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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ashrym" data-source="post: 6507470" data-attributes="member: 6750235">It looks to me like you were stating the roles concept was reflective of 4e because you brought it up.  But that's not possible given 4e didn't exist.  4e does not pertain to the article, which clearly states the concepts of the roles from the earliest editions of the game.4e combat role designations do not cause roles in other editions to cease to exist simply because the those designations exist in 4e.  The only point that was being made was that roles existed outside of 4e and whether those were combat roles or not is irrelevant.  Roles existed in and out of combat. Examples I used with direct quotes were the healer role for clerics and front line combat specialists for barbarians.  Those are combat roles specifically mentioned as roles in that non-4e PHB.The only difference is in how 4e used more specific terms applied by class instead of letting players choose their roles.The article I quoted listed broad categories like I additionally listed for 5e.  More specific roles can be built within those more general roles.  How specific or general a role is also becomes irrelevant to the question of whether or not roles existed.  Existence is a binary answer; it's yes or no and in either general or specific roles it's still yes.Yes, role and function are synonymous and I'm not jumping to any conclusion.  Completely remove 4e from any discussion on it and those roles still existed in 3.5; 4e roles are extraneous information to the existence of roles within previous editions.  Clerics were healers and defensive specialists.  Bards did fit in as stealthy rascals easily enough."These characters can take the fight to the enemy fairly well, but they often do better with a more subtle approach to adventuring. They generally have skills that allow them to serve as a party's eyes and ears. These characters also often have interaction skills that make them the most able negotiators in a party, which can prove handy when combat doesn't seem the best option."These are roles bard did -- social interaction / face, possibly scout, information gathering, healing.  Bards were one of the best sources of information in the edition with the combination of social skills, knowledge skills, and divination spells.  A class's roles depended on the players' choices in which roles towards which they would build but still existed in those choices.</blockquote>

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