Unless you are playing alone, you are with a group on your adventures. So hopefully your group can choose abilities that help and play off each other. When creating characters there is two main options. One go it alone and hope you can blend well with your group or you can coordinate with your group and get the most from each other. There are four main roles for a group. They can be taken by more than one person or one person can take more than one roles. Starting out if you have the party size its better to have at least specialized party members and branch off from there. Here are a few questions to ask yourself and the group.
1. Who is the “Mouth”?
The “Mouth” is responsible for shopping, finding adventures, negotiating, and generally speaking for the party. When your party leaves out for whatever adventure there are different responsibilities. First is shopping. If you are just starting out or returning from and adventure, there is shopping to be done. The person who has the highest negotiating skills should be the one who does this. Have your group give you a shopping list of what they want. This also helps your DM, they don’t have to spend the extra time with each player at the same shop and get you back to the story. Basic shopping is equipment, food/water, and transportation.
Next is finding adventures. Sometimes adventures fall into your lap sometimes you have to find them. Convincing a leader of the town your party is better than another to take on the task, or asking the locals of any problems that need solved are both best done by the “Mouth”. This again helps the DM by getting you from point A to point B. Chances are your DM has a story. And even though “a guy walks up/a note shows up/Excuse me can you help” is fun, the party also needs to take the initiative sometime.
During the adventures there are times when other people need to be convinced to do or not to do things. “Please don’t eat us!” Or “You don’t need to see our papers.” Or “We can return the lost piece to the wall.” During those times you want the best to get this accomplished.
Last role for the “Mouth” is speaker of the party. They get the party the best price, the best rooms, out of trouble and into adventures…with the right rolls. When the Thief gets caught the mouth defends him. When the party needs directions the mouth asks for them. When the party needs someone to do something the mouth convinces them. This is the role of the “Mouth”
2. Who is the “Fist”?
The “Fist” is the main person the beats the enemies. Every party member can fight but the Fist is responsible of doing it the best. The main purpose is to get the enemies Hit Points to 0. The biggest thing the Fist should do is carry the basic weapon types. Different enemies can be damaged efficiently by different type of weapons. The fist should know which ones for which enemies.
Ranged weapon should also be carried. Yes the cool guy with a sword mowing down enemies is awesome, but that sword is useless if the enemy flies or is across a chasm.
Learn some tactics and teach them to your party. The Magic guy has spent his life learning how to bend reality not flanking maneuvers. Unless you are going it alone you will need your party. Trust me your steal sword attracts lightning, and chances are you can’t fly, and probably don’t regenerate or see the snare on the floor.
Last thing to remember not being dead is better then that killing blow. Killing is your job, but you can’t kill when you are dead. If it looks like you will die don’t do it.
When the party has an enemy…you kill it! When the party gets ambushed…you kill it! When the monsters are out of your power level, you get better…then you kill it!
3. Who is Magic?
Whether you are arcane or divine you are the “Magic”. You are also the knowledge of that. Chances are the rest of the party doesn’t know how to bend reality, so they won’t know what the different ingredients in the room are for but you will. They wont know what deity the monster worships but you will. The reasons why these are important is knowledge is power, if the room has the materials for a high level spell you can get and idea of what you are getting into. If the goblin has the emblem of Skittles the Merciful Pacifist on his shirt you probably don’t have to fight him…or he stole it, then meh.
As the divine you are probably the healer. If the party is holding their own then you are your deity’s middle finger on the battlefield. Aside of the buffs that you can give yourself and the party or the undead repellent that you become, you still hold you own with you weapon. Just remember like the Fist keep it smart, dead divine can’t worship or do their deity’s will. But primarily a healer, bad dice rolls, stupid traps, and monsters will keep you very busy. When things do not seem right…the magic steps in. When reality needs bending…the magic steps in. When the monsters start getting the upper hand…the magic steps in.
4. Who is the Rouge?
So many shiny things in this world. Either you take them or someone else does. Your role is to get past all the things that keep you from your prize. Most of the time you don’t want to get caught. The reason is for retaliation. Keep it quiet, keep them blind, kill them quick, get past the traps and locks…profit. Simple but not easy. Even though you can be replaced with some healing and a hammer you make it look good and little retaliation. Yours is not the direct route. When the path is blocked you find a way around, under, or over.
You can deal great amount of damage but under the right conditions. Just get into those conditions as quickly and as much as you can. You have a lot of skills you can use, start simple and branch out. Don’t forget you can use magic items without know how to use magic items, stock up on ones that will help you and sell the rest. If it doesn’t help you get rid of it. Do not use you skills on party members. It breeds mistrust on both sides, and you are going to need the healing when your finger slips while disarming traps, and the other fighter to get you favorable conditions in fight.
Depending on the party size there can be many of these roles or party members doubling up. But as long as you have these four covered you should be able to overcome any obstacle. Start small and work your way out. Keep to your role. Keep it simple. And my the dice be favorable.
