Back row fighters and front row thieves for 1e/2e

The conventional role for fighters is to spend most of the time in melee combat with the biggest opponent and the conventional role for thieves is to hang back and maybe do some missile combat or try to get a backstab.  It does not need to be this way.  (Rogue THAC0 is better than Priest THAC0 to start with but slowly fades and is definitely worse than Priest THAC0 after 9th level)

Back row fighter:  A back row fighter hangs back in combat using missile weapons to his (or her) advantage.  Such a fighter has a high dexterity (for a missile weapon bonus), is a specialist and is probably an elf to take advantage of long bow sheaf arrow damage.  (Other races such as a Halfling with a sling are also possible).  A high strength is always good for a fighter.  This backrow fighter may be further augmented with a kit such as the archer kit from the Complete Book of Elves.  The point blank range rules (for specialists) should not be overlooked should the backrow fighter find himself (herself) in close proximity to hostile forces.  Another option would be to have a staff-sling specialist.  The ROF is 5/2.  The weapon would get a strength bonus to damage.  With sling bullets doing 2-5 plus strength bonus, the damage from 5 attacks every 2 rounds would start to add up fairly quickly.  While the backrow fighter is providing a withering fire from his longbow or sling...

Front row thief:  Front row thieves are also useful as scouts in that the thief can be checking for traps in the lead and not instantly be in dire peril if monsters jump out.  A front row thief needs a high strength, dexterity, and constitution.  Dwarves are good candidates due to the giant class bonus.  If kits are used, one of the more brawling-intensive kits that gets to use any weapon should be selected.  Per the Complete Fighters Handbook (PHBR1) the character could take two-weapon style, and long sword proficiency.  This would let the character dual wield two long swords with a -0/-2 to his attacks (instead of -2/-4).  If the character was an elf he would receive a bonus to using the long sword that would make the attack +1/-1

There a lots of possibilities for atypical characters in 1e/2e.  More ideas in another post.

Party composition (in tackle football terms) in early versions of D&D/AD&D

PARTY OF SIX

 

I've always maintained that a party needs:

 

2 bookend tackles (a football term)  These are 300 pound gorillas whose job it is to keep the QB (magic-user) from getting killed.  One should be a dwarf and one should be a fighter (or paladin or ranger).  Name of Conan is optional

 

1 tight end (cleric)

1 running back/wide receiver (thief)

 

These position titles reflect the potential for some blocking (ie fighting monsters in the front row) as well as the use of some specialized skills.

 

2 QBs these should be magic users.

Generally quarterbacks don't block and stay in the back and use special skills.

Not a perfect analogy but I like the front row/back row analogy that it brings to mind in terms of a football formation and a dungeon-crawling formation.

Alternate combination:

 

2 Tackles (fighters)

2 Tight ends (clerics)

1 Running back/wide receiver (thief)

1 QB (wizard)

 

Sub-classes are ok for a particular role 

 

Cooperation is important.

 

PARTY OF FOUR

 

For a party of 4 (again talking about Dungeons and Dragons (BECMI, BX, 1e, 2e)

 

I think the ideal party has

 

1 of each of the 4 main types.  Although the cleric and the thief will need to be ready to handle "front row" duties if necessary.

More discussion about kits in Dungeons and Dragons

What kit type is most common?  I think that the best answer is Scout.  There are at least 10 different scout kits.  (Thief, Dwarf, Humanoid, Ranger, Elf, Gnome (and Halfling), Ninja, Spelljammer, Taladas, Barbarian).  These kits are not all called scout per se but they have basically a stealth, learn about the enemy function coupled with being quick, light-fighters.  (As opposed to being heavy-infantry)

 

The next most common kit type is the hunter (8).  There are 3 bounty hunters (paid hunters) and 5 hunters that stalk monsters for other motivations.  Hunting/stalking kits are found in Thief, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Ranger, Humanoid, Paladin, and Ninja handbooks.

Surprisingly rangers are poorly represented in both of these kit types.  Most of the ranger kit types are in the wilderness defender category or the annoying animal companion category.  Where you might expect multiple scout or hunter kits, there are only 1 each for ranger. 

There are 8 “Savage” kits.  (Barbarian, Humanoid, Druid, Fighter, Priest, Ranger, Wizard, Taladas).  Savages being primitive and tribal rather than the medieval archetype for their respective class.

There are 3 bandit kits and 2 outlaw kits for a total of 5.

There are 4 pirate kits.  (Thief, Fighter, Spelljammer, and Al-Qadim)

There are 4 swashbuckler kits.  2 if the literal title swashbuckler is required (thief, fighter and plus two more if the swashbuckler is considered an acrobatic fighter with a hint of derring-do. (Elven, Bard)

It is interesting to see what kits are there multiples of across different classes.  Some of the kits seem to have more of a role-playing background thought to them.  Other seem to be considering what tactical role the character will play in the party.

There is a rough parity between the fighter-thief and priest-wizard kits.  (The paired handbooks roughly mirror each other but not exact copies).  After that the kits vary widely in terms of the kits that appear in a given supplement.

 

Kits vary widely in their "power-up" nature.  Kits published in 1989 have few power-ups.  Later kits are more prone to power-ups without much of a negative trade-off.  Although it is still possible to find balanced kits in later “Complete Handbooks”.  For example the peasant wizard who is poor and must remain poor.  The benefit is that he can get free shelter from his fellow peasants.  Not a huge “power-up”.  As literally written, the only magic item that peasant wizards can possess are magic weapons because weapons are the only thing exempted from the poverty requirement.  In contrast the Complete Ranger’s Handbook features Greenwood rangers who after 4th level (and other levels) get several special abilities by being part ranger/part plant including the ability and 10th level to grow an extra arm.  The arm is temporary but can be regrown.  Obviously as a fighter/front row character this is a significant ability.  The only meaningful hindrance for a Greenwood ranger is vulnerability to fire.  Both kits were designed by the same author (Rick Swan).

The Taladas boxed set does a good job of illustrating how kits were supposed to work.  Given that Taladas was written by “Zeb” Cook, principle author of the 2nd Edition rules, this is not surprising.  The main function of the Taladas kits is to provide color for the different cultural areas and explain that color in game terms.

The Taladas kits will be discussed in a future post.