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Harry Potter: Nothing but wizards, no healer, no melee, no ranged for a Seven Part Campaign? How are they not dead?
It's a party of wizards. Were you not paying attention?
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Tangled: A rogue with Catch-Off Guard (actually not the worst combo), a bard, and some sort of weird wild shaped druid/ranger PC that's insanely OP. No cleric, but either the bard took Cure Light Wounds or she's just got really good Use Magic Device with that "hair" thing of hers. Either way, a pretty solid party, especially when they team up with all those fighters and barbarians.
The Secret of NIMH: A pre-Unchained rogue/occultist, an Unchained rogue who only contributes in that one combat with the tractor (I'm guessing her player got distracted after that), a fighter, and...I think he's supposed to be some sort of bard? Maybe a familiar? All-in-all, not the best party. Couldn't even keep the NPC wizard alive.
Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind: A druid/monk with some seriously good ability rolls and a fighter. It's a small party, but seriously, that druid is nuts. Too bad about that Vow of Pacifism...
The Lion King: Two paladins, a ranger, a barbarian and a pretty flat-out useless rogue. All-in-all, pretty good, though the paladins never do heal anybody. The GM definitely made the right call bringing in the latter two after the first paladin...well, you know.
Frozen: A sorcerer, a rogue, a ranger and the sorcerer's homunculus. Frankly, these guys really don't get it together until the end. The sorcerer's player doesn't seem to have any idea how her class abilities even work, and they split the party right at the start! She does pretty alright with the golem later, though. I'm still embarrassed on their behalf that nobody thought to bring a flask of acid or two. Could've resolved that troll bard encounter way faster.
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Sleeping Beauty: Three sorcerers. With the exact same buffing-centric spell selections. It's one of the most imbalanced parties we've seen yet, but they seem to do okay keeping those two NPCs alive. Any doubts I had vanished at the final bossfight—I definitely approve of their "make the NPC fight the big dragon for us" strategy. Hope they still got XP for that.
Snow White: A bunch of experts, a barbarian who seems to have some sort of power to maintain his rage constantly, and a bard who didn't take any spells. Yeah. I don't think anyone's surprised that the GM had to pull the "rocks fall, and also vultures" trick to save them from the witch endboss.
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Well the movies really have terrible adventure parties. Why on wrath They Are together at all?
Hobbit: dwarwes takes among them a hobbit to the most important campaing of their race for ages. Are They nuts?
The lord of the rings. Hobbits, elves, humans and dwarwes in the same Group... No way! They should have never been able to do any desision without a fight.
And so on. And yes, I am completely out of Sense of humor. I did take that flaw when makin this character. +1 for smartassnes for more important!
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Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!
No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
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Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
it has been many years
Well the movies really have terrible adventure parties. Why on wrath They Are together at all?
Hobbit: dwarwes takes among them a hobbit to the most important campaing of their race for ages. Are They nuts?
The lord of the rings. Hobbits, elves, humans and dwarwes in the same Group... No way! They should have never been able to do any desision without a fight.
And so on. And yes, I am completely out of Sense of humor. I did take that flaw when makin this character. +1 for smartassnes for more important!
for Lord of The Rings you have a party of 4 rogues, 2 rangers, 2 fighters(one dies near the end of the first adventure), and a gmpc wizard who dies near the end of the first dungeon but comes back later as a demigod/angel thing during the second adventure
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Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
Record of Lodoss War is basically about the author's OD&D campaign, so its not shocking that his actual D&D party (fighter, elf, dwarf, magic-user, cleric, and thief) was well-balanced.
Though there's a decent amount of character turnover, and Deedlit's player must've left the campaign close to the end (though probably leaving on amicable turns, since she got to be a plot device instead of dying).
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Avatar The Last Airbender had the weirdest party. Almost all kineticists and some sort of fighter/ranger? Since they all had different elements and the hydrokineticist picked up kinetic healing early on they actually had a well balanced party. Well, except for some reason the GM let the Aerokineticist use his 20th level capstone super early in the campaign. That turned out to be overpowered, so he took the ability away half way through the campaign and gave it back when the final boss fight started going bad.
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Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
Seen it? I own a copy. Although speaking of that world, what about about Louie the Rune Soldier and those adventurers from Ofun?
Getting a balanced party was their goal for the first few episodes. In the end they ended up with a fighter, a rogue, a cleric, and after some class confusion a magus.
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and after some class confusion a magus.
who likes to punch things
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Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
Long ago, in the dark ages, a nearby video rental got in some anime, all dub, mostly fantasy adventure stuff. They only had the first VHS volume, so that's all I saw. I do still remember the dub version of kaze no fantasia fondly though.
I consider myself unbound by the idea of a "classic" so I don't watch it, despite thinking I should, because it doesn't sound like my kind of thing.
The funny thing is... I've no idea if it's a "classic" or not.
EDIT: To be more clear, I just presupposed a number of people more than "just me" would have seen it 'round these parts. (And, as a corollary, commented.)
The series is... okay (and more faithful to the actual novels they all come from, themselves based on the gameplay, as noted by Zhangar; I've not read them, or tanslations [if they even exist]); the OVA is great, but veers into the "uh... what... where did that... come... fro- ooooooooooooohhhhhhhh." territory towards the end; the sequel movie is an entirely different continuity than both OVA and Series (as <spoilers> lives, obviously); and the sequel series (Rune Soldier) is more or less a harem-comedy-ish-thing set on the "mainland" with what is (probably) a still slightly different continuity from any of the above.
But, daggummit, there's some solid party balance!
And seriously, dudes: 90s anime! This was some of the best of it!
No one? Really? Really?
Has no one on these boards seen this OVA?!
Long ago, in the dark ages, a nearby video rental got in some anime, all dub, mostly fantasy adventure stuff. They only had the first VHS volume, so that's all I saw. I do still remember the dub version of kaze no fantasia fondly though.
it has been many years
I'm just glad it's gotten recognition. I've mentioned it several times on the forums (twice fairly recently) and every time it's gotten practically zero response. I was just genuinely surprised.
Record of Lodoss War: though life forces the party members into background or "out of action" roles sometimes, when all the PCs are together, the balance is superb. Story is solid, too!
Record of Lodoss War is basically about the author's OD&D campaign, so its not shocking that his actual D&D party (fighter, elf, dwarf, magic-user, cleric, and thief) was well-balanced.
Well, yeah. That (especially when compared to the earlier Dungeons & Dragons film noted previously) was (supposed to be) part of the joke. I was hoping to get meta-meta-joked. Alas, no one commented... :(
(... or got it, for that matter. Oops. My bad.)
Though there's a decent amount of character turnover, and Deedlit's player must've left the campaign close to the end (though probably leaving on amicable turns, since she got to be a plot device instead of dying).
Yeah, the turnover was what I was responding to before. The OVA took a sudden turn for the weird because, like most anime of its kind, it was produced along side of the manga (or, I guess, in this case it was light novels? I don't recall for sure), and it quickly outstripped its source material, so the OVA team created the ending from whole-cloth, with a mandate not to spoil the future stories for the novels, but wrap things up satisfactorily for the fans.
Hence Parn suddenly becoming super-Conan+1.
Record of Lodoss War
Seen it? I own a copy.
I used to, until I allowed one friend too many to borrow it. Oops.
Although speaking of that world, what about about Louie the Rune Soldier and those adventurers from Ofun?
Getting a balanced party was their goal for the first few episodes. In the end they ended up with a fighter, a rogue, a cleric, and after some class confusion a magus.
who likes to punch things
Heh. I've seen juuuuuuuuuuuust enough of the series for that to be funny. Alas, I've never had the opportunity to see the whole thing. I've read tons about them, though. Seen (most of?) the series. The Animated Series either just kind of peters off without finishing, is still running, had a sudden end, or I've never seen all of it, either: you guys know?
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I wouldn't call it a harem-ish series. It doesn't have the right tone or number of women being in love with Louie for that to be the case. There are maybe 3 ladies who with romantic inclinations for the him. One is established as a close friend at the beginning, the cleric takes most of the series to like/respect him and then the series leaves it as something could go in that direction, and the elf probably is, but could go either way.
Yes, yes I have watched the whole series. The ending leaves enough room for more, but doesn't leave the viewers hanging.
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Star Trek: TOS The party leader is a lawful good fighter who'd be a paladin if it weren't for the whole chastity thing. There's also a half-elf archaeologist (bard archetype) and an engineer who has to be a dwarf with a thyroid condition (has a funny accent, loves strong drink, tinkering with machines, and the occasional brawl). Finally, we have the doctor that refuses to do anything but heal. "Bones, this man is dying." "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a... Oh, right. It's my time in the spotlight."
I have totally played at a table with McCoy the Healbot: "Dude, cast Turn Undead on that guy." "I'm really specced just for healing..." LOL
I wouldn't call it a harem-ish series.
That's fair. But your description was more or less what I meant: "large number of women; one or more of whom love him (maybe)." That's what I was trying to get at with the "ish" part - "not exactly, but it has some of the trappings" - but I like your description more.
Yes, yes I have watched the whole series. The ending leaves enough room for more, but doesn't leave the viewers hanging.
Okay, through absolutely 0% your fault, I've now no idea which we're talking about: Rune Soldier or RoLW? As noted, I've definitely not seen the former all the way through. I was trying to reference the difference between RoLW series and OVA, but... Rune Soldier is also a "series" (and, technically, so is the OVA).
So, for clarity (and with apologies): you mean the Record of Lodoss War non-OVA animated series, right? Did Parn and Deedlit sort of fade out or something later on? Do you remember what the last quest arc was? I'm struggling to recall. Blech. Kids are awesome, but sometimes my memory... I miss it. :D
EDIT: boo, phone!
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I was saying I had seen all of Louie the Rune Soldier that I had seen. They say the memory is the second thing to go. I forget what the first hing is.
My understanding is the TV series (Chronicles of the Heroic Knight) follows the original novels more-closely, picking up where the OVA storyline diverges from the novels. (So after the confrontation with The Grey Witch). My guess is that in the original game they completed the Parn campaign a short while after that and then started a new campaign with Spark and Co. after that, which leads to the character focus shift in the TV series.
(ie I think the Grey Witch was the BBEG of the first campaign and Wagnard was the BBEG of the second.)
That's right! I'd forgotten all about Spark. He actually was more whiny and annoying than Parn, which was kind of a surprise. I think I kind of lost interest? But I have access to wikipedia, so...
... looks like I actually watched the whole thing, but kind of lost focus somewhere around the 17-20 range.
Yeah, I'd've suggested CG barbarian/bard myself.
EDIT: bard for the inspiring speeches, and barbarian for the fits of blinding rage/passion (it's a fluff thing).
But the original comment was pretty funny. And Bones was terrible at his job. "He's dead, Jim." - not the words you want to be constantly uttered by your healer.
Yeah, I didn't care for Spark, either. Overall, the new party wasn't as interesting as the old (and I liked the presentation of Orson and Shiris a lot more in the OVAs than in the TV series.)
Agreed. On all 'counts.
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Black Crypt: A party composed of fighter, cleric, druid, and a wizard. Three full casters in a party of four... Curb-stomping through the dungeon follows...
The GM uses tricks to make the fighter relevant, like monster that can only be harmed by a magic weapon that only the fighter is proficient with, and the need for using of four artifacts (each attuned to different party member) to defeat the BBEG. Who is, according to manual, an Evil Cleric.
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Neverending Story: Captured oracle summons an over-interested demigod, who starts bending the world around a ranger after he loses his animal companion in the worst manner. When the god manifests halfway through, he's not as useful as advertised but pals up with a shaggy flying dachshund to make up for it. The BBEGs are nihilism and a gang of teenagers.
FTFY
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Thundarr the Barbarian: Two Barbarians and a Sorcerer. They can put out decent offence, especially with Thundarr's artifact level Sunsword, but they have no healing and very little ways to deal with traps.
On an rp note, Thundarr seems to have been strongly affected by an encounter (that must have happened in his backstory) with hellhounds, as he frequently recalls them when facing danger. Also, it is interesting to see such piety from a barbarian, as Thundarr regularly calls upon his deities, the Lords of Light, for aid.
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The Dark Crystal: a bard/rogue elf trained by a shaman/bard awakened four-armed sloth journeys to meet an oracle ogre to get directions to complete his quest. Meets a bard/ranger elf and her furry animal companion. Just two with only minimal healing knowledge and no magic healing whatsoever? No wonder one of them dies! If not for the gestalts formed when the evil lizardfolk merge with the awakened four-armed sloths showing mercy and casting raise dead, the bard/rogue would have been left all alone without any other members of his race!
Cool villains though. The BBEGs have giant aberrant crustaceans, aberrant dire bats, and mindless zombies for servants in addition to having a necromancer on staff to drain life out of potential zombies and create an energy elixir to keep the BBEGs young!
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Bone Tomahawk:
1. Gunslinger with the Amateur Investigator feat
2. Rogue with ranks in Heal, Sleight of Hand and Stealth
3. Ranger with either a Horse animal companion, or the Trophy Hunter archetype, and favored enemy (orcs), because the bad guys are DEFINITELY orcs
4. Gunslinger or Fighter with Toughness and a metric butt tonne of Constitution
The healer got abducted by the orcs in the first session.
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Didn't Jim constantly break the rules? I say he's more chaotic good.Star Trek: TOS The party leader is a lawful good fighter who'd be a paladin if it weren't for the whole chastity thing. There's also a half-elf archaeologist (bard archetype) and an engineer who has to be a dwarf with a thyroid condition (has a funny accent, loves strong drink, tinkering with machines, and the occasional brawl). Finally, we have the doctor that refuses to do anything but heal. "Bones, this man is dying." "Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a... Oh, right. It's my time in the spotlight."
At the risk of going all fanboy, he didn't break the rules as much as he is given credit. It was usually with reluctance to correct a greater evil. I don't think a CG officer could rise to Captain in Starfleet, so I would argue he is NG. In any case, he is not LG. Spock, on the other hand, is so LG it hurts, at least until TWOK.
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Some webcomics.
Gunnerkrigg Court: Some sort of psychic*, her werewolf cohort, and an...alchemist? Artificer homebrew? Pathfinder really needs an artificer-style class. Oh well. Still no healer.
Unsounded: A rogue and what appears to be a mystic theurge? Sure, why not.
Girl Genius: An alchemist, an alchemist, a rogue, an alchemist, a ninja, an alchemist, a slayer, some barbarians, more alchemists—can we PLEASE get an artificer class already? Also, this party is way too big.
Actually, I think this campaign is a great example of how Leadership can get seriously out of hand.
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Well since someone brought up Castlevania I'm gonna split this off into Video Games. Some party combinations are good, some are... not so much....
Final Fantasy IV: Really well-balanced party here, except people keep leaving. An Antipaladin, a Warblade who really likes using the Jump-based maneuvers, some kind of d6 HD/cloth-wearing Cleric, a Sorcerer with a lot of Summon Monster spells (and some kind of plot-based deus ex machina to ditch the Young template halfway through the campaign), a Mystic Theurge, a Bard, a Monk, another d6/cloth healer and another Sorcerer though this one's less Summon-spammy and they have some kind of homebrew Twin Powers Activate template, an Artificer, and a Ninja who somehow got his hands on the Qinggong Monk archetype.
I'm fairly sure one or two of those latter characters are replacement PCs for others who died earlier in the campaign.
Also, the Warblade needs to take Iron Will for crying out loud, the guy keeps getting dominated.
The Antipaladin's redemption quest was pretty awesome though, have to say. Also, it's obvious the GM got their hands on Distant Worlds about 2/3 through the campaign and REALLY wanted to use it.
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Chrono Trigger: Man, this table really likes Maguses. Human Magus with katana, Boggard Magus with longsword, some kind of homebrew Warforged-specific Magus archetype, Elf Magus with scythe. Toss in a Cleric with a crossbow, an Alchemist/Gunslinger, and a Barbarian/Brawler, all Human (well, the Barbarian might be some homebrew Primitive Human or Amazon).
Also, is the villain some kind of super-charged alien Tarrasque or not?
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Final Fantasy VI: I think this GM started with a decent idea at first - low-magic world where the players get ahold of some really rare magical abilities and have to learn one spell at a time - but what it ended up turning into was "EVERYONE GESTALTS INTO PSION/WIZARD". Yes even the people like the two Magi or the Taskshaper who started out with magic or magic-like stuff.
Gotta love the villain though.
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Don't forget the second Gunslinger lycanthrope and the Ninja.
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If FF7Machinabridged is to be believed, Red is Barret's animal companion he picked up from a level up.
"...but NOT TALKING DOG BEST FRIENDLESS!!"
"We're best friends?!"
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Don't forget the second Gunslinger lycanthrope and the Ninja.That was a newcomer that joined the group and got booted after one session for PvP and a GMPC. They don't count. :P
Considering Vincent is my favorite character from FF7, I'm contractually obligated to disagree. ;)
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Considering Vincent is my favorite character from FF7, I'm contractually obligated to disagree. ;)Don't forget the second Gunslinger lycanthrope and the Ninja.That was a newcomer that joined the group and got booted after one session for PvP and a GMPC. They don't count. :P
I like Vincent, but mother****ing Cid is where the f*** that God**** sh** is at in this son of a b****.
Now where's my ****ing tea?!?
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*summons Ark*
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But to continue the trend....
Final Fantasy VIII: Zell is a Brawler. Rinoa might be a Ranger, since she has the dog and focuses on her weird crossbow. Irvine is a Gunslinger. Everyone else is a Fighter, Slayer, or Rogue. Spellcasting granted by magic items causes gestalt effects.
Final Fantasy IX: Slayer (Zidane is way too combat-competent and deals way too much direct damage to be a Rogue), Cavalier (with some kind of archetype that swaps the mount for combat maneuvers), Evoker Wizard, two Cleric/Summoner gestalts, another Jump-focused Warblade, Brawler, and... whatever the hell Quina is (Taskshaper is my go-to Blue Mage equivalent, but Quina's methods are just bizarre). With a handful of Rogues and a really badass Paladin as DMPCs.
Final Fantasy X: Fighter, Cleric/Summoner (these are stupidly common), Fighter with a really bizarre weapon, Wizard, Taskshaper, Fighter or Cavalier of some sort (or maybe a Barbarian archetype that allows Lawful alignments), Rogue.
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Just think of Wakka's ball as a +1 returning really frickin big sling bullet, and he's half giant with rock throwing.
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That could do it. If I recall he's the tallest human character in the party (slightly taller than Auron, while everyone is dwarfed by Kimahri [who in turn is small for a Ronso] he's not human).
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Seriously, though? Summoning a steampunk spelljammer transformer? FTW!
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Seriously, though? Summoning a steampunk spelljammer transformer? FTW!
Oh yes. So worth the annoyance of getting the item required to learn the spell. So worth it.
Final Fantasy X-2: Gunslinger, Fighter, Rouge, but then they get artifacts that let them change classes at will.
Yeah this is why I skipped V, everyone can change classes pretty much constantly so it's impossible to actually nail classes down. Pretty much everyone starts as a Commoner or Expert (except maybe Faris, who might be a Swashbuckler).