Character Roles

Why take a Character Role?

This isn't explicitly stated in the rules, as such, but most character classes are created around the idea of taking one or more roles in the party - that is, classes have specific things they are effective at doing. For example, the basic Fighter tends to have the Damage-Dealing role - they're good at hurting enemies (and, alas, not much else). On the other hand, Clerics tend to be excellent at healing and buffing allies. Archetypes sometimes change what role(s) a class normally has.

Spheres of Power is an open-ended system that's very helpful for creating characters in almost any role - but if you spread your talents too thinly, you may find that you're less-effective at your role than you'd really like. This guide introduces the basic roles in the game, their associated sub-roles, the important concepts of the role, and offers some suggestions for creating characters who are effective in that area.

Spheres of Might focuses mainly on combat roles, but it's still possible to create a character capable of fulfilling almost any role the party needs. (Healers are the most limited with this system, but everything else is easy enough.)

Note that the majority of characters are not limited to taking just one role - most good classes have at least two roles they perform well in, and will often want to invest in doing well at both of those jobs instead of one to the exclusion of the other.

A traditional, well-balanced party typically consists of a Damage Dealer/Tank, a Damage Dealer/Skill Monkey, a Healer/Buffer, and a Battlefield Controller/Debuffer, with each character offering a little bit of Utility.

This guide also notes which roles many of the classes detailed on this wiki are best at. Note that these aren't always mandated - for example, Ethermancers are very focused on dealing damage, but many Spherecasters have more flexibility and aren't 'locked' into their roles. Classes without at least an implied role - like the Incanter, which can be anything - are not listed here. Similarly, archetypes (including those for Paizo's classes) are not listed.

How Much Do We Actually Need To Care About This?

That depends on the way your game is run. Some GMs will adapt things to fit your party - others will create the game world and expect you to deal with it. However, you may feel that your party is significantly lacking if you're missing one of the roles. For example, without anyone acting as a Tank, you could be very vulnerable to enemies simply rushing up and annihilating characters. Similarly, if nobody's actually focused on doing damage, many fights could drag on far longer than expected.

If you have to ditch anything, Buffer, Debuffer, and Skill Monkey are the most 'disposable' roles. Skill Monkey can be accomplished by the joint efforts of the party (and some mundane gear), so you don't need to have someone there. Similarly, buffs and debuffs are nice, but not absolutely necessary.

Tank, Damage Dealer, Healer, Battlefield Controller, and Utility are all quite important, and should be present in most games.

Getting Creative

There are many ways of accomplishing each role. For example, a Summoner (or Conjuration specialist) can call new allies out. These allies will take up space on the battlefield (which can help provide battlefield control, especially if they are good at threatening the area around them), can often deal damage, and they can be used as disposable HP sponges (letting them act as tanks). It's not as reliable as having a Paladin or Sentinel at your side, but it would work.

Similarly, you can use potions and wands for many healing needs and scrolls for battlefield control spells. At higher levels, a reusable item can provide regular use of your favorite spells. Mundane gear is excellent for most utility needs.

The point is this: A little creativity goes a long way towards filling out a party. There are many ways of accomplishing most of your needs, ranging from useful magic items to hiring NPCs to help you. It helps to have each role covered by a PC, but don't feel like you have to play something you don't want to play just to meet the group's needs. Instead, try to find another method that still lets you play what you want to play.

Newcomers may be overwhelmed by the number of options available, so GMs should consider putting together a list of helpful, low-cost items that explains their effects and why a character might want to have them. This kind of shopping list can go a long way towards helping a party fill each role.

Maximizing Your Effectiveness In A Role

Each Role in the game can be improved by adding new abilities or increasing the power of existing abilities. For example, a Damage Dealer can improve in their role by dealing more damage each round, while a Tank can improve by getting more HP and raising their defenses.

It's important to make a distinction between actually improving in your Role and just keeping pace. PCs aren't the only things that grow in power - so do enemies. To actually do better, a character needs to improve faster than enemies do. (This is not a recommendation to min-max your character - just a note on what actually getting better requires.)

There are many ways to get better in your Role. For example, a Damage Dealer who uses a melee weapon may invest in ways of hurting damage-resistant foes like swarms, while a Battlefield Controller might learn to create hard-to-pass barriers. In many cases, diversifying your abilities can be more helpful than improving the same abilities (as long as they improve enough to remain viable, at least). If you're really good at using a longsword to hurt foes, you probably don't need to invest in also mastering the short sword. However, you may find it helpful to grab a club (which deals bludgeoning damage instead of slashing damage), or pick up a bow (to target flying foes).

Spheres of Power helps with this by separating feats into a variety of categories, and many of these are good choices for characters in a variety of roles. Here are the current types of feats and the ways they can improve roles.

Feat Type	How It Helps
Admixture Feats	Admixture Feats are especially helpful for Damage Dealers and Debuffers, since they allow both of these roles to be fulfilled at the same time. For example, the Ghostly Admixture feat can let you curse foes you strike with your Destructive Blast. Note that these feats are heavy on Spell Point usage, so you won't be able to do it all day.
Anathema Feats	Anathema Feats are good for Healers and Damage Dealers, who are generally the only classes that have access to positive energy-based features in the first place. It's also a pretty good way to convert a Healer into a Damage Dealer, particularly if you fight a lot of evil outsiders and undead.
Chance Feats	Chance Feats are good for almost any role, since the ability to manipulate fate when you need it most is quite potent indeed. Weighted Dice, in particular, is good for almost any build (although probably not something to pick up in the first few levels unless your class isn't very reliant on feats).
Combat Feats	As the name suggests, Combat Feats are especially good for Damage Dealers, but may also have some value for Tanks.
Companion Feats	Companion Feats support any role that a Companion may take in the party. In the strictest sense, summoning is always Battlefield Control (changing the number of combatants on the battlefield and controlling what places can be moved through), but Companions themselves are flexible enough to spread beyond that. Many do.
Counterspell Feats	Counterspell Feats are an odd combination of Healer and Tank, allowing casters who may not normally take those roles cancel out negative effects and perhaps even stop damage in its tracks. Note that you need Counterspell Mastery to actively counter effects - otherwise, it mostly applies to powers that have already been cast. That said, trading your immediate action to cancel out a foe's standard action effect is usually a good deal.
Drawback Feats	Drawback Feats are essentially Self-Buffing powers, allowing characters to gain more than just bonus spell points from having a particular drawback. How useful they are heavily depends on your build.
Dual Sphere Feats	Dual Sphere Feats are ideal for anyone who wants to mix roles. Since you can use different abilities at the same time, you can do things like transform an ally to grant them additional combat power, then heal them to help them keep fighting. While the combinations aren't unlimited, Dual Sphere feats are a great way to get the most use out of the talents you have. Many Dual Sphere feats help improve your Action Economy (the most valuable resource in the game), which makes them ideal for complicated, multi-sphere builds.
Extra Feats	Extra Feats make characters flat-out better with things they're already good at. If you want more class abilities or more uses of those abilities, these are the feats to look at.
General Feats	General Feats are good for characters who want to branch out a little and expand their options. The key thing to remember about General Feats is that they tend to be either good for many types of characters or for one particular class.
Item Creation Feats	Spheres of Power doesn't have a lot of unique Item Creation Feats, though those remain helpful for pretty much anyone that can get them, and the system does change how many of them work. That said, the new feat offers access to Rituals, and those can be extremely useful for the Utility role. (Most rituals are extremely difficult to use in combat - intentionally so.)
Metamagic Feats	Like Item Creation Feats, Spheres of Power doesn't introduce many new Metamagic options. That said, these feats can improve spells in a wide variety of ways, though the spell point cost means characters will want quite a few Drawbacks to help ease their use.
Necrosis Feats	Necrosis Feats bring a character closer to undeath, but also provide more power as more of them are taken. They are particularly useful for the Buffer (self only) and Tank roles because most of them focus on improving your resistance to certain kinds of attacks.
Protokinesis Feats	Protokinesis Feats are primarily Tank and Utility effects, especially as they relate to moving around areas. Mind Limb is especially handy, since its flexible nature can support a variety of playstyles.
Proxy Feats	Proxy Feats can work with a variety of playstyles, but they require tactical thinking and planning to get the most use out of them. Proxy Network, in particular, can help you get off touch-range spells without actually having to get into touch range.
Racial Feats	Racial Feats tend to enhance whatever a race is naturally good at. Most Races lean towards certain Roles in the game, though these are really more for flavor than pure power.
Sphere-Focused Feats	Sphere-Focused Feats are ideal for improving whatever Role a sphere is normally good at. If you want to double-down on your role, this is a good place to start your search for options. These options are not linked here, but are instead on the pages for each sphere.
Squadron Feats	Squadron Feats are ideal for Buffers using the War sphere. They make the use of that particular sphere significantly better, but it requires the cooperation of allies to get the most value from this group of feats.
Surreal Feats	Surreal Feats are flexible and can support most roles. They are particularly powerful in the hands of Fey Adepts, who can use them better than any other class.
Teamwork Feats	Spheres of Power doesn't add many Teamwork Feats, but these are a good way for characters to improve in certain roles, especially close-range combat roles.
Wild Magic Feats	It's hard to say that anything involving Wild Magic is an improvement, given the very real possibility of things going horribly wrong. That said, they can make you more powerful in certain spheres. Or less powerful. …Look, it's wild magic, okay? There are no guarantees.

Base Concept: All Day Character

Roles That Are Commonly This Include: Damage Dealer, Skill Monkey, Tank

An All Day Character, as the name implies, is a character that is capable of performing its role reasonably well, regardless of how many encounters and opportunities to spend resources that character has had. For example, a well-made Tank with sturdy armor and some good bonuses to their Saving Throws is probably going to be able to perform their role as long as they can get healing on a regular basis.

To compensate for the value of being able to perform their role over and over, All Day Characters tend to have a lower power ceiling than Limited Adventuring Day Characters. Spheres of Power characters typically fall under this, regardless of role - while it's possible to burn through all of your Spell Points in a day, such characters will likely still have a number of free abilities to use.

Spheres of Might characters also tend to fall into this, as few combat talents have limited uses per-day, and even classes with limited resources can fall back on their talents.

Base Concept: Limited Adventuring Day Character

Roles That Are Commonly This Include: Battlefield Controller, Buffer, Debuffer, Healer

A Limited Adventuring Day Character has some kind of significant limit on how effective they can be each day in the game, usually represented by a cap on the use of their abilities. For example, there may be a limit to the amount of Hit Points they can heal each day, how many buffs they can provide, or how many negative effects they can inflict on their enemies. Limited Adventuring Day Characters tend to have powerful abilities, but the cap on uses means they need to carefully decide when and where to expend their energy.

Casters in the standard magic system of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (often referred to as "Vancian" casters) tend to fall into this category.

Base Concept: The Ability Triad

As a game, Pathfinder broadly consists of three parts: Combat, Exploration, and Interaction. Each of these has different objectives and ways of defining success.

Regardless of role(s), a well-built character will have at least some ability in each of these three fields. Characters do not need to be equal in every area, nor does every member of a party need to have the same amount of ability in each area. However, having talent in each area will ensure a character is almost always capable of contributing, regardless of what's going on.

Which category is most important depends on your game, but in general, Combat tends to be especially important because it's a large part of many sessions. If you can't contribute to a specific interaction or exploration scenario, it may be over in a few minutes as the group moves on to something you can help with. If you can't contribute in combat, you may end up waiting an hour for your turn just to say "I can't do anything here". Most people don't find this very fun, so ensuring your character has at least a minimal ability to effectively contribute in combat is wise.

Below are some example options for each category. Note that this list is not exclusive - there are roles and options outside of these, so you shouldn't feel limited by this list.

Combat: Dealing HP damage, buffing allies, debuffing enemies, and controlling the battlefield.

Exploration: Disabling traps, planar travel, overcoming environmental dangers, using stealth, and providing food and drink.

Interaction: Talking enemies out of fighting, gathering rumors, mind-controlling targets, and performing for pay. Downtime (including crafting) falls into this category.

Note that many mundane tools and options make these easier. You don't necessarily have to have class abilities for each of these areas, either - a little creativity with your options can go a long way.

Base Concept: Character Shaping Choices

Character Shaping Choices (or CSC) are anything you get to choose as part of making and leveling your character. This includes skill point distribution, archetypes, sphere talents, and class options, but not abilities that are fixed at a given level and obtained as part of choosing to level a class. For most classes, fixed abilities are intentionally limited in power - this helps to ensure that the class isn't incredibly powerful all the time. Instead, the real power is usually limited to your CSC since this allows for more flexibility and a variety of power levels in the same class. In general, the more widely available an option is, the weaker it tends to be - this is why skill points usually impact a character less than feats, and feats impact a character less than class options.

To see this in action, look at the Scholar class. The Scholar is very unusual in that it has low BAB and no innate spellcasting - most classes are one or the other. Instead, the Scholar gets a selection of potent class abilities, such as a Lightning Rod that never misses and deals as much damage as an empowered destructive blast. While the Scholar gets a few fixed abilities, the huge majority of their major features comes from their CSC. Similarly, the Incanter is pretty much nothing but CSC.

In general, a class' maximum power level is often tied to the number of CSC it gets. Core Pathfinder classes like the Fighter and the Monk have a relatively low number of CSC, though the addition of archetypes to the game has helped to at least somewhat offset that. These classes are also considered some of the weakest and least flexible. In contrast, high-CSC classes like the Wizard and Cleric (who get many, many spell choices) are frequently considered some of the most potentially powerful classes.

Note that in this context, "power" does not refer exclusively to damage in combat. The Fighter, for example, can still deal quite a lot of damage to most enemies. They are a Damage Dealer and they are very good at that. However, with minimal flexibility, the Fighter doesn't even have the chance to solve most problems in ways that don't involve stabbing or brute-forcing them. When the Fighter stands on the front lines against an invading army, the Wizard might be busy raising walls of stone to protect and encircle the entire city - a significantly greater effect on the story. Through things like this, CSC is intimately tied to Narrative Power (discussed below).

Most CSC are split into three categories:

Daily (Things you can change each day, including some class abilities or talents if you're playing a Sphere Arcanist)
Levelup (Things you choose when you gain a level, including normal talents and most class options)
One Time (Things you select once, usually at Level 1, such as Incanter Specializations or Sorcerer Bloodlines)

Of course, choices alone don't make a character strong - it's quite possible to build a terrible Wizard by making spell choices that aren't very good, and some players even intentionally choose sub-optimal choices in order to make things more challenging for themselves. That's not inherently bad, and we're not saying that you should only make mechanically-optimal choices. Quite the opposite - you should make choices that are fun for you and your group.

In the end, however, the entirety of the Spheres system (and many other systems on this site) are built on the idea of offering CSC. You can choose talents, class abilities, and even entire playstyles based on the choices you make.

If this sounds a little intimidating, don't worry - classes are also set up to guide you through the process. For example, both Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might have these important choices slotted into specific categories. If you want to be mobile, you look at the Warp or Athletics spheres. If you want to improve your defenses, you look at the Protection or Guardian spheres.

You can also smooth this process by choosing a character theme. Having an idea of the sort of character you want to play - including its role(s) as described below, whether it's magical or martial (or a blend), and what their personality is - can help you choose the options that best fit your personal goals for playing that character.

If you want to try out the Spheres systems before you start making choices about them, this Wiki has a collection of first-level sample characters on the front page. Each includes information about how to play them and what to focus on when leveling up.

Base Concept: Narrative Power

Narrative Power is the ability of a character to impact the ongoing story of a campaign, and is loosely possible to define as "your ability to succeed at things you want to do to affect the story". For example, perhaps you want to persuade the King to offer you a great reward for rescuing the Princess. If you roll well on your Diplomacy check, you may successfully argue for that - and you've exercised the narrative power that comes with investing in a particular skill.

Narrative Power comes from a variety of sources, including the backstory for your character, the way your group plays, your class(es), and your Character Shaping Choices (see above). CSC have Narrative Power because they give you ways to choose how you can affect the story of the game. If you choose to learn Destruction and the Explosive Orb talent so you can attack large groups of enemies at once, your ability to blow apart hordes of weak foes becomes your Narrative Power and something you can do to affect the outcome of a battle (and ultimately that battle's impact on the ongoing story).

Options are generally considered more powerful when they have greater Narrative Power. For example, if you can raise a wall of dirt, you can use that to hide from enemies that need to see you to attack you… but you can also use that to raise fortifications around a town and transform its defenses when it's under attack. The most powerful options are those that tend to be effective in a variety of circumstances. The more of an effect you can have, the stronger the ability is. This is why "Save or Lose" powers - where one failed saving throw can mean a character is incapacitated or even killed - are so potent. In one moment, they can completely change the story.

Don't try to run the numbers and determine the exact Narrative Power of every choice you have - there are too many variables and you'll never have adequate answers. However, do consider the way your role(s) and CSC impact your Narrative Power and whether or not you're comfortable with the result. Some people are completely satisfied with doing lots of damage in combat and don't want more Narrative Power than that - and that's okay! Everyone has different preferences, and what's important is whether or not you and your group are having fun. That's why the reason to consider Narrative Power is to determine whether or not you're playing the character and having the effect you want to have.

Of course, as experienced gamers know, sometimes the dice just don't cooperate. Don't get too down if luck doesn't go your way (though if you don't like relying on luck, there are many options that don't rely on d20 rolls to succeed - consider those).

Concept: Rider

Powers Like This Include: The Cryptic Strike talent of the Death sphere, the Cascade Failure talent of the Destruction sphere, the Vitality talents of the Life sphere, and a significant number of martial sphere abilities (especially those that trigger whenever you successfully attack or use a combat maneuver)

A "rider" is an effect that triggers when you do something else. For example, if you poison your weapon, that poison "rides" your attack and triggers when you successfully hit an enemy. Riders are usually debuffs or additional damage, but in rare cases - like the Vitality talents of the Life sphere or a bonus that triggers when you hit something - they can be beneficial instead. It's possible for a rider to trigger from another rider, although it's rare to see a chain more than 2-3 abilities 'deep'.

The key difference between a rider and a normal effect is that a rider is not normally part of whatever you're doing. You need to have invested in some additional option (a talent that adds an effect, poisoning your weapon, taking a feat, etc.) that adds to what you normally do. Most riders do not require any additional actions or payments at the time they're used. Abilities that require you to do things like take an additional penalty on your attacks to activate them should not be considered riders.

Abilities that only change your basic numbers, like the Power Attack and Weapon Focus feats, are not riders. However, they may be prerequisites for learning or activating a rider.

Spheres of Might makes extensive use of these effects, and it's possible to stack quite a lot of them onto a single attack. This is intentional.

Concept: Targeting

Most abilities in Pathfinder target one or more of several specific defenses. It is extremely rare to find an ability that won't be resisted by at least one of the following options. A well-built character will often have ways of attacking at least two of these defenses. That way, if an enemy is extremely resistant to at least one of them (such as by having unusually high AC when you're a Fighter), you can try something else that has a reasonable degree of success.

For example, someone who normally strikes at AC may carry a Net (which targets touch AC) to throw at high-AC enemies. An entangled foe is easier to hit, and that can make all the difference.

Most creatures do not have good defenses in all of these areas. Knowing which defense to attack against can make a character much better than they'd otherwise be. Witches, for example, often target the three saving throws (Fort, Ref, and Will), and knowing which one is most likely to work on a foe is key to optimal play.

(This is not meant to imply that trying to make an optimal character is the only way to play the game. However, it is appropriate to consider how your preferred playstyle will affect the fun of your table.)

Normal AC: A creature's defense against normal attacks. Most weapons in the game target this. May have to deal with Damage Reduction, which blocks physical damage unless it meets certain criteria.
Touch AC: A creature's defense against Touch attacks. This is often targeted by spells, firearms, and other abilities from low-BAB classes. May have to deal with Energy Resistance (which reduces damage) and Spell Resistance (below), or DR for guns, which makes it very accurate but prone to reduced results.
Flat-Footed AC: A creature's defense against attacks when they're caught by surprise or haven't been able to act yet. Most relevant on the first turn of combat, but some effects can allow you to target this again. Generally lower on Dex-based creatures and higher on Str-based creatures (who wear heavy armor).
Combat Maneuver Defense: A creature's resistance to being struck by various Combat Maneuvers. A good alternative for many people who target Normal AC, especially when using Spheres of Might.
Spell Resistance: A creature's ability to shrug off spells that would normally work on them. Note that Spell Resistance does nothing against indirect attacks, like conjuring something over their head and dropping it.
Fortitude Save: A creature's ability to resist poisons, environmental effects, and other things that affect their body.
Reflex Save: A creature's ability to dodge effects. Also, to some degree, a matter of luck - most creatures get reflex saves even if they're unable to move.
Will Save: A creature's resistance to powers that affect the mind. Common on any creature that has magic.
Distance: This isn't a defense, per se, but some enemies cannot be easily engaged in melee. This is why your group may need some form of ranged attacks, even if it's just backup weapons (like crossbows) for rare situations. For higher-level games, it helps to have temporary enhancement powers (like from the Enhancement sphere) you can apply to backup weapons - this saves you from having to permanently enhance them and is one of the main benefits of such powers.

Aside from the types of defenses, it's also good to consider the Damage Types in the game, as well as the effect types of spells. For example, an Incanter who uses the Destruction Sphere may want to pick up at least one or two Blast Type talents to change their element in case they meet something that's resistant to the normal bludgeoning damage.

Most characters don't need several attacks that have similar effects. If you choose to stick with one thing - such as making fire attacks because you like fire - it's usually a good idea to think about how you can pierce a foe's defenses and remain at least somewhat effective. This is less important if you focus on rarely-resisted damage types (like Force), and more important if you focus on common types (like Fire and Cold).

Role: All-Rounder

All-rounder isn't a totally separate role in its own right. Instead, this category reflects a character that is at least moderately competent in most (if not all) other roles within the party. They may not be super durable, but they can tank a few hits. They may not do the most damage, but they can contribute a meaningful amount. And so on. Not every character class or build has the potential to be an all-rounder. In fact, most characters aren't close to actually fulfilling the criteria for this role. However, All-Rounders are essentially always able to help in a situation and can take specific roles as the game requires, which makes them generally useful to have in a team.

Many all-rounders can fit into this role better by flexibly gaining specific powers or abilities as the situation demands.

A character is probably overtuned if they are both an all-rounder and better than other characters who specialize in specific roles. Pathfinder is a team game, so one character who is better than everyone at everything usually doesn't go over well. For that reason, people interested in being an all-rounder should pay particularly close attention to their character's balance.

Role: Battlefield Controller

Main Things To Raise: Type of Control Abilities, Number of Control Ability Uses

Related Casting Abilities: The Destruction Sphere's Energy Wall, the Creation sphere, many powers from the Dark, Illusion, and Nature spheres, and undead controlling abilities from the Death sphere.

Related Martial Abilities: The Brute, Guardian, Trap, and Warleader spheres.

The Battlefield Controller is a character focused on somehow affecting the battlefield and pushing enemies to act in certain ways. They may do this by creating areas that are difficult for foes to move through, summoning physical obstructions that force enemies into particular areas, or even calling up additional allies to fill space.

The common trend here is that the battlefield is something they want to be under their control. Ultimately, the Battlefield Controller acts in a supporting role, and they're at their best when they manipulate things to help everyone else accomplish their roles more effectively. If one party member is focused on Sneak Attacks, they'd try to get someone into a flanking position so those Sneak Attacks could happen. If there's a big horde of foes, they'd try to limit their advance to just a few at a time, usually with the party's Tank in the way.

As such, Battlefield Controllers should know what other people want to do before they make their ability selections.

Class	Explanation	Source
Eliciter	Eliciters specialize in the Mind sphere, which allows them to control the thoughts and actions of enemies. This makes them a natural fit for the Battlefield Controller role, and indeed, they tend to do best as a mix of this and Buffer.	Spheres of Power
Fey Adept	The Fey Adept specializes in the use of the Illusion sphere. Also, their Create Reality ability gives control options ranging from altering the battlefield to calling companions. When played creatively, Fey Adepts are particularly good in this role. Conversely, however, limited creativity may result in a reduction of the character's potential power. For this reason, the Fey Adept is somewhat harder to play than many other battlefield controllers.	Spheres of Power
Soul Weaver	Aside from their ability to summon minions with their Bound Nexus power, Soul Weavers will often grab the Death sphere and use it to call forth minions. This may not be as dramatic as reshaping the battlefield, but it falls under the battlefield control role by virtue of making it harder for enemies to move around.	Spheres of Power

Enemy Battlefield Controllers: Enemy battlefield controllers tend to fall into three categories. First, some of them call forth minions for players to fight (think of a lich calling out waves of skeletons). Second, some aim to slow the party down and restrict your movement. Finally - and generally the worst - there's mind control. Given the amount of harm a mind-controlled damage dealer can do to the party, avoiding this tends to be high on most people's list of priorities.

Sub-Role: Combat Maneuver Specialist

The Combat Maneuver Specialist uses one or more of the game's Combat Maneuvers to manipulate their foes and the battlefield as a whole. They might grapple foes to pin them in place, Bull Rush them into dangerous terrain, or Sunder their equipment to make them easier to take down. Combat Maneuver Specialists can quickly fall into a different Role based on the details of their build, but most ultimately end up being versatile enough that they end up controlling at least the part of the battlefield in the area immediately around them.

Spheres of Might makes it much easier to be a Combat Maneuver Specialist thanks to the many effects and additional benefits that can be added to them. The Brute, Duelist, and Wrestling spheres are particularly good for this. Feinting isn't actually a combat maneuver, but it is used in a similar manner, and the Fencing sphere supports that.

Class	Explanation	Source
Armiger	The Armiger is especially good at Combat Maneuvers because they usually take an investment of several talents to really be good in. While any Practitioner can do this, the Armiger's ability to quickly change weapons - and talents with them - mean they can master several combat maneuvers while still contributing in other ways.	Spheres of Might

Enemy Combat Maneuver Specialists: Rare. When they do appear, they usually take the form of monsters that specialize in grappling foes. They may be more common in a game that draws heavily on Spheres of Might and has a variety of custom-made NPCs.

Role: Buffer

Main Things to Raise: Types of Buffs, Number of Buffs per Day

Related Casting Abilities: Some choices from the Enhancement and Time spheres, the War sphere.

Related Martial Abilities: The Gladiator and Warleader spheres, and a small set of options from the Alchemy sphere.

The Buffer is a supporting character who focuses on directly improving the abilities of their allies, usually allowing them to be more effective at whatever their role is. Buffers often prefer to help their allies right before a battle begins, then switch to another role once the battle actually starts - for example, after giving everyone some added defense before they open a door, they might switch to dealing damage once the fight starts.

Some classes are Self Buffers who can only raise their own abilities. Others are Group Buffers who can affect anyone in their party with their abilities. Buffers usually have a limit on the number of strong buffs they can provide each day, and this is true in Spheres of Power. If they're not concentrating on maintaining one buff, they're probably spending their Spell Points to keep things going for awhile.

If a class comes with a built-in buffing ability - such as the Arcane Pool of the Magus - it's usually expected that they'll be using it as early and as often as possible in fights.

Class	Explanation	Source
Blacksmith	Blacksmiths specialize in maintaining gear - or, in more game-like terms, providing constant boosts to allies. As they level up, they can provide more buffs at once.	Spheres of Might
Commander	Commanders are masters of the Warleader sphere, which features Tactics that can support allies and Shouts that can gift them with a variety of effects. However, to get the most value from it, the Commander's allies will need to cooperate with their strategies. That makes this less certain as a buffer than some other classes. The magic equivalent of this is the Symbiat.	Spheres of Might
Eliciter	A positive Eliciter (with Emotions like Joy, Loyalty, and Resolve) is an excellent buffer. Note that many of their class-based buffs are fairly short-term and limited in use, so they'll be most effective if supported by a few Sphere abilities. Their natural mastery of the Mind sphere allows them to grab buffs from there as well.	Spheres of Power
Symbiat	The Symbiat specializes in linking allies together to provide a series of bonuses, ranging from mental communication to providing extensive skill boosts. They tend to be at their most powerful when they have a lot of allies to aid, making them ideal companions for many summoners and necromancers. This is especially true if the Symbiat extensively utilizes the War sphere. The martial equivalent of this class is the Commander.	Spheres of Power
Thaumaturge	The Thaumaturge is an outstanding Self Buffer, and one of the most obviously so in the game. However, their real power manifests when they choose another role, since they can directly buff that role. The downside is that they don't get nearly as many magic talents, so they won't have the broad abilities of an Incanter or other full-casting class.	Spheres of Power
Troubadour	Depending on the Personas you choose, Troubadours can be powerful buffers for the party. As Champions, they can gain both martial and magical buffs, further supporting their efforts in this role.	Champions of the Spheres

Enemy Buffers: Relatively rare. Some enemies are able to buff before fights, and bosses often have a number of effects active. When an actual buffer shows up, it's usually as a supporter that helps their boss out, and they may need to be defeated quickly to make the fight more manageable.

Role: Damage Dealer

Main Things To Raise: Attack Accuracy, Damage Per Round

Related Casting Abilities: The Destruction sphere, the Conjuration, Enhancement, and Telekinesis spheres (if focused on dealing damage).

Related Martial Abilities: The Barrage, Berserker, Dual Wielding, Duelist, Fencing, Lancer, and Sniper spheres are particularly good at this, and most other martial spheres have at least some benefits for damage dealers.

The Damage Dealer is focused on causing HP damage to enemies, and will usually be the most capable member of the party at doing so. However, regardless of type, no Damage Dealer can afford to focus solely on increasing their damage - after all, they need to be able to hit opponents, or they won't be able to fulfill their role. Full BAB classes are likely to hit with their first strike almost all the time - iterative attacks are increasingly less likely to be successful. Mid BAB classes often have abilities to improve their accuracy, but only for a certain number of attacks per-day. Low BAB classes should stick to targeting Touch AC, as they're not intended to hit foes in other ways.

Class	Explanation	Source
Armorist	As a Full BAB character, Armorists naturally fall into this role. As magical warriors, they excel at summoning the right weapon for the job, allowing them to effectively overcome DR and strike down their foes. Their Practitioner equivalent is the Armiger.	Spheres of Power
Armiger	Armigers specialize in a small selection of different weapons, each of which can provide unique talents. Depending on the martial talents chosen, the Armiger can be one of the most effective damage dealers in the party since they can switch their entire fighting style on a moment's notice.	Spheres of Might
Elementalist	Elementalists specialize in dealing one or more types of damage with the Destruction sphere. Unlike many damage dealers, they have an easy time getting access to uncommon elements, potentially making them one of the most reliable damage dealers in the game.	Spheres of Power
Ethermagus	The Ethermagus is similar to the official Magus and focuses on channeling destructive power through a conjured Void Blade. As an Ethermagic class, the Ethermagus continually regenerates their power and can learn to attack with a wide variety of elements, making them a versatile damage dealer.	Strange Magic
Ethermancer	The Ethermancer is a ranged attacker capable of learning and using a wide variety of elements. While not a true debuffer, they can also add those types of effects to their attacks. Unlike many magical offense characters, the Ethermancer can keep going all day, though their rapid energy depletion limits how much they can do in any one moment. Fortunately, they recharge their power fairly quickly as well. This is a good class to play if you want to attack foes with as many elements as possible.	Strange Magic
Etherslinger	Etherslingers are a hybrid between Ethermancers and Gunslingers. They're experts at applying the power of ether to support their gun attacks in various ways. This is a good class to play if you want to be a magical gunslinger who doesn't fall into the Vancian casting style.	Strange Magic
Mageknight	Mageknights are archetypal "Magic Warriors" who efficiently blend weapon attacks with a variety of magical powers. They can be especially effective when applying strike talents or otherwise simultaneously displaying their various abilities.	Spheres of Power
Scholar	All practitioners are at least decent at doing damage, but the Scholar stands out because of their unusual consistency. Their Lightning Rod knack is functionally an amplified destructive blast that never misses (unless foes have the Evasion ability, at least), while the Flashbangs have incredible range after a few levels and can deal various elements in damage. Even with their low BAB, Scholars hit both hard and often from the rear of the party, though not as much as a truly dedicated damage dealer.	Spheres of Might
Striker	Strikers use a Tension mechanic that allows them to rapidly build up power, then expend it in ways that can improve their offense or help them adjust to the battlefield. Despite their light armor, they tend to make effective front-line damage dealers.	Spheres of Might

Damage Dealers come in a few different forms, which are described below.

Enemy Damage Dealers: Most foes are ultimately this. However, it's important to draw a distinction between something that merely does damage - like a common goblin swinging for 1d4 damage - and a true damage dealer that can take off half the party's health in one blast (hi, Dragons). The latter tend to require smarter strategies to bring down before they murder the PCs.

Sub-Role: AoE Damage Dealer

An Area of Effect Damage Dealer specializes in attacking large areas at once. Many damage dealers - especially magical ones - can do this to some extent, but it doesn't qualify as fulfilling the role unless it can be done throughout an adventuring day. Even if nobody specializes in this role, it's good to have at least one or two character options capable of dealing AoE damage. This will help the party versus swarms, troops, and other hordes of weak enemies.

Sub-Role: Blaster

A Blaster is a Damage Dealer who specializes in dealing energy damage instead of physical damage - this is usually, but not always, magical in nature. Blasters tend to attack from a distance (making them generally similar to a Ranged Damage Dealer), and have to contend with Energy Resistance (and often Spell Resistance) instead of Damage Reduction.

Blasters tend to make one attack per-round, targeting Touch AC, making them the preferred role for Low BAB characters who still want to deal damage. The basic Destructive Blast of the Destruction sphere is a good example of a Blaster ability (although, without other talents, it deals physical damage).

Sub-Role: Melee Damage Dealer

The Melee Damage Dealer specializes in close-combat, usually from one square away from their opponents. Melee Damagers are often Full Attackers, so they lack mobility on the battlefield - they want to get into position and stay there. Some characters will use "Reach" weapons, which are generally considered Melee even if they allow for attacks from an additional square away.

Many enemies can only attack in Melee, which means that a Melee Damage Dealer is likely to take more attacks than most party members. For that reason, they often try to get the Tank role as well, allowing them to endure whatever their foes throw at them.

Melee Damage Dealers tend to make multiple attacks per-round, targeting Normal AC.

In Spheres of Might, Melee Damage Dealers do not need to make multiple attacks per-round to be effective, though there are ways of doing so (especially through the Dual Wielding sphere).

Sub-Role: Ranged Damage Dealer

The Ranged Damage Dealer focuses on attacking enemies from a safe distance. They may or may not be limited by ammunition, though most characters who rely on ammunition have a large reserve on hand. Ranged Damage Dealers generally don't have to worry about surviving enemy blows, so they're able to select more offensive options - while doing even more damage can be appealing, it's important to remember that without someone to block the enemy's advance, foes could simply run up and cut right through their weaker defenses.

Ranged Damage Dealers tend to make multiple attacks per-round, targeting Normal AC.

In Spheres of Might, Ranged Damage Dealers can either make multiple attacks with the Barrage sphere or focus on powerful, individual shots with the Sniper sphere.

Concept: Attack Accuracy

Attack Accuracy refers to the chance that a Damage Dealer will actually hit a foe with their attack. If a character is only able to hit their target half of the time, their effective Damage Per Round is halved - which, of course, is clearly a bad thing for anyone in this Role. Attack Accuracy is typically expressed as a percentage (as in 'With your attack bonus, your first strike has a 75% chance to hit').

Statistically, a well-made character with full BAB who has Power Attack can afford to take that accuracy penalty - the added damage outweighs the slightly fewer amount of attacks that will hit.

Generally, your accuracy is minimally viable if you need at least an 11 to hit an average foe of the same CR as you. This means about 1/2 of your attacks will hit. Anyone who's actually in the Damage Dealer role will want to hit on a roll of 7 or higher, which is accurate with about 2/3rds of hits. Past this point, you may start to see diminishing returns on your effectiveness, so the green numbers on the chart linked to below are generally the sweet spot for a viable build. You're at maximum effectiveness when you only miss on a one (and the GM is probably throwing a book at you for min-maxing). It's not necessary to be that effective in most games, though - and remember, every resource you put into increasing your accuracy limits you elsewhere. This chart offers the minimum (orange/success on an 11), optimal (green/success on a 7), and maximum (blue/success on a 2) numbers for each level, as well as a link to a more in-depth explanation of character viability.

Note that accuracy should only consider frequent or continuous bonuses. If you have an item that gives you +20 to one attack roll per day, that's not factored into your average accuracy.

Concept: Damage Per Round

Damage Per Round is an expression of the average amount of damage that a particular character can do if they get off as many attacks as they'd like. For example, a Destructive Blast from the Destruction sphere normally does 1d6 dice of damage at every odd level, which gives them an average of 3.5 damage per-dice. A 7th-level Incanter would have a normal damage per round of 4d6, or 14 (3.5 x 4). Of course, many abilities exist to increase the damage a character can do, and any character focused on dealing damage will almost certainly be taking a few of those.

Damage Per Round is strongly affected by Attack Accuracy. As a good rule of thumb, however, a well-built character with full BAB can expect their first attack to hit almost all the time, while a character with low BAB can expect to consistently hit with touch attacks around the time their total attack bonus reaches +8.

For most games, an appropriate average DPR for a character is 1/4 to 1/2 of a same-CR enemy's HP. Below this point a character just isn't doing enough damage to justify taking the time to attack, while above this point, they've probably invested too much and are suffering elsewhere.

The same guide as the Attack Accuracy has the numbers for this.

Concept: Full Attacker

The Full Attacker is a Damage Dealer who tries to make as many attacks as they can each round. Each additional attack that they manage to land offers a chance to increase their Damage Per Round, often by a significant amount. High BAB characters like the Armorist and Mageknight tend to be Full Attackers, as do characters with class options (like the Monk's Flurry of Blows) that allow them to make additional attacks.

Since most characters cannot move and take more than one attack in a round, Full Attackers generally get into a position they want and stay there, limiting their mobility to five-foot steps.

Spheres of Might discourages full attacks in favor of standard action attacks (although you can still make multiple attacks with that standard action if you pick up the right talents).

Concept: Nova

A 'Nova' is when a character expends a fairly limited resource in order to significantly increase their offensive power for a short period of time. The official Magus class is built around this concept, and in particular casting damage-dealing spells (like Shocking Grasp) alongside their normal weapon strikes. Most Nova characters hit hard, but don't have the kind of lasting strength to fight at their full output all day long.

Spheres of Power characters can Nova fairly well by using the Energy Strike talent from the Destruction sphere. This is cheaper than most forms of Nova attacks - because no Spell Points have to be spent on it unless you want to improve your damage - but it does consistently use your Swift Action and prevents the use of other class abilities that rely on that. Remember, Low- and Mid-Casters generally have weaker Destructive Blasts, so this isn't as powerful as it might sound at first.

Spheres of Might mostly avoids novas (aside from expending and regaining martial focus), but the Striker class uses this concept as the central mechanic of its Tension system.

Role: Debuffer

Main Things To Raise: Types of Debuffs, Strength of Debuffing DCs, Number of Debuffs per Day, Knowledge Skills to Identify Weaknesses

Related Casting Abilities: Negative effects from the Enhancement, Fate, Light, Time, and Weather spheres.

Related Martial Abilities: Most combat spheres have ways to debuff the enemy, especially when certain kinds of attacks are made. The Alchemy sphere is particularly good at this thanks to its use of poison.

The Debuffer is the opposite of the Buffer - they're focused on inflicting various effects on foes to make them more vulnerable and easier to defeat. Debuffers often use abilities that target their foes' Saving Throws - Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower. Knowing what saving throw is 'bad' for an opponent is a key part of being a successful Debuffer, so they (or someone else in the party) need to have the ability to identify the traits of foes. Otherwise, a Debuffer will be far less effective than they should be.

Much like Battlefield Controllers, Debuffers often want to hurt foes in ways that make their own allies more effective - for example, reducing the accuracy of a foe's attacks can help a Tank endure their damage, while limiting their ability to move can help a Damage Dealer get (and stay) in position.

Spheres of Might mostly avoids debuff-only abilities, instead adding them as riders to other effects. For example, the Debilitating Injuries talent of the Duelist sphere allows you to reduce a foe's accuracy when you successfully deal bleed damage to them (which can be as often as every round, as that effect is itself a rider on your attack action). This means that essentially every Practitioner works well as a Debuffer.

Class	Explanation	Source
Eliciter	The Eliciter hovers between this, Buffer, and Battlefield Controller, mostly depending on the options you take. Useful debuffing Emotions include choices like Apathy, Fear, and Grief. Their natural mastery of the Mind sphere provides further debuff options, but be wary of constructs, oozes, undead, and vermin, who may be outright immune to your debuffs. (This is why a debuff-focused Eliciter should have a backup strategy.)	Spheres of Power
Wraith	Many of the Wraith's powers, including its Wraith Haunts, provide ways to debuff enemies the Wraith is possessing. Wraiths get quite a lot of these, allowing for flexibility in combat.	Spheres of Power

Enemy Debuffers: Relatively common, especially among undead. Some foes have powers that damage or drain ability scores on strikes, inflict poison, tie you up, and generally make it harder to succeed. These are most dangerous at low levels, but even a high-level character can be quickly incapacitated if the group isn't prepared to handle this.

Role: Healer

Main Things To Raise: Effectiveness of healing abilities, types of things that can be healed

Related Casting Abilities: The Life sphere

Related Martial Abilities: The Alchemy sphere has a few healing talents (most notably the Panacea and Salve formulae).

The Healer is important for every party because no recovery means the group will be quickly worn down by whatever they encounter - and it's a generally accepted fact of the game that in-battle healing is a poor use of the party's resources. Essentially, killing foes faster means less damage is taken in the first place, and thus fewer resources need to be spent on recovery.

Most Healers are focused on fixing Hit Point damage, but parties also need to be capable of recovering from various conditions and ailments (poison, disease, insanity, and so on). It isn't always worth spending Magic Talents or Spells Known on the ability to recover from various conditions, though Spheres of Power often improves basic healing done when characters learn to recover other conditions. You may want to look into getting consumables (potions, scrolls, wands, etc.) for healing - or perhaps have somebody use the Conjuration sphere to create an ally that focuses exclusively on recovery abilities.

It's worth noting that a pure Healer may actually be a good choice in campaigns that feature undead as particularly common foes. Healing usually uses Positive Energy, which harms undead, so characters built in this role can double as effective Damage Dealers for as long as their daily powers last.

Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might have no dedicated healing classes (anyone can do it with the Life or Alchemy spheres), but there are a few classes that have natural talent.

Class	Explanation	Source
Hedgewitch	Hedgewitches with the Herbology tradition have innate talent with healing, eventually learning to brew up powerful potions on a regular basis.	Spheres of Power
Sage	It's not immediately obvious, but Sages actually make pretty good healers. As Champions, they can access both the Alchemy sphere (for the Salve formulae) and the Life sphere, as well as several class options that can restore the health of allies. All Sages can restore badly-hurt allies with the Chi Gong technique, bringing them up to half their maximum HP at no cost. Note that they're not as effective as other healers at using healing against undead, so keep that in mind if you're going to be in an undead-heavy campaign.	Champions of the Spheres
Scholar	Between access to the Alchemy sphere, their Medical Training class feature, and possibly even the Life Sphere through Basic & Advanced Magical Training, Scholars have the potential to offer incredible in-battle and out-of-battle healing, including curing a wide variety of conditions. Scholars are by far the most powerful healers in Spheres of Might, though they are not limited to this role.	Spheres of Might
Soul Weaver	Soul Weavers have the Channel Energy feature (like clerics), so those who channel positive energy can regularly heal the whole party. In addition, positive channelers get access to Blessings. This is a bit resource-intensive, but for two channel uses, a Soul Weaver can heal 10-200 damage on a target. (Be sure to get extra channeling uses if you plan to do this on a regular basis.)	Spheres of Power
Technician	Spheres of Might doesn't have much in the way of healing outside of the Alchemy sphere (which is slow but efficient). However, the Technician can pick up the Medical Insight, which allows him to make gadgets for minor healing.	Spheres of Might

Enemy Healers: Dedicated healers are relatively rare, mostly because they drag out combat and that tends to be a bit less fun for everyone. However, some enemies have significant amounts of natural healing and may be difficult or impossible to beat unless this can be overcome.

Role: Skill Monkey

Main Things to Raise: Number of Skill Points, Bonuses to Skills

Related Casting Abilities: The Fate sphere, some uses of the Telekinesis sphere.

Related Martial Abilities: The Alchemy, Athletics, Beastmastery, Fencing, Gladiator, Scoundrel, Scout, Trap, and Warleader spheres offer skill ranks just for taking them, and have talents that can further make use of their associated skills.

The Skill Monkey is a character who has a particularly high number of skill points - usually 6/8+INT per-level - and a wide variety of class skills. While some skills (such as Climb) are easily replaced by magic, other talents like Disable Device, Perception, and various Knowledge skills offer benefits that can't be easily obtained in other ways. Skill Monkeys have enough points to invest in many different areas, and most parties will want to have at least one of them to help overcome any skill-based challenges they face.

Class	Explanation	Source
Commander	It's not obvious the first time you look at them, but Commanders are actually very good Skill Monkeys. They get 6+INT points to start with and have the option of using the better of Intelligence or Charisma for many of their effects.	Spheres of Might
Hedgewitch	The Hedgewitch has 6+INT skill point and the option of using Intelligence as their primary ability score, which makes them naturally inclined towards this role (and, in fact, they're the only spherecasting class outside of arcehtypes that fits this role). The Charlatanism and Font of Inspiration traditions can further improve your effectiveness at using skills.	Spheres of Power
Scholar	The Scholar is the best Skill Monkey in Spheres of Might. They start with 8+INT skill points, have Intelligence as their primary ability, and get a bunch of skill bonuses through class abilities like Medical Training and Academic Knowledge. They don't have natural talents with traps, though, so the Technician may be more useful in a trap-heavy campaign.	Spheres of Might
Technician	The Technician gets 6+INT skill points. In addition, they have Intelligence as a primary ability score, and Spheres of Might can give bonus skill points for investing in various spheres. This makes it easy for the Technician to take the Skill Monkey role. Their innate talent with traps makes them even better as a substitute for a Rogue.	Spheres of Might

Enemy Skill Monkeys: Relatively rare. The most likely foes are rogues and assassins who try to sneak up on the party and steal things or slit your throats. On rare occasions, you may have to oppose their diplomatic skill, beat them at games, or otherwise interact with them in ways other than fighting. In most cases, though, enemy skill monkeys are not a serious concern.

Role: Tank

Main Things To Raise: HP, Defenses (Armor Class, CMD, Saving Throws)

Related Casting Abilities: The Protection sphere, some Time sphere abilities.

Related Martial Abilities: The Guardian and Shield spheres, plus some options from the Berserker sphere, are the best for tanks. Unarmed and light-weapon-using characters may want to use the Boxing sphere, which focuses on countering an opponent's attacks. In addition, other spheres have talents that can help with tanking (such as by debuffing enemies to lower their accuracy). The Sentinel class is built around this role.

The Tank is a character who can get right up to enemies and endure their attacks, usually through some combination of high HP and a high Armor Class. Some may also take advantage of special abilities that make them even harder to hit, such as various powers from the Protection sphere or the After Image talent of the Time sphere. While Tanks are usually dealing with attacks that threaten their normal AC, they also have to contend with the occasional attack targeting Touch AC, Combat Maneuvers from enemies, and spells that require them to make Saving Throws - as a result, capable tanks have good defenses in all of these areas.

The Tank's main role on the battlefield is to threaten enemies and encourage attacks to come their way - every attack directed against them is something that's not threatening their allies. Simply standing ahead of everyone else can help encourage enemies to come their way, especially if they can attack anyone who tries to move past them. They also do well if they can take advantage of choke points (physically blocking enemies from moving past), and are most effective if they can work with a Battlefield Controller.

Some Tanks intentionally provoke attacks from enemies - for example, getting foes to make attacks of opportunity against them so their friends can move safely past.

Class	Explanation	Source
Armorist	The only real tank in Spheres of Power is the Armorist. Thanks to their Summon Equipment ability, they can call up defenses that are specialized against the types of foes they're currently engaged with, meaning it's pretty hard to target their weaknesses past Level 5 or so. Armorists are at their best when partnered with a high-Intelligence character who can analyze enemies and figure out what they're likely to do.	Spheres of Power
Sentinel	The Sentinel is easily the best tank in the Spheres system. Between their mastery of the Guardian sphere and their choice of defensive abilities, they're easily one of the toughest classes you'll find. If you want to play something that just won't go down under anything less than overwhelming force, play a Sentinel.	Spheres of Might

Enemy Tanks: What most bosses want to be and what few actually are. In general, a party is in a good place if it can take down a foe of the same CR as the party in one round of attacks. True tank opponents tend to be harder to hit (including flying foes, like dragons), have Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance that's not too easy to get past, and may have Fast Healing or Regeneration. Or worse, an Anti-Magic Field, which will disable most of a party's abilities as long as it's up.

Role: Utility

Main Things To Raise: Variety of Utility abilities

Related Casting Abilities: Most anything that isn't combat-related, and even some of the stuff that is. Magic is handy this way.

Related Martial Abilities: The Athletics, Beastmastery, Scoundrel, and Scout spheres. The Equipment and Trap spheres also offer some utility, albeit not quite as directly.

Utility characters are a little different from most roles. Unlike other classes, they have almost no focus on combat itself - rather, they're focused on overcoming various skill challenges (much like a Skill Monkey) and otherwise helping the party accomplish a wide variety of goals. Things like hauling vast loads of treasure, safely reaching esoteric destinations, and crafting magical items tend to fall into this role.

Utility is as much about creativity as actual character power. For example, even the basic Fighter can often carry a variety of tools and use those to help them get where they need to go, while intelligent use of spells and similar abilities can often be the key to resolving issues. As such, nearly any character can fulfill this role in addition to their other roles if they have the right equipment on hand. With that in mind, don't focus all of your attention on magical gear - review your options for mundane gear, too, because that's often where you'll find some of the best utility options.

Enemy Utility Characters: Very different from what player Utility characters tend to be. A Utility villain is one that plays smart and knows how to use their powers to their full advantage. This can include making particularly nasty traps, scrying on you to figure out your weaknesses, or just teleporting away when you get too close. A capable Utility enemy can be one of the most frustrating opponents you'll ever face, and you may have to out-think them.

Sub-Role: Face

The party "Face" is the member responsible for social interactions. This is something of a hybrid of the Skill Monkey and Utility roles - generally, skill points are needed to do it well (with points typically invested in Bluff, Diplomacy, and/or Intimidate), but its main use is helping the party in ways other than solving an immediate problem. For example, the Face may try to negotiate for a higher reward, gather information that can help the party make a decision, or negotiate with an NPC so the party doesn't have to fight them. Faces are almost always characters with Charisma as a primary ability score, since they get natural bonuses to their social skills.