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<blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 3100302" data-attributes="member: 3146"><p>True. The standard party could consist of a barbarian, a druid, a sorcerer, and a bard instead. Or a fighter/rogue, a fighter/wizard/eldritch knight, a cleric, a paladin, and a ranger. But those are really very close to the same thing. The aspects of the standard party are:</p><p></p><p>1. The "fighter" a meatshield--someone who can stand in between the monsters and the weaker characters and take a few hits and at the same time dish out enough damage that simply ignoring him and taking AoOs is risky or foolish. This character will vary between the stereotypical but highly effective barbarian who does lots of damage to his foes quickly but relies upon hit points and healing for defense and the high armor class tank who does more moderate damage but requires less healing. Fighters, Rangers, barbarians, fighters, knights, paladins, clerics, druids, and a lot of multiclass mutts can fill this role, but if someone doesn't then the party will ahve difficulty with certain classes of encounters.</p><p></p><p>2. The "healer" is, well, a healer. This character can heal other party members. Clerics, druids, favored souls, and healers are well suited to this role, bards can pinch hit in this role if needed, and paladins are better than nothing); rangers and characters with use magic device and wands or scrolls of healing can perform the role adequately at low levels, but at higher levels, lacking this party role requires a different approach than the standard D&D campaign (and makes the stereotypical damage trading barbarian very difficult to play).</p><p></p><p>3. The "magic user" is part artillery, part utility. This character packs direct damage, buffing, and/or spells to control the pace of combat and give characters the flexibility to defeat their foes. Wizards, sorcerers, warmages, clerics, favored souls, and druids are very good in this role, bards can perform well in it, and multiclassed characters can sometimes pinch-hit here. Skilled archers also perform some elements of this role, delivering reliably high damage to any point on the battlefield they wish regardless of enemy mobility.</p><p></p><p>4. The "skilled" character. This character is responsible for meeting the challenges that are not easily solved with swords. Persuading NPCs, opening locks, finding and disarming traps, etc. Rogues, scouts, bards, and rangers can be good at a variety of such roles, but nearly every character class can perform some of these roles. Consequently, this is the easiest iconic role to do away with and still have a well balanced party. A little multiclassing can give nearly any party member the ability to perform a couple of these roles well and if the rest of the party picks up the other roles (or simply finds a way around them--bashing in doors instead of unlocking them, for instance and defending against traps with hit points and saves rather than search and disable device) a party can be as balanced with no individual character in this role as with the iconic rogue filling the roles.</p><p></p><p>A party does not need to have a fighter, a cleric, a rogue, and a wizard, but it does need to cover the roles that they cover to be balanced for the traditional variety of D&D encounters.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Elder-Basilisk, post: 3100302, member: 3146"] True. The standard party could consist of a barbarian, a druid, a sorcerer, and a bard instead. Or a fighter/rogue, a fighter/wizard/eldritch knight, a cleric, a paladin, and a ranger. But those are really very close to the same thing. The aspects of the standard party are: 1. The "fighter" a meatshield--someone who can stand in between the monsters and the weaker characters and take a few hits and at the same time dish out enough damage that simply ignoring him and taking AoOs is risky or foolish. This character will vary between the stereotypical but highly effective barbarian who does lots of damage to his foes quickly but relies upon hit points and healing for defense and the high armor class tank who does more moderate damage but requires less healing. Fighters, Rangers, barbarians, fighters, knights, paladins, clerics, druids, and a lot of multiclass mutts can fill this role, but if someone doesn't then the party will ahve difficulty with certain classes of encounters. 2. The "healer" is, well, a healer. This character can heal other party members. Clerics, druids, favored souls, and healers are well suited to this role, bards can pinch hit in this role if needed, and paladins are better than nothing); rangers and characters with use magic device and wands or scrolls of healing can perform the role adequately at low levels, but at higher levels, lacking this party role requires a different approach than the standard D&D campaign (and makes the stereotypical damage trading barbarian very difficult to play). 3. The "magic user" is part artillery, part utility. This character packs direct damage, buffing, and/or spells to control the pace of combat and give characters the flexibility to defeat their foes. Wizards, sorcerers, warmages, clerics, favored souls, and druids are very good in this role, bards can perform well in it, and multiclassed characters can sometimes pinch-hit here. Skilled archers also perform some elements of this role, delivering reliably high damage to any point on the battlefield they wish regardless of enemy mobility. 4. The "skilled" character. This character is responsible for meeting the challenges that are not easily solved with swords. Persuading NPCs, opening locks, finding and disarming traps, etc. Rogues, scouts, bards, and rangers can be good at a variety of such roles, but nearly every character class can perform some of these roles. Consequently, this is the easiest iconic role to do away with and still have a well balanced party. A little multiclassing can give nearly any party member the ability to perform a couple of these roles well and if the rest of the party picks up the other roles (or simply finds a way around them--bashing in doors instead of unlocking them, for instance and defending against traps with hit points and saves rather than search and disable device) a party can be as balanced with no individual character in this role as with the iconic rogue filling the roles. A party does not need to have a fighter, a cleric, a rogue, and a wizard, but it does need to cover the roles that they cover to be balanced for the traditional variety of D&D encounters. [/QUOTE]
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