What is the the best general party composition for a 3 man, 4 man, and 5 man campaign...

I'll just do this for 5e since as says, it depends
>3
With this few Pcs, you have to cover a couple of bases first. You want someone who can take a large beating, and you want someone who can do solid single-target damage. Barbarian, paladin, and fighter fit in here; the first is a better tank, the second does more damage, and the third is balanced, but all three are good at both roles.
Next, you want someone who can target multiple enemies so you can deal with mobs of minions and nooks. Presumably you want a caster for this. Druid, wizard, and sorcerer all slot in nicely here.
Finally, you need a healer. If you already have a druid (or possibly a paladin, but that's harder) you're set; if not, take a cleric.
There are a couple of other things to consider. If you're doing a dungeon crawl with lots of traps and locks you probably want a rogue (which means the rogue takes the healer slot and you need a healer in one of the others). Additionally, you need to consider the possibility that other skills (especially social skills) could come up and pick classes accordingly.
One final note: the bard is the most versatile class and can fit comfortably into any party, which makes them a safe choice for a 3-man where you can't afford to be too specialized.
If I had to pick a 3-man line-up it would be barbarian, druid, bard, but there are plenty of others which are probably as good.

>4
As above, but now you can afford to be a little more specialized. A ranger, monk, or warlock, who deals great damage but isn't as durable as the meatshields, can pair well with said meatshield. Or you can afford to have a rogue who's mostly made for skills and isn't as effective in combat as the others. You can go with the classic line-up: fighter, wizard, cleric, rogue.

>5
At this point, it's extremely easy to cover all your bases. Just build whatever 4-man party you want then add a bard to cover for any of the others who gets knocked out or is otherwise out of commission.

Leader, defender, striker
Leader, defender, striker, controller
Leader, defender, striker, striker, controller

>3
cleric, fighter, mage
>4
+rogue
>5
+bard

buffer/healer, tank/meatshield, crowd control/utility
+striker/scout/traps'n'locks
+face/force multiplier/support

Swashbuckler, Alchemist, and Ranger or Rogue.
Decker, Face, Infiltrator, and Mage.
Rogue Trader, Navigator, Astropath, Tech-Priest, and Voidmaster.

>holy diver
???

>3
White Mage, White Mage, White Mage

>4
White Mage, White Mage, White Mage, White Mage

>5
White Mage, White Mage, White Mage, White Mage, White Mage

It's all you need. There is no better team.

>Fighter, Thief, Ranger
>Fighter, Thief, Magic-User, Cleric
>Paladin, Thief, Magic-User, Cleric, Barbarian
Optimized for maximum bantz and inter-party conflict

>Hard Mode Activate
How about with 2 players anons?

At that point you just need to pick the two most flexible classes at your disposal. In 5e that's probably Bard + Druid or maybe Bard + Paladin. If multiclassing is an option you have more leeway.

You forgot the looks

We just have 2 fighters that focus in different areas. One focuses on ranged attacks, tactics, and survival skills.
The other is melee focused and focuses more on beating the living shit out of everything, mechanics, and perception.
We each have a side character that neither of us really roleplays unless the character would be useful in a situation.
But mostly we have 2 characters that, while ultimately have the same overall goal, have wildly differing perspectives on the whole thing.

Team Leader
Automatic Rifleman
Grenadier

Team Leader
Automatic Rifleman
Grenadier
Rifleman

Squad Leader
Team Leader
Automatic rifleman
Grenadier
Rifleman

Iraqi Freedom Campaign

yep

this

2 paladins

That sounds hilariously fun.
I'd also like to put forth 2 bards

I think the homoerotic tension of constantly healing each others wounds would slowly make the game either amazing or terrible

Alright, Veeky Forums. What's the best character type for a party of 1? You can't choose a "generalist" or "jack of all trades" character.

Fighter/Soldier/Someone who works well alone.
But for the most part anything will do as long as your DM is a good guy. If there's only 1 of you he should base a campaign around your characters strengths and weaknesses.
Or if you want to do the work you could do a Dragon's Dogma style game where you play a main PC and either you or the DM play a couple NPCs to flesh out the roster.

fighter or paladin depending on system. Fighter for lone guy. Paladin if there are companions/pets/allies

1: Cleric
2: Cleric and Rogue
3: Cleric, Rogue, Wizard
4: Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, Fighter
5: Cleric, Rogue, Wizard, Fighter, Ranger

>hosting a solo Cleric campaign
>lawful boring
>muh god

>Not showing up in a land of godless heathens who know not the word of your lord and savior and leading them from temptation and unto salvation with promises of reward in a heavenly kingdom for following a doctrine of law whos authority is beyond that of any lowly, worldly monarch.

3 Psions
4 Psions
5 Psions

>dickass thief
>boneheaded fighter
Let the hijinks ensue.

>solo cleric campaign
>not the raddest thing ever

>useless chick
He got you covered.

I see someone muscling in on some other god's territory and undercutting their monopoly on healing in someone's future.

...

>turning your players against each as a fallen paladin

She probably did that herself.

Well, if I’m GMing

>3 people
Fighty, Magicky/Techy, Skillsy/Talky
>4 people
Fighty, Magicky/Techy, Skillsy/Talky, Healy
>5 people
Fighty, Magicky/Techy, Skillsy, Talky, Healy

with 5 people you have a specialist for each role. The fewer people you have, the more you need to combine the roles

>Rational guy
>pragmatic guy
Difference?

>no Healy in the 3 man group

5e d&d
3 man: 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 druid
4 man: 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 druid, 1 bard
5 man: 1 wizard, 1 cleric, 1 druid, 1 bard, 1 paladin

>3 man
1 Cleric, 2 Paladins
>4 man
1 Cleric, 3 Paladins
>5 man
2 Clerics 3 Paladins

...

3 BloodRagers
4 BloodRagers
4 BloodRagers plus a bard