What does your proper party look like?

[KorvinStarmast]

After 3 sessions of the beer and pretzel players getting wiped out 1-3 turns after my character proposed retreat and then actually did retreat becoming the sole survivor 3 times in similar fashion. The beer and pretzel players actually started listening to ideas like retreating and preparing for engagement.

Your mentorship is awesome.

I am curious what you think the proper party size is and what roles should be filled.

I think 4 or 5 is about right. Often play with six, and unless the DM keeps the pace moving play can begin to bog down unless all six players have pretty solid buy in, or have among their number a player who subtly helps to keep play moving along.

Roles: Besides the obvious answer of the four archetypes offered in the Basic rules, here's what I see as needed.
With 5:

One tank and an off tank.
At least one character proficiency with thieves tools. (Example: a bard, rogue, or heck a ranger or dex fighter with the Criminal background)
Healing ability spells; mix and match classes, and abilities. There's no one way to do this, but little things like "removing the poisoned or paralyzed condition with Lesser Restoration" are important to keep the party at full effectiveness.
Somebody who can succeed on knowledge checks: (but this varies a bit by DM)
Someone with proficiency in persuasion. While Intimidation moments can be awesome cool -- we recently, the ranger and my Fighter, scared off some large predatory felines using intimidation checks -- I've seen persuasion when dealing with NPCs open up a wide variety of in-game doors and options.

With 4:
As above, but can probably live without the off tank. That calls for one of the caster capable PC's to have some decent crowd control skills to keep the tank from the problem of being swarmed.

Aside: tried to set up an all rogue/all bard party, which fizzled for a variety of reasons. I guess I'll wait for the next two adventures to come out. An all rogue or all bard party in an urban setting ought to be richly enjoyable.

[rel]

In my experience a party needs the following 'roles' for success:

Control; the ability to drop enough environmental hazards and debuffs to allow the party to safely retreat.

Utility; the ability to gather information on the opposition safely and dictate when engagements take place so the party can fight and recuperate on their own terms.

Everything else is fairly negotiable. You can have a tank but smart enemies often ignore them. You can have healer but rest healing is a valid alternative. Casters and rogues are nice but you can work around their absence.

The essentials of staying alive while adventuring are knowing what you are facing and controlling when and how you face it.

I drop quotes around the word 'role' because you don't need a character to handle a component solo. You have a party and you can (and should) spread necessary abilities among the party members.

[ZenBear]

The Five Man Band
Leader: Fighter/Paladin/Barbarian
Lancer: Rogue/Warlock/Bard
Big Guy: Barbarian/Fighter/Monk
Smart Guy: Wizard/Rogue/Bard
Heart: Cleric/Druid/Bard

Alternatively: The Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
Captain: Battlemaster Fighter
First Mate: Champion Fighter
Pilot: Rogue w/ Expertise in Vehicle: Firefly
Ambassador: Bard
Public Relations: Barbarian
Mechanic: Artificer
Medic: Rogue w/ Healer feat
Mad Genius: Warlock
Chaplain: Cleric

[Ronnocius]

I am curious what you think the proper party size is and what roles should be filled.

Combat

Tank: People hit you, but you don't die, ever.

Bruiser: When people hit you you hit them back, only much harder.

Anti-Mage: Either prevents spells, makes sure they can't concentrate on spells for long, or deletes spell casters.

Healer: You heal things, usually party members, sometimes you don't though.

Buffer/Debuffer: you make sure your best fighter is at his best, or thier best fighter is at his worst.

Nuker: You are why healer exist.

Non-Combat

The Mule: They lift things, and push things, and smash things, and carry things.

The Face: He talks, a lot, even when he shouldn't.

The Know-it-all: They know everything, or can find out.

The Scout: usually stealthy, good at finding traps, and can usually setup ambushes.

Skill Monkey: He's good at everything, because it's always nice to have a backup.

The Acrobat: some one has to climb the cliff, and tie a rope at the top, or you can fly and be a show off.

I think a party size of 5 or 6 is ideal, because often times in my games people are unable to make it so with 5 or 6 you almost always will have at least 3 players show up.

[Metamorph]

It is not relevant what your party is made of. Just look at the hobbit for example.

My Players are 3 rangers and 1 rogue. If they do not know how to pass something they have to get creative, otherwise (in my opinion) it is your job to make it possible as a dm.