Rewards for filling iconic roles

[Yesminde]

You could also make up some more roles, like:

WILDERNESS EXPERT (Track Feat, Survival, Knowledge Nature)
BLASTER (Offensive spells)
CRAFTER (Craft, Appraise, Knowledge:Arch and Eng, Dungeoneering)
TRANSPORTER (Teleport, Handle Animal, Ride)
STEALTH (Hide, MS, Disguise, Listen, Spot)
DIPLOMAT (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive)
ACROBAT (Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble, Escape Artist, Run feat)

This would be a really useful trick if you want to run a fairly specific campaign. Have one role for each player and tell them what roles you think they will need, then let them decide who wants to do what.

 

[Felnar]

If the person who draws "priest" doesn't want to play a healer, and they just do Cleric 1/Fighter 4 and throw in practiced spellcaster, that's fine by me. At least they have some marginal healing ability and can throw down the occasional buff for the team.

how is this filling a Priest role? especially at CL5

D&D already rewards groups that fill all the roles (eg. ability to survive all types of challenges and easier progression through an adventure), so why reward them even more? I see your action points less as a reward and more as an additional penalty, for selecting a suboptimal party

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For PCs, the best reward for balancing a party is surviving the adventure.