Party

Don't you know, you never split the party.
Clerics in the back keep those fighters hale and hearty.
The wizard in the middle, where he can shed some light,
And you never let that damn thief out of sight.

- Emerald Rose, "Never Split The Party"

A party, in the context of role-playing games, is a group of player characters working together. Generally, given a group of players, one will be the GM/DM/ST/Aedile, and the other players will take control of the player characters in a party. A party does not need to contain solely Player Characters, and various NPCs may or may not join the party, at the GM's discretion, when the plot demands it, or when players get goofy.

Never split the party. I'm serious, man, it's a bad idea.

Character Roles

As so often with most stories that we know and love as the roleplayers we are, PCs often fit into different roles in the party both inside and outside of combat. This can be planned out before the game starts ("okay, I'll play a melee tanky character so you can get some room while preparing your spells."), to a naturally developed synergy in the party ("Your character is very heroic and has all the good plans - Only natural you be the leader!"), to a party that completely ditches any kinds of tropes and roles and just does whatever the hell they feel like. As a matter of fact, any group will often end up being unique in its own way unless the players are truly devoid of any kind of strategic planning or imagination, or if they play as example characters from the rulebooks... But who does that anyway?

There are, as mentioned, two kinds of roles: What role your character takes in combat (the crunchy role), and what role your character takes during social encounters (the fluffy role).

Crunchy Roles

• The Brick: A big solid wall of "No, you can't", this dude is often a barbarian, fighter or similar, who is build to withstand large amounts of damage and deal them back in kind. The party can always rely on him to do well in battle and take the biggest load off the others' backs, but the Brick is often a bit weak on the fluffy part. Bricks rule dungeon-crawl games. A moderate amount of crossover with both the tank and Berserker as, if one was to chart it out, the Brick would be where the two roles met.
  • The Mover and Shaker An offshoot of the Brick, the Mover and Shaker has a slightly different focus from the Brick, rather then just hitting stuff and drawing the odd hit, there job is to forcefully throw the enemy about into positions where their allies can do the most amount of damage. Not especially effective on there own Movers and Shakers require a massive amount of team work. The most effective method of using this particular off-shoot of the Brick is to Bull-Rush opponents through a hallway of allies who all get their Attacks of Opportunity off as the enemy flies past. The only way to make this a real Damage dealer is to take the 3.5 Fighter archetype, the Dungeon Crasher, which allows for you to deal serious damage by bull Rushing an opponent into a solid object (4d6 + Double STR at lvl 2, 8d6 +triple STR at lvl 6), or if your DM allows you to Bull Rush enemies into the air letting gravity do its work.

• The Berserker: No, not that one. His focus is simple - Get in a fight and kill what can be killed, regardless of damage done to him. Damage is of most importance to the Berserker, so expect him to flail around with as many and as heavy weapons he can find. Barbarian-equivalents are made to be Berserkers, but other characters, like Sorcerer-likes can do it too through how much magic they can spew through their fingers. Due to the focus on damage they tend to be some what glassy, not to the extent of the Nukers but notable softer then Bricks or Tanks.
  • The Masochist: Characters who mechanically fight better the more damage they take. The low the health, the higher their damage output. Not all systems have the ability to run a character like this and they're more common in video games but they work well as "guided Missiles", point them in the right direction and watch them paint the town red.

• The Tank:Berserkers hit stuff, Bricks hit stuff and get hit, Tanks are all about getting hit. The Tank's job is to make sure the enemy does not get into the back lines so that the Nukers, Supports, and Nerfers can do their thing. Bricks can do this as well, but Tanks focus exclusively on this role, often they may even have some mechanical way to make the enemy have to hit attack them, often called "Taunts" from WoW, so the the enemy has to focus on them allowing the other party members the ability to do damage safely.

• The Maxim: The Maxim (machine gun), also known as the DPS, does not do much damage but does it rapidly. Where a Nuker does a lot of damage in a big "blast" a Maxim will chip an enemy down over time. Maxim's advantage is that they rarely overkill a target, meaning they rarely have to kill a 5 hit point crab with a fireball because all they have are fire balls. the downside is of course that while they make take a target down eventually, they're not going down as soon as the Maxim decided they want to kill them.

• The Nuke: If you have ever played WoW, then this will sound familiar to you - Do as much damage as possible as fast as possible from as long range as possible. Though this might sound a bit like the Berserker, there is a few key differences, most notably, that the Nuke wants to stay as far away as humanly (or elfishly/dwarfishly/orcily/etc.) as possible from the enemy while doing it, and certainly wants to stay alive through a fight rather than go down bleeding. Nukes usually prepare for a very long time before doing their magic, but when they finally get to it, the enemy will know that they are dead already. Often Mages and other magical characters, but ranged characters like Riflemen and Snipers do the same as well.
  • The Bombardier/The Smart bomb:The Bombardier focus on dealing damage to groups, typically they do lowish damage but make it up by hitting many targets. the Smart bomb on the other hand does high damage but only does it to one or two targets. It's the difference between doing ten damage to ten targets, or doing 100 damage to one target. Both are useful but in different ways and a wise Nuker makes sure to cover his bases with a bit of both, but some situation may demand focusing down one style in expense of the other. Some times a Nuker can chose which role he will do in given day or he can pick a mix of both.

• The Support: The Support might have the most boring job of all the roles on this list, but he might just be the most vital - The Support simply makes sure that what the other PCs can't do, he will make sure they can when they need to. That dude can't take that hit? Here, have an armour buff. We are outnumbered? Summoning some magical creature. You hurt? Here, have some healing. This way, the Support is what keeps the pain train chugging along, even if things go bad on the party. Often mages and priests, along with healers and certain warrior-types - Actually, thinking about it, pretty much anyone can be made into a Support, as long as they have something to give the other PCs something to boost them. Love your Support, ladies and gentlemen - He is the life of the party.
  • The General A normal support supports the people in the party, The General is a character who supports the party by summoning small armies from the ether, whether Necromancers, Druids, Summoners or Wizards, to augment his allies numbers. This party member will cause initiative slow down, and can be identified by the sheer amount of creature sheets he carries around. With the right feat selections and Summons he can create his own Brick Walls and Berserkers, so if you really want to play one, let the players who chose those particular aspects have some time in the spotlight, before bringing down the hammer. Generals are very useful in a small party because if a General can summon two allies in a party of three he has created a 66% increase in numbers. However in Larger parties Generals become mediocre as the number of minions they can summon have less of a total impact.
  • The Whetstone/Medic/Armorsmith: Each of these roles are variants of the things a normal support does, only they do one of the tasks of a support to the exclusion of the others. A whetstone focus on buffing the party's damage and works well with a party of Tanks and Bricks that can take a hit but not return on the damage they take. A Medic has nothing but heals and works well, again, with tanks and bricks as he can fix up the chip damage they may take as well as Berserker and Nukes whose lower health need "fill ups" often to keep them out of the red. An armor smith however focus on defensive buffs that make taking damage harder. They work well with glass cannon classes like Nukes and Berserkers, or they can work with tanks and bricks to make them even harder.

• The Nerfer: The direct opposite of the Support: Where the Support takes your mediocre PCs and plates them with titanium and gold, the Nerfer takes the enemy troops and slaps them so hard over the face they lose all hope of doing anything to threaten the party. By removing any strength the enemy have and making them easier to deal with for the rest of the party, the Nerfer is about as powerful as the Support, albeit in another way. Nerfers can be sorcerers, mages, rogues and other characters who excel at making the enemy weaker and easier to chew. The Nerfer is also dangerous as all hell to the party itself - If you ever make a Nerfer pissed, he or she might just spill some "screw you" into your cup as well. In fact, some players might even use the capabilities of the Nerfer to manipulate the rest of the party into doing what he or she wants them to. Fear your Nerfer, ladies and gentlemen - He can be the death of the party.
  • The Engineer: A subset of Nerfer is the Engineer who does his work before the battle to make the fight easy. This is the guy who can and will dig a Punji stick trap, in front of a fake loot chest, in the middle of a grassy field, that is filled with bear traps. While less flexible then a regular Nerfer if they can pick the place of the engagement they can be devastating as the enemy sets off a rube goldberg machine of traps magical and mundane. As along as thing go Just as planned for him, things will go not as planed for the enemy.
  • The Mute Button: a unique sub sect of Nerfer, the Mute button focus on Silences. IN WoW terminology a "silenced target" is unable to cast spell. The Mute Button takes the concept farther and rather then directly nerfing an enemy, makes them unable to even preform an action. It's the difference between dulling a sword, and taking it away. Mute Buttons don't just effect single enemy's, but groups of them as they can prevent the calling of reinforcements or take away the ability to retreat. Any party going for a sneaking approach would be wise to include a Mute Button as a way to "turn off" an enemy ability to raise the alert. Mute Buttons also focus in counter spells, they're basically big "No you can't" devices.
  • DOTer: The Damage Over Timer-er,is similar to a nuker only instead of doing 50 damage at once they do five damage per turn, for ten turn. DOTers slowly grind an enemy down. Classes that have DOT's often also tend to get proper Nerfs as there is a connection between a Curse of slowness and a Curse of damage. DOTers rarely have the damage to finish a target off but they can help an ally by giving them just a little more damage to knock a target out. Proper nerfers reduce an enemy's ability to fight,a DOTer removes an enemy's life, slowly. DOTers also include classes that use poison or other "slow kills".

• The Cheerleader: The usual role-playing party is composed of people with arts in the ways of battle and warfare. They are used to fighting for their lives, their beliefs or for something else they deem more important than their well being. They go outside the norm and take up the sword to make a change, changing what they can't and fighting those who stand against them. But, not everyone can be warriors and heroes - They might not have the power to fight for something they believe in, but that doesn't mean they might not have the courage to stand up anyway and do what they feel must be done. He might have been a scholar who have lived his entire life reading and learning, but now, when the daemons of the Infernal Plane are invading, choose to do something with his life and join a party of heroes out to send the infernal creatures back. He might not be able to kill or protect, but he can still be of worth something with his own particular set of skills.

TL:DR: A character who are worth shit in combat. He might simply be weaker than the other character, but is often a more intellectual or social character who simply just isn't proficient with weaponry and fighting. Parties react very differently to Cheerleaders - Some see the role-playing-potential in the character and chose to defend the poor sod when problems arise, while others see the usefulness of a Cheerleader as a diversion. Suffice to say, the Cheerleaders can be burdens to the team if not played right, and and if played right, the party will hate your character while not wanting to kill him or her off - Both because the character is well played and because the character has significance to the party in other areas than fighting. Other party members may find them selves temporary turned into cheerleaders, either at the hands of a hostile Nerfer or (in the case of the nuker) running of ammunition, magical or regular.

• The Mosquito: Let's say your party doesn't have a Brick wall, and all of your "Berserker" and "Nuke" needs are fulfilled with spell casters taking those roles, spell casting can be a slow process and in the case of concentration spells can eat away at the casters actions, that's where the Mosquito comes in, the Mosquito is a wall who rather than being a single solid point that nobody can get past, moves about at such a speed he threatens all the enemies while avoiding retribution. Normally this role is fulfilled by Rogues who specialize in Tumbling/Acrobatics or TWF Rangers who 5-foot step all over the god-damned place. Not often seen due to the nature of cliched party dynamics, these guys can be fun to play if you like describing flips, tricks and swashbuckling. Normally played by Bards, Monks, Rangers, Rogues, Gunslingers (PF), Alchemists (PF) and Magus's (PF)

• The Counter/Specialist: The Counter and Specialist are different from the other roles because they are often adventure specific. Facing Demons? bring an anti Demon Specialist. A campaign involves facing an evil cult? Counter it with a guy loaded up with spells that only harm the wicked. Adventure in the wilds? a tracker wouldn't be a bad bet. Pirate hunting? Looks like a job for Aquaman. etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. While playing a Specialist can be fun, it does have some draw backs. Namely that if the situation goes out side of your speciality then you may become a less effective version of a more general class, or worse a Cheerleader. On the other hand the Specialist may be so useful in his speciality that the moments he's useless would be worth what he can do when he's in his element.

• The Insurance: So your party has a "Support", a "Nuke", and a "Nerfer", and a "Brick" and/or "Berserker", sounds like a solid party, should win most fights no problem. Gasp! A beholder with with the compound eye template!! More than likely 2 if not 3 of your players just became cheerleaders! That's where you step in, with your ability to do a little bit of every bodies job! The Insurance can take many forms, but they all require the ability to think quickly and adapt to any situation. You might not take as hard a hit as a Brick, you might not be able to stand toe to toe and dish damage like a Beserker, and your ranged abilities will never truly compare to the Nuke, you have the one thing that they all lack, versatility. Through liberal usage of tricks and combat applications of skills, you manage to supplement any other role in the party. Usually this is filled in by Artificers, UMD Rogues, or Bards, however it is in theory possible with any class. Possibly also known as "Jake from State Farm" or if you play video games, The Mario.

• The Mutt: Mutts combine two or more of the above roles (and prevent us from having endless roles between roles). A few common mutts are listed bellow
  • The Red Mage::combines the ability of a Support, typically the healing, with a Nukes damage.
  • The Paladin:Combines the ability of a Support, typically the healing, with either a brick, Berserker, or Tank. They provide self synergy and can work well on their own if they can self heal.
  • The black Knight:Combines the ability of a Nerfer with either a brick, Berserker, or Tank. They provide self synergy and can work well on their own as they are very flexible.
  • The Yin/Yang bomb: A combination Nerfer and Support.

• The Thor: That one guy who has minmaxed his character into being an overpowered abomination. on the other hand if your in a Killer GM game you may need one or more Thors. But be careful: He who fights monsters . . .

*** More to come - Please add if you have ideas! ***

Fluffy Roles

unlike the crunchy roles Fluffy roles are based a lot more on what the character the player is playing, is. Players doing the "The Drifter' archetype may become Hawks, while players doing a "Dashing rogue" type will gravitate to becoming the face.

• The Face: You know it, you love it. Faces are the stereotypical charming, classy, and urbane characters, with good negotiating skills, and the lots of drink-buying for buttering people up. Demands heavy roleplay investment, since no one wants to just announce they're being charming and roll a skill. Some Faces also make heavy use of blackmail along with the charm. Probably the most likely role to get laid without paying for it, though it's rarely as good an idea as one thinks.
  • The Merchant: some body needs to sell off all the loot you find but don't want, and that role falls to the Merchant. Typically they are Faces Or Diplomats since there is overlap in the skill sets, namely convincing people to see things your way. They may also fit the role of an Artisan as the can give similar items to the party, at a cost yes, but less than if your barbarian had attempted to negotiate for them.

• The Diplomat: There's some overlap here with the Face, but less than you'd think. If the Face uses charm, flattery, and negotiation to get his or her way, the Diplomat uses reason and patience to try to mediate a solution. Think the difference between a rhetorician and a lecturer, or between a chaotic and lawful approach to the same problem. Requires patience and willpower on the part of the player, as well as a cool head under pressure and an ability to identify when reason just isn't going to work. Every diplomat needs to know when to try talking things out, and when to switch to threats of force to get everyone's attention.

• The Muscle: Sometimes, negotiations can go better when there's a big beefy guy standing behind the negotiator looking tough. The Muscle is the unspoken threat that keeps everyone's mind on the problem at hand. That's not to say he can't participate: challenging a particular problem to a duel is a great way to help make it go away, and the Muscle can figuratively smash through political combat with bluff, endearing earnestness.

• The Hawk: If there's ever a role that overlaps heavily with others, it's this one. The Hawk looks over everyone involved in the conversation like Sherlock Holmes, gauging their reactions for tells and checking to see what else is going on in the room. If someone's slipping notes, he sees who and why. If someone leans over to whisper in the lord's ear, the Hawk reads their lips. Very much a support role, and a specialized one at that. Lots of parties do without a Hawk, making the Face or the Diplomat cross-train in the role, but it still needs to be filled. Hardest part is knowing when to ask the DM for a skill test and when you're just wasting everyone's time.

• The Wallflower: There's always that one guy. Maybe he's just here to stab stuff, and all this talking just isn't really his thing. Maybe she just always seems to get swept along in other people's plans. Maybe the player's new and worried about messing up. Heck, maybe they just don't fit into any of the other roles and don't want to get underfoot. Any way you slice it, the Wallflower is a non-factor in social interactions. There's nothing wrong with this, per se, so long as they aren't getting bored. If they are, giving them a little mini-interaction with a minor character can help draw them in even if they aren't having much of an impact on the outcome.

• The Shadow: At some point in almost any story, there comes a need for a distraction. The role can be covered by the Face, or the Diplomat, but sometimes they are the ones that need the distraction, so they can get past the guards and speak to the reclusive noble in peace. Or maybe they are distracting the noble so he doesn't notice as someone lifts the key from his belt. Where as the other types here are mostly visible, the Shadows job is to be un-noticed, even when doing something very noticeable. The shadow works best with partners, even if those partners are in the next building. The shadow may also be a Wallflower in situations that have no need for this level of subterfuge.

• The Librarian These guys are the epitome of "Take a look, it's in a book", in the deep dark facing off against something indescribable, this guy knows what it is, a mechanical monstrosity mauling mulling villagers, this guys knows where its weak point is, stuck outside of a castle by an insurmountable wall, this guy knows which brick to remove to bring that wall crumbling down, put simply, if you need to know it, these guys know it. May be some overlap with "The Artisan" as both knowledge/linguistics and Craft/Appraise rely on heavy INT scores, and Wizards usually grab a bunch of Item creation feats if they expect downtime, play as a Bard or Archivist (Bard archetype PF) if you want to explain important plot knowledge via song.

• The Artisan Need a belt of Giant's Strength +4 in hurry, this guy's got you covered, want a bunch of goods you found in an ancient ruin valued so that you don't get stiffed by some unscrupulous merchant, he's got his tiny eyeglasses ready. If you need something physical this guy is who you go to, and if he can't craft it, then it was probably too overpowered for your level. A great saving on any party's coinpurse, just remember that item creation feats take up the place of survivability feats so this guy may end up being a cheerleader in combat.

*** More to come, please add more if you have ideas! ***

See Also

• Murder hobos
• Gamemaster the guy the party have to deal with.

External Links

• Never Split The Party, a filk song about a group that splits the party and runs into trouble.