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<blockquote data-quote="Scholar &amp;amp; Brutalman" data-source="post: 3885278" data-attributes="member: 33642">My initial reaction to the combat roles announced for 4th ed - defender, leader, controller and striker - was that WotC was returning to the basic four classes of OD&amp;D with new titles that weren't power source specific.Now I'm not so sure, because I don't recall the Thief's backstabbing ability really coming off very often in OD&amp;D combat.&nbsp; The original fighter was certainly a defender, at least when in a dungeon, the original cleric a &quot;leader&quot; aka healer, the original wizard an awesome controller if he lived past the first 2 levels.&nbsp; The Thief was really more of a second line fighter, useful for the out-of-combat sneaky stuff but with no real combat role. I don't recall them being much different in 1st ed AD&amp;D. I never played much 2nd ed though.It seems to me that the striker as a combat role was really introduced in 3e when they designed the rogue to be able to use their signature ability more than once a combat. And though I hear others have different experiences, I've never seen many pure rogues in 3e either. Usually someone just multiclasses as a rogue for a few levels to get the skills and trapfinding. I think that's due to the common monster types that are immune to sneak attacks and the fact that scouting is better done by divination spells rather than sending out the halfling to be a snack.But my experience may be particularly restricted. Does your mileage vary?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scholar & Brutalman, post: 3885278, member: 33642"] My initial reaction to the combat roles announced for 4th ed - defender, leader, controller and striker - was that WotC was returning to the basic four classes of OD&D with new titles that weren't power source specific. Now I'm not so sure, because I don't recall the Thief's backstabbing ability really coming off very often in OD&D combat. The original fighter was certainly a defender, at least when in a dungeon, the original cleric a "leader" aka healer, the original wizard an awesome controller if he lived past the first 2 levels. The Thief was really more of a second line fighter, useful for the out-of-combat sneaky stuff but with no real combat role. I don't recall them being much different in 1st ed AD&D. I never played much 2nd ed though. It seems to me that the striker as a combat role was really introduced in 3e when they designed the rogue to be able to use their signature ability more than once a combat. And though I hear others have different experiences, I've never seen many pure rogues in 3e either. Usually someone just multiclasses as a rogue for a few levels to get the skills and trapfinding. I think that's due to the common monster types that are immune to sneak attacks and the fact that scouting is better done by divination spells rather than sending out the halfling to be a snack. But my experience may be particularly restricted. Does your mileage vary? [/QUOTE]

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