The Myth of Party Roles in D&D 5E - Tabletop Builds (2024)

Author: Audere

There’s a lot of misinformation regarding party roles in 5E. For example, many people will tell you that a party needs a “tank” or “front-liner.” This is simply false. Actually, it is better for a party to simply play builds that they find fun, or if they really want to optimize, builds which each contribute many things at once. Earlier in the week, we posted The Two Problems with Tanks, and this article expands on that discussion.

“Tank” / “Front-liner” / “Melee”

This is the biggest and most egregious misconception. In many parties with “squishy casters,” people will say, “we need a front-liner! Maybe a Fighter or Barbarian?” The truth is that in 5E, tanking is not a big thing. Even with Sentinel, it’s easy for multiple enemies to move around a “front-liner,” who only has a single reaction with which to make an opportunity attack.

There are a couple true “tanking” mechanics in the game, such as the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian’s subclass abilities, but even these are generally not as strong from an optimization perspective as good old-fashioned battlefield control. It’s not that tanking is impossible in 5E; don’t worry, tank-lovers, there are build options that can fulfill your fantasy. It’s more so that tanks aren’t at all necessary, and the vast majority of the time when someone plays a “tank” it does not serve well as such in practice.

In fact, in 5E, there is a great benefit to having a party which is entirely ranged. Such a party can engage with melee-only enemies (which make up a huge proportion of the monsters in the game) without anybody in the party needing to walk up to where they can get hit.

The Myth of “Squishy Casters”

Casters in 5E need not be squishy. In fact, optimized casters tend to be significantly more durable than optimized martials.

The reasons for this are:

• Armor dips. Any caster can get access to medium armor and shields with no more than a single level dip, or sometimes a feat (Moderately Armored.)
• Wielding a shield. Most optimized martials don’t end up wielding a shield, because they use a glaive or halberd with Great Weapon Master or they use a hand crossbow with Crossbow Expert. Armor-dipped casters can rock a shield and a component pouch, or a shield and an arcane focus using the War Caster feat.
• The shield spell. +5 to AC for a round as a reaction is no joke. Optimized casters tend to sit on 19 base AC, 24 after shield. Sure, it’s possible to run out of shield slots, but is a caster who can get to 24 AC when it’s important really less durable than the Great Weapon Master Fighter who can’t?
• The Dodge action. Many casters contribute to combat primarily through their big concentration spell, and then can focus on keeping up that concentration, unlike a martial who has to Attack each round to contribute. For example, a Dodging Cleric concentrating on spirit guardians deals plenty of damage and has better defenses than just about any pure martial.

If we’re not talking about a high level of optimization, even the non armor-dipped Wizard is not much more squishy than the 18 AC Great Weapon Fighting Fighter! The Wizard’s d6 hit die only puts them back about 25% in maximum Hit Points, and the Wizard has 16-21 AC instead of 18.

“Healer”

Healing in 5E sucks.

Okay, sorry, that’s incorrect. Healing in 5E can be great. But it’s not at all like healing in an MMO. In 5E, efficient healing primarily takes two forms:

• Healing from 0 hit points to bring up an unconscious ally.
• Out of combat healing.

Neither of these are enough to constitute the full contribution of a player character. For the first, you just want healing word. For the second, there are some great combos like goodberry plus Life Domain’s Disciple of Life, but they don’t determine a build’s actions in combat.

Don’t expect to define your character around being a “healer.” It won’t be enough, and you can do much better. Instead, build a good character who also has access to useful healing abilities!

The prime example of this is the Cleric. Good Clerics in 5E are not really “healers“. Instead, they are durable front-line area of effect damage dealers and controllers, who primarily contribute in combat through spirit guardians, and deign to pick allies back up with healing word when appropriate.

“Face”

Having a party “face” is nice. However, like “healer,” this is hardly something to build an entire character around. It shouldn’t be any trouble at all to get someone with good Charisma. After all, many of the most powerful builds in the game are Charisma-based!

Bards, Paladins, Sorcerers, and Warlocks can all pick up Persuasion and be good at it, while being built primarily around other things.

“Scout”

“We need a Rogue to scout ahead and disarm traps!” the one says. Well, scouting ahead and disarming traps is nice, but you hardly need a Rogue for this. A Wizard, someone with the Ritual Caster feat, or a Warlock with the Book of Ancient Secrets can do just fine.

Find familiar is a better scout than any Rogue, and triggering traps from afar with unseen servant is generally safer than having a Rogue try to disarm it.

If you need to get past a locked door, well… anyone can have proficiency in thieves’ tools, or you could simply break down the door with fire bolt, or you could dismiss and resummon your familiar on the other side of the door to unlock it, or you could reduce the door, or any number of things.

“Utility Caster”

You may be noticing a theme here. Having utility is great, but there’s no reason to build a character around it as a role. A caster should be prepared to solve problems in and out of combat. Any Wizard can take great rituals like unseen servant, detect magic, find familiar, Leomund’s tiny hut, contact other plane, and Rary’s telepathic bond while preparing great combat spells like web, spells that are good in and out of combat like dimension door, and a couple useful utility spells like locate object.

Ultimately though, any caster can contribute great utility simply by being a caster with spells.

There are real things that are great to have in a party. They just don’t have to slot into discrete roles.

Control

This is one of the few party roles that is actually somewhat justified. When someone says, “we need a controller,” and then someone rolls up a controller, that is a positive for the table! Unlike when someone says “we need a front-liner.”

Control is a big force multiplier in 5E. If you don’t have at least one controller, it should be at the top of the list in terms of what would benefit the party most.

However, if you do play a controller, don’t let the role limit your thinking. If fireball would be good, take fireball. There’s no need to only do one thing in 5E.

Damage

Damage output is an important element of any party. It (usually) determines how quickly monsters go down. However, while damage-focused characters are plenty strong, there’s no need to concentrate damage as a job onto one or two strikers. Having two casters with Warlock dips for eldritch blast is more powerful than having one straight-classed caster and one pure martial.

Single Target Damage

This is the main form of damage in the game, great to have, and just about always useful.

AOE Damage

If a party has no sources of area of effect damage, someone should really consider taking fireball. Groups of enemies are at least as common in 5E as singular targets. Clerics fulfill this role excellently with spirit guardians.

Various Force Multipliers

Besides damage and control, there are lots of force multipliers in 5E that are great to have in an optimized party. However, there’s no need to concentrate them all onto a single “support” character; in fact, it’s usually best for multiple characters to have support aspects.

Initiative Bonuses

The two main sources of this are the Watchers Paladin’s Aura of the Sentinel and gift of alacrity. If accessing these is possible, they are definitely worth snatching up. Ask your DM about using Fey Touched to gain access to gift of alacrity. Initiative makes or breaks encounters, and bad initiative is a big party killer.

Saving Throw Bonuses

The big source of this is the Paladin’s Aura of Protection. Other sources include bless and the Peace Cleric’s Emboldening Bond. Aura of Protection in particular becomes more and more “mandatory” as the level of optimization/game difficulty increases.

Pass Without Trace

Surprise in 5E is insanely powerful and commonly overlooked. If your DM runs surprise in line with the rules as written, you should seriously consider adding pass without trace to the party, whether that be from a Ranger, a Druid, a Trickery Cleric, a Lore Bard, or a Dragonmarked race.

Temporary Hit Points

Temporary hit points are great for increasing a party’s survivability. By far the best source of these is the Twilight Cleric’s Twilight Sanctuary. If a party doesn’t have another source of temporary hit points, someone should consider taking the Inspiring Leader feat, which is excellent. Other good sources include the Artillerist Artificer’s Protector Cannon, Shepherd Druid’s Spirit Totem, and the Glamour Bard’s Mantle of Inspiration.

Rest Casting

Certain rest cast spells such as aid and death ward can be great to have access to in a party, since they can buff everyone. Ask your DM about rest casting.

To show how slotting yourself into a role is unnecessary, let’s look at a couple example parties.

Tank, Controller, Healer, Striker

This party thinks they need a tank, a controller, a healer, and a striker, so they’ve dutifully filled out these roles. The party contains:

• Nala, a Path of the Totem Warrior Barbarian with Polearm Master and Sentinel, who has 17 AC.
• Redyns, a School of Divination Wizard who primarily casts web and sleet storm, and has 16-21 AC.
• Bor, a Life Domain Cleric who primarily casts healing word and cure wounds, and has 20 AC.
• Rotciv, a Battle Master Fighter with Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter, who has 17 AC.

Now, this is not a bad party! Not a bad party at all! Redyns the Divination Wizard and Rotciv the Battle Master Fighter are doing particularly well. As we’ve discussed, the most valid party roles are controller and DPR.

However, Nala and Bor are doing less well. If Alan, Nala’s player, is playing a Barbarian because he likes to hit things with a big weapon, he’ll hit things and have a great time. However, if he’s playing one because he figured the party needed a front-liner… he may end up disappointed when a horde of enemies rushes around him, making for the Wizard. Or when a horde of enemies focuses fire on him instead, and he finds himself less durable than he thought.
There is also a good chance that Rob, Bor’s player, is playing a Life Cleric because he wants to support the party. He will find that casting cure wounds in combat does a poor job of this. Damage in 5E far outpaces basic healing spells, so using actions to cast cure wounds on conscious allies is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a handbag.

Paladin, Tank/Primary Controller/Support, Tank/Controller/DPR/Support, Tank/Controller/DPR/Support

This party is a bit more savvy, and has built characters that fulfill the party’s needs while also being very strong individually and contributing in a myriad of ways. The party contains:

• Einnoc, an Oath of the Watchers Paladin who primarily concentrates on bless and has 20 AC.
• Kaz, a Chronurgy Wizard with 1 level of Peace Cleric who primarily casts web and sleet storm, but also supports the party with gift of alacrity and Emboldening Bond and has 19-24 AC.
• Elleon, a Twilight Cleric with 1 level of Divine Soul Sorcerer who uses Twilight Sanctuary to contribute refreshing temporary hit points to the party in combat, primarily casts spirit guardians, and has 20-25 AC.
• Eve, a Shepherd Druid with 1 level of Life Cleric and 1 level of Divine Soul Sorcerer who primarily casts pass without trace and conjure animals, contributes out of combat healing with goodberry and Disciple of Life, and uses spiked armor, a shield, and the shield spell to achieve 18-23 AC.

This party is much more powerful than the other party. They have at least as much damage output, significantly more control, and way more durability, both in terms of AC and saving throws. However, they don’t slot nicely into discrete party roles! Each party member contributes in many ways and acts as a force multiplier.

Einnoc, Kaz, Elleon, and Eve are a force to be reckoned with, but there’s also plenty of room in 5E for “unbalanced” party compositions which don’t fill certain roles at all. Here are some examples.

Striker, Striker, Striker, Striker

A party of actually optimized strikers–martials with Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter–will probably wreck any officially published adventure, at speed.

Controller, Controller, Controller, Controller

A party with an abundance of control, and not all that much DPR, will do just fine. Combat might be a little slow, but it’ll be under control, and the casters will prevail in the end.

Paladin, Primary Controller, Whatever, Whatever

A party with a Paladin and a primary controller such as a Wizard will do fine so long as the rest of the party plays halfway decent characters.

The lesson we want you to take from this is not “holy sh*t, we’d better perfectly coordinate our party to tick off gift of alacrity, Emboldening Bond, pass without trace, Aura of Protection, and Twilight Sanctuary!” Although we will be very happy if you go out and make such a party.

The lesson you should take from this is, don’t listen when someone says, “we need a tank” or “we need a healer.”

Play what you want to play.

If what you want to play is strong, great. If what you want to play isn’t that strong… it probably wouldn’t be much better to play a “tank” or “healer.”