Recommendations for a party of X.

[Tegu8788]

We get a couple people every now and again ask what classes are good for a solo, two, or three person game. So I figured it would be a wise idea to go ahead, and preemptively put some ideas out there about what we'd recommend in the future. To that end, I think it would also useful to figure out what goals need to be met in order to have a balanced party. Not optimized, but well rounded, and balanced.

My thoughts for things a party needs:

• Str skills
• Dex skills
• Int skills
• Wis skills
• Cha skills
  
• Healing in combat
• Good damage
• At least one multi-attack
• 2:1 melee/ranged ratio
• One with strong defenses

[Dimers]

We get a couple people every now and again ask what classes are good for a solo, two, or three person game. So I figured it would be a wise idea to go ahead, and preemptively put some ideas out there about what we'd recommend in the future. To that end, I think it would also useful to figure out what goals need to be met in order to have a balanced party. Not optimized, but well rounded, and balanced.

My thoughts for things a party needs:

• Str skills
• Dex skills
• Int skills
• Wis skills
• Cha skills
  
• Healing in combat
• Good damage
• At least one multi-attack
• 1:2 melee/ranged ratio
• One with strong defenses

Er, you mean 2 melee to 1 ranged, right?

For skills, I'd say "Cover as many bases as you can from among (A) social skills, (B) Athletics, (C) knowledges, (D) Perception and (E) Thievery. Stealth is optional but is not likely to serve well unless everyone in the party has good Stealth." Most knowledges are Int but Nature is Wis. Likewise, most social skills are Cha but Insight is Wis. (In skill challenges, Insight is as useful as any other -- sometimes moreso.) And since Wis is also the central score for Perception, at least one wise character is a strong choice for a small party.

In a solo game, why are you using 4e? the character should have some striking and some minor-action healing, which is restrictive. Full paladin can lay on hands but probably won't make a good striker. Any dwarf, or a 2nd-level ranger or wizard, could use second wind as a minor action -- not ideal but it helps, and all three options can be built as good strikers. Ardent, runepriest, warlord and cleric can all do decent damage if built right.

Another contender for a "solo" game is petmaster, though that's even more restrictive. A warlord|beastmaster or warlord|sentinel with Fey Beast Tamer theme can have a solid MBA to employ, extra tactical options in any given round, and far more total hit points than another character of the same level. MC to an arcane class for Arcane Familiar to get a disposable scout, and make it a dwarf to heal yourself and both main pets with a single minor action.

Either way, don't bother thinking about skills for a solo game. Avoid more than 2 social skills, but otherwise just take whatever the class can give that's appropriate for the character.

For a 2-person party, I'd recommend striker+leader or defender+leader. For three, almost any combination is good -- there's a lot more flexibility in who can take damage during a combat, so a leader isn't as vital. How the individual builds synergize becomes more important.

[Geoff]

The conventional wisdom I've heard is that for a 3 player party, you drop the Controller, for a 2-player party you emphasize strong secondary roles (like a fighter being a secondary striker or a paladin being a secondary leader) to avoid completely losing any of the 3 critical roles. Then - and this is the weird part - for a solo game, you do a 180 and go back to the Controller.

By the time you're down to 1 PC, the DM almost can't design an encounter without minions, which controllers blow away. If he doesn't go for minions, the encounter is probably way under-leveled, so the controller's lower damage isn't an impediment. The controller doesn't have to worry about catching allies in his AEs or having them close with enemies he's immobilized or any of that sort of thing, so he's at peak efficiency. Controllers also tend to have lots of 'get out of dodge' and 'stay the heck away' powers, which are suddenly much more practical when there's no one else to worry about.

Striker is the other obvious choice for a solo game. Like the controller, he can have lots of 'I get away' powers. He can make full use of stealth and mobility, and he can dish the damage. The only problem is you have to hope to fight mostly duels - you can totally handle even a same-level or level+ standard, but groups, even of lower level monsters or minions are a problem.

Leaders and Defenders don't work so well solo because at least some of their powers and features only matter when they have allies present.

I suppose a controller optimized for some single-target damage (some wizard builds can do high DPR), or a striker with AEs (like the Sorcerer) could be considered ideal.

[Inevitability]

The conventional wisdom I've heard is that for a 3 player party, you drop the Controller, for a 2-player party you emphasize strong secondary roles (like a fighter being a secondary striker or a paladin being a secondary leader) to avoid completely losing any of the 3 critical roles. Then - and this is the weird part - for a solo game, you do a 180 and go back to the Controller.

By the time you're down to 1 PC, the DM almost can't design an encounter without minions, which controllers blow away. If he doesn't go for minions, the encounter is probably way under-leveled, so the controller's lower damage isn't an impediment. The controller doesn't have to worry about catching allies in his AEs or having them close with enemies he's immobilized or any of that sort of thing, so he's at peak efficiency. Controllers also tend to have lots of 'get out of dodge' and 'stay the heck away' powers, which are suddenly much more practical when there's no one else to worry about.

Striker is the other obvious choice for a solo game. Like the controller, he can have lots of 'I get away' powers. He can make full use of stealth and mobility, and he can dish the damage. The only problem is you have to hope to fight mostly duels - you can totally handle even a same-level or level+ standard, but groups, even of lower level monsters or minions are a problem.

Leaders and Defenders don't work so well solo because at least some of their powers and features only matter when they have allies present.

I suppose a controller optimized for some single-target damage (some wizard builds can do high DPR), or a striker with AEs (like the Sorcerer) could be considered ideal.

For a solo game, I'd go with Monk instead of sorcerer. You are still good at both AoE's and single-target damage, but where the sorcerer gets stuck between three minions and'll have to see how he's being beaten to death, you just punch them all into oblivion.

[Nightgaun7]

You are still good at both AoE's and single-target damage

Not so much. IME monks really struggle to put out enough DPR unless using one specific trick.

[Inevitability]

Not so much. IME monks really struggle to put out enough DPR unless using one specific trick.

They'll still be able to get enough DPR in order to put down 1 or 2 level-appropriate enemies without suffering too many hits. That's enough.