Shooters and other gun games like them can be difficult to make into RPGs without Functional Magic, which is why there has to be a collection of equivalents to make up for the lack of magic. Thankfully, there are two: Explosives such as grenades and rockets, and healing items such as medkits and defibrillators. Therefore, when creating a shooter, developers have to take into account the following RPG-like shooter archetypes:
- Soldiers, who possess high HP and defense like the warrior. They typically wield automatic weapons (assault rifles, submachine guns and machine guns) or shotguns.
- Snipers, who are stealthy, agile, and precise like the rogue. Shoots at enemies using sniper rifles. Most likely to carry a sidearm or knife, as well as using a suppressor.
- Sappers, who use Magic Tools to build and repair vehicles and structures, as well as demolish enemy vehicles and structures as well, like the mage or summoner with his numerous attack or summoning magic.
- Medics, who heal and revive fallen teammates like the cleric. In games where everyone carries medkits or heals automatically, they are either better in patching up, or serve the double duty of covering their teammates using shields or non-lethal grenades. Some medics can also fight on their own, although the weapons they equip vary from title to title.
Sure, most games don't use medics, and instead have players resort to creating either Soldiers, Snipers, or Sappers. However, these four modern-day archetypes are strong bases for developers wishing to create an RPG in a modern-day or sci-fi setting.
There are also classes that can contradict the "sniper" class, as well as all of the other classes here, that use patterns and abilities that may make them extremely different from these basic archetypes. Then again, the same could be said for fantasy settings. Some of them can be based around crowd control like the sapper and the sniper, but also specialize at defense like the Soldier and the Medic, and counter attacks in a subversive manner like the sniper. The choices for classes in a modern setting, like a fantasy one, are limitless. Unfortunately there is a tendency to forget to use this option.
Examples:
- Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4:
- Soldier: Support Class, wields light machine guns and can drop ammo packs.
- Sniper: Recon Class, wields sniper rifles and can designate targets, detect enemy movement, and create spawn beacons for allies.
- Sapper: Engineer Class, wields carbines/PD Ws, can repair friendly vehicles with blowtorch and destroy enemy vehicles with rocket launchers.
- Medic: Assault Class, wields assault rifles, can resurrect down allies with defibrillator, drop health packs, and carry a grenade launcher.
- Borderlands:
- Brick is a mixture between the Soldier's durability and the Sapper's use of explosives.
- Mordecai is the Sniper while his companion Bloodwing is the Medic (in terms of being an Attack Drone).
- Lilith is a Siren, a race with powerful abilities, making her a Sapper (or a modern-day Mage). Her choice of SMGs make her more of a Soldier, and her phase walk adds a touch of the Sniper.
- Finally we have Roland, the team Medic who can also lay down suppressive fire with his turrets, making him a Soldier too (he's even nicknamed as such).
- Borderlands 2:
- Soldier: Salvador, whose abilities focus on survivability. There's also Krieg, who focuses on close range combat and dishing as much damage as he takes.
- Sniper: Zer0, whose abilities focus on precision and critical hits
- Sapper: Axton, whose abilities focus on being generally good at everything with some emphasis on explosive damage. There's also Gaige, which has abilities that focus mostly around dealing lots of damage, but that's not all...
- Medic: Maya, who has a skill tree dedicated to healing herself and allies.
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!:
- Soldier: Athena, who uses a shield to tank damage and keep attention on her. Wilhelm also, who can be upgraded for high durability.
- Sniper: Nisha and Aurelia. The former can put a lot of damage on a single target very quickly, the latter has a dedicated sniping skill tree.
- Sapper: Wilhelm, Claptrap, and Doppleganger Jack all have means of inflicting area damage, or at least damaging multiple enemies at once.
- Medic: Nominally Claptrap, but he's unpredictable and can temporarily become any other role.
- The weapons of Call of Duty can be classified as such:
- Soldier: Assault rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, and shotguns.
- Sniper: Sniper rifles. Handguns and machine pistols as backup. Melee weapons fit in with the stealthy approach.
- Sapper: Lethal grenades, C4, Claymores, RPGs and launchers.
- Medic: Tactical grenades and riot shields for covering your teammates, but no means of healing them, as automatic healing takes care of that.
- By extension this example applies to most other First-Person Shooter games as well, however variations may exist.
- d20 Modern Character Archetypes
- Soldier: Strong Hero and Tough Hero
- Sniper: Fast Hero
- Sapper: Smart Hero
- Medic: Dedicated Hero
- There is also the bard-like Charismatic Hero
- Dirty Bomb
- Soldier: Fragger, Thunder, Rhino, Skyhammer, Bushwhacker
- Sniper: All Recons, Kira
- Sapper: Nader, Javelin, Stoker, Fletcher, Proxy, Arty
- Medic: All Medics, naturally. Turtle, as well.
- Doom Pick-Up Items:
- Soldier: Armor
- Sniper: Lightweight weapons - fists, the handgun, the shotgun, and the chaingun
- Sapper: Heavyweight weapons - the chainsaw, the rocket launcher, the plasma gun, and the BFG9000
- Medic: Medkits
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars:
- Soldier: Soldier (GDF), Aggressor (Strogg).
- Sniper: Covert Ops (GDF), Infiltrator (Strogg).
- Sapper: Field Ops (GDF), Oppressor (Strogg).
- Medic: Medic (GDF), Technician (Strogg).
- Other (Engineer): Engineer (GDF), Constructor (Strogg).
- Evolve:
- Soldier: Assault class
- Sniper: Medic and Trapper class, though the Trappers fit more of the “rogue” archetype, Val and Lazarus are the first two Medics and both use sniper rifles in their kits
- Sapper: Support class
- Medic: Medic class
- The Fallout Franchise's SPECIAL stats:
- Soldier/Sapper: Strength and Endurance
- Sniper: Perception and Agility
- Medic: Intelligence and Charisma
- Miscellaneous: Luck
- The MMO Fire Fall allows players to switch classes by switching powered armors:
- Soldier: The Dreadnought frames, armed with high-damage automatic weapons and defensive abilities.
- Sniper: The Recon frames have precision weapons and abilities.
- Sapper: The Assault frames, which feature Splash Damage plasma guns and area-of-effect abilities, as well as the Engineer frames, which have turrets and grenade launchers. The Recluse frame has a weapon that creates a gas cloud as a Secondary Fire mode.
- Medics: The Medic frames, which in addition to healing abilities have weapons that can heal allies as well as harm enemies.
- Hc Svnt Dracones:
- Soldier: Inner Ring Police Force
- Sniper: Spyglass
- Sapper: ASR for tech, TTI does spooky stuff.
- Medic: Progenitus
- The Left 4 Dead Franchise's Weapons and Items:
- Soldier: Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, and the M60
- Sniper: Sniper Rifles, Handguns, and Melee Weapons
- Sapper: Pipe Bombs, Molotov Cocktails, Boomer Bile, and the Grenade Launcher
- Medic: Medkits, Pain Pills, Adrenaline Shots, and Defibrillators
- Mass Effect:
- Player (Shepard) classes:
- Soldier: Soldier
- Sniper: Infiltrator
- Sapper: Adept and Engineer
- Medic: Sentinel
- Other: Vanguard
- Mass Effect Squad:
- Soldier: Ashley Williams and Urdnot Wrex (who is a Magic Knight)
- Sniper: Garrus Vakarian
- Sapper: Kaidan Alenko and Liara T'Soni
- Medic: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and Liara T'Soni
- Mass Effect 2 Squad:
- Soldier: Jacob Taylor, Grunt and Zaeed Massani
- Sniper: Garrus Vakarian, Thane Krios, Legion and Kasumi Goto
- Sapper: Miranda Lawson, Mordin Solus, Tali'Zorah vas Neema/Normandy, Jack and Samara/Morinth
- Mass Effect 3 Squad:
- Soldier: James Vega, Ashley Williams (if she's alive), Javik (who is more a Magic Knight variety)
- Sniper: Garrus Vakarian
- Sapper: Liara T'Soni, Kaidan Alenko (if he's alive), EDI, Tali'Zora vas Normandy
- Player (Shepard) classes:
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's Mother Base:
- Soldier/Sniper: Soldiers sent to Outer Ops missions
- Sapper/Medic: R&D, Intel, Mess Hall, and Medical Bay
- Myriad Song:
- Soldier: Guerrilla, Mercenary, Soldier, Stormtrooper.
- Sniper: Assassin, Hunter
- Sapper: Engineer, Grenadier, Conductor
- Medic: Physician, Pusher
- The Resident Evil Franchise:
- Resident Evil:
- Soldier: Chris Redfield
- Sniper: Barry Burton (minus the sniper rifle)
- Sapper: Jill Valentine
- Medic: Rebecca Chambers
- Resident Evil 2:
- Soldier: Leon Scott Kennedy
- Sniper: Ada Wong (again, minus the sniper rifle)
- Sapper: Claire Redfield
- Medic: Sherry Birkin
- Resident Evil:
- Scarlet Blade:
- Warrior: Defender armed with BFS and can withstand tons of damage.
- Sniper: Punisher long range fighter with a rifle, Shadow Walker stealth melee class.
- Sapper: Whipper specialized in AoE damage with her whip. Sentinel short range fighter with dual pistols.
- Medic: The medic who heals allies, and damages enemies.
- Shadowrun archetypes:
- Soldier: Most Street Samurai and Physical Adepts.
- Sniper: B&E specialist, Phys Ads with stealth powers, Riggers with stealthy drones.
- Sapper: Mages and Shamans, Deckers, Technomancers, "wall of guns" Riggers.
- Medic: Either a Mage with healing spells or whoever took the most points in First Aid and carries the best medkit.
- South Park: The Fractured but Whole makes superhero class equivalents:
- Soldier: Brutalist, Cyborg, and Martial Artist
- Sniper: Speedster, Assassin, and Final Girl
- Medic: Psychic and Plantamancer
- Sapper: Blaster, Elementalist, Gadgeteer and Netherborn.
- The StarCraft franchise:
- Terrans:
- Soldier: Marines
- Sniper: Ghost, up until their nuke ability is unlocked.
- Medic: Medics, and Medivacs in the second game.
- Sapper: Firebat in the first game and Marauder in the second.
- Terrans:
- Starfinder:
- Soldier: Solarian, Soldier, Vanguard
- Sniper: Operative
- Sapper: Mystic, Technomancer, Witchwarper
- Medic: Biohacker, Envoy and Mystic. Technomancer for Androids
- Mechanic can act as a Soldier, Sapper, or Medic depending on which class features they choose.
- Star Wars d20:
- Soldier: Soldier
- Sniper: Scoundrel and Scout
- Sapper: Force Adept and Jedi Guardian
- Medic: Jedi Consular
- Star Wars: The Old Republic:
- Soldier: Trooper (Republic) and Bounty Hunter (Empire)
- Sniper: Smuggler (Republic) and Imperial Agent (Empire)
- Sapper: Jedi Consular (Republic) and Sith Inquisitor (Empire)
- Medic: Potentially any class aside from the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior
- Super Robot Wars:
- Soldier: Super Robots, which are slow, have a lot of HP, and really strong short-range attacks.
- Sniper: Real Robots, which are quick at the cost of HP, armor and attack power and use mostly guns.
- Sapper: Warships, which are just as strong and slow as Super Robots and have powerful ranged attacks like Real Robots.
- Team Fortress 2:
- Soldier: Soldier, Heavy, melee-loadout Demomen
- Sniper: Scout, Sniper, and Spy
- Sapper: Pyro and Demo
- Medic: Engineer and Medic
- Too Human:
- Soldier: Berserker, Defender
- Sniper: Commando
- Sapper: Champion
- Medic: Bio Engineer
- The Mongoose edition of Traveller doesn't use "classes" per se but has "careers" that determine starting skills:
- Soldier: Army and Marines, Rogue (Enforcer and Pirate specialties)
- Sniper: Agents, Rogue (Thief spec), Scouts
- Sapper: Navy
- Medic: Scholar (Physician specialty)
- Other: Citizen, Drifter, Entertainer, Merchants, Nobility.
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron multiplayer custom characters. (The multiplayer classes from Transformers: War for Cybertron, from which these were revised, also fit the description but slightly less well.):
- Soldier: Titan (transforms into a tank; was actually called "Soldier" in War)
- Sniper: Infiltrator (transforms into a car; was called "Scout" in War)
- Sapper: Destroyer (transforms into a truck; the "Leader" in War, from which the Destroyer was derived, was a bit more on the side of Jack of All Stats, with a mix of automatic, marksman, and explosive weapons, middle-of-the-road health, and a variety of abilities)
- Medic: Scientist (transforms into a jet or chopper; depending on one's build, the Scientist can also fit the mold of the Sniper)
- Valkyria Chronicles series (as of Valkyria Chronicles III):
- Soldier: Shocktrooper, Armored Tech, and actual Swordsmen note .
- Sniper: Scout, Sniper.
- Sapper: Lancer (bazookamen/mortarmen).
- Medic: Engineer.
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown has four classes:
- Soldier: Assault (best armor and evasion skills + Short-Range Shotgun)
- Sniper: Sniper (duh)
- Sapper: Heavy (More Dakka + bazooka)
- Medic: Support (while everyone can deploy Medikits, only this class has skills improving their efficiency)
- The sequel, XCOM 2 also follows the trope:
- Soldier: Ranger (Short-Range Shotgun and great evasion skills)
- Sniper: Sharpshooter (uses a sniper rifle and pistol). The Ranger also has elements of this class with many stealth and sword-based perks.
- Sapper: Grenadier (More Dakka + Stuff Blowing Up with their grenade launcher)
- Medic: Specialist (their Gremlin allows them to perform supportive actions such as healing allies or granting them a defense bonus from a range)
- Warhammer 40,000:
- For Space Marines
- Soldier: Tactical and Assault Marines (armed with bolters, chainswords, meltaguns, flamers).
- Sniper: Scout Marines (can be armed with sniper rifles).
- Sapper: Devastator Marines (armed with the heaviest guns) and Librarians (equivalent to mage).
- Medic: Apothecaries (Medics).
- For Orks
- Soldier: Boyz and Stormboyz
- Sniper: Kommandoz
- Sapper: Lootaz (armed with heavy weapons) and Weirdboyz (Equivalent to mage).
- Medic: Painboyz
- For Space Marines
- Wildstar:
- Soldier: Warriors armed with both BFS and Arm Cannon.
- Sapper: Espers psychics equivalent to mages and Engineers who can bring out big guns, put on exo suits, and call on Attack Drone's.
- Sniper: Spellslingers who are a combination of a gunslinger and spellcaster, and the Stalkers who are the more melee oriented stealth class who favor hacking foes with their blades.
- Medic: Medics fill the role of both healer, as well as offensive support class.
