Designing 4ever: Stealing the Combat Roles of D&D 4e

Expected read time: about 5 minutes

Next up for discussion here as we work on Project 4ever is D&D 4e’s heavy emphasis on combat roles! 

Even if you aren't familiar with the exact terms 4e uses, you’ve probably heard similar descriptions of these roles in the genre of video games, particularly MMO’s like World of Warcraft. It's true that the designers if 4e did look to video games for inspiration, but that's hardly the insult that some of 4e’s critics accuse. 

In a paraphrase of one of Matt Coleville’s recent videos, tabletop RPGs and video games grew up together! They've been influencing each other for decades, and that's a great thing.

In any case, let's dig into the four combat roles of 4e’s character classes: Defender, Leader, Striker, and Controller.

Defender

Yes, this is the “tank”. With high defenses and the ability to lock enemies down, these are the classes that define the party’s front line and do their utmost to keep the enemies’ attention on them, rather than the squishier companions.

The Fighter’s the most well-known of these, but the title of Defender is also claimed by Battleminds, Paladins, Swordmages, and Wardens. All excel at staying alive and dishing out respectable damage, but they do so in different ways, as their particular abilities come from different power sources. 

As a Martial Defender, the Fighter proves itself a real threat on the battlefield, making sure enemies know that it won't stand for being ignored. Every time the Fighter attacks, it gets to Mark its target, which is a mechanical term for getting in the enemy’s face and saying, “Eyes on me, or you’ll regret it.” Indeed, if the Marked enemy ignores the Fighter and tries to attack a weaker ally, it gets a penalty on the attack roll and the Fighter gets a free smack at it. 

We’ll delve more into the specific features of 4ever Fighters in another article, but know that we're stealing that “Marked” mechanic pretty much wholesale; every 4ever Defender class has a way of Marking enemies and enforcing that Mark, each in accordance with the power source it draws from.

Leader

Every party needs a healer of some sort, right? The iconic Leader, the Cleric, comes kitted with many support and healing spells to keep their companions in the fight and hitting hard, but there are other classes that fill the role as well: Ardents, Artificers, Bards, Shamans, and Warlords are all capable of healing their friends’ wounds and inspiring them to win the battle.

One of the best things about 4e is that, while Leaders tend to deal less damage than other roles, they aren't only using their turns to heal the other characters. Many of the spells, features, and abilities of 4e allowed Leaders to make attacks and support the part at the same time!

We're stealing quite a bit of 4e in our design of 4ever Leader classes. For one, every Leader has a feature that lets them do some healing as a bonus action, and it doesn't rely on spell slots. Even the Warlord, the Martial Leader, can get a dying companion back on their feet with just an inspiring word. 

There are discussions to be had about game balance and “yo-yo” healing and quantity of hit points healed. We're doing our best to consider all these things from every angle that we can, but so far it's all looking good. In another article we’ll get into Healing Surges and Hit Dice and daily pools of healing. Make sure you're subscribed to the newsletter so you can be notified when that article drops!

Striker

So while the Defender’s drawing monster attacks, the Striker lays down the hurt. DPS, or DPR, this is the role that deals heavy single-target damage to priority targets.

It’s easy to imagine the Rogue, one of the Martial Strikers, fighting dirty to find an opening and deal that sweet Sneak Attack damage, but there are many other Strikers to choose from as well, each one with its own spin on taking out troublesome enemies: Avengers, Barbarians, Monks, Rangers, Sorcerers, and Warlocks are all outstanding Strikers.

With high damage tends to come low defense, and so Strikers do best when paired with a reliable Defender to keep the heat off of them. Melee Strikers enjoy having a buddy to Flank enemies with, and ranged Strikers appreciate having a meat shield between them and the enemy.

An intentional part of our 4ever design is that some classes will simply be capable of higher damage than others. The Striker classes will have features that elevate their potential damage output above the others. A Sorcerer, being an Arcane Striker, will for the most part have spells that deal higher damage than those available to the Wizard—though the Wizard, being a Controller, will have other advantages.

Let’s take a look at those, shall we?

Controller

The last class combat role is one of the trickiest to play—which is fitting, as its primary example is the Wizard. This role (which includes Druids, Invokers, Psions, Seekers, and sometimes Rangers) tend to have abilities that deny enemy actions. As such, they’re masters of inflicting debilitating conditions. They also have the most easily accessible area-of-effect spells and attacks, for the purpose of wiping out hordes of low-hp targets.

Most of the Controller classes are spellcasters, and so their methods of controlling the battle will rely on their spell selection. A Wizard could focus on Enchantment or Illusion spells to undermine their enemies’ ability to fight properly, while another Wizard might prefer explosive Evocation spells that deal damage to multiple creatures at once.

As usual, each Controller class in Project 4ever will do their job a bit differently from the others, depending on the power source of the class, as well as be able to lean into secondary roles more easily. Arcane classes all tend to have Controller elements, for example, while even a Divine Controller such as the Invoker will have access to some Leader abilities.

Wrapping it Up

So that’s the introduction to combat roles and how we intend to use them in Project 4ever! Do you have a preferred role? Want to know how your favorite class will approach its role? Ask away in the comments!

We’ve spent a lot of time and text on setting up broad expectations for how these 4ever classes will function. But the next article? We’re going to dig deep into the first five levels of the Fighter class! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss when it drops!

As usual, a shoutout to any Spanish speakers out there. If you’re interested in getting content in Spanish, or have gamer friends that might benefit, let us know! I will happily do my best to translate everything we do into Spanish, and I certainly want to, but it’ll be easier to make that a priority if I hear that the community actually wants it.

And that’s all! Happy gaming, and see you in the Archives!