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What are the Roles now?
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<blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 6503086" data-attributes="member: 9053"><p>I think this is just one area where we're going to have to agree to disagree. Roles in D&D are as old as setting up the marching order or picking out which spells to use.</p><p></p><p>I get that anything that even smells vaguely like 4E causes people to become upset, but perhaps if you think of it using different words "meat shield," "squishy," "glass cannon," "medic!" or something similar it won't be as upsetting. Or not. You don't have to officially acknowledge the roles to be effective at combat in D&D, they come out of things that just make sense.</p><p></p><p>A fighter protecting other physically weaker characters? That's being a defender. A wizard dropping spells like sleep, hold person or using a Wall spell to segment off the battlefield? Control. Clerics keeping the group alive and casting spells like Bless? Leader. And any character who's optimized for damage, especially spiked damage? Striker.</p><p></p><p>I think the big thing that happened in 5E that makes people think roles are gone is what they did to the fighter: the defender options have been lessened a lot and the class now is back to doing more damage. The thing is, the defender role is something that a lot of different classes can do now if they use the right feats. But the high hit point and AC character being a meat shield? Still there.</p><p></p><p>So yeah, don't agree with pretty much anything you wrote, other than how it's all about the characters and a good story. We can agree there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SteveC, post: 6503086, member: 9053"] I think this is just one area where we're going to have to agree to disagree. Roles in D&D are as old as setting up the marching order or picking out which spells to use. I get that anything that even smells vaguely like 4E causes people to become upset, but perhaps if you think of it using different words "meat shield," "squishy," "glass cannon," "medic!" or something similar it won't be as upsetting. Or not. You don't have to officially acknowledge the roles to be effective at combat in D&D, they come out of things that just make sense. A fighter protecting other physically weaker characters? That's being a defender. A wizard dropping spells like sleep, hold person or using a Wall spell to segment off the battlefield? Control. Clerics keeping the group alive and casting spells like Bless? Leader. And any character who's optimized for damage, especially spiked damage? Striker. I think the big thing that happened in 5E that makes people think roles are gone is what they did to the fighter: the defender options have been lessened a lot and the class now is back to doing more damage. The thing is, the defender role is something that a lot of different classes can do now if they use the right feats. But the high hit point and AC character being a meat shield? Still there. So yeah, don't agree with pretty much anything you wrote, other than how it's all about the characters and a good story. We can agree there. [/QUOTE]
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