Description of class roles

[Wednesday Boy]

I've heard the names of the class roles (Leader, Controller, Striker and Defender) mentioned in name but I've never seen a description of what they actually do. Is there a thread that details what has been hinted at thus far? Thanks!!

 

[Doug McCrae]

From the latest podcast we know that strikers do more damage than other classes and all leaders can heal. We don't really know what controllers do yet, though it will be some subset of a wizard's current abilities. (Yeah, a subset of everything, that narrows it down.)

My take on it (partly conjecture):
Striker - Deals damage
Defender - Resists damage/harm
Leader - Assists allies thru healing and buffing
Controller - Controls movement on the battlefield, for example moves targets around, slows, hinders, hastes

 

[Morrus]

From the latest podcast we know that strikers do more damage than other classes and all leaders can heal. We don't really know what controllers do yet, though it will be some subset of a wizard's current abilities. (Yeah, a subset of everything, that narrows it down.)

My take on it (partly conjecture):
Striker - Deals damage
Defender - Resists damage/harm
Leader - Assists allies thru healing and buffing
Controller - Controls movement on the battlefield, for example moves targets around, slows, hinders, hastes

Except that the fighter is a Defender, and is also cited as "If you want to be the guy standing in the front line doing a ton of damage, you want to be playing a fighter."

 

[D.Shaffer]

My take on things.

Defender: The Defender's primary role is to keep opponents from reaching party members who are less able to defend themselves from melee attackers. They tend to have high Ac and HPs as they often take the brunt of any attacks, as well as good melee capability.

Controller: The controllers role is that of controlling the battlefield to limit what opponents can do to the party. They do this in a multitude of ways: Altering the terrain so as to funnel attackers, Area of Effect abilities to keep creatures from bunching up, and altering the attack bonuses/abilities of opponents (Debuffing) are all good examples.

Leader: The leader concentrates on improving the abilities of his party. While this is mostly in the form of pure ability improvements (Buffing), it also entails keeping the party on its feet in the form of healing or by removing conditions that opponents may place on them.

Striker: The striker is based around taking out a single target. Their abilities tend toward damage bonuses when they meet certain conditions, or movement powers which help them meet these bonus conditions.

 

[Dragonbait]

The terms are an interesting idea, but the only time I've seen them used is in reference to video games. My issue is that the terms mean slightly different things with different video games and there has not been a clear definition of what the designers mean when they are referencing these titles. I wonder if these will be official D&D terms used and defined in the PH, or are they just being used in the prep to 4E to help people visualize the new roles of classes, and they will be dropped when the PH comes out?

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I wonder if these will be official D&D terms used and defined in the PH, or are they just being used in the prep to 4E to help people visualize the new roles of classes, and they will be dropped when the PH comes out?

Since it sounds like they each give specific non-class abilities (i.e., the Leader being able to heal people), I would guess they'll be official terms. Almost like characters will have two "classes" to them.

 

[Wulfram]

Defender: Guy who deals damage from the front line
Striker: Guy who deals damage while moving
Controller: Guy who deals damage from the back
Leader: Guy who heals damage

 

[TwinBahamut]

Except that the fighter is a Defender, and is also cited as "If you want to be the guy standing in the front line doing a ton of damage, you want to be playing a fighter."

I think you might be misinterpreting that quote.

What I read from that quote is:

1) The Fighter, despite being a defender, can still do a lot of damage.

2) Strikers are probably not going to be just standing on the front line.

After all, he says "a ton of damage", but he doesn't say "more damage than the rogue".

As for what I think the classes are going to do... All just speculation.

Defender: These guys are the tanks. A lot of hit points and/or AC, and the ability to use powers to protect allies from taking damage. They probably have a greater focus on melee, since they have to interpose themselves between allies and enemies who want to enter into melee combat.

Striker: There are the mobile ranged attackers. They can move around the battlefield (either with stealth, speed, or magic), and attack any enemy who needs to be taken out quickly.

Leader: These guys are going to be the "positive" support characters. They exist to improve the physical and tactical condition of the party. Also, it seems that both Warlords and Clerics will still be just fine slugging it out in melee themselves.

Controller: These guys are the "negative" support characters. They worsen the physical and tactical condition of the enemy group. Also, they are going to have the best ability to attack whole groups of enemies at the same time.

 

[Intrope]

Imnsho

The way I see them, the 4 roles are abstract statements about what a class focuses on. It doesn't limit a class, and a particular class will probably be able to do something in each category (they'll just be better at their role than any other). Also, I suspect (rather strongly!) that any character can be built in a way that moves it out of it's native role, too.

Also, the 4 roles are actually a grid:


........... Offensive.. Defensive
A Monster.. Strikers... Defenders
Battlespace Controllers Leaders


The idea being that each role is either primarily about changing one monster or changing the battlespace (terrain, creature formation, etc.). Beyond that, you can do so offensively (by hurting a creature or rearranging the terrain) or defensively (by blocking the same, or improving your team).

So:
Striker: damages/impairs specific monster targets
Defender: prevents damage/impairment to party
Controller: alters how the terrain/monsters are arranged
Leader: alters how the party is arranged

There's a third axis as well: how much else the character does. As such, a Fighter will likely do the most melee damage of any defender (because he does very little else). A Warlock will probably rule Strikers, too: Rogues/Rangers have a lot of extra functions they don't (based on what we've seen so far, anyway).

Over the lifetime of 4e, I suspect that more classes will be Strikers, followed closely by Controllers (there are lots of distinct ways to be both); Leaders will be 3rd, with Defenders probably being the least common type of class overall. Naturally, this speculation won't even be provable for years, so I have a long time to deny having said this

Anyway, that's how I view it.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Why don't we just call them Tank, CC, Nuker, Buffer and be done with it? At least that way everyone knows what's what.