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<blockquote data-quote="Ourph" data-source="post: 5120152" data-attributes="member: 20239"><p>The role designations aren't about power levels, they are there to let you know how the monster is designed to work in combat. The roles DO make a big difference in how the monsters perform. In earlier editions, if you wanted a Gnoll fight, you were likely looking for a fight vs. humanoid skirmishers (i.e. good to-hit and damage but average AC and HP). If you wanted an Ogre fight, you were looking for a fight vs. humanoid brutes (i.e. good to-hit, really high damage and HP but fairly easy to hit). In other words, earlier editions used the exact same roles that 4e does, but they didn't use the same nomenclature.</p><p></p><p>The 4e designers also decided that all Gnolls didn't necessarily have to be skirmishers. Some could be soldiers, some could be artillery. In AD&D, if you wanted a fight that involved skirmishers and brutes, you might throw together a couple of Gnolls with an Ogre. If you wanted to add some artillery, you might have a couple of Kobold archers shooting from the back lines. The same thing happens in 4e, but you don't have to mix and match different creatures types. You can use variations of the same creature that serve different roles. In 4e you can have a fight against a group of all Gnolls that still includes Skirmishers, Brutes and Artillery.</p><p></p><p>Stalker0's anti-grind thread has a lot of good discussion on how the various roles play out in combat. As much as they might seem unnecessary for an experienced DM, roles really are an invaluable shorthand for encounter design, especially with the addition of powers that fit a specific role. Could you use skirmishers in the same way that you might use soldiers or brutes in an encounter? Sure. But you'll get much more satisfactory results if you use skirmishers to do skirmishy things and soldiers to do soldiery things.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ourph, post: 5120152, member: 20239"] The role designations aren't about power levels, they are there to let you know how the monster is designed to work in combat. The roles DO make a big difference in how the monsters perform. In earlier editions, if you wanted a Gnoll fight, you were likely looking for a fight vs. humanoid skirmishers (i.e. good to-hit and damage but average AC and HP). If you wanted an Ogre fight, you were looking for a fight vs. humanoid brutes (i.e. good to-hit, really high damage and HP but fairly easy to hit). In other words, earlier editions used the exact same roles that 4e does, but they didn't use the same nomenclature. The 4e designers also decided that all Gnolls didn't necessarily have to be skirmishers. Some could be soldiers, some could be artillery. In AD&D, if you wanted a fight that involved skirmishers and brutes, you might throw together a couple of Gnolls with an Ogre. If you wanted to add some artillery, you might have a couple of Kobold archers shooting from the back lines. The same thing happens in 4e, but you don't have to mix and match different creatures types. You can use variations of the same creature that serve different roles. In 4e you can have a fight against a group of all Gnolls that still includes Skirmishers, Brutes and Artillery. Stalker0's anti-grind thread has a lot of good discussion on how the various roles play out in combat. As much as they might seem unnecessary for an experienced DM, roles really are an invaluable shorthand for encounter design, especially with the addition of powers that fit a specific role. Could you use skirmishers in the same way that you might use soldiers or brutes in an encounter? Sure. But you'll get much more satisfactory results if you use skirmishers to do skirmishy things and soldiers to do soldiery things. [/QUOTE]
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