User:Majorminor50
ROUGH DRAFT:
Party Composition:
In Baldurs Gate 3, a party is made of 2 or more characters. The upper limit of characters in a party is 4.
To be clear, it is not required to think about Party Composition in order to play the game. Thinking of what characters are within your party can help a player understand what their characters are capable of, identify strengths and weaknesses, and overall help one better understand how the party interacts with the game and one another as a whole.
Part of discussing Party Composition requires talking about what a characters "role" is within a given party.
Characters can fill specific roles within said party based on a variety of factors such as class, items, playstyle, role play potential and ability scores.
Roles are just one way of viewing how a party is comprised and built. Many classes and characters can often fulfill multiple roles within their party. Overlap can and will occur depending on how the character or player chooses to play, how they level up, the class, race and other factors can all contribute to overall character diversity, their role and how those characters build a party.
Roles:
A role is in a general sense what your character is good at or can accomplish within a party. Just because your character might be "generally" good at something, does not mean you "have" to fulfill a particular role. Typically, your characters role can be broken down into 2 distinct areas. In Combat, and Outside of Combat.
| In Combat Roles | Out of Combat Roles |
|---|---|
| - What does your does your character do in a combat scenario? Do they hide in the bushes and attack from the shadows? Do they run head first into danger? Perhaps they cast spells to blast their enemies away, or instead buff allies. Many different factors, abilities, spells, items and other things can impact what your character "generally" gets up to during any given combat encounter. | - What does your character do when exploring the world? Are they learned in history of the region? Are they perceptive enough to see hidden clues? Do they have knowledge of Arcane Magic and able to utilize it when found? Do they have knowledge of lockpicking or perhaps are skilled with using magical items? Your party will encounter obstacles throughout your travels and depending on how you want to approach those obstacles, particular characters might be better (or worse) at overcoming them. |
Factors that Affect Roles
Ability Scores
A characters ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma) play a vital role in not just character creation, but the role your character could play. A character who has a large amount of strength might focus on dealing damage with melee weapons. A character with high Charisma might focus on conversations or buying and selling items to merchants (the "face" of the party). A character with high intelligence might perform certain ability checks
Class
Certain classes receive innate proficiencies with particular skills and weapons. Additionally, classes have many differences in regards to the actions and spells they might have access to, impacting what they might do both in and out of combat.
Race
Your race can impact a variety of things, such as the proficiencies you acquire (Weapons, Armor, Skills), starting Attributes (Humans receive +1 to every attribute to start) and more thematically, race can change how the world of the Forgotten Realms perceives you (A Drow character might be met with suspicion while a Halfing might be welcomed into a tavern or inn more easily)
Role Play
Regardless of class, race, even ability scores, what you want your character to do, feel and react to in the world around them will impact what role they might be playing with a party or game.
Would you like your character to be the know it all who jumps at the chance to explain an important detail? Or perhaps the lovable buffoon who fights on the frontline to protect their friends from harm? How you choose to play your character can impact the role that you fulfill.
Out of Combat Roles
Outside of combat, generally speaking, your character or party will encounter other people, races, scenarios and other events that allow you to flesh out your character and the actions they would take given the scenario.
A characters out of combat role varies greatly depending on the person playing them. While the factors noted above will still impact your Out of Combat Role, for the most part, any character can attempt to fulfill any out of combat role. The factors noted above will instead help determine how "good" or "bad" a particular character might be at any given task.
For Example:
The party below is investigating a creepy dungeon.
Tav 1: Barbarian - Stats - 17/10/16/8/10/10
Tav 2: Rogue - Stats - 10/16/14/12/10/10
Tav 3: Wizard - Stats - 8/14/14/17/10/10
Tav 4: Bard - Stats - 8/16/14/10/10/16
(Strength/Dexterity/Constitution/Intelligence/Wisdom/Charisma)
The door to the dungeon is locked. In order to find a way into the dungeon, they could break in (lock pick), use some magical means of opening the door, break the door down, or perhaps persuade a local into giving them the key.
-The Rogue, with his high Dexterity, would stand the best chance of succeeding in lockpicking the door open.
-The Wizard might have a spell or would be more likely to succeed an Arcana Ability check on the door. Investigating it for magical influence.
-The Barbarian could perhaps try bashing the door down with his incredible Strength.
-The Bard could start up a conversation with a local who might know more about opening said door. His high Charisma will help with any persuasion, deception, or intimidation checks that might be needed in order to obtain the key.
How a party approaches different obstacles or choose to interact with the world around them will vary wildly. Characters outside of a "typical" class can also attempt those same actions.
Perhaps the Wizard is quite boastful and attempts to break the door down with his staff. Or the Bard, teasing the Rogue, tries his hand at lockpicking. Just because a particular character might be the "best" at any given task, doesn't mean that other characters can't attempt them. How you choose to play and how your characters play off one another and the world around them all contribute to a fun and enjoyable campaign.
In Combat Roles
Your In Combat Role is what your character excels at during battle. Generally speaking, this is determined by your class (and the spells and abilities associated and/or prepared for that day).
This is not to say that a particular class can ONLY fulfill that role, simply that certain classes (depending on spells and abilities) will tend to excel at fulfilling 1 or a few roles another.
| Roles | Purpose | Characteristics | Classes |
| Tank | A tank draws aggro (enemy aggression). A tank is characterized as being able to take a few hits, and drawing enemy attention away from allies through the use of abilities, spells or by simply play as close to the enemy as possible. | Generally speaking, a tank has a large HP (Health Points) pool so they can take a few hits and continue the fight. Spells and abilities that increase health (total amount) or cause enemies to target the character (Goad) are also common. | Fighter, Ranger, Barbarian, Paladin, Warlock, Druid |
| Striker/Blaster | A Striker is character who outputs large and or consistent amounts of damage, either single target or in an area of effect. Also can be known as a DPS (Damage Per Second) or in the case of turn based combat, Damage Per Turn. | A striker will often focus on increasing their most important stat for their class so that they can deal the most damage most consistently. | Fighter, Ranger, Barbarian, Paladin, Sorcerer, Wizard, Rogue, Warlock, Druid |
| Support | A support focuses on buffing (improving) allies and de-buffing enemies, typically through abilities or spells. | A Support will focus on having abilities and items that work to help and heal their allies. Spells such as Bless can improve your allies Attack rolls and Saving Throws | Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock, Paladin |
| Controller | A character who through their spells/abilities/playstyle focus on CC (Crowd Control) and/or controlling the pace of the fight itself. Often times this role overlaps with Support | A Controller focuses on spells and abilities that stop the movement or actions of the enemy. Spells such as Hold Person, Grease, Stinking Cloud can all cause debilitating effects on the enemy that reduce the amount of resources they have on their turn to use. | Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock |
Characters can and will fulfill multiple roles throughout any given game, and even combat to combat.
A Wizard, who can learn almost any spell as long as they have the scroll and the gold, can be as versatile as they wish. One day they could prepare many damage dealing spells (Fireball, Chromatic Orb, Witch Bolt) which might push them towards being a Striker.
Alternatively they could instead prepare spells that focus more on utility or buffing their allies (Jump, Haste, Enlarge) and focus more on being a Support.
Notes
Generally speaking, certain classes or characters might be "better" at fulfilling certain roles within a party, just because of how their class is built, what attributes work well with a given class, and what abilities or spells they have access to.
But any character, with enough thought put in, can fulfill almost any role.