Combat Roles #8 - Why Bother?

We've gone over a bunch of roles that you can fulfill in combat. But why should you bother?

As mentioned earlier, combat in D&D is based on the idea of a balanced party in a generic sense (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Rogue). We've gone over different archetypes that comprise the balanced party. If the party isn't balanced, things can get rather sticky in a hurry.

But there is an alternative, albeit a risky one. The entire party can hyper specialize in only two of the archetypes. This can lead to risky, dangerous and exciting combats. If everyone focuses on melee damage, there is very little that can stand up to them. However, if the fight goes on for more than a few rounds, PCs will start to drop. If everyone focuses on defense, you can outlast the enemies and wear them down slowly.

This type of specialization can lead to interesting combat encounters, but can also rapidly lead to a total party wipeout if things take a turn.