Deadmanwalking
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The Wildcard
I dunno if that's really a valid role per se.
Skill Monkey's also a bit broad. Having all the Knowledge skills ala a Bard or Wizard, and having all the physical skills ala your classic Rogue are very different roles.
It might also be useful to divide these into combat and non-combat roles, as those are somewhat different things as well.
On subject of roles:
Healer (What it sounds like)
Library (Has all the Knowledge skills)
Skill Monkey (Rogue-style physical skill specialist)
Archer (Ranged combatant and damage specialist)
| Derek Vande Brake |
Blaster - a combat role, the blaster's job is to damage groups of weaker enemies. Traits of a blaster include the ability to do area damage.
Buffer - a combat role, the buffer's job is to directly improve the combat potential of other party members. Traits of a buffer include the ability to increase other peoples' attack, damage, armor class, or resistance to enemy attacks.
Burglar - a noncombat role, the burglar's job is to pick locks and disarm traps. Traits of a burglar include the ability to disarm traps, spring traps with little to no harmful effect, pick locks, or smash doors.
Controller - a combat role, the controller's job is to indirectly improve the combat potential of other party members and weaken the combat potential of opponents. Traits of a controller include the ability to create walls, summon assistance to strategic locations, alter the terrain, or create strategic environmental effects.
Debuffer - a combat role, the debuffer's job is to directly weaken the combat potential of opponents. Traits of a debuffer include the ability to decrease other peoples' attack, damage, armor class, or resistance to allied attacks.
Face - a noncombat role, the face's job is to interact with others when violence won't work. Traits of a face include high modifiers to diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate, or the ability to charm or dominate others.
Healer - a primarily noncombat role (arguably), the healer's job is to restore the party's well-being. Traits of a healer include the ability to restore a substantial number of hit points, and the ability to remove persistent conditions (such as blindness, curses, negative levels, or ability damage).
Hitter - a combat role, the hitter's job is to do a lot of damage to a single target. Traits of a hitter include the ability to inflict a lot of damage.
Quartermaster - a noncombat role, the quartermaster's job is to keep the party appropriately equipped. Traits of a quartermaster include the ability to craft mundane and magical items, or to locate items that can't be created.
Scholar - a mixed role, the scholar's job is to give information on enemy strengths and weaknesses, and understand clues and relevant information. Traits of a scholar include high knowledge skills, or access to divination magic.
Scout - a noncombat role, the scout's job is to gather information on what the party will be facing in the near future. Traits of a scout include the ability to move without being detected, read tracks, or access divination magic.
Survivalist - a noncombat role, the survivalist's job is to get the party through wilderness areas without harm. Traits of a survivalist include the ability to find or create safe food, water, and shelter.
Tank - a combat role, the tank's job is to try to soak up hits and interpose themselves between enemies and the rest of the party. Traits of a tank include high hit points, high armor class, or good damage reduction.
EDIT: Also, from that thread, I thought Record Keeper, Assassin, and Transporter were good idea.
| Gavmania |
I would divide "Hitter" into "Skirmisher" and "Charger". Skirmisher would seek to damage opponent without being engaged themself (either using ranged, attacking an opponent already engaged or using Spring attack or Reach to keep out of combat). "Charger" seeks to engage the opponent at the earliest opportunity, getting up in their face and dealing as much damage as possible while retaining enough AC and HPs to be able to take whatever punishment they dish out in return. This would distinguish it from "Tank", which remains more-or-less fixed to the spot that the rest of the party stand on, and to which I would add at least the ability to do moderate damage (since if it does no damage, it will be ignored).
I would also note that many of these roles can be used by the same character in the same combat. A whip master can act as both Controller and Tank. Many Chargers will also act as tanks (or Controllers). I can't think of a healer that I've met that doesn't take on some combat role (usually tank).
Perhaps it would be more helpful to differentiate combat and non-combat roles.
| Kimera757 |
I'm trying to come up with a list of all the major roles people tend to target with their character design/optimization/etc. Can you add to the following?:
Face
Skill monkey
Melee
Caster
Buffer
Debuffer/Controller
...
Combat
Anvil
*Controller (cleric, wizard or sorcerer casting debuff spells). Tends to overlap with blaster since that's something sorcerers and wizards are good at too.
*Defender (certain fighter builds). Very lacking in 3.x/Pathfinder.
Arm/Leader (bard, cleric focusing on buffing allies, the occasional wizard who buffs allies). Frequently not seen as fun to play.
Hammer/Striker - deal damage.
*Blaster (sorcerer or wizard using direct damage). Tends to overlap with controller because sorcerers and wizards are good at that too.
*Brute (barbarian, cleric using self-buffs, most fighter builds, paladins)
*Skirmisher (monk, rogue, well hopefully). Tends to be weak in 3.x/Pathfinder.
Skills
*Exploration - rangers and rogues tend to be very good at these. In 3.x, there was role protection for this.
*Social - bards and rogues tend to be very good at these. Unfortunately, few of the 11 core classes have all these skills.
| Derek Vande Brake |
I would divide "Hitter" into "Skirmisher" and "Charger". Skirmisher would seek to damage opponent without being engaged themself (either using ranged, attacking an opponent already engaged or using Spring attack or Reach to keep out of combat). "Charger" seeks to engage the opponent at the earliest opportunity, getting up in their face and dealing as much damage as possible while retaining enough AC and HPs to be able to take whatever punishment they dish out in return. This would distinguish it from "Tank", which remains more-or-less fixed to the spot that the rest of the party stand on, and to which I would add at least the ability to do moderate damage (since if it does no damage, it will be ignored).
I would also note that many of these roles can be used by the same character in the same combat. A whip master can act as both Controller and Tank. Many Chargers will also act as tanks (or Controllers). I can't think of a healer that I've met that doesn't take on some combat role (usually tank).
Perhaps it would be more helpful to differentiate combat and non-combat roles.
I tried to avoid including methodology into my roles. The skirmisher and the charger do the same thing, essentially, just in different ways. Much like the cleric or the paladin can be a healer, but one uses more spells and channeling, while the other uses lay on hands and mercies. This means a greater variety of classes can fill the role, and not always just the traditional list, which allows for more party diversity and less typecasting when a player wants to play a given class.
And yes, I would expect people to take on multiple roles, since most groups don't have 13 different characters. ;)
Fromper
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I'd go roughly with these, though I may be missing something:
Noncombat:
Face
Library (Knowledge skills)
Scout (stealth or divination)
Trapfinder/disabler
Tracker (survival or divination)
Backup healer (anyone with a wand of CLW or Infernal Healing)
Combat:
Tank (Draw the hits)
Archer (any ranged single target damage dealer)
Brawler (melee single target damage dealer)
Buffer
Debuffer
Blaster
Controller
Combat healer (has more than just a wand and doesn't always have something better to do)
The next question is which of these roles are essential in any group? Obviously, every group needs at least one heavy damage dealer and one person who can take a hit. You also need some form of healing, but everyone carrying their own potions can actually work without even having a wand of CLW in the party. Party face is mandatory, unless you're doing a pure dungeon crawl. I'd say everything else is probably optional, but it depends on the nature of the adventure.