Are there any blogs, wikis, magazine articles, etc that discuss and define adventurer party roles?  Roles like bricks, powerhouses, healers, etc?

Kerry

I came across a d20 derived game, Charles Rice's =9]Modern20 which uses adventurer party roles as character classes and was wondering how complete/comprehensive this was (it only has 6 classes), the following is excerpted from the Modern20 rule book:

Character Classes
Character classes represent your character's adventuring role. Powerhouse characters have the best Base Attack Bonus, while Speedfreak characters have the best Defense, Tank characters have the most hit points, Brainiacs the most skill points, Empaths the best all around saves and Stars the best Reputation.

Powerhouse
Powerhouse characters are the enforcers, those who specialize in taking the fight to their enemies. In many organizations, Powerhouse and Tank characters comprise the "front line", with Powerhouse characters specializing in expanding influence, while Tank characters specialize in protecting and consolidating any gains.

Speedfreak
Speedfreak characters are combat oriented, but use their high Defense and enhanced mobility to great effect, attacking where their opponents least expect it.

Tank
The Tank specializes in sucking up damage. He can take hits that would fell even other combat-oriented characters and come back for more.

Brainiac
Brainiac characters are thinkers. They are able to master more skill types than any other character class. Brainiac characters are not great fighters but they aren't completely useless in a fight either.

Empath
Empaths are always in touch with their surroundings, making them excellent healers and outdoorsmen. They also have the best saving throws of any class, because they are centered and calm in the face of dangers of all types.

Star
Stars live the good life. They may not be a "star" in the sense of a famous performer but wherever the Star works, he is, well, a Star.

Quote from: SirKerryPowerhouse characters have the best Base Attack Bonus, while Speedfreak characters have the best Defense, Tank characters have the most hit points, Brainiacs the most skill points, Empaths the best all around saves and Stars the best Reputation.

I think this is an example of how adventuring roles are likely to be very dependent on the system.

If there are ten different things that characters can be good at, then there are likely to be specialists in each of those ten things, and typical adventures are likely to require each of those ten things - making ten possible roles.

Of course the system can tend to combine two or more of these roles. For example perhaps characters with a high Strength might also tend to have a high Constitution and the ability to use better hand to hand weapons.

The adventures can also tend to combine these roles. For example, perhaps the main time you use Strength is in combat, and the only time you use the ability to have good hand to hand weapons is in combat. This would mean that there's no point having someone with the ability to use good weapons but low Strength, or vice versa, and that you'd tend to get characters with both, or neither.

Obviously if the system uses classes, this makes these roles more sharply distinct.

The problem with these categorisations is that they're all highly system-specific. For a system-independent list, one would be better off looking at not character abilities but the actual way players are playing those characters. I postulate the following non-exhaustive list:

-  Party Face. The guy who deals with NPCs, speaking for the entire party. Depending on system, might have high charismatic/diplomacy/haggling skills.

- Fighter. The guy who wades in and strikes (or shoots). Not much point in breaking it down into "high defense", "high attack", "flanker" etc. roles, since that's way too system-specific.

- Problem-solver. The guy who tries to figure out puzzles, collect clues and make logical deductions, and tries to come up ways to solve problems without a fight. Depending on system, would probably incorporate "skill monkeys", guys who solve problems via using in-game skills as opposed to player intelligence.

- Tagalong. The guy who just tags along and follows cue.

- Snake In Our Midst. The guy who always keeps causing trouble. You know the type, the one who always playes thief and steals and embezzles from the party, or the Chaotic Evil barbarian who picks fights with party members, usually all in the name of "just playing the character the way he would behave".

Quote from: PremierThe problem with these categorisations is that they're all highly system-specific. For a system-independent list, one would be better off looking at not character abilities but the actual way players are playing those characters. I postulate the following non-exhaustive list:

-  Party Face. The guy who deals with NPCs, speaking for the entire party. Depending on system, might have high charismatic/diplomacy/haggling skills.

Face

Quote- Fighter. The guy who wades in and strikes (or shoots). Not much point in breaking it down into "high defense", "high attack", "flanker" etc. roles, since that's way too system-specific.

B.A. Baracus

Quote- Problem-solver. The guy who tries to figure out puzzles, collect clues and make logical deductions, and tries to come up ways to solve problems without a fight. Depending on system, would probably incorporate "skill monkeys", guys who solve problems via using in-game skills as opposed to player intelligence.

Hannibal Smith

Quote- Tagalong. The guy who just tags along and follows cue.

Amy Amanda Allen / Tawnia Baker

Quote- Snake In Our Midst. The guy who always keeps causing trouble. You know the type, the one who always playes thief and steals and embezzles from the party, or the Chaotic Evil barbarian who picks fights with party members, usually all in the name of "just playing the character the way he would behave".

Mad Murdock