The Forge Reference Project

 

Topic: Non-Combat 'Roles'
Started by: chronoplasm
Started on: 10/21/2010
Board: First Thoughts


On 10/21/2010 at 1:53am, chronoplasm wrote:
Non-Combat 'Roles'

If there's one thing I like about D&D 4E, it is the well defined and transparent roles in combat (defender, striker, leader, controller). They ensure that character has strong niche protection, and that every character is able to contribute to combat.
If there's one thing I dislike about D&D 4E, it is the lack of defined and transparent roles in non-combat encounters.

For my game Dwarfs: The Old World of Dwarfiness, I would like each character to have a non-combat role. I would like the non-combat roles to have some degree of parity with the combat roles. That said, now I need to brainstorm the roles.

Here's what I'm thinking so far...

Logistics
Logistics oriented characters coordinate efforts to acquire, track, and transport the party's resources (food, drink, weapons, treasure, etc.)
They may acquire resources in a variety of ways (trading, theft, salvage, hunting/gathering, charm...)
They may transport resources in a variety of ways (hirelings, draft animals, pack the party's bags...)
Just about every D&D campaign I've played in has had that one player with a head for this sort of thing (not me). He's the guy with the portable hole and the bag of holding. He's the guy who counts the party's gold on his calculator and gives everybody their share. He's the guy who writes down all the treasure the party found in the spider-monster's lair. He's the guy who pours through all the obscure books and their dense lists and tables, searching for the most optimal magic items to make the party more efficient.

Exploration
Exploration oriented characters scout ahead for routes and hazards. They find the path. They clear the path. They pick locks and disarm traps. They find secret doors and treasures. They look out for monsters.
Sometimes, this is the player who brings the gridded paper and maps out the dungeon.

Healing and Buffing
Healing and buffing characters are the clerics of the party. They patch people's wounds from the previous fight and prepare bolstering effects for the next fight. The whole party would die without the healer.

Now it's time to make these more dwarfy.

Logistics= Hoarder
Everybody loves treasure, but nobody piles up gold and jumps in it like dwarfs do. All dwarfs are greedy, but some dwarfs are so consumed by their greed that they make other dwarfs look like hoppits by comparison!
It's not just treasure either. Some hoarding dwarfs are obsessed with food and drink. Some hoarding dwarfs are obsessed with notes and receipts. Some hoarding dwarfs are even obsessed with keeping pets or prisoners.
Hoarding dwarfs guard the relics and the history of dwarfen society in both dark vaults and on contested trails. Hoarding dwarfs protect the treasures of the dwarf kings from the miserable goblins and their ilk. Hoarding dwarfs preserve the ancient artifacts until they must be activated once again.

Exploration= Digger
Diggers seek the secrets and the treasures of the world. They find fortune in the cthonic caverns and the derelict crypts. Some adventurous diggers even mine the trees above for the strange living stone that elfs call "woode". Diggers are the vanguards of dwarf society, ever pushing upward, downward, outward, and inward. They carve the paths to mystery and danger. They draw the maps that lead to knowledge and wealth and drink and women and men. They plunge the depths of earth and time and bring back shinies from the darkness.

Healing= Greybeard
Greybeards are the elders, priests, leaders, and counselors of dwarf society. Not all greybeards have literal beards (some beards grow on the inside) but they all have wisdom of the ages and also they are crotchety and mean so you have to listen to them or they will whip you with their beards! Greybeards forged the ancient relics of the golden age, and they can fix them up good as new. Greybeards gave you life, and they can give you life again for they brew the medicines of life eternal.

Okay, so now I need feedback:

Do these roles overlap too much, or not enough?
Do these roles seem interesting and relevant to a game about the adventures of fantasy dwarfs?
Do all of these roles seem fun and appealing, or do any of them seem boring and passive?

Message 30593#281285

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