Party Archetypes
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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). On top of this, there's also the role the character takes socially within the group (the social role)
This list is kept on a separate page to keep the Party page clean, and to allow anyone to edit all their poorly/awesome stereotypes free from anything that actually matters.
Combat Roles
- Meatshield: They take hits for the rest of the party, and can dish it back out as well. Occasionally they may have ways to force enemies to target them exclusively, or may focus more on evading attacks instead of taking them.
- Berserker: Similar to the class of the same name. They do a lot of melee damage, but their reckless fighting styles often put them at risk for self-inflicted damage or reduce their ability to hit foes. In a pinch, they can substitute for a meatshield since they tend to have a lot of health as well.
- DPS Their main goal is to deal damage. Depending on the specific character, this can be from close or long range, or tailored towards dealing either a whole lot of damage at once (also known as "Nukers") or a small but constant amount of damage over an extended period of time. However, they usually can't take many hits themselves and need a meatshield to hide behind.
- Support: They make your PCs stronger for a short time via buffs, keep them healed, and/or provide them with the stuff they need to get shit done.
- Nerfer The direct opposite of the Support; instead of helping allies, they weaken enemies using traps, debuffs, and so on.
- Cheerleader: Everyone who can't fight to save their lives.
- Burglar: If you've read the Hobbit the name should clue you into what this guy does. It's not just about stealing, the Burglar does all the miscellaneous things that need sneakiness, from stealing to assassination.
- Counter/Specialist: Good against one type of enemy, bad against everything else.
- Insurance: A jack of all trades, yet master of none. They can do something of everything, albeit not quite as well as a dedicated role can.
- Mutt: Any combination of the above roles. Common ones include Support/Nerfer and Meatshield/Berserker.
Non-combat Roles
- Face: The guy who does the most talking, and the "face" of the party to the rest of society. Charm, negotiation, diplomacy, and all other people skills are what they do best.
- Muscle: Sometimes, negotiations can go better when there's a big beefy guy standing behind the negotiator looking and tough. That's where the Muscle comes in.
- Hawk: The most perceptive member of the party who's always watching for something that seems off. Usually makes a good detective or investigator.
- Wallflower: The one who's just...there and doesn't seem to do much to get anybody's attention.
- Shadow: The sneaky guy who always finds a way to be beneath notice.
- Pet Psycho/Dogooder: His main gimmick is being the opposite alignment from everybody else in the party.
- Librarian" The party geek. Good at finding and using obscure information, but you shouldn't expect him to pull his weight in a fight unless he's a magic user.
- Artisan He's good at crafting stuff. Ask him to make you that fancy Belt of Giant's Strength +4, but don't get on his bad side or you might get a Girdle of Opposite Sex instead.
- DMPC
Story Roles
- Knight in Shining Armor: The textbook good guy, always willing to sally forth and slay evil. His naivete can backfire on him on occasion, however- and he may be in for a nasty shock if it turns out that the world isn't as black and white as he thinks it is.
- Charming Rogue: Coin and cleavage are the sole motivations of this character, but he has a knack for charming the pants off people even as he picks their pockets.
- Seeker: Knowledge is power for this character, and he's always looking to learn more. That doesn't mean he can always handle what he learns, though.
- Wanderer: This character just wants to see the world, and doesn't like to stay in one place for too long if he has a choice.
- Mercenary: Money is all that matters to him, even more so than the Charming Rogue. This also means his loyalty will inevitably be sold to the highest bidder.
- Murderhobo: He's just here to kill thing things and take their loot. There is no such thing as collateral damage to them.
- Fish out of Water: This guy isn't native to the setting, either because he's a foreigner, from a different time, or even another world. Naturally he hasn't a clue what the hell is going on. Some of them may try to introduce their technology into the setting a la "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". A good DM will stop him before he can ruin the setting.
- Soldier His whole reason for existence is following orders, no matter how dangerous or arbitrary.
- Daddy Issues This character's parents played a big role in shaping who he is. Sometimes it's trying to live up to a parent's fame, other times it's their death or disappearance, but family issues almost certainly played a role in his reason for adventuring.
- Avenger: He's obsessed wih getting revenge, whether it's for the death of a loved one or the destruction of his home. Sometimes they can take it too far and become worse than whoever they want revenge against.
- Zealot: Mindless, all-consuming loyalty to an organization, ideal, or person is the main component of the character's personality. Expect conflicts within the party if they can't reconcile his fanaticism with their own goals in the event that they end up conflicting with one another.
- Lazy Ripoff: This character was directly copied from somewhere else. A punch in the face is the best way to deal with players who insist on using them.