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What are the Roles now?
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<blockquote data-quote="Nergal Pendragon" data-source="post: 6501236" data-attributes="member: 6777649"><p>5E is not designed with the idea of a low-damage frontline defender being viable. It can be done, but the character is probably going to die a lot; the character defends better by both being in the way and dealing a lot of damage quickly. Plus, the high monster HPs in this edition make a low-damage frontline character a bad idea.</p><p></p><p>Plus, magic is more limited in this edition than it was in 3E and rests are a lot less frequent than in 4E (and a lot less effective for short rests), so spellcaster resources may not stretch as much; you need other damage dealers to help make up the difference for those times the spellcasters are saving spells for tougher opponents.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Aside from healing that can be done by clerics, there are certain areas where each caster tends to be a bit better; divine casters, for example, tend to be better at damaging undead. Or healing. Arcane casters tend to be slightly better at damaging magic. Having one of each is to cover your bases so you can take down anything you face... and if things go wrong, the divine caster's healing that you've mostly not used can suddenly come in handy.</p><p></p><p>And, whether or not utility spells of either caster class is important depends a lot upon your group's strategy; a very viable one is to have an arcane caster focus on pure damage and let the divine caster handle utility and crowd control. You can also reverse that and get a viable result, or have both do the same role and have a team that works well.</p><p></p><p>So, in general, picking one of each damage type is more about having variety of tactical options open and covering potential unforeseen events than it is about sticking to particular roles or strategies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nergal Pendragon, post: 6501236, member: 6777649"] 5E is not designed with the idea of a low-damage frontline defender being viable. It can be done, but the character is probably going to die a lot; the character defends better by both being in the way and dealing a lot of damage quickly. Plus, the high monster HPs in this edition make a low-damage frontline character a bad idea. Plus, magic is more limited in this edition than it was in 3E and rests are a lot less frequent than in 4E (and a lot less effective for short rests), so spellcaster resources may not stretch as much; you need other damage dealers to help make up the difference for those times the spellcasters are saving spells for tougher opponents. Aside from healing that can be done by clerics, there are certain areas where each caster tends to be a bit better; divine casters, for example, tend to be better at damaging undead. Or healing. Arcane casters tend to be slightly better at damaging magic. Having one of each is to cover your bases so you can take down anything you face... and if things go wrong, the divine caster's healing that you've mostly not used can suddenly come in handy. And, whether or not utility spells of either caster class is important depends a lot upon your group's strategy; a very viable one is to have an arcane caster focus on pure damage and let the divine caster handle utility and crowd control. You can also reverse that and get a viable result, or have both do the same role and have a team that works well. So, in general, picking one of each damage type is more about having variety of tactical options open and covering potential unforeseen events than it is about sticking to particular roles or strategies. [/QUOTE]
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