Monster Roles
After determining a Monster’s Rank, you next should decide what role they play in a fight.
A monster’s role helps define what it does and how it acts, as well as guiding your hand when assigning its Traits and what Spells and Techniques it knows.
A monster’s role also serves as a handy way to ensure an interesting combat – typically, a fight is more engaging when it contains foes of at least two or more different roles.
Blasters hit multiple foes with their attacks, and try to spread damage across their opponents, making sure to punish any foolish foes who group up and make themselves prime targets. A Blaster is happiest when they score a juicy hit on many foes at once, scattering them to the winds.
Hunters tend to hang back, hiding from opponents, and hoping to never meet them face-to-face. Instead, they snipe from afar with long-range weapons or spells, lay traps for unwary fools, or attack from the shadows, all to devastating effect. A Hunter is happiest when they trap or slay a foe, and that foe has no idea who or what took them down.
Protectors use their skills, physical prowess, or magic, to keep their enemies away from their allies, and to withstand repeated blows. They put up walls, prevent foes from moving past them, or pull their prey back to their side whenever they get away. A Protector is happiest when a foe is far away from their allies, or at least, right next to themselves.
Ralliers manipulate the flow of battle, directing their allies and aiding their efforts. They might heal wounded allies, increase a friend’s prowess in battle, or curse a foe to weaken them. A Rallier is happiest when they aid weak allies, and weaken strong foes.
Warriors prize getting into melee with an opponent, and attacking them for all they’re worth. Some Warriors will attempt to dogpile a target, bringing death by a thousand cuts; others are so terrifyingly strong that they can obliterate a foe on their own. A Warrior is happiest when they meet an enemy on the battlefield and cause them pain, punishing them for their impudence.
Note that a Monster’s Role doesn’t say anything about how they go about things. For example, one Blaster might use Spells, while another might use Techniques, and a third might use Items, but as long as they’re trying to do damage to many foes at once, they’re all Blasters.
These different monster roles can work together in interesting ways, even when the monsters themselves might be very different. For instance, a Blaster and a Protector form a potent combo, where the Blaster fires shots into the Heroes’ party while the Protector keeps those same Heroes from doing anything about it. That same Blaster and a Hunter might work together in a different way, using the Blaster’s attacks to scatter Heroes in the direction of the Hunter’s traps or long-range attacks.