common interent wisdom. Make a sorcerer that bluffs and sugartalks the NPC's pants off. Build a switch-hitter ranger who can hurt in melee and as an archer. Or make a cleric archer that puts any ranger to shame. There are many strong options outside the menu of classic combinations, use them to throw the GM off balance. In a nice, friendly way, of course.

[Atarlost]

Look for crazy synergies.

Mounted builds without mounts are kind of weak. They stop being weak when a druid or animal domain cleric can lend them a tiger or miniature roc or a summoner can lend them an eidolon. The ferocious mount, greater ferocious mount, and spirit speed rage powers in particular and sohei monk archetype are good for animal companions.

Certain teamwork feats can be worth making space for. Shake it Off is great if you can cluster up. Lookout is nice if you have a diviner or sohei or other +level to init and always go in surprise rounds character. Stealth synergy completely changes the game's dynamics.

You want inspire courage, the full suite of condition removal (cleric, healing patron witch, or a paladin/oracle or oracle/druid combo or maybe druid/paladin or druid/alchemist), and ways to deal with the expected complications (flight, incorporeality, magic, planar travel, etc.).

If you know planar adventures won't come up, a good party might be bard/druid/alchemist/rogue built around stealth synergy.
In campaign that's mostly open until the levels at which dungeons all have 10' corridors to accommodate CR appropriate monsters an (animal domain) evangelist/sohei/barbarian/summoner using reach tactics on the evangelist and summoner while the sohei and barbarian abuse mounted pounce and no prereq mounted skirmisher flurry from the backs of a roc and flying eidolon to do most of the actual killing.
In an evil campaign it could be a healing witch, a void wizard, a cockatrice cavalier, and an antipaladin engaged in extreme saving throw penalty stacking.
In a particularly heroic campaign it might be two paladins, a seeker oracle, and a wizard.