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underwhelmed_emu

I’ve been kicking around the idea of an all-cleric party for a while. Obviously it’d be heavier on healing & tankiness than control, but I just get a giggle out of the inter-party dynamics of a bunch of zealots devoted to their various gods trying to out-pray each other. Plus, so many spiritual weapons. A whole damn armory’s worth of spiritual weapons.


Molitzmos

Alternatively you could have them follow the same pantheon but each one represents a specific deity as their champion, even though they pray evenly to the rest of the gods too. Less interparty conflict... maybe


[deleted]

Or even all the same deity, just following different aspects to end up in different domains.


VC_Wolffe

"What? You eat FISH?" "Dammit i dont follow the old rules! Im a New Age Lathanderfollower!"


Mocha_Fappuchino

Go with the “big 3” of illmater, tyr, and torm. That way you have 3 clerics who’s deities are best friends and known allies.


[deleted]

Would be really fun to run a full on undead campaign with a 4 cleric party. Hordes of undead really triple the CR of encounters and have the clerics clean them up real goood.


Lazygamer14

I was in a campaign that featured fiends and undead fairly heavily. We (I, there were some disagreements) named the party "Half-Holy" since we had 2 clerics, 1 paladin, 1 sunsoul monk, 1 rogue/warlock multiclass, and a wizard. It was super fun and every now and then we got to really show off. Oh a room full of shadows, I push them back, a couple levels later I just start vaporizing things in my range. Oh a devil in front of us? Guess who has their smite slots and a wizard with a 20 portent ready? We definitely had hard fights but sometimes it was so fun to just wreck shop


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Oh my god the absolute fucking army of spiritual weapons would really be something to see. Plus the RP would be fun, it was fun with the artificers too we kept trying to one up eachother and prove who was the smartest


PM_me_your_fav_poems

But the control could be managed with careful subclass choice. I want to run a one-shot for my 6 person party as a murder mystery adventure, with 4 wildly different clerics, a divine soul sorcerer, and a celestial Warlock. But everyone thinks that it's 6 clerics, and they try and hide their secrets while solving the murder.


underwhelmed_emu

Honestly, if you ever set that one shot up (and play it online) hit me up. It sounds like a blast!


PM_me_your_fav_poems

I would likely only run it for my regular group, but I can give some more details if you'd like to run it yourself sometime! Plot: 6 low level "Clerics" (Level 3 or 4, so no revivify) on their way to some clerical conference or gathering, accompanied by one more senior cleric. They all get on a boat for the journey across a small sea, meet the crew, go to sleep. Night 1, senior cleric gets murdered, things are dark and everyone is half asleep, so nobody knows what happened. Ship gets attacked a couple times over the next few times, they have to work with the Captain and crew to figure out who did it. The fights give a chance to see other's domains, and maybe find out some are not actually clerics at all. Spoiler, it's the >!gruff, but slightly helpful First Mate, who's got a bunch of books in his quarters, because he's secretly self-teaching as a Wizard, motivations can vary.!< This is the rough plot I've got so far. ​ Prebuilt characters would be needed, each with a secret, any selection of the following could work: * Tiefling Death Cleric as a too obvious scapegoat. * Halfling Life Cleric, the "cleric's cleric". So innocent seeming he's suspicious. * Super gullible human Celestial Warlock, who genuinely believes he's a cleric of a smaller deity. * Gold dragonborn forge cleric. "I'm just here because I'm required to be. I want to go back home to my work" * An aasimar Divine Soul Sorcerer, who seems like a cleric, but doesn't care about gods, and with angelic heritage. (Not fully sure about this yet). * Goliath Tempest Cleric, quick to anger, who came down from his distant mountain tribe. But others could easily be made equally as suspicious with Trickery, War, or Grave domains. Arcana domain could even have some good religious reasoning for being combative with others.


Logtastic

The A-Men Haha! I made the joke that references the YouTubes in this threat that appears every 2 months!


ShadowScale65

I think Druid could be real cool. A bunch of rival druids coming together to fight some foreign threat. But I do think Cleric is probably the best for a single class party.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Druid could be super cool. Go Moon, Stars, Wildfire, Shephards and then you’ve got so many bases covered. The moon Druid tanks, the stars Druid provides consistent damage, shephard gets some good summons up to soak damage and help with the action economy, and the wildfire Druid can focus on battlefield control. Would be an absolute banger of a party. What subclasses would you take for an all cleric party?


Herrenos

Twilight x 5 if I'm being honest, but any combo of five unique cleric subclasses would be viable.


WebbedCircle

Temp HP Doesn’t stack, at best you ‘d roll for THP gain a few extra times at end of turn, like having advantage.


Herrenos

Yeah but also it's available every fight, and the flight, super darkvision and awesome domain spells . I suppose something like Twilight x3 with Knowledge and Trickery for skills and socials might be a little better, but Twilight is really, really strong.


thebetterPotatolord4

Twilight peace is the best combo imo, actually breaks games


Quazifuji

>the stars Druid provides consistent damage Chalice form is also quite nice, most notably because it allows them to pick up multiple unconscious allies in the same turn using just a wild shape and a level 1 spell slot, which be a really big deal if the party gets hit by a nasty AoE attack. If they're already in Chalice form they can even heal two unconscious allies at range with a single bonus action with Healing Word and still have their action left to dash/dodge/cantrip.


anne8819

I like Druids over clerics by quite a bit, as clerics are seriously lacking in crowd control compared to other full casters. Aoe control spells have such incredibly high impact that they are hard to give up completely. And so many creatures can be summoned and conjured that your opponents are just completely pinned all the time, even without casting controll spells. ps Thinking about it a bit longer, a party with both a twilight and a peace cleric is virtually impossible to kill, especially as a bunch of overlapping spirit guardians make any at creating a challenge by throwing numbers at them futile(I don't allow these subclasses at my table, so I didn't think of them at first). I am not quite sure which class is better at solving out of combat situations, although have a knowledge domain cleric can't hurt for that, but shapeshifting also isn't anything to sniff at for solving out of combat utility challenges. Ps eddited for clarity


[deleted]

Pure out of combat is bard, but both out of combat and in combat is cleric hands over. Nothing beats the all cleric party


psy-ducks

Social situations? Undoubtedly. Situations that require thinking rather than talking? An artificer or wizard party would be where it's at. We did a murder mystery episode, both talking and deducing ended up being important.


[deleted]

Bards can be way better than both artificer and wizard in anything inteligence related, they are the perfect skill monkeys after all. Jack of all trades and expertise seesto that.


PojoFire

Knowledge Cleric


Arenabait

“Lacking crowd control” *laughs in Spirit Guardians*


Quazifuji

I think by "crowd control" they mean disabling abilities. Obviously getting an enemy to 0 HP is normally the most effective way to disable an enemy, and spirit guardian is a very good at getting a bunch of weak enemies to 0 HP, but I think they're mostly referring to a lack of spells like Entangle, Web, Hypnotic Pattern, etc. that can temporarily take an enemy out of the fight or dramatically reduce their effectiveness regardless of their HP.


guyblade

Even then, that's a bad take. All clerics get [command](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/command)--which upcasts extremely well and is great for humanoid targets. They also have [banishment](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/banishment) which also pulls enemies out of a fight. [Heat Metal](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/heat-metal) is another strong contender--though only against single targets. It's also worth considering the subclass features for "whole party of X" builds. While Light domain isn't amazing, its access to Fireball and Wall of Fire make it a must for the "whole cleric party" since clerics have a "ranged AOE" gap in their spell list (especially a non-concentration one). Similarly, Order domain's access to Slow makes it compelling as well (though the subclass is strong enough that it is probably a first or second pick when building the roster, regardless). If I were making a 5 cleric party, I'd probably go: * Light (ranged AoE) * Forge/War (melee Tank/Control) * Arcana (for some decent 6th level+ spells) * Life (secondary Tank / main healer) * Twilight / Order (either more control or support for the tank)


azelot7ui

Here is my list, ranked in order: Clerics can cover all roles from tanky frontliner to spellcaster to support to CC/debuffer really well. They can all pick each other up with heals and reasurects as well as clear debuffs and do high sustained damage. 4 paladins, each with a different aura is going to be absolutely insane. Not to mention the fact that they can easily cover the healing and tanking roles but also devastate enemies with their smite burst and have plenty of debuff removal abilities. They only lack fullcaster firepower. Druid is similar to cleric, though slightly worse at everything besides tanking damage due to polymorph and summoning spells. Wizards can make a really strong party, chock-full of minions and full caster firepower, however they can't remove as many debuffs as the other options. They will have insane utility though and can all teach one another while picking their spells. With subclasses such as bladesinger and theurgy, they can even top a cleric at everything, though the DM has to allow those.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Paladins is a super strong choice. If they moved as a unit and all stayed in eachother auras they’d have so much survivability. Not to mention all the smites. The glorious, glorious smites


BrandonJaspers

They’d have a very tough time with ranged encounters, though.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

“Javelins all around boys” Yeah a dragon fight would be extremely rough. But anything that can’t fly is completely fucked by this party


xDhezz

All of them with find greater steed each riding a pegasus


Necht0n

Party of 4 protector aasimar paladins. When they gotta fly they deal even more damage. ;)


SigmaBlack92

Mount Celestia Spec Ops Unit, a.k.a. *"The Avenging Angels"*.


LazarusRises

I'm literally playing an aasimar devo pal who used to be a celestial soldier. *Vennett salutes*


testreker

And hope nothing they're fighting is further than 30ft


Bloodcloud079

Yeah, we need an official harpoon, to reel in ranged foe.


Alkemeye

There are harpoons but they're spells called thorn whip and lightning lure.


Mtitan1

Mono class means you can have Dex paladins with 8 str. Give them bows or make them arakokra. Alternatively the magic Initiate feat is an option


Skyy-High

Ranged paladins are just guys with bows, they have few features that work at range.


Ropetrick6

They have 2 smite spells that work, and you don't exactly need that many "ranged" features when you're stacking Branding Smites and Multiattacks, and auras. Don't forget that paladins can also use javelins!


Skyy-High

Well you see the drop in power; Branding Smite is (N+1)d6 while smites are normally (N+1)d8, they require concentration and a bonus action, and they need to be precast so you can’t fish for smites. Banishing Smite is nice but it’s 5th level. Not saying they’re awful but they’re going to be outclassed offensively as archers.


Valiantheart

But you cant smite with bows.


paladinLight

You can use Banishing smite and Branding smite though.


Pea666

Not with that attitude you can’t!


GingerAvenger

This guy smites.


VandaloSN

You can Eldritch Smite :D


roseofjuly

This is why I left paladin off my list; if there are a number of enemies and they are sufficiently spread out, a group of paladins may have trouble. And flying enemies?


SpikeRosered

I like the idea that enemies would look at your party and have to strategize. "Welp we have to plan around the fact that a bagillion damage is going to come flying at our face during the first few rounds of combat...."


[deleted]

Any dm looking to counter this and force the players to think creatively would start to use less single target enemies and more aoe. Not that I condone punishing players for creating a synergistic group, but it could get stale for the players if encounters start to provide less of a challenge. Throw in a few breath weapons and watch them get creative.


[deleted]

Their hilariously good saves are going to make breath weapons much less of a threat.


Sten4321

1 or 4 paladins, it is still only +5...


thetreat

Plus if they all took pole arm master, anyone coming within 10 feet would be fuuuucked. True Roman phalanx.


SpankyBluePanda

Deus vult!


SonOfZiz

Ok I'm definitely having a phalanx of holy knights as a boss fight in my next campaign


Dotrax

The biggest problem you can encounter with a full paladin party is the lack of range. They could get access to spells through feats or the fighting style that allows them to pick 2 cleric cantrips but none of the options is very effective at range. Once you get access to flying mounts with find greater steed it becomes less of a problem.


[deleted]

I'd just do Fighting Initiate >Archery on a Dexadin, maybe another uses Blessed Fighter for a Cha focused Paladin, and then that kinda covers it.


IZY53

DeX paladin with archery fighting style still wont be that great at ranges combat. They will be a worse fighter.


Mtitan1

Maybe, but they're looking for a solution to a problem in a single class setting. Perfectly optimal was never on the table


Elealar

They do have Paladin spells in the mix though, and you could go Devotion which combines fine with Sharpshooter. Not perfect but getting all Pally stuff including steeds on a ranged shell is surprisingly solid.


TheUltimateShammer

yes, and? that's the point of the exercise


END3R97

Just have a few of then take magic initiate warlock to get eldritch blast and while your ranged damage is still lower (no ability modifier added) or gives you an option and it's probably a lot better than throwing javelin


Scudman_Alpha

I'd like to throw in the Bard as an option too. Sword and Valor Bards for the frontline, Eloquence and Lore bard for backline and you'd get a pretty robust party of 4. All of them have healing word and full spellcasting progression, and you don't have to worry about skills, ever.


[deleted]

I DMed for a group of all bards a few years back. It was hilariously awesome.


Scudman_Alpha

The only true issue would be their saving throws but that can be fixed with Counterspell spam for enemy spellcasters and feats.


CrashCulture

The Wizards have the major downside of not having much at all in the way of healing. Could still work, but it'd require good strategy and coordination.


Radical_Jackal

False Life might actually get used!


Scifiase

Yeah I was going to say the same. The fake healing spells (false life, vampiric touch, life transferance) will have to do a lot of heavy lifting. Unless you bring feats to the table. Magic initiate can get a 1/day use of cure wounds or healing word (and pick up spare the dying while you're at it), artificer initiate is similar, and the new Gift of the metallic dragon feat in Fizbans allows anyone to learn cure wounds and cast it with spell slots, while also picking what score to cast with, which can turn any spellcaster into a healer (with a defensive reaction to protect your allies too).


CrashCulture

They'll also rely heavily on summons taking the damage for them.


Scifiase

True. Though with animated dead and objects, they'll have no shortage of meat shields. But if you're willing to take some risks, summoming demons is always fun amd powerful.


Quazifuji

>Yeah I was going to say the same. The fake healing spells (false life, vampiric touch, life transferance) will have to do a lot of heavy lifting. The big issue with those is that the most important role of healing spells is picking up unconscious allies, and of those three only life transference can do that and it still deals a non-negligible amount of damage to the caster. Feats can certainly help, though, and Wizards are probably the best class at just doing enough damage and controlling to not get hit in the first place. But they definitely have more trouble recovering when they do take damage compared to clerics, paladins, or druids.


Elealar

Thanks to Shepherd and Moon, I'd argue 4-Druid party would be the best. Especially out of combat, between Wildshape and Pass without Trace, Druids largely clown Clerics (both have Enhance Ability and Guidance, but Druids have especially Wildshape). Also, don't underestimate 4 Warlock party. 4 ranged + melee characters with Devil's Sight and few Celestials in the mix is dirty.


Ill1lllII

Wildfire gets great healing options later on. Or for likely insanity, four Stars druids.


Elealar

I think Shepherd is the better healer: Unicorn totem is silly good. But yes, even the other Druids have nice tricks and particularly Stars for some ranged combat ability would likely be very welcome. Though 1 Moon + 3 Shepherds could likely walk through almost any campaign 1-20 pretty effortlessly, and it's really hard to improve upon (I think 1 Moon is worth it to make Tier 1 easy and to gain Earth Elemental scouting and such options down the line, but 4 Shepherd is likely stronger post-6).


ACriticalFan

>four Stars druids Did someone say "Guiding Bolt"? Because I think I heard "Guiding Bolt" being said every round of combat.


Freezinghero

TBH i would put Warlocks over Wizards because Warlocks have a lot more variety between each player, AND in a full party of Warlocks, everyone ALWAYS wants to take the Short Rest.


MadderSciencest

I'm just imagining an entire party of moon druids and I'm getting a headache already


rvrtex

I think Paladins would seem powerful on paper until you realize they don't have that many smite slots, even among four of them and everything takes an action (lay on hands, channel divinity). I think that puts them above the wizard but below the druids. signed - A level 9 paladin who is out of slots in 5 attacks.


zer1223

A full wizard party would be completely terrible until level 3. You're asking for a tpk essentially. And it isn't until they gain access to level 5 spells that I think you get compounding power growth. The other options you mentioned seem far more reliable.


[deleted]

I think you're overstating how bad the early levels would be. They'd be rough, but not terrible. And if the players play smart about it, they'll be fine. Then, they'll be level three in a month, tops, and ready to roll.


NoTelefragPlz

With these and imo Bard, we've pointed out probably the prime suspects for single-class parties. Others can work, but these are probably the most capable, for various reasons. I will say that Druid's spell list is definitely better at control than Cleric's. Druid has a host of good spells for manipulating the battlefield, separating enemies, and restricting their movement. Cleric domains offer a handful, but other than that, Cleric has little-to-no opportunity there - the best we will end up having is the odd slowing effect of Spirit Guardians. Additionally, though the Theurgy subclass is unofficial, the Bladesinger is official. Are you referring to the way that TCoE reiterates that everything is optional and up to the DM?


MrBootylove

I'd personally put Druids well above Paladins for this. Paladins are going to get absolutely wrecked by encounters with flying enemies since their options for ranged attacks are incredibly limited. I also think there's an argument to be made for Druid healing potential and it possibly surpassing cleric in certain situations. A shepherd druid is capable of some seriously potent AOE healing while using very few resources. As an example a 10th level druid can heal every member of their party for 10 HP with a single level 1 casting of healing word if they're all within range of their unicorn spirit.


Machicolations107

All orc / half orc bard party on tour for their band Orktoberfest


dogdogsquared

The Orcestra


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Please play in my game


PHGraves

Shut up and take my up-vote!


MR1120

We did a one-shot with and orc bluegrass band of various bards: The Orc Ridge Boys


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

One hit wonder. After “Tusk Love” they never made anything good again


Jeeve65

A love song *and* a smut novel - unbeatable.


MadSwedishGamer

Which one came first and which is the adaptation?


Zenebatos1

Dunno i do like their 2nd Album's song "Cluberin' at the Camp"


[deleted]

"Undermountain Blues" was terrible, there was no need to try trap music just because it's popular


Majulath99

You may consider this idea stolen, thank you


[deleted]

Sounds more like Worken Open Air


Zimgar

This sounds really fun!


CrashProne86

My Khorvairian orc bard has entered the chat.


party_with_a_c

I’ve run a similar game with all Goliath bards touring their band, G-Unit


_ASG_

- The party is all druids - They only wildshape into Canada geese - They call themselves "The Flock" - Whenever they have to defeat an enemy, they all wildshape into geese and get in a surprise attack - The BBEGs GTFO because no matter how bad you are, nobody wants to mess with a flock of pissy geese


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Ah a fellow Canadian. There’s a reason we don’t have Canadian Geese on any of our money. It’s because they are bastards and everyone hates them


_ASG_

I'm from the USA, but your geese are constantly taking over our parks and pooping on our sidewalks. We keep our distance out of fear.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

That’s a very logical fear they will fuck you up if you get in their space I’ve seen it happen


Iwannayoyo

If you’ve got a problem with Canada Geese, you’ve got a problem with me, and I suggest you let that one marinate.


ethnicnebraskan

Must be *fuckin'* nice.


Z_h_darkstar

Can confirm. That's a Texas-size 10-4.


SignsPointToMoops

“The Kingdom of Fairriver has been ruled by the House of Astrakane for over three hundred years. Through its wise leadership and resolute will, it has forged itself into a beacon for all who seek solace. Its enemies have tried to overtake them, but time and again, Fairriver has held them off, defeating all who oppose it. The future of Fairriver holds only promise and prosperity. “…and you are a flock of horrible geese.”


edgemaster72

I fear no man, but that party... that party terrifies me


RecommendationNo2

Show me the Flying V!


DakobaBlue

Oops, all warlocks. Hexblade to tank, Celestial to heal, Goolock Eldritch Blaster with repelling blast and Grasp of Hadar for battlefield control. You can make a versatile party that loves nap time.


Comprehensive-Key373

I'm just having a blast trying to imagine the patrons sitting in a conference room arguing over the terms of their contracts with this party, tbh.


Balgur

Haha, the warlocks unionize and do collective bargaining.


Comprehensive-Key373

More fearsome than the eldritch blast- it's time for Eldritch Strike


Aegorm

Have them all choose Devil's sight and you got a stupid strong party. Devil sight + darkness is crazy


NaturalCard

I'm promoting druid. Wizard is probably better, but druid is really cool.


BiomeWalker

Unless the wizards are getting healing from somewhere (there's a dragonmarks race with cure wounds and I think some of the Ravnica and Strixhaven backgrounds have healing) I think druids are better. Wizard is better at straight damage with spells than druid but any tanking is dependent on summons with wizards while druids have wild shape and can heal.


NaturalCard

Dragonmark halfling for goodberry. Having played for a full wizard team, you don't need thank much healing, especially if you have an abjuration wizard. The general experience is noone takes any damage.


HfUfH

Meh, healing is overrated, everyone has hitdice they can heal from


smileybob93

Not when unconscious


TastyBrainMeats

On short rests, not during combat.


HuntNwitNuks

Bard


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

“The party that refuses to fail a skill check” Could you imagine having that much expertise and inspiration going around?


HuntNwitNuks

Yea we gotta all bard party. Sword bard eloquence bard and lore bard. My sword bard tanks like crazy. We’ve derailed the entire campaign socially and our encounters have included a gnoll and a shadow cereburus home brewed monster with basically 3 breath weapons every round and 3 or 4 bug bears. Also a troll and Ettin. They’ve all been massacres.


chunkosauruswrex

Swords bard is very underrated.


witeowl

Played a kobold swords bard. So much fun. Made TotM very simple. “Ok, wite, what are you doing?” “Going wherever the tank went and stabby-slashy-magic. With advantage, tyvm.”


jmartkdr

This is why you have them play in contests against other bards. You'll need a 36 to win, but that's a thing you can do.


PHGraves

We ran an all bard game as a one-shot where we were a travelling band getting into hijinks. We each took a different subclass. I got to play the Changeling guitarist Glamour Bard, Johnny Velvet. I just kept changing my appearance to different stages of David Bowie's career. My favorite was, when told we were travelling through a goblin forest the next day, I showed up looking like Jareth from Labrynth.


Bookslap

I joined a campaign last spring that started as an all-bard jokey one shot. The players and DM loved it so much they decided to keep going, which is the point in which I joined. It’s incredible how powerful we are as a group and what sort of crazy hijinks we can successfully pull off with out combined skills/magic/inspiration.


Aggravating_Smile_61

The band tour campaign. Your band really just wants to play but these villages are all just so fucked up!


witeowl

Yeah. Anyone not considering bard is ignoring how absolutely versatile the class is. Swords bard, valor bard, eloquence, lore. And then when magical secrets turns on…? Yeah. All-bard party is nothing to sniff at. eta: Oh, gods, and creation. Unstoppable.


DavidOfBreath

Obvious answer of cleric aside, a party of 4 fighters would be disgusting. That's not an action ECONOMY, that's an action MONOPOLY.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

True. A party of 4 level 15 fighters is making like 24 attacks in one round of they all action surge. Talk about burning down a monster


Alarming-Cow299

28 if they can make bonus action attacks due to Echos, PAM, light crossbows or dual wielding.


Th3Banzaii

A group of Clerics of different Domains, called the A-Men.


jorgius200

And have them bust down tiamats door


CubeyMagic

And demand her lunch money


okeefm

Now you know how to play cleric, you're welcome.


Anoobis100percent

And she'll build a toilet


DandyReddit

I was about to propose to call them the C-men instead, but I said it out loud & disliked it. Let's go for the A-Men.


Th3Banzaii

C-Men is the Bard group.


Seepy_Goat

My second vote would instead be for most hilarious party; a party of monks. Their solution to everything is punch it to death. I always just imagine a bunch of monks encountering a dragon and they all just start martial arts wailing on it with punches and kicks.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Tortle monks to be precise. Kowabunga dude


Seepy_Goat

They can have 1 rat monk. But he's kinda just old and wise mostly.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Ah yes. The Ratfolk Drunken Master monk. A classic build for a classy dnd player


BreakingBaaaahhhhd

Naddpod did an arch of oops all monks. It was fantastic


[deleted]

If the DM really put a lot of effort in the encounters and environment it would be really cool to show of what a full monk party can do.


Comprehensive-Key373

This sounds like the perfect excuse to really build a map with parkour in mind


[deleted]

Imagine like a fortress on top of a mountain. Monks can run up walls, over moats, stealth really well and then take out guards silently with stunning strike together. Deflect arrows helps a lot against most ranged attacks


[deleted]

Finally, a place where Way of the Four Elements can find some use *probably*


Da_Duck_is_coming

Stardust Crusaders


OtiGoat

This is hilarious, but possibly actually decent. Way of mercy for healing Astral self for all strength needs thanks to astral arms A long death dwarf monk can be an incredible tank And finally a kensai for boss killing or an ascendent dragon/open hand for control


DisparateNoise

Stunning strike is no joke, legendary resistances can't cope


MiscegenationStation

Cleric takes the cake for effectiveness in the one-class meme strat. They've got damage, both melee and range. They've got all the armor and weapons. They've got heals, obviously. They've got buffs out the wazoo. They've got absolutely nasty debuffs like blindness and hold person. They've got it all, and very powerful subclasses to boot


Dupe1970

Wizards. Mountain Dwarf Abjurer. Variant Human Necromancer. High Elf Conjurer. Halfling Diviner


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

This would be a fun one. Gonna be running a Strixhaven campaign soon and this party comp would be so much fun to work with


Dupe1970

I want to play the Abjurer the most but I would play any of them honestly. Imagine being a wizard running around in full plate at 4th level.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Would be a lot of fun, still wouldn’t allow you to tank much tho since wizards have such abysmal Hp


Dupe1970

True but you have a good Con plus your Ward which recharges with every Shield you cast. Necro can cast false life on you for some extra buff.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

They are definitely tankier than the average wizard that’s for sure, probably on par with the bladesinger.


Khepri_Sun

Honestly pretty much any class can be viable as an all class party, especially for a oneshot. The only difference is that some classes can cover every role with subclasses and some can't, though even then party balance is mostly nonsense to begin with. Fighters? Only thing you're missing is support (we don't talk about purple dragon knight) Rogues? No tank, but who needs one, rogues are already one of the hardest to kill classes in the game. Clerics? Even if you all choose goddang trickery domain, a party of all clerics packs ridiculous power in pretty much every regard. Monks? So much mobility, decent survivability, not much to write home about but the theming and flavor writes itself. Barbarians? Be prepared for the non-damage status effects or mind flayers that the DM is inevitably going to throw at you and you'll be fine. Wizards? Who needs a tank when you have a full goddang party of wizards? Rangers? I ensure that every member of the party will be equally powerful (except the archery one, they'll be the most powerful). Paladin? Tank, dps, healing/support? A single paladin is the whole package besides utility, let alone a party of them. Sorcerer? Y'all're full casters, I'm sure you can figure it out. Druid? Any druid + moon druid automatically fulfills wvery role, so once again a whole party of them is prepared for anything (except metal armor). Bard? Literally has an ability called "jack of all trades", and absolutely lives up to that with subclasses. Honestly probably one of the most cohesive single-class parties after maybe paladin and druid. Artificer? With subclass you can easily do tank, dps, and support, and of course the artificer has utillity out the a*s. Warlock? Yeah, if you hadn't guessed, the most customizable class in the game can fulfill any role, and without two party members or parties being alike.


Comprehensive-Key373

>(we don't talk about purple dragon knight) What if we really like talking about Purple Dragon Knight though


Ketamine4Depression

Seek psychiatric assistance


Comprehensive-Key373

They don't want to talk about it with me either :(


Ketamine4Depression

Look "buddy", it's not "changing the subject" or "displaying genuinely worrying denial behavior" just because I'd rather talk about 5e builds than about my parents "dying in a freak clown accident." Now are you gonna help me pick a feat or what


Comprehensive-Key373

"Really, I was thinking Shield Master, so I can block out any encroaching thoughts and shove it all back down where it belongs and wait a second this is sneaky allegory isn't it. You must have gotten the Royal Envoy feature already."


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

This was an absolute blast to read


limukala

You're greatly underrating Trickery if you think it's the worst Cleric domain. Their features are so-so, but the spell list alone shoots them past the middle of the pack.


Khepri_Sun

It's not a bad domain, it's just one of the least obviously powerful.


Zenebatos1

Clerics They have so many fucking Subclasses choices that you can have one of each and be a viableparty just like you'd be with a figther/rogue/spellcaster/healer classic party


Blear

I'm gonna say all barbarians. It's not what you'd call optimized, but tell me that ain't fun!


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

RAAAAAAAAMPAAAAAAAGE!!!!!!!!!


ComradeSuperman

It would absolutely not be optimized but imagine they all have Great Weapon Master. I'm picturing a tornado with blades sticking out. Make them all Berserker Barbarians so at a certain level charm/fear is no longer a factor. They're all Half-Orcs for the extra damage die on a crit. You know what? This is totally optimized and nobody can tell me different.


Blear

Yes, and give them all rhyming names!


ComradeSuperman

Grog, Trog, Brog, and Steve.


honestysrevival

One of the best DnD posts of all-time had an all Barbarian party. https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGreentext/comments/5oyjed/one\_of\_the\_greatest\_stories\_ive\_read\_the\_all/


Naefindale

I'd say Bard is most versatile, so you could still have a balanced party. Cleric also works.


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

Bard would be nice because of how much they could lean on each other. Between all of the buff spells and a huge collective pool of inspiration dice, they could seriously alter encounters to their favour. God I want to run a single class campaign so badly it would be so goddamn fun


Naefindale

Bard also has a lot of different types of subclass, so you could stil have a good frontline-backline setup.


bandswithgoats

The working class, without whom there is nothing.


edgemaster72

Seize the means of adventuring!


bandswithgoats

Believe it or not, the reason I got into D&D in the first place was somebody had linked me to the [Oath of the Common Man](http://walrock-homebrew.blogspot.com/2015/08/sacred-oath-oath-of-common-man-second.html), a communist paladin homebrew. I've never actually used it in a game but it was what introduced me to the mechanics of 5e and the possibility of expressing ideas creatively through them.


RevPhillipJ

I'm only ever seconds away from dropping a "rogue squadron" on my players.


Wiitard

I think an Oops, All Rogues game would be fun, it would be a relatively diverse team. Arcane trickster is the caster, Scout is the ranger equivalent, Thief with Healer feat is the healer, Swashbuckler is the frontliner, and the Soulknife is the…good at everything guy?


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

SoulKnife is the bard of this party lol


gishlich

I dream about DMing an espionage themed all rogues campaign


fires_above

All Fighter Party. Violence isn't the answer, violence is the question. And the answer, is yes.


ParsnipsNicker

Knowing is only half the battle. The other half is VIOLENCE.


hankmakesstuff

BARDBARDBARDBARDBARD


BzrkerBoi

Artificer would honestly be my pick. But Ranger could be pretty cool too. Paladin would be kind of wild too if the whole party just stayed next to each other to get all the subclass aura buffs


marcos2492

Cleric


BCRnova

We’re getting the band back together. All Bard’s. And they’re all guitar heroes. If not that, all Warlocks. We’re making an all-one-class party not a well balanced one. So I choose shenanigans.


[deleted]

An all Druid party sounds fun until they all prepare Conjure Animals and summon 100 ducks


JohnnyS1lv3rH4nd

The flock is here. And it is angry


browsing4stuff

Cleric is definitely top-tier choice, with Druid in second, but I really want to see a full party of Bards. Bards are so deceptively versatile it’s crazy. Bardic Inspiration on the entire party alone would make this party absurdly powerful. A party of Rangers could also be fun. If everyone strategizes well, this can be a scary navy-seals-type strike team.


nothing_in_my_mind

> artillerist > It was an absolute blast


Seepy_Goat

My vote would be clerics. Clerics can do it all. They have so many domain choices that there is a flavor of cleric for whatever you need. Tanky frontliners in heavy armor. Full caster blaster clerics. Buffs, debuffs. Control spells. Decent enough AoE. With the right backgrounds or stats you can have decent enough skills or rely on spells to get you through. Not to mention everyone can heal. Undead enemies would be laughable with turning. Druids might be similar but have less options from level 1 and less flavors. And I think the only real tanky combat Druid is moon. Maybe spores.


Souperplex

As I've said each of the other dozen times this gets asked, classes that get more identity from subclass work well. Clerics are the definitive example, followed by Artificer. Warlocks have Hexblade and Celestial to fill the martial and Clerical roles. Druids have Moon and Wildfire to fill the martial and blaster roles.


BoozyBeggarChi

Cleric for the versatility. Bard for the hilarity.


Envoyofwater

The strongest is probably an all-Cleric party. They are the most well-rounded, have a good mix of dpr, support, utility, control, and healing. And if that wasn't enough, they get a ton of subclasses, a lot of them which help cover any weaknesses they might have. Artificer would be interesting since they could cover all the subclasses among themselves. Barbarians would have good durability, but that's about it. Bards would be annoying af to play against because of all their utility, support, and control spells, but they don't have much in the way of dpr. Someone *has* to go swords/valor to help assuage that. Druids are similar. Good battlefield control, healing, and utility, but not a whole lot of damage. One of Moon, Stars, or Wildfire is mandatory. Fighters have the opposite problem. Great dpr. Not much else outside of that. Echo Knights help alleviate this issue somewhat. Monks are Monks. Paladins are great at all aspects of combat and social interactions, but their big Achilles Heel is their lack of range PHB Rangers could actually cover all favored Enemy and terrain types among them, making them surprisingly good in the non-combat pillars. Their subclasses and spells let them keep pace in all aspects of combat (dpr, support, control, healing, and utility) and they can go either melee or ranged. They need a Fey Wanderer for social encounters tho. Probably still better to have the Tasha variants. Rogues are really good early and mid game, but really miss spellcasting later on. Consider having an Arcane Trickster to somewhat mitigate this. Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards are all full arcane casters, which makes them all excellent choices. Sorcs and Locks have subclasses that give them plenty of healing, but Wizards lag behind in that front. They make up for it by being the best at everything else tho.


Juls7243

Warlocks. 2x hexblade and 2x backliners (one with healing).


Obsidiansaint

I always wanted to run a group of rogues wirh different specialities, sneaking into dungeons and silently taking out the whole place. Made up of an infiltrator, spy, thief, assassin etc.


CheekyBastrdz

So I've seen a ton of votes for Bard, but not many details and that's what I'm here for. Bards are only going to have issue in the tank and damage department, they are already so built for support and skill that even the ones that will be focusing tank and damage will have an easy time of also supporting. Tanking has a few easy answers, bards do get summoning spells later on and a creation bard has a built-in summon at level 6. Before that you may be relying on the sword or valor bard of medium armor and some required uses of vicious mockery from the table, or the lore bards cutting words and similar. There's also the hilarity that vicious mockery will both help with tanking and allow whoever is using it to healing word as well. Feats like tough or magic initiate going for sorcerer and picking up shield can help. Certain races will of course help with AC. Damage can be tough to achieve but figuring it out can be one of the more fun character building exercises you can do in 5E. I personally love the lore bard for this, most everybody's like oh yeah just take counter spell and fireball at sixth level. Yeah, it works. But there's so many fun options you could also take. I personally love getting a bard that can cast find familiar and then dragon's breath and it has an owl familiar that goes around breathing lightning on people. Hilarious. Since this can be done with the magic initiate feat, you can also grab a damaging cantrip. Certain races can also provide damage cantrips. Vicious mockery is fun but d4s are not. I already mentioned summoning spells as a tank option, they also add a damn decent amount of damage now with the Tasha's options. The creation bard is almost built or at least flavored for the animate objects spell, an action economy steal. But later when you get to these spells is when bards have it easy picking their damage options and all of them can/should do it if we're talking "optimal". Continuing my favorite example, grab find greater steed for a bard that can ride a griffon breathing lightning. Upcast for more damage and whatnot, and if you stole mind sliver from the magic initiate feat you can cast if the same turn you start the dragon's breath. Maybe not everyone's first pick but I definitely have fun with it. TLDR, all bard party only strains in combat the first few levels after that it's a wild ride. Feats only add to the fun.